The inhibitory effect of magnolol from Magnolia officinalis on glucosyltransferase

Summary caries has been an intractable disease in spite of intense dental research. Glucosyltransferase (GTF) enzyme plays the most important role in the development of dental caries. In our previous studies, magnolol, a compound from Magnolia officinalis Rehder et Wilson (Magnoliaceae), was shown to possess a strong anti-GTF activity. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of magnolol on the functional domains of GTF for the purpose of defining its anti-GTF activity mechanism. GTF-I which was prepared from Streptococcus milleri transformant KSB8 cells expressing the gtfB gene was used. The results demonstrated magnolol reduced total glucan synthesis, depending on the magnolol concentration. There were no significant differences in Michaelis constant (Km) values between the presence and absence of magnolol as determined by Lineweaver–Burk plot, and maximum velocity (Vm) in the presence of magnolol was lower than that in its absence. Magnolol significantly inhibited both sucrose hydrolysis and glucosyl transfer to glucan by GTF-I. Free glucose in the presence of magnolol was reduced by 33–48% as compared to in its absence, while the quantity of glucan was reduced by 75–82%. These findings suggested that magnolol inhibited both two sequential reaction phases of GTF non-competitively by operating on the glucan-binding domain, but not on the catalytic domain. Magnolol could be a valuable resource for the exploration of novel bioactive compounds in natural products.