Molecule of the month - NOrvaline
- is a candidate drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease
- a arginase inhibitor which readily crosses the blood brain barrier, and reduces arginine loss in the brain.
- Amyloid beta deposition is associated with L-arginine deprivation and neurodegeneration
- mice treated with Norvaline display improved spatial memory, increased neuroplasticity-related proteins, and decrease in amyloid beta
- is a non-protenogenic unbranched-chain amino acid
- a natural component of an antifungal peptide of Bacillus subtilis
- have received attention because they appear to be incorporated in some recombinant proteins found in E. coli.
- its biosynthesis has been examined
- the incorporation of Nva into peptides reflects the imperfect selectivity of the associated aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
- in Miller-Urey experiments probing prebiotic synthesis of amino acids, norvaline, but also norleucine, are produced.
- is known to promote tissue regeneration and muscle growth, and to become a precursor in the penicillin biosynthetic pathway