To study the mechanism of light-dependent proton translocation by bacteriorhodopsin, we have introduced single-codon changes in the gene so as to produce the following specific amino acid substitutions in the protein: Tyr-185 to Phe, Pro-186 to Leu, Trp-189 to Phe, Ser-193 to Ala, and Glu-194 to Gln. The strategy involved replacement of a 62-base-pair restriction fragment by synthetic DNA duple...

Plipastatins, new inhibitors of phospholipase A2, were produced by a strain classified as Bacillus cereus BMG302-fF67. The plipastatins are a family of acylated decapeptides which differ from each other by amino acid composition and the nature of the fatty acid side chain. The fatty acids have been shown to be 3(R)-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid (n-C16h3) and 14(S)-methyl-3(R)-hydroxyhexadecanoic aci...

Native pig kidney fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, in contrast to the rat liver enzyme, is not a substrate of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. However, the pig kidney enzyme becomes a substrate when phosphorylation is performed in 1.6 M urea, after prior unfolding in 8 M urea. A cyanogen bromide fragment containing the phosphorylation site has been isolated and the amino acid sequence of this 6...

1. Human uterine cervical stroma was found to contain a Ca(2+)-independent neutral proteinase against casein and N-benzoyl-dl-arginine p-nitroanilide (Bz-dl-Arg-Nan). This enzyme was tightly bound to an insoluble material (20000g pellet) and was solubilized by high concentrations of NaCl or KCl. High concentrations of them in the reaction system, however, inhibited reversibly the activity of th...

Activity-dependent neurotrophic factor (ADNF) is a glia-derived protein that is neuroprotective at femtomolar concentrations. A nine-amino acid peptide derived from ADNF (Ser-Ala-Leu-Leu-Arg-Ser-Ile-Pro-Ala; ADNF-9) captured the activity of the parent protein and has been reported to protect cultured neurons from multiple neurotoxins. Antibodies recognizing ADNF-9 produced neuronal apoptosis, a...

An amino-terminal histidyl structure (His1) is characteristic of most peptides in the glucagon superfamily. An assay for His1 peptides performed by amino-terminal amino acid sequencing was used to screen venom from the Gila monster lizard, Heloderma horridum. Two His1 peptides were identified: helospectin and a new His1 peptide that has been named exendin-3 to indicate that it is the third pept...

Oxytocin (OXT) is an important neurohypophyseal hormone that influences wide spectrum of reproductive and social processes. Eutherian mammals possess a highly conserved sequence of OXT (Cys-Tyr-Ile-Gln-Asn-Cys-Pro-Leu-Gly). However, in this study, we sequenced the coding region for OXT in 22 species covering all New World monkeys (NWM) genera and clades, and characterize five OXT variants, incl...

The specificities of the proteases of 11 retroviruses representing each of the seven genera of the family Retroviridae were studied using a series of oligopeptides with amino acid substitutions in the P2 position of a naturally occurring type 1 cleavage site (Val-Ser-Gln-Asn-Tyr Pro-Ile-Val-Gln; the arrow indicates the site of cleavage) in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). This posit...

Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.), a cross-pollinated grass, is gradually becoming predominant weed in wheat fields China and evolving resistance to many groups of herbicides. The aim this study determine the levels single L. population from field Henan Province China, three modes action (MoAs) herbicides further characterize potential mechanisms. This evolved multiple herbicide resistan...

Two dipeptides, phenylalanylarginine (Phe-Arg) and serylproline (Ser-Pro), are released sequentially from bradykinin by angiotensin-converting enzyme purified from hog lungs; chloride increases the rate of release of both dipeptides. Using an automated ninhydrin-reagent method, we studied the kinetics of bradykinin hydrolysis. The reaction proceeded in the absence of chloride; however, the addi...