Polyamines are required for cell growth and cell division in eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. In the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, biosynthesis of the commonly occurring polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) is dependent on the activity of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, EC 4.1.1.17) catalyzing the formation of putrescine, which is the precursor of the other t...

BACKGROUND The thermodynamics of the base pair specificity of the binding of the polyamines spermine, spermidine, putrescine, and cadaverine with three genomic DNAs Clostridium perfringens, 27% GC, Escherichia coli, 50% GC and Micrococcus lysodeikticus, 72% GC have been studied using titration calorimetry and the data supplemented with melting studies, ethidium displacement and circular dichroi...

The metabolism of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) has become the target of genetic manipulation because of their significance in plant development and possibly stress tolerance. We studied the polyamine metabolism in non-transgenic (NT) and transgenic cells of poplar (Populus nigra x maximowiczii) expressing a mouse Orn decarboxylase (odc) cDNA. The transgenic cells showed ele...

The effect of NaCl on the endogenous levels of diamine, putrescine and polyamines, spermidine and spermine, was studied in the shoot system of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive lines of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars during three growth stages. Salt stress increased the levels of diamine and polyamine in varying degrees among nine rice cultivars investigated. Salt tolerant AU1, Co43, and CSC1 ...

The effects of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) on glutathione reductase (glutathione: NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.8.1.7; GR) activity of spinach leaves (Spinacia oleracea L. cv. Gladiator) were investigated under in vivo and in vitro conditions. Spinach was grown in sand culture under controlled conditions for 30 d. In in vivo assays 30-day-old plants were sprayed with polyamine...

this study was performed to investigate the effect of putrescine and spermine on some physiological and biochemical characteristics and antioxidant enzymes activity of peach (prunus persica cv. alberta) and almond (prunus dulcis cv. rabi) seedlings under water deficit. the first factor was water regime at two levels (80% or 50% of soil available water), and the second factor was polyamine treat...

The intraerythrocytic development of Plasmodium falciparum correlates with increasing levels of the polyamines putrescine, spermidine, and spermine in the infected red blood cells; and compartmental analyses revealed that the majority is associated with the parasite. Since depletion of cellular polyamines is a promising strategy for inhibition of parasite proliferation, new inhibitors of polyam...

Polyamines are ubiquitous, biogenic amines that have been implicated in diverse cellular functions in most living organisms. Ever since spermine phosphate crystals were isolated over three centuries ago, scientists have kept busy in unraveling the mystery behind biological roles of spermine and other known polyamines, viz., putrescine and spermidine. Although the pathway of polyamine biosynthes...

Serovars of Salmonella enterica exhibit different host-specificities where some have broad host-ranges and others, like S. Gallinarum and S. Typhi, are host-specific for poultry and humans, respectively. With the recent availability of whole genome sequences it has been reported that host-specificity coincides with accumulation of pseudogenes, indicating adaptation of host-restricted serovars t...

PURPOSE To investigate the involvement of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in the proliferation of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) using cultured bovine RPE cells. METHODS The polyamine content and the activities of rate-limiting enzymes in polyamine biosynthesis (ornithine decarboxylase [ODC] and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase [SAMDC]) and in polyamine biodegradation (s...