We previously reported an impaired ability to regulate hepatic mitochondrial state 4 respiration rate in response to sequential additions of adenosine diphosphate in pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS). As proton conductance is a major contributor to State 4 respiration, the major goal of this study was to investigate the nature of proton conductance in hepatic mitochondria isolated from broi...

A beta-glucosidase was purified from the digestive fluid of the palm weevil Rhynchophorus palmarum L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) by chromatography on anion-exchange, gel filtration, and hydrophobic interaction columns. The preparation was shown to be homogeneous on polyacrylamide gels, beta-glucosidase is a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of 58 kDa based on its mobility in SDS-PAGE a...

BACKGROUND A complete saccharification of plant polymers is the critical step in the efficient production of bio-alcohols. Beta-glucosidases acting in the degradation of intermediate gluco-oligosaccharides produced by cellulases limit the yield of the final product. RESULTS In the present work, we have identified and then successfully cloned, expressed, purified and characterised 4 highly act...

BACKGROUND Panama has an extensive mangrove area and it is one of the countries with the highest biodiversity in America. Mangroves are widely used in traditional medicine, nevertheless, there are very few studies that validates their medicinal properties in America. Given the urgent need for therapeutic options to treat several diseases of public health importance, mangrove ecosystem could be ...

As part as of the preformulation studies of new 5'-OH derivatives of zidovudine, compounds 2-6, their acid dissociation constants, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetry (TG) curves, X-Ray Powder diffractograms and aqueous stability are reported. A sensitive technique such as differential scanning potentiometry was used to determine the pKa constants of the above mentioned...

The encapsulated pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans is poorly recognized by phagocytic cells in the absence of opsonins. Macrophages will bind and internalize complement- or antibody-opsonized C. neoformans; however, less is known about the role of opsonins in dendritic cell (DC)-mediated recognition of the organism. Thus, we studied the opsonic requirements for binding to C. neoformans b...

BACKGROUND The study on the second generation bio-fuel is a hot area of current research of renewable energy. Among series of key points in this area, the role of β-glucosidase in the degradation of intermediate gluco-oligosaccharides limits the rate of the complete saccharification of lignocellulose. RESULTS In this study, a new β-glucosidase gene, unglu135B12, which was isolated from a meta...

TROJANOVÁ I., RADA V. (2005): Enzymatic activity in fermented milk products containing bifidobacteria. Czech J. Food Sci., 23: 224–229. Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Bifidobacterium animalis strains were tested for α-galactosidase, β-galactosidase and α-glucosidase activities. Commercially available yoghurts with bifidobacteria were also tested. Whi...

Aspergillus niger β-glucosidase was modified by covalent coupling to periodate activated polysaccharides (glycosylation). The conjugated enzyme to activated starch showed the highest specific activity (128.5 U/mg protein). Compared to the native enzyme, the conjugated form exhibited: a higher optimal reaction temperature, a lower Ea (activation energy), a higher K m (Michaelis constant) and Vma...

Phytochemical study of the roots Erythrina senegalensis led to isolation a new α-sophoradiol glycoside, erythrinoside (1), together with four known compounds, lupeol (2), (3), isoneorautenol (4) and D-mannitol (5). The structures compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic data including 1D 2D NMR, mass spectrometry by comparison made some reported previously; samples (extracts compounds) als...