In this study we wanted to gain insights into selectivity mechanisms between G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) and different subtypes of G-proteins. The thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) binds G-proteins promiscuously and activates both Gs (cAMP) and Gq (IP). Our goal was to dissect selectivity patterns for both pathways in the intracellular region of this receptor. We were particularly interested i...

Glutamine synthetase (GS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), large multimeric enzymes that are thought to play important roles in the pathogenicity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are among the bacterium's major culture filtrate proteins in actively growing cultures. Although these proteins lack a leader peptide, their presence in the extracellular medium during early stages of growth suggested tha...

Abstract High molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW GS) represent an important fraction of endosperm-specific seed-storage proteins that provide elasticity to bread dough. Previously, the second cis -regulatory module (CRM2) was found be one most conserved part HMW GS promoters, which indicated its pre-eminent role in their gene regulation. Here, we observed deletion CRM2 from promoters Bx7 a...

Pathogenic a-synuclein (aS) gene mutations occur in rare familial Parkinson’s disease (PD) kindreds, and wild-type aS is a major component of Lewy bodies (LBs) in sporadic PD, dementia with LBs (DLB), and the LB variant of Alzheimer’s disease, but b-synuclein (bS) and g-synuclein (gS) have not yet been implicated in neurological disorders. Here we show that in PD and DLB, but not normal brains,...

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) might play a pathophysiological role in the development of diabetes and its complications. AGEs negatively affect pancreatic beta-cell function and the expression of transcriptional factors regulating insulin gene. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone that regulates glucose homeostasis, might counteract the harmful effects of AGEs on the be...

Amnionless (AMN) and cubilin gene products appear to be essential functional subunits of an endocytic receptor called cubam. Mutation of either gene causes autosomal recessive Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome (I-GS, OMIM no. 261100) in humans, a disorder characterized by selective intestinal malabsorption of cobalamin (vitamin B12) and urinary loss of several specific low-molecular-weight proteins. ...

Glutathione synthetase (GS) catalyses the production of glutathione from gamma-glutamylcysteine and glycine in an ATP-dependent manner. Malfunctioning of GS results in disorders including metabolic acidosis, 5-oxoprolinuria, neurological dysfunction, haemolytic anaemia and in some cases is probably lethal. Here we report the crystal structure of human GS (hGS) at 2.1 A resolution in complex wit...

Bacillus subtilis contains two nitrogen transcription factors, GlnR and TnrA. The activities of GlnR and TnrA are regulated by direct protein-protein interactions with the feedback-inhibited form of glutamine synthetase (GS). To look for other factors involved in regulating GlnR activity, we isolated mutants with constitutive glnRA expression (Gln(C)). The twenty-seven Gln(C) mutants isolated i...

Amnionless (AMN) and cubilin gene products appear to be essential functional subunits of an endocytic receptor called cubam. Mutation of either gene causes autosomal recessive Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome (I-GS, OMIM no. 261100) in humans, a disorder characterized by selective intestinal malabsorption of cobalamin (vitamin B12) and urinary loss of several specific low-molecular-weight proteins. ...