Microcin C analogues were recently envisaged as important compounds for the development of novel antibiotics. Two issues that may pose problems to these potential antibiotics are possible acquisition of resistance through acetylation and in vivo instability of the peptide chain. N-methylated aminoacyl sulfamoyladenosines were synthesized to investigate their potential as aminoacyl tRNA syntheta...

To quantitatively assess the role of Candida species in antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD), stool samples from a total of 395 patients and control subjects were cultured in differential isolation medium: 98 patients had AAD, 93 patients were taking antibiotics but did not have diarrhea (A(+)D(-)), 97 patients were not taking antibiotics but had diarrhea (A(-)D(+)), and 107 patients were contr...

Renin is an aspartyl-proteinase hormone that is produced, stored and released by juxtaglomerular (JG) granular cells in the distal part of the renal afferent arterioles. The rate of secretion of renin from JG cells is one of the main determinants of the overall activity of the renin-angiotensin system, and is the most well regulated parameter of all constituents of that system. At least three c...

Secreted aspartyl proteinases (Saps) from Candida albicans are encoded by a multigene family with at least nine members (SAP1 to SAP9) and are considered putative virulence factors important for the pathogenicity of this human pathogen. The role of Sap isoenzymes in the virulence of C. albicans has not yet been clearly established, and therefore, using recent progress in the genetics of this ye...

Two karyotypes of oral Candida albicans isolates, named b and c, constituted >80% of a collection from healthy carriers (22 b and 16 c isolates) and oral candidiasis patients who were either infected (31 b and 16 c isolates) or uninfected (13 b and 38 c isolates) with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The prevalence of the b and c karyotypes within HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients, resp...

proteinase 3(pr3) is a human polymorphonuclear leukocyte serine proteinase and is the main target antigen for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (anca) found in wegener's granulomatosis (wg). we developed a stable expression system for conformationally intact recombinant pr3 (rpr3) in chinese hamster ovary cells (cho-cells). the part of pr3 cdna that encoded the active form of pr3 was s...

Protein L-isoaspartyl (D-aspartyl) methyltransferases (EC 2.1.1.77) are found in almost all organisms. These enzymes catalyze the S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet)-dependent methylation of isomerized and racemized aspartyl residues in age-damaged proteins as part of an essential protein repair process. Here, we report crystal structures of the repair methyltransferase at resolutions up to 1.2 A fro...

We examined the production of secreted aspartyl proteinase (Sap), a putative virulence factor of Candida albicans, by a series of 17 isolates representing a single strain obtained from the oral cavity of an AIDS patient before and after the development of clinical and in vitro resistance to fluconazole. Isolates were grown in Sap-inducing yeast carbon base-bovine serum albumin medium containing...

A new chitinase inhibitor, named argifin, was isolated from the cultured broth of a fungal strain Gliocladium sp. FTD-0668. Argifin was purified from the cultured mycelium by the combination of cation exchange, anion exchange, adsorption, and gel filtration chromatographic methods. The structure of argifin was elucidated as cyclo(N(omega)-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-L-arginyl-N-methyl-L-phenylalan yl-b...

Candida albicans is strongly associated with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). However, the roles of secreted aspartyl proteinases (Saps), an important virulence factor of C. albicans, in the progress of S-ECC are not clear. In our study, the Saps activities were evaluated by the yeast nitrogen base-bovine serum albumi (YNB-BSA) agar plate method and by the MTT method with bovine serum alb...