We have studied the mechanism of the antioxidant activity of C(60) derivatives at the BP86/TZP level with inclusion of solvent effects (DMSO) by using the COSMO approach. The reaction studied here involves degradation of the biologically relevant superoxide radical (O(2)(*-)), which is linked to tissue damage in several human disorders. Several fullerene derivatives have experimentally been sho...

Antibodies directed against the autoantigen p26 were detected in sera from 32 patients with acute Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and clinical symptoms of infectious mononucleosis. P26 has now been identified as the enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) by comparison of the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence. Antibodies against MnSOD belong to the immunoglobulin class M. They are not d...

The fermentation of fumarate and L-malate by Clostridium formicoaceticum was investigated. Growing and nongrowing cells degraded fumarate by dismutation to succinate, acetate, and CO2; on the other hand, only small amounts of succinate were detected when the organism was grown on L-malate. This dicarboxylic acid was mainly converted to acetate and CO2. The fermentation balances were modified if...

Benzene represents the showcase of Hückel aromaticity. The silicon analog, hexasilabenzene, has consequently been targeted for decades. We now report an intensely green isomer of Si6R6 (R being 2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl) with a tricyclic structure in the solid state featuring silicon atoms with two, one, and no substituents outside the ring framework. The highly dispersed 29Si nuclear magnetic r...

Protection from oxidative damage is sufficiently important that biology has evolved three independent enzymes for hastening superoxide dismutation: the Cu- and Zn-containing superoxide dismutases (Cu,Zn-SODs), the SODs that are specific for Fe or Mn or function with either of the two (Fe-SODs, Mn-SODs or Fe/Mn-SODs), and the SODs that use Ni (Ni-SODs). Despite the overwhelming similarities betw...

An Escherichia coli double mutant, sodAsodB, that is deficient in both bacterial superoxide dismutases (Mn superoxide dismutase and iron superoxide dismutase) is unable to grow on minimal medium in the presence of oxygen and exhibits increased sensitivity to paraquat and hydrogen peroxide. Expression of the evolutionarily unrelated eukaryotic CuZn superoxide dismutase in the sodAsodB E. coli mu...

Superoxide dismutases are a family of metalloenzymes that catalyze the dismutation of superoxide radicals into molecular oxygen and hydrogen peroxide, and thus represent a primary line of defence against oxidative stress. The iron-containing superoxide dismutases are only found in prokaryotes and plants. The iron superoxide dismutase of Vigna unguiculata (cowpea) consists of two polypeptides of...

There are few ways to develop a high concentration of superoxide in solutions of physiological significance, and by far the most useful of these, pulsed radiolysis of oxygenated solutions [1 ], requires very specialized and expensive research equipment. One of the long term goals of this laboratory has been to develop alternative procedures for examining the chemistry of superoxide ion in aqueo...

A novel, strictly anaerobic, cadaverine-oxidizing, defined coculture was isolated from an anoxic freshwater sediment sample. The coculture oxidized cadaverine (1,5-diaminopentane) with sulfate as the electron acceptor. The sulfate-reducing partner could be replaced by a hydrogenotrophic methanogenic partner. The defined coculture fermented cadaverine to acetate, butyrate, and glutarate plus sul...