In colorectal cancer chemotherapy, the current standard of care includes combination therapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin (LV). However, the factors that determine the LV-mediated enhancement of 5-FU antitumor activity are not fully understood. Therefore, we investigated the roles of thymidine synthase (TYMS), folate receptor 1 (FOLR1), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), phosphoribosy...

Saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses numerous advantageous biological features, such as being robust, easily handled, mostly non-pathogenic and having high catabolic rates, etc., which can be considered as merits for being used as a promising biocatalyst in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for electricity generation. Previous studies have developed efficient MFC configurations to convert metabolic ele...

A new phosphorescent chemosensor for Hg(2+) and acetonitrile (MeCN) based on iridium(III) complex Ir(dpp)(2)(dtc) (Ir1, dppH = 4,6-diphenylpyrimidine, dtcH = diethyl dithiocarbamic acid) was realized. Upon addition of a tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution of Hg(2+), the dichloromethane (DCM) solution of Ir1 gave a visual color change and significant fluorescent quenching. When MeCN was added, a new ...

The bis-THF cores of annonaceous acetogenins were synthesized using (3R,4R)-1,5-hexadiene-3,4-diol (1) as the sole source of carbon atoms. The methylene acetal function was applied as a new linker/tether to facilitate the ring-closing metathesis.

The enzymes involved in methanol degradation by Desulfotomaculum kuznetsovii, a thermophilic, methanol utilizing sulfate reducer were studied. Low NAD-dependent and dye-linked alcohol dehydrogenase activities were detected with methanol in cell free extracts of D. kuznetsovii grown on methanol. However, activities with ethanol as electron donor were 10 times higher. The alcohol dehydrogenase fr...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate plasma homocysteine levels and polymorphisms in genes encoding enzymes in the metabolic pathway of homocysteine in association with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXFG). METHODS A total of 156 glaucoma patients (76 with POAG and 80 with PXFG) and 135 controls matched for age and sex were enrolled in th...

A strategy devised to isolate a gene coding for a dihydrofolate reductase from Thermus thermophilus DNA delivered only clones harboring instead a gene (the T. thermophilus dehydrogenase [DH(Tt)] gene) coding for a dihydropteridine reductase which displays considerable dihydrofolate reductase activity (about 20% of the activity detected with 6,7-dimethyl-7,8-dihydropterine in the quinonoid form ...

Tetrahydrofolate (THF) and its one-carbon derivatives, collectively termed folates, are essential cofactors, but are inherently unstable. While it is clear that chemical oxidation can cleave folates or damage their pterin precursors, very little is known about enzymatic damage to these molecules or about whether the folate biosynthesis pathway responds adaptively to damage to its end-products. ...