The decarboxylation of antimicrobial aromatic acids such as phenylacrylic acid (cinnamic acid) and ferulic acid by yeast requires two enzymes described as phenylacrylic acid decarboxylase (PAD1) and ferulic acid decarboxylase (FDC). These enzymes are of interest for various biotechnological applications, such as the production of chemical feedstocks from lignin under mild conditions. However, t...

Simultaneous immunological titration of DOPA and 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase activities, from a number of tissues of various species, showed that the two activities were not distinguishable with a monospecific antiserum to hog kidney decarboxylase. Together with previous findings, these data firmly establish the concept that in mammalian tissues the two enzyme activities are associated wi...

Background: Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is a rare neurological disease resulting in stiffness and spasm of muscles. It initially affects the axial muscles and then spread to limb muscles. Emotional stress exacerbated the symptoms and signs of the disease. The pathophysiology of the disease is caused by the decreased level of the glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity due to an autoantibody ...

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D), autoimmune thyroid disease, and autoimmune gastritis often occur together forming the so-called autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 3 (APS3). We here report a clinical case of a 74-year-old woman who presented for the first time with severe hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis diagnosed as T1D. Further clinical investigations revealed concomitant severe hypothyroidi...

AIMS Gestational diabetes mellitus affects approximately 7% of all pregnant women. Some of these women develop autoantibodies that are generally characteristic of Type 1 diabetes. Autoantibodies targeting glutamic acid decarboxylase and tyrosine phosphatase-like protein are the most frequently reported. A recently identified autoantigen in Type 1 diabetes is zinc transporter 8. Some reports sug...

Saccharomyces carlsbergensis 4228 (ATCC 9080) was cultivated for 24 hours in four different media containing 0, 50, 150 and 500ƒÊg of myo-inositol per 20ml. The growth of the yeast and the specific activity of pyruvate decarboxylase extracted from the respective cell preparations were found to be proportional to the amount of inositol in the medium. The level of acetoin in the culture medium de...

Glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADAs) are one of the markers of islet cell autoimmunity and are sometimes present before the onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D). GADA can be present in Graves' patients without diabetes; however, the outcome of GADA-positive Graves' patients is not fully understood, and the predictive value of GADA for the development of T1D in Graves' patients remains to be...

Bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are small unilamellar proteoliposomes, involved in various functions including cell-to-cell signalling and protein excretion. We have engineered the OMVs of Escherichia coli to nano-scaled bioreactors for biotransformation fatty acids by targeting a acid double bond hydratase Stentrophomonas maltophilia (SmOhyA) and/or photoactivated decarboxylase from C...

Tannins and hydroxylated aromatic acids, such as gallic acid (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid), are plant secondary metabolites which protect plants against herbivores and plant-associated microorganisms. Some microbes, such as the yeast Arxula adeninivorans are resistant to these antimicrobial substances and are able to use tannins and gallic acid as carbon sources. In this study, the Arxula gall...