The central nervous system of the moth Manduca sexta contains a group of myoregulatory neuropeptides, the CAPs (Cardioacceleratory Peptides), which cause a physiologically important, dose-dependent increase in heart rate during wing inflation and flight in adult moths. We report here that the response of the adult heart to a subset of the CAPs, the CAP2S, is potentiated nearly twofold in the ch...

Stable surface adhesion of cells is one of the early pivotal steps in bacterial biofilm formation, a prevalent adaptation strategy in response to changing environments. In Pseudomonas fluorescens, this process is regulated by the Lap system and the second messenger cyclic-di-GMP. High cytoplasmic levels of cyclic-di-GMP activate the transmembrane receptor LapD that in turn recruits the periplas...

The lag period in the induction of rat pineal N-acetyltransferase (arylamine acetyltransferase or acetyl-CoA:arylamine N-acetyltransferase EC 2.3.1.5) by catecholamines via the beta-adrenergic receptor varies with the length of exposure of the rat to light or darkness. If rats have been exposed to light and reduced sympathetic nerve activity for more than 12 hr, this lag period is 1-2 hr long. ...

Rabbit skeletal muscle phosphorylase kinase has been obtained as a nearly homogeneous protein showing a single peak on electrophoresis and in the ultracentrifuge. Incubation of the purified kinase with T~~P-ATP in the presence of Mg++ ions activates the enzyme; this process is accompanied by phosphorylation of the protein. Activation and phosphorylation of phosphorylase kinase occur more rapidl...

Peptide disulfides are unstable under alkaline conditions, resulting in the formation of products containing lanthionine and polysulfide linkages. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has been used to characterize major species obtained when cyclic and acyclic peptide disulfides are exposed to alkaline media. Studies on a model cyclic peptide disulfide (Boc-Cys-Pro-Leu-Cys-NHMe) and an acy...

Cyclic nucleotides play a major role in cell signaling, especially in the nervous system. They act as cytoplasmic messengers in a wide range of physiological responses, but the spatial distribution of their sites of action within cells and tissues is not well-known. In the vertebrate retina, there is a class of well-characterized cGMP binding sites which control the permeability of cation chann...

Cholesteryl esters are the major lipids that accumulate in arteries during atherogenesis. The mechanisms responsible for this lipid accretion have not been completely defined. Our previous experiments have shown that prostacyclin (PGI2) enhances cholesteryl ester catabolism by increasing cyclic AMP in cultured arterial smooth muscle cells. However, PGI2 is rapidly degraded under physiologic con...

Biofilm formation and dispersal in the black rot pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris (Xcc) is influenced by a number of factors. The extracellular mannanase ManA has been implicated in biofilm dispersal whereas biofilm formation requires a putative glycosyl transferase encoded by the xag gene cluster. Previously we demonstrated that the post-transcriptional regulator RsmA exerts...

It has been recently indicated that relaxation of the guinea-pig taenia by Q-adrenergic stimulants or papaverine is associated with increased concentration of cyclic AMP (cyclic adenosine-3', 5'-monophosphate) in the cells (1-5). On the other hand cyclic GMP (cyclic guanosine-3', 5'-monophosphate) is present in considerable amounts in various mammalian tissues, particularly in the gastrointesti...

Adenosine 5'-cyclic diphosphoribose [cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR)], a metabolite of NAD+ that promotes Ca2+ release from sea urchin egg homogenates and microsomal fractions, has been proposed to act as an endogenous agonist of Ca2+ release in sea urchin eggs. We describe experiments showing that a microsomal fraction isolated from Tetrapigus nyger sea urchin eggs displayed Ca2+-selective single ch...