The control of blood glucose levels is critical in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. α-Glucosidase inhibitors are of great importance in reducing hyperglycemia, and plants have provided many of these agents. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of two stilbenes, lonchocarpene and 3,5-dimethoxy-4'-O-prenyl-trans-stilbene (DPS), isolated from the Amazonian plant Deguelia rufescen...

Carotenoids are biologically active phytochemicals present as micro-components in fruits and vegetables, being responsible for their yellow, orange and red colors. The chromatographic behavior and the UV absorption spectrum provided by HPLC-DAD analysis constitute the clues for their identification. Mushrooms are of increasing importance in modern nutrition and medicine, due to the presence of ...

Abalone sperm lysin is a 16 kDa acrosomal protein used by sperm to create a hole in the egg vitelline envelope. Lysins from seven California abalone exhibit species-specificity in binding to their egg receptor, and range in sequence identity from 63 % to 90 %. The crystal structure of the sperm lysin dimer from Haliotis fulgens (green abalone) has been determined to 1.71 A by multiple isomorpho...

A new hypothesis concerning the mechanism of the P. rufescens' slave-raids, is proposed. (i) The so-called pseudo-scouting does not contribute to the slave-raids. (ii) The direction of the raid is determined by the random movement of the most easily aroused individuals - the so-called activists. (iii) Once the direction has been set the army marches straight ahead and returns by the same road o...

Photosynthesis, Assimilates, Chemotaxonomy, Phycobiliprotein-Containing Algae Representatives o f phycobiliprotein-containing algae such as Anabaena cylindrica, Anacystis nidulans, Gloeotrichia echinulata (Cyanophyceae), Chroomonas spec., Hemiselmis rufescens, Rhodomonas spec. (Cryptophyceae), Porphyridium cruentum, Rhodella violacea (Rhodophyceae) along with the unicellular Cyanidium caldarium...