Oat arginine decarboxylase is synthesized as a 66-kDa proenzyme, but the soluble enzyme is found in oats as a complex of 42- and 24-kDa polypeptide fragments, both derived from the 66-kDa precursor. We report here that this proteolytic cleavage is the result of a processing enzyme, distinct from arginine decarboxylase itself, that leads to activation of the arginine decarboxylase. The proteolys...

The conversion of biomass-derived sugars and aromatic molecules to cis,cis-muconic acid (referred to hereafter as muconic acid or muconate) has been of recent interest owing to its facile conversion to adipic acid, an important commodity chemical. Metabolic routes to produce muconate from both sugars and many lignin-derived aromatic compounds require the use of a decarboxylase to convert protoc...

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a four-carbon non-protein amino acid, is a significant component of the free amino acid pool in most prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In plants, stress initiates a signal-transduction pathway, in which increased cytosolic Ca2+ activates Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent glutamate decarboxylase activity and GABA synthesis. Elevated H+ and substrate levels can also st...

from acetic acid is catalyzation by mevalonate pyrophosphate decarboxylase (MPD). This decarboxylase catalyzes a bimolecular reaction between mevalonate 5-pyrophosphate (MVAPP) and ATP to form isopentenyl pyrophosphate, inorganic phosphate, adenosine-5 -diphosphate (ADP), and CO2. MPD has been purified from various sources, including yeast, latex of Hevea brasiliensis, pig liver, rat liver, mou...

BACKGROUND AND METHODS Type 1 diabetes mellitus is now classified as autoimmune (type 1A) or idiopathic (type 1B), but little is known about the latter. We classified 56 consecutive Japanese adults with type 1 diabetes according to the presence or absence of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (their presence is a marker of autoimmunity) and compared their clinical, serologic, and pathologic...

Virtanen and Laine (1937) were the first to suggest the existence of an aspartic acid decarboxylase in Rhizobium trifolii, by the isolation of beta-alanine from a 47-day fermentation mash containing aspartic acid. Shive and Macow (1946), working with hydroxyaspartic acid as a competitive analogue for aspartic acid in the metabolism of Escherichia coli, found that the addition of this compound t...

AIM To gain insight into the presence of islet cell autoimmunity in an ethnic Asian compared with a white European population. METHODS For this cross-sectional study we recruited people with adult-onset diabetes (age of diagnosis 20-60 years), at tertiary referral centres in Germany (n=1020) and Singapore (n=1088). Glutamic acid decarboxylase and islet antigen 2 antibodies were measured accor...

Pyruvate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.1), the penultimate enzyme in the alcoholic fermentation pathway of Zymomonas mobilis, converts pyruvate to acetaldehyde and carbon dioxide. The complete nucleotide sequence of the structural gene encoding pyruvate decarboxylase from Zymomonas mobilis has been determined. The coding region is 1704 nucleotides long and encodes a polypeptide of 567 amino acids wit...

Highly reliable biomarkers for the diagnosis of neurological diseases are not widely available. Here we evaluated a luciferase immunoprecipitation technology (LIPS) for the diagnosis of a CNS autoimmune disorder, stiff-person syndrome (SPS). Analysis by LIPS of 40 sera samples from SPS and control subjects for anti-GAD65 antibodies revealed dramatic titer differences allowing diagnosis of SPS w...

OBJECTIVE To increase the recognition of glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies-related encephalitis in childhood. DESIGN Case report and review of the literature. PATIENT A 6-year-old girl who had developed refractory seizures, developmental regression, and type 1 diabetes mellitus at age 25 months. INTERVENTIONS Blood analysis, electroencephalogram, cerebral magnetic resonance imagi...