Specific cutting of undamaged DNA by UvrABC nuclease is observed. It occurs seven nucleotides (nt) from the 3' terminus of oligonucleotides annealed to single-stranded M13 DNA circles. Although the location of the UvrABC cut on undamaged DNA is similar to that of the cut on the 5' side of a damaged DNA site during the dual incision reaction, the cut of undamaged DNA is not an intermediate in th...

3-epi-Actinobolin was synthesized by the chemical transformation of actinobolin involving a key step of the reconstruction of fused delta-lacton skeleton via intramolecular acylation reaction. The analogue with low toxicity weakly inhibits Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type-3, also known as Machado-Joseph Disease (MJD), is one of many inherited neurodegenerative disorders caused by polyglutamine-encoding CAG repeat expansions in otherwise unrelated genes. Disease protein misfolding and aggregation, often within the nucleus of affected neurons, characterize polyglutamine disorders. Several evidences have implicated the nucleus as the pri...

Conway et al recently reported that alternatively spliced forms of mouse survivin exhibit different antiapoptotic properties.1 This was inferred from inhibition of recombinant caspase-3 catalytic activity using a standard chromogenic assay in the presence of increasing concentrations of mammalian-expressed murine survivin isoforms of 140, 121, and 40 amino acids, respectively.1 If confirmed, th...

AIM The aim of this work was to assess caspase-3 activity in the tissue of papillary thyroid carcinomas of patients and analyze the peculiarities of changes in this activity depending upon a number of pathomorphological and clinical features of tumoral process. METHODS Caspase-3 activity was determined by spectrophotometry with regard to acetyl-asp-glu-val-asp-paranitroanilide. RESULTS At i...

Agonist-independent properties of the human f32-adrenergic receptor (fl2AR) were studied using the baculovirus expression system in Sf9 cells. In the absence of agonist but in the presence of GTP, membranes from cells expressing the fl2AR exhibited higher levels of cAMP production than did membranes from uninfected cells or from cells infected with wild-type baculovirus. The increase in cAMP pr...

The bactericidal activity of 3-propiolactone (BPL) vapor was first reported by Hoffman and Warshowsky (1958). Although this chemical has shown promise in our laboratories as a very useful gaseous disinfectanit for rooms and buildings, the lack of information on the virucidal activity of BPL vapor has been a deterrent in the use of the chemical to decontaminate virology laboratories or buildings...

Gilvocarcin V, isolated rom a Streptomyces culture showed activity against experimental tumors such as sarcoma 180, Ehrlich carcinoma, Meth 1 fibrosarcoma, MH134 hepatoma and lymphocytic leukemia P388. In particular, 40% of treated mice survived for 60 days, after intraperitoneal administration of gilvocarcin V to mice bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. But it was marginally active against B16...