Ferrochelatase catalyzes the insertion of Fe2+ into protoporphyrin IX to generate protoheme. A putative mature region of a cucumber ferrochelatase cDNA (hemH) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity (40 kDa). The optimum pH was 7.7, and the apparent K(m) values for deuteroporphyrin IX and Fe2+ were 14.4 microM and 4.7 microM, respectively. The activity of the ferrochel...

Four isoenzymes of carbonic anhydrase (CA) were purified from Elephas Irogontherii (steppe elephant) bone (approx 0.3-0.5 million years old) from different locations (outer peripheral, cytosolic, inner peripheral and integral) using Sepharose 4B-L-tyrosine sulphanilamide affinity chromatography and their kinetics properties were investigated and compared with known CA isoenzymes. The purificati...

Heparanase is an endo-glucuronidase expressed in a variety of tissues and cells that selectively cleaves extracellular and cell-surface heparan sulfate. Here we propose that this enzyme is involved also in the processing of serglycin heparin proteoglycan in mouse mast cells. In this process, newly synthesized heparin chains (60-100 kDa) are degraded to fragments (10-20 kDa) similar in size to c...

Juvenile hormone (JH) esterase found primarily in the hemolymph and tissues of insects is a low abundance protein involved in the ester hydrolysis of insect juvenile hormones, JHs. The enzyme was purified from the larval plasma of wild-type Manduca sexta using an affinity column prepared by binding the ligand, 3-[(4'-mercapto)butylthio]-1,1,1-trifluoropropan-2-one (MBTFP), to epoxy-activated Se...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), many of which are known carcinogens, are derived from the pyrolysis of organic materials. A rich source of PAHs is cigarette smoke, which contains methylated anthracenes and phenanthrenes as the predominant PAHs. The tumor-promoting activity of cigarette smoke has been well documented. The down-regulation of gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC...

Prostaglandin and monocyte modulation of a T-lymphocyte cell capable of undergoing clonal expansion was studied. Circulating human mononuclear cells were isolated by density centrifugation. After 24 h in culture with phytohemagglutinin present, the cells were mixed with 0.3% agar and overlayed onto a 0.5% agar layer that contained media and phytohemagglutinin. At day 6, colonies that contained ...

Several auxin herbicides, such as 2, 4-D and dicamba, have been used to eradicate an exotic invasive weed Ipomoea cairica in subtropical China, but restraining the re-explosion of this weed is still a challenge. Since ethylene is one of the major intermediate functioning products during the eradication process, we explored the possibility, mechanism and efficiency of using ethephon which can re...

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is a worldwide pest of citrus, which vectors the putative causal pathogen of huanglongbing. Current management practices warrant continuous monitoring of field populations for insecticide resistance. Baseline activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), general esterase, and glutathione S-transferase as well as sensitivity of AChE to selected o...

INTRODUCTION Diagnoses and medical procedures collected under the French system of information are recorded in a nationwide database, the "PMSI national database", which is accessible for exploitation. Quality of the data in this database is directly related to the quality of coding, which can be of poor quality. Among the proposed methods for the exploitation of health databases, data mining t...

The specificity of endothelial binding sites for heparin was investigated with heparin fractions and fragments differing in their Mr, charge density and affinity for antithrombin III, as well as with heparinoids and other anionic polyelectrolytes (polystyrene sulphonates). The affinity for endothelial cells was estimated by determining I50 values in competition experiments with 125I-heparin. We...