N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-mediated polymerizations of N-butyl N-carboxyanhydride (Bu-NCA) to produce cyclic poly(N-butyl glycine)s (c-NHC-PNBGs) have been investigated in various solvents with NHCs having differing steric and electronic properties. Control over the polymer molecular weight (MW) and polymerization rate is strongly dependent on the solvent and the NHC structure. Kinetic studie...

Human transglutaminase 2 (TG2), a member of a large family of enzymes that catalyze protein crosslinking, plays an important role in the extracellular matrix biology of many tissues and is implicated in the gluten-induced pathogenesis of celiac sprue. Although vertebrate transglutaminases have been studied extensively, thus far all structurally characterized members of this family have been cry...

Transglutaminases (TGases) are Ca2+-dependent enzymes capable of catalysing transamidation of glutamine residues to form intermolecular isopeptide bonds. Nine distinct TGases have been described in mammals, and two of them (types 2 and 3) are regulated by GTP/ATP. TGase2 hydrolyses GTP and is therefore a bifunctional enzyme. In the present study, we report that TGase5 is also regulated by nucle...

Heat-resistant polymers with an intense, visible photoluminescence (PL) functionality are presented. A polybenzoxazole (PBO) containing hexafluoroisopropylidene (HFIP) side groups exhibited intense purple PL a quantum yield, ΦPL, of 0.22 (22%), owing to the effectively disturbed concentration quenching (CQ) in fluorophore units by bulky HFIP groups. The chain ends wholly cycloaliphatic polyimid...

PURPOSE Tissue transglutaminase (TG2) is a unique multifunctional enzyme. The enzyme possesses enzymatic activities such as transamidation/crosslinking and non-enzymatic functions such as cell migration and signal transduction. TG2 has been shown to be involved in molecular mechanisms of cancers and several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. The present study aimed at cloni...

Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is a multifunctional enzyme that has guanine nucleotide binding and GTP hydrolyzing activity in addition to its transamidating function. Studies show that TG2 is a player in mediating cell death processes. However, there is far from a consensus about the role of this enzyme in cell death processes as it appears to be dependent upon the cell type, stimuli, subcellular lo...

A cell envelope particulate fraction from an encapsulated strain of Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945A contains a polygldamyl synthetase which catalyzes the polymerization of L-glutamic acid to form a high molecular weight polymer of y-D-glutamic acid. The reaction, which is specific for L-glutamic acid, requires ATP and Mg2f ion and is stimulated by K+ ion and dithiothreitol. A nearly Z-fold in...