INTRODUCTION: Dichloroacetate (DCA) is a pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) inhibitor and is found to be an anti-cancer agent [1]. It causes the activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and increased glucose oxidation by promoting the influx of acetyl-CoA into the mitochondria and the Krebs cycle [1]. The hyperpolarised C experiment measures the conversion of labelled pyruvate to labelled la...

1. A lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme present in human spermatozoa and semen was isolated and characterized biochemically in term of its pH for optimum activity and by means of K(m) values for lactate, NAD(+) and NAD analogues. The results were compared with those obtained with the human heart-type and the liver-type lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes. 2. The enzyme was characterized by its resist...

Lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27) from Vibrio marinus MP-1 was purified 15-fold and ammonium activated. The optimum pH for pyruvate reduction was 7.4. Maximum lactate dehydrogenase activity occurred at 10 to 15 degrees C, and none occurred at 40 degrees C. The crude-extract enzyme was stable between 15 and 20 degrees C and lost 50% of its activity after 60 min at 45 degrees C. The partially p...

BACKGROUND Polylactic acid (PLA) is one important chemical building block that is well known as a biodegradable and a biocompatible plastic. The traditional lactate fermentation processes need CaCO3 as neutralizer to maintain the desired pH, which results in an amount of insoluble CaSO4 waste during the purification process. To overcome such environmental issue, alkaliphilic organisms have the ...

Cryptosporidium parvum is a zoonotic protozoan that can cause a life-threatening gastrointestinal syndrome in children and in immunocompromised adults. Currently, the only approved drug for treatment of Cryptosporidium infections in humans is nitazoxanide, but it is not effective in immunocompromised individuals or in children with malnutrition. This is compounded by the lack of genetic methods...

Spatial organization of metabolic enzymes allows substrate channeling, which accelerates processing of intermediates. Here, we investigated the effect of substrate channeling on the flux partitioning at a metabolic branch point, focusing on pyruvate metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As a platform strain for the channeling of pyruvate flux, PYK1-Coh-Myc strain was constructed in which PYK1...