Mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene cause cystic fibrosis (CF) and are associated with congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD), which is the major cause of infertility in male patients with CF. However, most Taiwanese patients with CBAVD do not carry major CFTR mutations. Some patients have a single copy deletion of the solute carrie...

Two alternative pathways leading to protease-mediated syntheses of Leu- and Met-enkephalin are described. Each peptide bond of the opiate peptides was formed by either papain, or alpha-chymotrypsin catalysis. N alpha-t-Butyloxycarbonyl amino acids and peptides or their esters served as carboxyl components, whereas amino acid and peptide phenylhydrazides were used as acceptor nucleophiles. After...

A cDNA encoding alpha-class glutathione S-transferase Yc (GSTYc) has been isolated from a Syrian hamster kidney library, and its nucleotide sequence (968 bp) has been determined. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence revealed a high level of identity between Syrian hamster GSTYc, rat GST Yc1 and Yc2 and mouse GSTYc. Northern-blot experiments demonstrated that Syrian hamster GSTYc expressi...

To evaluate the role of aromatic amino-acids residues, four analogues of the -selective opioid peptide agonist DALDA (H-Tyr-D-Arg-Phe-Lys-NH2) containing the amphiphilic, , -disubstituted amino acid (R)or (S)-hydroxymethyltyrosine (HmTyr) in position 1 and (R)or (S)-hydroxymethylphenylalanine (HmPhe) in position 3 of the peptide sequence were synthesized. Only the [(R)-HmPhe 3 )]DALDA analogue ...