BACKGROUND Pycnocycla spinosa Decne. ex Boiss is an aromatic plant which showed relaxant effects on isolated ileum contractions and antidiarrheal activity. Thirty four components have been extracted from P. spinosa essential oil, of which several major constituents were found to show seasonal variation. OBJECTIVES The aim of this work is to evaluate the diurnal variation of its oil constituen...

We have identified an omega,E,E-farnesyl diphosphate (omega,E,E-FPP) synthase, encoded by the open reading frame Rv3398c, from Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is unique among reported FPP synthases in that it does not contain the type I (eukaryotic) or the type II (eubacterial) omega,E,E-FPP synthase signature motif. Instead, it has a structural motif similar to that of the type I geranylgerany...

The p-menthane monoterpenes of the Mentha species are biosynthesized from geranyl pyrophosphate via the monocyclic olefin 4S-limonene. A monoterpene cyclase was isolated from both Mentha x piperita (peppermint) and Mentha spicata (spearmint) that catalyzes the cyclization of geranyl pyrophosphate to 4S-limonene. This enzyme, 4S-limonene synthase, was purified to apparent homogeneity by dye liga...

Nephrotoxicity due to renal proximal tubule accumulation of aminoglycoside (AG) antibiotics, such as gentamicin, represents a major clinical problem. Receptor-mediated endocytosis via the multi-ligand receptor megalin is thought to be a key mechanism in the cellular uptake of AGs and nephrotoxicity. This process can be modulated by the intracellular concentration of isoprenoid pyrophosphates de...

In order to identify small G protein (s) which contributes to the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), we examined the effect of an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (cerivastatin), a farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI-277), a geranyl geranyl transferase inhibitor (GGTI-286) and a Rho kinase inhibitor (Y-27632) on the proliferation of cultured rat VSMCs stimulated with 20ng/ml plate...

The discovery of a distinct metabolic pathway, the non-mevalonate or 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate (DOXP) pathway for isoprenoid precursor biosynthesis, in eubacteria and apicomplexan parasites has revealed a new set of potential drug targets. The emphasis of research on this pathway has been on delineating the intermediates and the biochemical and structural characterization of component enzy...

We previously obtained evidence in rainbow trout for the presence and response to changes in circulating levels of glucose (induced by intraperitoneal hypoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic treatments) of glucosensing mechanisms based on liver X receptor (LXR), mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to increased expression of uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2), and sweet taste rec...

Solanesol is a non-cyclic terpene alcohol composed of nine isoprene units that mainly accumulates in solanaceous plants. Solanesol plays an important role in the interactions between plants and environmental factors such as pathogen infections and moderate-to-high temperatures. Additionally, it is a key intermediate for the pharmaceutical synthesis of ubiquinone-based drugs such as coenzyme Q10...