Flavin-dependent enzymes are characterized by an amazing chemical versatility and play important roles in different cellular pathways. The FAD-containing choline oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis oxidizes choline to glycine betaine and retains the intermediate betaine aldehyde in the active site. The reduced FAD is oxidized by oxygen. Glycine betaine is an important osmoprotectant accumulat...

The helper-component proteinase (HC-Pro) of potyvirus is involved in polyprotein processing, aphid transmission, and suppression of antiviral RNA silencing. There is no high resolution structure reported for any part of HC-Pro, hindering mechanistic understanding of its multiple functions. We have determined the crystal structure of the cysteine protease domain of HC-Pro from turnip mosaic viru...

For decades neuroreceptor research has focused on the development of NMDA glycine-site antagonists, after Johnson and Ascher found out in 1987 about the co-agonistic character of this achiral amino acid at the NMDA receptor. Contrary to the inhibitory glycine receptor (glycine(A)) the glycine binding site on the NMDA receptor (glycine(B)) is strychnine-insensitive. A great diversity of diseases...

Amino acids are known to be compartmented within the cell, as in glutamine synthesis in rat brain (1, 2) and in protein synthesis in Can&&z utilis (3) and rat diaphragm and lymph node preparations (4). Such compartmentations are often detected by the observation that the specific activity of a synthesis product is greater than that of its apparent precursor for some length of time. Experiments ...

Knowing how the protein environment modulates ligand pathways and redox centers in the respiratory heme-copper oxidases is fundamental for understanding the relationship between the structure and function of these enzymes. In this study, we investigated the reactions of O2 and NO with the fully reduced G232V mutant of ba3 cytochrome c oxidase from Thermus thermophilus (Tt ba3) in which a conser...

The SH2 domain is required for high catalytic activity in the COOH-terminal Src kinase (Csk). Previous solution studies suggest that a short peptide sequence, the SH2-kinase linker, provides a functional connection between the active site and the distal SH2 domain that could underlie this catalytic phenomenon. Substitutions in Phe183 (tyrosine, alanine, and glycine), a critical hydrophobic resi...

The molar conductivity data of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium salicylate, [BMIm][Sal] as an active pharmaceutical ingredient ionic liquid (API-IL) have been determined in water and aqueous solutions of amino acids, glycine and L-alanine at T= (288.15 to 318.15) K. The molar conductivity data were analyzed by low concentration Chemical Model (lcCM) and limiting molar conductivities ( ), ion associa...

Hypofunction of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The NMDAR contains a D-serine/glycine site on the NR1 subunit that may be a promising therapeutic target for psychiatric illness. This review outlines the complex regulation of endogenous NMDAR D-serine/glycine site agonists and explores their contribution to schizophrenia path...

BACKGROUND Inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors by anesthetic gases and vapors may play an important role in anesthesia and neuroprotection. However, the site of action of these agents on the NMDA receptor is unknown. The authors show that xenon and isoflurane compete for the binding of the coagonist glycine on the NMDA receptor NR1 subunit. METHODS Using a novel application of...

By using cytoplasmic and mitochondrial serine transhydroxymethylase isoenzymes from rabbit liver, it was shown that both enzymes exhibited similar ratios of serine transhydroxymethylase/threonine aldolase activities. Both enzymes catalysed the removal of the pro-S hydrogen atom of glycine, which was greatly enhanced by the presence of tetrahydrofolate. The cytoplasmic as well as the mitochondri...