The outer envelope of the extracellular form of vaccinia virus contains five virus-encoded proteins, F13, A33, A34, A56, and B5, that, with the exception of A56, are implicated in virus egress or infectivity. A34, a type II transmembrane glycoprotein, is involved in the induction of actin tails, the release of enveloped virus from the surfaces of infected cells, and the disruption of the virus ...

BACKGROUND Enterovirus 71 (EV71) belongs to picornavirus family and could be classified phylogenetically into three major genogroups (A, B and C) including 11 genotypes (A, B1-B5 and C1-C5). Since 1997, EV71 has caused large-scale of epidemics with neurological complications in Asian children. In Taiwan, nationwide EV71 epidemics with different predominant genotypes have occurred cyclically sin...

The 6-desaturase catalyzes key steps in longchain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis. Although the gene coding for this enzyme has been isolated in diverse animal species, the protein structure remains poorly characterized. In this work, rat 6-desaturase expressed in COS-7 cells was shown to localize in the endoplasmic reticulum. As the enzyme contains an N-terminal cytochrome b5-like doma...

Abstract Ellipticine is an anticancer agent that forms covalent DNA adducts after enzymatic activation by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, mainly by CYP3A4. This process is one of the most important ellipticine DNA-damaging mechanisms for its antitumor action. Here, we investigated the efficiencies of human hepatic microsomes and human recombinant CYP3A4 expressed with its reductase, NADPH:CYP ox...

BACKGROUND Indigenous populations of the circumpolar Arctic are considered to be endemically infected (>2% prevalence) with hepatitis B virus (HBV), with subgenotype B5 (formerly B6) unique to these populations. The distinctive properties of HBV/B5, including high nucleotide diversity yet no significant liver disease, suggest virus adaptation through long-term host-pathogen association. METHO...

Immunization against smallpox (variola virus) with Dryvax, a live vaccinia virus (VV), was effective, but now safety is a major concern. To overcome this issue, subunit vaccines composed of VV envelope proteins from both forms of infectious virions, including the extracellular enveloped virion (EV) protein B5, are being developed. However, since B5 has 23 amino acid differences compared with it...

We report here that photoinitiated electron flow involving a metal-substituted (M = Mg, Zn) myoglobin (Mb) and its physiological partner protein, cytochrome b5 (cyt b5) can be "symmetrized": the [Mb:cyt b5] complex stabilized by three D/E → K mutations on Mb (D44K/D60K/E85K, denoted MMb) exhibits both oxidative and reductive ET quenching of both the singlet and triplet photoexcited MMb states, ...

This study aimed at evaluating the effect of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) (150 and 300 mg/kg b.w.) on urinary trichloroethanol and trichloroacetic acid excretion and the liver cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenase system (MFO) in rats treated with trichloroethylene (TRI) alone or with xylene (XYL) at a concentration of 4.5 mmol/m air. The study has shown that xylene equally decreased trichloro...