Intracellular bacterial pathogens exploit the compartmentalization of the eukaryotic cell to create an environment that supports their own survival and growth. Among cellular organelles, the nucleus has long been considered to be mostly ‘safe’ from direct bacterial attacks. However, a growing number of molecules secreted by bacteria—termed ‘nucleomodulins’—target this central organelle to subve...

The bactericidal action of the quaternary ammonium detergents has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Recent reviewers (Putnam, 1948; Rahn and Van Eseltine, 1947; cf. Glassman, 1948) have not agreed that the amounts of these detergents lethal to bacteria are insufficient to cause any general denaturation of the bacterial proteins (Valko, 1946). Action by enzyme inactivation, either primary o...

Octanoic acid inhibits, in vitro, the bacterial enzymes glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, fumarase, lactate dehydrogenase, and the malic enzyme of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes. The free fatty acid appears to act as an inhibitor of lipogenesis, although it does not affect the rate of gluconeogenesis. To demonstrate that this inhibition may be of physiologi...

In recent years several techniques have been developed for the purpose of disintegrating bacterial cells. These have depended upon different principles ranging from autolytic rupture of the cell to grinding with powdered glas (Lipmann, 1938; Koepsell and Johnson, 1942; Wiggert et al., 1940; Kalnitsky et al., 1945; Booth and Green, 1938). Although each method has merit for some specific problem,...

Novel methylene tetrahydromethanopterin (H4MPT) dehydrogenase enzymes, named MtdC, were purified after expressing in Escherichia coli genes from, respectively, Gemmata sp. strain Wa1-1 and environmental DNA originating from unidentified microbial species. The MtdC enzymes were shown to possess high affinities for methylene-H4MPT and NADP but low affinities for methylene tetrahydrofolate or NAD....

The present study describes the distribution and properties of enzymes of the catabolic pathway of pyrimidine nucleotides in Riftia pachyptila, a tubeworm living around deep-sea hydrothermal vents and known to be involved in a highly specialized symbiotic association with a bacterium. The catabolic enzymes, 5'-nucleotidase, uridine phosphorylase, and uracil reductase, are present in all tissues...

Cut gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) flowers are sensitive to microbial contamination and have short vase life. The effect of salicylic acid, citric acid and ascorbic acid (50, 100 and 200 mg l-1) was evaluated on vase life of gerbera flowers. Changes in vase life, water absorption, and bacterial population in stem and vase solution, also biochemical characteristics such as protein concentration, li...

Campylobacter concisus is a bacterium that is associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Immunosuppressive drugs including azathioprine (AZA) and mercaptopurine (MP), and anti-inflammatory drug such as 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) are commonly used to treat patients with IBD. This study aimed to examine the effects of AZA, MP, and 5-ASA on the growth of IBD-associated bacterial species ...

Biochemical form is shaped by biological function. Biochemical investigation of enzymes involved in eukaryotic homologous genetic recombination now is progressing rapidly, having only recently been inaugurated with the study of Rad51 protein, a homolog of the bacterial RecA protein. A significant new front is opened with the first report on the in vitro activities of a second and meiosis-specif...

Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 1000e105 Biol Med ISSN: 0974-8369 BLM, an open access journal RNA molecules contain four standard nucleosides, adenosine (A), guanosine (G), cytidine (C), and uridine (U). Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are present in many types of RNAs including ribosomal RNA (rRNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and others. These RNA modifications are important for al...