Production of GP140, a major component of the extracellular matrix of cultured fibroblasts, is markedly decreased in SV40 transformed cells as compared with normal cells (Carter, W. G., 1982, J. Biol. Chem., 257:13805-13815). To determine at what step the biosynthesis is inhibited, we compared the levels of functional mRNA for GP140 in normal and transformed fibroblasts. Translation of total RN...

Many bacteria synthesize extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs) with commercially significant physiological and therapeutic activities. Microbial polysaccharides have also been reported to have potential therapeutic applications. Recently, much attention has been devoted to the microbial exopolysaccharides (EPSs) due to their numerous health beneûts.EPSs from lactic acid bacteria are reported to ...

An analysis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa genomic sequence revealed three gene clusters, PA1381-1393, PA2231-2240, and PA3552-3558, in addition to the alginate biosynthesis gene cluster, which appeared to encode functions for exopolysaccharide (EPS) biosynthesis. Recent evidence indicates that alginate is not a significant component of the extracellular matrix in biofilms of the sequenced P. ae...

Pramod Kumar, MS, MCh, DNB, MBA King Abdulaziz Specialist Hospital Sakaka, Al-Jouf, Saudi Arabia Sir: A Hippocrates described the features of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), it was named after 2 physicians, viz., Edvard Ehlers from Denmark and Henri-Alexandre Danlos from France, who described it at the turn of the 20th century.1 It is an inherited disorder of collagen biosynthesis and structure i...

Bacteria are often found in multicellular communities known as biofilms, which constitute a resistance form against environmental stresses. Extracellular adhesion and cell aggregation factors, responsible for bacterial biofilm formation and maintenance, are tightly regulated in response to physiological and environmental cues. We show that, in Escherichia coli, inactivation of genes belonging t...

5-Lipoxygenase initiates the biosynthesis of leukotrienes, lipid mediators involved in normal host defense and in inflammatory and allergic disorders. Despite an obvious gender bias in leukotriene-related diseases (e.g., asthma), gender aspects have been neglected in studies on leukotrienes and 5-lipoxygenase. Here, we show that leukotriene formation in stimulated whole blood or neutrophils fro...

We used high-density cDNA microarray in studies of responses of rainbow trout fry at sublethal ranges of beta-naphthoflavone, cadmium, carbon tetrachloride, and pyrene. The differentially expressed genes were grouped by the functional categories of Gene Ontology. Significantly different response to the studied compounds was shown by a number of classes, such as cell cycle, apoptosis, signal tra...

The malaria-causing blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum requires extracellular pantothenate for proliferation. The parasite converts pantothenate into coenzyme A (CoA) via five enzymes, the first being a pantothenate kinase (PfPanK). Multiple antiplasmodial pantothenate analogues, including pantothenol and CJ-15,801, kill the parasite by targeting CoA biosynthesis/utilisation. Their mechanism ...

BACKGROUND Riboflavin is the precursor of important redox cofactors such as flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide, required for several biological processes. Vibrio cholerae, a pathogenic bacterium responsible for the cholera disease, possesses the ability to biosynthesize de novo as well as to uptake riboflavin through the riboflavin biosynthetic pathway (RBP) and the Rib...

Habicher, J. 2015. Glycosaminoglycan Biosynthesis and Function in Zebrafish Development. Sugars Shaping Skeletons. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1266. 65 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9282-3. Heparan sulfate (HS) and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate (CS/DS) proteoglycans are glycosylated proteins wi...