In a previous publication from this laboratory (l), it was mentioned that cell-free extracts of Neurospora mycelium form considerable amounts of pyruvate and ammonia from m-serine. It was also reported that pyridoxal phosphate stimulates the activity of this system. Results similar to these have recently been obtained by Reissig (2). On further examination of the Neurospora system, it has been ...

A new continuous fluorimetric assay for AMP deaminase activity is described. The method makes use of a fluorescent analog of 5'-AMP, formycin-5'-phosphate (5'-FMP), which undergoes deamination to formycin B-5'-phosphate, not fluorescent at neutral pH. The pH-dependence for deamination of 5'-FMP is similar to that for 5'-AMP, but shifted about 0.2 units to more acidic pH. Deamination of 5'-FMP m...

Monoamine oxidase (MAO) catalyzes the oxidative deamination of monoamines including dopamine (DA). MAO expression is elevated in Parkinson's disease (PD). An increase in MAO activity is closely related to age, and this may induce neuronal degeneration in the brain due to oxidative stress. MAO (and particularly monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B)) participates in the generation of reactive oxygen specie...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder for which the greatest risk factor is age. Four to five percent of 85-year-olds suffer from this debilitating disease, which is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons within the substantia nigra and the presence of protein aggregates known as Lewy bodies. While the etiology of this disease is still unknown, ...

Oxidative stress is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and increased oxidative DNA damage has been observed in brain tissue from AD patients. Base excision repair (BER) is the primary DNA repair pathway for small base modifications such as alkylation, deamination and oxidation. In this study, we have investigated alterations in the BER capacity in brains of A...

Monoamine oxidase (MAO) catalyzes the oxidative deamination of amines and neurotransmitters and is involved in mood disorders, depression, oxidative stress, and adverse pharmacological reactions. This work studies the inhibition of human MAO-A by Hypericum perforatum, Peganum harmala, and Lepidium meyenii, which are reported to improve and affect mood and mental conditions. Subsequently, the an...

to evaluate the role of wild promoter of l-phenylalanine dehydrogenase (phedh) gene, referred to as pdh, from bacillus sphaericus in expression, cloning of pdh gene in bacillus subtilis was performed. the whole pdh gene was cloned in phy300plk shuttle vector and amplified, construct (phydh) then transformed in b. subtilis isw1214 and e. coli jm109. the pdh endogenous promoter presented no effec...

microcantilevers (mcls) are cost-effective and highly sensitive devices for biodetection. adsorption of specific analytes on the microcantilever surface causes the bending of mcl through changing of the surface characteristics. these new bioprobes designed in a way that one side of the microcantilever surface is coated with a selective receptor that absorbs particular molecules. after surface a...

NEIL1 is unique among the oxidatively damaged base repair-initiating DNA glycosylases in the human genome due to its S phase-specific activation and ability to excise substrate base lesions from single-stranded DNA. We recently characterized NEIL1's specific binding to downstream canonical repair and non-canonical accessory proteins, all of which involve NEIL1's disordered C-terminal segment as...