In mammals, natural-resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (Nramp1) regulates macrophage activation and is associated with infectious and autoimmune diseases. Nramp2 is associated with anaemia. Both belong to a highly conserved eukaryote/prokaryote protein family. We used Xenopus oocytes to demonstrate that, like Nramp2, Nramp1 is a bivalent cation (Fe2+, Zn2+ and Mn2+) transporter. Strikin...

In the title coordination polymer, [Nd(2)(C(10)H(8)O(4))(3)(H(2)O)(2)](n), each of the two Nd(III) ions is nine-coordinated by eight O atoms from six different 2,2'-(m-phenyl-ene)diacetate (pda) bivalent anions and by one O atom from a water mol-ecule, forming a distorted tricapped trigonal-prismatic coordination geometry. Eight Nd(III) ions and 12 pda ligands form a large [Nd(8)(pda)(12)] ring...

Rat-liver cinnabarinate synthase (3-hydroxyanthranilic acid-oxygen oxidoreductase) was partially purified. Stoicheiometric studies indicated the consumption of 3 atoms of oxygen/molecule of cinnabarinic acid formed. There was an initial lag in enzyme activity. The reaction had an optimum pH about 7-2 and an optimum temperature of 37°. The enzyme was highly specific for 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid...

When living cells of Nitella are first exposed to (1) phosphate buffer mixture, or (2) phosphoric acid, or (3) hydrochloric acid, or (4) sodium chloride, or (5) sodium borate, and are then placed in a solution of brilliant cresyl blue made up with a borate buffer mixture at pH 7.85, the rate of penetration of the dye into the vacuole is decreased as compared with the rate in the case of cells t...

Normal growth and development of higher plants is dependent on the presence of small amounts of a compound which seems to be of general distribution in the plant kingdom, at least in vascular plants. This_compound was shown to possess the structure (25:3'S:3"S)-N--L N—(3-amino-3—carboxypropyl)-3amino-3_carboxypropyi7-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (1) and proved to be identical with nicotianamine....

TRPM3 [TRP (transient receptor potential) melastatin 3] is one of the least investigated proteins of the TRP family of ion channels. Heterologously expressed TRPM3 channels are constitutively active, have an outwardly rectifying current-voltage relationship and are inhibited by intracellular Mg(2+) ions. Besides these rather common features, in which TRPM3 channels resemble the closely related ...

In high G+C Gram-positive bacteria, the control of expression of genes involved in iron metabolism is exerted by a DmdR [divalent (bivalent) metal-dependent regulatory protein] in the presence of Fe2+ or other bivalent ions. The dmdR1 and dmdR2 genes of Streptomyces coelicolor were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and the DmdR1 and DmdR2 proteins were purified to homogeneity. Electrophoretic m...