the use of natural products as medicinal agents presumably predates the earliest recorded history. ocimum sanctum l., is a plant which is used in several traditional medicine systems to cure various diseases. in this study aerial parts of ocimum sanctum were collected on august 2014 from shahr-e-rey in iran. fresh and dry partsof plants essential oils were extracted with hydro-distillation and ...

A mechanism-based small molecular fluorescent probe has been developed to label active O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in live cells.

Methylation catalysed by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is the main pathway of catechol neurotransmitter deactivation in the prefrontal cortex. Low levels of this class of neurotransmitters are held to be causative of diseases such as schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson's disease. Inhibition of COMT may increase neurotransmitter levels, thus offering a route for treatment. Structure-ba...

Comparison of the conformational stability of an O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis strain KOD1 (Tk-MGMT), and its mesophilic counterpart C-terminal Ada protein from Escherichia coli (Ec-AdaC) was performed in order to obtain information about the relationship between thermal stability and other factors, such as thermod...

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the differences in plasma 17beta-estradiol concentration in early and late follicular phases of the menstrual cycle can affect the level of endogenous DNA damage in lymphocytes assessed by comet assay, and whether the extent of this damage in the follicular phase is associated with the genotype of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). The level of DN...

Four synthetic peptides from the sequence of human O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), three corresponding to different hydrophilic regions and one corresponding to the sequence containing the alkyl acceptor residue cysteine 145, were used to immunize rabbits. The antibody against Peptide III (residues 171-184) was highly specific, and MGMT protein could be detected on Western blots ...

Papaverine, a major benzylisoquinoline alkaloid in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), is used as a vasodilator and antispasmodic. Conversion of the initial intermediate (S)-norcoclaurine to papaverine involves 3'-hydroxylation, four O-methylations and dehydrogenation. However, our understanding of papaverine biosynthesis remains controversial more than a century after an initial scheme was propo...

Unfolding intermediates have been found only rarely in earlier studies, and how a protein unfolds is therefore poorly understood. In this paper, we show experimental evidence for multiple pathways and multiple intermediates during unfolding reaction of O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase from hyperthermophile Thermococcus kodakaraensis (Tk-MGMT). The unfolding profiles monitored by far-UV ...

The genus Ocimum L. belonging to family of Lamiaceae is widely distributed in Iran, Ocimum sanctum L. is described in many medicinal properties and a wide therapeutic range. It is used specially in the management of cough, ashtma, fever and common cold. In this research, samples were collected from Shahr-e-Rey, on August 2013, then essential oils were extracted by  hydro-distillation and steam ...

The biosynthetic gene clusters for the Hsp90 inhibitor geldanamycin (GDM, 1) have been cloned previously from three different Streptomyces strains, but the gene encoding the C-17 O-methyltransferase remains unknown. The cloning and sequencing of a new GDM biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces autolyticus CGMCC 0516 was reported, identifying the gdmMT gene that encodes the missing C-17 O-m...