Phosphofructokinase (PFK), a regulatory enzyme in glycolytic pathway, has been purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from adult female Setaria cervi and partially characterized. For this enzyme, the Lineweaver-Burk's double reciprocal plots of initial rates and D-fructose-6-phosphate (F-6-P) or Mg-ATP concentrations for varying values of cosubstrate concentration gave intersecting lines indic...

In many photosynthetic organisms, tight-binding Rubisco inhibitors are released by the motor protein Rubisco activase (Rca). In higher plants, Rca plays a pivotal role in regulating CO2 fixation. Here, the ATPase activity of 0.005 mm tobacco Rca was monitored under steady-state conditions, and global curve fitting was utilized to extract kinetic constants. The kcat was best fit by 22.3 ± 4.9 mi...

2,4-Dibromophenol (2,4-DBP) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP) are marine secondary metabolites, with 2,4,6-tribromophenol playing an important role as industrially produced flame retardant and pesticide. Both substances disturb cellular calcium signals in neuroendocrine cells as previously shown by Hassenklöver et al. (2006) [Hassenklöver, T., Predehl, S., Pilli, J., Ledwolorz, J., Assmann, ...

The characteristics of specific binding of the ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channel blocker [3H]glibenclamide to forebrain membranes (P(2) fraction, 4 degrees C) obtained from morphine-naive and -tolerant mice were evaluated. Morphine tolerance was induced by osmotic minipumps that released 45 mg/kg/day of morphine subcutaneously for 6 days. This treatment enhanced the antinociceptive ED(50) of ...

Ca2+-activated K+ channels from rat muscle transverse tubule membranes were inserted into planar phospholipid bilayers, and the activation of these channels by Ca2+ was studied. On the cytoplasmic side of the channel, calcium ions (in the range 10-100 mumol l-1) increase the opening probability of the channel in a graded way. This 'activation curve' is sigmoid, with an average Hill coefficient ...

In this paper we study the ultrasensitive behavior of multisite phosphorylation or ligand binding systems, under site-to-site variations in the modification rates. Using computational methods and mathematical analysis, we prove that the Hill coefficient reaches its maximum value when all sites are identical to each other. This is shown for a non-cooperative multisite system with arbitrary activ...

We study the Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theory systematically in an effort to generalize the Coleman-Hill result to the non-Abelian case. We show that, while the Chern-Simons coefficient is in general gauge dependent in a non-Abelian theory, it takes on a physical meaning in the axial gauge. Using the non-Abelian Ward identities as well as the analyticity of the amplitudes in the momentum variable...

The binding of 2-nonanone to bovine serum albumin exhibited positive cooperativity at low molal ratios of binding, indicating stabilization of the hydrophobic binding sites at low concentrations of 2-nonanone. The degree of cooperativity was affected by the type of anion present as evidenced from the changes in the Hill coefficient. The effectiveness of anions in increasing the Hill coefficient...

Xenopus oocytes convert a continuously variable stimulus, the concentration of the maturation-inducing hormone progesterone, into an all-or-none biological response-oocyte maturation. Here evidence is presented that the all-or-none character of the response is generated by the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. Analysis of individual oocytes showed that the response of MAPK to pro...

The allosteric properties of the membrane-bound (Ca(2+))-adenosine triphosphatase of an unsaturated fatty acid auxotroph of Escherichia coli were studied in membranes with different fatty acid compositions. The Hill coefficient of the inhibition by Na(+) ranged from 1.4, in the case where the auxotroph was grown with cis-vaccenic acid as supplement, to 2.8 when grown on linolenic acid. The resu...