A thermodynamic study of copper ions by jack bean urease (JBU) was carried out at two temperatures of 27 and 37?C in Tris buffer (30 mM; pH=7.0) using an isothermal titration calorimetry. There is a set of twelve identical and non-interacting binding sites for copper ions. The intrinsic dissociation equilibrium constant and the molar enthalpy of binding are 285 µM and ?15.2 kJ/mol at 27?C and 3...

BACKGROUND Discovery of potent inhibitors of urease (jack bean) enzyme is the first step in the development of drugs against diseases caused by ureolytic enzyme. RESULTS Thirty-two derivatives of barbituric acid as zwitterionic adducts of diethyl ammonium salts were synthesized. All synthesized compounds (4a-z and 5a-s) were screened for their in vitro inhibition potential against urease enzy...

The nickel-containing enzymes of Helicobacter pylori, urease and hydrogenase, are essential for efficient colonization in the human stomach. The insertion of nickel into urease and hydrogenase is mediated by the accessory protein HypA. HypA contains an N-terminal nickel-binding site and a dynamic structural zinc-binding site. The coordination of nickel and zinc within HypA is known to be critic...

Characterization of a series of urease-negative transposon mutations of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae revealed that many of the mutants had insertions 2 to 4 kbp upstream of the urease gene cluster. A 5-kbp upstream region of DNA was sequenced and found to contain six open reading frames (ORFs) transcribed in the same orientation as the urease genes. As well, a partial ORF, apuR, 202 bp upstr...

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an important molecular target for anti-cancer agents due to its involvement in gene expression and protein synthesis which are fundamental steps in cell division and growth. A number of antineoplastic agents interfere with DNA and hence disturb the cell cycle. Compounds including planar aromatic rings are privileged scaffolds in binding to the DNA. This characteri...

Urease activation is critical to the virulence of many human and animal pathogens. Urease possesses multiple, nickel-containing active sites, and UreE, the only nickel-binding protein among the urease accessory proteins, activates urease by transporting nickel ions. We performed NMR experiments to investigate the solution structure and the nickel-binding properties of Bacillus pasteurii (Bp) Ur...

UNLABELLED A novel mechanism aimed at controlling urease expression in Helicobacter pylori in the presence of ample nickel is described. Higher urease activities were observed in an hp0868 mutant (than in the wild type) in cells supplemented with nickel, suggesting that the HP0868 protein (herein named Mua for modulator of urease activity) represses urease activity when nickel concentrations ar...

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an important molecular target for anti-cancer agents due to its involvement in gene expression and protein synthesis which are fundamental steps in cell division and growth. A number of antineoplastic agents interfere with DNA and hence disturb the cell cycle. Compounds including planar aromatic rings are privileged scaffolds in binding to the DNA. This characteri...

Despite commonly being used as the hosts for gases, solvents and other neutral molecules, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received recent attention supramolecular anion binding with a broad range of environmental biological applications. The review summarizes development this area, anion-binding MOFs categorized based on different design strategies including cationic anion-exchange capabil...