Mycobacteria and other actinomycetes do not produce glutathione but make mycothiol (MSH; AcCys-GlcN-Ins) that has functions similar to those of glutathione and is essential for growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mycothiol synthase (MshD) catalyzes N acetylation of Cys-GlcN-Ins to produce MSH in Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155, and Cys-GlcN-Ins is maintained at a low level. The mycothiol synth...

In an attempt to define structural regions of the type I inositol 1, 4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3] receptor [Ins(1,4,5)P3R] involved in its intracellular targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), we have employed the use of green fluorescent protein (GFP) to monitor the localization of a truncated Ins(1,4,5)P3R mutant containing just the putative transmembrane spanning domain and the C-te...

Ins(1,4,5)P3 metabolism was examined in Saccharomyces cerevisiae extracts. S. cerevisiae contains readily detectable Ins(1,4,5)P3 kinase activity that is predominantly soluble, but phosphomonoesterase activity acting on Ins(1,4,5)P3 was not detected in either soluble or particulate preparations from this organism. We have purified the kinase activity approximately 685-fold in a rapid four-step ...

The stimulation of hepatocytes by alpha 1-adrenergic agonists and vasoactive peptides results in a mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ which is accompanied by breakdown of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate to release myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins(1,4,5)P3). The possible involvement of Ins(1,4,5)P3 in intracellular Ca2+ mobilization was tested using a preparation of saponin-permeabili...

After transplantation, corticosteroid-resistant Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome (INS) rapidly recurs in 30-50% of recipients, suggesting the presence of (a) circulating factor(s) which alter(s) the glomerular filtration barrier. In this paper, we investigated the possible implication of the soluble ST2 protein (sST2), a product of the c-maf pathway and a marker of Th2 cells, in the development of...

The Ins(1,4,5)P 3 receptor acts as a central hub for Ca ( 2+) signaling by integrating multiple signaling modalities into Ca ( 2+) release from intracellular stores downstream of G-protein and tyrosine kinase-coupled receptor stimulation. As such, the Ins(1,4,5)P 3 receptor plays fundamental roles in cellular physiology. The regulation of the Ins(1,4,5)P 3 receptor is complex and involves pro...

1. A method has been devised for quenching cell incubations with an aqueous phenol/chloroform/EDTA mixture of neutral pH, to allow the analysis of acid-labile cell components. 2. Using this method, we have searched for the appearance of Ins(1:2cyclic,4,5)P3 [inositol 1:2(cyclic),4,5-trisphosphate] in WRK1 mammary tumour cells that were labelled to high specific radioactivity with [3H]inositol a...

The masses of inositol phosphates have been determined in isolated skeletal muscles from Xenopus laevis (sartorius, tibialis anterior and iliofibularis) and rat (gastrocnemius and soleus) which were quick-frozen in the resting state and at different stages of an isometric (Xenopus) or isotonic (rat) tetanus. The isomeric spectrum of inositol phosphates detected was similar to that in other tiss...