Methylglyoxal, a known endogenous and environmental mutagen, is a reactive alpha-ketoaldehyde that can modify both DNA and proteins. To investigate the possibility that methylglyoxal induces a crosslink between DNA and DNA polymerase, we treated a 'primed template' DNA and the exonuclease-deficient Klenow fragment (KF(exo-)) of DNA polymerase I with methylglyoxal in vitro. When the reaction mix...

Protein cofactors represent a unique class of redox active posttranslational protein modifications formed in or by metalloproteins. Once formed, protein cofactors provide a one-electron oxidant, which is tethered to the protein backbone. Twenty-five proteins are known to contain protein cofactors, but this number is likely limited by the use of crystallography as the identification technique. I...

The hammerhead domain is one of the smallest known ribozymes. Like other ribozymes it catalyzes site-specific cleavage of a phosphodiester bond. The hammerhead ribozyme has been the subject of a vast number of biochemical and structural studies aimed at determining the structure and mechanism of cleavage. Recently crystallographic analysis has produced a structure for the hammerhead. As the ham...

BACKGROUND Mechlorethamine [ClCH(2)CH(2)N(CH(3))CH(2)CH(2)Cl], a nitrogen mustard alkylating agent, has been proven to form a DNA interstrand crosslink at a cytosine-cytosine (C-C) mismatch pair using gel electrophoresis. However, the atomic connectivity of this unusual crosslink is unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS HPLC-UV, MALDI-TOF-MS, and ESI-MS/MS were used to determine the atomic ...

Individuals with Fanconi anemia (FA) are susceptible to bone marrow failure, congenital abnormalities, cancer predisposition and exhibit defective DNA crosslink repair. The relationship of this repair defect to disease traits remains unclear, given that crosslink sensitivity is recapitulated in FA mouse models without most of the other disease-related features. Mice deficient in Mus81 are also ...

Subunit rotation within the F(1) catalytic sector of the ATP synthase has been well documented, identifying the synthase as the smallest known rotary motor. In the membrane-embedded F(O) sector, it is thought that proton transport occurs at a rotor/stator interface between the oligomeric ring of c subunits (rotor) and the single-copy a subunit (stator). Here we report evidence for an energy-dep...

LEOS communication systems are rapidly moving from dream to reality. When operational, the LEOS systems can offer mobile and fixed-site communications between any two points on the globe. Yet, many LEOS system design issues remain unresolved. Some of the planned systems, such as Iridium and Teledesic, rely on intersatellite communication to provide space based routing from origin to destination...

we introduce a new smooth, non-toxic, biocompatible method for cross-linking of gum tragacanth (gt), a polysaccharide of natural origin, in order to serve as a new supporting matrix for immobilization systems.  the modified gum is used as a matrix for the catalysis of the conversion of benzyl penicillin to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-apa) by means of escherichia coli atcc11105 with penicillin g...