introduction: tobacco smoke is involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases in different body systems. saliva is the first body fluid that confront inhaled cigarette smoke which is injurious to the oral cavity and is associated with several oral diseases and cancer. the aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of smoking on the activity of alpha-amylase in the saliva of healthy smoker...

During recent years many new and extended uses have been developed for fungal enzymes. Prominent among these are applications in the fields of food manufacturing, textile processing, and in the manufacture of malt beverages and industrial alcohol. Although certain microorganisms are capable of elaborating amylases when grown under submerged conditions either aerobically (Waldmann, 1942) or anae...

Amylase was found in high activity (193 international units per milligram protein) in the tap root of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. cv. Sonora). The activity was separated by gel filtration chromatography into two fractions with molecular weights of 65,700 (heavy amylase) and 41,700 (light amylase). Activity staining of electrophoretic gels indicated the presence of one isozyme in the heavy amyla...

BACKGROUND Amylases are used in various industrial processes and a key requirement for the efficiency of these processes is the use of enzymes with high catalytic activity at ambient temperature. Unfortunately, most amylases isolated from bacteria and filamentous fungi have optimal activity above 45 °C and low pH. For example, the most commonly used industrial glucoamylases, a type of amylase t...

Four a-amylase inhibitors, WRP24, WRP25, WRP26, and WRP27, were purified from wheat flour by preparative, reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. All have polypeptide molecular masses of about 14 kDa and are members of the cereal superfarnily of protease and a-amylase inhibitors. Sedimentation velocity analysis indicated that WRP25 and WRP27 are monomeric proteins, whereas WRP24 ...

Sea lettuce (Ulva pertusa) is a nuisance species of green algae that is found all over the world. East-Asian species of the marine gastropod, the sea hare Aplysia kurodai, shows a clear feeding preference for sea lettuce. Compared with cellulose, sea lettuce contains a higher amount of starch as a storage polysaccharide. However, the entire amylolytic system in the digestive fluid of A. kurodai...

BACKGROUND Maltogenic amylases belong to a subclass of cyclodextrin-hydrolyzing enzymes and hydrolyze cyclodextrins more efficiently than starch unlike typical α-amylases. Several bacterial malto-genic amylases with temperature optima of 40-60°C have been previously characterized. The thermo-adaption, substrate preferences and transglycosylation aspects of extremely thermostable bacterial malto...

BACKGROUND Bioethanol production from various starchy materials has received much attention in recent years. α-Amylases are key enzymes in the bioconversion process of starchy biomass to biofuels, food or other products. The properties of thermostability, pH stability, and Ca-independency are important in the development of such fermentation process. RESULTS A novel Flavobacteriaceae Sinomicr...