Bovine brain is known to contain two major isoforms of protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase (PIMT), an enzyme that facilitates repair of atypical L-isoaspartyl peptide bonds in proteins. Although the two isoforms can be separated by anion-exchange chromatography, they appear to have similar, if not identical, substrate specificities in vitro. The more basic type I isoform has been extensivel...

BACKGROUND The mechanism that initiates human parturition has been proposed to be 'functional progesterone withdrawal' whereby the 116 kDa B-isoform of the progesterone receptor (PR-B) switches in favour of the 94 kDa A-isoform (PR-A) in reproductive tissues. Recently, other PR isoforms, PR-S, PR-C and PR-M generated from the same gene have been identified and partially characterised. METHODS...

Two smooth muscle myosin heavy chain isoforms differ in their amino terminus by the presence [(+)insert] or absence [(-)insert] of a seven-amino acid insert. Animal studies show that the (+)insert isoform is predominantly expressed in rapidly contracting phasic muscle and the (-)insert isoform is mostly found in slowly contracting tonic muscle. The expression of the (+)insert isoform has never ...

The cellular protease TMPRSS2 cleaves and activates the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) and TMPRSS2 expression is essential for viral spread and pathogenesis in mice. Moreover, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and other respiratory viruses are activated by TMPRSS2. However, previous studies on viral activation by TMPRSS2 focused on a 492 amino acids comprising form of...

Blebbistatin, para-nitroblebbistatin (NBleb), and para-aminoblebbistatin (AmBleb) are highly useful tool compounds as they selectively inhibit the ATPase activity of myosin-2 family proteins. Despite medical importance drug targets, chemical optimization has not yet provided a promising lead for development because previous structure-activity-relationship studies were limited to s...

37 Background/Aims: Steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome is a severe hereditary disease often caused 38 by mutations in the NPHS2 gene. This gene encodes the lipid binding protein podocin which localizes 39 to the slit diaphragm of podocytes and is essential for the maintenance of an intact glomerular 40 filtration barrier. Podocin is a hairpin-like membrane-associated protein that multimerizes...

BACKGROUND Macropinocytosis, which is a constitutive cellular process of fluid and macromolecule uptake, is regulated by actin cytoskeleton rearrangements near the plasma membrane. Activation of Rac1, which is proposed to act upstream of the actin polymerization regulatory Wave 2 complex, has been found to correlate with enhanced macropinocytosis. One of the components of the Wave 2 complex is ...

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) isoforms exert intricate effects on cellular physiology beyond lipid transport and metabolism. ApoEs influence the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in an isoform-dependent manner: ApoE4 increases AD risk, while ApoE2 decreases it. Previously we demonstrated that syndecans, a transmembrane proteoglycan family with increased expression AD, trigger aggregation modulate upt...

AMP deaminase isoforms from human skeletal muscle can be separated chromatographically [Kaletha, Spychała & Nowak (1987) Experientia 43, 440-443]. In adult tissue nearly all the AMP deaminase activity was eluted from phosphocellulose with 0.75 M-KCl ('adult' isoform), and the remaining activity could be eluted with 2.0 M-KCl. Conversely, most of the AMP deaminase activity from 11-week-old fetal...

Recent genome wide association studies identified a brain and primate specific isoform of a voltage-gated potassium channel, referred to as Kv11.1-3.1, which is significantly associated with schizophrenia. The 3.1 isoform replaces the first 102 amino acids of the most abundant isoform (referred to as Kv11.1-1A) with six unique amino acids. Here we show that the Kv11.1-3.1 isoform has faster rat...