Cysteine is an essential requirement in living organisms. However, due to its reactive thiol side chain, elevated levels of intracellular cysteine can be toxic and therefore need to be rapidly eliminated from the cellular milieu. In mammals and many other organisms, excess cysteine is believed to be primarily eliminated by the cysteine dioxygenase dependent oxidative degradation of cysteine, fo...

The reductive dissolution of poorly crystalline ferric oxides in the presence of cysteine was investigated to evaluate the potential of cysteine as a possible electron carrier to stimulate the reduction of iron(III) oxides by Geobacter sulfurreducens. The extent and rate of biotic and abiotic reduction of iron(III) oxides in the presence of cysteine at various concentrations were compared. Iron...

background: sodium arsenite (naaso2) has potent cytotoxic activity in human cancer cells. oxidative stress has been suggested as a mechanism for arsenic-induced carcinogenesis. the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the alteration of mrna levels of catalase ( cat ) and superoxide dismutase 2 ( sod2 ) in mcf-7 and jurkat cells after exposure to naaso 2 . methods: methylthiazol tetrazol...

Rat liver mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (a homodimer) was shown to catalyse a beta-lyase reaction with three nephrotoxic halogenated cysteine S-conjugates [ S -(1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl)-L-cysteine, S -(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine and S -(2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl)-L-cysteine], and less effectively so with a non-toxic cysteine S-conjugate [benzothiazolyl-L-cysteine]. Transamina...

Excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) limit glutamatergic signaling and maintain extracellular glutamate concentrations below neurotoxic levels. Of the five known EAAT isoforms (EAATs 1-5), only the neuronal isoform, EAAT3 (EAAC1), can efficiently transport the uncharged amino acid L-cysteine. EAAT3-mediated cysteine transport has been proposed to be a primary mechanism used by neurons to ...