A tripeptidase (PepT) from a thermophilic dairy starter strain of Lactobacillus helveticus was purified by four chromatographic steps. PepT appeared to be a trimeric metallopeptidase with a molecular mass of 150 kDa. PepT exhibited maximum activity against hydrophobic tripeptides, with the highest activity for Met-Gly-Gly (K(m), 2.6 mM; V(max), 80.2 micromol. min(-1). microg(-1)). Some of the h...

The knowledge of expression and biology of the intestinal oligopeptide transporter (Pept-1) in a metabolic disorder such as diabetes may have nutritional and pharmacological implications. To study this problem, rats were made diabetic by streptozotocin injection, and Western and Northern blot analyses and nuclear run-on assay were used to determine the protein and gene expressions of Pept-1 and...

The intestinal peptide transporter PEPT-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans is a rheogenic H(+)-dependent carrier responsible for the absorption of di- and tripeptides. Transporter-deficient pept-1(lg601) worms are characterized by impairments in growth, development and reproduction and develop a severe obesity like phenotype. The transport function of PEPT-1 as well as the influx of free fatty acids w...

Pseudorevertants able to use L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-leucine as a leucine source have been isolated from a Salmonella typhimurium strain carrying stable (nonreverting) mutations in pepN, pepA, and pepB. These strains carry mutations at a locus pto (peptidase T overproducer) tightly linked to pepT that cause an elevated expression of the tripeptidase peptidase T. An F' episome carrying the pto and p...

The intestinal oligopeptide transporter (cloned as Pept-1) has major roles in protein nutrition and drug therapy. A key unstudied question is whether expression of Pept-1 is hormonally regulated. In this experiment, we investigated whether insulin has such a role. We used a human intestinal cell monolayer (Caco-2) as the in vitro model of human small intestine and glycylglutamine (Gly-Gln) as t...

BACKGROUND Amino acid absorption in the form of di- and tripeptides is mediated by the intestinal proton-coupled peptide transporter PEPT-1 (formally OPT-2) in Caenorhabditits elegans. Transporter-deficient animals (pept-1(lg601)) show impaired growth, slowed postembryonal development and major changes in amino acid status. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Here we demonstrate that abolished intestinal pept...

Carcinomas of the exocrine pancreas are poorly understood and have a poor prognosis because of their highly malignant nature. Using two human pancreatic cancer cell lines, AsPc-1 and Capan-2, we have investigated avenues that might be useful in targeting the delivery of antineoplastic agents to such cancers. Qualitative RNA PCRs established the presence of the oligopeptide transporter PEPT 1 in...

The linkage relationships in wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides , between nine enzymatic loci (Mdh-1, Ipo, beta-Glu, Pept-1, Pept-3, Est-5, Est-1, 6Pgdh-2 and Hk) and a coleoptile pigment locus (Rc) were investigated. Chromosome locations of genes were inferred from analysis of ditelocentric lines of Triticum aestivum, cultivar Chinese Spring. The loci Mdh-B1 and Hk are linked (lambda = 0.1...

Dietary peptides are absorbed along the intestine through peptide transporter 1 (PepT-1) which is highly responsive to dietary protein level. PepT-1 is also involved in gut homeostasis, both initiating and resolving inflammation. Low-birth-weight (LBW) neonates are routinely fed a high-protein (HP) formula to enhance growth. However, the influence of this nutritional practice on PepT-1 activity...

Understanding the hydrodynamics of three-phase stirred tanks, such as froth flotation cells, is paramount for characterisation turbulence, stability and performance. Although positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) known its effectiveness in measuring particles opaque, high solid content systems, it has not been widely used characterising liquid phase. This work presents a new, neutrally buo...