Polygalacturonases (EC 3.2.1.15) catalyze the random hydrolysis of 1, 4-alpha-D-galactosiduronic linkages in pectate and other galacturonans. Xylella fastidiosa possesses a single polygalacturonase gene, pglA (PD1485), and X. fastidiosa mutants deficient in the production of polygalacturonase are non-pathogenic and show a compromised ability to systemically infect grapevines. These results sugg...

Grafting of glucosamine hydrochloride moieties to tetraphenylethylene (TPE) motif furnished a novel cationic water-soluble tetraphenylethylene derivative (GH-TPE). With aggregation-induced emission properties, GH-TPE was used for fluorometric detection to alkaline phosphatase through enzyme-triggered de-aggregation of the ensemble of GH-TPE and substrate.

The study of bacterial extracellular polysaccharide biosynthesis is hampered by the fact that these molecules are synthesized on membrane-resident carrier lipids. To get around this problem, a practical solution has been to synthesize soluble lipid analogs and study the biosynthetic enzymes using a soluble system. This has been done for the Bacillus subtilis teichoic acid polymerase, TagF, alth...

To probe into the functional properties of the major peripheral myelin cell surface glycoprotein P0, its ability to confer adhesion and neurite outgrowth-promoting properties was studied in cell culture. To this aim, P0 was expressed as integral membrane glycoprotein at the surface of CV-1 cells with the help of a recombinant vaccinia virus expression system. Furthermore, the immunoglobulin-lik...

Although many enzymes can promote chemical reactions by tuning substrate properties purely through the electrostatic environment of a docking cavity, this strategy has proven challenging to mimic in synthetic host-guest systems. Here, we report a highly charged, water-soluble, metal-ligand assembly with a hydrophobic interior cavity that thermodynamically stabilizes protonated substrates and co...

For a purified preparation of the soluble form of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (EC 3.1.3.4) from guinea pig cerebral cortex, I-O-alkyl-racglycerol 3-phosphate was found to be accepted as a substrate. This substrate analog was tritium-labeled in order to serve in a rapid sensitive assay for the enzyme, in which labeled I-alkyl glycerol is released. Heat denaturation and enzyme activity depende...

Cellulose, a linear, essentially insoluble 8-1,4glucosidically linked polymer with a size of many thousand glucose units, is one of the main components of plant materials. Many micro-organisms can degrade this polymer; they produce many different cellulases which differ in both their mode of action and their overall folds. Fungal organisms which degrade cellulose produce many different cellulas...

Studies in rodents have demonstrated the importance of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in generating reactive metabolites that produce Clara cell injury. Pulmonary P450 activities in rodents are much higher than those in primates, raising the issue of relevance of rodent data to primates. Few studies on P450-catalyzed activation of cytotoxicants in subcompartments of primate lung have been repor...

Receptors for C3 exist in two states, an active state in which the receptors promote phagocytosis and an inactive state in which they do not . For example, cultured human monocytes (MO) bear separate receptors that bind C3band C3bi-coated erythrocytes, but neither receptor promotes phagocytosis of such C3-coated erythrocytes (1) . Brief stimulation ofthe MO with the tumor promoter phorbol myris...