A peptidase from the cell wall fraction of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris IMN-C12 has been purified to homogeneity by hydrophobic interaction chromatography, two steps of anion-exchange chromatography, and gel filtration. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 72 kDa by gel filtration and 23 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme ...

PEPT2 is an integral membrane protein in the apical membrane of renal epithelial cells that operates as a rheogenic transporter for diand tripeptides and structurally related drugs. Its prime role is thought to be the reabsorption of filtered diand tripeptides contributing to amino acid homeostasis. To elucidate the role of PEPT2 in renal amino acid metabolism we submitted kidney tissues of wil...

The emergence of an RNA entity capable of synthesizing peptides was a key prebiotic development. It is hypothesized that a precursor of the modern ribosomal exit tunnel was associated with this RNA entity (e.g., "protoribosome" or "bonding entity") from the earliest time and played an essential role. Various compounds that can bind and activate amino acids, including extremely short RNA chains ...

PEPT2 is an integral membrane protein in the apical membrane of renal epithelial cells that operates as a rheogenic transporter for di- and tripeptides and structurally related drugs. Its prime role is thought to be the reabsorption of filtered di- and tripeptides contributing to amino acid homeostasis. To elucidate the role of PEPT2 in renal amino acid metabolism we submitted kidney tissues of...

The "chlamydial anomaly," first coined by James Moulder, describes the inability of researchers to detect or purify peptidoglycan (PG) from pathogenic Chlamydiae despite genetic and biochemical evidence and antibiotic susceptibility data that suggest its existence. We recently detected PG in Chlamydia trachomatis by a new metabolic cell wall labeling method, however efforts to purify PG from pa...

Russell's viper bites are potentially fatal from severe bleeding, renal failure and capillary leakage. Snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) are attributed to these effects. In addition to specific antivenom therapy, endogenous inhibitors from snakes are of interest in studies of new treatment modalities for neutralization of the effect of toxins. Two major snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMP...

Cosmeceuticals represent a marriage between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. There are numerous cosmeceutically active products which can be broadly classified into the following categories: antioxidants, oligopeptides, growth factors and pigment lightning agents. Much attention has been focused on the tripeptides such as Gly-His-Lys (GHK) and Gly-Gly-His (GGH) and their copper complexes, which h...

Grassmann et al. (1,2) ascribed the hydrolysis of prolylglycine and prolylglycylglycine to an enzyme which they named prolinase. Johnson (3) questioned the existence of an enzyme specific for proline peptides since partially purified preparations of aminopeptidase could hydrolyze prolylglycylglycine. More recently Neuman and Smith (4) demonstrated that an enzyme in swine kidney could hydrolyze ...