Sulfotransferase 1A1 (SULT1A1) (thermostable phenol sulfotransferase, TS PST1, P-PST) is important in the metabolism of thyroid hormones. SULT1A1 isolated from human platelets displays wide individual variations not only in the levels of activity, but also in thermal stability. The activity of the allelic variant or allozyme SULT1A1*1, which possesses an arginine at amino acid position 213 (Arg...

BACKGROUND The alkalistable and thermostable xylanases are in high demand for pulp bleaching in paper industry and generating xylooligosaccharides by hydrolyzing xylan component of agro-residues. The compost-soil samples, one of the hot environments, are expected to be a rich source of microbes with thermostable enzymes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Metagenomic DNA from hot environmental sa...

Thermostable Mn-dependent catalases are promising enzymes in biotechnological applications as H(2)O(2)-detoxifying systems. We cloned the genes encoding Mn-dependent catalases from Thermus thermophilus HB27 and HB8 and a less thermostable mutant carrying two amino acid replacements (M129V and E293G). When the wild-type and mutant genes were overexpressed in Escherichia coli, unmodified or six-H...

Lipases (triacylglycerol acylhydrolase, EC 3.1.1.3), catalyze the hydrolysis of long-chain triglycerides with the formation of diacylglyceride, monoglyceride, glycerol and fatty acids. Lipases are actively used in various industries which include food and diary, pharmaceuticals, organic synthesis and detergent and cosmetics. Thermostable lipases are commercially significant for their potential ...

OBJECTIVE Patients with end-stage renal failure are at high risk of hepatitis B virus (HB V) infection. They have impaired immune response to HBV intramuscular (i.m.) vaccine. Non-response (anti HBs titer < 100mIU/ml) hemodialysis patients (HD) with the previous three-dose i.m. vaccination were examined with booster dose vaccine by i.m. , intradermal (i.d) and subcutaneous (s.c.) routes. MATE...

Hepatic expression levels of class I MHC Ags are generally regarded as very low. Because the status of these Ags and their ability to present peptides are important for the understanding of pathogen clearance and tolerogenic properties of the liver, we set out to identify the factors contributing to the reported phenotype. Unexpectedly, we found that the surface densities of K(b) and D(b) on C5...

We demonstrated that peripheral T cell tolerance toward murine melanoma self-antigens gp100 and TRP-2 can be broken by an autologous oral DNA vaccine containing the murine ubiquitin gene fused to minigenes encoding peptide epitopes gp100(25-33) and TRP-2(181-188). These epitopes contain dominant anchor residues for MHC class I antigen alleles H-2D(b) and H-2K(b), respectively. The DNA vaccine w...

The folate concentration in erythrocytes changes during incubation. Using whole blood samples and washed erythrocytes, I find greatly increasing concentrations of folate in washed samples at 37 degrees C, decreasing concentrations in whole-blood samples. This difference in behavior depends on a thermostable, ultrafiltrable factor in plasma. Exclusion of glucose or addition of fluoride did not a...

Glucose dehydrogenase was purified to homogeneity from the thermoacidophilic archaebacterium Thermoplasma acidophilum. The enzyme is a tetramer of polypeptide chain Mr 38,000 +/- 3000, it is catalytically active with both NAD+ and NADP+ cofactors, and it is thermostable and remarkably resistant to a variety of organic solvents. The amino acid composition was determined and compared with those o...

background: herpes simplex virus type 2 (hsv-2) is highly prevalent and major cause of genital herpes in humans. the life-long nature of infection and the increasing prevalence of genital herpes imply that vaccination is the best strategy for controlling the spread of infection and limiting hsv disease. hsv glycoprotein d (gd) is one of the most important viral immunogen which has an essential ...