Methylglyoxal is a highly reactive dicarbonyl degradation product formed from triose phosphates during glycolysis. Methylglyoxal forms stable adducts primarily with arginine residues of intracellular proteins. The biologic role of this covalent modification in regulating cell function is not known. Here, we report that in retinal Müller cells, increased glycolytic flux causes increased methylgl...

Activity-dependent synaptic plasticity is likely to provide a mechanism for learning and memory. Cortical synaptic responses that are strengthened within a fixed synaptic modification range after 5 days of motor skill learning are driven near the top of their range, leaving only limited room for additional synaptic strengthening. If synaptic strengthening is a requisite step for acquiring new s...

Histone modifications are important epigenetic regulators and play a critical role in development. The targeting mechanism for histone modifications is complex and still incompletely understood. Here we applied a computational approach to predict genome-scale histone modification targets in humans by the genomic DNA sequences using a set of recent ChIP-seq data. We found that a number of histon...

The kinetic mechanism of enzymatic modification of flavonol quercetin with L-cysteine by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was studied. Reaction of modification of quercetin was followed by recording spectral changes over time at 380 nm. All reactions were performed in 100 mM phosphate buffer pH, 6.0 at 20 degrees C. Kinetic parameters were determined from graphics of linear Michaelis-Menten equatio...

Bacterial restriction-modification systems provide defense against foreign DNA by using a self versus nonself recognition mechanism. A great diversity of recognition motifs is maintained in natural populations. Circumstantial evidence suggests that defense against bacteriophage viruses favors this diversity. (1) Bacterial restriction enzymes can destroy invading phage DNA. (2) Phage DNA can mim...

Process control of a spray dryer that is usually used as the last step of production is very crucial in obtaining a quality standard product. To this end, predicting the effect of various operating and environmental parameters on product properties is essential. Modeling was done in microscopic and macroscopic scales by modifying the mass and heat transfer equations used in investigating the dr...

The effects of solvent, temperature, time, weight percent of catalyst on the rate and mechanism of cyclization of natural rubber (NR) was studied in toluene and xylene solutions having tin tetra chloride catalyst (SnCl4). Iodometric titration show, with 8% SnCl4 (based on polymer weight) cyclization occurs, leaving 27.4% of the total unsaturation. Infrared spectra of c...

The 2-methylthio (ms2) modification at A37 of tRNAs is critical for accurate decoding, and contributes to metabolic homeostasis in mammals. However, the regulatory mechanism of ms2 modification remains largely unknown. Here, we report that cysteine hydropersulfide (CysSSH), a newly identified reactive sulfur species, is involved in ms2 modification in cells. The suppression of intracellular Cys...

Micali and Valiant proposed a mechanism for combinatorial auctions that is dominant-strategy truthful, guarantees reasonably high revenue, and is very resilient against collusions. Their mechanism, however, uses as a subroutine the VCG mechanism, that is not polynomial time. We propose a modification of their mechanism that is efficient, while retaining their collusion resilience and a good fra...

Background: Estrogen plays a crucial role in the tumorigenesis of breast cancer (BC), and epigenetic modification by SUMOylation is essential for development. However, mechanism underlying estrogen’s actions on protein its effect BC development are still incompletely understood.