Degradation of the major storage proteins in maize endosperm, zein and glutelin, begins during the 2nd day of germination. The protein most abundant in the mature endosperm is degraded most rapidly. The patterns of protein loss are essentially similar in germinating seeds and excised endosperms. Cycloheximide, added at the beginning of the incubation period, prevents the development of alpha-am...

Spectrophotometric determination of the hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate (FDA) was shown to be a simple, sensitive, and rapid method for determining microbial activity in soil and litter. FDA hydrolysis was studied in soil and straw incubated for up to 3 h. Hydrolysis was found to increase linearly with soil addition. FDA hydrolysis by pure cultures of Fusarium culmorum increased linearly wi...

The hydrolytic action of spleen exonuclease on serine transfer RNA has been investigated. It was found that two different mechanisms of attack obtain: (a) processive degradation and (b) random cleavage. These two diiferent modes of action are determined by the presence or the absence of the terminal phosphate group at the 5’ terminus of transfer RNA. The loss of several important biological act...

Two isolates of Trichoderma, which reduce the incidence of witches’broom disease caused in cocoa by Crinipellis perniciosa, were evaluated for their potential to produce hydrolases in liquid medium. Very low or no hydrolytic activity was produced in the absence of any substrate. The activities of chitinase, N-acetylglucosaminidase, β-1,3-glucanase, total cellulase, endoglucanase, arylβ-glucosid...

The calcium-dependent lipopeptide antibiotics represent a promising new class of antimicrobials for use in combating drug-resistant bacteria. At present, daptomycin is the only such lipopeptide used clinically and displays potent antimicrobial activity against a number of pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria. Given the increasing need for new antibiotics, practical synthetic access to unnatural an...

Rice bran lipase, phospholipase and galactolipase were extracted, purified and thenn characterized as the enzyme mixtures. All the enzymes were eluted on Sephadex G-100, column as one peak, showing that they have a similar molecular weight around 40,000. On DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column, these enzymes were further separated into two to four components, respectively. Chemical modification suggests t...

The eukaryotic exosome complex is built around the backbone of a 9-subunit ring similar to phosporolytic ribonucleases such as RNase PH and polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase). Unlike those enzymes, the ring is devoid of any detectable catalytic activities, with the possible exception of the plant version of the complex. Instead, the essential RNA decay capability is supplied by associated hy...