Two novel members of the adipokinetic hormone/red pigment-concentrating hormone family of peptides were identified in dung beetles of the genus Onitis using heterologous (measuring lipid and carbohydrate mobilization in locusts and cockroaches) and a homologous (measuring proline increase in the haemolymph) bioassay(s). Isolation of the peptides was achieved by single-step reverse-phase HPLC of...

Although studies on the degradative metabolism of hydroxyproline have revealed that this amino acid is converted at least in part to glutamic acid (I-G), knowledge of the intermediates in this conversion and of other products of hydroxyproline metabolism is not yet complete. In the course of experiments on the metabolism of hydroxyproline, it was observed that incubation of hydroxyproline with ...

Actively growing Escherichia coli cells respond to increased osmotic pressure by increasing their internal pools of K+ (Epstein & Schultz, 1965) and of the amino acids glutamate, proline and a-aminobutyric acid (Britten & McClure, 1962; Measures, 1975). The change in amino acid pools may be brought about either by increased rates of their synthesis or by stimulation of the rate of their uptake....

Chromosomal band 11q13 seems to be one of the most frequently amplified lesions in human cancer, including esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC). The oral cancer overexpressed 1 (ORAOV1) gene has been identified within this region, but its detailed biological function in human ESCC remains largely unclear. In our clinical samples of stage III ESCC, ORAOV1 amplification was observed in 49 of 94...

Halophytes are plants which naturally survive in saline environment. They account for ∼1% of the total flora of the world. They include both dicots and monocots and are distributed mainly in arid, semi-arid inlands and saline wet lands along the tropical and sub-tropical coasts. Salinity tolerance in halophytes depends on a set of ecological and physiological characteristics that allow them to ...

The objective of the present work was to determine what impact extremely high nitrogen dosages would have on proline metabolism in order to use this amino acid as a bioindicator of N status of green bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Strike). In this effort, we identified the most favourable pathway of proline synthesis under our experimental conditions. The N was applied to the nutrient so...

In the study of the physiology of the amino-acids and their derivatives the cyclic compounds always engage attention because presumably the formation or disruption of ring structures requires special processes. No doubt there is considerable reason for assuming that such should be the case with homocyclic structures where there is union of carbon with carbon, but then evidence has been accumula...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can enhance drought tolerance in plants, whereas little is known regarding AMF contribution to sucrose and proline metabolisms under drought stress (DS). In this study, Funneliformis mosseae and Paraglomus occultum were inoculated into trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) under well watered and DS. Although the 71-days DS notably (P < 0.05) inhibited mycorr...

Proline racemase (ProR) is a member of the pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-independent racemase family, and is involved in the Stickland reaction (fermentation) in certain clostridia as well as the mechanisms underlying the escape of parasites from host immunity in eukaryotic Trypanosoma. Hydroxyproline epimerase (HypE), which is in the same protein family as ProR, catalyzes the first step of the trans-...

Amino acid analysis of the culture medium was carried out in a human leukemic lymphoblastoid cell line (REH) established from the lymphoblasts of a patient with acute lymphoid leukemia. The results are compared with those of a reference cell line (LHN13) established from normal human lymphocytes. The most striking difference between these two cell lines concerns proline. In LHN13 the concentrat...