Macroconidia of Fusarium solani f. phascoli have no detectable capacity to respire glucose anaerobically; germinated spores and mycelium, on the other hand, ferment glucose, although slowly.Extracts of ungerminated spores contain hexokinase, phosphohexoisomerase, phosphofructokinase, aldolase, triose phosphate dehydrogenase, triose phosphate isomerase, phosphoglyceric kinase, enolase, phosphogl...

Secondary hyperparathyroidism is a major complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In experimental models of secondary hyperparathyroidism induced by hypocalcemia or CKD, parathyroid hormone (PTH) mRNA levels increase due to increased PTH mRNA stability. K-homology splicing regulator protein (KSRP) decreases the stability of PTH mRNA upon binding a cis-acting element in the PTH mRNA 3' UTR ...

The open reading frame TM1080 from Thermotoga maritima encoding ribose-5-phosphate isomerase type B (RpiB) was cloned and over-expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). After optimization of cell culture conditions, more than 30% of intracellular proteins were soluble recombinant RpiB. High-purity RpiB was obtained by heat pretreatment through its optimization in buffer choice, buffer pH, as we...

We compare the historical demographies of two Müllerian comimetic butterfly species: Heliconius erato and Heliconius melpomene. These species show an extensive parallel geographic divergence in their aposematic wing phenotypes. Recent studies suggest that this coincident mosaic results from simultaneous demographic processes shaped by extrinsic forces over Pleistocene climate fluctuations. Howe...

How easy is it to improve the catalytic power of an enzyme? To address this question, the gene encoding a sluggish mutant triose-phosphate isomerase (D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate ketol-isomerase, EC 5.3.1.1) has been subjected to random mutagenesis over its whole length by using "spiked" oligonucleotide primers. Transformation of an isomerase-minus strain of Escherichia coli was followed by sel...

Chalcone isomerase (CHI) is an important enzyme for flavonoid biosynthesis that catalyzes the intramolecular cyclization of chalcones into (S)-flavanones. CHIs have been classified into two types based on their substrate specificity. Type I CHIs use naringenin chalcone as a substrate and are found in most of plants besides legumes, whereas type II CHIs in leguminous plants can also utilize isol...

Phosphoglucose isomerase from the crenarchaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum (PaPGI/PMI) shows virtually no sequence similarity to its counterparts from bacterial and eukaryotic sources and belongs to a unique group within the PGI superfamily. Whereas conventional PGIs show strict substrate specificity for glucose 6-phosphate and fructose 6-phosphate, PaPGI/PMI can also catalyse the isomerization of m...

The synthesis of the glycoprotein enzymes, invertase and acid phosphatase, by protoplasts of Saccharomyces mutant 1016, is inhibited by 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-dG) after a 20- to 30-min lag period under conditions (external sugar to 2-dG ratio of 40:1) which cause only a slight decrease in total protein synthesis. Formation of one intracellular enzyme, alpha-glucosidase, is also sensitive, but pro...

First-trimester prenatal diagnosis was undertaken by chorionic villus DNA analysis in two unrelated families with the inherited glycolytic disorder triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) deficiency. The propositus in each family was shown to be homozygous for a missense mutation (GAG + GAC) at codon 104 of the TPI gene. In the first case the fetus was heterozygous for the codon 104 mutation and therefore

We isolated pgi1-1, an Arabidopsis mutant with a decreased plastid phospho-glucose (Glc) isomerase activity. While pgi1-1 mutant has a deficiency in leaf starch synthesis, it accumulates starch in root cap cells. It has been shown that a plastid transporter for hexose phosphate transports cytosolic Glc-6-P into plastids and expresses restricted mainly to the heterotrophic tissues. The decreased...