In vitro assembly or complementation of a hybrid assimilatory nitrate reductase was attained by mixing a preparation of nitrate-induced N. crassa mutant nit-1 specifically with acid-treated (pH 2.5) bovine milk or intestinal xanthine oxidase, rabbit liver aldehyde oxidase, or chicken liver xanthine dehydrogenase. The complementation reaction specifically required induced nit-1, the only nitrate...

The substrate specificities of human aldose reductase and aldehyde reductase toward trioses, triose phosphates, and related three-carbon aldehydes and ketones were evaluated. Both enzymes are able to catalyze the NADPH-dependent reduction of all of the substrates used. Aldose reductase shows more discrimination among substrates than does aldehyde reductase and is generally the more efficient ca...

Aldehyde reductase [EC 1.1.1.2] and aldose reductase [EC 1.1.1.21] are monomeric NADPH-dependent oxidoreductases having wide substrate specificities for carbonyl compounds. These enzymes are implicated in the development of diabetic complications by catalyzing the reduction of glucose to sorbitol. Enzyme inhibition as a direct pharmacokinetic approach to the prevention of diabetic complications...

In most bacteria, in archaea and in plants, the general precursor of all tetrapyrroles, 5-aminolaevulinic acid, is formed by two enzymes. The initial substrate, glutamyl-tRNA, is reduced by NADPH-dependent glutamyl-tRNA reductase to form glutamate 1-semialdehyde. The aldehyde is subsequently transaminated by glutamate-1-semialdehyde 2,1-aminomutase to yield 5-aminolaevulinic acid. The enzymic m...

Protection of liver against the toxic and carcinogenic effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) can be achieved through the induction of detoxification enzymes by chemoprotectors such as the phenolic antioxidant ethoxyquin. We have cloned and sequenced a cDNA encoding an aldehyde reductase (AFB1-AR), which is expressed in rat liver in response to dietary ethoxyquin. Expression of the cDNA in Escherichia ...

Levels of lens aldose reductase, aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, and erythrocyte NADPH-oxidising (or glyceraldehyde reductase) activity were determined in 17 diabetic and 16 nondiabetic patients undergoing cataract extraction. Lens aldose reductase and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities were significantly lower in diabetics than in nondiabetics. Both enzymes showed significant inverse correlati...

Succinic semialdehyde reductase, a NADP+-dependent enzyme, was purified from whole pig brain homogenates. The enzyme preparation migrates as a single protein and activity band on analytical gel electrophoresis. Succinic semialdehyde reductase (Mr 110,000) catalyzes the reduction of succinic semialdehyde to 4-hydroxybutyrate. The equilibrium constant of the reaction is Keq = 5.8 X 10(7) M-1 at p...