Luciferase enzymes are involved in the bioluminescence reaction (light emission by living organisms). The bioluminescence process is a widespread phenomenon in the Nature. These enzymes are identified in some domains of life, but the luciferases from lampyrid genus are considered of for biological applications. The molecular cloning of a new type of firefly luciferase from Luciola lateralis was...

Catalase (CAT, OMIM: 115500) is an endogenous antioxidant enzyme and genetic variations in the regulatory regions of the CAT gene may alter the CAT enzyme activity and subsequently may alter the risk of oxidative stress related disease. In this study, potential influence(s) of the A-21T (rs7943316) and C-262T (rs1001179) genetic polymorphisms in the CAT promoter region, using the ALGGEN-PROMO.v...

Quorum sensing controls the luminescence of Vibrio fischeri through the transcriptional activator LuxR and the specific autoinducer signal produced by luxI. Amino acid sequences of these two genes were analyzed using bioinformatics tools. LuxI consists of 193 amino acids and appears to contain five α-helices and six ß-sheets when analyzed by SSpro8. LuxI belongs to the autoinducer synthetase fa...

The Ku antigen is a heterodimer consisting of 70and 80-kD protein subunits that binds to termini of double-stranded DNA. DNA binding appears to be mediated partly by the 70-kD (p70) subunit, but the precise mechanism of its association with DNA is unclear. High-titer autoantibodies in sera from certain patients with systemic lupus erythematosus recognize at least eight distinct epitopes of Ku, ...

Three new rimantadine Schiff bases (RSBs) were prepared, and then the interaction of RSBs with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated using fluorescence, synchronous fluorescence, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy under physiological conditions. The results showed that the three RSBs effectively quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA via static quenching. Binding constant (Ka), number of ...

Three new rimantadine Schiff bases (RSBs) were prepared, and then the interaction of RSBs with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated using fluorescence, synchronous fluorescence, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy under physiological conditions. The results showed that the three RSBs effectively quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA via static quenching. Binding constant (Ka), number of ...

The Fya, Fyb, Jka, U, and Dib antigen site numbers and ultrastructural distribution patterns on the human erythrocyte membrane were determined using quantitative immunoferritin microscopy. For homozygous antigen-positive red cells, the average number of determinants per red cell was about 14,000 for Jka, 17,000 for Fya and Fyb, 19,000 for Dib, and 23,000 for the U antigen, assuming that the equ...

monoamine oxidase (ec, 1.4.3.4) or amine oxidoreductase catalyzes the oxidative deamination of biogenic amines. abnormal action of the monoamine oxidase b has been associated with neurological dysfunctions including parkinson´s disorder. monoamine oxidase b inhibitors divulged that these agents were effective in the therapeutic management of parkinson's disease. understanding the interaction of...

A monoclonal antibody 3A10, generated from a mouse immunized with the Streptococcus dysgalactiae fibronectin (Fn) binding protein FnbA, was isolated, and its effect on ligand binding by the antigen was examined. The epitope for 3A10 was localized to a previously unidentified Fn binding motif (designated An) just N-terminal of the repeat domain which represents the primary ligand binding site on...

This chapter gives a comprehensive introduction of the sequence/structural features that are characteristic of protein-protein interaction sites and reviews state-of-the-art methodologies for protein-protein binding site prediction. Protein-protein interaction residues are largely responsible for mediating physical binding processes such as inhibitory effects through enzyme-inhibitor interactio...