σ factors provide RNA polymerase with promoter specificity in bacteria. Some σ factors require activation in order to interact with RNA polymerase and transcribe target genes. The Extra-Cytoplasmic Function (ECF) σ factor, σV, is encoded by several Gram-positive bacteria and is specifically activated by lysozyme. This activation requires the proteolytic destruction of the anti-σ factor RsiV via...

Lysozyme turnover in the rat was studied with (125)I-labeled rat lysozyme. It was found that plasma lysozyme has a rapid disappearance rate with a half-life of 75 min. The rate of synthesis was calculated at 3.4 mug/min per 100 g rat. This rate of synthesis was compared with figures from the literature for the turnover rate of neutrophilic granulocytes, and the data were consistent with the con...

Lysozyme was attached to three cotton fabrics through a glycine amino acid linker esterifi ed to cotton cellulose. Lysozyme bound to cotton twill using a carbodiimide-mediated coupling reaction gave the best lysozyme incorporation (16.1 mg/g of cotton). Cotton spunlace nonwoven fabric bound slightly less lysozyme (12.8 mg/g of cotton), but had the best antimicrobial activity. Woven print cloth ...

Bronchial mucus contains large quantities of the antibacterial enzyme lysozyme. Acutely exposing mice or rabbits to ozone reduced the amount of active lysozyme obtainable by bronchopulmonary lavage. The effect was proportional to ozone concentration, as well as to duration of exposure. Enzyme activity returned to normal levels during the 12 hr following exposure. Ozone (5 muliters/liter; 5 part...

The lysozyme of bacteriophage T4 was purified to apparent homogeneity from lysates of the phage grown on Escherichia coli. The enzyme is a single polypeptide chain of molecular weight 19,000, with a single NH&erminal methionine residue and a single COOH-terminal leuciue residue. The amino acid composition of the protein was determined. The phage lysozyme exhibits a much greater specific activit...

We investigated changes in lysozyme activity in serum and urine of kidney-transplant patients, and found that the production and catabolism of lysozyme in such patients differs markedly from that in normal subjects. Resumption of graft function decreases the high serum lysozyme activity by increasing the rate of catabolism in the transplant; at the same time, however, the production is inhibite...

The antibacterial activity of immune haemolymph Galleria mellonella directed against Escherichia coli D31 was destroyed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa crude proteolytic fraction. This was demonstrated by diffusion well assay and acid gel electrophoresis and subsequent bioautography. On the contrary, lysozyme activity appeared to be insensitive to extracellular proteases of P. aeruginosa when activit...

Sea bream broodstock were immunised 1 or 2 months before spawning with a novel photobacteriosis vaccine. Sixty-seven-day-old larvae (mean weight 22.3 mg) originating from immunised and non-immunised parents were experimentally infected with the Photobacterium damsela subsp. piscicida (Phdp). Larvae from immunised fish showed delayed onset and lower mortality (66.67%) compared with larvae from c...

Water is the natural medium for protein folding, which is also used in all in vitro studies. In the present work, we posed, and answered affirmatively, a question of whether it is possible to fold correctly a typical protein in a nonaqueous solvent. To this end, unfolded and reduced hen egg-white lysozyme was refolded and reoxidized in glycerol containing varying amounts of water. The unfolded/...