Functionalization of amino acids and their derivatives opens up the possibility to produce novel compounds with additional functional groups, which can expand application spectra. Hydroxylation polyamide building blocks might allow crosslinking between molecular chains by esterification. Consequently, this alter properties resulting polymers. C. glutamicum represents a well-known industrial wor...

Arginine decarboxylase (ADC) and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) are involved in the biosynthesis of putrescine, which is the precursor of other polyamines in animals, plants, and bacteria. These pyridoxal-5'-phosphate-dependent decarboxylases belong to the alanine racemase (AR) structural family together with diaminopimelate decarboxylase (DapDC), which catalyzes the final step of lysine biosynt...

Variants in the gene encoding the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase like 1 (GADL1) have been associated with response to lithium therapy. Both GADL1 and the related enzyme cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase (CSAD) have been proposed to be involved in the pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent biosynthesis of taurine. In the present study, we compared the catalytic properties, inhibitor sensi...

Lactobacillus plantarum is a lactic acid bacterium able to degrade tannins by the subsequent action of tannase and gallate decarboxylase enzymes. The gene encoding tannase had previously been identified, whereas the gene encoding gallate decarboxylase is unknown. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of gallic-acid induced L. plantarum extracts showed a 54-kDa pro...

The levels of free amines and the activities of their biosynthetic enzymes were measured in a p-fluorophenylalanine resistant Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Xanthi cell line (TX4) which accumulates high levels of cinnamoylamides, and a wild type cell line (TX1). Putrescine in TX1 and spermidine in TX1 and TX4 increased 4-fold by day 4 but declined by day 8 of the culture period. Spermine levels were c...

Histamine is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and an important modulator of gastric acid secretion, vasomotor control, inflammation, and allergic reactions. In biological systems the formation of histamine from its precursor histidine is catalyzed by the enzyme L-histidine decarboxylase (HDC; L-histidine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.22). We have cloned HDC-encoding cDNA from a fetal ...

Three tobacco cell lines have been analyzed which are resistant to lethal inhibitors of either putrescine production or conversion of putrescine into polyamines. Free and conjugated putrescine pools, the enzymic activities (arginine, ornithine, and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylases), and the growth characteristics during acidic stress were measured in suspension cultures of each cell line. On...

The stringent response regulator ppGpp has recently been shown by our group to inhibit the Escherichia coli inducible lysine decarboxylase, LdcI. As a follow-up to this observation, we examined the mechanisms that regulate the activities of the other four E. coli enzymes paralogous to LdcI: the constitutive lysine decarboxylase LdcC, the inducible arginine decarboxylase AdiA, the inducible orni...

Decarboxylation of amino acid is a key step for biosynthesis of several important cellular metabolites in the biological systems. This process is catalyzed by amino acid decarboxylases and most of them use pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) as a co-factor. PLP is bound to the active site of the enzyme by various interactions with the neighboring amino acid residues. In the present investigation, dens...