New reports are described each year on the occurrence of human metabolic diseases due to specific enzyme deficiencies (Harris, 1970; McKusick, 1971). For the biomedical scientist interested either in the mode of genetic transmission of these biochemical traits or in the mammalian control mechanisms of gene-enzyme expression it would be desirable to be able to supplement the research on human be...

Mutations in the translation elongation factor G (EF-G) make Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium resistant to the antibiotic fusidic acid. Fus(r) mutants are hypersensitive to oxidative stress and rapidly lose viability in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. We show that this phenotype is associated with reduced activity of two catalase enzymes, HPI (a bifunctional catalase-hydroperoxidase) ...

The decarboxylative Mannich reaction (DMR) of b-ketoacids with imines has emerged as a very important tool for the synthesis of natural products and biologically active compounds. The elegant work of Robinson on the total synthesis of ( )-tropinone represents the first practical example of utilizing the DMR as a key step in organic synthesis. Herbert and co-workers and Mangla and Bhakuni then d...

We report a crystal structure of Hfq and catalase HPII from Escherichia coli. The post-transcriptional regulator Hfq plays a key role in the survival of bacteria under stress. A small non-coding RNA (sRNA) DsrA is required for translation of the stationary phase sigma factor RpoS, which is the central regulator of the general stress response. Hfq facilitates efficient translation of rpoS mRNA, ...

Catalases are ubiquitous hydrogen peroxide-detoxifying enzymes that are central to the cellular antioxidant response. Of two catalase activities detected in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans, the catA gene encodes the spore-specific catalase A (CatA). Here we characterize a second catalase gene, identified after probing a genomic library with catA, and demonstrate that it encodes catalase B. This...

We had the pleasure of reading the article “Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) as candidates for tumor markers in patients with pancreatic cancer” published by Jelski et al in the last issue of the Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases, in which the Polish research group describe the potential role of ALDH as a tumor marker for pancreatic carcinoma, along wit...