Synthesis, Structure, and Activity of the Antifungal Plant Defensin PvD1

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (17) ◽  
pp. 9391-9402
Author(s):  
Julia Skalska ◽  
Vitor M. Andrade ◽  
Gabrielle L. Cena ◽  
Peta J. Harvey ◽  
Diana Gaspar ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
S. Tai

Extensive cytological and histological research, correlated with physiological experimental analysis, have been done on the anterior pituitaries of many different vertebrates which have provided the knowledge to create the concept that specific cell types synthesize, store and release their specific hormones. These hormones are stored in or associated with granules. Nevertheless, there are still many doubts - that need further studies, specially on the ultrastructure and physiology of these endocrine cells during the process of synthesis, transport and secretion, whereas some new methods may provide the information about the intracellular structure and activity in detail.In the present work, ultrastructural study of the hormone-secretory cells of chicken pituitaries have been done by using TEM as well as HR-SEM, to correlate the informations obtained from 2-dimensional TEM micrography with the 3-dimensional SEM topographic images, which have a continous surface with larger depth of field that - offers the adventage to interpretate some intracellular structures which were not possible to see using TEM.


1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (05) ◽  
pp. 1452-1459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H Yue ◽  
Toby Starr ◽  
Menard M Gertler

SummaryCommercial porcine heparin can be separated into three distinct subtractions by using DEAE-cellulose chromatography and a stepped salt gradient. Gram quantities of heparin can be fractionated by this technique. All three heparin subtractions can accelerate the inhibition of thrombin by antithrombin III with different efficiency. The specific activities of the high activity heparin, intermediate activity heparin and low activity heparin are 228 units/mg, 142 units/mg and 95 units/mg, respectively. Both the uronic acid content and the quantity of N-SO4 for all three heparin subfractions have been evaluated. The high activity heparin has the lowest uronic acid and N-SO4 content. The successful separation of commercial heparin into three distinct subfractions by means of ion-exchange chromatography suggests that the net charge on these three heparin components will serve as a model system in the elucidation of the structure and activity relationship to the biological function of heparin.


Author(s):  
Justyna Żwawiak ◽  
Anna Pawełczyk ◽  
Dorota Olender ◽  
Lucjusz Zaprutko

: Triterpenes are a wide and important group of compounds that have several promising pharmacological properties, such as hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-HIV, antioxidant, or anticancer activities. Such potent substances can be successfully incorporated in more complex chemical systems e.g. codrugs or pro-drugs that have better pharmacological profile. The codrug is connected with a drug formation pathway to chemically cohere at least two drug molecules to improve positive therapeutic efficiency or decrease side effects. The codrug can be cleaved in the organism to generate effective compounds previously used as substrates. This article presents an overview of codrugs that consist of pentacyclic triterpene moiety that is chosen as a basic codrug moiety due to their wide range of vital activities and another drug molecule fragment. It was found that triterpenoid codrugs are characterized by a wide range of biological activities. However, most of them have anticancer potency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4512
Author(s):  
Michał Marcinkowski ◽  
Tomaš Pilžys ◽  
Damian Garbicz ◽  
Jan Piwowarski ◽  
Damian Mielecki ◽  
...  

The FTO protein is involved in a wide range of physiological processes, including adipogenesis and osteogenesis. This two-domain protein belongs to the AlkB family of 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG)- and Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenases, displaying N6-methyladenosine (N6-meA) demethylase activity. The aim of the study was to characterize the relationships between the structure and activity of FTO. The effect of cofactors (Fe2+/Mn2+ and 2-OG), Ca2+ that do not bind at the catalytic site, and protein concentration on FTO properties expressed in either E. coli (ECFTO) or baculovirus (BESFTO) system were determined using biophysical methods (DSF, MST, SAXS) and biochemical techniques (size-exclusion chromatography, enzymatic assay). We found that BESFTO carries three phosphoserines (S184, S256, S260), while there were no such modifications in ECFTO. The S256D mutation mimicking the S256 phosphorylation moderately decreased FTO catalytic activity. In the presence of Ca2+, a slight stabilization of the FTO structure was observed, accompanied by a decrease in catalytic activity. Size exclusion chromatography and MST data confirmed the ability of FTO from both expression systems to form homodimers. The MST-determined dissociation constant of the FTO homodimer was consistent with their in vivo formation in human cells. Finally, a low-resolution structure of the FTO homodimer was built based on SAXS data.


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