Rice with human proteins to take root in Kansas

Nature ◽  
2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Marris
Keyword(s):  
1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (02) ◽  
pp. 309-318
Author(s):  
Phyllis S Roberts ◽  
Raphael M Ottenbrite ◽  
Patricia B Fleming ◽  
James Wigand

Summary1. Choline chloride, 0.1 M (in 0.25 M Tris. HCl buffer, pH 7.4 or 8.0, 37°), doubles the rate of hydrolysis of TAME by bovine thrombokinase but has no effect on the hydrolysis of this ester by either human or bovine thrombin. Only when 1.0 M or more choline chloride is present is the hydrolysis of BAME by thrombokinase or thrombin weakly inhibited. Evidence is presented that shows that these effects are due to the quaternary amine group.2. Tetramethyl ammonium bromide or chloride has about the same effects on the hydrolysis of esters by these enzymes as does choline chloride but tetra-ethyl, -n.propyl and -n.butyl ammonium bromides (0.1 M) are stronger accelerators of the thrombokinase-TAME reaction and they also accelerate, but to a lesser degree, the thrombin-TAME reaction. In addition, they inhibit the hydrolysis of BAME by both enzymes. Their effects on these reactions, however, do not follow any regular order. The tetraethyl compound is the strongest accelerator of the thrombokinase-TAME reaction but the tetra-ethyl and -butyl compounds are the strongest accelerators of the thrombin-TAME reaction. The ethyl and propyl compounds are the best (although weak) inhibitors of the thrombokinase-BAME and the propyl compound of the thrombin-BAME reactions.3. Tetra-methyl, -ethyl, -n.propyl and -n.butyl ammonium bromides (0.01 M) inhibit the clotting of fibrinogen by thrombin (bovine and human proteins) at pH 7.4, imidazole or pH 6.1, phosphate buffers and they also inhibit, but to a lesser degree, a modified one-stage prothrombin test. In all cases the inhibition increases regularly as the size of the alkyl group increases from methyl to butyl. Only the ethyl com pound (0.025 M but not 0.01 M), however, significantly inhibits the polymerization of bovine fibrin monomers. It was concluded that inhibition of the fibrinogen-thrombin and the one-stage tests by the quaternary amines is not due to any effect of the com pounds on the polymerization process but probably due to inhibition of thrombin’s action on fibrinogen by the quaternary amines.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 726
Author(s):  
Ronald Biemann ◽  
Enrico Buß ◽  
Dirk Benndorf ◽  
Theresa Lehmann ◽  
Kay Schallert ◽  
...  

Gut microbiota-mediated inflammation promotes obesity-associated low-grade inflammation, which represents a hallmark of metabolic syndrome. To investigate if lifestyle-induced weight loss (WL) may modulate the gut microbiome composition and its interaction with the host on a functional level, we analyzed the fecal metaproteome of 33 individuals with metabolic syndrome in a longitudinal study before and after lifestyle-induced WL in a well-defined cohort. The 6-month WL intervention resulted in reduced BMI (−13.7%), improved insulin sensitivity (HOMA-IR, −46.1%), and reduced levels of circulating hsCRP (−39.9%), indicating metabolic syndrome reversal. The metaprotein spectra revealed a decrease of human proteins associated with gut inflammation. Taxonomic analysis revealed only minor changes in the bacterial composition with an increase of the families Desulfovibrionaceae, Leptospiraceae, Syntrophomonadaceae, Thermotogaceae and Verrucomicrobiaceae. Yet we detected an increased abundance of microbial metaprotein spectra that suggest an enhanced hydrolysis of complex carbohydrates. Hence, lifestyle-induced WL was associated with reduced gut inflammation and functional changes of human and microbial enzymes for carbohydrate hydrolysis while the taxonomic composition of the gut microbiome remained almost stable. The metaproteomics workflow has proven to be a suitable method for monitoring inflammatory changes in the fecal metaproteome.


Author(s):  
Darja Kanduc

AbstractBy examining the issue of the thromboses and hemostasis disorders associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) through the lens of cross-reactivity, it was found that 60 pentapeptides are shared by SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (gp) and human proteins that— when altered, mutated, deficient or, however, improperly functioning— cause vascular diseases, thromboembolic complications, venous thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, coagulopathies, and bleeding, inter alia. The peptide commonality has a relevant immunological potential as almost all of the shared sequences are present in experimentally validated SARS-CoV-2 spike gp-derived epitopes, thus supporting the possibility of cross-reactions between the viral gp and the thromboses-related human proteins. Moreover, many of the shared peptide sequences are also present in pathogens to which individuals have previously been exposed following natural infection or vaccinal routes, and of which the immune system has stored imprint. Such an immunological memory might rapidly trigger anamnestic secondary cross-reactive responses of extreme affinity and avidity, in this way explaining the thromboembolic adverse events that can associate with SARS-CoV-2 infection or active immunization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Lydia-Eirini Giannakou ◽  
Athanasios-Stefanos Giannopoulos ◽  
Chrissi Hatzoglou ◽  
Konstantinos I. Gourgoulianis ◽  
Erasmia Rouka ◽  
...  

Haemophilus influenzae (Hi), Moraxella catarrhalis (MorCa) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Psa) are three of the most common gram-negative bacteria responsible for human respiratory diseases. In this study, we aimed to identify, using the functional enrichment analysis (FEA), the human gene interaction network with the aforementioned bacteria in order to elucidate the full spectrum of induced pathogenicity. The Human Pathogen Interaction Database (HPIDB 3.0) was used to identify the human proteins that interact with the three pathogens. FEA was performed via the ToppFun tool of the ToppGene Suite and the GeneCodis database so as to identify enriched gene ontologies (GO) of biological processes (BP), cellular components (CC) and diseases. In total, 11 human proteins were found to interact with the bacterial pathogens. FEA of BP GOs revealed associations with mitochondrial membrane permeability relative to apoptotic pathways. FEA of CC GOs revealed associations with focal adhesion, cell junctions and exosomes. The most significantly enriched annotations in diseases and pathways were lung adenocarcinoma and cell cycle, respectively. Our results suggest that the Hi, MorCa and Psa pathogens could be related to the pathogenesis and/or progression of lung adenocarcinoma via the targeting of the epithelial cellular junctions and the subsequent deregulation of the cell adhesion and apoptotic pathways. These hypotheses should be experimentally validated.


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