In Escherichia coli, RcsA, a positive activator for transcription of cps (capsular polysaccharide synthesis) genes, is degraded by the Lon protease. In lon mutant, the accumulation of RcsA leads to overexpression of capsular polysaccharide. In a previous study, overproduction of ClpYQ(HslUV) pro...

Sporobolus virginicus is a halophytic C4 grass found worldwide, from tropical to warm temperate regions. One Japanese genotype showed a salinity tolerance up to 1.5 M NaCl, a three-fold higher concentration than the salinity of sea water. To identify the key genes involved in the regulation of s...

The presence of a membrane-bound hemoglobin in aqueous extracts of nitrogen-fixing Casuarina root nodules (Davenport, H.E. (1960) Nature 186, 653–654) has been confirmed. By strictly anaerobic grinding and extraction under carbon monoxide, with inclusion of soluble polyvinylpyrrolidone and zwit...

The amino acid sequence of hemoglobin I from nitrogen-fixing root nodules of the Casuarina glauca-Frankia symbiosis has been determined. The protein is composed of 151 amino acids including a single cysteine, a residue not found in the leghemoglobins. The molecular mass, including heme, is calcu...

Unimolecular β-scission of the methoxymethyl (CH3OCH2) radical has been considered to be the crucial chain-propagating step in both oxidation and pyrolysis of dimethyl ether. The present work employs hybrid density functionals M06-2X, BB1K, B3LYP, and MPW1K with the MG3S basis set as well as do...

Penetrability of cement-based grout is an important issue when sealing the rock around tunnels and measurement of this property of the grout is needed for designing the grouting process and the development of grout. This paper investigates plug-building or the filtration process in a long slot w...

Short-chain peptides with an N-terminal proline (Pro-Gly, Pro-Ile, Pro-Gly-Gly, Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2, and Pro-Thr-Pro-Ser-NH2, etc.) were determined by HPLC with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. The peptides were quantitatively labelled with 4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulphonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-be...

Tetrahydrofuran solutions of (dtbpe)NiCl2 (dtbpe=1,2-bis(di-tert-butylphosphino)ethane) are reduced by KC8 to afford the dimeric Ni(I) complex [(dtbpe)NiCl]2 (1) in 73% yield. Reaction of 1 with [FeCp2][PF6] effects a one-electron oxidation to give the mixed-valent Ni(I,II) binuclear species [{(...

Various peptidoglycan fragments were synthesized from two anhydro-muramic acid derivatives protected with a Bn or a PMB group at the 4th position, in homogenate phase or on a solid support. In order to facilitate HPLC detection, a chromophoric group was attached to the peptide chain. The peripla...

ObjectivesDue to various biological activities of sulfonamides, a series of new N-(5-chloro-2-methoxyphenyl)-aryl sulfonamides (3a–e) and their N-benzyl/ethyl substituted derivatives (6a–e & 7a–e) were synthesized followed by antibacterial activity evaluation.

Xylella fastidiosa is a Gram-negative xylem-limited plant pathogenic bacterium responsible for several economically important crop diseases. Here, we present a novel and efficient protein refolding protocol for the solubilization and purification of recombinant X. fastidiosa peptidoglycan-associ...

Peptidoglycan-associated lipoprotein (PAL) is a highly conserved structural outer membrane protein among Gram-negative bacteria. In some species, it is proinflammatory and released extracellularly. We purified a newly identified PAL (AaPAL) of a periodontal pathogen Actinobacillus actinomycetemc...

Legionella pneumophila causes a severe form of pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease especially in patients with impaired cellular immune response. In order to prevent the disease, immunogenicity and the level of the induction of protective immunity from the recombinant peptidoglycan–associ...

Amyloid-β 1–42 (Aβ42) and 1–40 (Aβ40) peptides, whose self-assembly process has been linked with the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease, exist as a mixture in human fluids. For this reason, heteromeric self-assembly of Aβ42 and Aβ40 has been widely investigated to unders...

Protein misfolding and aggregation are associated with amyloidosis. The toxic aggregation of amyloid-β 1–42 (Aβ42) may disrupt cell membranes and lead to cell death and is thus regarded as a contributing factor in Alzheimer's disease (AD). 1,4-naphthoquinone (NQ) has been shown to exhibi...

IntroductionAvailable assays for quantitation of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarker amyloid-beta 1–42 (Aβ [1–42]) in cerebrospinal fluid demonstrate significant variability and lack of standardization to reference measurement procedures (RMPs). We report analytical performance data f...

The most prevalent neurodegenerative disease is Alzheimer’s dementia. It is determined by the deposits of amyloid-beta peptide which leads to memory impairment, oxidative stress, and neurodegeneration. Aromatherapy by using essential oils could represent a natural treatment option for Alzheimer...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the galactopoietic effects of an analog of growth hormone-releasing factor. Specific replacements were made in the AA sequence of growth hormone-releasing factor to produce a growth hormone-releasing factor analog with enhanced stability in vivo. In Ex...

Thirty-five lactating Holstein cows (165 ± 8 DIM) received the following treatments for 96 d: uninfused controls; i.v. infusion of .9, 2.7, or 8.1 mg/d of Ile2, Ser8,28, Ala15, Leu27, Hse30-bovine growth hormone-releasing factor (1–30) ethyl amide; or i.v. infusion of 12 mg/d of recombinant Le...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of recombinant bovine growth hormone-releasing factor (rGRF) or recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) on growth and function of the first-wave dominant follicle and corpus luteum. Primiparous Holstein cows (117 d postpartum) were infused w...