Although systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multigenic autoimmune disorder, HLA-D is the most dominant genetic susceptibility locus. This study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that microbial peptides bind HLA-DR3 and activate T cells reactive with lupus autoantigens. Using HLA-...

Human, mouse, and Xenopus mRNAs encoding the U1 snRNP-specific U1 A protein contain a conserved 47 nt region in their 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs). In vitro studies show that human U1A protein binds to two sites within the conserved region that resemble, in part, the previously characterized ...

We evaluated whether phospholemman (PLM) regulates L-type Ca2 + current (ICa) in mouse ventricular myocytes. Expression of α1-subunit of L-type Ca2 + channels between wild-type (WT) and PLM knockout (KO) hearts was similar. Compared to WT myocytes, peak ICa (at − 10 mV) from KO myocytes was ~ 4...

A new class of PDE4 inhibitors were designed and synthesized via the InCl3 mediated heteroarylation of indoles and their further derivatization through the Pd(II)-catalyzed CH activation strategy. This effort allowed us to discover a series of 2-(1H-indol-3-yl)-quinoxaline based inhibitors posse...

Camalexin is a tryptophan-derived phytoalexin that is induced in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana upon pathogen attack. Only few genes in the biosynthetic pathway of camalexin remain unidentified, however, investigation of candidate genes for these steps has proven particularly difficult par...

Metal hyperaccumulation from the soil by certain plant species can serve as a defence trait. Such hyperaccumulation might impact the expression of organic defences. Here, the induction of the phytoalexin camalexin after leaf infection with a pathogenic fungus was investigated in plants of the fa...

A short and concise formal synthesis of enantiopure dihydroartemisinic acid from (R)-citronellal is described in this article. Intramolecular version of asymmetric Stetter reaction using Rovis aminoindane based NHC catalyst was explored to access the core substituted cyclohexanone framework whic...

Condensation of 4-hydroxy-2-pyridone (4) with citronellal (10) affords o-quinone methide intermediate 11, which reacts further to give inverse electron Diels-Alder adducts 12 (46%) and 16 (25%) and ene adduct 14 (28%). Oxidation of 12 and 14 by Sammes' procedure affords pyridoxatin analogue...

BackgroundThis study is to characterize the antifungal effects of pyridoxatin (PYR), a small natural product isolated from an endolichenic fungus.

Permanganate is a versatile chemical oxidant, and has undergone a dramatic evolution toward deep insight into its reaction mechanism. However, the hydrogen abstraction of the NH bond by permanganate remains unclear. We studied the permanganate oxidation of the emerging micropollutant sulfamethox...

Arietin, an Arg-Gly-Asp containing peptide from venom of Bitis arietans, inhibited aggregation of platelets stimulated by a variety of agonists with a similar IC50, 1.3–2.7·10−7 M. It blocked aggregation through the interference of fibrinogen binding to fibrinogen receptors on platelet surface...

By means of Fractogel TSK-50, CM-Sephadex C-50 column chromatography, gel filtrations on Sephadex G-75 and Sephacryl S-200 columns and reverse-phase HPLC, an antiplatelet peptide, aritin, was purified from venom of Bitis arietans. Arietin was shown to be an ArgGlyAsp-cotaining peptide with a NH2...

Two antifungal peptides with novel N-terminal sequences, designated cicerin and arietin were isolated from seeds of the chickpea (Cicer arietinum), respectively. Both peptides were adsorbed on Affi-gel blue gel and CM-Sepharose and exhibited a molecular weight of approximately 8.2 and 5.6 kDa, r...

Biological evaluation of 3,4-dihydroxy piperidines as α-glucosidase inhibitors is being reported for the first time. Forty-five derivatives (amides, di-amides and sulfonamides) were made using cis and trans 3,4-dihydroxy piperidines to evaluate their α-glucosidase inhibition activity. Polar gr...

Enzymatic acetylations of N-substituted cis- and trans-3,4-dihydroxypiperidine and hydrolysis of their diacetylated derivatives have been studied. High enantioselectivities are obtained with Pseudomonas cepacia lipase and Candida antarctica lipase B for the hydrolysis of the trans-derivative, wh...

A new effective approach to the synthesis of some novel series of (Z)-2-((4-oxo-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethylene)-4,5-dihydrothiazol-2-yl)amino) substituted acid is reported at room temperature, less reaction time with good to excellent yields.

Natural (5Z,9Z)-dienoic acids and key precursors of biologically active trienoic acids were prepared in high yields and with high stereoselectivity using cross-cyclomagnesiation of terminal and oxygenated 1,2-dienes with EtMgBr in the presence of Mg metal and Cp2TiCl2 catalyst at the key step.

Lipid accumulation is the hallmark of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and has been suggested to play a role in promoting fatty liver inflammation. Previous findings indicate that during oxidative stress conditions excess cholesterol autoxidizes to oxysterols. To date, the role of oxyst...

We developed and validated an efficient and robust method for the simultaneous quantification of 44 fatty acid species in human plasma via GC-TOF-MS. The method is characterized by its robustness, accuracy and precision covering a wide range of fatty acid species with various saturation degrees ...

The ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) are a group of proteins that are able to inactivate eukaryotic protein synthesis by attacking the 28S ribosomal RNA. Recent studies have shown that some RIPs possess strong anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity. In this study, several common p...