Corynebacterium jeikeium, a resident of human skin, is often associated with multidrug resistant nosocomial infections in immunodepressed patients. C. jeikeium K411 belongs to mycolic acid-containing actinomycetes, the mycolata and contains a channel-forming protein as judged from reconstitution experiments with artificial lipid bilayer experiments. The channel-forming protein was present in detergent treated cell walls and in extracts of whole cells using organic solvents. A gene coding for a 40 amino acid long polypeptide possibly responsible for the pore-forming activity was identified in the known genome of C. jeikeium by its similar chromosomal localization to known porH and porA genes of other Corynebacterium strains. The gene jk0268 was expressed in a porin deficient Corynebacterium glutamicum strain. For purification temporarily histidine-tailed or with a GST-tag at the N-terminus, the homogeneous protein caused channel-forming activity with an average conductance of 1.25 nS in 1M KCl identical to the channels formed by the detergent extracts. Zero-current membrane potential measurements of the voltage dependent channel implied selectivity for anions. This preference is according to single-channel analysis caused by some excess of cationic charges located in the channel lumen formed by oligomeric alpha-helical wheels. The channel has a suggested diameter of 1.4 nm as judged from the permeability of different sized hydrated anions using the Renkin correction factor. Surprisingly, the genome of C. jeikeium contained only one gene coding for a cell wall channel of the PorA/PorH type found in other Corynebacterium species. The possible evolutionary relationship between the heterooligomeric channels formed by certain Corynebacterium strains and the homooligomeric pore of C. jeikeium is discussed. 相似文献
Elderly frequently present variable degrees of osteopenia, sarcopenia, and neuromotor control degradation. Severely osteoporotic patients sometime fracture their femoral neck when falling. Is it possible that such fractures might occur without any fall, but rather spontaneously while the patient is performing normal movements such as level walking? The aim of this study was to verify if such spontaneous fractures are biomechanically possible, and in such case, which conditions of osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and neuromotor degradation could produce them. To the purpose, a probabilistic multiscale body-organ model validated against controlled experiments was used to predict the risk of spontaneous fractures in a population of 80-years old women, with normal weight and musculoskeletal anatomy, and variable degree of osteopenia, sarcopenia, and neuromotor control degradation. A multi-body inverse dynamics sub-model, coupled to a probabilistic neuromuscular sub-model, and to a femur finite element sub-model, formed the multiscale model, which was run within a Monte Carlo stochastic scheme, where the various parameters were varied randomly according to well defined distributions. The model predicted that neither extreme osteoporosis, nor extreme neuromotor degradation alone are sufficient to predict spontaneous fractures. However, when the two factors are combined an incidence of 0.4% of spontaneous fractures is predicted for the simulated population, which is consistent with clinical reports. When the model represented only severely osteoporotic patients, the incidence of spontaneous fractures increased to 29%. Thus, is biomechanically possible that spontaneous femoral neck fractures occur during level walking, due to a combination of severe osteoporosis and severe neuromotor degradation. 相似文献
The active site of tyrosinase is described with a view to depicting its interactions with substrates and inhibitors. Occurrence and mechanism(s) of tyrosinase-mediated browning of agrofood products are reviewed, with regard to both enzymic and chemical reactions, and their control, modulation, and inhibition. Technical and applicational implications are discussed. 相似文献
Mutations in nuclear-encoded protein subunits of the mitochondrial ribosome are an increasingly recognised cause of oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) disorders. Among them, mutations in the MRPL44 gene, encoding a structural protein of the large subunit of the mitochondrial ribosome, have been identified in four patients with OXPHOS defects and early-onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with or without additional clinical features. A 23-year-old individual with cardiac and skeletal myopathy, neurological involvement, and combined deficiency of OXPHOS complexes in skeletal muscle was clinically and genetically investigated. Analysis of whole-exome sequencing data revealed a homozygous mutation in MRPL44 (c.467 T?>?G), which was not present in the biological father, and a region of homozygosity involving most of chromosome 2, raising the possibility of uniparental disomy. Short-tandem repeat and genome-wide SNP microarray analyses of the family trio confirmed complete maternal uniparental isodisomy of chromosome 2. Mitochondrial ribosome assembly and mitochondrial translation were assessed in patient derived-fibroblasts. These studies confirmed that c.467 T?>?G affects the stability or assembly of the large subunit of the mitochondrial ribosome, leading to impaired mitochondrial protein synthesis and decreased levels of multiple OXPHOS components. This study provides evidence of complete maternal uniparental isodisomy of chromosome 2 in a patient with MRPL44-related disease, and confirms that MRLP44 mutations cause a mitochondrial translation defect that may present as a multisystem disorder with neurological involvement.
Three commercial lipases (CLs), A Amano 6 (from Aspergillus niger), M Amano 10 (from Mucor javanicus), and R Amano (from Penicillium roqueforti) – called lipase A, M and R respectively – were characterized in terms of carbohydrate content, protein content and enzymatic activity (p-nitrophenylacetate assay). All the CL preparations contained different proteins as observed from electrophoresis. Lipases were immobilized on Accurel MP1004 porous polypropylene by physical adsorption.The Immobilization process caused a loss of enzymatic activity. The retained activity was similar for lipase M and R (about 15%). In contrast, lipase A retained only the 1.3% of the specific activity of the free lipase. The retained activity of lipases M and R seems to be due to a feature of the support, while the lower activity a of lipase A may be attributed to a strong structure distortion caused by lipase–support interaction. 相似文献