Search results for "Bacteria"
showing 10 items of 4919 documents
The first successful crystallization of a prokaryotic extremely thermophilic outer surface layer glycoprotein
1999
AbstractMethanoihermus fervidusbelongs to the group of hyperthermophilic Archaea. The Archaea comprise organisms that live under environmental extremes, like high temperature, lowpH value or high salt concentration. The outer surface of the pseudomurein sacculi of the cells ofMethanothermus fervidusis covered by glycoprotein subunits (S-layer) directly exposed to the extreme environment. The elucidation of the crystal structure of this surface glycoprotein may provide important information on the survival strategies of these unusual micro-organisms. Before our investigations neither three-dimensional crystals have been obtained nor X-ray analyses were performed. Only electron microscopic an…
Saponin with antibacterial activity from the roots of Albizia adianthifolia
2019
AbstractAn unprecedented saponin is being reported herein together with five known compounds from the methanol extract of the roots of Albizia adianthifolia. The metabolites were obtained over repe...
Exopolysaccharides favor the survival of Erwinia amylovora under copper stress through different strategies.
2010
Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight, a destructive disease of rosaceous plants very difficult to control. We demonstrated that copper, employed to control plant diseases, induces the "viable-but-nonculturable" (VBNC) state in E. amylovora. Moreover, it was previously reported that copper increases production of its main exopolysaccharide (EPS), amylovoran. In this work, the copper-complexing ability of amylovoran and levan, other major EPS of E. amylovora, was demonstrated. Following this, EPS-deficient mutants were used to determine the role of these EPSs in survival of this bacterium in AB mineral medium with copper, compared to their wild type strain and AB without copper. Tot…
Molecular characterization of the phenolic acid metabolism in the lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum
2001
The lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarumdisplays substrate-inducible decar- boxylase activities on p-coumaric, caffeic and ferulic acids. Purification of the p-coumaric acid decarboxylase (PDC) was performed. Sequence of the N-terminal part of the PDC led to the cloning of the corresponding pdc gene. Expression of this gene in Escherichia colirevealed that PDC displayed a weak activity on ferulic acid, detectable in vitro in the presence of ammonium sulfate. Transcrip- tional studies of this gene in L. plantarum demonstrated that the pdc transcription is phenolic acid- dependent. A mutant deficient in the PDC activity, designated LPD1, was constructed to study phe- nolic acid altern…
Insect Immunity
2001
Two novel antimicrobial peptides, which we propose to name termicin and spinigerin, have been isolated from the fungus-growing termite Pseudacanthotermes spiniger (heterometabole insect, Isoptera). Termicin is a 36-amino acid residue antifungal peptide, with six cysteines arranged in a disulfide array similar to that of insect defensins. In contrast to most insect defensins, termicin is C-terminally amidated. Spinigerin consists of 25 amino acids and is devoid of cysteines. It is active against bacteria and fungi. Termicin and spinigerin show no obvious sequence similarities with other peptides. Termicin is constitutively present in hemocyte granules and in salivary glands. The presence of …
Oxidative halogenation of substituted pyrroles with Cu(II). PartIV.Bromination of 2-(2′-hydroxybenzoyl)pyrrole. A new synthesis of bioactive analogs …
1994
The selective bromination with copper(II) bromide of the pyrrole ring in 2-(2'-hydroxybenzoyl)pyrrole (II) in the heterogeneous phase is des- cribed giving in almost quantitative yield the 4,5-dibromo derivative (VI). The subsequent introduction of halogen into the phenol moiety was observed when the reaction was perfomed in the homogeneous phase with an excess of halogenating agent. The pentabromo derivative (IX), a com- pound very active against Staphylococcus aureus (mic=17 nmoles per dm -3 ), was obtained by exhaustive bromination of the title compound. Poor yields of chloro derivatives of (II) were obtained by reaction of the parent compound with copper(II) chloride
Why Are Some Enzymes Dimers? Flexibility and Catalysis in Thermotoga maritima Dihydrofolate Reductase
2019
[Image: see text] Dihydrofolate reductase from Thermotoga maritima (TmDFHFR) is a dimeric thermophilic enzyme that catalyzes the hydride transfer from the cofactor NADPH to dihydrofolate less efficiently than other DHFR enzymes, such as the mesophilic analogue Escherichia coli DHFR (EcDHFR). Using QM/MM potentials, we show that the reduced catalytic efficiency of TmDHFR is most likely due to differences in the amino acid sequence that stabilize the M20 loop in an open conformation, which prevents the formation of some interactions in the transition state and increases the number of water molecules in the active site. However, dimerization provides two advantages to the thermophilic enzyme: …
Biological control ofBotrytis cinereacausing grey mould disease of grapevine and elicitation of stilbene phytoalexin (resveratrol) by a soil bacterium
1998
Botrytis cinerea Pers. was found to be highly pathogenic to the grapevine plant, producing the characteristic grey mould symptoms within 7 days of inoculation on vitroplants. A bacterial strain, isolated from soil, belonging to the genus Bacillus was found to be an antagonist of this disease causing fungus. The fungal attack on the grapevine acts as an elicitor to the production of phytoalexines like resveratrol. This compound was also formed when the leaves of the grapevine vitroplants were inoculated with the bacteria alone, and this activity was enhanced when a mixture of the pathogen and the antagonist bacteria was applied. Since resveratrol in wine is considered to be beneficial to hum…
From Food Map to FODMAP in Irritable Bowel Sindrome.
2016
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases in the general population, with a prevalence ranging from 12 % to 30 %, mainly affecting younger patients (i.e., <50 years of age) and women [1]. As in other chronic functional gastrointestinal disorders, abdominal discomfort or pain, abnormal bowel habits, and often bloating and abdominal distension are the main clinical features. Their diagnosis is based on symptom patterns (i.e., the Rome III criteria), which also allow categorization in diarrhea-predominant (D-IBS), constipation-predominant (C-IBS), mixed diarrhea and constipation (M-IBS), and unclassified (U-IBS) IBS [2]. Symptom severity ranges from tol…
Icosahedral dsDNA Bacterial Viruses with an Internal Membrane
2008
The icosahedral double-stranded DNA bacteriophages containing an internal membrane belong to two families, the Tectiviridae and the Corticoviridae. Members of the Tectiviridae have a linear dsDNA genome (e.g., PRD1) and those of the Corticoviridae have a circular genome (the only example being PM2). The DNA is covered by a membrane which is in turn covered by a protein capsid. The infection cycle begins when spikes on the capsid recognize the host cell receptor and the virus starts the delivery of the genome into the cell cytoplasm. The replication of the virus genome occurs in the cytoplasm. The members of the Tectiviridae may be virulent or temperate; PM2 is virulent. Virulent bacteriopha…