Search results for "mutagen"

Significance of various enzymes in the control of reactive metabolites

1987

Most chemical carcinogens are relatively inert and need metabolic activation to the ultimately carcinogenic species. The concentration of such species is controlled by several different enzymes. Especially well studied is the important group of enzymes responsible for the control of reactive epoxides. Many natural, as well as man-made foreign compounds, including pharmaceuticals, possess olefinic or aromatic double bonds. Such compounds can be transformed to epoxides by microsomal monooxygenases present in many mammalian organs. By virtue of their electrophilic reactivity, such epoxides may spontaneously react with nucleophilic centres in the cell and thus covalently bind to DNA, RNA and pr…

Chemical characterization of peat fulvic acid fractions

1993

Abstract Milled peat fulvic acid (FA) preparation was fractionated by XAD-8 and conventional extraction methods. The fractions were further analyzed by IR and NMR and subjected to cupric oxide (CuO) oxidation. Carbohydrates of polydisperse FA were mostly not retained in the XAD-8 fractionation. The intensity of the signals due to double bonded carbons was much greater in the 13 C and proton NMR spectrum of the XAD-8 retained fraction than in the spectra of the XAD-8 non-retained or XAD-8 non-treated fractions. In CuO oxidation the main products of all FA fractions were 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and 4-hydroxyacetophenone, both indicators of 4-hydroxyphenylpropane building blocks. Their concentra…

Pyrolysis of humic acids from digested and composted sewage sludge

2000

Humic acids (HAs) were extracted from four digested sewage sludge samples composted for four months, one, two and four years. HAs were pyrolyzed at three different temperatures applying both conventional and in situ methylation (ISM) pyrolysis. The pyrolysates were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Derivatization (ISM) and pyrolysis temperature had dramatic effects on the composition and relative amounts of the pyrolysates. Among the derivatized HA fragments aliphatic compounds prevailed under all the pyrolysis conditions tested. Aromatic substances consisting mainly of guaiacyl-type compounds were detected in higher abundances only at elevated temperatures. Witho…

Chemical degradation products of lignin and humic substances part I Synthesis, structure verification and gas chromatographic separation of chlorinat…

1993

Abstract Chlorinated vanillins (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehydes) and syringaldehydes (3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy-benzaldehydes) were synthesized and their purities and structures were examined by quartz capillary gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The detailed procedures for the synthesis, gas chromatographic separation and mass spectroscopic features are presented.

Organic chlorine compounds in lake sediments. II Organically bound chlorine

1990

Abstract Organically bound chlorine together with inorganic chloride was measured from dated bottom sediment layers of 18 lakes in Central Finland and compared to organic matter contents. Pulp mills were found to be the source of significant increase of the accumulation of all of these materials in the 20th century.

Time- and concentration-dependent metabolic and genomic responses to exposure to resin acids in brown trout (Salmo trutta m. lacustris)

2006

The presence of metabolically conjugated resin acids (RAs) in the bile is considered to be a sensitive indicator for exposure of fish to pulp and paper industry effluents; however, to our knowledge, no comprehensive kinetic study of this response has been made. Juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta m. lacustris) were exposed to a waterborne mixture of seven RAs (wood rosin) in time (0.1-192.0 h; average concentration, 8 microg/L) and dose (average concentrations, 0, 0.6, 4, 14, and 78 microg/L; 10 d) series, and total RAs were analyzed in bile. In time-dependent exposure, total RAs in bile increased up to 24 h. In concentration-dependent exposure, RAs increased along with the concentration of …

Deletion and insertion mutants of HBsAg particles

1992

We have found previously that hybrid 22-nm HBsAg particles can be created by insertion of short antigenic sequences into the HBV major envelope protein [1]. We have now performed a detailed deletion mutagenesis of the S gene of HBV encoding HBsAg. Deletion of the 51 C-terminal amino acids including most of the third and all of the fourth hydrophobic domain of the S protein did not affect particle assembly and secretion. However, secretion of 22-nm particles was abolished by minor deletions in the N-terminal region. Insertion and deletion/substitution mutants carrying a poliovirus epitope at the N-terminus and the preSl region at the C-terminus have been characterized.

Chlorine loss from polyvinylchloride under neutron irradiation

1997

PVC samples were irradiated for 1 hour with a thermal neutron flux of Φ th =4.71·1011n·cm−2·s−1 and the chlorine lost during irradiation was measured by γ-ray spectrometry. About 15% of loss of chlorine has been observed for untreated samples while samples heated to temperatures of 60 and 80°C for one minute before irradiation have been found to loose about 8% and 3%, respectively. The results indicate an influence of the polymer structure on the release of chlorine.

Potential active-site residues in polyneuridine aldehyde esterase, a central enzyme of indole alkaloid biosynthesis, by modelling and site-directed m…

2002

In the biosynthesis of the antiarrhythmic alkaloid ajmaline, polyneuridine aldehyde esterase (PNAE) catalyses a central reaction by transforming polyneuridine aldehyde into epi-vellosimine, which is the immediate precursor for the synthesis of the ajmalane skeleton. The PNAE cDNA was previously heterologously expressed in E. coli. Sequence alignments indicated that PNAE has a 43% identity to a hydroxynitrile lyase from Hevea brasiliensis, which is a member of the α/β hydrolase superfamily. The catalytic triad, which is typical for this family, is conserved. By site-directed mutagenesis, the members of the catalytic triad were identified. For further detection of the active residues, a model…

2014

The interest in RNA modification enzymes surges due to their involvement in epigenetic phenomena. Here we present a particularly informative approach to investigate the interaction of dye-labeled RNA with modification enzymes. We investigated pseudouridine (Ψ) synthase TruB interacting with an alleged suicide substrate RNA containing 5-fluorouridine (5FU). A longstanding dogma, stipulating formation of a stable covalent complex was challenged by discrepancies between the time scale of complex formation and enzymatic turnover. Instead of classic mutagenesis, we used differentially positioned fluorescent labels to modulate substrate properties in a range of enzymatic conversion between 6% and…