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A Finger

Publications and source records attributed to A Finger.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

A subunit vaccine against hemorrhagic enteritis adenovirus.

Hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) is an adenovirus that infects turkeys and causes immunosuppression and mortality. The virus used for the inactivated vaccine is extracted from spleens of infected turkeys, since its propagation in tissue cultures or embryonated eggs is unsuitable for mass production. The aim of this study was to develop a subunit vaccine based on a capsid protein of the virus. The knob protein, together with an adjacent part of the shaft domain pertaining to the fiber protein of HEV, was expressed in Escherichia coli and tested as a vaccine. Vaccination with this recombinant protein conferred protection against challenge in controlled and in floor-pen experiments. This finding suggests that the knob protein may be used as safe and efficient vaccine against hemorrhagic enteritis of turkeys. The possibility that the knob proteins of other adenoviruses may be protective and serve as vaccine is also discussed.

Adenoviridae Infections↗

Der3p/Hrd1p is required for endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation of misfolded lumenal and integral membrane proteins.

We have studied components of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proofreading and degradation system in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using a der3-1 mutant defective in the degradation of a mutated lumenal protein, carboxypeptidase yscY (CPY*), a gene was cloned which encodes a 64-kDa protein of the ER membrane. Der3p was found to be identical with Hrd1p, a protein identified to be necessary for degradation of HMG-CoA reductase. Der3p contains five putative transmembrane domains and a long hydrophilic C-terminal tail containing a RING-H2 finger domain which is oriented to the ER lumen. Deletion of DER3 leads to an accumulation of CPY* inside the ER due to a complete block of its degradation. In addition, a DER3 null mutant allele suppresses the temperature-dependent growth phenotype of a mutant carrying the sec61-2 allele. This is accompanied by the stabilization of the Sec61-2 mutant protein. In contrast, overproduction of Der3p is lethal in a sec61-2 strain at the permissive temperature of 25 degrees C. A mutant Der3p lacking 114 amino acids of the lumenal tail including the RING-H2 finger domain is unable to mediate degradation of CPY* and Sec61-2p. We propose that Der3p acts prior to retrograde transport of ER membrane and lumenal proteins to the cytoplasm where they are subject to degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Interestingly, in ubc6-ubc7 double mutants, CPY* accumulates in the ER, indicating the necessity of an intact cytoplasmic proteolysis machinery for retrograde transport of CPY*. Der3p might serve as a component programming the translocon for retrograde transport of ER proteins, or it might be involved in recognition through its lumenal RING-H2 motif of proteins of the ER that are destined for degradation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

ER degradation of a misfolded luminal protein by the cytosolic ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

Secretion of proteins is initiated by their uptake into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which possesses a proteolytic system able to degrade misfolded and nonassembled proteins. The ER degradation system was studied with yeast mutants defective in the breakdown of a mutated soluble vacuolar protein, carboxypeptidase yscY (CPY*). The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Ubc7p participated in the degradation process, which was mediated by the cytosolic 26S proteasome. It is likely that CPY* entered the ER, was glycosylated, and was then transported back out of the ER lumen to the cytoplasmic side of the organelle, where it was conjugated with ubiquitin and degraded.

Biological Transport↗

Der1, a novel protein specifically required for endoplasmic reticulum degradation in yeast.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains of proteolytic system able to selectively degrade misfolded lumenal secretory proteins. For examination of the components involved in this degradation process, mutants were isolated. They could be divided into four complementation groups. The mutations led to stabilization of two different substrates for this process. The mutant classes were called 'der' for 'degradation in the ER'. DER1 was cloned by complementation of the der1-2 mutation. The DER1 gene codes for a novel, hydrophobic protein, that is localized to the ER. Deletion of DER1 abolished degradation of the substrate proteins. The function of the Der1 protein seems to be specifically required for the degradation process associated with the ER. The depletion of Der1 from cells causes neither detectable growth phenotypes nor a general accumulation of unfolded proteins in the ER. In DER1-deleted cells, a substrate protein for ER degradation is retained in the ER by the same mechanism which also retains lumenal ER residents. This suggests that DER1 acts in a process that directly removes protein from the folding environment of the ER.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Analysis of two mutated vacuolar proteins reveals a degradation pathway in the endoplasmic reticulum or a related compartment of yeast.

The fate of a mutant form of each of the two yeast vacuolar enzymes proteinase yscA (PrA) and carboxypeptidase yscY (CPY) has been investigated. Both mutant proteins are rapidly degraded after entering the secretory pathway. Mutant PrA is deleted in 37 amino acids spanning the processing site region of the PrA pro-peptide. The mutant enzyme shows no activity towards maturation of itself or other vacuolar hydrolases, a function of wild-type PrA. Mutant CPY carries an Arg instead of a Gly residue in a highly conserved region, two positions distant from the active-site Ser. In contrast to wild-type CPY, the mutant form was quickly degraded by trypsin in vitro, indicating an altered structure. Using antisera specific for alpha-1-->6 and alpha-1-->3 outer-chain mannose linkages, no Golgi-specific carbohydrate modification could be detected on either mutant protein. Subcellular fractionation studies located both mutant enzymes in the endoplasmic reticulum. Degradation kinetics of both proteins show the same characteristics, indicating similar degradation pathways. The degradation process was shown to be independent of a functional sec18 gene product and takes place before Golgi-specific carbohydrate modifications occur. The proteasome, the major proteolytic activity of the cytoplasm, is not involved in this degradation event. All degradation characteristics of the two mutant proteins are consistent with a degradation process within the endoplasmic reticulum ('ER degradation').

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Determination of flavone C-glycosides in tea.

An HPLC method for the determination of flavone C-glycosides (FCG) from black tea has been developed. Sample clean-up was accomplished by means of polyamide column chromatography, followed by enzyme hydrolysis of interfering compounds such was flavonol glycosides and a second polyamide column chromatographic step. Using HPLC with gradient elution and photodiode array detection eight FCG were separated. Seven FCG were isolated by means of preparative HPLC. Identification was carried out using co-chromatography, FAB(Fast Atom Bombardment)-mass spectrometry and various nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. Apigenin 6-C-glucosyl-8-arabinoside (schaftoside) and apigenin 6-C-arabinosyl-8-C-glucoside (isoschaftoside) as well as luteolin 8-C-glucoside (orientin) and luteolin 6-C-glucoside (isoorientin) have been detected in tea for the first time. Three of the other compounds have been identified as apigenin 8-C-glucoside (vitexin), apigenin 6-C-glucoside (isovitexin) and apigenin 6,8-di-C-glucoside (vicenin-2). Their occurrence in tea has been previously reported. From its UV spectrum another compound was concluded to be an apigenin glycoside. The FCG were quantified in a variety of teas of different origins (16 black, two green and one oolong). The total amounts of the FCG were 0.48-2.69 g/kg dry weight. The FCG pattern of teas of different origins were similar to each other and no origin-dependent characteristics have yet been observed. Small amounts of FCG (1.2-2.2 mg/kg) were detected in hydrolysates of high relative molecular mass fractions (Mr > 5000) of a black tea liquor.

Apigenin↗

Chromatography of tea constituents.

Modern chromatographic techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography are currently the most helpful approach to the routine analysis of and research of non-volatile tea constituents. Using these techniques some errors in the more classical analytical techniques could be detected. Unfortunately, some of these methods of analysis are still in widespread use, even as official methods. However, knowledge of especially the polyphenols in tea is still lacking, and for many of the minor polyphenols no chromatographic methods for the determination exist.

Alkaloids↗

Flavonol triglycosides containing galactose in tea.

The isolation and structural elucidation of new quercetin and kaempferol triglycosides from Camellia sinensis is described. Their structures were determined as quercetin and kaempferol 3-glucosyl(1----3) rhamnosyl(1----6)galactosides. The content of quercetin glucosylrhamnosylgalactoside ranged between 0 and 87 mg per 100 g, and that of the kaempferol homologue between 0 and 119 mg per 100 g dry wt.

Carbohydrate Sequence↗

Antibiotic sensitivity of gonococci in South Australia, 1974 to 1975.

Routine testing of gonococci isolated from patients attending the Venereal Diseases Control Centre in Adelaide during the year July, 1974 to June, 1975, with a plate dilution method, showed that 93-8% of the 947 infecting strains were relatively sensitive to penicillin at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0-12 units/ml or less, and that 90% of the 648 strains tested were relatively sensitive to tetracycline at an MIC of 1-0 mug/ml or less. A small proportion only of isolates were relatively insensitive to penicillin and/or tetracycline. The routine treatment schedules which were used at the Centre proved adequate for infections over the whole range of sensitivities encountered. A significant proportion of the less sensitive strains were isolated from people infected in South-East Asia, most of whom had been inadequately treated there.

Female↗