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Biomedical subjects

C J King

Publications and source records attributed to C J King.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase of Escherichia coli. Properties of the purified enzyme and primary structure of the prs gene.

Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (P-Rib-PP) synthetase of Escherichia coli has been purified to near homogeneity from a strain harboring the prs gene, encoding P-Rib-PP synthetase, on a multicopy plasmid. Analysis of the enzyme showed that it required inorganic phosphate for activity and for stability. Magnesium ions were required both as a complex with the substrate ATP and as a free cation. P-Rib-PP synthetase activity was inhibited strongly by ADP. Kinetic analysis indicated multiple sites of action of ADP. In addition apparent substrate inhibition was exerted by ribose 5-phosphate in the presence of ADP. The nucleotide sequence of the E. coli prs gene has been determined and the coding segment established. The deduced amino acid sequence of P-Rib-PP synthetase contained 314 amino acid residues and the molecular weight was calculated as 34,060. The initiation site of transcription was determined. This site was preceded by well conserved -10 and -35 consensus sequences (pdT-dA-dG-dA-dA-dT and pdT-dT-dG-dA-dT-dG, respectively). The transcription initiation site preceded the potential translation initiation site by 302 nucleotides. Transcription terminated approximately 35 nucleotides downstream from the UAA translation stop codon, within a Thy-rich region following an inverted repeat sequence, indicative of an rho-independent transcription terminator.

Amino Acid Sequence

Cold-stage scanning electron microscope measurement of ice morphology in apple tissue as a function of freezing rate.

A cold-stage SEM was used to document the morphology of ice in apple tissue and a sucrose solution frozen at rates ranging from 450 to 0.03 degrees K/min. Freezing rates of 3-mm-thick apple discs were measured with a differential thermocouple technique, which gave measurement of the growth velocity and the temperature gradient through the solidified specimen as well as the cooling rate during solidification. Cold-stage SEM micrographs were used to measure the dendritic spacing of the ice structures, and these data were found to correlate linearly with the square root of the cooling rate during solidification as would be predicted by a theoretical analysis of mass transfer in the formation of dendrites. Comparison of freeze-substituted and freeze-dried apple-tissue micrographs with those from a cold-stage SEM showed that the cold-stage SEM technique was the only one which correctly represented ice morphology in apple tissue.

Food Preservation