Synthase in Biological News

Advance in understanding cellulose synthesis

... fluorescent molecules, and found that cellulose synthase moves along "tracks" defined by the microtubules. ... at how the association between the cellulose synthase complexes and microtubules begins. The scientists were able to watch individual cellulose synthase complexes as they were delivered to the plasma ...

Atomic structure of the mammalian 'fatty acid factory' determined

... Mammalian fatty acid synthase is one of the most complex molecular synthetic ... structure of a mammalian fatty acid synthase using data collected at the Swiss Light Source ... role in primary metabolism, mammalian fatty acid synthase is also considered a promising drug target. ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- March 26, 2008

... energy. Recent studies found high levels of ATP synthase on the surface of cancer cells, but until now the ... cancer cells to a substance that blocks ATP synthase killed the cancer cells but did not harm normal ... researchers say. The findings suggest that ATP synthase inhibitors may represent a new approach for ...

MSU discoveries upend traditional thinking about how plants make certain compounds

... unsuspected way." The two newly identified genes, neryl diphosphate synthase 1 (NDPS1) and phellandrene synthase 1 (PHS1), cause the tomato plant to make the new enzymes that produce the ...

Computational model examines the pathways of Alzheimer's that strikes at the young

... entitled A Computational Model of the Role of Presenilin-1 and Glycogen synthase Kinase-3 in Familial Alzheimer's Disease. They will present their findings ... presenilin-1 (PS1) (a mutated gene found in familial AD) and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3) (a protein) and amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque (amino acids ...

Computational model examines the pathways of Alzheimer's that strikes at the young

... entitled A Computational Model of the Role of Presenilin-1 and Glycogen synthase Kinase-3 in Familial Alzheimer's Disease. They will present their findings ... presenilin-1 (PS1) (a mutated gene found in familial AD) and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3) (a protein) and amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque (amino acids ...

SNPs affect folate metabolism in study of Puerto-Rican adults

... uptake and retention: folate hydrolase (FOLH1), folate polyglutamate synthase (FPGS), γ-glutamyl hyrdolase (GGH), proton-coupled folate transporter ... were studied: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and methionine synthase (MTR). SNPs are variations in the sequence of nucleotides, or building ...

Weill Cornell team discovers how brain's own tPA helps regulate blood flow to neurons

... receptor. TPA does so by boosting the ability of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) -- an enzyme -- to produce NO. More tPA means more active nitric oxide synthase -- and more of this enzyme means more vessel-widening NO. The end result: ...

Pulmonary hypertension in children may result from reduced activity of gene regulator

... dilator. There's also more asymmetric dimethyl arginine, or ADMA, which inhibits nitric oxide production, making bad matters worse. Nitric oxide synthase uses arginine to make nitric oxide and ADMA, an arginine analogue, can bind to the nitric oxide precursor so it instead becomes a source for free ...

Study may explain exercise-induced fatigue in muscular dystrophies

... the Roy J. Carver Chair of Physiology and Biophysics. Using animal models, the researchers showed that if an enzyme called neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is not present at its normal location on the muscle membrane, then blood vessels that supply active muscles do not relax normally and the ...

Tuberculosis drug shows promise against latent bacteria

... spin as all known TB drugs are more effective on replicating bugs. Koul and colleagues hope to validate these results clinically, and note that ATP synthase should be looked at as a drug target for other persistent bacterial infections. ...

Biochemists manipulate fruit flavor enzymes

... that they were able to manipulate flavor enzymes found in a popular plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana, by genetic means. The enzymesallene oxide synthase (AOS) and hydroperoxide lyase (HPL)produce jasmonate (responsible for the unique scent of jasmine flowers) and green leaf volatiles (GLV) ...

Hepatitis C virus may need enzyme's help to cause liver disease

... The study, published in the July 9 online issue of Hepatology , shows that an enzyme known to play a major role in lipid production, fatty acid synthase (FAS), was highly elevated in human liver cells exposed to the hepatitis C virus. While preliminary, the research suggests that testing for elevated ...

Drought tolerance in potatoes

... lowering osmotic potential, to induce uptake of water from drying soils. Increased expression of lipid transfer genes and fatty-acid and wax synthase genes suggested the reinforcement of cell membranes and cuticles. Genes for cell wall components were also upregulated, as were biosynthetic genes ...

Niacin's role in maintaining good cholesterol

... has been mysterious, although it's believed that niacin does not actually increase HDL production. Recent work had uncovered that a component of ATP synthase (the protein that makes ATP) is present on the surface of liver cells, and this subunit known as the 'beta chain' can take up HDL. Now, Moti ...

Diabetes makes it hard for blood vessels to relax

... author of the paper published in the current issue of Circulation Research. It also means too little L-arginine is available to help nitric oxide synthase make nitric oxide, the powerful vasodilator that helps blood vessels relax, says Dr. Romero, who works in the lab of Dr. R. William Caldwell, chair ...

JCI table of contents: Aug. 9, 2007

... therefore identifies FAS-mediated activation of PPAR-alpha as a molecular pathway controlling feeding behavior in mice. TITLE: Brain fatty acid synthase activates PPAR-alpha to maintain energy homeostasis AUTHOR CONTACT: Clay F. Semenkovich Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, ...

Formation of cellulose fibers tracked for the first time

... molecules, the researchers found that cellulose synthase moves along "tracks" defined by the microtubules. ... were disrupted with specific drugs, the cellulose synthase molecules kept moving, but they followed ... had suspected a relationship between cellulose synthase and microtubules, but the exact nature of the ...

Intelligently designed molecular evolution

... their model enzyme, they selected a sesquiterpene synthase produced by the Grand fir tree, which has the ... substrate. "This Grand fir sesquiterpene synthase represents the ultimate in promiscuous enzymes," ... to a million or more mutants. "The enzyme synthase was there ready to be evolved, and with our ...

Insulin pulses keep the liver lean

... that insulin pulses acutely reduce the activity of fat-building fatty acid synthase (FAS) in the liver by activating a second liver molecule, called CEACAM1. ... diabetes. Najjar et al.: "Insulin acutely decreases hepatic fatty acid synthase activity." Publishing in Cell Metabolism, Vol. 2, July 2005, pages 43-53. ...

Researchers report new pro-inflammatory role for anti-inflammatory enzyme

... of the bacterial cell wall) they start to produce inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), an enzyme responsible for the manufacture of nitric oxide (NO). ... Hobbs and colleagues demonstrated in vitro that endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) also plays a pro-inflammatory role by facilitating iNOS expression. ...

Erectile dysfunction in diabetes is due to selective defect in the brain

... response that occurs in response to the administration of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) within the PVN. At the same time, inhibition of NO synthase with NG-monomethly-L-argining (L-NMMA) prevents NMDA-induced erection. The researchers hypothesized that the blunted NMDA mediated responses in ...

Researchers seek to design first treatment for neuroAIDS

... like the Alzheimer's drug Memantine, platelet activating factor (PAF) inhibitors, and in the case of the new grant, drugs that inhibit glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK-3b) and mixed lineage kinase (MLK). "The number of HIV patients that suffer brain damage is usually estimated at one in five, ...

'Erectile dysfunction' drugs heighten natural anti-cancer activity

... patterns of the myeloid-derived suppressor cells and found that sildenafil blocked two genes regulating enzymes -- arginase and nitric oxide synthase -- which are key to triggering immune suppression via MDSCs. Borrello’s team found that the arginase enzyme, which metabolizes a dietary supplement ...

Therapeutic role found for carbon monoxide

... the viability of the endothelial cells. "We discovered that endothelial cells must be present ?and be able to generate NO via nitric oxide synthase [NOS3] -- in order for CO to induce the death of the smooth muscle cells and reverse the symptoms of PAH," explains Otterbein. To further test the ...

New understanding of COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes could revise classification of pain meds

... mice created in this study. The JCI study found a drug target that might substitute for COX-2: an enzyme called microsomal prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES)-1. The researchers showed that this drug did not predispose the animals to thrombosis or elevate blood pressure. ...

Therapeutic prospects beyond Vioxx

... A surprising finding came when the investigators turned to a drug target that might substitute for COX-2 ?an enzyme called microsomal prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES)-1. Other investigators had shown previously that deletion of this enzyme seemed as effective as treatment with NSAIDs in models of pain and ...

Bare metal stents deliver gene therapy to heart vessels with less inflammation in animal studies

... animals with conventional, polymer-coated stents. The researchers used a therapeutic gene that encodes for a protein, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), in the carotid artery studies, because of iNOS's ability to control cell damage in blood vessels. "However, in further studies, one might use ...

Physical and functional interaction of key cell growth molecules linked to cancer

... of gene transcription. The researchers also discovered that the EGFR/STAT3 interaction leads increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Although elevated iNOS is also a key characteristic of many human malignancies, there has previously been no direct connection made between ...

Lance Armstrong through a physiological lens: hard training boosts muscle power 8%

... performance when tested 2 weeks apart with no sprint training intervention." In addition, though previous studies showed increases in citrate synthase (CS) activity and glycogen content after several weeks of sprint interval training with equivocal data, "we show here that the total training volume ...

Fat's fate depends on its source

... reversed when the researchers restored fat to the animals' diets. "It is quite paradoxical," Semenkovich said. "When we inactivated fatty-acid synthase in the liver and eliminated fat in the diet, the animals became sick, with livers full of fat." Further study found that, in the absence of new ...

Researchers discover key gene involved in bark beetle pheromone production

... Jeremy Bearfield, Claus Tittiger and William Welch co-authored the article, "Isolation and functional expression of an animal geranyl diphosphate synthase and its role in bark beetle pheromone biosynthesis." ...