Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:1.10.3.1 (tyrosinase)
 9,065 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The complete amino acid sequence of Streptomyces glaucescens tyrosinase is reported. The molecule consists of 273 amino acids and has a Mr of 30 900 including two copper atoms. The primary structure was determined by a combination of amino acid and DNA sequence analysis. Peptide sequence information was derived from the cyanogen bromide, tryptic, and thermolytic fragments of apotyrosinase by automated Edman degradation and aminopeptidase M and carboxypeptidase C digestions. The nucleotide sequence of the tyrosinase gene cloned into the PvuII site of pBR322 was determined. The enzyme contains no apparent leader peptide despite the fact that it is secreted into the culture medium. As observed for a number of different Streptomyces genes, the tyrosinase gene shows a strong preference (97%) for codons ending in G or C. A comparison of the amino acid sequence of Streptomyces glaucescens tyrosinase with that of Neurospora crassa tyrosinase reveals an overall sequence homology of only 24.2%. However, the sequence homology is much higher in those regions thought to be involved in metal binding of the binuclear active site copper of this monooxygenase.
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PMID:Primary structure of tyrosinase from Streptomyces glaucescens. 300 31

Opioid peptides are converted by mushroom tyrosinase into melanin-like compounds retaining the peptide moiety (opio-melanins). Opio-melanins, owing to the presence of the linked aminoacids and in contrast with DOPA-melanin, are soluble compounds. The enkephalin-generated melanins are cleaved by carboxypeptidase A and pronase whereas aminopeptidase M cannot remove aminoacids from the pigment. Enkephalins, as well as other opioid peptides, (alpha-endorphin, kyotorphin, esorphins) if oxidized in presence of DOPA and tyrosinase are readily incorporated into DOPA-melanin. The resulting mixed-melanins (opio-melanin + DOPA-melanin) can be solubilized in hydrophilic solvents. Melanin from leu-enkephalin exhibits paramagnetism as evidenced by an EPR spectrum identical to that of DOPA-melanin, but unlike the latter pigment, it does not appear to oxidize NADH, probably for the presence of the peptide moiety that exerts a hampering effect on the oxidizing capacity.
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PMID:Some biochemical properties of melanins from opioid peptides. 790 28

Spindle cell melanoma is a rare and distinctive variant of malignant melanoma that is composed of spindled neoplastic cells and includes desmoplastic and neurotropic melanoma. The lack of expression of several melanoma markers may result in a delayed or wrong diagnosis. In this study, we have analyzed in detail the phenotype of the tumor cells in 9 spindle cell melanomas on both paraffin-embedded and frozen material, using melanocytic, neural, and mesenchymal markers. The neoplastic cells expressed the melanocytic markers S-100, Mel-CAM, and NKIC3, but lacked gp100 and Melan-A; tyrosinase and c-Kit were expressed in 2 of 7 cases. Most cases expressed the neural markers p75-nerve growth factor receptor, neural cell adhesion molecule, and NSE. All cases expressed vimentin but lacked the mesenchymal markers CD34 and alpha-smooth muscle actin. Remarkably, all spindle cell melanomas strongly and diffusely expressed the fibroblastic markers Thy1 (CD90) and aminopeptidase N (CD13) and variably expressed the enzyme prolyl-4-hydroxylase, involved in procollagen formation. The coexpression of melanocytic, neural, and fibroblastic markers suggests bidirectional differentiation of neoplastic melanocytes toward (myo)fibroblasts and Schwann cells, a feature that was confirmed by electron microscopy. Furthermore, the lack of CD90 and CD13 staining in a wide range of melanocytic lesions suggests specificity of these markers for spindle cell melanoma.
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PMID:New phenotypical and ultrastructural findings in spindle cell (desmoplastic/neurotropic) melanoma. 1466 57