Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.48 (transcriptase)
 9,479 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Selenocysteine lyase (SCL) (EC 4.4.1.16) is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-dependent enzyme that specifically catalyzes the decomposition of L-selenocysteine to L-alanine and elemental selenium. The enzyme was proposed to function as a selenium delivery protein to selenophosphate synthetase in selenoprotein biosynthesis (Lacourciere, G. M., and Stadtman, T. C. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 30921-30926). We purified SCL from pig liver and determined its partial amino acid sequences. Mouse cDNA clones encoding peptides resembling pig SCL were found in the expressed sequence tag data base, and their sequences were used as probes to isolate full-length mouse liver cDNA. The cDNA for mouse SCL (mSCL) was determined to be 2,172 base pairs in length, containing an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide chain of 432 amino acid residues (M(r) 47, 201). We also determined the sequence of the N-terminal region of putative human SCL. These enzymes were shown to be distantly related in primary structure to NifS, which catalyzes the desulfurization of L-cysteine to provide sulfur for iron-sulfur clusters. The recombinant mSCL overproduced in Escherichia coli was a homodimer with the subunit M(r) of 47,000. The enzyme was pyridoxal phosphate-dependent and highly specific to L-selenocysteine (the k(cat)/K(m) value for L-selenocysteine was about 4,200 times higher than that for L-cysteine). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses revealed that mSCL is cytosolic and predominantly exists in the liver, kidney, and testis, where mouse selenophosphate synthetase is also abundant, supporting the view that mSCL functions in cooperation with selenophosphate synthetase in selenoprotein synthesis. This is the first report of the primary structure of mammalian SCL.
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PMID:cDNA cloning, purification, and characterization of mouse liver selenocysteine lyase. Candidate for selenium delivery protein in selenoprotein synthesis. 1069 12

We sought an in vitro primate model for serotonin neurons. Rhesus monkey embryonic stem (ES) cell colonies were isolated and differentiated into embryoid bodies (EBs), then transferred to serum-free medium with 1% insulin-transferrin-selenium for 7 days to induce neural precursor cell (NPC) formation. NPCs were cultured in medium with 1% N-2 neural supplement and human fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2, 10 ng/ml) for 7 days to stimulate cell proliferation. Lastly, NPCs were dispersed into single cells and cultured without FGF2 for another 7 days to obtain terminal differentiation. Terminal cells were characterized for neuronal and serotonergic markers. Over 95% of the NPCs were immunopositive for nestin and Musashi1. Terminally differentiated cells appeared in both small and large morphologies. Most (>95%) of the mature cells (both small and large) were immunopositive for neuron-specific nuclear protein (NeuN), synaptophysin, microtubule-associated protein (MAP2C), Tau-1, neurofilament 160 (NF-160), beta-tubulin (TujIII), tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), serotonin, the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT), estrogen receptor-beta (ERbeta), and progestin receptor (PR), but not estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha). Less than 2-3% of cells were positive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detected mRNA transcripts for TPH-1, TPH-2, SERT, 5-HT1A-autoreceptor, ERbeta, and PR in the differentiated population. A low level of expression of ERalpha mRNA was also detected. Quantitative RT-PCR indicated that the relative abundance of TPH-2 mRNA was greater than TPH-1 mRNA. Serotonin as measured by ELISA increased 3-fold in the mature stage compared to the selection and expansion stages. In summary, a remarkably high percentage of cells derived from monkey ES cells exhibited neuronal plus serotonergic markers as well as nuclear steroid receptors similar to primate CNS serotonin neurons, suggesting that these cells may serve as a useful primate model for serotonergic neurons.
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PMID:Serotonin neurons derived from rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells: similarities to CNS serotonin neurons. 1524 35

In 2014, northern Queensland crayfish from farms affected by particularly transportation and translocation stress, started to die with mortality reaching 20-40% after about three weeks and then mortalities subsided. Crayfish from 1 farm had 65% mortalities within 11 weeks. With histological examination of broodstock and juveniles, the muscle fibres were fractured with haemocytic infiltration reminiscent of viral infection or vitamin E/selenium deficiencies. Sequence dependent and independent PCRs failed to identify a viral aetiology. However, the whole transcriptomes of a case crayfish and an unaffected crayfish from a different population were assembled producing over 500,000 contigs. The complete sequence of a positive sense, single stranded RNA virus (+ve ssRNA virus; 9933bp) and the large and medium segments of a bunya-like virus were detected. Transcript back-mapping and newly developed PCRs indicated that the viruses were in the case crayfish but not the control crayfish. The +ve ssRNA virus is clearly in the order Picornavirales, marginally in the genus Iflavirus in a clade of Chinese and Northern American terrestrial arthropod viruses. The internal Picornavirales motifs; RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, helicase (P-loop) and 2 viral capsids genes were easily identified. This is the first iflavirus identified from crustacea and is named Chequa iflavirus. Whether these viruses are responsible for the stress-related mortalities is unproven but the Chequa virus' role seems limited as it appears it has been present in crayfish from at least the early 1990s; unless low-grade, chronic mortalities have been largely unnoticed.
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PMID:Discovery of a novel Picornavirales, Chequa iflavirus, from stressed redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) from farms in northern Queensland, Australia. 2867 58