Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.2.1.31 (beta-glucuronidase)
 7,680 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A sulfatase acting upon chondroitin sulfate polymers, free of beta-glucuronidase and beta-N-acetylhexosaminidases, was isolated from extracts of the mollusc Anomalocardia brasiliana. The enzyme totally desulfates both chondroitin 4- and 6-sulfates without concomitant depolymerization of the compounds. It has no activity upon heparan sulfate, heparin, dermatan sulfate, and chondroitin sulfate disaccharides. It shows a pH of 5.0 and a temperature of 37 degrees C for optimum activity with a Km of 4 x 10(-5) M. The sulfatase is inhibited by sulfate and phosphate ions and HgCl2. The latter inhibition is reverted by sodium tetrathionate. Contrary to the sulfatases described so far the enzyme is activated by the lactone of D-saccharic acid when in the presence of beta-glucuronidase and beta-N-acetylgalactosaminidase. Several experiments indicate that the sulfatase is the first enzyme in the sequential degradation of chondroitin sulfate in the mollusc. This differs from the pathway of degradation of this compound in vertebrates and bacteria.
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PMID:Sequential degradation of chondroitin sulfate in molluscs. Desulfation of chondroitin sulfate without prior depolymerization by a novel sulfatase from Anomalocardia brasiliana. 212 69

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is encoded by a small family of genes in Arabidopsis. We cloned and partially characterized one of these genes, PAL1. The deduced amino acid sequence is highly similar to PAL from bean, parsley, and rice. The promoter contains sequence elements homologous to two putative regulatory elements conserved among several phenylpropanoid genes. The regulation of the PAL1 gene was examined by analysis of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) activity in transgenic Arabidopsis containing PAL1-GUS gene fusions. The PAL1 promoter was activated early in seedling development and in adult plants was strongly expressed in the vascular tissues of roots and leaves, but was not active in the root tip or the shoot apical meristem. In flowers, expression was observed in sepals, anthers, and carpels, but not in petals. Transcripts encoded by the endogenous PAL genes and GUS transcripts from the PAL1-GUS gene fusion were induced by wounding, HgCl2-stress, and light. Analysis of the regulatory properties of 5' deleted promoters showed that the proximal region of the promoter to -290 was sufficient to establish the full tissue-specific pattern of expression and that the proximal region to -540 was responsive to environmental stimuli. Negative and positive elements were located between -1816 and -823 and between -823 and -290, respectively.
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PMID:Functional properties of a phenylalanine ammonia-lyase promoter from Arabidopsis. 215 31

We are attempting to develop methods for the sequencing of glycosaminoglycans from their reducing end. Here we describe a procedure for the analysis of dermatan sulphate from pig skin. The glycosaminoglycan is released from its parent proteoglycan by exhaustive proteolysis by using both endo- and exo-peptidases. The amino group of the residual serine residue is conjugated with a p-hydroxyphenyl group, which in turn is iodinated with 125I (the Bolton-Hunter reagent, BHR). The ion-exchange-purified end-labelled dermatan sulphate is then degraded partially or completely by various enzymic or chemical means to yield fragments extending from the labelled serine residue to the point of cleavage. The various products are separated by gradient PAGE, detected by autoradiography and quantified by videodensitometry. Complete digestion with chondroitin ABC lyase affords the labelled fragment delta HexA-GalNAc(-SO4)-GlcA-Gal-Gal-Xyl-Ser(-BHR). The structure was confirmed by sequential degradation from the non-reducing end by chondroitin AC lyase, HgCl2, and beta-galactosidase. Periodate oxidation cleaves most of the Xyl even without treatment with alkaline phosphatase, showing that Xyl is not substituted with phosphate. Results from partial and selective periodate oxidation indicate that most of the non-sulphated IdoA residues are located towards the non-reducing end. Partial or complete digestions with testicular hyaluronidase (in the presence of an excess of beta-glucuronidase) or chondroitin AC lyase identify the positions of GlcA residues. The results confirm that HexA next to Gal is always GlcA. Moreover, GlcA is common in the first three disaccharide repeats. Results with testicular hyaluronidase indicate that the distribution of clustered GlcA-GalNAc repeats is periodic and peaks at positions 1-3, 8-9 and around 25. Although there must be chains that contain IdoA in nearly all of the available positions, regions that have not been fully processed during biosynthesis are markedly non-random.
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PMID:A method for the sequence analysis of dermatan sulphate. 216 67

The effect of selenium (SeO2) and glutathione (GSH) on the bioaccumulation of mercury (HgCl2) and on the activities of lysosomal enzymes in four species of tropical estuarine lamellibranchs is reported. A definite correlation between mercury levels in the external medium and tissue uptake and physiological behaviour--opening and closing of shell valves, response to mechanical stimulus, mucus secretion, and incidence of bleeding--was evident. In the clams exposed to Hg (range 0.1-5.0 mg l-1), bioaccumulation was dependent on the ambient concentration of Hg. The highest bioaccumulation of Hg occurred during the initial 24 h exposure period. Further exposure of up to 7 days did not increase the body burden of Hg. Of the four bivalve species exposed to 0.1 mg Hg l-1, Perna viridis showed the highest levels of Hg (approximately 47 ppm) followed by Anadara granosa, A. rhombea (approximately 25 ppm) and Meretrix casta (approximately 9 ppm). The uptake of Hg by A. granosa was greatly reduced by GSH, whereas Se enhanced it by 50% when administered in combination with Hg. However, the presence of Hg did not influence the uptake of Se. Exposure to combined GSH and Hg resulted in almost complete inhibition of Hg uptake in all four bivalve species. Prior exposure to GSH, however, did not have the same influence on their uptake of Hg. Nevertheless, exposure of clams to GSH following initial exposure to Hg resulted in complete depuration of accumulated Hg. The activities of lysosomal enzymes--arylsulfatase, acid phosphatase, beta-galactosidase and beta-glucuronidase--varied considerably. Treatment with Hg and GSH, separately and in combination, significantly enhanced the levels of beta-galactosidase (P less than 0.05) and beta-glucuronidase (P less than 0.001) in the digestive gland after 96 h exposure. Although Se increased beta-glucuronidase activity (P less than 0.001), it had no effect on beta-galactosidase. On exposure to Hg + Se the activity of both enzymes decreased, except in P. viridis where it increased by 39%. The results show unequivocally that Se does not offer any protection against the toxic effects of mercury in marine lamellibranchs, whereas in many marine vertebrates it does. GSH, a thiol-rich tripeptide, on the other hand, completely nullifies the toxic effects of Hg, both in vivo and in vitro.
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PMID:Do selenium and glutathione inhibit the toxic effects of mercury in marine lamellibranchs? 323 22

We investigated the effects of mercuric chloride on phagocytic capacity, formation of toxic oxygen species and release of lysosomal enzymes of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL). Our results show that HgCl2 may alter these microbicidal functions of human PMNL without remarkable damage of cell viability. The phagocytic capacity was markedly depressed in a concentration-dependent manner. The formation of toxic oxygen species was also diminished by mercuric chloride when induced by phagocytosis. It was furthermore reduced when the PMNL were activated without phagocytosis by binding of IgG to Fc-receptors or by binding of phorbol myristate acetate to the membrane. In contrast, the release of the lysosomal enzyme lysozyme was enhanced in the presence of mercuric chloride, but not the release of beta-glucuronidase. These effects may lead to impaired defense against infections and possibly to inflammatory reactions in adjacent tissues induced by released lysosomal enzymes.
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PMID:Effect of mercuric chloride on microbicidal activities of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. 339 53

Human seminal plasma contain two forms of beta-glucuronidase (beta-D-glucuronidase glucuronosohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.31) which are present in the ratio of 4:1. The major form of beta-glucuronidase with a slow moving band in electrophoresis was purified to homogeneity as revealed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, double immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. The major form of beta-glucuronidase shows dual optimum pH at 4.3 and 4.7 with a dip in the activity at pH 4.5. The Km of this form of beta-glucuronidase is dependent on pH and was found to be 0.95, 3.08 and 0.67 mM at pH 4.4, 4.5 and 4.7, respectively. The major form of beta-glucuronidase from seminal plasma is stable at 55 degrees C for 30 min but it denatures at 65 degrees C. Heat denaturation is faster at acidic pH (4.7) than at alkaline pH (7.8). However, the activity of enzyme increased linearly with increase in temperature up to 70 degrees C during incubation with substrate. Cu, Ag, Hg and Ni salts inhibited enzyme activity significantly at 0.1 and 1.0 mM concentration, but the inhibition of HgCl2 was protected by cysteine. 1,4-D-Saccharic acid lactone and ascorbic acid inhibited seminal beta-glucuronidase competitively, yielding Ki values of 1.7 . 10(-3) mM and 10.3 mM, respectively. Though fructose and mannose also showed significant inhibition of beta-glucuronidase at 10-100 mM, glucose did not show any effect. The molecular weight of the major form of beta-glucuronidase was found to be 279 000, and it appears to be composed of four subunits each having a molecular weight of 74 000.
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PMID:Isolation and characterization of the major form of beta-glucuronidase from human seminal plasma. 641 96