Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P06889 (Mol)
630,302 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

1,3-beta-D-Glucan is a major structural polymer of yeast and fungal cell walls and is synthesized from UDP-glucose by the multisubunit enzyme 1,3-beta-D-glucan synthase. Previous work has shown that the FKS1 gene encodes a 215-kDa integral membrane protein (Fks1p) which mediates sensitivity to the echinocandin class of antifungal glucan synthase inhibitors and is a subunit of this enzyme. We have cloned and sequenced FKS2, a homolog of FKS1 encoding a 217-kDa integral membrane protein (Fks2p) which is 88% identical to Fks1p. The residual glucan synthase activity present in strains with deletions of fks1 is (i) immunodepleted by antibodies prepared against FKS2 peptides, demonstrating that Fks2p is also a component of the enzyme, and (ii) more sensitive to the echinocandin L-733,560, explaining the increased sensitivity of fks1 null mutants to this drug. Simultaneous disruption of FKS1 and FKS2 is lethal, suggesting that Fks1p and Fks2p are alternative subunits with essential overlapping function. Analysis of FKS1 and FKS2 expression reveals that transcription of FKS1 is regulated in the cell cycle and predominates during growth on glucose, while FKS2 is expressed in the absence of glucose. FKS2 is essential for sporulation, a process which occurs during nutritional starvation. FKS2 is induced by the addition of Ca2+ to the growth medium, and this induction is completely dependent on the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphoprotein phosphatase calcineurin. We have previously shown that growth of fks1 null mutants is highly sensitive to the calcineurin inhibitors FK506 and cyclosporin A. Expression of FKS2 from the heterologous ADH1 promoter results in FK506-resistant growth. Thus, the sensitivity of fks1 mutants to these drugs can be explained by the calcineurin-dependent transcription of FKS2. Moreover, FKS2 is also highly induced in response to pheromone in a calcineurin-dependent manner, suggesting that FKS2 may also play a role in the remodeling of the cell wall during the mating process.
Mol Cell Biol 1995 Oct
PMID:Differential expression and function of two homologous subunits of yeast 1,3-beta-D-glucan synthase. 756 18

UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase was measured in rat pancreatic islets, the generation of D-glucose 1-phosphate from UDP-glucose and PPI being eventually coupled to the generation of L-[U-14C]glutamate from 14C-labelled alpha-ketoglutarate. The activity of the enzyme was about one order of magnitude lower in islet than liver homogenates. The affinity of the enzyme for either UDP-glucose or PPi was comparable, however, in liver and islets. The activity of UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase was somewhat lower in islets from animals with inherited or acquired diabetes mellitus than in those from control rats. These findings are considered in connection with the accumulation of glycogen in islets of hyperglycemic animals.
Biochem Mol Biol Int 1994 Aug
PMID:Hexose metabolism in pancreatic islets UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase activity. 780 38

A proposed weak point in cancer cells is their need to synthesize novel or rare glucosphingolipids. It is further proposed that cancer patients be treated with a drug that slows the synthesis of glucosylceramide, the precursor of a large family of glucosphingolipids. Experimental data are furnished for chemotherapeutic and biochemical effects of PDMP, an analog of glucosylceramide and its precursor, ceramide. Promising results were obtained in the treatment of mice carrying Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells and rats carrying C6 glioma cells. PDMP was found to be oxidized by cytochrome P-450, but this process could be blocked in vivo with piperonyl butoxide or cimetidine. A high level of blood glucose was found to elevate the size of rat kidneys and their content of UDP-glucose and its product, glucosylceramide. The excessive growth could be blocked by PDMP, which competes with UDP-glc for binding to glucosylceramide synthase. It is suggested that cancer patients be maintained at a low glucose level in order to slow the synthesis of glucosylceramide by tumor cells. Metabolic changes produced by PDMP in cultured cells, besides a rapid deletion of glucosphingolipids, were accumulation of the precursors (ceramide and sphingosine), loss of protein kinase C, and accumulation of diacylglycerol. It is suggested that many of the cellular changes produced by PDMP, such as loss of cell binding, are owing to existence of glucosylceramide-based "islands" floating in the outer cell surface; the islands may contain growth factor receptors and adhesion factors. An inhibitor that blocks sphingolipid synthesis, such as cycloserine, may prove to be a useful adjuvant for therapy with PDMP.
Mol Chem Neuropathol
PMID:Rationales for cancer chemotherapy with PDMP, a specific inhibitor of glucosylceramide synthase. 808 32

Genes involved in flavonoid and stilbene biosynthesis were isolated from grape (Vitis vinifera L.). Clones coding for phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone isomerase (CHI), flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase (LDOX) and UDP glucose:flavonoid 3-O-glucosyl transferase (UFGT), were isolated by screening a cDNA library, obtained from mRNA from seedlings grown in light for 48 h using snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) and maize heterologous probes. A cDNA clone coding for stilbene synthase (StSy) was isolated by probing the library with a specific oligonucleotide. These clones were sequenced and when the putative products were compared to the published amino acid sequence for corresponding enzymes, the percentages of similarity ranged from 65% (UFGT) to 90% (CHS and PAL). The analysis of the genomic organization and expression of these genes in response to light shows that PAL and StSy genes belong to large multigene families, while the others are present in one to four copies per haploid genome. The steady-state level of mRNAs encoded by the flavonoid biosynthetic genes as determined in young seedlings is coordinately induced by light, except for PAL and StSy, which appear to be constitutively expressed.
Plant Mol Biol 1994 Mar
PMID:Cloning and molecular analysis of structural genes involved in flavonoid and stilbene biosynthesis in grape (Vitis vinifera L.). 819 99

S. cerevisiae has at least two enzymes for trehalose synthesis. In this paper we report some characteristics of the ADPG-dependent trehalose-6-phosphate synthase. As opposed to the UDPG-dependent enzyme, the ADPG-dependent activity did not respond to a glucose signal nor to a heat shock. Mutant strains, deficient in the UDPG-dependent enzyme but possessing the ADPG-dependent activity, did not accumulate trehalose either during growth or during sporulation. A diploid, homozygous for the deficiency in the UDPG-dependent synthase activity, was constructed. During sporulation the ADPG-dependent activity remained constant. However, when mutant spores were subjected to a glucose signal, trehalose was accumulated to the same extent as in control spores.
Biochem Mol Biol Int 1993 Dec
PMID:Trehalose metabolism during sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 819 91

The incorporation of radioactive precursors into pyrimidine nucleotides via de novo and salvage pathways was measured in gravid Angiostrongylus cantonensis by HPLC and thin-layer chromatography. 14C-labelled orotate, uridine, uracil and deoxyuridine were traced to UMP, UDP, UTP, UDP-glucose, dTMP, CMP, CDP and CTP. 3H-labelled cytidine was also incorporated into both uracil and cytosine nucleotides in a ratio of 2:1. Cytosine was a major end-product for all the precursors. Cytosine nucleotides were probably formed from UTP by the action of CTP synthetase whose activity in crude cell-free extract was 31.5 +/- 4.9 pmol min-1 (mg protein)-1. It was dependent on glutamine, ATP and GTP and was inhibited by CTP. The total amount of pyrimidine nucleotides formed from uridine was 3 times of that from uracil. The presence of uracil in the metabolism of uridine indicates that UMP is formed by uracil phosphoribosyltransferase as well as by uridine kinase. UMP is a key intermediate for cytidylate and thymidylate biosynthesis in the gravid worms.
Mol Biochem Parasitol 1993 Jul
PMID:Pathways of pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis in gravid Angiostrongylus cantonensis. 836 94

Boophilus microplus contains a nucleotidase-like enzyme which is able to hydrolyze a range of nucleoside 5'-mono-, di- and triphosphates to the nucleoside. Its relationship to several other nucleotide hydrolyzing enzymes has been explored. Limited peptide sequencing shows similarities to both mammalian nucleotidases and the Escherichia coli uridine diphosphate sugar hydrolase. The tick enzyme also hydrolyzes UDP-glucose, though by a mechanism different to that of the bacterial enzyme. On the other hand, it resembles the mammalian nucleotidases in that there is evidence that it is attached to the cell membrane by a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol 1993 Mar
PMID:The nucleotidase of Boophilus microplus and its relationship to enzymes from the rat and Escherichia coli. 838 72

A Cryptococcus neoformans galactose auxotroph was created by ultraviolet light mutagenesis and complemented with a C. neoformans genomic library. The translated sequence of the complementing DNA revealed a high degree of similarity to a number of UDP glucose-D-galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferases. Expression of C. neoformans GAL7 mRNA followed a pattern similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae expression; it was first observed within 2.5 min of induction and fully induced by 30 min. The gene was completely repressed in the presence of glucose. The GAL7 promoter was isolated and used to construct a promoter cassette. Two genes were tested in this cassette for galactose regulation by creating GAL7 promoter fusions with their coding regions. MF alpha, which encodes a pheromone, was found to produce filaments only in transformants that were induced by galactose. A second gene, beta-glucuronidase (gusA), which is a commonly used reporter gene, was tested and also found to be expressed. When the GAL7p::GUS fusion was used to quantify inducibility of the GAL7 promoter, the level of enzyme activity was at least 500-fold greater for cells grown in galactose than for cells grown in glucose. The GAL7 promoter is the first inducible promoter characterized in C. neoformans and the GUS gene is the first heterologous gene shown to be expressed in this yeast pathogen.
Mol Microbiol 1995 Jun
PMID:The Cryptococcus neoformans GAL7 gene and its use as an inducible promoter. 857 46

The nucleotide sequence of region 2 of the Escherichia coli K5 capsule gene cluster has been determined. This region, essential for the biosynthesis of the K5 polysaccharide, contained four genes, termed kfiA-D. The G + C ratio was 33.4%, which was lower than the typical G + C ratio for E. coli and that of the flanking regions 1 and 3 in the K5 capsule gene cluster. Three major RNA transcripts were detected within region 2 by Northern blotting and three promoters located by transcript mapping. Promoter activity was confirmed by promoter-probe analysis. The predicted amino acid sequence of KfiC had homology to a number of glycosyl transferase enzymes and overexpression of the KfiC gene resulted in increased K5 transferase activity. The predicted amino acid sequence of KfiD had homology to a number of NAD-dependent dehydrogenase enzymes and was demonstrated to be a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase that catalyses the information of UDP-glucuronic acid from UDP-glucose.
Mol Microbiol 1995 Aug
PMID:Region 2 of the Escherichia coli K5 capsule gene cluster encoding proteins for the biosynthesis of the K5 polysaccharide. 880 16

Three wild type strains of Rhizobium fredii, USDA 191, USDA 257 and HH 303, do not synthesize in vivo or in vitro beta(1-3), beta(1-6) cyclic glucans, all strains form in vitro and in vivo cyclic beta(1-2) glucans. Approximately 80% of the recovered R. fredii cellular cyclic beta(1-2) glucans were anionic and the substituent was identified as phosphoglycerol. Inner membranes prepared from these R. fredii strains have a beta(1-2) glucan-intermediate-protein with apparent molecular mass undistinguishable from Agrobacterium tumefaciens beta(1-2) glucan intermediate protein. Studies of the degree of polymerization of the oligosaccharides recovered from the protein-intermediate after short pulse incubations with UDP-14C-glucose suggested that the rate limiting step in the biosynthesis of cyclic glucan is cyclization. Kinetic studies revealed that the K(m) for UDP-glucose was 0.33 mM. No difference was detected between the K(m) for initiation/elongation and cyclization reactions. Nodulation studies of a ndvB R. fredii mutant with Mc Call and Peking soybean cultivars, revealed that beta(1-2) glucans do not seem to be required for normal nodule invasion of these soybean cultivars.
Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand) 1996 Jul
PMID:Characterization of the biosynthesis of beta(1-2) cyclic glucan in R. Fredii. Beta(1-2) glucan has no apparent role in nodule invasion of Mc Call and Peking soybean cultivars. 883 91


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