Cysteine

Are food manufacturers slowly killing us? Do you think your family meals are healthy? How many times you pick something up in the supermarket and read the labels in fear of unhealthy ingredient. Should we really blame the manufacturers for what people eat or blame individuals for what they choose to consume? Psychologist think if manufactures produce healthier foods then people would have healthier options. Food is essential to one’s life and it is needed to survive. So you would think it’s…

Proteins are important to human physiology and play an essential role in bodily function. Isoforms of proteins can result in increased susceptibility to many diseases. One such isoform can be observed in the polymorphic protein APO-E, which exists in the ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4 isoforms (Mahley and Rall, 2000). The most common isoform is ApoE3, which is considered the normal isoform for the known physiology of APOE. APOE plays a role in transporting and metabolizing plasma cholesterol and…

1. In a re-sequencing study to detect genetic variation that influences expression and inducibility of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, novel mutations are detected in the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR; NR1I3), a nuclear hormone receptor that acts as a transcription factor and controls the expression of CYPs including CYP34. Activation of CAR induces (increases) the expression of CYP enzymes. An alignment of the amino acid sequence of human, monkey, rat, and mouse CARs is indicated below.…

systems. Hobert (2000) believes, that the patterns of these LIM-homeodomain proteins is evident from studies about Drosophila to C. elegans. LIM proteins have their own transcription factors and cytoskeletal elements. Structurally, a LIM domain has cysteines with 2 zinc fingers. These LIM homeodomain (LIM-HD) proteins regulate the formation of cell line cells and influence differentiation. (Dawid et al., 1995) To control these proteins, it is suspected that they all have a DNA-binding…

There were many tests performed on my unknown, which led me to conclude that the unknown microorganism is Pseudomonas fluorescens. When determining the gram reaction of the unknown, a Gram stain was done. This process differentiates between a Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganism. This is done in four steps. The microorganism was stained with iodine, crystal violet, alcohol and acetone, and safranin. Iodine was used first as it acts as a mordant. It forms an insoluble complex by binding…

The name of the protein derives from its first discovered function Helper Component (HC) for aphid transmission (Grovier et al.,1977). HC-Pro is cysteine protease that self- cleaves at C-terminus. Three structural domain can be distinguished in the HCPro protein: the N- and C- terminal regions, of approximately 100 amino acids and the central domain of approximately 250 amino acids (Plission et al…

dance-like movements. Behavioral changes vary from restlessness, irritability, aggressiveness, to depression, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Cognitive and memory disturbances occur later. Pathophysiologically, HD occurs due to excessive cysteine-adenosine-guanine (CAG) trinucleotide repeats on chromosome 4. It leads to an abnormal Huntingtin protein, which accumulates within specific neurons resulting in neuronal death. Caudate nucleus and putamen are commonly affected. HD also…

Monosodium glutamate is a taste enhancing vegetable protein. At the time of discovery, MSG was thought to be safe since it was an amino acid, a natural substance. The amount of MSG added to foods has doubled in every decade since the 1940's and by 1972, 262,000 metric tons of MSG were produced. In 1957 two ophthalmologists, Lucas and Newhouse decided to test MSG on infant mice in an effort to study the effects of MSG and its correlation with an eye disease known as hereditary retinal dystrophy.…

Aqrobacterium tumefaciens. for a long time has been doing what molecular biologists are now striving to do. It has been inserting foreign genes into plants and getting the plants to express those genes in the form of proteins. In the process the bacterium causes the plant cells to proliferate and form a gall or tumour, most commonly at or near the junction of the root and the stem. The crown gall is a neoplastic disease of plants caused by Aqrobacterium. The interest in the bacteria stems from…

defense system. DJ-1 is a chaperone-like protein localized in the mitochondria, cytoplasm and nucleus and protects cells from oxidative stress via scavenging ROS (6). DJ-1 also serves as a sensor of redox status (6). DJ-1 with irreversible oxidation of cysteine at position 106 (Cys-106) to sulfonic acid losses its cytoprotective…