Publications by authors named "Ana Isabel Martinez-Gomez"

Allantoinase, a member of the amidohydrolase superfamily, exists in a wide variety of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, plants and a few animals, such as fishes and amphibians. Allantoinase catalyzes the reversible hydrolysis of allantoin into allantoate by hydrolytic cleavage of the N1-C2 amide bond of the five-membered hydantoin ring. Allantoinase from Bacillus licheniformis (AllBali) presents an inverted enantioselectivity towards allantoin (R-enantioselective), which is a distinguishable feature that is not observed for other allantoinases.

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The Polycomb group (PcG) proteins assemble into Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs), PRC1 and PRC2, which act as general transcriptional repressors. PRC1 comprises a variety of biochemical entities endowed with histone H2A monoubiquitylation activity conferred by really interesting new gene (RING) finger E3 ubiquitin ligases Ring1A and Ring1B. All PRC1 complexes contain Ring1 proteins which are essential for Polycomb epigenetic regulation.

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The phosphotransferase system (PTS) is involved in the use of carbon sources in bacteria. It is formed by two general proteins: enzyme I (EI) and the histidine phosphocarrier (HPr), and various sugar-specific permeases. EI is formed by two domains, with the N-terminal domain (EIN) being responsible for the binding to HPr.

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Thioredoxins (TRXs) are ubiquitous proteins involved in redox processes. About forty genes encode TRX or TRX-related proteins in plants, grouped in different families according to their subcellular localization. For instance, the h-type TRXs are located in cytoplasm or mitochondria, whereas f-type TRXs have a plastidial origin, although both types of proteins have an eukaryotic origin as opposed to other TRXs.

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N-carbamoyl-amino-acid amidohydrolase (also known as N-carbamoylase) is the stereospecific enzyme responsible for the chirality of the D- or L-amino acid obtained in the "Hydantoinase Process." This process is based on the dynamic kinetic resolution of D,L-5-monosubstituted hydantoins. In this work, we have demonstrated the capability of a recombinant L-N-carbamoylase from the thermophilic bacterium Geobacillus stearothermophilus CECT43 (BsLcar) to hydrolyze N-acetyl and N-formyl-L-amino acids as well as the known N-carbamoyl-L-amino acids, thus proving its substrate promiscuity.

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Interest in D-amino acids has increased in recent decades with the development of new analytical methods highlighting their presence in all kingdoms of life. Their involvement in physiological functions, and the presence of metabolic routes for their synthesis and degradation have been shown. Furthermore, D-amino acids are gaining considerable importance in the pharmaceutical industry.

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The recombinant dihydropyrimidinase from Sinorhizobium meliloti CECT4114 (SmelDhp) has been characterised and its crystal structure elucidated at 1.85A. The global architecture of the protein is reminiscent of that of the amidohydrolase superfamily, consisting of two domains; an (alpha/beta)(8) TIM-like barrel domain, where the catalytic centre is located, and a smaller beta-sheet sandwich domain of unknown function.

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Enzymatic kinetic resolution is a widely used biotechnological tool for the production of enantiomerically pure/enriched compounds. This technique takes advantage of the enantioselectivity or enantiospecificity of an enzyme for one of the enantiomers of a racemic substrate to isolate the desired isomer. N-Carbamoyl-D- and L-amino acid amidohydrolases (D- and L-carbamoylases) are model enzymes for this procedure due to their strict enantiospecificity.

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An N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine amidohydrolase of industrial interest from Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 (beta car(At)) has been characterized. Beta car(At) is most active at 30 degrees C and pH 8.0 with N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine as a substrate.

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Two recombinant reaction systems for the production of optically pure D-amino acids from different D,L-5-monosubstituted hydantoins were constructed. Each system contained three enzymes, two of which were D-hydantoinase and D-carbamoylase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens BQL9. The third enzyme was hydantoin racemase 1 for the first system and hydantoin racemase 2 for the second system, both from A.

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