Publications by authors named "Christine Kaufmann"

Tyrosine-sulfated peptides are key regulators of plant growth and development. The disulfated pentapeptide phytosulfokine (PSK) mediates growth via leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases, PSKR1 and PSKR2. PSK receptors (PSKRs) are part of a response module at the plasma membrane that mediates short-term growth responses, but downstream signaling of transcriptional regulation remains unexplored.

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Sulfated peptides are plant hormones that are active at nanomolar concentrations. The sulfation at one or more tyrosine residues is catalysed by tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase (TPST), which is encoded by a single-copy gene. The sulfate group is provided by the co-substrate 3´-phosphoadenosine 5´-phosphosulfate (PAPS), which links synthesis of sulfated signaling peptides to sulfur metabolism.

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Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) represents a major cause of clinical complications during pregnancy as well as immunosuppression, and the licensing of a protective HCMV vaccine remains an unmet global need. Here, we designed and validated novel Sendai virus (SeV) vectors delivering the T cell immunogens IE-1 and pp65. To enhance vector safety, we used a replication-deficient strain (rdSeV) that infects target cells in a nonproductive manner while retaining viral gene expression.

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Plant receptor-like kinases (RLKs) are regulated by posttranscriptional modification and by interaction with regulatory proteins. A common modification of RLKs is (auto)phosphorylation, and a common regulatory protein is the calcium sensor calmodulin (CaM). We have developed protocols to detect the interaction of an RLK with CaM.

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The phytosulfokine peptide receptor PSKR1 is modified by phosphorylation of its cytoplasmic kinase domain. We analyzed defined phosphorylation sites by site-directed mutagenesis with regard to kinase activity in vitro and receptor activity in planta. S696 and S698 in the juxtamembrane (JM) domain are phosphorylated in planta.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of severe respiratory infections in children and elderly people, and no marketed vaccine exists. In this study, we generated and analyzed a subunit vaccine against RSV based on a novel genome replication-deficient Sendai virus (SeV) vector. We inserted the RSV F protein, known to be a genetically stable antigen, into our vector in a specific way to optimize the vaccine features.

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Green-leaved Perilla frutescens extracts were investigated on their effect on cell proliferation of the porcine jejunal epithelial cell line, IPEC-J2, as well as on the gene expression of cell cycle or cancer-related genes. Some extracted compounds were, however, susceptible to degradation in cell culture medium, whereas others were found to be stable during the entire experimental time. Control experiments also included the assessment of H O generation in cell culture medium caused by oxidation of natural extract compounds, which was proved to be absent at low extract concentrations.

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Enzyme-regulatory effects of compounds contained in complex mixtures can be unveiled by coupling a continuous-flow enzyme assay to a chromatographic separation. A temperature-elevated separation was developed and the performance was tested using Perilla frutescens plant extracts of various polarity (water, methanol, ethanol/water). Owning to the need of maintaining sufficient enzymatic activity, only low organic solvent concentrations can be added to the mobile phase.

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Overexpression of chalcone-3-hydroxylase provokes increased accumulation of 3-hydroxyphloridzin in Malus . Decreased flavonoid concentrations but unchanged flavonoid class composition were observed. The increased 3-hydroxyphlorizin contents correlate well with reduced susceptibility to fire blight and scab.

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Lesser kudus (Tragelaphus imberbis) have been kept in Zoo Basel since 1956. Juvenile mortality used to be high, and a recent study to reveal pathologic findings identified white muscle disease as a major contributor to this problem. Therefore, a retrospective study was initiated using 16 stored serum samples from lesser kudus from 2000 to 2013 to determine the concentration of selected trace elements, including selenium, copper, zinc, and iodine.

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This article reviews monitoring strategies for enzymatic assays coupled with mass spectrometric detection. This coupling has already been shown to be helpful in providing versatile and detailed knowledge about enzyme kinetics. Various available publications address two general approaches.

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Rationale: Related with its ability to degrade nucleotides, intestinal alkaline phosphatase (iAP) is an important participant in intestinal pH regulation and inflammatory processes. However, its activity has been investigated mainly by using artificial non-nucleotide substrates to enable the utilization of conventional colorimetric methods. To capture the degradation of the physiological nucleotide substrate of the enzyme along with arising intermediates and the final product, the enzymatic assay was adapted to mass spectrometric detection.

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High-quality end-of-life care is an important component of high-quality long-term care, yet many elderly individuals receiving long-term care services do not obtain good care as they approach death. This study provides a systematic review of articles that describe care received at the nexus of long-term care and end-of-life care. The articles identified three primary types of barriers to high-quality end-of-life care in long-term care settings: delivery system barriers intrinsic to long-term care settings, barriers related to features of coverage and reimbursement, and barriers resulting from the current regulatory approach for long-term care providers.

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Haemotrophic mycoplasmas (also known as haemoplasmas), small bacterias which parasite the surface of erythrocytes, have been described in several species. Recently, molecular methods were developed for the diagnosis of haemoplasma infection. The presented study describes the first detection and the investigation of prevalence of "Candidatus Mycoplasma haemolamae" in South American Camelids in Switzerland.

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Two alpacas from a herd in southwest Switzerland died for unknown reasons. Necropsy revealed chronic weight loss and pale mucous membranes. Infection with hemotropic mycoplasmas was suspected and subsequently confirmed by molecular methods.

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The identification of molecular determinants of tumor cell survival is an important objective in cancer research. Here, we describe a small-molecule kinase inhibitor (RGB-286147), which, besides inhibiting tumor cell cycle progression, exhibits potent cytotoxic activity toward noncycling tumor cells, but not nontransformed quiescent fibroblasts. Extensive yeast three-hybrid (Y3H)-based proteome/kinome scanning with chemical dimerizers revealed CDK1/2/3/5/7/9 and the less well-characterized CDK-related kinases (CRKs) p42/CCRK, PCTK1/3, and PFTK1 as its predominant targets.

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In this study, we explored the application of a yeast three-hybrid (Y3H)-based compound/protein display system to scanning the proteome for targets of kinase inhibitors. Various known cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors, including purine and indenopyrazole analogs, were displayed in the form of methotrexate-based hybrid ligands and deployed in cDNA library or yeast cell array-based screening formats. For all inhibitors, known cell cycle CDKs as well as novel candidate CDK-like and/or CDK-unrelated kinase targets could be identified, many of which were independently confirmed using secondary enzyme assays and affinity chromatography.

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The thermotolerant, restrictive methylotroph Bacillus methanolicus MGA3 (ATCC 53907) can secrete 55 g of glutamate per liter (maximum yield, 0.36 g/g) at 50 degrees C with methanol as a carbon source and a source of ammonia in fed-batch bioreactors. A homoserine dehydrogenase mutant, 13A52-8A66, secreting up to 35 g of L-lysine per liter in fed-batch fermentations had minimal 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase activity [7.

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The germ cell nuclear factor (GCNF, NR6A1) is a nuclear orphan receptor first described in the mouse testis and subsequently identified as an essential transcription factor in vertebrate embryogenesis. Here, we analyze the phenotype of Xenopus embryos after depletion of embryonic GCNF (xEmGCNF) protein using a specific morpholino antisense oligonucleotide. Morphological defects after xEmGCNF knockdown became obvious from neurulation onward.

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S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH) is the only enzyme known to cleave S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), a product and an inhibitor of all S-adenosylmethionine-dependent transmethylation reactions. Xenopus SAHH is a nuclear enzyme in transcriptionally active cells and inhibition of xSAHH prevents cap methylation of hnRNA [Mol. Biol.

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