The crystal structure of yeast mitochondrial type pyrophosphatase provides a model to study pathological mutations in its human ortholog.

Mutations in human ppa2 gene encoding mitochondrial inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPA2) result in the mitochondria malfunction in heart and brain and lead to early death. In comparison with its cytosolic counterpart, PPA2 of any species is a poorly characterized enzyme with a previously unknown 3D structure. We report here the crystal structure of PPA2 from yeast Ogataea parapolymorpha (OpPPA2), as well as its biochemical characterization.

[Methods for assessing the microbiological diversity of the ocular surface].

This review compares data from scientific studies on the microbial community of the ocular surface (OS) in conditionally healthy individuals using cultural methods (including culture-dependent diagnostic tests), microscopic and molecular genetic methods, and assesses the influence of research methods and sample preparation on the results. Concordance and discordance of the sets of identified microorganisms were analyzed using overlapping and non-overlapping methods of studying the microbial community of a healthy OS. The article presents tables showing the names of microorganisms that were identified in different sources.

[Express-diagnosis of the diseases of the eye and its appendages by scanning electron microscopy with supravital staining].

This review describes the history of development of a new line of chemical reagents that prompts to significantly reevaluate the application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in medical and biological studies, particularly in ophthalmology; considers the establishing of SEM as an analytical method; covers the problems in its application associated with the needs of clinical medicine and the complexities of biological sample preparation for electron microscopy. The article also presents in chronological order the technical solutions associated with creating a unique line of reagents for supravital staining. The multitude of technical solutions allows considering SEM as a method of express diagnostics.

H-Translocating Membrane-Bound Pyrophosphatase from Fuels Cells via an Alternative Pathway for Energy Generation.

Inorganic pyrophosphatases (PPases) catalyze an essential reaction, namely, the hydrolysis of PP, which is formed in large quantities as a side product of numerous cellular reactions. In the majority of living species, PP hydrolysis is carried out by soluble cytoplasmic PPase (S-PPases) with the released energy dissipated in the form of heat. In part of this energy can be conserved by proton-pumping pyrophosphatase (H-PPase) in the form of a proton electrochemical gradient for further ATP synthesis.