Publications by authors named "Geoffrey Hird"

PMM2-CDG is the most common congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG). Patients with this disease often carry compound heterozygous mutations of the gene encoding the phosphomannomutase 2 (PMM2) enzyme. PMM2 converts mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) to mannose-1-phosphate (M1P), which is a critical upstream metabolite for proper protein N-glycosylation.

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A novel carbohydrate-based phospholipid containing a phosphatidic acid head group, bis-(2,3-lauroyl)-1-methoxy-5-ribo-phosphatidic acid (DLRPA), was synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and 31P NMR. This molecule is an analog of dilauroyl phosphatidic acid (DLPA). The T(m) of DLRPA decreases with increasing pH in a similar pattern to DLPA, as determined by MDSC.

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Novel carbohydrate-based phospholipids containing two saturated C(12) (dilauroyl ribo-phosphocholine) (DLRPC), C(14) (dimyristoyl ribo-phosphocholine) (DMRPC), and C(20) (diarachadonyl ribo-phosphocholine) (DARPC) carboxylic acid chains were synthesized. The physical properties of the supramolecular structures formed by these compounds were compared to those formed by their direct glycerol analogues dilauroyl phosphocholine (DLPC), dimyristoyl phosphocholine (DMPC), and diarachadonyl phosphocholine (DAPC). Modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) and X-ray diffraction data indicated that with chain lengths < or =14 carbons, the carbohydrate backbone increased the thermal stability of the bilayer below the phase-transition temperature (T(m)) as compared to the glycerol-based lipids.

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