Publications by authors named "Hazel A Tharia"
Article Synopsis
- There is growing interest in developing tests to detect infections, diseases, and environmental stress in fish and other aquatic animals.
- Researchers have isolated and studied the C-reactive protein (CRP) from common carp, which is used in humans as an indicator of inflammation and infection.
- Initial findings indicate that healthy carp have CRP levels comparable to those of healthy humans, and a related protein with potential links to CRP has also been discovered in fish.
Article Synopsis
- Lung surfactant protein D (SP-D) plays a crucial role in lung immunity by interacting with pathogens and allergens, activating immune cells, and influencing inflammatory responses.
- The recombinant fragment rfhSP-D has been shown to protect mice from lung allergies and infections, highlighting its therapeutic potential.
- High-resolution crystal structures of rfhSP-D have revealed details about its carbohydrate binding and the structural features that support its effective role in immune response, including a unique calcium ion interaction that may facilitate receptor binding.
The serum amyloid P component (SAP)-like pentraxin Limulus polyphemus SAP is a recently discovered, distinct pentraxin species, of known structure, which does not bind phosphocholine and whose N-terminal sequence has been shown to differ markedly from the highly conserved N terminus of all other known horseshoe crab pentraxins. The complete cDNA sequence of Limulus SAP, and the derived amino acid sequence, the first invertebrate SAP-like pentraxin sequence, have been determined. Two sequences were identified that differed only in the length of the 3' untranslated region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel low-light (LL) adapted light-harvesting complex II has been isolated from Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Previous work has identified a LL B800-850 complex with a heterogeneous peptide composition and reduced absorption at 850 nm. The work presented here shows the 850 nm absorption to be contamination from a high-light B800-850 complex and that the true LL light-harvesting complex II is a novel B800 complex composed of eight alpha beta(d) peptide pairs that exhibits unique absorption and circular dichroism near infrared spectra.
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