Screening of ligninolytic fungi for biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass.

To identify white rot fungi with high potential in biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass, preliminary screening was carried out on plates by testing different strains for their ability to oxidize guaiacol and decolorize the dyes azure B and Poly R-478. Of the 86 strains screened, 16 were selected for secondary screening for their ligninolytic ability; however, low manganese peroxidase activity and no lignin peroxidase activity were detected. Strain BBEL0970 proved to be the most efficient in laccase production and was subsequently identified as Trametes versicolor by analysis of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer gene sequence.

UV damage-induced RNA polymerase II stalling stimulates H2B deubiquitylation.

Histone H2B monoubiquitylation plays an important role in RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) elongation. Whether this modification responds to RNAPII stalling is not yet known. We report that both yeast and human cells undergo a rapid and significant H2B deubiquitylation after exposure to UV irradiation.

Oil production by oleaginous yeasts using the hydrolysate from pretreatment of wheat straw with dilute sulfuric acid.

This paper explores the use of the hydrolysate from the dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of wheat straw for microbial oil production. The resulting hydrolysate was composed of pentoses (24.3g/L) and hexoses (4.

Synthetic strategies toward carbocyclic purine-pyrimidine hybrid nucleosides.

The blending of key structural features from the purine and pyrimidine nucleobase scaffolds gives rise to a new class of hybrid nucleosides. The purine-pyrimidine hybrid nucleosides can be viewed as either N-3 ribosylated purines or 5,6-disubstituted pyrimidines, thus recognition by both purine- and pyrimidine-metabolizing enzymes is possible. Given the increasing reports of the development of resistance in many enzymatic systems, a drug that could be recognized by more than one enzyme could prove highly advantageous in overcoming resistance mechanisms related to binding site mutations.

Carbocyclic pyrimidine nucleosides as inhibitors of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase.

The design, synthesis, and unexpected inhibitory activity against S-adenosyl-homocysteine (SAH) hydrolase (SAHase, EC 3.3.1.

An enzyme-coupled continuous spectrophotometric assay for S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases.

Modification of small molecules and proteins by methyltransferases affects a wide range of biological processes. Here, we report an enzyme-coupled continuous spectrophotometric assay to quantitatively characterize S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet/SAM)-dependent methyltransferase activity. In this assay, S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (AdoHcy/SAH), the transmethylation product of AdoMet-dependent methyltransferases, is hydrolyzed to S-ribosylhomocysteine and adenine by recombinant S-adenosylhomocysteine/5'-methylthioadenosine nucleosidase (SAHN/MTAN, EC 3.