Metabolism of carotenoids and apocarotenoids during ripening of raspberry fruit.

Carotenoids are important lipophilic antioxidants in fruits. Apocarotenoids such as alpha-ionone and beta-ionone, which are breakdown products of carotenoids, are important for the flavor characteristics of raspberry fruit, and have also been suggested to have beneficial effects on human health. Raspberry is one of the few fruits where fruit ripening is accompanied by the massive production of apocarotenoids.

Microbial production of natural raspberry ketone.

Raspberry ketone is an important compound for the flavour industry. It is frequently used in products such as soft drinks, sweets, puddings and ice creams. The compound can be produced by organic synthesis.

Mapping of residues involved in the interaction between the Bacillus subtilis xylanase A and proteinaceous wheat xylanase inhibitors.

The Bacillus subtilis xylanase A was subjected to site-directed mutagenesis, aimed at changing the interaction with Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor, the only wheat endogenous proteinaceous xylanase inhibitor interacting with this xylanase. The published structure of Bacillus circulans XynA was used to target amino acids surrounding the active site cleft of B.subtilis XynA for mutation.

Potential role of glycosidase inhibitors in industrial biotechnological applications.

The nutrient content of food and animal feed may be improved through new knowledge about enzymatic changes in complex carbohydrates. Enzymatic hydrolysis of complex carbohydrates containing alpha or beta glycosidic bonds is very important in nutrition and in several technological processes. These enzymes are called glycosidases (Enzyme Class 3.

Structure-function of cytochromes P450 and flavin-containing monooxygenases: implications for drug metabolism.

This article is a report on a symposium held at Experimental Biology '98 in San Francisco, California. Recent developments in site-directed mutagenesis, computer-modeling, and mechanistic analysis of cytochromes P450 and flavin-containing monooxygenases are described. A unifying theme is the elaboration of general approaches for understanding and predicting the function of individual forms of these enzymes.