Cryopreservation of a Thermotolerant Lineage of the Coral Reef Dinoflagellate .

Dinoflagellates of the genus form symbiotic relationships with corals, other marine invertebrates, and protists; thus, they are considered as important species in coral reef ecosystems. If could be successfully cryopreserved, the cell bank generated could prove to be a valuable resource for researchers interested in basic biological research of -invertebrate symbioses. Herein, successful cryopreservation of clade D was achieved using a two-step freezing protocol.

Assessing the impacts of cryopreservation on the mitochondria of a thermotolerant Symbiodinium lineage: Implications for reef coral conservation.

Earth's coral reefs are threatened by a barrage of anthropogenic insults, and cryopreservation-based conservation measures are warranted. Successfully cryopreserved corals could then thawed and out-planted on reefs when ocean temperatures stabilize. In such efforts, it will be necessary to also cryopreserve the photosynthetic dinoflagellates (genus Symbiodinium) that reside within the corals' gastrodermal cells.

Purification and characterization of three β-glycosidases exhibiting high glucose tolerance from Aspergillus niger ASKU28.

Production and utilization of cellulosic ethanol has been limited, partly due to the difficulty in degradation of cellulosic feedstock. β-Glucosidases convert cellobiose to glucose in the final step of cellulose degradation, but they are inhibited by high concentrations of glucose. Thus, in this study, we have screened, isolated, and characterized three β-glycosidases exhibiting highly glucose-tolerant property from Aspergillus niger ASKU28, namely β-xylosidase (P1.

Structure and activity of the Streptococcus pyogenes family GH1 6-phospho-β-glucosidase SPy1599.

The group A streptococcus Streptococcus pyogenes is the causative agent of a wide spectrum of invasive infections, including necrotizing fasciitis, scarlet fever and toxic shock syndrome. In the context of its carbohydrate chemistry, it is interesting that S. pyogenes (in this work strain M1 GAS SF370) displays a spectrum of oligosaccharide-processing enzymes that are located in close proximity on the genome but that the in vivo function of these proteins remains unknown.

Identification of the acid/base catalyst of a glycoside hydrolase family 3 (GH3) beta-glucosidase from Aspergillus niger ASKU28.

Background: The commercially important glycoside hydrolase family 3 (GH3) beta-glucosidases from Aspergillus niger are anomeric-configuration-retaining enzymes that operate through the canonical double-displacement glycosidase mechanism. Whereas the catalytic nucleophile is readily identified across all GH3 members by sequence alignments, the acid/base catalyst in this family is phylogenetically variable and less readily divined.

Methods: In this report, we employed three-dimensional structure homology modeling and detailed kinetic analysis of site-directed mutants to identify the catalytic acid/base of a GH3 beta-glucosidase from A.