The investigation of antibacterial properties of peptides and protein hydrolysates derived from serum of Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator).

It is well known that the Asian water monitors or Varanus salvator are both scavengers and predators. They can live and survive in the place that exposed to harmful microorganisms. Most people believe that they have some protected mechanisms to confront those infections.

Crystal structure and structure-based mutagenesis of actin-specific ADP-ribosylating toxin CPILE-a as novel enterotoxin.

Unusual outbreaks of food poisoning in Japan were reported in which Clostridium perfringens was strongly suspected to be the cause based on epidemiological information and fingerprinting of isolates. The isolated strains lack the typical C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) but secrete a new enterotoxin consisting of two components: C.

Comparative Studies of Actin- and Rho-Specific ADP-Ribosylating Toxins: Insight from Structural Biology.

Mono-ADP-ribosylation is a major post-translational modification performed by bacterial toxins, which transfer an ADP-ribose moiety to a substrate acceptor residue. Actin- and Rho-specific ADP-ribosylating toxins (ARTs) are typical ARTs known to have very similar tertiary structures but totally different targets. Actin-specific ARTs are the A components of binary toxins, ADP-ribosylate actin at Arg177, leading to the depolymerization of the actin cytoskeleton.

Sequence to structure approach of estrogen receptor alpha and ligand interactions.

Estrogen receptors (ERs) are steroid receptors located in the cytoplasm and on the nuclear membrane. The sequence similarities of human ERα, mouse ERα, rat ERα, dog ERα, and cat ERα are above 90%, but structures of ERα may different among species. Estrogen can be agonist and antagonist depending on its target organs.

Prediction of cadmium (Cd) toxicity in cattle.

Hepato- and nephrotoxicity can be induced by the exposure to cadmium (Cd). This toxicity can be detected by the elevation of blood biomarkers such as ALT AST, ALP BUN and creatinine. These elevations are found in small animals, e.

Binding capacity of ER-α ligands and SERMs: comparison of the human, dog and cat.

The estrogen molecule is the major risk factor related to mammary gland tumors, with estrogen receptor alpha (ER- α) as the important target stimulating growth. Therefore one alternative approach to treatment of breast cancer is to use selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), hormonal therapy. In this study, the structures of ER- α in humans, dogs and cats were predicted using the amino acid sequencing data bank and corrected for general protein structures, receptor sites and docking by adding 2,344 ligands with 15 SERMs into the database and calculating estimated inhibition constants (Ki).

Immunohistochemical determination of estrogen and progesterone receptors in canine mammary tumors.

Mammary gland tumors are by far the most commonly found tumors in domestic dogs. Effective therapeutic procedures with prompt accurate diagnoses are of prime importance for this life threatening neoplasm. Although immunohistochemical methods provide valuable information such as the location and semi-quantitative data of the interested antigens in particular tumors, conventional methods like histopathological diagnosis remain useful and necessary for identification and classification of tumors.