Changes in Functionality of Germinated and Non-Germinated Brown Rice Fermented by .

Germinated brown rice (GBR) is brown rice (BR) that has been germinated. GBR accumulates more nutrients and has a softer texture than BR. The aim of this study was to ferment GBR and BR using and to investigate the functionality of the fermented products compared with white rice (WR) as a control.

Effective hybrid approach for protein structure prediction in a two-dimensional Hydrophobic-Polar model.

Hydrophobic-polar (HP) models are widely used to predict protein folding and hydrophobic interactions. Numerous optimization algorithms have been proposed to predict protein folding using the two-dimensional (2D) HP model. However, to obtain an optimal protein structure from the 2D HP model remains challenging.

Protein folding prediction in the HP model using ions motion optimization with a greedy algorithm.

Background: The function of a protein is determined by its native protein structure. Among many protein prediction methods, the Hydrophobic-Polar (HP) model, an ab initio method, simplifies the protein folding prediction process in order to reduce the prediction complexity.

Results: In this study, the ions motion optimization (IMO) algorithm was combined with the greedy algorithm (namely IMOG) and implemented to the HP model for the protein folding prediction based on the 2D-triangular-lattice model.

A Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Approach with Local Search for Predicting Protein Folding.

The hydrophobic-polar (HP) model is commonly used for predicting protein folding structures and hydrophobic interactions. This study developed a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based algorithm combined with local search algorithms; specifically, the high exploration PSO (HEPSO) algorithm (which can execute global search processes) was combined with three local search algorithms (hill-climbing algorithm, greedy algorithm, and Tabu table), yielding the proposed HE-L-PSO algorithm. By using 20 known protein structures, we evaluated the performance of the HE-L-PSO algorithm in predicting protein folding in the HP model.

Engineering of dual-functional hybrid glucanases.

1,3-1,4-β-D-Glucanase (lichenase) and 1,3-β-D-glucanase (laminarinase) are fibrolytic enzymes which play an important role in the hydrolysis of polysaccharide components. Both of these glucanases have been employed in a number of industrial applications. This study aims to improve or combine the novel properties of both glucanases in an attempt to create desirable hybrid enzymes with economic benefits for industrial applications.

Structural and catalytic roles of residues located in beta13 strand and the following beta-turn loop in Fibrobacter succinogenes 1,3-1,4-beta-D-glucanase.

Background: Fibrobacter succinogenes 1,3-1,4-beta-D-glucanase (Fsbeta-glucanase) is the only naturally occurring circularly permuted beta-glucanase among bacterial glucanases with reverse protein domains. We characterized the functional and structural significance of residues 200-209 located in the domain B of Fsbeta-glucanase, corresponding to the major surface loop in the domain A region of Bacillus licheniformis glucanase.

Methods: Rational design approaches including site-directed mutagenesis, initial-rate kinetics, and structural modeling analysis were used in this study.

The effect of centaurein on interferon-gamma expression and Listeria infection in mice.

We previously found that centaurein enhanced IFN-gamma transcription in T cells. Here, we demonstrate that centaurein increased the IFN-gamma expression in T and NK cells and the serum IFN-gamma level in mice. Centaurein elevated the transcription of T-bet but not GATA-3, which is consistent with its effect on that of IFN-gamma but not IL-4.