Alpha amylases. Medical search

Salivary alpha-Amylases: A subclass of alpha-amylase ISOENZYMES that are secreted into SALIVA.Amylases: A group of amylolytic enzymes that cleave starch, glycogen, and related alpha-1,4-glucans. (Stedman, 25th ed) EC 3.2.1.-.alpha-Amylases: Enzymes that catalyze the endohydrolysis of 1,4-alpha-glycosidic linkages in STARCH; GLYCOGEN; and related POLYSACCHARIDES and OLIGOSACCHARIDES containing 3 or more 1,4-alpha-linked D-glucose units.Sialorrhea: Increased salivary flow.Saliva: The clear, viscous fluid secreted by the SALIVARY GLANDS and mucous glands of the mouth. It contains MUCINS, water, organic salts, and ptylin.Pancreas: A nodular organ in the ABDOMEN that contains a mixture of ENDOCRINE GLANDS and EXOCRINE GLANDS. The small endocrine portion consists of the ISLETS OF LANGERHANS secreting a number of hormones into the blood stream. The large exocrine portion (EXOCRINE PANCREAS) is a compound acinar gland that secretes several digestive enzymes into the pancreatic ductal system that empties into the DUODENUM.Parotid Gland: The largest of the three pairs of SALIVARY GLANDS. They lie on the sides of the FACE immediately below and in front of the EAR.alpha 1-Antitrypsin: Plasma glycoprotein member of the serpin superfamily which inhibits TRYPSIN; NEUTROPHIL ELASTASE; and other PROTEOLYTIC ENZYMES.Starch: Any of a group of polysaccharides of the general formula (C6-H10-O5)n, composed of a long-chain polymer of glucose in the form of amylose and amylopectin. It is the chief storage form of energy reserve (carbohydrates) in plants.Encyclopedias as Topic: Works containing information articles on subjects in every field of knowledge, usually arranged in alphabetical order, or a similar work limited to a special field or subject. (From The ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983)Maltose: A dextrodisaccharide from malt and starch. It is used as a sweetening agent and fermentable intermediate in brewing. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)Pancreatic Juice: The fluid containing digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas in response to food in the duodenum.Capnocytophaga: A gram-negative gliding bacterium isolated from the oral cavity. It is a pathogen often causing PERIODONTITIS.Cytophagaceae: A family of gram-negative, gliding bacteria in the order Cytophagales, class Cytophagia. They are found in SOIL and SEA WATER.Tribolium: A genus of small beetles of the family Tenebrionidae; T. confusum is the "confused flour beetle".Beetles: INSECTS of the order Coleoptera, containing over 350,000 species in 150 families. They possess hard bodies and their mouthparts are adapted for chewing.Insect Proteins: Proteins found in any species of insect.Methoprene: Juvenile hormone analog and insect growth regulator used to control insects by disrupting metamorphosis. Has been effective in controlling mosquito larvae.Juvenile Hormones: Compounds, either natural or synthetic, which block development of the growing insect.Flour: Ground up seed of WHEAT.Glucagon-Secreting Cells: A type of pancreatic cell representing about 5-20% of the islet cells. Alpha cells secrete GLUCAGON.Glucagon: A 29-amino acid pancreatic peptide derived from proglucagon which is also the precursor of intestinal GLUCAGON-LIKE PEPTIDES. Glucagon is secreted by PANCREATIC ALPHA CELLS and plays an important role in regulation of BLOOD GLUCOSE concentration, ketone metabolism, and several other biochemical and physiological processes. (From Gilman et al., Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 9th ed, p1511)Emetics: Agents that cause vomiting. They may act directly on the gastrointestinal tract, bringing about emesis through local irritant effects, or indirectly, through their effects on the chemoreceptor trigger zone in the postremal area near the medulla.Heart Failure: A heterogeneous condition in which the heart is unable to pump out sufficient blood to meet the metabolic need of the body. Heart failure can be caused by structural defects, functional abnormalities (VENTRICULAR DYSFUNCTION), or a sudden overload beyond its capacity. Chronic heart failure is more common than acute heart failure which results from sudden insult to cardiac function, such as MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION.Biological Markers: Measurable and quantifiable biological parameters (e.g., specific enzyme concentration, specific hormone concentration, specific gene phenotype distribution in a population, presence of biological substances) which serve as indices for health- and physiology-related assessments, such as disease risk, psychiatric disorders, environmental exposure and its effects, disease diagnosis, metabolic processes, substance abuse, pregnancy, cell line development, epidemiologic studies, etc.Calcium Carbonate: Carbonic acid calcium salt (CaCO3). An odorless, tasteless powder or crystal that occurs in nature. It is used therapeutically as a phosphate buffer in hemodialysis patients and as a calcium supplement.Polymers: Compounds formed by the joining of smaller, usually repeating, units linked by covalent bonds. These compounds often form large macromolecules (e.g., BIOPOLYMERS; PLASTICS).Hydrochloric Acid: A strong corrosive acid that is commonly used as a laboratory reagent. It is formed by dissolving hydrogen chloride in water. GASTRIC ACID is the hydrochloric acid component of GASTRIC JUICE.Engraving and Engravings Rare BooksSalivary Glands: Glands that secrete SALIVA in the MOUTH. There are three pairs of salivary glands (PAROTID GLAND; SUBLINGUAL GLAND; SUBMANDIBULAR GLAND).Salivary Glands, Minor: Accessory salivary glands located in the lip, cheek, tongue, floor of mouth, palate and intramaxillary.Lip: Either of the two fleshy, full-blooded margins of the mouth.Sjogren's Syndrome: Chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease in which the salivary and lacrimal glands undergo progressive destruction by lymphocytes and plasma cells resulting in decreased production of saliva and tears. The primary form, often called sicca syndrome, involves both KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS SICCA and XEROSTOMIA. The secondary form includes, in addition, the presence of a connective tissue disease, usually rheumatoid arthritis.Sialadenitis: INFLAMMATION of salivary tissue (SALIVARY GLANDS), usually due to INFECTION or injuries.Beer: An alcoholic beverage usually made from malted cereal grain (as barley), flavored with hops, and brewed by slow fermentation.International System of Units: A system of physical units in which the fundamental quantities are length, time, mass, electric current, temperature, luminous intensity, and amount of substance, and the corresponding units are the meter, second, kilogram, ampere, kelvin, candela, and mole. The system has been given official status and recommended for universal use by the General Conference on Weights and Measures.Acids: Chemical compounds which yield hydrogen ions or protons when dissolved in water, whose hydrogen can be replaced by metals or basic radicals, or which react with bases to form salts and water (neutralization). An extension of the term includes substances dissolved in media other than water. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)Hydrogen-Ion Concentration: The normality of a solution with respect to HYDROGEN ions; H+. It is related to acidity measurements in most cases by pH = log 1/2[1/(H+)], where (H+) is the hydrogen ion concentration in gram equivalents per liter of solution. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)Kinetics: The rate dynamics in chemical or physical systems.Molecular Weight: The sum of the weight of all the atoms in a molecule.Molecular Sequence Data: Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.Aspergillus: A genus of mitosporic fungi containing about 100 species and eleven different teleomorphs in the family Trichocomaceae.Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity: A behavior disorder originating in childhood in which the essential features are signs of developmentally inappropriate inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Although most individuals have symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, one or the other pattern may be predominant. The disorder is more frequent in males than females. Onset is in childhood. Symptoms often attenuate during late adolescence although a minority experience the full complement of symptoms into mid-adulthood. (From DSM-V)Methylphenidate: A central nervous system stimulant used most commonly in the treatment of ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER in children and for NARCOLEPSY. Its mechanisms appear to be similar to those of DEXTROAMPHETAMINE. The d-isomer of this drug is referred to as DEXMETHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE.Central Nervous System Stimulants: A loosely defined group of drugs that tend to increase behavioral alertness, agitation, or excitation. They work by a variety of mechanisms, but usually not by direct excitation of neurons. The many drugs that have such actions as side effects to their main therapeutic use are not included here.Circadian Rhythm: The regular recurrence, in cycles of about 24 hours, of biological processes or activities, such as sensitivity to drugs and stimuli, hormone secretion, sleeping, and feeding.Propylamines Hydrocortisone: The main glucocorticoid secreted by the ADRENAL CORTEX. Its synthetic counterpart is used, either as an injection or topically, in the treatment of inflammation, allergy, collagen diseases, asthma, adrenocortical deficiency, shock, and some neoplastic conditions.Kluyveromyces: An ascomycetous yeast of the fungal family Saccharomycetaceae, order SACCHAROMYCETALES.Agave: A genus known for fibers obtained from their leaves: sisal from A. sisalana, henequen from A. fourcroyoides and A. cantala, or Manila-Maguey fiber from A. cantala. Some species provide a sap that is fermented to an intoxicating drink, called pulque in Mexico. Some contain agavesides.Glucan 1,4-alpha-Glucosidase: An enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of terminal 1,4-linked alpha-D-glucose residues successively from non-reducing ends of polysaccharide chains with the release of beta-glucose. It is also able to hydrolyze 1,6-alpha-glucosidic bonds when the next bond in sequence is 1,4.Fermentation: Anaerobic degradation of GLUCOSE or other organic nutrients to gain energy in the form of ATP. End products vary depending on organisms, substrates, and enzymatic pathways. Common fermentation products include ETHANOL and LACTIC ACID.Asparagus Plant: A plant genus in the family LILIACEAE (sometimes placed in Asparagaceae) that contains ECDYSTEROIDS and is an ingredient of Siotone. The shoots are used as a vegetable and the roots are used in FOLK MEDICINE.

Inhibition of plant-pathogenic fungi by a corn trypsin inhibitor overexpressed in Escherichia coli. (1/1178)

The cDNA of a 14-kDa trypsin inhibitor (TI) from corn was subcloned into an Escherichia coli overexpression vector. The overexpressed TI was purified based on its insolubility in urea and then refolded into the active form in vitro. This recombinant TI inhibited both conidium germination and hyphal growth of all nine plant pathogenic fungi studied, including Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, and Fusarium moniliforme. The calculated 50% inhibitory concentration of TI for conidium germination ranged from 70 to more than 300 microgram/ml, and that for fungal growth ranged from 33 to 124 microgram/ml depending on the fungal species. It also inhibited A. flavus and F. moniliforme simultaneously when they were tested together. The results suggest that the corn 14-kDa TI may function in host resistance against a variety of fungal pathogens of crops. (+info)

Insertion analysis of putative functional elements in the promoter region of the Aspergillus oryzae Taka-amylase A gene (amyB) using a heterologous Aspergillus nidulans amdS-lacZ fusion gene system. (2/1178)

Expression of the Taka-amylase A gene (amyB) of Aspergillus oryzae is induced by starch or maltose. The A. oryzae amyB gene promoter contains three highly conserved sequences, designated Regions I, II, and III, compared with promoter regions of the A. oryzae glaA encoding glucoamylase and the agdA encoding alpha-glucosidase. To identify the function of these sequences within the amyB promoter, various fragments containing conserved sequences in the amyB promoter were introduced into the upstream region of the heterologous A. nidulans amdS gene (encoding acetamidase) fused to the Escherichia coli lacZ gene as a reporter. Introduction of the sequence between -290 to -233 (the number indicates the distance in base pairs from the translation initiation point (+1)) containing Region III significantly increased the expression of the lacZ reporter gene in the presence of maltose. The sequence between -377 to -290 containing Region I also increased the lacZ activity, but its maltose inducibility was less than that of Region III. The sequence between -233 to -181 containing Region II had no effect on the expression. These results indicated that Region III is most likely involved in the maltose induction of the amyB gene expression. (+info)

Overexpression of BiP in tobacco alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress. (3/1178)

To study the role of the lumenal binding protein (BiP) in the transport and secretion of proteins, we have produced plants with altered BiP levels. Transgenic plants overexpressing BiP showed dramatically increased BiP mRNA levels but only a modest increase in BiP protein levels. The presence of degradation products in BiP overproducers suggests a regulatory mechanism that increases protein turnover when BiP is abundant. Antisense inhibition of BiP synthesis was not successful, demonstrating that even a minor reduction in the basal BiP level is deleterious to cell viability. Overexpression of BiP leads to downregulation of the basal transcript levels of endogenous BiP genes and greatly reduces the unfolded protein response. The data confirm that BiP transcription is regulated via a feedback mechanism that involves monitoring of BiP protein levels. To test BiP activity in vivo, we designed a functional assay, using the secretory protein alpha-amylase and a cytosolic enzyme as a control for cell viability. During tunicamycin treatment, an overall reduction of alpha-amylase synthesis was observed when compared with the cytosolic marker. We show that the tunicamycin effect is due to the depletion of BiP in the endoplasmic reticulum because coexpressed BiP alone is able to restore efficient alpha-amylase synthesis. This is a novel assay to monitor BiP activity in promoting secretory protein synthesis in vivo. (+info)

Differential dependence of levansucrase and alpha-amylase secretion on SecA (Div) during the exponential phase of growth of Bacillus subtilis. (4/1178)

SecA, the translocation ATPase of the preprotein translocase, accounts for 0.25% of the total protein in a degU32(Hy) Bacillus subtilis strain in logarithmic phase. The SecA level remained constant irrespective of the demand for exoprotein production but dropped about 12-fold during the late stationary phase. Modulation of the level of functional SecA during the exponential phase of growth affected differently the secretion of levansucrase and alpha-amylase overexpressed under the control of the sacB leader region. The level of SecA was reduced in the presence of sodium azide and in the div341 thermosensitive mutant at nonpermissive temperatures. Overproduction of SecA was obtained with a multicopy plasmid bearing secA. The gradual decrease of the SecA level reduced the yield of secreted levansucrase with a concomitant accumulation of unprocessed precursor in the cells, while an increase in the SecA level resulted in an elevation of the production of exocellular levansucrase. In contrast, alpha-amylase secretion was almost unaffected by high concentrations of sodium azide or by very low levels of SecA. Secretion defects were apparent only under conditions of strong SecA deprivation of the cell. These data demonstrate that the alpha-amylase and levansucrase precursors markedly differ in their dependency on SecA for secretion. It is suggested that these precursors differ in their binding affinities for SecA. (+info)

Genetic regulation of tissue-specific expression of amylase structural genes in Drosophila melanogaster. (5/1178)

Laboratory strains of Drosophila melanogaster were screened for spatial variations in adult midgut alpha-amylase (1,4-alpha-D-glucan glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1) expression. No strain-specific differences were found anteriorly, but three patterns of activity were discerned in the posterior midgut: A, activity throughout most of the region; B, activity in the anterior part of the region; and C, little or no activity. Alleles of a control gene, map, are responsible for this tissue-specific regulation of activity; e.g., mapA homozygotes produce the A pattern and mapC homozygotes the C pattern. The map locus was placed at 2--80 +/- on the genetic map of chromosome 2R, about two crossover units distal to the Amy structural gene region for alpha-amylase. Electrophoretic studies showed that mapA is trans acting in mapA/mapC flies, allowing expression of amylase isozymes coded for by genes on the opposite chromosome. The map gene behaves as a temporal gene that is clearly separable from the tightly linked, duplicated Amy structural genes. (+info)

Molecular cloning and primary structure analysis of porcine pancreatic alpha-amylase. (6/1178)

A cDNA library was constructed in a Uni-ZAP XR vector using mRNA isolated from porcine pancreas. A full-length alpha-amylase cDNA was obtained using a combination of library screening and nested polymerase chain reaction. Sequencing of the clone revealed a 1536-nucleotide (nt) open reading frame encoding a protein of 496 amino acid (aa) residues with a signal peptide of 15 aa. The calculated molecular mass of the enzyme was 55354 Da, in accordance with those of the purified porcine pancreatic alpha-amylase forms (PPAI and PPAII) as determined by mass spectrometry. A comparison of the deduced aa sequence with published peptidic sequences of PPAI identified a number of mismatches. The sequence of the cDNA reported here provides a sequence reference for PPA in excellent agreement with the refined three-dimensional structures of both PPAI and PPAII. No evidence for a second variant was found in the cDNA library and it is most likely that PPAI and PPAII are two forms of the same protein. The primary structure of PPA shows high homology with human, mouse and rat pancreatic alpha-amylases. The 304-310 region, corresponding to a mobile loop involved in substrate binding and processing near the active site, is fully conserved. (+info)

Cloning, mutagenesis, and structural analysis of human pancreatic alpha-amylase expressed in Pichia pastoris. (7/1178)

Human pancreatic alpha-amylase (HPA) was expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris and two mutants (D197A and D197N) of a completely conserved active site carboxylic acid were generated. All recombinant proteins were shown by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) to be glycosylated and the site of attachment was shown to be Asn461 by peptide mapping in conjunction with ESI-MS. Treatment of these proteins with endoglycosidase F demonstrated that they contained a single N-linked oligosaccharide and yielded a protein product with a single N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc), which could be crystallized. Solution of the crystal structure to a resolution of 2.0 A confirmed the location of the glycosyl group as Asn461 and showed that the recombinant protein had essentially the same conformation as the native enzyme. The kinetic parameters of the glycosylated and deglycosylated wild-type proteins were the same while the k(cat)/Km values for D197A and D197N were 10(6)-10(7) times lower than the wild-type enzyme. The decreased k(cat)/Km values for the mutants confirm that D197 plays a crucial role in the hydrolytic activity of HPA, presumably as the catalytic nucleophile. (+info)

Chemical modification of lysine side chains of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase from Thermoanaerobacter causes a shift from cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase to alpha-amylase specificity. (8/1178)

Cyclodextrin glycosyltransferases and alpha-amylases are two groups of enzymes with related secondary structures. However, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferases display transferase activities not present in alpha-amylases, probably derived from the existence of two more domains and different amino acid sequences. The hydrolytic activity of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferases is generally quite low, except for two cyclodextrin glycosyltransferases from termophiles. In this work, we have carried out the chemical modification (with acetic anhydride) of the amino groups of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase from Thermoanaerobacter to assess their contributions to protein function. The acetylated cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase showed a significant reduction of its cyclization, coupling and disproportionation activities. Surprisingly, the hydrolytic (saccharifying) activity was slightly enhanced. These results suggest the participation of one or more lysine side chains in the interactions contributing to the transferase activity, either in any of the S11 subsites or in the acceptor binding site. (+info)