Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Heat Stress Response And Excystation In Entamoeba Histolytica, Irem Bastuzel

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Entamoeba histolytica is a water- and food-borne intestinal protozoan parasite that causes amoebiasis and liver abscess and is responsible for symptomatic disease in approximately 100 million people each year leading to ~ 100,000 deaths. The most common disease transmission follows the oral-fecal route, but it can also be transmitted by mechanical vectors such as animals carrying the amoeba from contaminated sources to water systems. In rare cases, disease transmission has been recorded in some patients in which men-to-men sexual practices were preferred.

The life cycle of E. histolytica starts through ingestion of infectious cysts, which are non-dividing, quadri-nucleated structures surrounded …

Investigations Of The Ppi-Dependent Acetate Kinase From The Parasite Entamoeba Histolytica, Matthew Fowler

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Acetate, a short-chain fatty acid that plays a key role in all domains of life, can be utilized as a carbon source or excreted as a product of metabolism. Acetate kinase (ACK), a member of the acetate and sugar kinase-Hsp70-actin (ASKHA) enzyme superfamily, is responsible for the reversible phosphorylation of acetate to acetyl phosphate utilizing ATP as the phosphoryl donor. Acetate kinases are ubiquitous in the Bacteria, found in one genus of Archaea, and are also present in microbes of the Eukarya. A partially purified ACK which can utilize pyrophosphate (PP_i) as the phosphoryl donor in the acetyl …