Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology | Open Access Articles

Cryptococcus Neoformans Melanization Incorporates Multiple Catecholamines To Produce Polytypic Melanin, Rosanna P. Baker, Christine Chrissian, Ruth E. Stark, Arturo Casadevall

Publications and Research

Melanin is a major virulence factor in pathogenic fungi that enhances the ability of fungal cells to resist immune clearance. Cryptococcus neoformans is an important human pathogenic fungus that synthesizes melanin from exogenous tissue catecholamine precursors during infection, but the type of melanin made in cryptococcal meningoencephalitis is unknown. We analyzed the efficacy of various catecholamines found in brain tissue in supporting melanization using animal brain tissue and synthetic catecholamine mixtures reflecting brain tissue proportions. Solid-state NMR spectra of the melanin pigment produced from such mixtures yielded more melanin than expected if only the preferred constituent dopamine had been incorporated, …

Go to article

Salicylic Acid: A Key Regulator Of Redox Signalling 1 And Plant Immunity, Mohd Saleem, Qazi Fariddudin, Christian Castroverde

Biology Faculty Publications

In plants, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed during normal conditions are essential in regulating several processes, like stomatal physiology, pathogen immunity and developmental signaling. However, biotic and abiotic stresses can cause ROS over-accumulation leading to oxidative stress. Therefore, a suitable equilibrium is vital for redox homeostasis in plants, and there have been major advances in this research arena. Salicylic acid (SA) is known as a chief regulator of ROS; however, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. SA plays an important role in establishing the hypersensitive response (HR) and systemic acquired resistance (SAR). This is underpinned by a robust and …

Go to article

Lysine 53 Acetylation Of Cytochrome C In Prostate Cancer: Warburg Metabolism And Evasion Of Apoptosis, Viktoriia Bazylianska, Hasini A. Kalpage, Junmei Wan, Asmita Vaishnav, Gargi Mahapatra, Alice A. Turner, Dipanwita Dutta Chowdhury, Katherine Kim, Paul T. Morse, Icksoo Lee, Joseph S. Brunzelle, Lisa Polin, Prabal Subedi, Elisabeth I. Heath, Izabela Podgorski, Katrin Marcus, Brian Fp Edwards, Maik HüTtemann

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. Two classic cancer hallmarks are a metabolic switch from oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) to glycolysis, known as the Warburg effect, and resistance to cell death. Cytochrome c (Cytc) is at the intersection of both pathways, as it is essential for electron transport in mitochondrial respiration and a trigger of intrinsic apoptosis when released from the mitochondria. However, its functional role in cancer has never been studied. Our data show that Cytc is acetylated on lysine 53 in both androgen hormone-resistant and -sensitive human prostate cancer xenografts. To characterize the …

Go to article

Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Cryptococcus Neoformans Melanization Incorporates Multiple Catecholamines To Produce Polytypic Melanin, Rosanna P. Baker, Christine Chrissian, Ruth E. Stark, Arturo Casadevall

Publications and Research

Salicylic Acid: A Key Regulator Of Redox Signalling 1 And Plant Immunity, Mohd Saleem, Qazi Fariddudin, Christian Castroverde

Biology Faculty Publications

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications