brevispora and P. lindtneri are involved in the initial degradation of organochlorine compound such as PCDDs (Kamei & Kondo, 2005; Kamei et al., 2005). Selleckchem Ixazomib Although further experiments are needed, it is reasonable to suppose that cytochrome P450 monooxygenase plays some role in the metabolism of OCPs such as heptachlor. This is the first report
on the metabolic pathways of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide by white rot fungi. Our results suggested that heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide were degraded into several less-toxic products by selected Phlebia species. This result is important because of the possibilities of using fungi for the decontamination and detoxification of organochlorine-polluted environments. The use of microorganisms for bioremediation requires an understanding of all the physiological and biochemical aspects involved in pollutant transformation. Future research includes identification and isolation of an enzyme system involved in the degradation of heptachlor, optimization of the conditions and molecular approaches for application in the organochlorine-polluted soil systems. This work was supported by a grant from Research project for ensuring food safety from farm to table, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan (PO-3216). “
“Candida parapsilosis is considered to be an
emerging fungal pathogen because it is associated with an increasing range of infections. In this work, we biochemically characterized ecto-5′-nucleotidase activity on the surface of living, intact C. parapsilosis cells. At a pH of 4.5, intact cells SB431542 order were able to hydrolyze 5′-AMP at a rate of 52.44 ± 7.01 nmol Pi h−1 10−7
cells. 5′-AMP, 5′-IMP and 5′-UMP were hydrolyzed at similar rates, whereas 5′-GMP and 5′-CMP hydrolyzed at lower rates. Enzyme activity was increased by about 42% with addition of Mg2+ or Ca2+, and the optimum pH was in the acidic range. An inhibitor of phosphatase activities, sodium orthovanadate, showed no effect on AMP hydrolysis; however, as expected, ammonium molybdate, a classical nucleotidase inhibitor, inhibited Amino acid the activity in a dose-dependent manner. The results indicated that the existence of an ecto-5′-nucleotidase could play a role in the control of extracellular nucleotide concentrations. Candida parapsilosis is considered to be an emerging fungal pathogen because it is associated with an increasing range of infections, such as fungemia, vaginitis, endocarditis, endophthalmitis, septic arthritis and peritonitis (Weems, 1992; Trofa et al., 2008; Nosek et al., 2009). Candida parapsilosis is one of the only species of pathogens to show increasing prevalence in recent years, and the association between C. parapsilosis infections and the presence of intravascular devices is well documented (Krcmery & Barnes, 2002). The mechanisms by which C. parapsilosis evades host defenses and colonizes host tissues are poorly understood.