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Jacalin-like Lectin Domain
In molecular biology, the jacalin-like lectin domain is a mannose-binding lectin domain with a beta-prism fold consisting of three 4-stranded beta-sheets, with an internal pseudo 3-fold symmetry. Some lectins in this group stimulate distinct T- and B-cell functions, such as Jacalin, which binds to the T-antigen and acts as an agglutinin. This domain is found in 1 to 6 copies in lectins. The domain is also found in the salt-stress induced protein from rice and an animal prostatic spermine-binding protein. Database of jacalin like lectins and structure function relations.Raval et al, "A database analysis of jacalin-like lectins: sequence–structure–function relationships" Glycobiology vol. 14 no. 12 pp. 1247–1263, 2004 http://glycob.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/12/1247.full.pdf Proteins containing this domain include: *Jacalin, a tetrameric plant seed lectin and agglutinin from ''Artocarpus heterophyllus'' (jackfruit), which is specific for galactose. *Artocarpin, a te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mannose
Mannose is a sugar monomer of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylation of certain proteins. Several congenital disorders of glycosylation are associated with mutations in enzymes involved in mannose metabolism. Mannose is not an essential nutrient; it can be produced in the human body from glucose, or converted into glucose. Mannose provides 2–5 kcal/g. It is partially excreted in the urine. Etymology The root of both "mannose" and "mannitol" is manna, which the Bible describes as the food supplied to the Israelites during their journey in the region of Sinai. Several trees and shrubs can produce a substance called manna, such as the "manna tree" ('' Fraxinus ornus'') from whose secretions mannitol was originally isolated. Structure Mannose commonly exists as two different-sized rings, the pyranose (six-membered) form and the furanose (five-membered) form. Eac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motility, able to move, can Sexual reproduction, reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in which their body consists of a hollow sphere of Cell (biology), cells, the blastula, during Embryogenesis, embryonic development. Over 1.5 million Extant taxon, living animal species have been Species description, described—of which around 1 million are Insecta, insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals range in length from to . They have Ecology, complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology. Most living animal species are in Bilateria, a clade whose members have a Symmetry in biology#Bilate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griffithsin
Griffithsin is a protein isolated from the red algae ''Griffithsia''. It has a 121-amino acid sequence which exhibits a Jacalin-like lectin domain, Jacalin-like lectin fold. Several structures of this protein have been solved by X-ray crystallography and deposited in the Protein Data Bank, PDB. It has been shown in vitro to be a highly potent HIV entry inhibitor. It is currently being investigated as a potential microbicide for use in the prevention of the transmission of HIV. Griffithsin shows a broad spectrum ability to bind to the glycoproteins of other viruses, such as the coronavirus. Griffithsin's three identical carbohydrate binding sites bind to oligosaccharides present on some envelopes of viral glycoproteins. This was demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo studies. For instance, it was shown that griffithsin binds to the SARS-CoV spike glycoprotein to inhibit entry of the SARS virus and thus inhibit infection. A 2014 study showed griffithsin to also possess useful anti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helianthus Tuberosus
The Jerusalem artichoke (''Helianthus tuberosus''), also called sunroot, sunchoke, wild sunflower, topinambur, or earth apple, is a species of sunflower native to central North America. It is cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.Purdue University Center for New Crops & Plants Products''Helianthus tuberosus''/ref> Description ''Helianthus tuberosus'' is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to tall with opposite leaves on the lower part of the stem but alternate towards the top. The leaves have a rough, hairy texture. Larger leaves on the lower stem are broad ovoid-acute and can be up to long. Leaves higher on the stem are smaller and narrower. The flowers are yellow and produced in capitate flowerheads, which are in diameter, with 10–20 ray florets and 60 or more small disc florets. The flowers are briefly fragrant, giving off a light, vanilla-chocolate perfume. The tubers are often elongated and uneven, typically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maclura Pomifera
''Maclura pomifera'', commonly known as the Osage orange ( ), is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, native to the south-central United States. It typically grows about tall. The distinctive fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, bumpy, in diameter, and turns bright yellow-green in the fall. The fruits secrete a sticky white latex when cut or damaged. Despite the name "Osage orange", it is not related to the orange. It is a member of the mulberry family, Moraceae. Due to its latex secretions and woody pulp, the fruit is typically not eaten by humans and rarely by foraging animals. Controversial suggestions have been made that it was consumed by extinct Pleistocene megafauna, but these claims have been criticised as lacking empirical evidence. ''Maclura pomifera'' has many names, including mock orange, hedge apple, hedge, horse apple, monkey ball, monkey brains and yellow-wood. The name bois d'arc (from French meaning "bow-wood") has also been corrupted into ''bodar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactose
Galactose (, '' galacto-'' + '' -ose'', "milk sugar"), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epimer of glucose. A galactose molecule linked with a glucose molecule forms a lactose molecule. Galactan is a polymeric form of galactose found in hemicellulose, and forming the core of the galactans, a class of natural polymeric carbohydrates. D-Galactose is also known as brain sugar since it is a component of glycoproteins (oligosaccharide-protein compounds) found in Nerve tissue, nerve tissue. Etymology The word ''galactose'' was coined by Charles Weissman in the mid-19th century and is derived from Greek ''galaktos'' (of milk) and the generic chemical suffix for sugars ''-ose''. The etymology is comparable to that of the word '' lactose'' in that both contain roots meaning "milk sugar". Lactose is a disaccharide of galactose plus glucose. Structure and isomerism Gal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artocarpus Heterophyllus
The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the rainforests of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The jack tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands, and is widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It bears the largest fruit of all trees, reaching as much as in weight, in length, and in diameter. A mature jack tree produces some 200 fruits per year, with older trees bearing up to 500 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals of the unripe fruit are eaten. The ripe fruit is sweet (depending on variety) and is more often used for desserts. Canned green jackfruit has a mild taste and meat-like texture that lends itself to being called a "vegetable meat". Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm plants. Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after the embryo sac is fertilized by sperm from pollen, forming a zygote. The embryo within a seed develops from the zygote, and grows within the mother plant to a certain size before growth is halted. The seed coat arises from the integuments of the ovule. Seeds have been an important development in the reproduction and success of vegetable gymnosperm and angiosperm plants, relative to more primitive plants such as ferns, mosses and liverworts, which do not have seeds and use water-dependent means to propagate themselves. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to grasslands both in hot and cold climates. The term "seed" also has a general me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants") which is sister of the Glaucophyta, and consists of the green algae and Embryophyta (land plants). The latter includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. Most plants are multicellular organisms. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic or mycotrophic and have lost the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetrameric Protein
A tetrameric protein is a protein with a quaternary structure of four subunits (tetrameric). Homotetramers have four identical subunits (such as glutathione S-transferase), and heterotetramers are complexes of different subunits. A tetramer can be assembled as dimer of dimers with two homodimer subunits (such as sorbitol dehydrogenase), or two heterodimer subunits (such as hemoglobin). Subunit interactions in tetramers The interactions between subunits forming a tetramer is primarily determined by non covalent interaction. Hydrophobic effects, hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions are the primary sources for this binding process between subunits. For homotetrameric proteins such as Sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), the structure is believed to have evolved going from a monomeric to a dimeric and finally a tetrameric structure in evolution. The binding process in SDH and many other tetrameric enzymes can be described by the gain in free energy which can be determined from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spermine
Spermine is a polyamine involved in cellular metabolism that is found in all Eukaryote, eukaryotic cells. The precursor for synthesis of spermine is the amino acid ornithine. It is an essential growth factor in some Bacterium, bacteria as well. It is found as a polycation at physiological pH. Spermine is associated with nucleic acids and is thought to stabilize helical structure, particularly in viruses. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first described crystals of spermine phosphate in human semen in 1678. The name ''spermin'' was first used by the German chemists Albert Ladenburg, Ladenburg and Abel in 1888, and the correct structure of spermine was not finally established until 1926, simultaneously in England (by Dudley, Rosenheim, and Starling) and Germany (by Wrede et al.). Spermine is the chemical primarily responsible for the characteristic odor of semen. Derivative A derivative (chemistry), derivative of spermine, N1, N12-bis(ethyl)spermine (also known as BESm) was investig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prostatic
On either side of the urethral crest is a slightly depressed fossa, the prostatic sinus, the floor of which is perforated by numerous apertures, the orifices of the prostatic ducts from the lateral lobes of the prostate The prostate is both an Male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found only in some mammals. It differs between species anatomically, .... References External links * - "The Male Pelvis: The Prostate Gland" * () Prostate {{genitourinary-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
