Latest Enzymes Stories

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM), a leading industrial biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of high-performance enzymes, today announced the introduction of VEREFLOW(TM) alpha-amylase, a unique enzyme for the removal of filter cake in drilling operations. This high performance enzyme effectively removes filter cake that acts as a barrier to hydrocarbon flow on the face of the...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Treatment that increases brain levels of a crucial regulatory enzyme may slow the loss of brain cells that characterize Huntington’s disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative disorders, according to this study. Increased expression of Sirt1, one of a family of enzymes called sirtuins, in the brain of a mouse model of HD protected against neurodegeneration. They also identified a potential mechanism for this protective effect. "Diseases such as Huntington's,...

Transcriptional elongation control takes on new dimensions as Stowers researchers find gene class-specific elongation factors Life is complicated enough, so you can forgive the pioneers of DNA biology for glossing over transcriptional elongation control by RNA polymerase II, the quick and seemingly bulletproof penultimate step in the process that copies the information encoded in our DNA into protein-making instructions carried by messenger RNA. In a new report appearing in the Dec. 23,...

Mutant huntingtin protein appears to block activity of Sirt1, suggesting potential treatment target Treatment that increases brain levels of an important regulatory enzyme may slow the loss of brain cells that characterizes Huntington's disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. In a report receiving advance online publication in Nature Medicine, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-based research team reports that increased expression of Sirt1, one of a family of enzymes called...

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Codexis, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDXS) today introduced the CodeXyme(TM) Cellulase enzyme product line to convert biomass to sugar, enabling cost effective production of sustainable products. "The launch of the CodeXyme(TM) Cellulase product line introduces Codexis as a player in the global cellulase enzyme market," said Alan Shaw, Ph.D, President and Chief Executive Officer. "CodeXyme(TM) Cellulase enzymes will be...

Psychobiological studies investigating the nature of the stress response and its relations to human health and development have routinely measured salivary cortisol to assess the response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Current theory suggests, however, that measurement across multiple stress systems will provide a more complete picture of the stress response, and Salimetrics now recommends that stress-related studies should include measures of both salivary cortisol and...

A diametric shift in the levels of two proteins involved in folding, moving and cutting other proteins enables accumulation of the destructive brain plaque found in Alzheimer's disease, researchers report. VPS35 is a protein that folds others into specific positions to unleash their functions. When levels are reduced as they are in aging, it unleashes the normally dormant BACE1, a protein responsible for beta amyloid plaque production, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report...

Sluggish recycling of a protein-slicing enzyme could promote Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published online on November 21 in The Journal of Cell Biology (www.jcb.org). Abeta, the toxic protein that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, is formed when enzymes cut up its parental protein, known as amyloid precursor protein. One of those enzymes is beta-secretase or BACE1. BACE1 cycles between the Golgi apparatus and the plasma membrane, traveling through endosomes...

For the first time, researchers have identified two important strategies for optimizing the effects of the enzymes involved in degrading persistent pollutants such as PCBs. These scientific advances, achieved by Professor Michel Sylvestre of Centre INRS–Institut Armand-Frappier in conjunction with U.S. and Indian researchers, will serve not only to help develop effective biocatalysts for resolving environmental pollution problems, but also to synthesize new chemical compounds of...

Journal of Biological Chemistry: Oxygen inactivates the enzyme function in three phases Scientists from the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology at the RUB have published a report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry explaining why enzymes used for the production of hydrogen are so sensitive to oxygen. In collaboration with researchers from Berlin, they used spectroscopic methods to investigate the time course of the processes that lead to the inactivation of the enzyme's iron center....