Brazil nut is a seed with high nutritional value and of great economic importance to the Northern region of Brazil. In addition to enabling direct consumption, its nutritional potential enables the development of various products. Among its nutrients, emphasis is given to the amino acid-rich proteins, lipid content and selenium, which exhibits antioxidant properties. This review addresses the nutritional value and approaches different technologies applied in the Brazil nut products process.
The generalization that ‘when a metabolic sequence involves consecutive nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide-dependent reactions, the dehydrogenases have the same stereospecificity’ was tested and confirmed for three metabolic sequences. (1) NAD+-xylitol (D-xylulose) dehydrogenase and NADP+-xylitol (L-xylulose) dehydrogenase are both B-specific. (2) D-Mannitol 1-phosphate dehydrogenase and D-sorbitol 6-phosphate dehydrogenase are both B-specific. (3) meso Tartrate dehydrogenase and oxaloglycollate reductive decarboxylase are both A-specific. Other dehydrogenases associated with the metabolism of meso-tartrate in Pseudomonas putida, such as hydroxypyruvate reductase and tartronate semialdehyde reductase, were also shown to be A-specific. Malate dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas putida was A-specific, and the proposition is discussed that the common A-stereospecificity among the dehydrogenases involved in meso-tartrate metabolism reflects their origin from malate dehydrogenase.
A kinetic study of ‘malic’ enzyme (EC 1.1.1.40) from potato suggests that the mechanism is Ordered Bi Ter with NADP+ binding before malate, and NADPH binding before pyruvate and HCO3-. The analysis is complicated by the non-linearity that occurs in some of the plots. meso-Tartrate is shown to inhibit the oxidative decarboxylation of malate but to activate the reductive carboxylation of pyruvate. To explain these unidirectional effects it is suggested that the control site of ‘malic’ enzyme binds organic acids (including meso-tartrate) which activate the enzyme. meso-Tartrate, however, competes with malate for the active site and thus inhibits the oxidative decarboxylation of malate. Because meso-tartrate does not compete effectively with pyruvate for enzyme-NADPH, its binding at the control site leads to a stimulation of the carboxylation of pyruvate. A similar explanation is advanced for the observation that malic acid stimulates its own synthesis.
The membrane ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) of Bacillus cereus was solubilized by a 'shock-wash' process and purified. The non-specific phosphatase contaminant was separated by glycerol density gradient centrifugation. The optimum temperature was 39.5 degrees C and the pH optimum at 7.5. On SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis two classes of subunits were observed in equal proportions with molecular weights of 70 K and 83 K. The effect of various compounds on the enzymatic activity was studied. The enzyme was insensitive to NaN3, oligomycin and to divalent cations, but was inhibited by citrate and oxalate.
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