In order to determine the role of the carboxyl terminal amino acid residues of unacetylated ${\alpha}$-tropomyosin in actin affinity two mutant tropomyosins were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis. TM16 was identical to the striated tropomyosin except that three amino acids in the carboxyl terminal end were altered to $^{282}TNM^{284}$ while in TM17 $^{282}TSI^{284}$ of the striated was replaced with$^{282}NSM^{284}$. TM16 and TM17 were overproduced in Escherichia coli and analyzed for actin affinity by comparing actin affinities of the striated and TM11 $^{282}NNM^{284}$). The apparent binding constants (Kapp) of unacetylated tropomyosins to actin were $5.1{\times}10^4M^{-1}$ for the striated, $1.1{\times}10^5M^{-1}$ for TM11, $1.09{\times}10^5M^{-1}$ for TM16, and $1.03{\times}10^5M^{-1}$ for TM17, respectively. Since the actin affinities of TM11, TM16, and TM17 were very similar, this result suggested that amino acid residues 282 and 283 were insignificant for acting affinity of unacetylated $\alpha$-tropomyosin. However, they all exhibited higher actin affinities than that of the striated, suggesting that Met residue at the carboxyl terminus of unacetylated smooth tropomyosin was rather important for actin affinity, presumably due to the nucleophilic nature of sulfur atom in Met residue.

Nonactin is the parent compound of a group of ionophore antibiotics, that known as the macrotetrolides. In previous report, in th course of screening superoxide radical-generating compounds from microbial sources, we first screened Streptomyces viridochromogenes JM-4151 that produces nonactin. It was proved that nonactin is superoxide radical-producing compound. In present study, we examined the optimal culture conditions of nonacin. Th optimal culture conditions for nonactin production were as follows: 1% soluble starch, 1% yeast extract, 0.2% ammonium nitrate, 0.06% magnesium sulfate, 0.2% calcium carbonate, initial pH 7.0 at 28$^{\circ}C$ for 96 h. The highest nonactin production was achieved in the production medium of initial pH7.0 at 28$^{\circ}C$ for 96h. The threshold level of dissolved oxygen was found to be above 33.2% at 28$^{\circ}C$ when 1% soluble starch was used as a carbon source. These results suggest that S. viridochromogenes JM-4151 might be a possible strain for industrial nonactin producer.

Several culture conditions affecting cellulose production by a newly isolated Acetobacter sp. A9 were examined by cultivating cells under shaking cultures. The inoculum size in the range of 1-10% (v/v) did not influence cellulose production. Maximum cellulose production was obtained with 200 rpm of agitation speed. The cells grown in the 75 ml of medium in a 250-ml conical flask produced the highest level of cellulose. The strain was able to produce cellulose at 25-3$0^{\circ}C$ with a maximum at 3$0^{\circ}C$. Cellulose production occurred at pH 4.5-7.5 with a maximum at pH6.5.

To investigate the changes of carbohydrate metabolism in the senescing leaves of Zea mays during dark-induced senescence, the changes in the contents of reducing sugar, sucrose and starch as well as the activities of sucrose synthase, three isozymes of invertase, and ${\alpha}$-amylase were measured. In the senescing leaves, the content of reducing sugars temporarily increased at 4 d and rapidly decreased thereafter, whereas sucrose contents gradually decreased thereafter, whereas sucrose contents gradually decreased until 3 d of senscence and significantly decreased thereafter. The activities of intracellular invertases such as soluble acid and alkaline formed gradually enhanced until 4 d of leaf senescence and significantly declined thereafter. The extracellular invertase activity showed no significant changes during leaf senescence. The deactivation of sucrose synthase was observed within 3 d of leaf senscence. On the other hand, the starch contents gradually declined during 2 d of leaf senescence, and showed a temporary increase at 3 d, which is similar to the pattern of sucrose synthase activity., These results imply that sucrose in the senescing leaves. The major enzymes which correlated to the breakdown of sucrose during dark-induced senescence were soluble acid and alkaline invertases, not sucrose and ABA accelerated leaf senescence by inducing the accumulation of reducing sugar. These result, therefore, that leaf senescence may be mediated by the temporary quantitative changes of reducing sugar induced by the activation of intracellualr inveertases.

In estrogen-dependent MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, $E_2$ at 10 nM stimulated cell proliferation to over 200% compared to the untreated control. EGF and TGF${\alpha}$, which are known as the autocrine/paracrine growth factors induced by $E_2$, also directly stimulated the cell growth in almost as the same extent as $E_2$. DFMO which is the specific inhibitor of ODC could inhibit cell growth even at as low as 0.5 mM. In the treatment with 1 mM DFMO for 4 days, the cell growth was inhibited to 38% of the control. HO-TAM at 1 ${\mu}$M could inhibit the proliferation of MCF-7 cells to 19% of the control. Those inhibitory effects were also found in the cells stimulated with $E_2$, EGF, and TGF${\alpha}$. The inhibitory effects were found even in 2 days of treatment. However, $E_2$, EGF, and TGF${\alpha}$ did not give any effect in the protein synthesis. Neither DFMO or HO-TAM gave any effect on the total protein synthesis. But the pattern of protein secretion was noticeably influenced by the growth stimulants or inhibitors. Proteins of 160, 52, 42, 36, and 32 kDa belonged to the major secretory proteins. Especially, 42 and 36 kDa proteins were most significantly influenced by the treatment of $E_2$, EGF, or TGF$\alpha$. DFMO and HO-TAM inhibited the secretion of these major proteins.

Vibrio vulnificus endotoxin was extracted, analyzed the chemical composition, tested its biological activity, and compared to those of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The major fatty acid of three endotoxins were different each other; V. vulnificus endotoxins were different each other; V. vulnificus endotoxin was myristric acid (C14:0), E. coli was lauric acid (C12:0), S. typhimurium was capric acid (C10:0). The biological activities of V. vulnificus endotoxin were similar to those of E. coli and S. typhimurium in terms of the gelation activity of the Limulus amebocyte lysate and the lethal toxicity. But the result of enzyme (AST, ALT, and LDH) analysis showed that the enzyme activity of V. vulnificus endotoxin was similar to that of E. coli, but smaller than that of S. typimurium.

To identify novel components involved in the salt stress signaling pathway of yeast cells, we used mTn3-mediated transposon tagging library and screened mutants displaying enhanced tolerance to NaCl. Southern blot analysis indicated that more than 80% of the sre (salt resistant) mutants possessed only one insertion of the tagged transposon, suggesting that the NaCl resistant phenotype was mediated by a single gene in the majority of the mutants. To define the role of SRE genes in the salt stress signaling pathway, we introduced NaCl stress-inducible ENA1::LacZ construct into the sre mutants and examined the expression of ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity. Interestingly, we could detect high level of ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity without any NaCl treatment in the sre-3, 4, 6 and 7 mutants. These results indicate that SRE-3, 4, and 7 gene are components of salt stress signaling pathway of yeast cells.

The cDNA encoding ribosomal protein S4(RPS 4) from an ovary cDNA library of the Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata) was cloned and sequenced. The RPS4X gene from monkey X chromosome encodes a deduced protein of 263 amino acids and share 99.1% cDNA sequence similarity and 100% amino acid sequence identify with the human RPS4X. Rate of synonymous substitution was higher in RPS4Y than in RPS4X in comparison to the monkey and human. The ratio of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions per site indicated that directional selection has nor occurred in RPS4 genes. Phylogenetic analysis using the neighbor-joining method revealed that X and Y-linked RPS4 genes have evolved independently.

Cytohesin family has been thought to participate in inside-outside signaling linking growth factor receptor stimulation of PI 3-kinase to cell adhesion and stimulate nucleotide exchange of ARF through its Sec7 domain. The genomic structure of the cytohesin family was analyzed by BLAST search using cDNA and genomic DNA sequences from the GeneBank database. The cytohesin-2 was encoded by 12 exons. while the cytohesin-4 was encoded by 13 exons. The Sec7 and PH domains were not encoded by separate exons. In an analysis of retroviral integration, those two families did not contain any retroviral elements in introns or exons. The phylogenetic tree calculated by the neighbor-joining method suggests that the cytohesin-1 family was closely related to cytohesin-3 (ARNO3) family. These date could be of great use in further studies for resolving the exact function and evolution of the cytohesin family.

Subtilisin YaB, produced by alkalophilic Bacillus strain YaB, is an extracellular alkaline serine protease having 55% homology to subtilisin BPN'. It is synthesized as a 378-amino acid preproenzyme and secreted into the culture medium as a 265-amino acid mature protease. To examine the role of pro-sequence for the secretion of subtilisin YaB, we have studied the expression, in Bacillus subtilis, of a mutant preprosubtilisin YaB in which active site Ser214 is substituted with Cys. The use of a six protease-deficient strain, WB600, was required for its efficient production. The prosubtilisin YaB, thus produced, was indeed secreted into the culture medium and was processed to its mature form upon treatment with exogenously added active subtilisin YaB. From these results, we have concluded that the processing of pro-sequence is not essential for the secretion of the enzyme.

To investigate the deaging effects of introperitoneally injected Chondroitin Sulfate (CS) on various enzyme activity (AST, ALT, MDA (Malon dialdehyde), SOD (Superoxide dismutase), GPx (Glutathione peroxidases) and histophathology of liver tissue, ovariectomized rats were used. The antioxidative effects of chondroitin sulfate (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg body weight) were investigated at the antioxidative enzyme activities of liver homogenate fractions (liver total homogenate, mitochondrial, and microsomal fractions) and sera. In addition, the rat liver was histologically examined. Intraperitoneally injected CS, depend on dosage, indicated a protective effect against ovariectomy-inducted aging. Moreover, inflammation and cirrhosis in liver tissue of CS treated group were significantly decreased. Based on these results, intraperitoneally injected CS is a useful material to delay aging.

The present study intends to characterize the DNA damage-inducible responses in eukaryotic cells. The fission yeast, S. pombe, which displays efficient DNA repair systems, was used in this study as a model system for higher eukaryotes. To study UV-inducible responses in S. pombe, five UV-inducible cDNA clones were isolated from S. pombe by using subtration hybridization method. To investigate the expression of isolated genes, the cellular levels of the transcripts of these genes were determined by Northern blot analysis after UV-irradiation. The transcripts of isolated gene (UV130) increased rapidly and reached maximum accumulation after UV-irradiation. Compared to the message levels of control, the levels of maximal increase were approximately 5 fold to UV-irradiation. In order to investigation whether the increase of UV130 transcripts was a specific results of UV-irradiation, UV130 transcript levels were examined after treating the cells to Methylmethane sulfonate (MMS). The transcripts of UV130 were not induced by treatment of 0.25% MMS. These results implied that the effects of damaging agents are complex and different regulatory pathways exist for the induction of these genes. To characterize the structure of UV130 gene, nucleotide sequences were analyzed. The nucleotide sequence of 1,340 nucleotide excluding poly(A) tail contains one open reading frame, which encodes a protein of 270 amino acids. The predicted amino acid sequences of UV130 do not exhibit any significant similarity to ther known sequences in the database.

The cDNA encoding human NeuAc ${\alpha}$2,3Gal$\beta$ 1,3GalNAc GalNac ${\alpha}$2,6-Sialyltransferase (hST6GalNac IV) was isolated by screening of human fetal liver cDNA library with a DNA probe generated from the cDNA sequence of mouse ST6Gal NAc IV (mkST6GalNAc IV). The cDNA sequence included an open reading frame coding for 302 amino acids, and comparative analysis of this cDNA with mST6GalNAc IV showed that each sequence of the predicted coding region contains 88% and 85% identifies in nucleotide and amino acid levels, respecively. The primary structure of this enzyme suggested a putative domain structure, like that in other glycosyltransferases, consisting of a short N-terminal cytoplamic domain, a transmembrane domain and a large C-terminal active domain. This enzyme expressed in COS-7 cells echibited transferase activity toward NeuAc ${\alpha}$2,3Gal$\beta$ 1,3GalNAc, fetuin and GM1b, although the activity toward the later is very low, no significant activity being detected toward Gal${\beta}$ 1,3Gal NAc or asialofetuin, the other glycoprotein substrates tested. The $^{14}$ C-sialylated residue of fetuin sialylated by this enzyem with CMP-[$^{14}$C]NeuAc was sensitive to treatment with ${\alpha}$2,8-specific sialidase of Vibrio cholerae but resistant to treatment with ${\alpha}$2,3-specific sialidase (NaNase I), and ${\alpha}$2,3- and ${\alpha}$2,8-specific sialidase of Newcastle disease virus. These results clearly indicated that the expressed enzyme is a type of GalNAc ${\alpha}$2,6-sialyltransferase like mST6GalNAc IV, which requires sialic acid residues linked to Gal${\beta}$1,3GalNAc-residues for its activity.