In order to understand the biological role of calmodulin in plants, transgenic tobacco plants expressing a calmodulin mutant (VU-4 calmodulin, lys to ile-115) gene have been analyzed. SDS-PAGE and Western-blot analyses showed that the foreign calmodulin mutant is stably and highly expressed in the transgenic tobacco plants. The levels of $H_2O_2$were elevated approximately 2-fold in the transgenic plants. Furthermore, the transgenic tobacco plants have more than 6-fold higher levels of NADPH compared to control tobacco plants. The present findings, combined with previous data showing differences in the susceptibility of the transgenic tobacco seeds and normal tobacco seeds to fungal contamination (Oh and Yang, 1996), suggest that the expression of the calmodulin derivative gene in tobacco plants could increase resistance to infection by fungal pathogens.

To understand the function of phospholipids and their fatty acid composition on the morphological changes in the amp 1-4 mutant of Arabidopsis, the mutant was compared to the wild-type Arabidopsis by TLC, HPTLC, phosphorous assay, HPLC, and GC. In the mutant, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) was increased 5-fold and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) was decreased 1.2-fold (nmol phosphorous/g tissue). Inositol phospholipids showed a generally increased trend ranging from 1.4-to 3.0-fold (nmol inositol/g tissue). When fatty acid composition of the mutant was compared to the wild-type, linoleic (18:2) and linolenic (18:3) acids of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and PG were decreased but palmitoleic acid (16:1) and oleic acid (18:1) of PC was increased 2.5- and 2.1-fold (mol%), respectively. In galactolipids, myristic acid (14:0) of monogalactosyl-diacylglycerol (MGDG) were increased 5.8-fold (mol%). Among the inositol phospholipids, lysophosphatidylinositol (L-PI) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate ($PIP_2$) showed 4-and 1.9-fold (mol%) increase of 16:1, respectively. These results suggest that the increase of PE, the decrease of PG, the increase of inositol phospholipids, and the altered fatty acid composition are related to the phenotypic changes affecting the morphological features, and might cause different physiological changes in the amp 1-4 mutant compared to wild-type Arabidopsis.

Gaegurin 4 (GGN4), a broad-spectrum antibiotic, is a 37-amino acid peptide isolated from the Korean frog, Rana rugosa. In this study, we have chemically synthesized and purified GGN4 analogues where the C-terminal portion is truncated and/or substituted with tryptophan. These peptides show significantly different biological activities depending on the location of tryptophan and the number of amino acids truncated from the C-terminal end. While deletion of 9 amino acids from the C-terminal seems to be marginally tolerable in maintaining the antimicrobial activity, further deletion of up to 14 amino acid residues decreases the potency by more than 60-fold towards Gram-positive, and 10-fold towards Gram-negative, bacteria. Surprisingly, the reduced activity of the shorter peptide can be completely restored by a single substitution of aspartic acid 16 to tryptophan 16 (D16W). Also, the truncation seems to decrease the specificity of antibiotic activity more towards Gram-positive than towards Gram-negative bacteria studied. These data suggest a partial role of the C-terminal region in determining the binding specificity and the activity of peptides upon binding to their target cell membranes.

The first step of the branch pathway in tryptophan biosynthesis is catalyzed by anthranilate synthase, which is subjected to feedback inhibition by the end product of the pathway. The $trpE^{FBR}$ gene from a mutant Escherichia coli strain coding for anthranilate synthase that was insensitive to feedback inhibition by tryptophan has been cloned. To identify the amino acid changes involved in the feedback regulation of anthranilate synthase, the nucleotide sequence of the mutant $trpE^{FBR}$ gene was determined. Sequence analysis of the $trpE^{FBR}$ gene revealed that four bases were changed in the structural gene while alteration was not found in the 5' control region. Among these base changes, only two base substitutions caused the alterations in amino acid sequences. From the results of restriction fragment exchange mapping, the 61st nucleotide, C to A substitution, that changed $Pro^{21}{\rightarrow}Ser$ was identified as the cause of the desensitization to feedback inhibition by tryptophan. Additional feedback-resistant enzymes of the E. coli anthranilate synthases were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis to examine the effect of the $Ser^{40}\;{\rightarrow}\;Arg^{40}$ change found in the $trpE^{FBR}$ gene of Brevibacterium lactofermentum. From the feedback inhibition analysis, the $Pro^{21}{\rightarrow}Ser$ and $Ser^{40}{\rightarrow}Arg$ mutants maintained about 50% and 90% of their maximal activities, respectively, even at the extreme concentration of 10 mM tryptophan. From these results, we suggest that the $Pro^{21}$ and $Ser^{40}$ residues are involved in the tryptophan binding in the E. coli enzyme.

Otitis media with effusion (OME) is an inflammatory disease of the middle ear cleft. Oxygen free radicals have been implicated in a variety of inflammatory disorders. Oxygen free radicals may also be involved in the pathogenesis of OME. To evaluate the involvement of oxygen free radicals in the pathogenesis of OME, the level of malondialdehyde, which gives an index of lipid peroxidation by oxygen free radicals, was measured by the reaction with thiobarbituric acid. Malondialdehyde level in the middle ear fluid from the OME group was higher than that in the normal control group. Malondialdehyde level in the middle ear fluid from a mucoid subgroup was higher than that in the serous subgroup. Malondialdehyde levels in the middle ear fluid from the serous subgroup was significantly correlated with symptom duration. The Pearson correlation coefficient between malondialdehyde levels in the middle ear fluid from the serous subgroup and symptom duration was 0.842 (P<0.05). These results indicate that lipid peroxidation by oxygen free radicals may be involved in the pathogenesis of human OME.

Annexin I (also called lipocortin 1), a 37-kDa member of the annexin family of proteins, has been implicated in the mitogenic signal transduction by epidermal growth factor (EGF). Annexin I is phosphorylated by the EGF signal, however, the role of annexin I in the EGF signal transduction is still unknown. To transduce extracellular signals into the intracellular targets, selective translocation of the signaling molecules to their targets would be necessary. In this study, we examined the subcellular locations of annexin I during EGF signal transduction. Treatment of A549 cells with EGF resulted in the translocation of cytoplasmic annexin I to the nucleus and perinuclear region as determined by Western blot and immunofluorescent staining. The nuclear translocation of annexin I was inhibited by tyrphostin AG 1478 and genistein, the inhibitors of EGF receptor kinase and downstream tyrosine kineses, respectively. Pretreatment of cells with cyclohexamide did not inhibit the nuclear translocation. The results suggest that nuclear translocation of annexin I is controlled by a series of kinase dependent events in the EGF receptor signaling pathway and may be important in tranducing the signals by EGF.

The effects of eicosapentaenoic (EPA, 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA, 22:6n-3) on the phospholipase $A_2$ ($PLA_2$)-mediated release of arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-6) were studied in kidney microsomes from rats fed diets containing sunflower oil (SO) or fish oil (FO) concentrate for 11 months. The amounts of AA released by the endogenous $PLA_2$ enzyme were significantly lower by 38% in the FO, compared to the SO-fed rats (23.2 nmol versus 60.7 nmol AA released/mg protein/h in the FO- and SO-treated groups, respectively). The FO-derived microsomes released less linoleic acid (LA, 18:2n-6) and adrenic acid (22:4n-6), but larger amounts of the n-3 fatty acids, including EPA, DHA, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22:5n-3), and 20:4n-3 than the SO-derived microsomes. A similar replacement of the AA and adrenic acid with the n-3 fatty acids including EPA and DHA was also observed in the microsomal phospholipid fraction from the FO-fed rats relative to the SO-treated group. The results suggest that the $PLA_2$-mediated release of AA is reduced and that of EPA is increased in compensation for AA decline in kidney microsomes from FO-fed rats (0.7 nmol EPA/mg protein/h versus 22.7 nmol EPA/mg protein/h for the SO and FO-treated groups). Replacement of the n-6 with n-3 fatty acids may explain the reduced synthesis of the AA-derived prostaglandins and the concomitant rise in the EPA-derived prostaglandins observed in kidneys of FO-treated rats.

Pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to acetaldehyde as the penultimate step in alcohol fermentation. The enzyme requires two cofactors, thiamin diphosphate (ThDP) and $Mg^{2+}$, for activity. Zymomonas mobilis PDC shows a strong preference for pyruvate although it will use the higher homologues 2-ketobutyrate and 2-ketovalerate to some extent. We have investigated the effect of mutagenesis of valine 111 and leucine 112 on the substrate specificity. V111 was replaced by glycine, alanine, leucine, and isoleucine while L112 was replaced by alanine, valine, and isoleucine. With the exception of L112I, all mutants retain activity towards pyruvate with $k_{cat}$ values ranging from 40% to 139% of wild-type. All mutants show changes from wild-type in the affinity for ThDP, and several (V111A, L112A, and L112V) show decreases in the affinity for $Mg^{2+}$. Two of the mutants, V111G and V111A, show an increase in the $K_m$ for pyruvate. The activity of each mutant towards 2-ketobutyrate and 2-ketovalerate was investigated and some changes from wild-type were found. For the V111 mutants, the most notable of these is a 3.7-fold increase in the ability to use 2-ketovalerate. However, the largest effect is observed for the L112V mutation which increases the ability to use both 2-ketobutyrate (4.3-fold) and 2-ketovalerate (5.7-fold). The results suggest that L112 and, to a lesser extent, V111 are close to the active site and may interact with the alkyl side-chain of the substrate.

We previously found three transcription factor-binding motifs in the rat p53 promoter. They are two recognition motifs of NF1-like protein (NF1-like element 1: -296 ~ -312, NF1-like element 2: -195 ~ -219) and a bHLH protein binding element (-142 ~ -146). In this study, we investigated the DNA-protein complex formation of the three elements with nuclear extracts from both normal and regenerating liver to find the element involved in the induced transcription of p53. The level of each DNA-protein complex on NF1-like and bHLH motifs was not changed. Instead, a new element located at -264 ~ -284 was detected in the DNase I footprinting assay with regenerating nuclear extract. This element has partial homology to the AP1 consensus motif. However, the competition studies with diverse oligonucleotides suggest that the binding protein is not AP1. An in vitro transcription assay shows that this element is important for the transcriptional activation of the rat p53 promoter. Therefore, for the induced transcription of the rat p53 promoter, the-264 ~ -284 region is required in addition to two NF1-like and one bHLH motif.

The Korean radish cationic peroxidase (KRCP) promoter, comprising nucleotides -471 to +704 relative to the transcriptional initiation site, was fused to the GUS gene and transformed to tobacco BY-2 cells. We examined how auxin (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, 2,4-D), cytokinin (6-benzylaminopurine, BAP), gibberellic acid ($GA_3$), abscisic acid (ABA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and phosphatidic acid (PA) affect the GUS expression in the presence or absence of 2,4-D in a modified LS medium. Exogenous 2,4-D or BAP greatly decreased the GUS expression regulated by the KRCP promoter in a modified LS medium containing 0.2 mg/l 2,4-D. $GA_3$ increased the GUS expression and ABA completely reduced the inductive effect of $GA_3$. The GUS expression was also increased dose-dependently by plant defense regulators, MeJA and PA. In contrast to the above results, auxin deprivation from the modified LS medium increased the GUS expression after treatment with exogenous 2,4-D whereas BAP still greatly decreased the GUS expression dose-dependently. $GA_3$ or MeJA slightly decreased the GUS expression. The data suggest that auxin deprivation changes the sensitivity of the suspension cells to exogenous chemicals and that the regulation of the KRCP promoter by 2,4-D, $GA_3$, and MeJA is dependent on auxin, whereas the regulation by BAP is not. This study will be valuable for understanding the function and expression mode of the Korean radish cationic peroxidase in Korean radish.

Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2; 72-kDa gelatinase; 72-kDa type IV collagenase; gelatinase A) plays an important role in normal physiological processes and in many pathologic processes such as arthritis and metastasis of cancer. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 (TIMP-2) binds to proMMP-2 or mature MMP-2 at a 1:1 ratio and inhibits the catalytic activity of MMP-2. We demonstrated that the baculovirus/insect cell system does not have TIMP-2 activity. The human proMMP-2 free of TIMP-2 was expressed in the expression system and purified by one-step affinity chromatography using gelatin-Sepharose. The free proMMP-2 was autoactivated to the mature MMP-2 and autodegraded into smaller molecular weight forms in the absence of external activator. The activation and autodegradation of the proMMP-2 was much more rapid in the presence of 4-aminophenylmercuric acetate (APMA). Addition of TIMP-2 inhibits both APMA-induced activation and autodegradation of the free proMMP-2. However, an increasing concentration of TIMP-2 more readily inhibited activation of the free proMMP-2 than autodegradation. These results demonstrate that TIMP-2 plays roles in inhibition of both activation and autodegradation of the free proMMP-2 in addition to inhibition of the catalytic activity of MMP-2.

We have investigated the effect of cholestasis on the closely related acyl-CoA:amino acid N-acyltransferase, benzoyltransferase, and phenylacetyltransferase activities in rat liver. Benzoyltransferase and phenylacetyltransferase activities in the liver cytosol, mitochondria, and microsome were investigated for a period of 42 d after common bile duct ligation. Both the mitochondrial and microsomal benzoyltransferases showed significant increase in their activities between the 1st and 7th day after common bile duct ligation, although the cytosolic benzoyltransferase activity did not show a significant change compared to the activities from the sham-operated control. The cytosolic phenylacetyltransferase activity showed a significant increase between the 1st and 2nd day, the mitochondrial activity showed a significant increase between the 2nd and 7th day, and microsomal activity showed a significant increase between the 1st and 7th day, respectively. Enzyme kinetic parameters of hepatic benzoyltransferase were analyzed using benzoyl coenzyme A as a substrate with the preparations from the 1st day post-ligation. Enzyme parameters of hepatic phenylacetyltransferase were also analyzed using phenylacetyl coenzyme A as a substrate with the preparations from the 2nd day post-ligation. The results indicated that although the $K_m$ values of these enzymes were about the same as the sham-operated control, the $V_{max}$ values of both enzymes increased significantly. These results, therefore, suggest that the biosynthesis of benzoyltransferase and phenylacetyltransferase has been induced in response to cholestasis.

In an effort to understand the function of the eryBVII gene in the erythromycin biosynthetic gene cluster, we overexpressed the eryBVII gene in E. coli and TDP-6-deoxy-L-threo-D-glycero-4-hexulose was used as a substrate of the overexpressed EryBVII enzyme. The enzymatic reaction product was chemically modified by reduction and peracetylation. Structural analysis of the derivatized enzymatic products by GC-Mass Spectrophotometry indicated that TDP-6-deoxy-L-threo-D-glycero-4-hexulose could be converted into its epimer by EryBVII enzyme. Based on this result, TDP-6-deoxy-L-threo-D-glycero-4-hexulose was indeed the substrate of EryBVII enzyme and the function of the eryBVII gene was confirmed.

Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) belongs to the protein family of pyridine nucleotide-disulfide oxidoreductases, including glutathione reductase (GR). The two subunits of human GR are covalently linked by an intersubunit disulfide bond between the pair of the Cys-90 residues. The corresponding residue (Ser-79) in human E3 was substituted to Cys using site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant was expressed in Escherichia coli and highly purified using an affinity column. About 40% of the mutants formed a spontaneous intersubunit disulfide bond linkage. This result implies that Ser-79 and possibly surrounding residues constitute one of the several intersubunit contact regions in human E3. It provides another good piece of evidence for the predicted high degree of the structural homology between human E3 and GR. Spectroscopic studies indicate conformational changes in the mutant.

The movement protein of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is required for cell-to-cell movement of viral RNA. The movement of viral RNA occurs through the plant intercellular connection, the plasmodesmata. The viral movement protein was known to be multi-functional. In this work, a series of deletion mutants of CMV movement protein gene were created to identify the functional domains. The mutated movement proteins were produced as inclusion body in E. coli, and purified and renatured. A polyclonal antibody was raised against the CMV-Kor strain (Korean isolate) movement protein expressed in E. coli. The ability of the truncated proteins to bind to ssRNA was assayed by UV cross-linking and gel retardation analyses. The results indicate that the domain between amino acids 118 and 160 of CMV movement protein is essential for ssRNA binding.

The sprT gene encoding Streptomyces griseus trypsin (SGT) was introduced into Streptomyces lividans TK24 and Streptomyces lividans 1326 to study which strain would be better to overexpress the extracellular proteinase. Various media with different compositions were also used to maximize the productivity of SGT in heterologous hosts. The SGT productivity was best when the transformants of S. lividans TK24 and 1326 were cultivated in R2YE medium, and their relative trypsin activity of the culture broth measured with an artificial chromogenic substrate, N-${\alpha}$-benzoyl-DL-arginine-${\rho}$-nitroanilide, were 382 units/ml and 221 units/ml, respectively. They produced high levels of SGT in GYE medium but relatively lower than those in R2YE medium, and negligible amount of SGT was produced in Ferm, RASF, LIVID, and NDSK media. Considering non-SGT associated activity in Pronase powder, it was estimated that the transformant of S. lividans TK24 can produce SGT in R2YE 3.5 times more than the amount by S. griseus 10137 from which the sprT gene had been originated. The growth of S. lividans reached the maximum level of cell mass at 5 d of culture, but SGT production started in the stationary phase of cell growth and kept increasing until the ninth day of culture in R2YE medium, but in GYE media the productivity reached at the maximum level at 7 d of cultivation.

Cytokinesis and septation should be coordinated to nuclear division in the cell division cycle for precise transmission of the genome into daughter cells. byr4, an essential gene in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, regulates the timing of cytokinesis and septation in a dosage-dependent manner. We examined the intracellular localization of the Byr4 protein by expressing byr4 as a fusion of green fluorescence protein (GFP). The Byr4 protein localizes as a single dot on the nuclear periphery of interphase cells, duplicates before mitosis, and the duplicated dots segregate with the nuclei in anaphase. The behavior of Byr4p throughout the cell cycle strongly suggests that Byr4p is localized to the spindle pole body (SPB), a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in yeast. The presence of the Byr4 protein in the SPB is consistent with its function to coordinate mitosis and cytokinesis. We also mapped the domains of Byr4p for its proper localization to SPB by expressing various byr4 deletion mutants as GFP fusions. Analyses of the diverse byr4 deletion mutants suggest that the indirect repeats and the regions homologous to the open reading frame (ORF) YJR053W of S. cerevisiae in its C-terminus are essential for its localization to the SPB.

Since carbohydrates are major mediators in cell-to-cell adhesion and communication, the development of specific and strong binders against them could generate promising therapeutics. As the first step towards that goal, sugar molecules have to be immobilized to be used as an affinity matrix. The amino functionality in sugar is the most active nucleophile for the immobilization, if the amino group is available. An alternative and general method is to use the hydroxyl group as a direct nucleophile, but the quantitation of immobilized hydroxyl groups is not easily done. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a method to immobilize various isomers of monosaccharides with p-nitrophenyl groups to the beads by using their hydroxyl groups. It was found that the amount of immobilized sugar was independent of the structure of the sugar, but was dependent on the number of hydroxyl groups. We also developed a sensitive method to quantify the amount of immobilized sugar at the picomolar scale by utilizing commercially available glycosidases to release a sensitive reporter molecule, p-nitrophenol, and detect it by HPLC. This new technique would allow a facile quantitation method for immobilized sugar molecules, which could be used as the affinity matrix to develop strong binders against biologically important sugars.