• 생명과학회지
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.477-482
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• 2002

효모 glucoamylase의 promoter와 분비신호서열 그리고 MF$\alpha$1의 prosequence를 이용하여 곤충 defensin을 S. cerevisiae 2805에서 항균활성을 보유한 형태로 발현 및 분비하는데 성공하였다. 발현된 defensin의 대부분이 세포 외로 분비되어 거의 모든 항균활성이 배양 상등액에 존재하였다. 이것은 S. cerevisiae에서 발현된 defensin이 glucoamylase의 분비신호서열과 MF$\alpha$1의 prosequenre에 의해 효율적으로 processing되어 분비됨을 시사한다. Defensin의 다른 미생물에 대한 항균활성을 조사한 결과 병원균인 St. aureus와 L. monocytogenes에 대해서도 항균활성이 존재하였다.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.143-147
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• 2011

Defensins, cysteine-rich cationic polypeptides released from neutrophils, are known to have powerful antimicrobial properties. In this study, we sacrificed 30 rats to investigate the effects of ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 on detrusor muscle contractions in isolated rat bladder. From the experiments we found relaxing effects of ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 on the contractions induced by phenylephrine (PE) but not by bethanechol (BCh) in the detrusor smooth muscles. To determine the mechanisms of the effects of ${\alpha}$-defensin 1, the changes of effects on PE-induced contraction by ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 pretreatment were observed after pretreatment of Rho kinase inhibitor (Y-27632), protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor (Calphostin C), potent activator of PKC (PDBu; phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate), and NF-${\kappa}B$ inhibitors (PDTC; pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate and sulfasalazine). The contractile responses of PE ($10^{-9}{\sim}10^{-4}$ M) were significantly decreased in some concentrations of ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 ($5{\times}10^{-9}$ and $5{\times}10^{-8}$ M). When strips were pretreated with NF-kB inhibitors (PDTC and sulfasalazine; $10^{-7}{\sim}10^{-6}$ M), the relaxing responses by ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 pretreatment were disappeared. The present study demonstrated that ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 has relaxing effects on the contractions of rat detrusor muscles, through NF-${\kappa}B$ pathway. Further studies in vivo are required to clarify whether ${\alpha}$-defensin 1 might be clinically related with bladder dysfunction by inflammation process.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.496-503
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• 2002

곤충에서 유래한 항균 펩티드, defensin을 항균활성이 있는 활성적인 형태로 분비하는 Pichia 균주를 개발하기 위한 일환으로서 MF$\alpha$1 prerpo sequence와 defensin 합성유전자를 pichia 발현 벡터에 재조합하여 형질전환하고 아미노산 histidine을 첨가하지 않은 최소 배지에서 형질전환체를 일차적으로 선별하였다. 선별한 형질전환체를 대상으로 항생제 G-418에 대한 내성과 M. luteus를 시험균으로 사용하여 생육환 저해를 통한 defensin의 세포 외 분비를 조사하여 4 균주를 선택하고 분석하였다. Southern hybridizaion을 통해 숙주의 염색체 DNA에 삽입한 defensin 유전자가 유지됨을 확인하였으며 전체 RNA를 분리하고 RT-PCR을 수행하여 defensin mRNA를 증폭하고 Southern hybridization을 실시한 결과 증폭된 밴드는 probe로 사용한 defensin 유전자에 의해 양성 신호가 나타났다. 배양시간에 따른 4 균주의 세포성장과 항균활성을 비교하기 위해 BMMY 배지에서 96시간 배양하였다. 세포성장은 모두 유사한 양상을 보였다. 세포성장은 48시간 동안 급격하게 증가한 후 그 이후로는 정지기에 도달되었다. 항균활성도 48시간까지 급격히 증가하였으며 항균활성이 가장 높은 형질전환체 균주 3는 72시간 배양 시 550 AU/$m\ell$을 나타내었다.

• 미생물학회지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.236-241
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• 2000

효모 Saccharomyces cerevisiae를 숙주 세포로 이용하여 활성형의 항균펩티드를 생산하기 위한 model system으로서 쉬파리 유래 defensin의 합성 유전자를 GAP promoter, mating factor $\alpha$1 (MF$\alpha$1)의 preprosequence 및 GAL7 transcription terminator의 조절하에 있는 재조합 plasmid pGMD18을 제작한 후 Saccharomyces cerevisiae에 형질전환하여 growth inhibtion zone assay를 통해 항균활성을 보유한 재조합 효모를 선별하였다. 재조합 효모의 성장 속도와 defensin의 분비능을 증가시키기 위하여 최적의 배지 조성과 배양조건을 결정하였다. 재조합 효모의 defensin 생산을 위한 최적 배양조건을 조사한 결과 0.4% yeast extract, 유기질소원 2% corn steep liquor, 탄소원 2.5% glucose, 0.05% $C_2CO_3$를 포함한 배지에서 초기 pH3 그리고 배양온도 $28^{\circ}C$의 경우가 세포성장과 defensin 의 항균활성이 가장 우수하였다. 이 조건으로 배양을 수행한 결과 YPD 배지에서 배양한 조건보다 약 2배의 세포 성장과 약 4배의 defenzin 생산을 확인하였다.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제12권4호
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• pp.483-489
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• 2002

S. cerevisiae에서 glucoamylase 유전자의 promoter와 signal sequence 그리고 MF$\alpha$1의 prosequence를 이용하여 합성 곤충 defensin를 발현하고 항균활성을 보유한 형태로 분비하는데 성공하였다. Defensin의 여러 생화학적인 특성을 조사한 결과 열 안정성이 높아 10$0^{\circ}C$에서 30분간 가열하여도 항균활성을 온전히 유지하였으며 조사한 pH 영역, 2.0-12.0에서 항균활성의 변화가 없었다. 또한 여러 단백질 분해효소를 처리하면 항균활성이 완전히 사라졌으나 전분질 분해효소, 섬유소분해효소 및 지질분해효소의 처리는 항균 활성에 전혀 영향이 없었다. 황산암모늄침전, SP-Sepharose column cormatography, RP-HPLC 등의 조작을 통해 defensin을 순수한 형태로 정제하였으며 Tricine-SDS-PAGE를 통해 분자량이 약 4.0 kDa임을 확인하였고 정제한 defensin은 항균활성을 보유하였다.

• 한국잠사곤충학회지
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.161-165
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• 2012

호박벌 유래 디펜신의 전체 아미노산 서열의 구조 분석 후에 항균활성을 갖는 서열을 선발하였고, 전체 및 펩타이드 길이와 구조적 차이에 대한 종합적인 결과로서 기존에 보고되어진 ${\alpha}$-helix 구조의 펩타이드 보다는 ${\beta}$-sheet의 일부 서열과 ${\alpha}$-helix의 서열이 공존할 때 항균 활성이 보다 뛰어남을 확인하였다. 특히 시스테인-아르기닌 (38C-39R)이 포함되어 있는 펩타이드 서열에서 항균력이 우수하였고, 이는 세포벽에 친화력이 있는 염기성 펩타이드의 특성으로 예상하고 있다.

• BMB Reports
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• 제47권11호
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• pp.625-630
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• 2014

Defensins, which are small cationic molecules produced by organisms as part of their innate immune response, share a common structural scaffold that is stabilized by three disulfide bridges. Coprisin is a 43-amino acid defensin-like peptide from Copris tripartitus. Here, we report the intramolecular disulfide connectivity of cysteine-rich coprisin, and show that it is the same as in other insect defensins. The disulfide bond pairings of coprisin were determined by combining the enzymatic cleavage and mass analysis. We found that the loss of any single disulfide bond in coprisin eliminated all antibacterial, but not antifungal, activity. Circular dichroism (CD) analysis showed that two disulfide bonds, Cys20-Cys39 and Cys24-Cys41, stabilize coprisin's ${\alpha}$-helical region. Moreover, a BLAST search against UniProtKB database revealed that coprisin's ${\alpha}$-helical region is highly homologous to those of other insect defensins.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제35권9호
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• pp.2809-2812
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• 2014

The 43-residue defensin-like peptide coprisin, which is isolated from dung bettle, Copris tripartitus, is a potent antimicrobial peptide. In our previous work, we determined the tertiary structure of coprisin and found that alpha helical region of coprisin from residue 19 to residue 30 is important for its antimicrobial activities. Here, we designed cop12mer and cop9mer analogs of coprisin based on the tertiary structure of coprisin. To investigate the relationship between hydrophobicity and antimicrobial activities and develop the potent peptide antibiotics, we designed cop9mer-1 with substitution of $His^2$ with Trp in cop9mer. The results showed that cop9mer-1 has higher toxicities as well as improved antimicrobial activities compared to cop9mer. In order to reduce the toxicity of cop9mer-1, we designed cop9mer-2 and cop9mer-3 with substitution of $Cys^3$ with Lys or Ser. Substitution of $Cys^3$ with these hydrophilic amino acids results in lower cytotoxicities compared to cop9mer-1. Cop9mer-2 with substitution of $Cys^3$ with Lys in Cop9mer-1 showed high antibacterial activities against drug resistant bacteria without cytotoxicity. Antibiotic action of cop9mer-1 analog appears to involve permeabilization of the bacterial cell membrane while cop9mer-2 and cop9mer-3 may have different mechanism of action. These results imply that that optimum balance in hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity in these 9-meric peptides plays key roles in their antimicrobial activities as well as cytotoxicities.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.242-254
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• 2018

Defensins are antimicrobial peptides that participate in the innate immunity of hosts. Humans constitutively and/or inducibly express ${\alpha}$- and ${\beta}$-defensins, which are known for their antiviral and antibacterial activities. This review describes the application of human defensins. We discuss the extant experimental results, limited though they are, to consider the potential applicability of human defensins as antiviral agents. Given their antiviral effects, we propose that basic research be conducted on human defensins that focuses on RNA viruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), influenza A virus (IAV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and dengue virus (DENV), which are considered serious human pathogens but have posed huge challenges for vaccine development for different reasons. Concerning the prophylactic and therapeutic applications of defensins, we then discuss the applicability of human defensins as antivirals that has been demonstrated in reports using animal models. Finally, we discuss the potential adjuvant-like activity of human defensins and propose an exploration of the 'defensin vaccine' concept to prime the body with a controlled supply of human defensins. In sum, we suggest a conceptual framework to achieve the practical application of human defensins to combat viral infections.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제31권9호
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• pp.1516-1524
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• 2018

Objective: Defensins are a large family of antimicrobial peptides and components of the innate immune system that invoke an immediate immune response against harmful pathogens. Defensins are classified into alpha-, beta-, and theta-defensins. Avian species only possess beta-defensins (AvBDs), and approximately 14 AvBDs (AvBD1-AvBD14) have been identified in chickens to date. Although substantial information is available on the conservation and phylogenetics, limited information is available on the expression and regulation of AvBD8 in chicken immune tissues and cells. Methods: We examined AvBD8 protein expression in immune tissues of White Leghorn chickens (WL) by immunohistochemistry and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). In addition, we examined AvBD8 expression in chicken T-, B-, macrophage-, and fibroblast-cell lines and its regulation in these cells after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment by immunocytochemistry and RT-qPCR. Results: Our results showed that chicken AvBD8 protein was strongly expressed in the WL intestine and in macrophages. AvBD8 gene expression was highly upregulated in macrophages treated with different LPS concentrations compared with that in T- and B-cell lines in a time-independent manner. Moreover, chicken AvBD8 strongly interacted with other AvBDs and with other antimicrobial peptides as determined by bioinformatics. Conclusion: Our study provides the expression and regulation of chicken AvBD8 protein in immune tissues and cells, which play crucial role in the innate immunity.