• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2002

A cDNA encoding a putative member of cathepsin B of the thiol pretense superfamily was cloned from a cDNA library of the mulberry longicorn beetle, Apriona germari. Sequence analysis of the cDNA encoding the cathepsin B of A. germari (AgCatB) revealed that the 972 bp cDNA has an open reading frame of 324 amino acid residues. The deduced protein sequence of the AgCatB showed high homology with cathepsin B of the insects, Bombyx mori (47.3% amino acid identity), Helicoverpa armigera (46.6%) and Sarcophaga peregrina (45.6%), and the lowest homology with Aedes aegypti (33.2%). The AgCatB contains six disulfate bonds typical for cysteine pretenses. The three amino acid positions Cys-109, His-267, and Asn-287 which are conserved, active sites characteristic for cathepsin B, were also found. Phylogenetic analysis further confirmed that the AgCatB has a close relationship with that of B. mori, H. armigera and S. peregrina.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.13.1-13.8
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• 2018

Amyloid plaque, also called senile plaque, the product of aggregation of ${\beta}$-amyloid peptides ($A{\beta}$), is observed in brains of the patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is one of the key factors in etiology of the disease. In this study, hydrolysates obtained from the sea hare (Aplysia kurodai) were investigated for ${\beta}$-secretase inhibitory peptide. The sea hare's muscle protein was hydrolyzed using six enzymes in a batch reactor. Trypsin hydrolysate had highest ${\beta}$-secretase inhibitory activity compared to the other hydrolysates. ${\beta}$-secretase inhibitory peptide was separated using Sephadex G-25 column chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography on a C18 column. ${\beta}$-secretase inhibitory peptide was identified as eight amino acid residues of Val-Ala-Ala-Leu-Met-Leu-Phe-Asn by N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. $IC_{50}$ value of purified ${\beta}$-secretase inhibitory peptide was $74.25{\mu}M$, and Lineweaver-Burk plots suggested that the peptide purified from sea hare muscle protein acts as a competitive inhibitor against ${\beta}$-secretase. Results of this study suggest that peptides derived from sea hare muscle may be beneficial as anti-dementia compounds in functional foods or as pharmaceuticals.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.593-598
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• 2005

A collagenolytic enzyme, produced by Vibrio vulnificus CYK279H, was purified by ultrafiltration, dialysis, Q-Sepharose ion exchange and Superdex-200 gel chromatography. The enzyme from the supernatant was purified 13.2 fold, with a yield of 11.4%. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated by SDS-PAGE to be approximately 35.0kDa. The N-terminal sequence of the enzyme was determined as Gly-Asp-Pro-Cys-Met-Pro-Ile-Ile-Ser-Asn. The optimum temperature and pH for the enzyme activity were $35^{\circ}C$ and 7.5, respectively. The enzyme activity was stable within the pH and temperature ranges 6.8-8.0 and $20{\sim}35^{\circ}C$, respectively. The purified enzyme was strongly activated by $Zn^{2+},\;Li^{2+},\;and\;Ca^{2+}$, but inhibited by $Cu^{2+}$. In addition, the enzyme was strongly inhibited by 1, 10-phenanthroline and EDTA. The purified enzyme was suggested to be a neutral metalloprotease.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.229-239
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• 1998

Antibodies were raised against fusion proteins of the N-terminus and a region containing the GDNQ (Gly-Asp-Asn-Gln) polymerase motif of the L (polymerase) protein of sonchus yellow net virus (SYNV). Immunoblot analyses using these antibodies revealed the presence of the L protein in purified SYNV preparations and in nuclear extracts from infected tobacco. The serological analyses and detection in a polyacrylamide gels suggested that the L protein is present in at least a 20 fold lower abundance than the G, N, M1 and M2 proteins, and has size corresponding to a molecular weight of over 200 kDa as predicted from nucleotide sequence data. Electron microscopy with gold-labelled antibodies was used to localize the N, M2, and G proteins of SYNV in thin sections of infected tissue. When sections of SYNV-infected tissue were treated with antisera against total SYNV proteins and N protein, gold label could be detected in both the viroplasms and in virus particles. With the anti-M2 protein antiserum, the gold label was strongly localized in the viroplasms but only limited labelling of the virus particle sonly. Limited labelling of the L protein was observed in the viroplasms and the virus particles, presumably because of the low abundance of L protein in the tissues.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.344-348
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• 2003

Protein kinase CKII is composed of two catalytic ($\alpha$ or $\alpha$') subunits and two regulatory ($\beta$) subunits. The $CKII{\beta}$ subunit is thought to mediate the tetramer formation and interact with other target proteins. However, its physiological function remains obscure. In this study, point mutants of $CKII{\beta}$ that are defective for the L41 binding were isolated by using the reverse two-hybrid system. A sequence analysis of the point mutants revealed that Asp-26, Met-52, and Met-78 of $CKII{\beta}$ are critical for L41 binding; Asn-67 (and/or Lys-139) and Met-52 are important for $CKII{\beta}$ homodimerization. Two point mutants, R75 and R83, of $CKII{\beta}$ interacted with L5, topoisomerase $II{\beta}$, and CKBBP1/SAG, but not with the wild-type $CKII{\beta}$. This indicates that $CKII{\beta}$ homodimerization is not a prerequisite for its binding to target proteins. These $CKII{\beta}$ point mutants may be useful in exploring the biochemical physiological functions of $CKII{\beta}$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2015

Thermostable enzymes derived from Thermotoga maritima have attracted worldwide interest for their potential industrial applications. Structural analysis and docking studies were preformed on T. maritima β-glucosidase enzyme with cellobiose and pNP-linked substrates. The 3D structure of the thermostable β-glucosidase was downloaded from the Protein Data Bank database. Substrates were downloaded from the PubCehm database and were minimized using MOE software. Docking of BglA and substrates was carried out using MOE software. After analyzing docked enzyme/substrate complexes, it was found that Glu residues were mainly involved in the reaction, and other important residues such as Asn, Ser, Tyr, Trp, and His were involved in hydrogen bonding with pNP-linked substrates. By determining the substrate recognition pattern, a more suitable β-glucosidase enzyme could be developed, enhancing its industrial potential.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2000

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is an etiological agent of chronic diseases in cows worldwide. The BLV is one of retroviruses that contain a multi-functional enzyme, reverse transcriptase produced from the pol gene in its genome. We have sequenced some regions in the pol gene of BLV proviruses found in the Southern province of Korea from samples that turned out to be BL V positives by a PCR analysis. On the 5' side of the BLV pol gene (polymerase region), it was found that there were four leucines located at every 7 amino acids. They can form a leucine zipper motif that was not same as the pol gene of Japanese BLV isolate. The sequencing result of the proviral pol gene in Korean-type BLV also revealed some mutations leading to amino acid changes such as $CCT(Pro){\to}CTC(Leu)$, $AAT(Asn){\to}AAA(Lys)$, and non-sensible variations i.e., $TCT(Ser){\to}TCC(Ser)$, $ATT(Ile){\to}ATC(I1e)$ and $ACG(Thr){\to}ACA(Thr)$. On the 3' side of the pol gene (integrase region), some nucleotide sequences were mutated and led to amino acid changes. Among them, a mutation, $GAA(Glu){\to}GAC(Asp)$ occurred in many Korean-type BLV proviruses was very interesting because the amino acid was regarded as one of the most conserved amino acids in the retroviral integrase. It was also notable that the mutation on any leucine residue did not occur, in spite of its frequent appearance.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.497-501
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• 1996

A gene coding for triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) from a rat skeletal muscle cDNA library was cloned and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The 1, 348-bp cDNA clone contains 24 bp $5^I$ noncoding region, the entire 750 bp coding region corresponding to a protein of 249 amino acids, $547bp 3^I$ noncoding region and part of a poly(A) tail. It also contains a polyadenylation signal, AATAAA, starting from 17 bp upstream of the poly(A) tail. The calculated molecular weight of rat TPI is 27.8 kDa and the net charge is +4. The deduced amino acid sequence from rat TPI CDNA sequence has 93% and 94% homology with that of mouse and human clones, respectively. The amino acids at the residue of Asn12, Lys14, His96, Glu 166, His96, His101, Ala177, Tyr165, Glu13O, Tyr2O9, and Ser212 in catalytic site are completely identical, confirming that the functional residues in TPI proteins are highly conserved throughout evolution. The most profound characteristic of rat TPI enzyme, compared with other TPIs, is that there are five cysteine substitutions at the residue of 21, 27, 159, 195 and 204. A Glu123 instead of Gly was found in rabbit, rhesus, mouse and human sequences. Through the method of RT-PCR, the mRNA transcription level of TPI gene was found to be different among various tissues and was highest in muscle.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.597-602
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• 2009

Although the existing design principle of full-sequence ionic complement is convenient for the development of peptides, it greatly constrains the exploration of peptides with other possible assembly mechanisms and different yet essential functions. Herein, a novel designed half-sequence ionic complementary peptide (referred to as P9), AC-Pro-Ser-Phe-Asn-Phe-Lys-Phe-Glu-Pro-$NH_2$, is reported. When transferred from pure water to sodium chloride solution, P9 underwent a dramatic morphological transformation from globular aggregations to nanofibers. Moreover, the rheological experiment showed that the P9 could form a hydrogel with a storage modulus of about 30 Pa even at very low peptide concentration (0.5% (wt/vol)). The P9 hydrogel formed in salt solution could recover in a period of about 1,800 sec, which is faster than that in the pure water. The data suggestcd that the half-sequence, ionic complementary peptide might be worthy of further research for its special properties.

• Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.2487-2495
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• 2018

Inspired by the specific amino acid sequence Asn-Pro-Ala (NPA) of water channel aquaporins (AQPs), we fabricated polyamide (PA) nanofiltration (NF) membranes by introducing reduced glutathione (GSH) in interfacial polymerization (IP) method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), zeta potential and static water contact angle measurement were employed to characterize the chemical composition, morphology, electronegativity and hydrophilicity of the NF membranes. The water flux of GSH/PIP-TMC NF membrane reached $32.00L\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$ at 0.2 MPa, which was approximately twice than that of pristine PIP-TMC NF membrane when the ratio of GHS to piperazidine (PIP) was 40% during IP process. More water channels were built as GSH was embedded into PA layer. The fabricated NF membranes also took on potent rejection for dyes and $Na_2SO_4$. This study presents a simple and facile method to simulate water channels-based biological materials which may find potential application in water treatment.