• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.71-74
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• 2005

A LIM protein gene homologue of the CRP (cysteine­rich protein) family in the whiter-spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis, was cloned. The P. brevitarsis LIM protein cDNA encodes a 92 amino acid polypep­tide with a predicted molecular mass of 10,030 Da and a pI of 8.57. The P. brevitarsis LIM protein contains the cysteine-rich consensus sequence of LIM domain and the glycine-rich consensus sequence observed in the cysteine-rich protein family 1 (CRPl). The potential nuclear targeting signal is retained. The deduced amino acid sequence of the P. brevitarsis LIM protein cDNA showed 92$\%$ identity to another beetle, Apriona germari LIM protein. Northern blot analysis showed that P. brevitarsis LIM protein is highly expressed in epidermis and midgut, but not in the fat body.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2003

The glutathione S-transferase (GSTs) are enzymes responsible for the protection of cells from chemical toxicants and oxidative stress. We describe here the cDNA sequence and mRNA expression of a putative GST from the mole cricket, Gryllotalpa orientalis. The G. orientalis GST cDNA sequences comprised of 621 bp encoding 207 amino acid residues. The multiple sequence alignment of G. orientalis GST gene with other known insect GSTs showed several conserved residues that may be essential for the enzymatic activity of the protein. Phylogenetic analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences of G. orientalis GST gene with other insect GST sequences revealed that the G. orientalis GST gene belongs to class I GST, forming a strong monophyletic group (100% bootstrap value) exclusively for class I GSTs from a diverse insect species. Northern blot analysis confirmed midgut-specific expression at transcriptional level, evidencing the midgut as a site for GST synthesis.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.286-290
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• 2005

Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) plays a crucial role in the detoxification of hydrogen peroxide. APX activity is maintained significantly higher in the paraquat­treated leaves of the paraquat-tolerant Rehmannia glutinos. This study was conducted to understand structural and regulatory characteristics of APX gene in R. glutinosa. A putative APX cDNA clone (RgAPX1) was isolated from a leaf cDNA library using a partially sequenced expressed sequence tag clone. RgAPX1 is consisted of 1148 bp nucleotides and contains an open reading frame encoding a 250 amino acid-long polypeptide. Deduced RgAPX1 amino acid sequence shares higher sequence similarity to cytosolic APXs. RgAPX1. expression was higher in the leaf than in the flower and root. Southern blot result indicates the presence of one or two RgAPX1-related genes in R. glutinosa genome. RgAPX1 transcription was affected differentially by various stresses and phytohormone. The results indicate that RgAPXl is constitutively expressed in most tissues and its expression is modulated for the immediate and efficient detoxification of $H_2O_2$ under normal and stress conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.559-563
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• 2000

A dextransucrase gene (dsrB742) that expresses a dextransucrase to synthesize mostly ${\alpha}-1{\rightarrow}6$ linked dextran with a low amount (3-5%) of ${\alpha}-1{\rightarrow}3$ branching was cloned and sequenced from Leuconostoc mesenteroides B-742CB. The 6.1-kb PstI fragments were ligated with pGEM-3Zf(-) and transformed into E. coli $DH5{\alpha}$. The recombinant clone (pDSRB742) synthesized dextran on an agar plate containing 2% (w/v) sucrose. The dextran synthesized was hydrolyzed with Penicillium endo-dextranase. The hydrolyzate was composed of glucose, isomaltose, isomaltotriose, and branced pentasaccharide. The nucleotide sequence of dsrB742 showed one open reading frame (ORF) composed of 4,524 bp encoding dextrasnsucrase. The deduced amino acid sequence revealed a calculated molecular mass of 168.6 kDa. It also showed an activity band of 184 kKa on a non-denaturing SDS-PAGE (10%). The amino acid sequence of DSRB742 exhibited a 50% similarity with DSRA from L. mesenteroides B-1299, a 70% similarity with DSRS from L. mesenteroides B-512 (F, FMCM) and a 45-56% similarity with Streptococcal GTFs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.28-33
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• 1998

A gene coding for ${\beta}$-xylosidase from thermophilic xylanolytic Bacillus sp. KK-1 was cloned into Escherichia coli using plasmid pBR322. Recombinant plasmid DNAs were isloated from E. coli clones which were capable of hydrolyzing 4-methylumbelliferyl-${\beta}$-D xylopyranoside. Restriction analysis showed the DNAs to share a common insert DNA. Xylo-oligosaccharides, including xylotriose, xylotetraose, xylopentaose, and xylobiose were hydrolyzed to form xylose as an end product by cell-free extracts of the E. coli clones, confirming that the cloned gene from strain KK-1 is ${\beta}$-xylosidase gene. The ${\beta}$-xylosidase gene of strain KK-1 designated as xylB was completely sequenced. The xylB gene consisted of an open reading frame of 1,602 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide of 533 amino acid residues, and a TGA stop codon. The 3' flanking region contained one stem-loop structure which may be involved in transcriptional termination. The deduced amino acid sequence of the KK-1 ${\beta}$-xylosidase was highly homologous to the ${\beta}$-xylosidases of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus, but it showed no similarity to a thermostable ${\beta}$-xylosidase from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1090-1094
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• 2007

Melittin (ME), a linear 26-residue non-cell-selective antimicrobial peptide, displays strong lytic activity against bacterial and human red blood cells. To design ME analogue with improved cell selectivity, we synthesized a melittin diastereomer (ME-D) with D-amino acid in the leucine zipper sequence (Leu-6, Lue-13 and Ile-20). Compared to ME, ME-D exhibited the same or 2-fold higher antibacterial activity but 8-fold less hemolytic activity. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that ME-D has much less $\alpha$-helical content in $\alpha$-helical content in the presence of zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes compared to negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. The blue shift of the fluorescence emission maximum of ME-D in zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes was much smaller than in negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. These results suggested that the improvement in therapeutic index/cell selectivity of ME-D is correlated with its less permeability to zwitterionic membranes.

• ALGAE
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2012

A novel lectin specific to N-acetyl-D-galactosamine as well as N-acetyl-D-glucosamine was isolated from Bryopsis plumosa and named as BPL-4. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophorese (SDS-PAGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption / ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry data showed that this lectin was a monomeric protein with molecular weight 12.9 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the lectin were determined by Edman degradation and the full cDNA sequence encoding this lectin was obtained using the degenerate primers designed from the amino acid sequence. The size of the cDNA was 414 bp containing single open reading frame (ORF) encoding the lectin precursor. The homology analysis showed that this lectin might belong to H lectin group. BPL-4 showed high sequence similarity (60.6%) to BPL-3, which is a previously reported lectin from the same species. The comparative analysis on the lectin's primary structure showed two conserved domains including one possible active domain of H lectin group.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.457-467
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• 2005

Open reading frame (ORF) 3 on the Choristoneura fumiferana granulovirus (ChfuGV), located in the 11 kb fragment of the BamHI genomic bank encodes a predicted 32-kDa putative kinase protein. Bioinformatics analysis on the predicted amino acid sequence of ChfuGV PK-1 revealed the existence of 11 catalytic subdomains. Sequence analysis within the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of ChfuGV pk-1 indicates the presence of both putative early and late promoter motifs, indicating that pk-1 may be expressed throughout the infection cycle. Promoter sequence analysis reveals that pk-1 is deprived of a TATA box and appears instead to be regulated by other cis-acting transcriptional regulatory elements. Temporal transcription analysis by RT-PCR confirms the appearance of transcripts detected from 2 h p.i. until 72 h p.i. Northern blot hybridization characterizes pk-1 transcription as a 1.2 kb transcript. Homology comparisons reveal that ChfuGV PK-1 protein is most closely related to Phthorimaea operculalla granulovirus (PoGV) with 80% amino acid identity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.371-378
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• 2001

The Glycoprotein D (gD) gene of the HSV-1 strain F was cloned, sequenced, recombinated into the HcNPV (Hyphantria cunea nuclear polyhedrosis virus) expression vector and expressed in insect cells. The gD gene was located in the 6.43 kb BamHI fragment of the strainF. The open reading frame (ORF) of the gD gene was 1,185 by and codes 394 amino acid residues. Recombinant baculoviruses, GD-HcNPVs, expressing the gD protein were constructed. Spodoptera frugiperda cells, infected with the recombinant virus, synthesized a matured gX-gD fusion protein with an approximate molecular weight of 54 kDa and secreted the gD proteins into the culture media by an immunoprecipitation assay The fusion gD protein was localized on the membrane of the insect cells, seen by using an immunofluorescence assay The deduced amino acid sequence presents additional characteristics compatible with the structure of a viral glycoprotein: signal peptide, putative glycosylation sites and a long C-terminal transmembrane sequence. These results indicate the utility of the HcNPV-insect cell system for producing and characterizing eukaryotic proteins.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.343-352
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• 2009

Natural-killer-cell-enhancing factor (NKEF) belongs to the newly defined peroxiredoxin (Prx) family. It was originally isolated from human erythroid cells. The black rockfish NKEF cDNA was identified through the expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis of PBLs libraries. The full-length NKEF cDNA was 1433 bp long and contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 594 bp that encoded 198 amino-acid residues. The 5' UTR had a length of 39 bp, and the 3’UTR 800 bp. The deduced amino-acid sequence of the black rockfish had a density 93.4, 92.9, 87.8, 85.8, 84.8, 83.8, 80.3, 79.7, 77.2, and 75.2% that of the pufferfish, olive flounder, channel catfish, zebrafish, chicken, common carp, Myotis lucifugus, cattle, human PrxI, rat PrxI, human NKEF-A, and Xenopus tropicalis, respectively. The NKEF gene was expressed in all the tissues of the black rockfish. The RT-PCR indicated that the NKEF transcripts were predominantly in the spleen and gill, less dominantly in the PBLs, head kidney, trunk kidney, and liver, and least in the intestine and muscles. This is the first report on the existence of the NKEF-A gene in black rockfish.