• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.3565-3570
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• 2012

Until now, few groups reported the antifreeze activity of cyclic glycopeptides; however, the tedious synthetic procedure is not amenable to study the intensive structure activity relationship. A series of N-linked cyclic glycopeptoids and glycopeptide have been prepared to evaluate antifreeze activity as a function of peptide backbone cyclization and methyl stereochemical effect on the rigid Thr position. This study has combined the cyclization protocol with solid phase peptide synthesis and obtained significant quantities of homogeneous cyclic glycopeptide and glycopeptoids. Analysis of antifreeze activity revealed that our cyclic peptide demonstrated RI activity while cyclic glycopeptoids showed no RI activity. These results suggest that the subtle changes in conformation and Thr orientation dramatically influence RI activity of N-linked glycopeptoids.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.310-314
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• 2013

Antifreeze peptide from Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus was overexpressed and purified in Escherichia coli. Green fluorescence protein-AFP chimera was constructed by integrating gfp and afp genes. Produced GFP-AFP chimera protein was purified using polyhistidine tag which was inserted at C-terminus. By addition of GFP-AFP chimera protein, freezing point of elution buffer was decreased from $-13^{\circ}C$ to $-20^{\circ}C$. This result suggested that GFP-AFP chimera can be considered as a potential candidate of novel inhibitor for gas hydrates.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.584-590
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• 2017

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) bind to ice crystals and inhibit their growth. AFPs are essential for the survival of organisms living in subzero environments. Type I AFP (AFP37) isolated from winter flounder is an ${\alpha}$-helical peptide of 37 residues long. In this study, we attempted to develop short AFP fragments with higher activity and solubility. We designed and synthesized N-terminal 15 and 21 residue-long AFPs, designated AFP15 and 21. Also dimerized AFP15 and 21, designated dAFP15N and dAFP21N, respectively, were generated through disulfide bonds between peptides containing CGG residues added to the N-terminus of AFP15 and AFP21 (designated AFP15N and 21N). Their helical contents and antifreeze activities were assessed using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and a nanoliter osmometer, respectively. The helical content of AFP15 AFP21, AFP15N, AFP21N, dAFP15N and dAFP21N was 47, 48, 23.8, 28, 49.1, and 52%, respectively compared to that of wild type AFP37; the antifreeze activity was 8.4, 9.3, 0.05, 5.6, 12.1, 11.2% respectively, compared to that of wild type AFP37. Contrary to our anticipation, the dimerized peptides showed almost the same antifreeze activity as their monomeric counterparts. These results indicate that the dimerized peptides behave as monomeric peptides due to the high rotational freedom of disulfide bonds connecting two monomeric peptides. The star-shaped ice crystals generated by the peptides also demonstrated weak interaction between ice and peptides.