• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.285-292
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• 1989

The intracellular localizations of polyamines and their related enzymes were investigated from young spinach leaves. Polyamines were present in all parts of plant cells, both in the subcellular organelles and in the soluble fraction of cytoplasm, however, polyamines were mainly located in the cytosolic fraction. Most activities of L-arginine decarboxylase(ADC) and L-ornithine decarboxylase(ODC), two important enzymes of putrescine and polyamine biosynthesis, were detected in cytosol fraction, while in subcellular organelles the activities were very low. Activities of diamine oxidase(DAO) and polyamine oxidase(PAO), the catabolic enzyme of diamine and polyamine, were not detected in spinach leaves. It was suggested that polyamines and their related synthetic enzymes were located in the soluble fraction of cytoplasm.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.243-251
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• 1990

Polyamine titers and the activities of arginine decarboxylase(ADC) and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), enzymes which catalyze rate-limiting steps in polyamine biosynthesis, were investigated during polar regeneration of Populus leaf segments. The polar regeneration occurred at the basal cut end of Populus leaf segments through cell division around the vascular bundle. In the process of polar regeneration, the titers of putrescine and spermidine increased rapidly but the content of spermine remained constant. The leaf segments were then divided into three separte part ; the proximal, middle and distal. Spermidine titers showed an increase mainly in the proximal parts where polar regeneration occurred. On the other hand, putrescine titers showed an increase in the other two parts. In the course of polar regeneration, the activities of ADC and ODC increased, the ADC activities being higher than those of ODC. However, ODC activity was higher in the proximal part. Therefore, the spermidine contents and ODC activities are suggested to be related to polar regeneration in Populus leaf segments.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.189-193
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• 1998

Carboxypeptidase-B (CPB) is involved in the biosynthesis of numerous peptide hormones and neurotransmitters. CPB catalyzes hydrolysis of the basic amino acids from the C-terminal position in polypeptides during posttranslational prohormonal processing. Various peptides containing thiaarginine residue at C-terminal position were synthesized and tested for their hydrolysis by CPB. A colorimetric assay, employing Ellman's reagent to detect the thioguanidine released upon hydrolysis of the dipeptide substrates, showed that thiaarginine is a suitable mimetic for arginine. Kinetic studies on the four substrates, Z-L-Ala-DL-thia-Lys, Z-L-Ala-DL-thia-Arg, Z-L-Lys-DL-thia-Arg, and Z-L-Lys(Boc)-DL-thia-Arg, gave Km (mM) of 0.66, 5.08, 0.024, and 0.006 and kcat (min-1) of 340, 5200, 151 and 335, respectively.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 1996

Arginine decarboxylase (ADC) is the first enzyme in one of the two pathways of diamine putrescine biosynthesis in plants. The genes encoding ADC have previously been cloned from Escherichia coli, oat and tomato genome. Two degenerate oligonucleotides (17-mer) corresponding to two conserved regions of ADC were used as primers in polymerase chain reaction of rice (Oryza sativa L.) genomic DNA, and an approximately 1.0 kbp fragment was obtained. This amplified PCR product showed an open reading frame which contains 1,022 bp of nucleotide sequences. This PCR product was cloned into pGEM-originated T vector and the short 500 bp PstI digested fragment was subcloned into pGEM-3zf(+/-) vectors to facilitate sequencing. The nucleotide sequence of this PCR product showed about 74% and 70% identity with the same regions of the oat and tomato ADC cDNA sequences, respectively. The predicted amino acid sequence exhibited 45% and 62% identity with oat and tomato ADC polypeptide fragments, respectively. The sequence similarities of 34%, 47% and 38% were previously reported in oat and E. coli, tomato and oat, and tomato and E. coli ADC amino acids, respectively. Therefore, similarities and identities between rice and oat or tomato are remarkably higher than those others of the previous reports. In the highly conserved regions in both the amino acid sequence and spacing regions among the sequences of these three, rice ADC open reading frame also has the exactly same regions with the striking similarity. RNA blot analysis showed that hnc is expressed as a transcript of approximately 2.5 kbP in the rice seedling leaf tissues.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.217-217
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• 1996

The putative role of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) as non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) neurotransmitter has been studied in rabbit corpus cavernosum. In the presence of atropine and guanethidine the short and prolonged electrical field stimulation (EFS, 2～16 ㎐) induced a frequency-dependent relaxation which was abolished by tetrodotoxin (0.3 ${\mu}$M), a nerve conductance blocker. The neurogenic relaxant reponses were not affected in the presence of VIP-inactivating peptidase, ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin (2 units/$m\ell$), whereas VIP-induced relaxation were completely abolished. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase by N$\^$G/-nitro-L-arginine (10～100 ${\mu}$M) caused concentration-dependent inhibition to the neurogenic relaxant responses and at 100 ${\mu}$M the relaxations were virtually abolished. In contrast NO (3～30 ${\mu}$M) and VIP (0.001～l ${\mu}$M)-induced relaxation were unaffected. The inhibitory effect of L-NNA was reversed in the presence of L-arginine (5 mM), the precursor of the NO biosynthesis. Hemog1obin (20～60 ${\mu}$M), sequestering NO in the extracellular space, abolished the NO-evoked relaxation and also caused a concentration-dependent inhibition to the neurogenic relaxation. These observation indicate that NANC relaxation induced by prolonged EFS of rabbit corpus cavernosum is also mediated mainly by nitric oxide as same as that of short EFS, and suggest that VIP is not involved in NANC relaxation of rabbit corpus cavernosum and NO would not be produced by VIP in this tissue.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.522-532
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• 2022

Cheonggukjang is a traditional fermented food in Korea, which is known to exert beneficial effects on health. In this study, we evaluated the effects of cheonggukjang fermented by Bacillus subtilis SCGB 574 (B574) on high fat diet (HFD)-deteriorated large intestinal health. Rats were fed with HFD or HFD supplemented with 10.1% cheonggukjang (B574). Fecal microbiota was analyzed based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, and the fecal and serum metabolome were measured using GC-MS. Our results showed that SCGB574 intake significantly reduced body weight, restored tight junction components, and ameliorated inflammatory cell infiltration. SCGB574 also shifted gut microbiota by increasing the abundance of short chain fatty acid producers such as Alistipes and Flintibacter, although it decreased the abundance of Lactobacillus. Serum and fecal metabolome analyses showed significantly different metabolic profiles between the groups. The top five metabolites increased by SCGB574 were i) arginine biosynthesis, ii) alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism; iii) starch and sucrose metabolism; iv) neomycin, kanamycin, and gentamicin biosynthesis; and v) galactose metabolism. These results showed that cheonggukjang fermented by SCGB574 ameliorates adverse effects of HFD through improving intestinal health.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.299-306
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• 1996

The effects of antimetabolite 6-aminonicotinamide on levels of soluble proteins, free amino acids and protease activity in various tissues of quail have been in vestigated. The levels of soluble proteins m liver, heart and pectoral muscle were markedly lowered and the specific activity of protease in kidney and pectoral muscle was markedly increased. The concentrations of aspartic acid / asparagine, alanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine and lysine in the liver were markedly increased. En the kidney the concentrations of aspartic acid I asparagine, arginine, threonine, alanine, proline and lysine were markedly increased but those of glutamic acid I glutamine were decreased. The concentrations of glutamic acid / glutamine and serine in the heart were reduced but those in glycine and methionine were increased. In the pectoral muscle the concentration of arginine was decreased but the concentration of alanine and threonine was increased. The overall results suggest that antimetabolite 6-aminonicotinamide may act to enhance concentrations of amino acids related to the generation of energy and to depress the biosynthesis of some specific amino acids.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.560-563
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• 2003

During our previous studies on the relationship between nutrient requirements of S. hygroscopicus C9 and rapamycin biosynthesis, we developed chemically-defined media containing among other nutrients, aspartic acid, arginine, histidine, or ammonium sulfate. However, these media (“Cheng et al. medium” and “Lee et al. medium”) showed very slow growth characterized by a very long lag phase of growth. In an attempt to develop a chemically-defined or semi-defined medium to support more rapid growth and increased cell production, we have carried out studies to shorten the lag phase. Of the various additives tested, vitamin-free casein acid hydrolysate was the most significant by shortening the lag phase by 2-3 days. Mixtures of amino acids failed to replace casein acid hydrolysate. The active principle passed through an ultrafilter with a molecular weight cutoff of 1,000 and thus may be a peptide. The present work has yielded a semi-defined medium which should be useful for further growth studies on S. hygroscopicus C9.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.419-426
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• 2010

Aeromonas hydrophila is a bacterial pathogen that infects a large number of eukaryotes, including humans. The UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (GalE) catalyzes interconversion of UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose and plays a key role in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis. This makes it an important virulence determinant, and therefore a potential drug target. Our earlier studies revealed that unlike other GalEs, GalE of A. hydrophila exists as a monomer. This uniqueness necessitated elucidation of its structure and active site. Chemical modification of the 6xHis-rGalE demonstrated the role of histidine residue in catalysis and that it did not constitute the substrate binding pocket. Loss of the 6xHis-rGalE activity and coenzyme fluorescence with thiol modifying reagents established the role of two distinct vicinal thiols in catalysis. Chemical modification studies revealed arginine to be essential for catalysis. Site-directed mutagenesis indicated Tyr149 and Lys153 to be involved in catalysis. Use of glycerol as a cosolvent enhanced the GalE thermostability significantly.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.389-398
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• 1997

Non-adenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) innervation on the circular muscle of the rabbit gastric body was investigated by observing the magnitudy of relaxations induced by the elec trical field stimulation (EFS). Strips were cut from the greater curvature of the gastric body and stimulated with 5s trains of 0.5 ms pulses at 1-20 Hz, 40 V. The EFS induced transient frequency-dependent contractons, followed by a slowly recovering relaxation ewpecially at higher frequency of the EFS. In the presence of atropine and guanethidine, the contractions were virtually abolished, while the frequency-dependent relaxations by the EFS remained unaffected. The magnitude of relaxations progressively decreased as the location of the strips gets closer to the bottom of the gastric body. The relaxations were ablished by tetrodotoxin, indicating that their orgin is the NANC nerve stimulation. NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA, 10-$100{\mu}M$), the inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO)-synthase, caused a concentration-dependent inhibition of the NANC relaxations. The inhibitory effects of L-NNA were not affected gy the location of the strips and were reversed by L-arginine, the precursor of NO-biosynthesis. Hemoglobin (20-$60{\mu}M$), a NO scavenger, inhibited the NANC relaxation s in a concentration-dependent manner. This inhibition was more prominent in the NANC relaxations observed in the lower portion of the gastric body and the relaxations induced ly lower frequencies of the EFS. Methyelne blue (10-$100{\mu}M$), an inhibitor of cytosolic guanylate cyclase, markedly inhibited the NANC relaxations, almost abolishing the response at a higher dose ($100{\mu}M$). These results suggest that NANX innervation of the rabbit gastric body progeressively decrease as he location of the strips gets closer to the bottom of the gastric body, and that the NANC relaxation is primarily mediated by NO-guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophophate (cyclic GMP).