• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.495-500
• /
• 2016

We have solved the crystal structure of a predicted fructose-specific enzyme $IIB^{fruc}$ from Escherichia coli ($EcEIIB^{fruc}$) involved in the phosphoenolpyruvate-carbohydrate phosphotransferase system transferring carbohydrates across the cytoplasmic membrane. $EcEIIB^{fruc}$ belongs to a sequence family with more than 5,000 sequence homologues with 25-99% amino-acid sequence identity. It reveals a conventional Rossmann-like ${\alpha}-{\beta}-{\alpha}$ sandwich fold with a unique ${\beta}$-sheet topology. Its C-terminus is longer than its closest relatives and forms an additional ${\beta}$-strand whereas the shorter C-terminus is random coil in the relatives. Interestingly, its core structure is similar to that of enzyme $IIB^{cellobiose}$ from E. coli ($EcIIB^{cel}$) transferring a phosphate moiety. In the active site of the closest $EcEIIB^{fruc}$ homologues, a unique motif CXXGXAHT comprising a P-loop like architecture including a histidine residue is found. The conserved cysteine on this loop may be deprotonated to act as a nucleophile similar to that of $EcIIB^{cel}$. The conserved histidine residue is presumed to bind the negatively charged phosphate. Therefore, we propose that the catalytic mechanism of $EcEIIB^{fruc}$ is similar to that of $EcIIB^{cel}$ transferring phosphoryl moiety to a specific carbohydrate.

• Biodesign
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.84-91
• /
• 2018

Spo0F is a response regulator that modulates sporulation, undergoes phosphorylation for phosphorelay signal transduction, and interacts with various regulatory proteins; however, the mechanisms through which phosphorylation induces structural changes and regulates interactions with binding partners remain unclear. Here, we determined the unphosphorylated crystal structure of Spo0F from the psychrophilic bacterium Paenisporosarcina sp. TG-14 (PaSpo0F) and established a phosphorylation-state structural model. We found that PaSpo0F underwent structural changes (Lys54 and Lys102) by phosphorylation and generated new interactions (Lys102/Gln10 and Lys54/Glu84) to stabilize the ${\beta}4/{\alpha}4$ and ${\beta}1/{\alpha}1$ loop structures, which are important target-protein binding sites. Analysis of Bacillus subtilis Spo0 variants revealed movement by BsSpo0F Thr82 and Tyr84 residues following interaction with BsSpo0B, providing insight into the movement of corresponding residues in PaSpo0F (Thr80 and Tyr82), with further analysis of BsSpo0F/BsRapH interaction revealing alterations in the ${\beta}4/{\alpha}4$ loop region. These results suggest that phosphorylation-induced structural rearrangement might be essential for PaSpo0F activation and expand the understanding of Spo0F-specific activation mechanisms during sporulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.227-233
• /
• 2016

Phase transformation phenomenon at high temperature was investigated by using designed TiAl-Nb alloys with addition of the ${\beta}$ stabilizer. Examination of dendritic morphologies in arc-melted button ingot could reveal the crystallography of the primary solidification phase. It was found that the addition of ${\beta}$ stabilizer(Nb) shifted the high temperature region of the binary Ti-Al phase diagram to the high Al composition side so that ${\beta}$ phase forms as a primary crystal even at higher Al composition compared with the binary Ti-Al system. The ${\beta}$ was found to be the primary solidification phase for alloys with Al content less than about 52 at.%. The composition of ${\beta}$ solidification in Ti-Al-Nb ternary system could be determined from the partial liquidus projection which was constructed by observing the microstructure of arc-melted buttons. The Ti-46Al-(6, 8)Nb composition was selected for ${\beta}$ solidification and the directional solidification was performed by a floating zone-type DS apparatus at the growth rate 30 mm/hr respectively.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.58-66
• /
• 1989

The effect of heat treating temperature and ${\alpha}$ phase In the ${\beta}$ phase matrix were investigated for ${\beta}-CuZnAl$ shape memory alloys by tension test, fatigue test, and shape memory effect test. After heat treatment at $677^{\circ}C$, $750^{\circ}C$, $800^{\circ}C$ and $850^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. respectively, static fracture stress(${\sigma}_f$), fatigue fracture stress(${\tau}_{max}$) at $10^6$ cycle, and elongation(${\epsilon}_f$) was $24.2kg/mm^2$, $17.21kg/mm^2$ and 11.8%, respectively. As heat treating temperature decreased, fracture surfaces of the specimens were changed from the intergranular to the transgranular fracture mode. Especially, the a phase precipitated in the ${\beta}$ phase matrix had an effect on crack propagation and the fracture surface was characterized by dimple-like pattern when crack propagated in transgranular cracking mode. Precipitation of the ${\alpha}$ phase in the ${\beta}$ phase matrix lowered the transformation temperature by $10^{\circ}C$, and about 2.5 vol.% ${\alpha}$ phase did not affect the shape memory effect examined by the bending test.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.670-675
• /
• 2016

Calcium phosphate crystallites were prepared by wet chemical method for use in artificial bone. In order to obtain ${\beta}$-tricalcium phosphate (TCP), nano-crystalline calcium phosphate (CaP) was precipitated at $37^{\circ}C$ and at $pH5.0{\pm}0.1$ under stirring using highly active $Ca(OH)_2$ in DI water and an aqueous solution of $H_3PO_4$. The precipitated nano-crystalline CaP solution was kept at $90^{\circ}C$ for the growth of CaP crystallites. Through the growing process of CaP crystallites, we were able to obtain various sizes of rectangular CaP crystallites according to the crystal growing times. Dry nano-crystalline CaP powders at $37^{\circ}C$ were mixed with dry macro-crystalline CaP crystallites and the shaped mixture sample was fired at $1150^{\circ}C$ to make a ${\beta}-TCP$ block. Several tens of nm powders were uniformly coated on the surface, which was comprised of powders of several tens of ${\mu}m$, using a vibrator. The mixing ratio between the nanometer powders and the micrometer powders greatly affected the mechanical strength of the mixture block; the most appropriate ratio of these two materials was 50 wt% to 50 wt%. The sintered block showed improved mechanical strength, which was caused by the solid state interaction between the nano-crystalline ${\beta}-TCP$ and the macro-crystalline ${\beta}-TCP$.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
• /
• v.68
• /
• pp.153-160
• /
• 2018

An environmentally favorable (chlorine-free) solid oxidizer, guanidinium dinitramide [GDN; $NH_2C(NH_2)NH_2N(NO_2)_2$], was newly synthesized from guanidine carbonate [$NH_2C(=NH)NH_2{\cdot}1/2H_2CO_3$]. Two different crystalline forms (${\alpha}-type$ and ${\beta}-type$) appeared according to the applied solvents and synthesis conditions. Moisture, during extraction, might become trapped in a crystal between inner molecules. Therefore, despite having the same chemical composition, Raman-IR and TGA-DSC revealed different physical characteristics of the two forms. Peaks of Raman shift near $1000cm^{-1}$ implied different chemical structures. Thermal analysis revealed an exothermic temperature $155.7^{\circ}C$ for ${\alpha}-type$ but one of $191.6^{\circ}C$ for ${\beta}-type$. The caloric value of ${\alpha}-type$ was 536.4 J/g, which was 2.5 times larger than that of the ${\beta}-type$, which was 1310 J/g. While the synthesized GDN of ${\alpha}-type$ showed a steep exothermic decomposition, the ${\beta}-type$ was slowly decomposed after melting through an endothermic process. This work implied that despite of the same molecular formula some different core thermal properties would appear depending on synthesis conditions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.491-496
• /
• 1993

A class A ${\beta}$-lactamase from Staphylococcus aureus PC1 complexed with 3R,5R-clavulanate is studied. The starting geometry for the computation is the crystal structure of the ${\beta}$-lactamase. Docking of the clavulanate to the enzyme is done exploiting the requirements of electrostatic and shape complementarity between the enzyme and clavulanate. This structure is then hydrated by water molecules and refined by energy minimization and short molecular dynamics simulation. In the energy refined structure of this complex, the carboxyl group of the clavulanate is hydrogen bonded to Lys-234, and the the carbonyl carbon atom of the clavulanate is adjacent to the $O_{\gamma}$ of Ser-70. It is found that a crystallographic water molecule initially located at the oxyanion hole, which is formed by the two -NH group of Ser-70 and Gln-237, is replaced by the carbonyl oxygen atom of the 3R,5R-clavulanate after docking and energy reginement. The crystallographic water molecules are proved to be important in ligand binding. Glu-166 residue is found to be repulsive to the binding of clavulanate, which is in agreement with experimental observation. Arg-244 residue is found to be important to the binding of clavulanate as well as to interaction with C2 side chain of the clavulanate. The electron density redistribution of the clavulanate on binding to the ${\beta}$-lactamase in studied by an ab initio quantum-mechanical calculation. A significant redistribution of electron density of the clavulanate is induced by the enzyme, toward the enzyme, toward the transition state of the enzymatic reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.9-17
• /
• 2000

The crystal growth and dissolution rates were calculated by solving a model equation, which involved the dissolution of the metastable phase($\beta$-HNIW) and growth of the stable phase($\varepsilon$-HNIW), together with the mass balance equation. The model has been successfully used to simulate available kinetic data for the $\beta$$\longrightarrow$$\varepsilon$ polymorphic transformation via a solution phase. From the effectiveness factor based on the two-step model, it was found that the surface integration contribution to the process was comparatively small, and a diffusion dependency decreased with an increase of the mass fraction of chloroform in the mixed solvents of ethyl acetate and chloroform. Appling these kinetics in process simulation allowed for the prediction of the product size of $\varepsilon$-HNIW.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.4039-4045
• /
• 2014

The crystallization behavior of irradiated polypropylene (PP) and the blend is an important parameter for polymer processing. Blends of PP/low density polyethylene (LDPE) with different LDPE contents were prepared by melt mixing in a twin screw extruder. The effect of the LDPE content on the irradiation effectiveness of the PP/LDPE blend with trimethylolpropane-trimetacrylate (TMPTMA) as a crosslinking co-agent was investigated in conjunction with the LDPE loading in the blend. The non-isothermal crystallization and crystal structure were measured by DSC, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and polarized optical microscopy (POM). A decrease in the melting temperature of PP was observed due to irradiation, which may be due to the PP chain scissioning effect of irradiation. The Ozawa component n represents a rod shaped, disc shaped and sphere-shaped geometry of the crystal if the value corresponds to 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Based on Ozawa analysis, the values of n were 3.8 and 2.3 for the pure PP and PP blends with 30 wt% LDPE, respectively. The fact that the crystal geometry of PP changed from spherical to disc and rod shaped was confirmed by Ozawa analysis and POM. The ${\beta}$ form XRD peak of the PP/LDPE blend at $16.1^{\circ}$ disappeared after irradiation due to the crosslinking reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.130-134
• /
• 2018

In the past few years, various solder compositions have been a representative material to electronic packages and surface mount technology industries as a replacement of Pb-base solder alloy. Therefore, extensive studies on process and/or reliability related with the low Ag composition have been reported because of recent rapid rise in Ag price. In this study, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-0.7Cu and Sn-0.3Ag-0.5Cu solder bar samples were fabricated by melting of Sn, Ag and Cu metal powders. Crystal structure and element concentration were analyzed by XRD, XRF, optical microscope, FE-SEM and EDS. The fabricated solder samples were composed of ${\beta}-Sn$, ${\varepsilon}-Ag_3Sn$ and ${\eta}-Cu_6Sn_5$ phases.