• Title/Summary/Keyword: BioInformatics

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Structure-activity relationships of cecropin-like peptides and their interactions with phospholipid membrane

  • Lee, Eunjung;Jeong, Ki-Woong;Lee, Juho;Shin, Areum;Kim, Jin-Kyoung;Lee, Juneyoung;Lee, Dong Gun;Kim, Yangmee
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.46 no.5
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    • pp.282-287
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    • 2013
  • Cecropin A and papiliocin are novel 37-residue cecropin-like antimicrobial peptides isolated from insect. We have confirmed that papiliocin possess high bacterial cell selectivity and has an ${\alpha}$-helical structure from $Lys^3$ to $Lys^{21}$ and from $Ala^{25}$ to $Val^{35}$, linked by a hinge region. In this study, we demonstrated that both peptides showed high antimicrobial activities against multi-drug resistant Gram negative bacteria as well as fungi. Interactions between these cecropin-like peptides and phospholipid membrane were studied using CD, dye leakage experiments, and NMR experiments, showing that both peptides have strong permeabilizing activities against bacterial cell membranes and fungal membranes as well as $Trp^2$ and $Phe^5$ at the N-terminal helix play an important role in attracting cecropin-like peptides to the negatively charged bacterial cell membrane. Cecropin-like peptides can be potent peptide antibiotics against multi-drug resistant Gram negative bacteria and fungi.

Stepwise Synthesis of Quercetin Bisglycosides Using Engineered Escherichia coli

  • Choi, Gyu Sik;Kim, Hyeon Jeong;Kim, Eun Ji;Lee, Su Jin;Lee, Youngshim;Ahn, Joong-Hoon
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.28 no.11
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    • pp.1859-1864
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    • 2018
  • Synthesis of flavonoid glycoside is difficult due to diverse hydroxy groups in flavonoids and sugars. As such, enzymatic synthesis or biotransformation is an approach to solve this problem. In this report, we used stepwise biotransformation to synthesize two quercetin bisglycosides (quercetin 3-O-glucuronic acid 7-O-rhamnoside [Q-GR] and quercetin 3-O-arabinose 7-O-rhamnoside [Q-AR]) because quercetin O-rhamnosides contain antiviral activity. Two sequential enzymatic reactions were required to synthesize these flavonoid glycosides. We first synthesized quercetin 3-O-glucuronic acid [Q-G], and quercetin 3-O-arabinose [Q-A] from quercetin using E. coli harboring specific uridine diphopsphate glycosyltransferase (UGT) and genes for UDP-glucuronic acid and UDP-arabinose, respectively. With each quercetin 3-O-glycoside, rhamnosylation using E. coli harboring UGT and the gene for UDP-rhamnose was conducted. This approach resulted in the production of 44.8 mg/l Q-GR and 45.1 mg/l Q-AR. This stepwise synthesis could be applicable to synthesize various natural product derivatives in case that the final yield of product was low due to the multistep reaction in one cell or when sequential synthesis is necessary in order to reduce the synthesis of byproducts.

Inhibitory Effects of Quercetin on Muscle-type of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor-Mediated Ion Currents Expressed in Xenopus Oocytes

  • Lee, Byung-Hwan;Shin, Tae-Joon;Hwang, Sung-Hee;Choi, Sun-Hye;Kang, Ji-Yeon;Kim, Hyeon-Joong;Park, Chan-Woo;Lee, Soo-Han;Nah, Seung-Yeol
    • The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.195-201
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    • 2011
  • The flavonoid quercetin is a low molecular weight compound generally found in apple, gingko, tomato, onion and other red-colored fruits and vegetables. Like other flavonoids, quercetin has diverse pharmacological actions. However, relatively little is known about the influence of quercetin effects in the regulation of ligand-gated ion channels. Previously, we reported that quercetin regulates subsets of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors such as ${\alpha}3{\beta}4$, ${\alpha}7$ and ${\alpha}9{\alpha}10$. Presently, we investigated the effects of quercetin on muscle-type of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channel activity expressed in Xenopus oocytes after injection of cRNA encoding human fetal or adult muscle-type of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits. Acetylcholine treatment elicited an inward peak current ($I_{ACh}$) in oocytes expressing both muscle-type of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and co-treatment of quercetin with acetylcholine inhibited $I_{ACh}$. Pre-treatment of quercetin further inhibited $I_{ACh}$ in oocytes expressing adult and fetal muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The inhibition of $I_{ACh}$ by quercetin was reversible and concentration-dependent. The $IC_{50}$ of quercetin was $18.9{\pm}1.2{\mu}M$ in oocytes expressing adult muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. The inhibition of $I_{ACh}$ by quercetin was voltage-independent and non-competitive. These results indicate that quercetin might regulate human muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channel activity and that quercetin-mediated regulation of muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor might be coupled to regulation of neuromuscular junction activity.

An Edible Gintonin Preparation from Ginseng

  • Choi, Sun-Hye;Shin, Tae-Joon;Lee, Byung-Hwan;Hwang, Sung-Hee;Kang, Ji-Yeon;Kim, Hyun-Joong;Park, Chan-Woo;Nah, Seung-Yeol
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
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    • v.35 no.4
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    • pp.471-478
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    • 2011
  • Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng, is one of the oldest herbal medicines. It has a variety of physiological and pharmacological effects. Recently, we isolated a subset of glycolipoproteins that we designated gintonin, and demonstrated that it induced transient change in intracellular calcium concentration $([Ca^{2+}]_i)$ in cells via G-protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway(s). The previous method for gintonin isolation included multiple steps using methanol, butanol, and other organic solvents. In the present study, we developed a much simple method for the preparation of gintonin from ginseng root using 80% ethanol extraction. The extracted fraction was designated edible gintonin. This method produced a high yield of gintonin (0.20%). The chemical characteristics of gintonin such as molecular weight and the composition of the extract product were almost identical as the gintonin prepared using the previous extraction regimen involving various organic solvents. We also examined the physiological effects of edible gintonin on endogenous $Ca^{2+}$-activated $Cl^-$ channel activity of Xenopus oocytes. The 50% effective dose was $1.03{\pm}0.3\;{\mu}g$/mL. Finally, since gintonin preparation through ethanol extraction is easily reproducible, gintonin could be commercially applied for ginseng-derived functional health food and/or drug following the confirmations of in vitro and in vivo physiological and pharmacological effects of gintonin.

ManBIF: a Program for Mining and Managing Biobank Impact Factor Data

  • Yu, Ki-Jin;Nam, Jung-Min;Her, Yun;Chu, Min-Seock;Seo, Hyung-Seok;Kim, Jun-Woo;Jeon, Jae-Pil;Park, Hye-Kyung;Park, Kie-Jung
    • Genomics & Informatics
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.37-38
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    • 2011
  • Biobank Impact Factor (BIF), which is a very effective criterion to evaluate the activity of biobanks, can be estimated by the citation information of biobanks from scientific papers. We have developed a program, ManBIF, to investigate the citation information from PDF files in the literature. The program manages a dictionary for expressions to represent biobanks and their resources, mines the citation information by converting PDF files to text files and searching with a dictionary, and produces a statistical report file. It can be used as an important tool by biobanks.