• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 1991

- The purpose of this work is to investigate the effects of various substrates on biosynthesis of ethylene by the Kudzu strain of Pseudomonas syn'ngae pv. Phaseolicola causing halo blight. In the intact cell of P. sym'ngue, optimal condition for ethylene production was achieved at p1-I 7.5 and $30^{\circ}C$ for 9 to 10 hours of culture. Ethylene was most effectively produced from amino acids such as Asn, Gln, Asp ans Glu, compared to those of various kinds of sugars. While ethylene production from $\alpha$-ketoglutarate ($\alpha$-KG) was gradually increased throughout 51 hours incubation period tested. Ethylene production derived from citrate, $\alpha$-KG and oxalacetate as well as a few amino acids was further enhanced by the addition of histidine or arginine. In cell-free ethylene-forming system, ethylene was most effectively produced from $\alpha$-KG, compared to those from citrate, oxalacetate, Glu, Arg, or Asp, at 0.5 mM among the range from 0.25 mM to 5 mM. Anlinooxyacetate, an inhibitor of a pyridoxal phosphate-linked enzyme, completely inhibited ethylene evolution derived from Glu but not affect that derived from $\alpha$-KG. The results obtained in this work suggest that $\alpha$-KG might be a direct precursor of ethylene production in this organism than any other substrates tested.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.85-95
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• 2002

Objectives: In traditional medicine, Wolgukwhan has been used for the treatment of digestive system disease, such as indigestion, brash, ructation, nausea and vomiting. This study was purposed to investigate the effects of Wolgukwhan methnol extract (WGWM) on oxidative liver cell injury. Methods: In vivo assay, we administerated acetaminophen(500mg/kg, i.p.) to starved mice 24hrs after pretreatment of WGWM for 6days. In the liver homogenates, lipid peroxide and glutathione(GSH) levels were measured. In addition, activities of hepatic enzyme, such as catalase, glutathione peroxidase(GPX), glutathione S-transferase(GST) were measured in the hepatic mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions. Results: In vivo administeration of WGWM showed effective inhibition of acetaminophen induced lipid peroxidation and elevations of glutathione level. The acetaminophen treatment resulted in a decrease of catalase, GPX and GST activities. By contrast, WGWM pretreatment increased compare to those of untreated groups. Conclusions: These results suggested that WGWM might protect against lipid peroxidation by free radicals, destruction of hepatic cell membranes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.552-558
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• 2012

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a severe respiratory infectious disease caused by a novel human coronavirus, SARS-CoV. The 3CL protease is a key enzyme in the proteolytic processing of replicase polyprotein precursors, pp1a and pp1ab, which mediate all the functions required for viral genomic replication and transcription. Therefore, this enzyme is a target for the development of chemotherapeutic agents against SARS. A large quantity of active SARS-3CL protease is required for development of anti-SARS agents. Here we have constructed overexpression vector for the production of the SARS-3CL protease. The gene encoding SARS-3CL protease was amplified using polymerase chain reaction and cloned into the pET29a expression vector, resulting in pET29a/SARS-3CLP. Recombinant SARS-3CL protease was successfully synthesized by the dialysis mode of the cell-free protein expression system, and purified by three-step fast protein liquid chromatography using HighQ and MonoP column chromatographies and Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration. In addition, the produced SARS-3CL protease was found to be an active mature form. This study provides efficient methods not only for the development of anti-SARS materials from natural sources, but also for the study of basic properties of the SARS-3CL protease.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1810-1818
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• 2015

For the synthesis of various pharmaceuticals, chiral alcohols are useful intermediates. Among them, (R)-ethyl-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate ((R)-ECHB) is an important building block for the synthesis of L-carnitine. (R)-ECHB is produced from ethyl-4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate (ECOB) by a reductase-mediated, enantioselective reduction reaction. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae YOL151W reductase that is expressed in Escherichia coli cells exhibited an enantioselective reduction reaction toward ECOB. By virtue of the C-terminal His-tag, the YOL151W reductase was purified from the cell-free extract using Ni²⁺-NTA column chromatography and immobilized onto Ni²⁺-magnetic microparticles. The physical properties of the immobilized reductase (Imm-Red) were measured using electron microscopy, a magnetic property measurement system, and a zeta potential system; the average size of the particles was approximately 1 μm and the saturated magnetic value was 31.76 emu/g. A neodymium magnet was used to recover the immobilized enzyme within 2 min. The Imm-Red showed an optimum temperature at 45℃ and an optimum pH at 6.0. In addition, Bacillus megaterium glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) was produced in the E. coli cells and was used in the coupling reaction to regenerate the NADPH cofactor. The reduction/oxidation coupling reaction composed of the Imm-Red and GDH converted 20 mM ECOB exclusively into (R)-ECHB with an e.e._p value of 98%.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2019

Glutamate toxicity-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal cell death are involved in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases as well as acute brain ischemia/stroke. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective mechanism of dieckol (DEK), one of the phlorotannins isolated from the marine brown alga Ecklonia cava, against glutamate toxicity. Primary cortical neurons ($100{\mu}M$, 24 h) and HT22 neurons (5 mM, 12 h) were stimulated with glutamate to induce glutamate toxic condition. The results demonstrated that DEK treatment significantly increased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner ($1-50{\mu}M$) and recovered morphological deterioration in glutamate-stimulated neurons. In addition, DEK strongly attenuated intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, mitochondrial overload of $Ca^{2+}$ and ROS, mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\Psi}_m$) disruption, adenine triphosphate depletion. DEK showed free radical scavenging activity in the cell-free system. Furthermore, DEK enhanced protein expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an important anti-oxidant enzyme, via the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-like 2 (Nrf2). Taken together, we conclude that DEK exerts neuroprotective activities against glutamate toxicity through its direct free radical scavenging property and the Nrf-2/HO-1 pathway activation.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.438-444
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• 2012

N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) including endocannabinoids, anadamide, are long chain fatty acid ethanolamines and express ubiquitously in animal and plant tissues. NAEs have several pharmacological effects including anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anorexic effects. The levels of NAEs in tissues are strictly regulated by synthesizing and hydrolyzing enzymes because NAEs are not stored in the cell but rather made on demand. NAEs are hydrolyzed to free fatty acids and ethanolamines by fatty acid amide hydrolase and N-acylethanolamine-hydrolyzing acid amidase (NAAA). Here, we suggest the fluorescence-based assay system for NAAA. We developed N-(4-methy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yl)palmitamide (PAAC) as a fluorogenic substrate for NAAA and we also generated NAAA stably expressing COSM6 cell line. When extracts of cells expressing NAAA were incubated with PAAC, NAAA specifically hydrolyzed PAAC to palmitic acids and fluorogenic dye, coumarin. Release of coumarin was monitored by using fluorometer. NAAA hydrolyzed PAAC with an apparent Km of $20.05{\mu}M$ and Vmax of 32.18 pmol/mg protein/min. This assay system can be used to develop inhibitors or activators of NAAA.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.227-232
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• 1998

The leukocyte NADPH oxidase of neutrophils is a membrane-bound enzyme that catalyzes the production of $O_2^-$ from oxygen using NADPH as an electron donor. Dormant in resting neutrophils, the enzyme acquires catalytic activity when the cells are exposed to appropriate stimuli. During activation, the cytosolic oxidase components $p47^{phox}$ and $p67^{phox}$ migrate to the plasma membrane, where they associate with cytochrome $b_{558}$, a membrane-bound flavohemoprotein, to assemble the active oxidase. The oxidase can be activated in a cell-free system; the activating agent usually employed is an anionic amphiphile such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Because $p47^{phox}$ can translocate by itself during activation, the conformational change in $p47^{phox}$ may be responsible for the activation of NADPH oxidase. We show here that the treatment of $p47^{phox}$ with SDS leads to an increase in the reactivity of the sutbydryl group of cysteines toward N-ethylmaleimide, indicating that the conformational change occurs when $p47^{phox}$ is exposed to SDS. We propose that this change in conformation results in the appearance of a binding site through which $p47^{phox}$ interacts with cytochrome $b_{558}$during the activation process.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.507-512
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• 1996

The NADPH oxidase of phagocytes catalyzes the reduction of oxygen to $O_{2}^{-}$ at the expense of NADPH The enzyme is dormant in resting neutrophils and hecomes activated on stimulation. During activation. $p47^{phox}$ (phagocyte oxidase factor), a cytosolic oxidase subunit, becomes extensively phosphorylated on a number of serines located between S303-S379. Although the biochemical role of phosphorylation is speculative, it has been suggested that phosphorylation could neutralize the strongly cationic C-terminal which may result in the change of conformation of $p47^{phox}$ and subsequent translocation of this protein and other cytosolic components to the membrane. In order to mimic the effect of phosphorylation in terms of neutralizing the positive charges, recombinant $p47^{phox}$ was treated with phenylglyoxal, which removes positive charges of arginine residues. Modification of recombinant $p47^{phox}$ resulted in the activation of oxidase in a cell-free translocation system as well as a conformational change in recombinant $p47^{phox}$ which may be responsible for the activation of the enzyme.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.838-848
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• 2012

Orally administered herbal glycosides are metabolized to their hydrophobic compounds by intestinal microflora in the intestine of animals and human, not liver enzymes, and absorbed from the intestine to the blood. Of these metabolites, some, such as quercetin and kaempherol, are mutagenic. The fecal bacterial enzyme fraction (fecalase) of human or animals has been used for measuring the mutagenicity of dietary glycosides. However, the fecalase activity between individuals is significantly different and its preparation is laborious and odious. Therefore, we developed a fecal microbial enzyme mix (FM) usable in the Ames test to remediate the fluctuated reaction system activating natural glycosides to mutagens. We selected, cultured, and mixed 4 bacteria highly producing glycosidase activities based on a cell-free extract of feces (fecalase) from 100 healthy Korean volunteers. When the mutagenicities of rutin and methanol extract of the flos of Sophora japonica L. (SFME), of which the major constituent is rutin, towards Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 98, 100, 102, 1,535, and 1,537 were tested using FM and/or S9 mix, these agents were potently mutagenic. These mutagenicities using FM were not significantly different compared with those using Korean fecalase. SFME and rutin were potently mutagenic in the test when these were treated with fecalase or FM in the presence of S9 mix, followed by those treated with S9 mix alone and those with fecalase or FM. Freeze-dried FM was more stable in storage than fecalase. Based on these findings, FM could be usable instead of human fecalase in the Ames test.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.59-65
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• 2009

The antimicrobial activity-possessing materials were screened in the cell free supernatant (CFS) of fourteen lactic acid-fermenting strains isolated from pig's intestine. Each cell free supernatant of cultured strains was treated with various proteinases, heat, and/or alkali (NaOH). The antimicrobial activities were remained even after the enzyme and heat treatment but disappeared after neutralization with 1M NaOH, implying that the materials would be organic acids rather than proteins. Further purification of CFS through solid phase extraction using Sep-pak $C_{18}$ Cartridges and high performance anion exchange chromatography using Bio-LC system revealed that four organic acids, such as oxalic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, and acetic acid, were the main materials for the activity. Lactic acid was the highest amount in all organic acids, ranging from 54% to 77%. This strongly implies that the lactic acid would be the primary material for the antimicrobial activity in all tested strains.