• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.618-624
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• 2017

Betulinic acid (BA), a natural pentacyclic triterpene found in many medicinal plants is known to have various biological activity including tumor suppression and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, the cell-death induction effect of BA was investigated in BV-2 microglia cells. BA was cytotoxic to BV-2 cells with $IC_{50}$ of approximately $2.0{\mu}M$. Treatment of BA resulted in a dose-dependent chromosomal DNA degradation, suggesting that these cells underwent apoptosis. Flow cytometric analysis further confirmed that BA-treated BV-2 cells showed hypodiploid DNA content. BA treatment triggered apoptosis by decreasing Bcl-2 levels, activation of capase-3 protease and cleavage of PARP. In addition, BA treatment induced the accumulation of p62 and the increase in conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II, which are important autophagic flux monitoring markers. The increase in LC3-II indicates that BA treatment induced autophagosome formation, however, accumulation of p62 represents that the downstream autophagy pathway is blocked. It is demonstrated that BA induced cell death of BV-2 cells by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting autophagic flux. These data may provide important new information towards understanding the mechanisms by which BA induce cell death in microglia BV-2 cells.

• 한국버섯학회지
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.187-193
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• 2013

A galactose fermentation bacterium producing lactose from red seaweed, which was known well to compromise the galactose as main reducing sugar, was isolated from button mushroom bed in Buyeo-Gun, Chungchugnamdo province. The lactic acid bacteria MONGB-2 was identified as Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. tolerans by analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence. When the production of lactic acid and acetic acid by L. paracasei MONGB-2 was investigated by HPLC analysis with various carbohydrates, the strain MONGB-2 efficiently convert the glucose and galactose to lactic acid with the yield of 18.86 g/L and 18.23 g/L, respectively and the ratio of lactic acid to total organic acids was 1.0 and 0.91 g/g for both substrates. However, in the case of acetic acid fermentation, other carbohydrates besides galactose and red seaweed hydrolysate could not be totally utilized as carbon sources for acetic acid production by the strain. The lactic acid production from glucose and galactose in the fermentation time courses was gradually enhanced upto 60 h fermentation and the maximal concentration reached to be 16-18 g/L from both substrates after 48 h of fermentation. The initial concentration of glucose and galactose were completely consumed within 36 h of fermentation, of which the growth of cell also was maximum level. In addition, the bioconversion of lactic acid from the red seaweed hydrolysate by L. paracasei MONGB-2 appeared to be about 20% levels of the initial substrates concentration and this results were entirely lower than those of galactose and glucose showed about 60% of conversion. The apparent results showed that L. paracasei MONGB-2 could produce the lactic acid with glucose as well as galactose by the homofermentation through EMP pathway.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.570-575
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• 2004

2-Hydroxymuconic semialdehyde (2-HMS) dehydrogenase catalyzes the conversion of 2-HMS to 4-oxalocrotonate, which is a step in the meta cleavage pathway of aromatic hydrocarbons in bacteria. A tomC gene that encodes 2-HMS dehydrogenase of Burkholderia cepacia G4, a soil bacterium that can grow on toluene, cresol, phenol, or benzene, was overexpressed into E. coli HB 101, and its gene product was characterized in this study. 2-HMS dehydrogenase from B. cepacia G4 has a high catalytic efficiency in terms of V$_{max}$K$_{max}$ towards 2-hydroxy-5-methyl-muconic semialdehyde followed by 2-HMS but has a very low efficiency for 5-chloro-2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde. However, the enzyme did not utilize 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-hepta 2,4-dienoic acid and 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid as substrates. The molecular weight of 2-HMS dehydrogenase from B. cepacia G4 was predicted to be 52 kDa containing 485 amino acid residues from the nucleotide sequence of the tomC gene, and it exhibited the highest identity of 78% with the amino acid sequence of 2-HMS dehydrogenase that is encoded in the aphC gene of Comamonas testosteroni TA441. 2-HMS dehydrogenase from B. cepacia G4 showed a significant phylogenetic relationship not only with other 2-HMS dehydrogenases, but also with different dehydrogenases from evolutionarily distant organisms.sms.

• 대한환경공학회지
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.487-493
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• 2006

본 연구에서는 지하수에 존재하는 다양한 클로로페놀류 화합물을 제거하기 위하여 니켈로 코팅된 영가철을 이용하여 적용 타당성을 검토하였다. 다섯가지 종류의 클로로페놀 화합물을 대상으로 처리효과를 평가하였으며 중간 생성물을 분석하였다. 실험결과를 이용하여 개질된 영가철에 의한 반응경로 및 반응율을 평가하기 위하여 수치해석적 방법을 적용하였다. 개질된 영가철에 의한 오염물의 제거는 반응계수를 기준으로 2-CP>4-CP>2,4-DCP>2,4,6-TCP>2,6-DCP의 순서를 나타내었다. 수치해석 결과 각 클로로페놀 화합물의 탈염소화 반응은 연속적 단계와 평행적 단계를 거쳐 최종 생성물인 페놀화합물에 도달되는 결과를 보여주었다.

• 한국식품영양과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국식품영양과학회 2001년도 International Symposium on Food,Nutrition and Health for 21st Century
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• pp.22-37
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• 2001

Melatonin is secreted during the hours of darkness and is thought to influence the circadian and seasonal timing of a variety of physiological processes. Serotonin N-acetyltransferase (AA-NAT) which is found to be expressed in pineal gland, retina, and various tissues, catalyses the conversion of serotonin to N-acetylserotonin and is known as the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of melatonin. The compounds that modulate the activity of AA-NAT can be used to treat serotonin-and melatonin-related diseases such as insomnia, depression and seasonal affective disorders (SAD). Several assay methods have been developed by which to measure AA-NAT activity. We have also developed a simple, rapid and sensitive AA-NAT assay method that takes advantage of differences in the organic solubilities between acetyl CoA and N-acetyltryptamine. We screened modulators of AA-NAT activity from the water extracts of the medicinal plants. We found MNP1005 which strongly inhibited the activity of AA-NAT ($IC_{50}$=2.2$\mu$M). Enzyme inhibitory kinetic studies revealed that MNP1005 exhibited a noncompetitive inhibition toward tryptamine. The antidepressant effect of MNP1005 was investigated on behavioral despair test so called forced swimming test (FST). MNP1005 significantly increased swimming behavior by reducing immobility with treatment of 10 mg/kg when compared to the vehicle-treated control group (P < 0.05). This suggests that MNP1005 possesses antidepressant activity. The influence of chronic MNP1005 treatment on the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was examined by in situ hybridization and Northern blot. Chronic treatment of MNP1005 blocked the downregulation of BDNF mRNA in the frontal cortex and other cortex regions in response to restraint stress.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.257-263
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• 2014

A mammalian cell renovates itself by autophagy, a process through which cellular components are recycled to produce energy and maintain homeostasis. Recently, the abundance of gap junction proteins was shown to be regulated by autophagy during starvation conditions, suggesting that transmembrane proteins are also regulated by autophagy. Transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1), an ion channel localized to the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is a sensory transducer that is activated by a wide variety of exogenous and endogenous physical and chemical stimuli. Intriguingly, the abundance of cellular TRPV1 can change dynamically under pathological conditions. However, the mechanisms by which the protein levels of TRPV1 are regulated have not yet been explored. Therefore, we investigated the mechanisms of TRPV1 recycling using HeLa cells constitutively expressing TRPV1. Endogenous TRPV1 was degraded in starvation conditions; this degradation was blocked by chloroquine (CLQ), 3MA, or downregulation of Atg7. Interestingly, a glucocorticoid (cortisol) was capable of inducing autophagy in HeLa cells. Cortisol increased cellular conversion of LC3-I to LC-3II, leading autophagy and resulting in TRPV1 degradation, which was similarly inhibited by treatment with CLQ, 3MA, or downregulation of Atg7. Furthermore, cortisol treatment induced the colocalization of GFP-LC3 with endogenous TRPV1. Cumulatively, these observations provide evidence that degradation of TRPV1 is mediated by autophagy, and that this pathway can be enhanced by cortisol.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.549-554
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• 1993

The CO substitution reactions in the complex, $Cp^*(C_5H_7)$CrCO with $PR_3(PR_3=PMePh_2,\;P(OCH_3)_3,\;PMe_2Ph)$ were investigated spectrophotometrically at various temperatures. For the reaction rates, it was suggested that the CO substitution reaction took place by first-order (dissociative) pathway. Activation parameters in decaline are ${\Delta}H^{\neq}= 21.99{\pm}2.4$ kcal/mol, ${\Delta}S^{\neq}= 8.9{\pm}7.1$ cal/mol·k. Unusually low value of ${\Delta}S^{\neq}$, suggested an ${\eta}^5-S{\to}\;{\eta}^5$-U conversion of the pentadienyl ligand. At various temperature, the rates of reaction for the Cp(pdl)CrCO complexes increase in the order $Cp^*(C_5H_7)$-CrCO < Cp$(C_5H_7)$CrCO < Cp(2,4-$C_5H_{11}$)CrCO, which can be attributed to the usual steric acceration or electronic influence for the ligand substitution of metal complexes. This suggestion was confirmed by the extended-Huckel molecular orbital (EHMO) calculations, which revealed that the energy of $[Cp^*(U-C_5H_7)Cr]^{\neq}$ transition state is about 4.93 kcal/mol lower than that of [Cp(S-$C_5H_7)Cr]^{\neq}$ transition state, and the arrangement of the overlap populations between Cr and the carbon of CO is $Cp^*(C_5H_7)$CrCO > Cp($C_5H_7$)CrCO > Cp(2,4-$C_7H_{11}$)CrCO.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제41권12호
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• pp.1033-1044
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• 2018

As sessile organisms, plants have evolved to adjust their growth and development to environmental changes. It has been well documented that the crosstalk between different plant hormones plays important roles in the coordination of growth and development of the plant. Here, we describe a novel recessive mutant, mildly insensitive to ethylene (mine), which displayed insensitivity to the ethylene precursor, ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid), in the root under the dark-grown conditions. By contrast, mine roots exhibited a normal growth response to exogenous IAA (indole-3-acetic acid). Thus, it appears that the growth responses of mine to ACC and IAA resemble those of weak ethylene insensitive (wei) mutants. To understand the molecular events underlying the crosstalk between ethylene and auxin in the root, we identified the MINE locus and found that the MINE gene encodes the pyridoxine 5′-phosphate (PNP)/pyridoxamine 5′-phosphate (PMP) oxidase, PDX3. Our results revealed that MINE/PDX3 likely plays a role in the conversion of the auxin precursor tryptophan to indole-3-pyruvic acid in the auxin biosynthesis pathway, in which TAA1 (TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE OF ARABIDOPSIS 1) and its related genes (TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE RELATED 1 and 2; TAR1 and TAR2) are involved. Considering that TAA1 and TARs belong to a subgroup of PLP (pyridoxal-5′-phosphate)-dependent enzymes, we propose that PLP produced by MINE/PDX3 acts as a cofactor in TAA1/TAR-dependent auxin biosynthesis induced by ethylene, which in turn influences the crosstalk between ethylene and auxin in the Arabidopsis root.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.44-54
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• 2019

Geldanamycin and its derivatives, inhibitors of heat shock protein 90, are considered potent anticancer drugs, although their biosynthetic pathways have not yet been fully elucidated. The key step of conversion of 4,5-dihydrogeldanamycin to geldanamycin was expected to catalyze by a P450 monooxygenase, Gel16. The adequate bioconversions by cytochrome P450 mostly rely upon its interaction with redox partners. Several ferredoxin and ferredoxin reductases are available in the genome of certain organisms, but only a few suitable partners can operate in full efficiency. In this study, we have expressed cytochrome P450 gel16 in Escherichia coli and performed an in vitro assay using 4,5-dihydrogeldanamycin as a substrate. We demonstrated that the in silico method can be applicable for the efficient mining of convenient endogenous redox partners (9 ferredoxins and 6 ferredoxin reductases) against CYP Gel16 from Streptomyces hygroscopicus. The distances for ligand FDX4-FDR6 were found to be $9.384{\AA}$. Similarly, the binding energy between Gel16-FDX4 and FDX4-FDR6 were -611.88 kcal/mol and -834.48 kcal/mol, respectively, suggesting the lowest distance and binding energy rather than other redox partners. These findings suggest that the best redox partners of Gel16 could be NADPH ${\rightarrow}$ FDR6 ${\rightarrow}$ FDX4 ${\rightarrow}$ Gel16.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권12호
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• pp.1905-1911
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• 2020

Homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) catalyzes the reversible conversion of ʟ-aspartate-4-semialdehyde to ʟ-homoserine in the aspartate pathway for the biosynthesis of lysine, methionine, threonine, and isoleucine. HSD has attracted great attention for medical and industrial purposes due to its recognized application in the development of pesticides and is being utilized in the large scale production of ʟ-lysine. In this study, HSD from Bacillus subtilis (BsHSD) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity for biochemical characterization. We examined the enzymatic activity of BsHSD for ʟ-homoserine oxidation and found that BsHSD exclusively prefers NADP+ to NAD+ and that its activity was maximal at pH 9.0 and in the presence of 0.4 M NaCl. By kinetic analysis, Km values for ʟ-homoserine and NADP+ were found to be 35.08 ± 2.91 mM and 0.39 ± 0.05 mM, respectively, and the Vmax values were 2.72 ± 0.06 μmol/min-1 mg-1 and 2.79 ± 0.11 μmol/min-1 mg-1, respectively. The apparent molecular mass determined with size-exclusion chromatography indicated that BsHSD forms a tetramer, in contrast to the previously reported dimeric HSDs from other organisms. This novel oligomeric assembly can be attributed to the additional C-terminal ACT domain of BsHSD. Thermal denaturation monitoring by circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to determine its melting temperature, which was 54.8℃. The molecular and biochemical features of BsHSD revealed in this study may lay the foundation for future studies on amino acid metabolism and its application for industrial and medical purposes.