• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.143-148
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• 1994

The relationships between microbial activity and physico-KDICical characteristics of soils were investigated in three golf courses of Kwanak, Gold and Korea Country Clubs, with different open years. The soil samples were collected in tee, fairway and rough. There were ranges of 4.80-5.55 in pH, $25.55-98.50{\mu}S$ / cm in conductivity, 10.96-16.73% in moisture content, 0.18-0.36g / g in water holding capacity, 3.68-5.39% in organic matter, and 0.10-0.25% in total nitrogen. Dehydrogenase activity(DHA) as an index of soil microbial activity was determined. DHA values of soil were $69.83-314.43{\mu}$g / g in three courses and showed the order of Kwanak>Gold>Korea Country Club with open year. This indicates that DHA was affected by several fertilizer treatments rather than herbicide and pesticide treatments. DHA was significantly different with golf clubs as well as golf courses and positively correlated with water holding capacity and total nitrogen.

• BMB Reports
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.12-16
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• 1995

The branched-chain ${\alpha}$-keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKAD) complex is a rate limiting enzyme which catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of branched-chain ${\alpha}$-keto acids. Numerous studies have suggested that BCKAD is subject to covalent modification in vitro via phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, which are catalyzed by a specific kinase and phosphatase, respectively. The biggest difficulty in the assay of BCKAD activity is to arrest the interconversion between the active and inactive forms. BCKAD activity was determined from fresh rat heart and liver tissues using homogenizing and assay buffers containing inhibitors of phosphatase and kinase. The results suggest that a radiochemical assay using ${\alpha}$-keto[1-$^{14}C$]-isovalerate as a substrate for the enzyme can be applied as a reliable method to determine in vitro enzyme activity with arrested interconversion between the active and inactive forms of the BCKAD complex.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.223-227
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• 2006

Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) belongs to the pyridine nucleotide-disulfide oxidoreductase family including glutathione reductase and thioredoxin reductase. It catalyzes the reoxidation of dihydrolipoyl moiety of the acyltransferase components of three $\alpha$-keto acid dehydrogenase complexes and of the hydrogen-carrier protein of the glycine cleavage system. Isoleucine-51 of human E3, located near the active disulfide center Cys residues, is highly conserved in most E3s from several sources. To examine the importance of this highly conserved Ile-51 in human E3 function, it was substituted with Ala using site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant was expressed in Escherichia coli and highly purified using an affinity column. Its E3 activity was decreased about 100-fold, indicating that the conservation of the Ile-51 residue in human E3 was very important to the efficient catalytic function of the enzyme. Its altered spectroscopic properties implied that conformational changes could occur in the mutant.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.268-272
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• 1992

Alcohol dehydrogenase activity of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 4259 was studied for its specificity against substrates in acidogenic and solventogenic cultures. The bacterium reduces propionate, valerate and caproate added to the medium to the corresponding alcohols. Acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldhyde, pentanal, and hexanal were used as the substrates by alcohol dehydrogenase, and all were reduced to the corresponding alcohols with varying affinities and reaction velocities. Acetaldehyde showed the lowest affinity and lowest velocity while the other aldehydes showed similar $K_m\;and\;V_max$ values. NADPH was used as the electron donor for the reduction of aldehydes. Alcohol dehydrogenase activity was low in acidogenic culture, and high in solventogenic culture.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1994

Sprague-Dawley rats were given freely with 15% ethanol (control) and 15% ethanol containing (1) 0.1% ginseng saponin, (2) 0.02% ginsenoside $Rb_1$, and (3) $Rg_1$ (tests) instead of water for 7 days and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in different regions of brain were examined. In control group, total ALDH activity with indoleacetaldehyde and acetaldehyde as substrate in all different regions was lower than that of normal group except in the hippocampus. The inhibitory effect on the activity was prominent in the corpus striatum and was not in the hippocampus. However, low-$K_m$ ALDH activity in all different regions was much lower than that of normal group. A considerable decrease in mitochondria ALDH activity in cerebellum and striatum was also observed in control group. In test groups total, low-$K_m$, and mitochondria AkDH activities in all different regions were higher than those in control group. Although ALDH activity in the striatum of test group was higher than control group, it was relatively depressed as compared with normal. There was not found a remarkable difference in extent of stimulating effect on the AkDH activity according to the ginseng saponin components. When biogenic aldehydes were used as substrate, ALDH activity with 3,4-dihydroxy-phenylacetaldehyde (DOPAL) in all brain regions of control group was lower than that using 5-hydroxy-indoleacetaldehyde (HIAL) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycolaldehyde (NORAL) as substrate. In control group, ALDH activity with biogenic aldehydes above mentioned was markedly inhibited in the striatum contrary to other regions. The higher ALDH activity with biogenic aldehydes in test group than in control was found in the striatum, cerebrum, and cerebellum. MAO activity in the cerebellum was inhibited in control group and slightly increased in test group. The results of present study suggest that the corpus striatum is significantly affected by ethanol exposure while the hippocampus is not and that ginseng saponin fraction and ginsenosid es might have a preventive effect against depression of brain ALDH activity by chronic administration of ethanol.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.515-520
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• 1999

Incubation of two types of glutamate dehydrogenase isoproteins from bovine brain with the arginine-specific dicarbonyl reagent phenylglyoxal resulted in a biphasic loss of enzyme activity. Reaction of the glutamate dehydrogenase isoproteins with phenylglyoxal caused a rapid loss of 53~62% of the enzyme activities and modification of two residues of arginine per enzyme subunit. Prolonged incubation of the glutamate dehydrogenase isoproteins with phenylglyoxal resulted in the modification of an additional four residues of arginine per enzyme subunit without further loss of the residual activities. Partial protection against inactivation was provided by the coenzyme NADH or substrate 2-oxoglutarate. The most marked decrease in the rate of inactivation was observed by the combined addition of NADH and 2-oxoglutarate, suggesting that the first two modified arginine residues are in the vicinity of the catalytic site. However, inactivation of the glutamate dehydrogenase isoproteins by phenylglyoxal appears to be partial with approximately 40% activity remained after an extended reaction time with excess reagent, suggesting that the modified arginine residues may not be directly involved in catalysis. The lack of complete protection by substrates also suggest the possibility that the modified arginine residues are not directly involved at the active site, and the partial loss of activity by the modification of arginine residues may be due to a conformational change. There were no significant differences between the two glutamate dehydrogenase isoproteins in sensitivities to inactivation by phenylglyoxal, indicating that the microenvironmental structures of the glutamate dehydrogenase isoproteins are very similar to each other.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.148-156
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• 1994

Chloral hydrate(CH), an intermediate metabolite of trichloroethylene(TRI) is reduced to trichloroethanol(TCE-OH), and is oxidized to trichloroacetic acid(TCA) by the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide(NAD)-dependent enzymes such as alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase(ALDH) in liver. This study was performed to find out the change of activity of ADH and ALDH with increasing amount of TRI. Intraperitoneal injection of TRI were done to the male Sprague Dawely rats(mean body weight, $170{\pm}10g$) in com oil at the dosage of 150, 300, 600 mg/kg for 2 days. The results of experiments are following : 1. The contents of xenobiotic metabolic enzymes in liver are tended to be decreased with increasing amount of, but not significantlly (p>0.05). 2. Activity of ADH in microsome is decreased(p<0.05), and activity of ALDH is increased with amount of TRI(P<0.05). 3. Total trichloro-compounds(TTC) concentration in urine are increased with amount of TRI, but the ratio of between the TCE-OH and the TCA were not shown any critical change. These results suggests that the ALDH in microsome may be related to metabolism of TRI, but ADH was nothing less than the effected to metabolism of TRI.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.153-157
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• 1991

Intracellular enzymes of an extreme halophilic bacterium, Halobacterium sp. HE10, isolated from a saltern in Korea was investigated. The membrane-bound enzyme, NADH dehydrogenase, involved in electron transport system was stimulated by the addition of 2.0 M NaCl. The respiratory enzyme activities such as NADH oxidase and NADH dehydrogenase was decreased on removal of $Na^+$ ion and restored when replaced with cations like $K^+$, $Li^+$and $NH_{4}^{+}$ ions. Furthermore, their activities were affected by the anions such like carbonate, acetate, sulfate, chloride and nitrate at the presence of $Na^+$ion. Lactate dehydrogenase activity was highest at the asturated solution of NaCl and isocitrate dehydrogenase activity was a maximum level at 1.0 M NaCl. These results suggested that the enzyme activites of the respiratory chain in Halobacterium sp. EH10 was stimulated by the presence of $Na^+$ ion.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.552-555
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• 1989

A 150-fold purified preparation of NADPH-specific glutamate dehydrogenase of Corynebacterium glutamicum (1) was used for the determination of kinetic parameters of the substrates, NADPH, NH$_4$Cl, and $\alpha$-ketoglutarate in the direction of glutamate synthesis. The kinetic constants determined from this study suggest a biosynthetic role for the enzyme, Based on the analysis of the result derived from initial velocity, the reaction mechanism was postulated to be ordered addition with NADPH as a first substrate to bind in the forward direction. Of the several metabolites tested for a possible function in the regulation of glutamate dehydrogenase activity, only malate and citrate were appeared to have an appreciable influence on the enzyme, Potassium chloride showed to be the most effective for the enzyme activity.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.867-872
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• 1994

Progesterone catabolizing enzyme, the enzyme $20{\alpha}$-hydroxysteroid dehydrgenase($20{\alpha}$-HSD) is pivotal in the regulation of ovarian function in rodents, which catabolizes progesterone into biologically inactive $20{\alpha}$-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one($20{\alpha}$-OHP). In this study was carried out the influence of $20{\alpha}$-HSD activity of ovarian function, we investigated changes in ovarian cytosol $20{\alpha}$-HSD activity and serume progesterone concentration during the estrous cycles and pregnancy in rat. During the estrous cycles, the $20{\alpha}$-HSD activities were highest on the progestrous, but serum progesterone concentration was lowest on this phase. During the pregnancy, the $20{\alpha}$-HSD activities were relatively higher early pregnancy(day-1-3 gestation) and late pregnancy(day 21 to parturition), serum progesterone concentration was maintained significantly high to day 19 of gestation. The $20{\alpha}$-HSD activities were lower during the middle pregnancy. From these results, ovarian $20{\alpha}$-HSD activities may possibly act as physiologically very important in the control and maintenance of estrous cycles in rat.