• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.120-122
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• 2007

All living organisms use numerous signal-transduction pathways to sense and respond to their environments and thereby survive and proliferate in a range of biological niches. Molecular dissection of these signalling networks has increased our understanding of these communication processes and provides a platform for therapeutic intervention when these pathways malfunction in disease states, including infection. Owing to the expanding availability of sequenced genomes, a wealth of genetic and molecular tools and the conservation of signalling networks, members of the fungal kingdom serve as excellent model systems for more complex, multicellular organisms. Here, we employed Cryptococcus neoformans as a model system to understand how fungal-signalling circuits operate at the molecular level to sense and respond to a plethora of environmental stresses, including osmoticshock, UV, high temperature, oxidative stress and toxic drugs/metabolites. The stress-activated p38/Hog1 MAPK pathway is structurally conserved in many organisms as diverse as yeast and mammals, but its regulation is uniquely specialized in a majority of clinical Cryptococcus neoformans serotype A and D strains to control differentiation and virulence factor regulation. C. neoformans Hog1 MAPK is controlled by Pbs2 MAPK kinase (MAPKK). The Pbs2-Hog1 MAPK cascade is controlled by the fungal "two-component" system that is composed of a response regulator, Ssk1, and multiple sensor kinases, including two-component.like (Tco) 1 and Tco2. Tco1 and Tco2 play shared and distinct roles in stress responses and drug sensitivity through the Hog1 MAPK system. Furthermore, each sensor kinase mediates unique cellular functions for virulence and morphological differentiation. We also identified and characterized the Ssk2 MAPKKK upstream of the MAPKK Pbs2 and the MAPK Hog1 in C. neoformans. The SSK2 gene was identified as a potential component responsible for differential Hog1 regulation between the serotype D sibling f1 strains B3501 and B3502 through comparative analysis of their meiotic map with the meiotic segregation of Hog1-dependent sensitivity to the fungicide fludioxonil. Ssk2 is the only polymorphic component in the Hog1 MAPK module, including two coding sequence changes between the SSK2 alleles in B3501 and B3502 strains. To further support this finding, the SSK2 allele exchange completely swapped Hog1-related phenotypes between B3501 and B3502 strains. In the serotype A strain H99, disruption of the SSK2 gene dramatically enhanced capsule biosynthesis and mating efficiency, similar to pbs2 and hog1 mutations. Furthermore, ssk2, pbs2, and hog1 mutants are all hypersensitive to a variety of stresses and completely resistant to fludioxonil. Taken together, these findings indicate that Ssk2 is the critical interface protein connecting the two-component system and the Pbs2-Hog1 pathway in C. neoformans.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.684-689
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• 2021

In this paper, we develop a cost effective and disposable voltammetric sensing platform involving screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) modified with the nanocomposites composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, polyelectrolyte, and tyrosinase for bisphenol A. This is known as an endocrine disruptor which is also related to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and female reproductive diseases, precocious puberty, and infertility. A negatively charged oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) wrapped with a positively charged polyelectrolyte, e.g., polydiallyldimethylammonium, was first wrapped with a negatively charged tyrosinae layer via electrostatic interaction and assembled onto oxygen plasma treated SPCE. The nanocomposite modified SPCE was then immersed into different concentrations of bisphenol A for a given time where the tyrosinase reacted with OH group in the bisphenol A to produce the product, 4,4'-isopropylidenebis(1,2-benzoquinone). Cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries at the potential of -0.08 V vs. Ag/AgCl was employed and peak current changes responsible to the reduction of 4,4'-isopropylidenebis(1,2-benzoquinone) were measured which linearly increased with respect to the bisphenol A concentration. In addition, the SPCE based sensor showed excellent selectivity toward an interferent agent, bisphenol S, which has a very similar structure. Finally, the sensor was applied to the analysis of bisphenol A present in an environmental sample solution prepared in our laboratory.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.2_1
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• pp.155-165
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• 2020

In this present study, the sensitivity of O₄ Air Mass Factor (AMF) to Aerosol Peak Height (APH) has been investigated using radiative transfer model according to various parameters(wavelength (340 nm and 477 nm), aerosol type (smoke, dust, sulfate), aerosol optical depth (AOD), surface reflectance, solar zenith angle, and viewing zenith angle). In general, it was found that O₄ AMF at 477 nm is more sensitive to APH than that at 340 nm and is stably retrieved with low spectral fitting error in Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) analysis. In high AOD condition, sensitivity of O₄ AMF on APH tends to increase. O₄ AMF at 340 nm decreased with increasing solar zenith angle. This dependency isthought to be induced by the decrease in length of the light path where O₄ absorption occurs due to the shielding effect caused by Rayleigh and Mie scattering at high solar zenith angles above 40°. At 477 nm, as the solar zenith angle increased, multiple scattering caused by Rayleigh and Mie scattering partly leads to the increase of O₄ AMF in nonlinear function. Based on synthetic radiance, APHs have been retrieved using O₄ AMF. Additionally, the effect of AOD uncertainty on APH retrieval error has been investigated. Among three aerosol types, APH retrieval for sulfate type is found to have the largest APH retrieval error due to uncertainty of AOD. In the case of dust aerosol, it was found that the influence of AOD uncertainty is negligible. It indicates that aerosol types affect APH retrieval error since absorption scattering characteristics of each aerosol type are various.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.258-263
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• 2023

In this study, conductive polymers and the enzyme tyrosinase (Tyr) were deposited on the surface of a screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE), which can be fabricated as a disposable sensor chip, and applied to the detection of bisphenol F (BPF), an endocrine disruptor with proven links to male diseases and thyroid disorders, using electrochemical methods. On the surface of the SPCE working electrode, which was negatively charged by oxygen plasma treatment, a positively charged conductive polymer, poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA), a negatively charged polymer compound, poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS), and another layer of PDDA were layered by electrostatic attraction in the order of PDDA, PSS, and finally PDDA. Then, a layer of Tyr, which was negatively charged due to pH adjustment to 7.0, was added to create a PDDA-PSS-PDDA-Tyr sensor for BPF. When the electrode sensor is exposed to a BPF solution, which is the substrate and target analyte, 4,4'-methylenebis(cyclohexa-3,5-diene-1,2-dione) is generated by an oxidation reaction with the Tyr enzyme on the electrode surface. The reduction process of the product at 0.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) generating 4,4'-methylenebis(benzene-1,2-diol) was measured using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries, resulting in a change in the peak current with respect to the concentration of BPF. In addition, we compared the detection performance of BPF using an ionic liquid electrolyte as an alternative to phosphate-buffered saline, which has been used in many previous sensing studies. Furthermore, the selectivity of bisphenol S, which acts as an interfering substance with a similar structure to BPF, was investigated. Finally, we demonstrated the practical applicability of the sensor by applying it to analyze the concentration of BPF in real samples prepared in the laboratory.