• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1620-1627
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• 2009

The design and expression of an antihypertensive peptide multimer (AHPM), a common precursor of 11 kinds of antihypertensive peptides (AHPs) tandemly linked up according to the restriction sites of gastrointestinal proteases, were explored. The DNA fragment encoding the AHPM was chemically synthesized and cloned into expression vector pGEX-3X. After an optimum induction with IPTG, the recombinant AHPM fused with glutathione S-transferase (GST-AHPM) was expressed mostly as inclusion body in Escherichia coli BL21 and reached the maximal production, 35% of total intracellular protein. The inclusion body was washed, dissolved, and purified by cation-exchange chromatography under denaturing conditions, followed by refolding together with size-exclusion chromatography and gradual dialysis. The resulting yield of the soluble GSTAHPM (34 kDa) with a purity of 95% reached 399 mg/l culture. The release of high active fragments from the AHPM was confirmed by the simulated gastrointestinal digestion. The results suggest that the design strategy and production method of the AHPM will be useful to obtain a large quantity of recombinant AHPs at a low cost.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.187-191
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• 2016

Craniosynostosis is defined as the premature fusion of one or more of the cranial sutures. It leads not only to secondary distortion of skull shape but to various complications including neurologic, ophthalmic and respiratory dysfunction. Craniosynostosis is very heterogeneous in terms of its causes, presentation, and management. Both environmental factors and genetic factors are associated with development of craniosynostosis. Nonsyndromic craniosynostosis accounts for more than 70% of all cases. Syndromic craniosynostosis with a certain genetic cause is more likely to involve multiple sutures or bilateral coronal sutures. FGFR2, FGFR3, FGFR1, TWIST1 and EFNB1 genes are major causative genes of genetic syndromes associated with craniosynostosis. Although most of syndromic craniosynostosis show autosomal dominant inheritance, approximately half of patients are de novo cases. Apert syndrome, Pfeiffer syndrome, Crouzon syndrome, and Antley-Bixler syndrome are related to mutations in FGFR family (especially in FGFR2), and mutations in FGFRs can be overlapped between different syndromes. Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, Muenke syndrome, and craniofrontonasal syndrome are representative disorders showing isolated coronal suture involvement. Compared to the other types of craniosynostosis, single gene mutations can be more frequently detected, in one-third of coronal synostosis patients. Molecular diagnosis can be helpful to provide adequate genetic counseling and guidance for patients with syndromic craniosynostosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2002

An angiotensin I-converting enzyme (EC 3.4.15.1) (ACE), which can convert inactive angiotensin I into angiotensin II, a vasoconstrictor, is one of the key enzymes in controlling hypertension. It is suggested that the inhibition of ACE prevents hypertension, and many inhibitory peptides have already been reported. In the current study, oligonucleotides encoding ACE inhibitory peptides (IY, VKY) were chemically synthesized and designed to be multimerised due to isoschizomer sites (BamHI, BglII). The cloned gene named AP3 was multimerised up to 6 times in pBluescript and expressed in BL2l containing pGEX-KG. The fusion protein (GST-AP3) was easily purified with a high recovery by an affinity resin, yielding 38 mg of synthetic AP3 from a 1-1 culture. The digestion of AP3 by chymotrypsin exhibited an $IC_50$ value of $18.53{\mu}M$. In conclusion, the present experiment indicated that AP3 could be used as a dietary antihypertensive drug, since the potent ACE inhibitory activity of AP3 could be activated by chymotrypsin in human intestine.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.350-355
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• 2010

Among human antimicrobial peptides (hAMPs), DCD-1L has a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity over a wide pH range and in high salt concentrations. It offers a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics. The 458-bp-long dermcidin cDNA was amplified by PCR using a human fetal cDNA library as a template. The 147-bp fragment of the MDCD-1L gene encoding an additional methionine residue was subcloned into the pTYB11 vector. Recombinant MDCD-1L was expressed as an intein fusion protein in E. coli, and then purified by affinity chromatography using chitin beads. A small peptide with a molecular mass of about 5 kDa was detected by tricine gel electrophoresis. The recombinant MDCD-1L peptide was purified from the gel and its amino acid sequence was determined by nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis. The initiating amino acid, methionine, remained attached to the N-terminal region of recombinant MDCD-1L. Purified MDCD-1L showed antimicrobial activity against a Micrococcus luteus test strain.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.92-97
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• 1999

Cytokinesis and septation should be coordinated to nuclear division in the cell division cycle for precise transmission of the genome into daughter cells. byr4, an essential gene in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, regulates the timing of cytokinesis and septation in a dosage-dependent manner. We examined the intracellular localization of the Byr4 protein by expressing byr4 as a fusion of green fluorescence protein (GFP). The Byr4 protein localizes as a single dot on the nuclear periphery of interphase cells, duplicates before mitosis, and the duplicated dots segregate with the nuclei in anaphase. The behavior of Byr4p throughout the cell cycle strongly suggests that Byr4p is localized to the spindle pole body (SPB), a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in yeast. The presence of the Byr4 protein in the SPB is consistent with its function to coordinate mitosis and cytokinesis. We also mapped the domains of Byr4p for its proper localization to SPB by expressing various byr4 deletion mutants as GFP fusions. Analyses of the diverse byr4 deletion mutants suggest that the indirect repeats and the regions homologous to the open reading frame (ORF) YJR053W of S. cerevisiae in its C-terminus are essential for its localization to the SPB.

• BMB Reports
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 1995

The Escherichia coli mixed-function serC-aroA operon encodes biosynthethic enzymes for unrelated pathways leading to the syntheses of serine and aromatic amino acids. It has been proposed that the operon is expressed in a cAMP-dependent manner. In this work experiments were performed to investigate the cAMP-dependent expression of the operon. Exogenous cAMP increased ${\beta}$-galactosidase synthesis in the $cya^+$ and cya strains harboring the serC-aroA-lac fusion plasmid. This enhancement was more dramatic in the $cya^-$ strain grown in a minimal medium. In a dot blot assay the serC-aroA mRNA content increased in a concentration-dependent pattern after the addition of exogenous cAMP. The activity of phosphoserine aminotransferase, encoded by the serC gene, apparently increased in E. coli cells after the addition of cAMP. All results obtained confirmed that the expression of the E. coli serC-aroA operon is positively regulated by cAMP at the level of transcription.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.748-753
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• 2012

A sequence of 10 amino acids at the C-terminus region of methylglyoxal synthase from Escherichia coli (EMGS) provides an arginine, which plays a crucial role in forming a salt bridge with a proximal aspartate residue in the neighboring subunit, consequently transferring the allosteric signal between subunits. In order to verify the role of arginine, the gene encoding MGS from a thermophile species, Thermus sp. GH5 (TMGS) lacking this arginine was cloned with an additional 30 bp sequence at the 3'-end and then expressed in form of a fusion TMGS with a 10 residual segment at the C-terminus ($TMGS^+$). The resulting recombinant enzyme showed a significant increase in cooperativity towards phosphate, reflected by a change in the Hill coefficient (nH) from 1.5 to 1.99. Experiments including site directed mutagenesis for Asp-10 in TMGS and $TMGS^+$, two dimentional structural survey, fluorescence and irreversible thermoinactivation were carried out to confirm this pathway.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2013

We isolated and functionally characterized a Dendrobium Actin1 (DmACT1) promoter that drives strong gene expression in the orchid genus Dendrobium. A genomic fragment containing the region 3227 bp upstream of the coding region of DmACT1 was obtained by inverse PCR. Detailed comparison of the full-length cDNA and genomic sequences revealed that DmACT1 has a 1374 bp first intron in the 5' UTR. However, the 5' flanking sequences upstream of the coding region showed no obvious sequence similarities compared to those of known promoters, including plant actin promoters. Serial deletion constructs of the 5' flanking region from the translation initiation codon were fused to the coding sequence of a GUS/luciferase fusion reporter to identify the regulatory elements necessary for promoter activity. Transient assays in the flowers of Dendrobium revealed that the 5' UTR-intron greatly enhanced promoter activity. Moreover, the DmACT1 promoter with its 5' UTR-intron yielded approximately 10-fold higher reporter activity than the rice Act1 promoter-intron. Our data suggest that the DmACT1 promoter with its 5' UTR-intron is a useful tool for strong expression of transgenes in Dendrobium orchids.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.320-329
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• 2002

A gene, coined tay, for a thermostable DNA polymerase from the novel, extremely thermophilic bacterium Thermoanaerobacter yonseiensis was cloned and expressed in E. coli. Using a DNA polymerase homologous PCR product as a hybridization probe, tay was isolated and sequenced to consist of 2621 nucleotides that encode 872 amino acids. A database analysis showed that DNA polymerase, coined Tay, from T. yonseiensis shared a 39% to 47% identity in the amino acid sequence with those from other DNA polymerases. Tay was overexpressed in E. coli as a fusion protein with a poly-histidine tag at the C-terminus. It was purified by heat treatment, followed by a $Ni^{2+}$-chelate column. The molecular weight of purified Tay was approximately 97 kDa, as shown by SDS PAGE, and it showed high DNA polymerase activity and thermostability. However, it had no 3'$\rightarrow$5' exonuclease activity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.341-346
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• 2012

Indican (indoxyl-${\beta}$-D-glucoside) is a colorless natural compound and can be used as a precursor for the production of indigo. This production step only require an enzyme, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, that readily screened from microbial resource by using selective media supplemented with indican as a sole carbon source. Agrobacterium tumefaciens was well grown in this media and thus presumed to produce a related enzyme. The corresponding gene, encoding a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 51 kDa, was cloned and overexpressed as MBP fusion proteins. The purified enzyme was determined to be a dimer and showed the maximum activity for indican at pH 7.0 and $40^{\circ}C$. The kinetic parameters for indican, Km and Vmax, were determined to be 1.4 mM and 373.8 ${\mu}M/min/mg$, respectively. The conversion yield of indican into indigo using this enzyme was about 1.7-1.8 folds higher than that of previously isolated enzyme from Sinorhizobium meliloti. Additionally, this enzyme was able to hydrolyze various ${\beta}$-1,4 glycoside substrates.