• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.170-175
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• 2011

We identified a bovine $B_{12}$ trafficking chaperone bCblC in Bos taurus that showed 88% amino acid sequence identity with a human homologue. The protein bCblC was purified from E. coli by over-expression of the encoding gene. bCblC bound cyanocobalamin (CNCbl), methylcobalamin (MeCbl) and adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) in the base-off states and eliminated the upper axial ligands forming aquo/hydroxocobalamin ($OH_2$/OHCbl) under aerobic conditions. A transition of $OH_2$/OHCbl was induced upon binding to bCblC. Interestingly, bCblC-bound $OH_2$/OHCbl did not react with reduced glutathione (GSH), while the reaction of free$OH_2$/OHCbl with GSH resulted in the formation of glutathionylcobalamin (GSCbl) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG). Furthermore we found that bCblC eliminates the GSH ligand of GSCbl forming $OH_2$/OHCbl. The results demonstrated that bCblC is a $B_{12}$ trafficking chaperone that binds cobalamins and protects $OH_2$/OHCbl from GSH, which could be oxidized to GSSG by free $OH_2$/OHCbl.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2000

Streptomyces coelicolor produces three kinds of catalases to cope with oxidative stress and to allow normal differentiation. Catalase A is the major vegetative catalase which functions in removing hydrogen peroxide generated during the process of aerobic metabolism. To understand the regulatory mechanism of response against oxidative stress, hydrogen peroxide-resistant mutant (HR4O) was isolated from S. coelicolor J1501 following UV mutagenesis. The mutant overproduced catalase A more than 50-fo1d compared with the wild type. The mutation locus catRI was mapped closed to the mthB2 locus by genetic crossings. An ordered cosmid library of S. coelicolor encompassing the mthB2 locus was used to isolate the regulator gene (catR) which represses catalase overproduction when introduced into HR4O. A candidate catR gene was found to encode a Fur-like protein of 138 amino acids (15319 Da).

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.94-104
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• 2011

Salt stress is a major environmental factor influencing plant growth and development. To identify salt tolerance determinants, we systematically screened salt sensitive rice mutants by use of the Activator/Dissociation (Ac/Ds) transposon tagging system. In this study, we focused on the salt sensitive mutant line, designated SSM-1. A gene encoding a NAC transcription factor homologue was disrupted by the insertion of a Ds transposon into SSM-1 line. The OsNAC075 gene (EU541472) has 7 exons and encodes a protein (486-aa) containing the NAC domain in its N-terminal region. Sequence comparison showed that the OsNAC075 protein had a strikingly conserved region at the N-terminus, which is considered as the characteristic of the NAC protein family. OsNAC075 protein was orthologous to Arabidopsis thaliana ANAC075. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed OsNAC075 belonged to the OsNAC3 subfamily, which plays an important role in response to stress stimuli. RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of OsNAC075 gene was rapidly and strongly induced by stresses such as NaCl, ABA and low temperature ($4^{\circ}C$). Our data suggest that OsNAC075 holds promising utility in improving salt tolerance in rice.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 1997

A system for studying oxidative hemolysis has been used by controling UV-irradiation and concentration of a novel molecular probe, N,N'-bis(2-hydroperoxy-2-methoxyethyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetra-carboxylic diimide (NP-III), which generates hydroxyl radical upon longer wavelength photoirradiation (> 350 nm). NP-III induces 25~30% of hemolysis at low concentration (50 $\mu$M) for 3h-irradiation of UVA. The simultaneous treatment of N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) with NP-IH completely hemotyzed erythrocytes under the same conditions as NP-III alone by both decreasing thiol group and increasing lipid peroxidation in erythrocyte membrane. However. thiol-reducing agents prevented the protein-crosslinking and lipid peroxidation on the NEM-synergistic hemolysis by partially scavenging hydroxyl radical and maintaining the thiol group of erythrocyte membrane in the reduced state. In addition, erythrocytes pretreated with 2,2,5,7,8-pentamethyl-6-hydroxychromane (PMC), vitamin E homologue was able to delay and decrease the lipid peroxidation when compared to cells pretreated with both NEM and PMC. We suggest that the presence of reduced thiols in inner membrane protein by GSH can prevent the protein-crosslinking and the lipid peroxidation, and eventually prevent the oxidative hemolysis of erythrocyte.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.282-288
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• 2015

Viriditoxin is a fungal metabolite isolated from Paecilomyces variotii, which was derived from the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai. Viriditoxin was reported to inhibit polymerization of FtsZ, which is a key protein for bacterial cell division and a structural homologue of eukaryotic tubulin. Both tubulin and FtsZ contain a GTP-binding domain, have GTPase activity, assemble into protofilaments, two-dimensional sheets, and protofilament rings, and share substantial structural identities. Accordingly, we hypothesized that viriditoxin may inhibit eukaryotic cell division by inhibiting tubulin polymerization as in the case of bacterial FtsZ inhibition. Docking simulation of viriditoxin to ${\beta}-tubulin$ indicated that it binds to the paclitaxel-binding domain and makes hydrogen bonds with Thr276 and Gly370 in the same manner as paclitaxel. Viriditoxin suppressed growth of A549 human lung cancer cells, and inhibited cell division with G2/M cell cycle arrest, leading to apoptotic cell death.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.389-394
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• 2006

Human seven-in-absentia (SIAH)-interacting protein (SIP) is a component of the E3 ligase complex targeting beta-catenin for destruction. Arabidopsis has one SIP protein (AtSIP) with 32% amino acid sequence identity to SIP. To investigate the functions of AtSIP, we isolated an atsip knockout mutant, and generated transgenic plants overexpressing AtSIP. The growth rates and morphologies of the atsip and transgenic plants were indistinguishable from those of wild type. However, atsip plants were more susceptible to Pseudomonas syringae infection, and the transgenic plants overexpressing AtSIP were more resistant. Consistent with this, RNA blot analysis showed that the AtSIP gene is strongly induced by wounding and hydrogen peroxide treatment. In addition, when plants were infected with P. syringae, AtSIP was transiently induced prior to PR-1 induction. These observations show that Arabidopsis AtSIP plays a role in resistance to pathogenic infection.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.158-165
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• 1996

The signal transduction pathways through the RAS gene product and adenyl cyclease play a critical role in regulation of the cell cycle in yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We examined the genetic relationship between the spt3 gene and ras/cAMP pathway. A mutation in the SPT3 gene suppressed cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase caused by either an inactivation of the RAS or CYR1 gene which encodes a yeast homologue of human ras proto-oncogene or adenyl cyclase, respectively. The phenotypes such as sporulation and heat shock resistancy, that resulted from a partial inactivation of the RAS or CYR1 genes, were also suppressed by the spt3 mutation. Expression of the SSA1 gene encoding one of th heat shock proteins (Hsp70) can be induced by heat shock or nitrogen starvation. Expression of this gene is derepressed in cry1-2 and spt3 mutants. The bcy 1 mutation repressed by the bcy1 mutation, but not in spt3 mutants. These results suggest that the SPT gene is involved in expression of genes that are affected by the RAS/cAMP pathway.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.228-234
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• 2005

Caenorhabditis elegans him-6 mutants, which show a high incidence of males and partial embryonic lethality, are defective in the orthologue of human Bloom's syndrome protein (BLM). When strain him-6(e1104) containing a missense him-6 mutation was irradiated with ${\gamma}$-rays during germ cell development or embryogenesis, embryonic lethality was higher than in the wild type, suggesting a critical function of the wild type gene in mitotic and pachytene stage germ cells as well as in early embryos. Even in the absence of ${\gamma}$-irradiation, apoptosis was elevated in the germ cells of the him-6 strain and this increase was dependent on a functional p53 homologue (CEP-1), suggesting that spontaneous DNA damage accumulates due to him-6 deficiency. However, induction of germline apoptosis by ionizing radiation was not significantly affected by the deficiency, indicating that HIM-6 has no role in the induction of apoptosis by exogenous DNA damage. We conclude that the C. elegans BLM orthologue is involved in DNA repair in promeiotic cells undergoing homologous recombination, as well as in actively dividing germline and somatic cells.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.136-140
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• 2000

A novel 6-deoxyhexose biosynthetic gene cluster different from the one for the biosynthesis of streptomycin was isolated from Streptomyces griseus using specifically designed PCR primers to compare the sequence of known dTDP-glucose synthase genes. We cloned a 5.8-kb DNA from Streptomyces griseus ATCC10137, which contained the 4-ketoreductase homologue (grsB), dTDP-glucose synthase (grsD), and dTDP-glucose 4, 6-dehydratase (grsE) genes. Escherichia coli cultures containing plasmid of the PCR product which encoded the grsE region under the controUed T7 promoter were able to catalyze the formation of dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose from TDP-glucose. The enzyme showed high substrate specificity, being specific to only dTDP-glucose that is known to be incorporated into secondary metabolites such as antibiotics.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.433-440
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• 2016

Inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate [$IP_3$] receptors binding protein released with $IP_3$ (IRBIT) was previously reported as an activator of NBCe1-B. Recent studies have characterized IRBIT homologue S-Adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase-like 2 (AHCYL2). AHCYL2 is highly homologous to IRBIT (88%) and heteromerizes with IRBIT. The two important domains in the N-terminus of AHCYL2 are a PEST domain and a coiled-coil domain which are highly comparable to those in IRBIT. Therefore, in this study, we tried to identify the role of those domains in mouse AHCYL2 (Ahcyl2), and we succeeded in identifying PEST domain of Ahcyl2 as a regulation region for NBCe1-B activity. Site directed mutagenesis and coimmunoprecipitation assay showed that NBCe1-B binds to the N-terminal Ahcyl2-PEST domain, and its binding is determined by the phosphorylation of 4 critical serine residues (Ser151, Ser154, Ser157, and Ser160) in Ahcyl2 PEST domain. Also we revealed that 4 critical serine residues in Ahcyl2 PEST domain are indispensable for the activation of NBCe1-B using measurement of intracellular pH experiment. Thus, these results suggested that the NBCe1-B is interacted with 4 critical serine residues in Ahcyl2 PEST domain, which play an important role in intracellular pH regulation through NBCe1-B.