• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.280-280
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• 2013

In green plants, energy generation is accomplished through light-harvesting photosystem, which utilize abundant visible light and multi-stepwise redox reaction to oxidize water and reduce NADP+, transferring electrons efficiently with active cofactors1. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, artificial solar water-splitting devices are being designed variously. However, the several approaches involving immobilization2, conjugation3, and surface modification4 still have limitations. We have made artificial photosynthesis templates by self-assembling tyrosine-based peptide to mimick photosystem II. Porphyrin sensitizer absorbing blue light strongly was conjugated with the templates and they were hybridized with cobalt oxide through the reduction of cobalt ions in an aqueous solution. The formation of hybrid templates was characterized using TEM, and their water oxidation performance was measured by fluorescence oxygen probe. Our results suggest that the bio-templated assembly of functional compounds has a great potential for artificial photosynthesis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1839-1844
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• 2009

A 20-residue hybrid peptide CA(1-8)-MA(1-12) (CAMA) incorporating residues 1-8 of cecropin A (CA) and residues 1-12 of magainin 2 (MA) has high antimicrobial activity without toxicity. To investigate the effects of the total positive charges of CAMA on the antibacterial activity and toxicity, a hybrid peptide analogue (CAMA-syn) was designed with substitutions of $Ile^{10}\;and\;Ser^{16}$ with Lys. According to CD spectra, structure of CAMA-syn with increase of cationicity was very similar to that of CAMA in DPC micelle. CAMA-syn showed antimicrobial activity similar with CAMA while CAMA-syn has no hemolytic activity and much lower cytotoxicity against RAW 264.7 macrophage cells than CAMA. Also, CAMA and CAMA-syn significantly inhibited NO production by LPSstimulated RAW264.7 macrophage at 10.0∼20.0 $\mu$M. CAMA-syn displayed salt resistance on antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli at the physiological concentrations of $CaCl_2\;and\;MgCl_2$. The combination studies of peptides and antibiotics showed that CAMA-syn has synergistic effects with synthetic compound and flavonoid against Enterococcus faecalis and VREF. CAMA-syn can be a good candidate for the development of new antibiotics with potent antibacterial and synergistic activity but without cytotoxicity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.328-333
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• 2008

A series of pep tides binding to the HCV NS5B polymerase was selected from phage display peptide libraries. A conserved motif of Ser-Arg-X-Arg/Leu was identified among the selected peptides, and Pep2 (Trp-Ser-Arg-Pro-Arg-Ser-Leu) was chosen for further characterization. The binding of Pep2 to HCV NS5B in vivo was shown by a yeast two-hybrid assay and by subcellular colocalization analysis using immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. The in vitro interaction was also confirmed by GST pulldown assay. The replication of the HCV 1b subgenomic replicon was efficiently inhibited by the presence of the peptide. By using a subtractive biopanning against Pep2, the binding site of the peptide was mapped at the pocket of Pro388 to Pro391 in the thumb subdomain of the polymerase. A yeast two-hybrid analysis using Pro388Ala and Pro391Ala mutants of NS5B confirmed the binding.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1078-1084
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• 1999

A synthetic cecropin A(1-13)-melittin(1-13) [CA-ME] hybrid peptide was known to be an antimicrobial peptide having strong antibacterial, antifungal and antitumor activity with minimal cytotoxic effect against human erythrocyte. Analogues were synthesized to investigate the influences of the flexible hinge region of CA-ME on the antibiotic activity. Antibiotic activity of the peptides was measured by the growth inhibition against bac-terial, fungal and tumor cells and vesicle-aggregating or disrupting activity. The deletion of Gln-Gly-Ile (P1) or Gly-Gln-Gly-Ile-Gly (P3) from CA-ME brought about a significant decrease on the antibiotic activities. In contrast, Gly-Ile-Gly deletion (P2) from CA-ME or Pro insertion (P5) instead of Gly-Gln-Gly-Ile-Gly of CA-ME retained antibiotic activity. This result indicated that the flexible hinge or β-bend structure provided by Gly-Gln-Gly-Ile-Gly, Gln-Gly, or Pro in the central region of the peptides is requisite for its effective antibiotic activity and may facilitate easily the hydrophobic C-terminal region of the peptide to penetrate the lipid bilayers of the target cell membrane. In contrast, P4 and P6 with Gly-Gln-Gly-Pro-Gly or Gly-Gln-Pro in the central region of the peptide caused a drastic reduction on the antibiotic activities. This result suggested that the con-secutive β-bend structure provided by Gly-Gln-Gly-Pro-Gly or Gly-Gln-Pro in the central hinge region of the peptide seems to interrupt the ion channel/pore formation on the target cell membranes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.595-600
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• 1998

In order to investigate a relationship of the structure-antifungal and hemolytic activities between cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) and cecropin A(1-8)-melittin(1-12) hybrid peptides, several analogues with amino acid substitution at positions 10 (Ile) and 16 (Ser) were designed and synthesized. The increase of the hydrophobicity by substituting with Leu, Phe, and Trp at position 16 in cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) did not have a significant effect on antifungal activity but caused a remarkable increase in hemolytic activity. These results indicate that the hydrophobic property at position 16 of cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) is more correlated to hemolytic activity than to antifungal activity. Replacement with Pro at position 10 of cecropin A(1-8)- magainin 2(1-12) and cecropin A(1-8)-melittin (1-12) caused a remarkable decrease in a-helical contents in the 50% TFE solution and induced a reduction in lytic activity against Aspergillus flavus, and Aspergillus fumigatus. These results demonstrate that flexibility at the central hinge region is essential for lytic activity against fungal cells and $\alpha$-helicity of the peptides.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.170-174
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• 1997

In order to design a novel synthetic peptide with improved fungicidal activity but low hemolytic activity, a hybrid peptide, cecropin A(l-8)-magainin 2(1-12), and its analogue peptides were synthesized by the solid phase method. Antifungal and hemolytic activities of the synthetic peptides were assessed by the growth inhibition against Trichosporon beigelii and the cell membrane lysis against human red hlood cells, respectively. Analogue 2 in which Lys at position 12 in cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) was substituted with Ala showed most potent antifungal activity (MIC: 2.5.$\mu$g/ml) with minimal hemolytic activity (0.5% hemolysis at the (200.$\mu$g/ml peptide). This peptide (A2), therefore, could be useful as a model for further designing potent antifungal peptides without cytotoxicity.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1990.06a
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• pp.65-67
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• 1990

The sequence of ginseng peptide gene was designed and synthesized by the solid phase plasmid pUC19. Escherichia coli JM101 cells were transformed with above hybrid plasmids. Ampicillin resistant transformants were screened and identified by in situ colony hybridization and Southern blot techinques. Finally the gene sequencing was done by the Sanger dideoxy method using primer extension.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.207-209
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• 1990

The sequence of ginseng peptide gene was designed and synthesized by the solid phase phosphoramidiate method. Synthetic segments were isolated, pllrified and joined to the plasmid pUC19. E.icherichiu coli JM101 cells were transformed with above hybrid plasmids. AmpiciIBin resistant transformants were screened and identified by in situ colony hybridization and Southern blot techniques. Finally the gene sequencing was done by the Sanger dideoxy method using primer extension.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.21-24
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• 1997

The hybrid peptides, CA-ME, CA-MA and CA-BO, with the N-terminal sequence 1-8 of cecropin A and the N-terminal sequences 1-12 of melittin, magainin 2 and bombinin, respectively, have more improved antibacterial activities. CA-MA was found to have stronger antifungal activity against Trichoderma sp than other hybrid peptides and their parental peptides. In order to elucidate the relationships between the peptide structure and antifungal activity, several analogues of CA-MA or CA-BO were also designed and synthesized by the solid phase method. An tifungal activity was measured against T. reesei and T. viride, and hemolytic activity was measured by a solution method against human red blood cells. The residue 16 of CA-MA, Ser, was found to be important for antifungal activity. When the residue was substituted with Leu, showed powerful antifungal activity was dramatically decreased. CA-MA, P1, P4 and P5 designed in this study showed powerful antifungal activity against T. reesei and T. viride with low hemolytic activity against human red blood cells. These hybrid peptides will be potentially useful model to further design peptides with powerful antifungal activity for the effective therepy of fungal infection and understand the mechanisms of antifungal actions of hybrid peptides.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2005

HtrA2/Omi is a mammalian mitochondrial serine protease homologous to the E. coli HtrA/DegP gene products. Recently, HtrA2/Omi was found to have a dual role in mammalian cells, acting as an apoptosis-inducing protein and being involved in maintenance of mitochondrial homeostasis. By screening a human brain cDNA library with $A{\beta}$ peptide as bait in a yeast two-hybrid system, we identified HtrA2/Omi as a binding partner of $A{\beta}$ peptide. The interaction between $A{\beta}$ peptide and HtrA2/Omi was confirmed by an immunoblot binding assay. The possible involvement of HtrA2/Omi in $A{\beta}$ peptide metabolism was investigated. In vitro peptide cleavage assays showed that HtrA2/Omi did not directly promote the production of $A{\beta}$ peptide at the ${\beta}/{\gamma}$-secretase level, or the degradation of $A{\beta}$ peptide. However, overexpression of HtrA2/Omi in K269 cells decreased the production of $A{\beta}40$ and $A{\beta}42$ by up to 30%. These results rule out the involvement of HtrA2/Omi in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease. However, the fact that overexpression of HtrA2/Omi reduces the generation of $A{\beta}40$ and $A{\beta}42$ suggests that it may play some positive role in mammalian cells.