• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.373-377
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• 2016

An extracellular metalloprotease, Btmp, was partially purified from the culture supernatant of Bacillus thuringiensis 29-126, isolated from animal feces collected in a zoological garden in Japan, by ultrafiltration, ammonium sulfate precipitation, and a set of chromatography on Sephadex G-75 and High-Q. The molecular mass of the protease was estimated to be 60 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The enzyme showed optimum activity at $50^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.0, and had a half-life of 14 min at $50^{\circ}C$. The enzyme activity was not influenced by $Na^+$, $K^+$, $As^+$, $Mg^{+2}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Ba^{2+}$, and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, but it was moderately inhibited by $Zn^{+2}$ at a concentration of 1.0 mM, while the activity was significantly inhibited to less than 50 % by $Cu^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, $Cd^{2+}$, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Interestingly, the enzyme was activated to 178 % by 1.0 mM of $Mn^{2+}$. From these results, it may be suggested that the protease is a novel extracellular manganeseactivated metalloprotease.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.109-115
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• 2009

The gene encoding a putative aspartate aminotransferase in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) was cloned using PCR technique. The gene was ligated with pET-21(a) vector containing His6 tag and expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3). Affinity purification of the recombinant aspartate aminotransferase with Ni-NTA resin resulted in one band by SDS-PAGE analysis. The purified enzyme showed a molecular weight of 43 kDa, as expected. The enzyme was the most active toward L-aspartate as an amino donor, indicating that the purified enzyme is one of aspartate aminotrans-ferases exist in Xoo. Optimal activity of the enzyme was observed at around pH 7.5 and stability was much higher at alkaline pH rather than acidic pH values. The enzyme was considerably activated by the presence of manganese ion, showing about 157% of control activity at 1.0 mM.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.307-315
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• 2017

Background: Red-skin root disease has seriously decreased the quality and production of Panax ginseng (ginseng). Methods: To explore the disease's origin, comparative analysis was performed in different parts of the plant, particularly the epidermis, cortex, and/or fibrous roots of 5-yr-old healthy and diseased red-skin ginseng. The inorganic element composition, phenolic compound concentration, reactive oxidation system, antioxidant concentrations such as ascorbate and glutathione, activities of enzymes related to phenolic metabolism and oxidation, and antioxidative system particularly the ascorbate-glutathione cycle were examined using conventional methods. Results: Aluminum (Al), iron (Fe), magnesium, and phosphorus were increased, whereas manganese was unchanged and calcium was decreased in the epidermis and fibrous root of red-skin ginseng, which also contained higher levels of phenolic compounds, higher activities of the phenolic compound-synthesizing enzyme phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and the phenolic compound oxidation-related enzymes guaiacol peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase. As the substrate of guaiacol peroxidase, higher levels of $H_2O_2$ and correspondingly higher activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase were found in red-skin ginseng. Increased levels of ascorbate and glutathione; increased activities of $\text\tiny L$-galactose 1-dehydrogenase, ascorbate peroxidase, ascorbic acid oxidase, and glutathione reductase; and lower activities of dehydroascorbate reductase, monodehydroascorbate reductase, and glutathione peroxidase were found in red-skin ginseng. Glutathione-S-transferase activity remained constant. Conclusion: Hence, higher element accumulation, particularly Al and Fe, activated multiple enzymes related to accumulation of phenolic compounds and their oxidation. This might contribute to red-skin symptoms in ginseng. It is proposed that antioxidant and antioxidative enzymes, especially those involved in ascorbate-glutathione cycles, are activated to protect against phenolic compound oxidation.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.82-89
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• 1998

This study was performed to elucidate the purification and characterization of pretease from saewoo-jeot, a Korean traditional salt-fermented shrimp product. The protease in saewoo-jeot (Acetes japonicus) were extracted, desalted through electrodialysis and purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. Purified enzyme had specific activity of 8.4 unit/mg, yield of 14% and purification fold of 9.8. Purified enzyme was confirmed as single band protein by polyacrylamide gel electrophresis and the molecular weight was estimated to be about 24 kDa. The optimal pH and temperature for the enzyme activity were 8.0 and $40^{\circ}C$, respectively. The range of its stability to the pH and temperature were 7.0 to 10.0 and $30^{\circ}C\;to\;60^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity of enzyme to synthetic substrate showed BAPNA and TAME. The enzyme was activated significantly by manganese ions, while inhibited by STI, TLCK. metals $(K^+,\;Li^+,\;Na^+,\;Ca^{++},\;Co^{++},\;Cu^{++},\;Mg^{++},\;Ba^{++},\;Hg^{++},\;Zn^{++},\;Fe^{+++})$. The Km value of the enzyme was $5.1{\times}10^{-7}\;M$ to hammersten casein. It's suggested that purified protease from saewoo-jeot seemed to be trypsin-like enzyme.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.581-588
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• 2016

Lonchocarpine is a phenylpropanoid compound isolated from Abrus precatorius that has anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, and antiepileptic activities. In the present study, we investigated the antioxidant effects of lonchocarpine in brain glial cells and analyzed its molecular mechanisms. We found that lonchocarpine suppressed reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell death in hydrogen peroxide-treated primary astrocytes. In addition, lonchocarpine increased the expression of anti-oxidant enzymes, such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), and manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), which are all under the control of Nrf2/antioxidant response element (ARE) signaling. Further, mechanistic studies showed that lonchocarpine increases the nuclear translocation and DNA binding of Nrf2 to ARE as well as ARE-mediated transcriptional activities. Moreover, lonchocarpine increased the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and three types of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). By treating astrocytes with each signaling pathway-specific inhibitor, AMPK, c-jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK), and p38 MAPK were identified to be involved in lonchocarpine-induced HO-1 expression and ARE-mediated transcriptional activities. Therefore, lonchocarpine may be a potential therapeutic agent for neurode-generative diseases that are associated with oxidative stress.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 1999

Wood components, cellulose and lignin, are degraded simultaneously and the general outline for the complementary character of carbohydrates and lignin decomposition as well as the existence of enzymatic systems combining these processes is still valid. The degradatiion of free cellulose or hemicellulose into monosaccharides has long been known to be relatively simple, but the mechanism of lignin degradatiion wasn ot solved very clearly yet. Anyway the biodegradation of woold constituents is understood at present as an enzymatic process. Kigninolytic activity has been correlated with lignin and manganese peroxidases. At present the attention is paid to laccase. Laccase oxidizes lignin molecule to phenoxy radicals and quinones . This oxidation can lead to the cleavageo f C-C or C-O bonds in the lignin phenyl-propane subunits, resulting either in degradation of both side chains and aromatic rings, or in demethylation processes. The role of laccase lies in the "activation" of some low molecular weight mediators and radicals produced by fungal cultures. Such activated factors produced also in cooperation with other enzymes are probably exported to the wood environment where they work in degradation processes as the ' enzyme messengers." It is worth mentioning that only fungi possessing laccase show demethylating activity. Thus demethylation, the process important for ligninolysis, is probably caused exclusively by laccase. Under natural conditions laccase seems to work with other fungal enzymes , mediators and mediating radicals. It has shown the possibility of direct Bjrkman lignin depolymerization by cooperative activity of laccase and glucose oxidase.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.443-450
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• 2012

Recently, NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4)-mediated generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was proposed to accelerate adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 cell. We have previously shown that Cheonnyuncho (Opuntia humifusa) extract significantly inhibited adipocyte differentiation via downregulation of $PPAR{\gamma}$ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma) gene expression. In this study, we focused on the molecular mechanism(s) of NOX4, G6PDH (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) and antioxidant enzymes in anti-oxidative activities of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Our results indicate that Cheonnyuncho extracts markedly inhibits ROS production during adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells. Cheonnyuncho extracts suppressed the mRNA expression of the pro-oxidant enzyme such as NOX4 and the NADPH-producing G6PDH enzyme. In addition, treatment with Cheonnyuncho extract was found to upregulate mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes such as Mn-SOD (manganese-superoxide dismutase), Cu/Zn-SOD (copper/zinc-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathion reductase (GR), and catalase, all of which are important for endogenous antioxidant responses. These data suggest that Cheonnyuncho extract may be effective in preventing the rise of oxidative stress during adipocyte differentiation through mechanism(s) that involves direct down regulation of NOX4 and G6PDH gene expression or via upregulation of endogenous antioxidant responses.