• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.561-566
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• 1999

CA(1-8)-ME(1-12) [CA-ME], composed of cecropin A(1-8) and melittin(1-12), is a synthetic antimicrobial peptide having potent antibacterial and antitumor activities with minimal hemolytic activity. In order to investigate the effects of the flexible hinge sequence, Gly-Ile-Gly, of CA-ME on antibiotic activity, CA-ME and three analogues, CA-ME1, CA-ME2, and CA-ME3, were synthesized. The Gly-Ile-Gly sequence of Ca-ME was deleted in CA-ME1 and replaced with Pro and Gly-Pro-Gly in CA-ME2 and CA-ME3, respectively. CA-ME1 and CA-ME3 showed a significant decrease in antitumor activity and phospholipid vesicle-disrupting ability. However, CA-ME2 showed similar antitumor and vesicle-disrupting activities, as compared with CA-ME. These results suggest that the flexibility or ${\beta}$-turn induced by Gly-Ile-Gly or Pro in the central part of CA-ME may be important in the electrostatic interaction of the N-terminus cationic ${\alpha}$-helical region with the cell membrane surface and the hydrophobic interaction of the C-terminus amphipathic ${\alpha}$-helical region with the hydrophobic acyl chains in the cell membrane. CA-ME3 exhibited lower antitumor and vesicle-disrupting activities than CA-ME and CA-ME2. This result suggests that the excessive ${\beta}$-turn structure caused by the Gly-Pro-Gly sequence in CA-ME3 seems to interrupt ion channel/pore formation in the lipid bilayer. We concluded that the appropriate flexibility or bilayer. We concluded that the appropriate flexibility or ${\beta}$-turn structure provided by the central hinge is responsible for the effective antibiotic activity of the antimicrobial peptides with the helix-hinge-helix structure.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.943-962
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• 2014

Industrial gas drying, dilute gas mixtures purification, air fractionation, hydrogen production from steam reformers and petroleum refinery off-gases, etc are conducted by using adsorptive separation technology. The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) has certain advantages over the other methods, such as absorption and membrane, that are a low energy requirement and cost-effectiveness. A key component of PSA systems is adsorbents that should be highly selective to a gas being separated from its mixture streams and have isotherms suitable for the operation principle. The six standard types of isotherms have been examined in this review, and among them the best behavior in the adsorption of $CO_2$ as a function of pressure was proposed in aspects of maximizing a working capacity upon excursion between adsorption and desorption cycles. Zeolites and molecular sieves are historically typical adsorbents for such PSA applications in gas and related industries, and their physicochemical features, e.g., framework, channel structure, pore size, Si-to-Al ratio (SAR), and specific surface area, are strongly associated with the extent of $CO_2$ adsorption at given conditions and those points have been extensively described with literature data. A great body of data of $CO_2$ adsorption on the nanoporous zeolitic materials have been collected according to pressure ranges adsorbed, and these isotherms have been discussed to get an insight into a better $CO_2$ adsorbent for PSA processes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.168-172
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• 1999

The antifungal mechanism of the antifungal peptide against Aspergillus fumigatus, $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12), derived from cecropin A(l-8)-melittin(l-12) was investigated by confocal laser scanning microscopy, cell wall regeneration, ATPase activity inhibition, and released potassium ion. By confocal laser scanning microscopy, $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12) was detected on the surface of A. fumigatus, while cecropin A used as a negative control peptide was not detected. The protoplast of A. fumigatus treated with$K^{18,19}$-CA(1-8)-ME(1-12) failed to regenerate the fungal cell walls. Compared with cecropin A, the amount of potassium ion released by $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12) was increased. Furthermore, $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12) inhibited the ATPase activity on the plasma membrane. These results suggested that $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(1-12) acts on the plasma membrane of A. fumigatus and its antifungal action is due to the ion channel or pore formation on the plasma membrane.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.312-318
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• 2008

The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in ice dendrite size during freezing process in gelatin matrix as a model food system in order to provide mathematical relation between freezing condition and ice dendrite size. Gelatin gel as a model matrix was frozen in unidirectional Neumann's type of heat transfer. The thermograms' analysis allowed to determine the freezing temperature of the sample, the position of the freezing front versus time, and thus, freezing front rate. The morphology of ice dendrites was observed by scanning electron microscopy after freeze-drying. We observed that the means size of ice dendrite increased with the distance to the cooling plate; however, it decreased with the cooling rate and the cooling temperature. In addition, the shorter durations of the freeze-drying process was shorter decreeing the decreased the freezing front rate, resulted in their resulting in a larger pore size of the ice dendrite pores for the sublimation channel of that operate as water vapor sublimation channels. From these results, we could derive a linear regression as an empirical mathematical model equation between the ice dendrite size and the inverse of freezing front rate.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2017

Potassium channels, the largest group of pore proteins, selectively regulate the flow of potassium ($K^+$) ions across cell membranes. The activity and expression of $K^+$ channels are critical for the maintenance of normal functions in vessels and neurons, and for the regulation of cell differentiation and maturation. However, their role and expression in stem cells have been poorly understood. In this study, we isolated perivascular stem cells (PVCs) from human umbilical cords and investigated the expression patterns of big-conductance $Ca^{2+}$-activated $K^+$ ($BK_{Ca}$) and voltage-dependent $K^+$ ($K_v$) channels using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We also examined the effect of high glucose (HG, 25 mM) on expression levels of $BK_{Ca}$ and $K_v$ channels in PVCs. $K_{Ca}1.1$, $K_{Ca}{\beta}_3$, $K_v1.3$, $K_v3.2$, and $K_v6.1$ were detected in undifferentiated PVCs. In addition, HG treatment increased the amounts of $BK_{Ca}{\beta}_{3a}$, $BK_{Ca}{\beta}_4$, $K_v1.3$, $K_v1.6$, and $K_v6.1$ transcripts. These results suggested that ion channels may have important functions in the growth and differentiation of PVCs, which could be influenced by HG exposure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.470-478
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• 2012

Recent genome comparisons of E. coli B and K-12 strains have indicated that the makeup of the cell envelopes in these two strains is quite different. Therefore, we analyzed and compared the envelope proteomes of E. coli BL21(DE3) and MG1655. A total of 165 protein spots, including 62 nonredundant proteins, were unambiguously identified by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Of these, 43 proteins were conserved between the two strains, whereas 4 and 16 strain-specific proteins were identified only in E. coli BL21(DE3) and MG1655, respectively. Additionally, 24 proteins showed more than 2-fold differences in intensities between the B and K-12 strains. The reference envelope proteome maps showed that E. coli envelope mainly contained channel proteins and lipoproteins. Interesting proteomic observations between the two strains were as follows: (i) B produced more OmpF porin with a larger pore size than K-12, indicating an increase in the membrane permeability; (ii) B produced higher amounts of lipoproteins, which facilitates the assembly of outer membrane ${\beta}$-barrel proteins; and (iii) motility- (FliC) and chemotaxis-related proteins (CheA and CheW) were detected only in K-12, which showed that E. coli B is restricted with regard to migration under unfavorable conditions. These differences may influence the permeability and integrity of the cell envelope, showing that E. coli B may be more susceptible than K-12 to certain stress conditions. Thus, these findings suggest that E. coli K-12 and its derivatives will be more favorable strains in certain biotechnological applications, such as cell surface display or membrane engineering studies.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.41-46
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• 2010

High strength concrete (HSC) has been mainly used in large SOC structures. HSC have superior property as well as improvement in durability compared with normal strength concrete. In spite of durability of HSC, explosive spalling in concrete front surface near the source of fire occurs serious problem in structural safety. Therefore, this study is concerned with experimentally investigation of fire resistance at high temperature due to fireproof material covering thickness in addition to concrete cover. From the test result, it was appeared that the use of fireproof material results in good performance for fire resistance and spalling prevention, and the optimal fireproof covering thickness is 1~3mm. On the other hand, the temperature was rapidly increased by explosive spalling within 30 minutes and showed very little rise caused by evaporation heat after then. It was also found that the void channel was remained at high temperature as PP fiber melts at about $200^{\circ}C$, and the pore pressure in concrete was decreased.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 1981

The conversion of methanol to hydrocarbons has been studied over synthetic ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst having high silica to alumina ratio. The conversion products were olefins, paraffins, cycloparaffins, and aromatics, and the catalyst showed especially high selectivity toward the formation of aromatics. The catalyst showed the shape-selectivity and the size of molecules in the product was limited approximately to the size of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. Hydrogen form(HZSM-5) was more active, indicating reactions following the dehydration of methanol seemed to be mainly catalyzed by acid sites. Comparison of the reaction characteristics and acid site distribution of the ZSM-5 catalyst with those of mordenite and faujasite type catalysts suggests that cross-linked pore channel structure and the strong acidity of the ZSM-5 catalyst are primarily responsible for the selective formation of aromatics over this catalyst.

• Experimental and Molecular Medicine
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.4.1-4.13
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• 2018

Two-pore domain $K^+$ (K2P) channels have been shown to modulate neuronal excitability. The physiological role of TWIK-1, the first identified K2P channel, in neuronal cells is largely unknown, and we reported previously that TWIK-1 contributes to the intrinsic excitability of dentate gyrus granule cells (DGGCs) in mice. In the present study, we investigated the coexpression of TWIK-1 and TASK-3, another K2P member, in DGGCs. Immunohistochemical staining data showed that TASK-3 proteins were highly localized in the proximal dendrites and soma of DGGCs, and this localization is similar to the expression pattern of TWIK-1. TWIK-1 was shown to associate with TASK-3 in DGGCs of mouse hippocampus and when both genes were overexpressed in COS-7 cells. shRNA-mediated gene silencing demonstrated that TWIK-1/TASK-3 heterodimeric channels displayed outwardly rectifying currents and contributed to the intrinsic excitability of DGGCs. Neurotensin-neurotensin receptor 1 (NT-NTSR1) signaling triggered the depolarization of DGGCs by inhibiting TWIK-1/TASK-3 heterodimeric channels, causing facilitated excitation of DGGCs. Taken together, our study clearly showed that TWIK-1/TASK-3 heterodimeric channels contribute to the intrinsic excitability of DGGCs and that their activities are regulated by NT-NTSR1 signaling.

• 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.