• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.112-118
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• 2015

Hsp31 protein is one of the members of DJ-1 superfamily proteins and has a dimeric structure of which molecular weight (MW) is 62 kDa. The mutation of DJ-1 is closely related to early onset of Parkinson's disease. Hsp31 displays $Zn^{+2}$-binding activity and was first reported to be a holding chaperone in E. coli. Its additional glyoxalase III active has recently been characterized. Moreover, an incubation at $60^{\circ}C$ induces Hsp31 protein to form a high MW oligomer (HMW) in vitro, which accomplishes an elevated holding chaperone activity. The NMR technique is elegant method to probe any local or global structural change of a protein in responses to environmental stresses (heat, pH, and metal). Although the presence of the backbone chemical shifts (bbCSs) is a prerequisite for detailed NMR analyses of the structural changes, general HSQC-based triple resonance experiments could not be used for 62 kDa Hsp31 protein. Here, we prepared the per-deuterated Hsp31 and performed the TROSY-based triple resonance experiments for the bbCSs assignment. Here, detailed processes of per-deuteration and the NMR experiments are described for other similar NMR approaches.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

For understanding molecular mechanisms of photochemical reactions, in particular reactions of proteins with biological functions, it is important to elucidate both the initial reactions from the photoexcited states and the series of subsequent chemical reactions, e.g., conformation, intermolecular interactions (hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions), and inter-protein interactions (oligomer formation, dissociation reactions). Although time-resolved detection of such dynamics is essential, these dynamics have been very difficult to track by traditional spectroscopic techniques. Here, relatively new approaches for probing the dynamics of protein photochemical reactions using time-resolved transient grating (TG) are reviewed. By using this method, a variety of spectrally silent dynamics can be detected and such data provide a valuable description about the reaction scheme. Herein, a blue light sensor protein TePixD is the exemplar. The initial photochemistry for TePixD occurs around the chromophore and is detected readily by light absorption, but subsequent reactions are spectrally silent. The TG experiments revealed conformational changes and changes in inter-protein interactions, which are essential for TePixD function. The TG experiments also showed the importance of fluctuations of the intermediates as the driving force of the reaction. This technique is complementary to optical absorption detection methods. The TG signal contains a variety of unique information, which is difficult to obtain by other methods. The advantages and methods for signal analyses are described in detail in this review.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2011

Numerous restraints and simplifications have been developed for methods that anticipate protein structure to reduce the colossal magnitude of possible conformational states. In this study, we investigated if globularity is a general characteristic of proteins and whether they can be applied as a valid constraint in protein structure simulations with approximated measurements (Gb-index). Unexpectedly, most of the proteins showed strong structural globularity (i.e., mode of approximately 76% similarity to the perfect globe) with only a few percent of proteins being outliers. Small proteins tended to be significantly non-globular ($R^2$=0.79) and the minimum Gb-index showed a logarithmic increase with the increase in protein size ($R^2$=0.62), strongly implying that the non-globular characteristics might be more acceptable for smaller proteins than larger ones. The strong perfect globe-like character and the relationship between small size and the loss of globular structure of a protein may imply that living organisms have mechanisms to aid folding into the globular structure to reduce irreversible aggregation. This also implies the possible mechanisms of diseases caused by protein aggregation, including some forms of trinucleotide repeat expansion-mediated diseases.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1223-1227
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• 2010

In this study, the orientational behavior of thermotropic liquid crystals (LC) supported on a film of protein receptors was examined. Avidin was roller printed and covalently immobilized onto the surface of gold using NHS/EDC chemistry. The orientation of nematic 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) was found to be parallel to the plane of the printed avidin surface before incubation with a solution of biotin. However, protein-receptor complexation induced a random orientation of 5CB, where protein-receptor complexes disturbed the nanoscale topography of the printed protein surface. Atomic force microscopy and ellipsometry was used to confirm printing and the specific interaction of proteins. These results demonstrate that the combination of LC and roller printing can be used to detect specific interactions between biomolecules by manipulating the orientational behavior of LC to the printed protein surfaces.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

Protein immobilization on a gold surface plays an important role in the usefulness of biosensors that utilize gold-coated surfaces such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR), quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), etc. For developing high performance biosensors, it is necessarily required that immobilized proteins must remain biologically active. Loss of protein activity and maintenance of its stability on transducer surfaces is directly associated with the choice of immobilization methods, affecting protein-protein interactions. During the past decade, a variety of strategies have been extensively developed for the effective immobilization of proteins in terms of the orientation, density, and stability of immobilized proteins on analytical devices operating on different principles. In this review, recent advances and novel strategies in protein immobilization technologies developed for biosensors are briefly discussed, thereby providing an useful information for the selection of appropriate immobilization approach.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.812-815
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• 2006

Proteins are essential agents for controlling, effecting and modulating cellular functions, and proteins with similar sequences have diverged from a common ancestral gene, and have similar structures and functions. Function prediction of unknown proteins remains one of the most challenging problems in bioinformatics. Recently, various computational approaches have been developed for identification of short sequences that are conserved within a family of closely related protein sequence. Protein function is often correlated with highly conserved motifs. Motif is the smallest unit of protein structure and function, and intends to make core part among protein structural and functional components. Therefore, prediction methods using data mining or machine learning have been developed. In this paper, we describe an approach for protein function prediction of motif-based models using data mining. Our work consists of three phrases. We make training and test data set and construct classifier using a training set. Also, through experiments, we evaluate our classifier with other classifiers in point of the accuracy of resulting classification.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.263-267
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• 2003

Magnetic nanoparticles prepared from an alkaline solution of divalent and trivalent iron ions could covalently bind protein via the activation of Nethyl-N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC). Trypsin and avidin were taken as the model proteins for the formation of protein-nanoparticle conjugates. The immobilized yield of protein increased with molar ratio of EDC/nanoparticie. Higher concentrations of added protein could yield higher immobilized protein densities on the particles. In contrast to EDC, the yields of protein immobilization via the a ctivation of cyanamide were relatively lower. Nanoparticles bound with avidin could attach a single-stranded DNA through the avidin-biotin interaction and hybridize with a DNA probe. The DNA hybridization was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy observations. Immobilized DNA on nanoparticles by this technique may have widespread applicability to the detection of specific nucleic acid sequence and targeting of DNA to particular cells.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.535-542
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• 2000

Canola meal and seed are poor sources of ruminal undegraded protein (RUP). On average, canola meal and canola seed contains 35 and 14% RUP, respectively. Several protection methods are effective in reducing ruminal degradation of canola protein and in increasing RUP without affecting total tract protein digestibility. Heat (e.g., dry heat, moist heat and jet-sploding) and chemical (e.g., formaldehyde) treatments are the most common methods used to reduce ruminal degradability of canola protein. In most cases, heat treatments were found to be more effective than chemical treatments in protecting canola protein form ruminal degradation. Despite improvement in RUP content and intestinal availability of RUP, data form several studies showed little or no improvement in animal performance as a result of increasing the RUDP level of canola meal and seed.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.598-604
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• 1993

The calyx extract of Campsis grandiflora displayed inhibitory activity against protein kinase C from the bovine brain. Separation guided by protein kinase C enzyme assay and bleb forming assay led to isolation of a potent protein kinase C inhibitor that was identified as a known phenylpropanoid glycoside, verbascoside. It suppressed completely bleb-formation of K562 cell surface induced by phorbol 12,13-dibutylate at the concentration of 60 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and IC$_{50}$ of the protein kinase C occured at 20 $\mu{M}$. This compound was tested for cytotoxic activity against ten human tumor cell lines in vitro. it exhibited moderate cytotoxic activity against skin tumor cell line M14 (IC$_{50}$ 2.2 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) and very weak cytotoxicity against other cell lines (IC$_{50}$>10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml)

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.323-327
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• 2010

Translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) activates basophils to release histamine and causes chronic inflammation. It was also reported that TCTP significantly reduced in brain of Alzheimer's Disease and Down Syndrome as compared to normal person, suggesting that TCTP might be involved in cognitive function. We wondered whether TCTP could act as a general inducer in neurotransmitters release in brain. We, therefore, investigated the role of TCTP in PC12 cell line which expressed neuronal properties. We found that TCTP could activate JNK, and the activity was inhibited by pretreatment of dicoumarol, a JNK inhibitor. However, TCTP could not activate ERK that has known to be involved in neurotransmitter release. These suggest TCTP did not participate in neurotransmitter release from PC12 cells, and TCTP might not be a general inducer in neurotransmitter release.