• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1971-1982
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• 2017

Piliated Lactobacillus rhamnosus (pLR) strains possess higher adherent capacity than non-piliated strains. The objective of this study was to isolate and characterize probiotic pLR strains in human fecal samples. To this end, mouse polyclonal antiserum (anti-SpaA) against the recombinant pilus protein (SpaA) of L. rhamnosus strain GG (LGG) was prepared and tested for its reactivity and specificity. With the anti-SpaA, a method combining the de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) agar plating separation and colony immunoblotting (CIB) was developed to isolate pLR from 124 human fecal samples. The genetic and phenotypic characteristics of the resultant pLR isolates were compared by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting, and examination of adhesion to Caco-2 cells, hydrophobicity, autoaggregation, and in vitro gastrointestinal tolerance. Anti-SpaA specifically reacted with three pLR strains of 25 test strains, as assessed by western blotting, immunofluorescence flow cytometry, and immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) assays. The optimized MRS agar separation plus anti-SpaA-based CIB procedure could quantitatively detect $2.5{\times}10^3CFU/ml$ of pLR colonies spiked in $10^6CFU/ml$ of background bacteria. Eight pLR strains were identified in 124 human fecal samples, and were confirmed by 16S RNA gene sequencing and IEM identification. RAPD fingerprinting of the pLR strains revealed seven different patterns, of which only two isolates from infants showed the same RAPD profiles with LGG. Strain PLR06 was obtained with high adhesion and autoaggregation activities, hydrophobicity, and gastrointestinal tolerance. Anti-SpaA-based CIB is a rapid and inexpensive method for the preliminary screening of novel adherent L. rhamnosus strains for commercial purposes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 1998

The dnrF gene, responsible for conversion of aklavinone to $\varepsilon$-rhodomycinone via C-11 hydroxylation, was mapped in the daunorubicin gene cluster of Streptomyces peucetius subsp. caesius ATCC 27952, close to drrAB, one of the anthracycline resistance genes. To characterize the enzymatic properties of the aklavinone 11-hydroxylase, the dnrF gene was overexpressed in Escherchia coli. The pET-22(+) plasmid which has the T7 promoter under the control of lacUV5 gene was used for the overexpression of the dnrF gene, and the recombinant plasmid pET213 that contains the dnrF gene linked to the T7 promoter of pET-22b(+) was introduced into the E. coli BL2l. When the expression of the dnrF gene was induced by IPTG at the final concentration of 1 mM, the induced protein could be detected in SDS-PAGE only in insoluble precipitate. The insoluble protein was electroeluted from the gel and used for the preparation of antiserum in mice. Various culture conditions were tested to maximize the expression of the aklavinone 11-hydroxylase in soluble form. The enzymatic activity was checked by the bioconversion experiment, and the protein was confirmed by the SDS-PAGE and the Western blot analysis. From the analysis of the data, it was concluded that the culture induced with IPTG at the final concentration of 0.02 mM at 37$^{\circ}C$ yielded the best productivity of active form of enzyme.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.183-189
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of fucoidan on the phagocytic capapcity and oxidative burst activity (OBA) of canine peripheral blood polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs). The phagocytic capacity and OBA of PMNs were evaluated simultaneously by using a flow cytometer. Fucoidan itself did not cause any direct effect on the phagocytic capacity and OBA of PMNs. However, the phagocytic capacity and OBA of PMNs were enhanced by the culture supernatant from PBMCs treated with fucoidan. The phagocytic capacity and OBA of PMNs were also increased by treatment with recombinant canine (rc) tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$. The ability of the culture supernatant from fucoidan-treated PBMCs to stimulate the phagocytic capacity and OBA of PMNs was inhibited by addition of anti-rc TNF-${\alpha}$ polyclonal antibody (PAb) prior to the culture. The amount of TNF-${\alpha}$ in the culture supematant from PBMCs was shown to increase upon treatment of fucoidan as compared with that of vehicle-treated PBMCs culture supematant. The level of TNF-${\alpha}$ mRNA expression in PBMCs was also up-regulated by the fucoidan treatment. These results suggest that fucoidan has an immunoenhancing effect on the phagocytic capacity and OBA of canine PMNs, which is mainly mediated by TNF-${\alpha}$ released from fucoidan-stimulated PBMCs.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2014

Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm) infections affect domestic dogs, cats, and various wild mammals with increasing incidence in temperate and tropical areas. More sensitive antibody detection methodologies are required to diagnose asymptomatic dirofilariasis with low worm burdens. Applying current transcriptomic technologies would be useful to discover potential diagnostic markers for D. immitis infection. A filarial homologue of the mammalian translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) was initially identified by screening the assembled transcriptome of D. immitis (DiTCTP). A BLAST analysis suggested that the DiTCTP gene shared the highest similarity with TCTP from Loa loa at protein level (97%). A histidine-tagged recombinant DiTCTP protein (rDiTCTP) of 40 kDa expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) showed immunoreactivity with serum from a dog experimentally infected with heartworms. Localization studies illustrated the ubiquitous presence of rDiTCTP protein in the lateral hypodermal chords, dorsal hypodermal chord, muscle, intestine, and uterus in female adult worms. Further studies on D. immitis-derived TCTP are warranted to assess whether this filarial protein could be used for a diagnostic purpose.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.287-293
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• 2002

We are trying to develop a transgenic carrot with aims of production and delivery of oral vaccine against microbial enteropathogen using a K88ac pilin gene. A K88ac antigen (pilin) gene was isolated by PCR from the K88ac genomic DNA. The pilin gene was constructed in pGA748 and introduced via Agrobacterium tumefaciens to the explants of carrot hypocotyl and then 494 transgenic lines were established. The amounts of the K88ac antigen produced in each of the cell lines were determined by western and two elite cell lines (M1-17, Y14-1) were selected based on higher levels of expression of the antigens as well as rate of cell growth and efficiency of embryogenesis. In order to test an immunization induced by oral administration of the transgenic carrot, serum of the mice fed with the carrot vaccine were tested in ELISA. It tumed out that the mice fed with 3 g of transgenic carrot showed a similar level of antibody compared to those applied with 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$ of the purified recombinant pilin protein. Besides, various clinical responses were measured after challenging with ETEC K88ac strain to the piglets experiencing an oral immunization with the transgenic carrot. The piglets fed with carrot vaccine showed a lower level of diarrhea in fecal score compared to those fed with non-transgenic carrot. A higher level of increase in weight of the piglets fed with the transgenic carrot vaccine was observed comparing to those fed with non-transgenic carrot as control.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.395-400
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• 2017

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease caused by a variety of genetic and environmental factors, dysregulation of immunological response, as well as dysfunction of the skin barrier proteins. The purpose of this study is to develop an ELISA kit suitable for evaluating the expression of skin barrier proteins. Proteins were obtained from the skin via AriNo and D-Squame patches. The efficiency of protein collection from the skin, using the Arino patch, was shown to be more effective than using D-Squame; while the efficiency of lysis using 0.1% Triton-X100 was higher than that of other lysis solutions, including 0.1 M Tris-HCL, 0.1% Tween-20, and 5 mM KOH. Recombinant skin barrier proteins, such as filaggrin and involucrin, were produced by molecular biological methods. Monoclonal antibodies against filaggrin and involucrin were produced by immunization of mice, fusion of spleen cells and myeloma cells, as well as a selection of antibody-producing hybridoma cells. The filaggrin expression in the skin of subjects suffering from atopic dermatitis was lower than that in normal mice. Involucrin expression was not altered between normal individuals and subjects with atopic dermatitis. These findings contribute to an elucidation of the importance of the skin barrier protein expression in atopic dermatitis and the development of a diagnostic kit for atopic dermatitis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.2999-3005
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• 2009

Among the more than 120 different types of human papillomavirus (HPV), types 16 and 18 have been known to be high risk agents that cause cervical cancer. We examined, in an immuno-chromatographic analysis, the potential of using the early gene product, E7 protein, as a diagnostic marker of cervical cancer caused by HPV. We developed monoclonal antibodies specific to HPV-16 and 18 E7 proteins that were produced from bacterial cells using gene recombinant technology. For each E7 protein, the optimal antibody pair was selected using the immuno-chromatographic sandwichtype binding system based on the lateral flow through membrane pores. Under these conditions, this rapid testing assay had a detection capability as low as 2 ng/mL of E7 protein. Furthermore, since viral analysis required the host cell to be lysed using chemicals such as detergents, it was possible that the E7 protein was structurally damaged during this process, which would result in a decrease in detection sensitivity. Therefore, we examined the detrimental effects caused by different detergents on the E7 protein using HeLa cells as the host. In these experiments, we found that the damage caused by the detergent, nonylphenylpolyethylene glycol (NP-40), was minimal relative to Triton X-100 commonly used for the cell lysis. Temperature also affected the stability of the E7 protein, and we found that the E7 protein was stabilized at 4$^{\circ}C$ for about 2 h, which was 4 times longer than at room temperature. Finally, a HPV-infected cervical cancer cell line, which was used as a real sample model, was treated using the optimized conditions and the presence of E7 proteins were analyzed by immuno-chromatography. The results of this experiment demonstrated that this rapid test could specifically detect HPV-infected samples.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1321-1329
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• 2007

Deer antler tissue contains the most rapidly growing bone in the animal kingdom. Thus, it is likely that growing antler tissue is a rich source of local paracrine bone-stimulating factors. Growth factors, at least the insulin-like growth factor (IGF), control the bone-remodelling process. In this study, we tried to isolate and purify IGF-I from fresh antler tissue by the routine isolation and purification of protein. The purification involved ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose CL-60 ion-exchange chromatography, CM-Sepharose CL-6B ion-exchange chromatography, and Sephadex G-50 chromatography. Purified fractions from each step were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PACE), Dot-blot, and Western-blot methods. Furthermore, the quantification of partially purified IGF-I was calculated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) using antibody to human recombinant IGF-1. SDS-PAGE analysis of the final fraction yielded two molecular bands and the signal band was at 12 kDa on the Western-blot film. This purified IGF-I fraction showed a peak at retention time of eight min. The quantity of IGF-I in 20 g deer antler tissue as starting weight was calculated using a standard curve to be 2910 ng/ml, and total IGF-I amount is 0.291 g. The results show that IGF-I, which can be found in deer antler, can be partially purified and quantified by classic protein isolation methods.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2006

In 'solid-phase' PEGylation, the conjugation reaction occurs as the proteins are attached to a solid matrix, and thus it can have distinct advantages over the conventional, solution-phase process. We report a case study: rhIFN-${\alpha}$-2a was first adsorbed to cation exchange resin and then N-terminally PEGylated by aldehyde mPEG of 5, 10, and 20 kD through reductive alkylation. After the PEGylation, salt gradient elution efficiently recovered the mono-PEGylate in a purified form from the unwanted species such as unmodified IFN, unreacted PEG, and others. The mono-PEGylation and its purification were integrated in a single chromatographic step. Depending on the molecular weight of the mPEG aldehyde used, the mono-PEGylation yield ranged 50-64%. We could overcome the major problems of random, or uncontrollable, multi-PEGylation and the post-PEGylation purification difficulties associated with the solution-phase process. N-terminal sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS confirmed that a PEG molecule was conjugated only to the N-terminus. Compared with the unmodified IFN, the mono-PEGylate showed the reduced anti-viral activity as measured by the cell proliferation assay. The bioactivity was reduced more as the higher molecular weight PEG was conjugated. Immunoreactivity, evaluated indirectly by antibody binding activity using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor, also decreased. Nevertheless, trypsin resistance as well as thermal stability was considerably improved.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.89-100
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• 2002

The nonstructural glycoprotein NSP4, encoded by the 10th gene of rotavirus, has been known to play important roles in viral assembly and pathogenesis. The NSP4 genes of human rotavirus Korean isolates, designated as CBNU/HR-1, CBNU/HR-2, CBNU/HR-3, and CBNU/HR-4, were cloned, sequenced and characterized. Also, the NSP4 gene of the CBNU/HR-1 was expressed in a baculovirus-insect cell system. The sequence data indicated that the NSP4 genes of human rotavirus Korean isolates were 750 or 751 bases in length and encoded one open reading frame of 175 amino acids. Two glycosylation sites were recognized in the NSP4 gene of human rotavirus isolates tested. The NSP4 of CBNU/HR-1, CBNU/HR-3, and CBNU/HR-4 exhibited a high degree of amino acid sequence homology with that of NSP4 genotype B viruses, but a low degree of amino acid sequence homology with that of NSP4 genotype A viruses. However, the NSP4 of CBNU/HR-2 exhibited a high degree of amino acid sequence homology with that of NSP4 genotype A viruses, but a low degree of amino acid sequence homology with that of NSP4 genotype B viruses. The Sf9 cells infected with recombinant baculovirus, inserted with NSP4 gene of CBNU/HR-1, produced specific cytopathic effects and the expressed NSP4 was detected by immunofluorescence staining using NSP4-specific monoclonal antibody(MAb). The expressed NSP4 migrated at 16-26 kDa on SDS-PAGE and reacted with NSP4-specific MAb by Western blotting.