• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.135-139
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• 2006

A alkalophilic strain, Bacillus licheniformis MH31 producing an alkaline protease was isolated from mine soil of Boryeong in Korea. Production of a high level of alkaline protease was achieved 42 h after incubation when the bacterium was grown at pH 9.0 and $35^{\circ}C$ in Horikoshi medium supplemented with 0.5%(w/v) starch and 1%(w/v) skim milk as carbon and nitrogen source, respectively. The molecular weight of partially purified enzyme was estimated to be 30 kDa by SDS-PAGE and its optimum pH was pH 10. The enzyme showed optimum temperature at $50^{\circ}C$, and was stable up to $60^{\circ}C$ after 1 h incubation. The protease was strongly inhibited by 1 mM of PMSF which was known well as strong inhibitor of serine proteases, but almost not inhibited by 5 mM of EDTA and 1,10-phenanthroline. When the protein hydrolysis products of 1% skim milk by partially purified protease was compared with available commercial proteases using HPLC analysis, most of hydrolysis products were detected below molecular weight of 10,000 and the hydrolysis ratio of purified enzyme was 24.8% lower than those(above 32%) of commercial proteases.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.117-120
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• 2014

Several studies have reported that the citrus red mites Panonychus citri were an important allergen of citrus-cultivating farmers in Jeju Island. The aim of the present study was to purify and assess properties of a cysteine protease from the mites acting as a potentially pathogenic factor to citrus-cultivating farmers. A cysteine protease was purified using column chromatography of Mono Q anion exchanger and Superdex 200 HR gel filtration. It was estimated to be 46 kDa by gel filtration column chromatography and consisted of 2 polypeptides, at least. Cysteine protease inhibitors, such as trans poxy-succinyl-L-leucyl-amido (4-guanidino) butane (E-64) and iodoacetic acid (IAA) totally inhibited the enzyme activities, whereas serine or metalloprotease inhibitors did not affect the activities. In addition, the purified enzyme degraded human IgG, collagen, and fibronectin, but not egg albumin. From these results, the cysteine protease of the mites might be involved in the pathogenesis such as tissue destruction and penetration instead of nutrient digestion.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.273-279
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• 2013

Protease widely exists in the digestive tract of animals and humans, playing a very important role in protein digestion and absorption. In this study, a high protease-producing strain Planomicrobium sp. L-2 was isolated and identified from the digestive tract of Octopus variabilis. The strain was identified by physiological and biochemical experiments and 16S rDNA sequences analysis. A protease was obtained from the strain Planomicrobium sp. L-2 through ammonium sulfate precipitation, dialysis and enrichment, DEAE-Sephadex A50 anion-exchange chromatography, and Sephadex G-100 gel chromatography. The molecular weight and properties of the protease were characterized, including optimum temperature and pH, thermal stability, protease inhibitions and metal ions. According to our results, the protease from Planomicrobium sp. L-2 strain designated as F1-1 was obtained by three-step separation and purification from crude enzyme. The molecular weight of the protease was 61.4 kDa and its optimum temperature was $40^{\circ}C$. The protease F1-1 showed a broad pH profile for casein hydrolysis between 5.0~11.0. No residual activity was observed after incubation for 40 min at $60^{\circ}C$ and 60 min at $50^{\circ}C$. F1-1 protease was inhibited by $Mn^{2+}$, $Hg^{2+}$, $Pb^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, and $Cu^{2+}$ ions, as well as PMSF, indicating that the protease F1-1 was a serine protease. Additionally, research basis provided by this study could be considered for industrial application of octopus intestinal proteases.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.9 s.89
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• pp.1224-1231
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• 2007

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-II have structure like insulin. In contrast to insulin, however, the bioavaility of IGFs is modulated by the IGF-binding protein (IGFBPs). Each of IGFBPs was different with molecular masses, biological characteristics, and immunological properties.. Human fibroblasts secrete IGFBPs that can modify IGF-I action. In diabetes mellitus, the most study of IGF systems have been investigated in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and streptozotocin-in-duced animals in vivo. Recently, a little research regarding the IGFs system has been proposed in por-tion of cell in vitro. In this study, effects of low or high glucose condition on IGFBP-5 in GM10 was investigated. By western blotting analysis, IGFBP-5 level decreased in cells cultured at high glucose, but IGFBP-5 level of mRNA didn't change. IGFBP-5 protease that cleaves IGFBP-5 in conditioned me-dium had was inhibited by EDTA and heparin, like serine protease and metalloprotease. Furthermore, the protease activity was increased in high glucose cultivated condition. In results of gelatin zymog-raphy, molecular weight of proteolytic metalloenzymes was indentified 69-kDa and protease activity was increased in time-dependent manner. Although the mechanism has yet to be determined, IGFBP-5 proteolysis in GM10 cells cultured with high glucose may increase effects of IGFs to decrease the glu-cose level through dissociation of IGFs from IGFBPs. Therefore, we suggest that IGF- I and IGFBPs could be potential models in study of pathophysiology such as diabetes mellitus.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.14-18
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• 2002

Subpopulations of nucleotides that bind specifically to a variety of proteins have been isolated from a population of random sequence RNA/DNA molecules. Roughly one in $10^{13}$ random sequence RNA/DNA molecules folds in such a way as to create a specific binding site for small ligands. Since the development of in vitro selection procedure, more than 50 nucleic acid ligands (aptamers) have been isolated. These molecules are very useful for the study of molecular recognition between nucleic acid and protein/organic compound. In addition to these basic studies this method gives us a dream to produce new drugs against several diseases. We focused on several aptamers which specifically binds to trypsin-like serine proteases (thrombin, human neutrophil elastase, activated protein C and NS3 protease of human hepatitis C virus) and want to introduce their structural characteristics and some functions.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.527-536
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• 2009

A potent protein degrading bacterium was isolated from soil samples of different environments. Polyphasic taxonomic studies and phylogenetic 16S rRNA sequence analyses led to identify the isolate IB No. 11 as a strain of Bacillus subtilis. The isolated strain was recognized to produce protease constitutively, and the maximum production (1.64 units/ml) was attained in a shake flask culture when the isolate was grown at $40^{\circ}C$, for 32 h in basal medium supplemented with starch (0.25%) and gelatin (1.25%) as sole carbon and nitrogen source, respectively. The optimum pH and temperature for the protease activity were determined to be pH 7.0 and $50^{\circ}C$, respectively. $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mn^{2+}$ enhanced remarkably the protease activity but neither showed positive effect on the protease's thermal stability. In addition, it was observed that the protease was fairly stable in the pH range of 6.5-8.0 and at temperatures below $50^{\circ}C$, and it could be a good candidate for an animal feed additive. The inhibition profile of the protease by various inhibitors indicated that the enzyme is a member of serine-proteases. A combination of UV irradiation and NTG mutagenesis allowed to develop a protease hyper-producing mutant strain coded as IB No. 11-4. This mutant strain produced approximately 3.23-fold higher protease activity (6.74 units/mg) than the parent strain IB No. 11 when grown at $40^{\circ}C$ for 32h in the production medium. The protease production profile of the selected mutants was also confirmed by the zymography analysis.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.239.2-239
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• 2000

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 1997

An alkaline protease producing microorganism was isolated from korean traditional Meju and identified as Scopulariopsis brevicaulis. The optimum culture condition of Scopulariopsis brevicaulis for the production of alkaline protease was as follow: 2% soluble starch, 0.2$, tryptophan, 0.1% (NH$_{4}$) $_{2}$S$_{2}$O$_{8}$ 0.2% NaHPO$_{4}$, pH 7.5, 35$\CIRC $C. The optimum pH and temperature for the enzyme activity of alkaline protease producing Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were pH 9.0 and 50$\circ $C, respectively. The enzyme was relatively stable at pH 6.0~11.0 and at temperature below 40$\circ $C. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited by Hg$^{2+}$ whereas Cu$^{2+}$ gave rather activating effects on the enzyme activity. Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride inhibited the enzyme activity. This result indicates that serine is very important role in this enzyme. Km value for casein was 1.2410$^{4}$ M/L, V$_{max}$ value for casein was 25.99 $\mu $g/min. This enzyme hydrolyzed casein more rapidly than the hemoglobin.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.379-384
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• 2000

The native conformation of serpins (serine protease inhibitors) is strained. Upon cleavage of the reactive center loop of serpins by a protease, the amino terminal portion of the cleaved loop is inserted into the central ${\beta}-sheet$, A sheet, as the fourth strand, with the concomitant release of the native strain. We questioned the role of protease in this conformational switch from the strained native form into a stable relaxed state. Chemical cleavage of the reactive center loop of ${\alpha}_1-antitrypsin$, a prototype serpin, using hydroxylamine dramatically increased the stability of the serpin. A circular dichroism spectrum and peptide binding study suggests that the amino terminal portion of the reactive center loop is inserted into the A sheet in the chemically-cleaved ${\alpha}_1-antitrypsin$, as in the enzymatically-cleaved molecule. These results indicate that the structural transformation of a serpin molecule does not require interaction with a protease. The results suggest that the serpin conformational switch that occurred during the complex formation with a target protease is induced by the cleavage of the reactive center loop per se.

• BMB Reports
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.138-142
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• 1995

An anticoagulant/fibrinolytic protease was purified to homogeneity from the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus. The protein was a single chain glycoprotein of 32 kDa that exhibited strong proteolytic activity on human thrombin and fibrin clots. Proteolytic degradation of these plasma proteins by the purified enzyme occurred at a neutral pH range. Among several human plasma proteins tested as possible substrates for the protease reaction, the 32 kDa enzyme specifically hydrolyzed both thrombin and fibrin polymers without affecting other proteins, such as serum albumin, immunoglobulin, and hemoglobin. Treatment of the purified enzyme at neutral pH with either phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride or soybean trypsin inhibitor resulted in a loss of catalytic activity. The enzyme hydrolyzed the chromogenic substrate H-D-Phe-L-Pipecolyl-L-Arg-p-nitroanilide with a $K_m$ value of 1.1 ${\mu}M$ at a neutral pH. These results suggest that the anticoagulant/fibrinolytic enzyme from Lumbricus rubellus is a member of the serine protease family having a trypsin-like active site, and one of the potential clevage sites for the enzyme is the carbonyl side of arginine residues in polypeptide chains.