• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.840-846
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• 2007

Human prostate-specific antigen(PSA), a 33 kDa serine protease with comprehensive homology to glandular kallikrein, is secreted from prostatic tissue into the seminal fluid and enters into the circulation. The level of PSA increases in the serum of patients with prostatic cancer and hence is widely employed as a marker of the disease status. In particular, an enzymatically active PSA that is a form cleaved at the N-terminal seven-amino-acids prosequence, APLILSR, of proPSA may play an important roll in the progression of prostate cancer. Thus, the presence of the active form would selectively discriminate the cancer from benign prostatic hyperplasia. In this study, we developed a convenient purification method for the acquisition of active PSA and proPSA. Recombinant proPSA and active PSA were expressed directly in Escherichia coli, easily and efficiently isolated from inclusion bodies, refolded, and purified. Moreover, the enzymatic activity of the recombinant active PSA was confirmed as serine protease using chromogenic chymotrypsin substrate. This purified active PSA could be further applied to scrutinize the biological or conformational characteristics of the protein and to develop specific diagnostic and/or therapeutic agents against prostate cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1116-1121
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• 1997

Effects of gamma irradiation onf the activity and the properties(amino acid compositions, in vitro digestibility and SDS-PAGE pattern) of proteolytic enzymes were investigated. The proteolytic activity of soluble human serine protease, enzyme in kiwi and pineapple decreased 10% and 30~65% by 5 kGy and 30 kGy, respectively. In dried pancreatin and lysozyme, the proteolytic and antimicrobial activities decreased 6~14% and 10~20% by 5kGy and 40kGy, respectively. The analysis of above 10kGy-irradiated soluble human serine protease by SDS-PAGE revealed radiolysis of the enzyme into protein or peptides of lower molecular weights. The irradiation of skim milk, hammastein casein, and lysozyme up to 40kGy had no deleterious effect on either the in vitro digestibility or amino acid compositions.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.622-631
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• 2006

In this study we purified a fibrinolytic enzyme from Cordyceps militaris using a combination of ion-exchange chromatography on a DEAE Sephadex A-50 column, gel filtration chromatography on a Sephadex G-75 column, and FPLC on a HiLoad 16/60 Superdex 75 column. This purification protocol resulted in a 191.8-fold purification of the enzyme and a final yield of 12.9 %. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 52 kDa by SDS-PAGE, fibrin-zymography, and gel filtration chromatography. The first 19 amino acid residues of the N-terminal sequence were ALTTQSNV THGLATISLRQ, which is similar to the subtilisin-like serine protease PR1J from Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliase. This enzyme is a neutral protease with an optimal reaction pH and temperature of 7.4 and $37^{\circ}C$, respectively. Results for the fibrinolysis pattern showed that the enzyme rapidly hydrolyzed the fibrin $\alpha$-chain followed by the $\gamma$-$\gamma$ chains. It also hydrolyzed the $\beta$-chain, but more slowly. The A$\alpha$, B$\beta$, and $\gamma$ chains of fibrinogen were also cleaved very rapidly. We found that enzyme activity was inhibited by $Cu^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$, but enhanced by the additions of $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$ ions. Furthermore, fibrinolytic enzyme activity was potently inhibited by PMSF and APMSF. This enzyme exhibited a high specificity for the chymotrypsin substrate S-2586 indicating it's a chymotrypsin-like serine protease. The data we present suggest that the fibrinolytic enzyme derived from the edible and medicinal mushroom Cordyceps militaris has fibrin binding activity, which allows for the local activation of the fibrin degradation pathway.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2005

Beauveria bassiana F-101, which has high toxicity toward Acantholyda parki as well as Thecodiplosis japonensis, was an isolate to develop an alternative control system against the major forest pests. Up to now, in B. bassiana, only one pr1 gene has been isolated and characterized. Therefore, we here reported the identification of a pr1-like gene, which would be a factor of toxicity from B. bassiana F-101. The oligonucleotides for the amplification of the pr1-like gene, were chosen based on the conserved regions of the subtilisin family enzymes, pr1 genes of B. bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, and proteinase K of Tritirachium album. The cloned PCR fragment had 1111 bp including 52 bp intron. The deduced Pr1-like peptide showed a low identity with Pr1s of entomopathogenic fungi such as B. bassiana Pr1 (BbPr1) and M. anisopliae Pr1 (MaPr1) as well as the proteinase K of T. album (TaPrK). Instead, the deduced peptide had a substantially high amino acid sequence identity $(>65\%)$ with the serine proteases of Magnaporthe grisea (MgSPM1) and Podospora anserina (PaPspA). These results, therefore, appear to suggest that the putative Pr1-like peptide of B. bassiana F-101 belongs to the subtilisin-like serine protease family and may be a novel gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1125-1129
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• 2005

Cloning of a 6.6-kb BamHI digested chromosomal DNA from S. griseus IFO13350 revealed the presence of an additional gene encoding a novel trypsin-like enzyme, named SprU. The SprU protein shows a high homology ($79\%$ identity, $88\%$ similarity) with the SGT protease, which has been reported as a bacterial trypsin in the same strain. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the sprU gene suggests that SprU is produced as a precursor consisting of an amino-terminal presequence (29 amino acid residues), prosequence (4 residues), and mature trypsin consisting of 222 amino acids with a molecular weight of 22.94 kDa and a calculated pI of 4.13. The serine, histidine, and aspartic acid residues composing the catalytic triad of typical serine proteases are also well conserved. When the trypsin activity of the SprU was spectrophotometrically measured by the enzymatic hydrolysis of the artificial chromogenic substrate, N-${alpha}$-benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroanilide, the S. lividans transformant with pWHM3-U gave 3 times higher activity than that of control. When the same recombinant plasmid was introduced into S. griseus, however, the gene dosage effect was not so significant, as in the cases of other genes encoding serine proteases, such as sprA, sprB, and sprD. Although two trypsins, SprU and SGT, have a high degree of homology, the pI values, the gene dosage effect in S. griseus, and the gene arrangement adjacent to the two genes are very different, suggesting that the biochemical and biological function of the SprU might be quite different from that of the SGT.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.452-458
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• 1991

Psychrotrophs producing protease were isolated during ripening periods of Cheddar cheese and one of them containing the highest protease activity was identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens 65. The extracelluar proteolytic enzyme was partially purified from P. fluorescens 65 through the Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. The protease was eluted between 190 ml and 230 ml of elution volume of sodium phosphate buffer. The purified protease showed a single band in SDS-PAGE and its molecular weight was 47,000. The composition of amino acid for the protease was determined and the most abundant amino acids were glutamic acid (14.96%) and serine (13.86%). The optimum temperature and pH for the activity was $45{\sim}50^{\circ}C$ and 6.0, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.2190-2198
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• 2017

Thermoactinomyces sp. strain YT06 was isolated from poultry compost and observed to degrade integral chicken feathers completely at $60^{\circ}C$, resulting in the formation of 3.24 mg/ml of free amino acids from 50 ml of culture containing 10 g/l chicken feathers. Strain YT06 could grow and secrete keratinase using feather as the only carbon and nitrogen sources without other supplement, but complementation of 10 g/l sucrose and 4 g/l $NaNO_3$ increased the production of the keratinolytic enzyme. The maximum protease activity obtained was 110 U/ml and for keratinase was 42 U/ml. The keratinase maintained active status over a broad pH (pH 8-11) and temperature ($60-75^{\circ}C$). It was inhibited by serine protease inhibitors and most metal ions; however, it could be stimulated by $Mn^{2+}$ and the surfactant Tween-20. A reductive agent (${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol) was observed to cleave the disulfide bond of keratin and improve the access of the enzyme to the keratinaceous substrate. Zymogram analysis showed that strain YT06 primarily secreted keratinase with a molecular mass of approximately 35 kDa. The active band was assessed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and was observed to be completely identical to an alkaline serine protease from Thermoactinomyces sp. Gus2-1. Thermoactinomyces sp. strain YT06 shows great potential as a novel candidate in enzymatic processing of hard-to-degrade proteins into high-value products, such as keratinous wastes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.264-271
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• 2006

Two fibrinolytic enzymes were purified from the culture supernatant of Fomitella fraxinea mycelia by ion-exchange and gel filtration chromatographies, and were designated as F. fraxenia proteases 1 and 2 (FFP1 and FFP2). The apparent molecular masses of the enzymes were estimated to be 32 kDa and 42 kDa, respectively, by SDS-PAGE and gel filtration chromatography. Both enzymes had the same optimal temperature ($40^{\circ}C$), but different pH optima (10.0 and 5.0 for FFP1 and FFP2, respectively). FFP1 was relatively stable at pH 7.0-9.0 and temperature below $30^{\circ}C$, whereas FFP2 was very stable in the pH range of 4-11 and temperature below $40^{\circ}C$. FFPI activity was completely inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and aprotinin, indicating that this enzyme is a serine protease. The activity of FFP2 was enhanced by the addition of $CO^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$ and inhibited by $Cu^{2+},\;Ni^{2+}$, and $Hg^{2+}$. Furthermore, FFP2 activity was strongly inhibited by EDTA and 1,10-phenanthroline, implying that the enzyme is a metalloprotease. Both enzymes readily hydrolyzed fibrinogen, preferentially digesting the $A{\alpha}$- and $B{\beta}$-chains of fibrinogen over ${\gamma}$-chain. FFP1 showed broad substrate specificity for synthetic substrates, but FFP2 did not. $K_{m}$ and $V_{max}$ values of FFP1 for a synthetic substrate, N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-pNA, were 0.213 mM and 39.68 units/ml, respectively. The first 15 amino acids of the N-terminal sequences of both enzymes were APXXPXGPWGPQRIS and ARPP(G)VDGQ(R,I)SK(L)ETLPE, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korea Crystallographic Association Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.25-25
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• 2002

CodWX, encoded by the cod operon in Bacillus subtilis, is a member of the ATP-dependent protease complex family, and is homologous to the eukaryotic 26S proteasome. It consists of two multimeric complexes: two hexameric ATPase caps of CodX and a protease chamber consisting of CodW dodecamer. Prior structural studies have shown that the N-terminal threonine residue is solely functional as a proteolytic nucleophile in ATP-dependent proteases such as HslV and certain β-type subunits of 20S proteasome, which have a primary sequence similarity of -50% and -20% with CodW respectively. Here we present a 3.0 Å resolution crystal structure of CodW, which is the first N-terminal serine protease among the known proteolytic enzymes. In spite of the same fold and the conserved contacts between subunits with HslV in E. coli and H. influenza, this structure shows the five additional residues extending from conserved Thr1 among the other ATP-dependent pretense and extraordinary basic proteolytic chamber.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.816-822
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• 2005

Catharsius protease-2 (CPM-2) was isolated from the body of dung beetles, Catharsius molossus, using a three step purification process (ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-60, and affinity chromatography on DEAE Affi-Gel blue). The purified CPM-2, having a molecular weight of 24 kDa, was assessed homogeneously by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of CPM-2 was composed of X Val Gin Asp Phe Val Glu Glu lie Leu. CPM-2 was inactivated by $Cu^{2+}\;and\;Zn^{2+}$ and strongly inhibited by typical serine proteinase inhibitors such as TLCK, soybean trypsin inhibitor, aprotinin, benzamidine, and ${\alpha}_1$-antitrypsin. However, EDTA, EGTA, cysteine, $\beta$-mercaptoethanol, E64, and elastatinal had little effect on enzyme activity. In addition, antiplasmin and antithrombin III were not sensitive to CPM-2. Based on the results of a fibrinolytic activity test, CPM-2 readily cleaved $A{\alpha}-$ and $B{\beta}$-chains of fibrinogen and fibrin, and y-chain of fibrinogen more slowly. The nonspecific action of the enzyme resulted in extensive hydrolysis, releasing a variety of fibrinopeptides of fibrinogen and fibrin. Polyclonal antibodies of CPM-2 were reactive to the native form of antigen. The ELISA was applied to detect quantities, in nanograms, of the antigen in CPM-2 protein.