• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1120-1126
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• 2013

The syndecan family consists of four transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans present in most cell types and each syndecan shares a common structure containing a heparan sulfate modified extracellular domain, a single transmembrane domain and a C-terminal cytoplasmic domain. To get a better understanding of the mechanism and function of syndecan-4 which is one of the syndecan family, it is crucial to investigate its three-dimensional structure. Unfortunately, it is difficult to prepare the peptide because it is membrane-bound protein that transverses the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. Here, we optimize the expression, purification, and characterization of transmembrane, cytoplasmic and short extracellular domains of syndecan4 (syndecan-4 eTC). Syndecan-4 eTC was successfully obtained with high purity and yield from the M9 medium. The structural information of syndecan-4 eTC was investigated by MALDI-TOF mass (MS) spectrometry, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It was confirmed that syndecan-4 eTC had an ${\alpha}$-helical multimeric structure like transmembrane domain of syndecan-4 (syndecan-4 TM) in membrane environments.

• Journal of KIISE:Databases
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.573-584
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• 2003

Recent massive data generation by genomics and proteomics requires bioinformatic tools to extract the biological meaning from the massive results. Here we introduce ROSPath, a database system to deal with information on reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cell signaling pathways. It provides a structured repository for handling pathway related data and tools for querying, displaying, and analyzing pathways. ROSPath data model provides the extensibility for representing incomplete knowledge and the accessibility for linking the existing biochemical databases via the Internet. For flexibility and efficient retrieval, hierarchically structured data model is defined by using the object-oriented model. There are two major data types in ROSPath data model: ‘bio entity’ and ‘interaction’. Bio entity represents a single biochemical entity: a protein or protein state involved in ROS cell-signaling pathways. Interaction, characterized by a list of inputs and outputs, describes various types of relationship among bio entities. Typical interactions are protein state transitions, chemical reactions, and protein-protein interactions. A complex network can be constructed from ROSPath data model and thus provides a foundation for describing and analyzing various biochemical processes.

• Oncology Letters
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.3388-3398
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• 2019

Leucine rich repeat LGI family member 3 (LGI3) is a member of the LGI protein family. Our previous studies reported that LGI3 was expressed in adipose tissues, brain and skin, where it served roles as a multifunctional cytokine and pro-inflammatory adipokine. It was hypothesized that LGI3 may be involved in cytokine networks in cancer. The present study aimed to analyze differentially expressed genes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues and NSCLC cohort data, to evaluate the prognostic role of LGI3. Expression microarray and NSCLC cohort data were statistically analyzed by bioinformatic methods, and protein-protein interactions, functional enrichment and pathway, gene coexpression network (GCN) and prognostic association analyses were performed. The results demonstrated that the expression levels of LGI3 and its receptor a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 22 were significantly decreased in NSCLC tissues. A total of two upregulated genes and 11 downregulated genes in NSCLC tissues were identified as LGI3-regulated genes. Protein-protein interaction network analysis demonstrated that all LGI3-regulated genes that were altered in NSCLC were involved in a protein-protein interaction network cluster. Functional enrichment, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway and GCN analyses demonstrated the association of these genes with the immune and inflammatory responses, angiogenesis, the tumor necrosis factor pathway, and chemokine and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling pathways. Analysis of NSCLC cohorts revealed that low expression levels of LGI3 was significantly associated with poor prognosis of NSCLC. Analysis of the somatic mutations of the LGI3 gene in NSCLC revealed that the amino acid residues altered in NSCLC included two single nucleotide polymorphism sites and three phylogenetically coevolved amino acid residues. Taken together, these results suggest that LGI3 may be a potential prognostic marker of NSCLC.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2004

Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has been accepted as a heart protection phenomenon against ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury. The activation of ATP-sensitive potassium $(K_{ATP})$ channels and the release of myocardial nitric oxide (NO) induced by IPC were demonstrated as the triggers or mediators of IPC. A common action mechanism of NO is a direct or indirect increase in tissue cGMP content. Furthermore, cGMP has also been shown to contribute cardiac protective effect to reduce heart I/R-induced infarction. The present investigation tested the hypothesis that $K_{ATP}$ channels attenuate DNA strand breaks and oxidative damage in an in vitro model of I/R utilizing rat ventricular myocytes. We estimated DNA strand breaks and oxidative damage by mean of single cell gel electrophoresis with endonuclease III cutting sites (comet assay). In the I/R model, the level of DNA damage increased massively. Preconditioning with a single 5-min anoxia, diazoxide $(100\;{\mu}M)$, SNAP $(300\;{\mu}M)$ and 8-(4-Chlorophenylthio)-guanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (8-pCPT-cGMP) $(100\;{\mu}M)$ followed by 15 min reoxygenation reduced DNA damage level against subsequent 30 min anoxia and 60 min reoxygenation. These protective effects were blocked by the concomitant presence of glibenclamide $(50\;{\mu}M)$, 5-hydroxydecanoate (5-HD) $(100\;{\mu}M)$ and 8-(4-Chlorophenylthio)-guanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, Rp-isomer (Rp-8-pCPT-cGMP) $(100\;{\mu}M)$. These results suggest that NO-cGMP-protein kinase G (PKG) pathway contributes to cardioprotective effect of $K_{ATP}$ channels in rat ventricular myocytes.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.100-106
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• 2005

Sugar beet stillages were used as a substrate for the production of single cell protein by the thermotolerant yeasts Candida rugosa, Kluyveromyces marxianus and C. utilis. The biomass production increased in accordance with the increase of pH-value, but protein content decreased. C. rugosa showed the highest crude protein production as 3.68g/l and C. utilis 2.9g/l, Kl. marxianus 2.30g/l, respectively. The rate of COD reduction in stillage versus crude protein production of C. rugosa showed the highest value as 0.35~0.39g/l as a good strain for single cell protein production using sugar beet stillages.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.991-994
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• 2000

Single cell of an indigenous phototrophic bacterium, Rhodovulum sulfidophilum, was incorporated in commercial fish feed for Oreochromis niloticus. The bacterial cell was analyzed for nutritional value and tested for toxicity and acceptability as an aquaculture feed supplement. The results showed higher survival rate and significantly higher growth rate (p<0.001) in O. niloticus fed with the bacteria incorporated fish feed. It is suggested that R sulfidophilum can be utilized as an aquaculture feed supplement.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.141-150
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• 2019

The spatial landmark protein Bud8 plays a crucial role in bipolar budding in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The unconventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica can also bud in a bipolar pattern, but is evolutionarily distant from S. cerevisiae. It encodes the protein YALI0F12738p, which shares the highest amino acid sequence homology with S. cerevisiae Bud8, sharing a conserved transmembrane domain at the C-terminus. Therefore, we named it YlBud8. Deletion of YlBud8 in Y. lipolytica causes cellular separation defects, resulting in budded cells remaining linked with one another as cell chains or multiple buds from a single cell, which suggests that YlBud8 may play an important role in cell separation, which is distinct from the function of Bud8 in S. cerevisiae. We also show that the YlBud8-GFP fusion protein is located at the cell membrane and enriched in the bud cortex, which would be consistent with a role in the regulation of cell separation. The coiled-coil domain at the N-terminus of YlBud8 is important to the correct localization and function of YlBud8, as truncated proteins that do not contain the coiled-coil domain cannot rescue the defects observed in $Ylbud8{\Delta}$. This finding suggests that a new signaling pathway controlled by YlBud8 via regulation of cell separation may exist in Y. lipolytica.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.25-39
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• 2011

Syndecan-4 is a transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycan, which is a coreceptor with integrins in cell adhesion. To get better understand the mechanism and function of Syndecan-4, it is critical to elucidate the three-dimensional structure of a single transmembrane spanning region of them. Unfortunately, it is hard to prepare the peptide because syndecan-4 is membrane-bound protein that transverse the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. Generally, the preparation of transmembrane peptide sample is seriously difficult and time-consuming. In fact, high yield production of transmembrane peptides has been limited by experimental adversities of insufficient yields and low solubility of peptide. Here, we demonstrate experimental processes and results to optimize expression, purification, and NMR measurement condition of Syndecan-4 transmembrane peptide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1114-1118
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• 2015

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have gathered attention as a novel bioenergy technology to simultaneously treat wastewater with less sludge production than the conventional activated sludge system. In two different operations of the MFC and aerobic process, microbial growth was determined by the protein assay method and their biomass yields using real wastewater were compared. The biomass yield on the anode electrode of the MFC was 0.02 g-COD-cell/gCOD-substrate and the anolyte planktonic biomass was 0.14 g-COD-cell/g-COD-substrate. An MFC without anode electrode resulted in the biomass yield of 0.07 ± 0.03 g-COD-cell/g-CODsubstrate, suggesting that oxygen diffusion from the cathode possibly supported the microbial growth. In a comparative test, the biomass yield under aerobic environment was 0.46 ± 0.07 g-COD-cell/g-COD-substrate, which was about 3 times higher than the total biomass value in the MFC operation.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.10.1-10.13
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• 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is a global infectious disease with rapid spread. Some patients have severe symptoms and clinical signs caused by an excessive inflammatory response, which increases the risk of mortality. In this study, we reanalyzed scRNA-seq data of cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of patients with COVID-19 with mild and severe symptoms, focusing on Ab-producing cells. In patients with severe disease, B cells seemed to be more activated and expressed more immunoglobulin genes compared with cells from patients with mild disease, and macrophages expressed higher levels of the TNF superfamily member B-cell activating factor but not of APRIL (a proliferation-inducing ligand). In addition, macrophages from patients with severe disease had increased pro-inflammatory features and pathways associated with Fc receptor-mediated signaling, compared with patients with mild disease. CCR2-positive plasma cells accumulated in patients with severe disease, probably because of increased CCL2 expression on macrophages from patients with severe disease. Together, these results support the hypothesis that different characteristics of B cells might be associated with the severity of COVID-19 infection.