• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.478-483
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• 1997

${\gamma}-Glutamylcysteine$ synthetase was purified from E. coli K-12 strain and its properties related to the in vitro synthesis of glutathione by enzymatic method were investigated. The activity of purified ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase was increased with increasing concentration of L-glutamate up to 60 mM, while it was decreased by about 50% and 40% under 60 mM of L-cysteine and 45 mM of glycine, respectively. The enzyme activity was reduced not only by ADP, one of the reaction products, but also by the reduced form of glutathione. Therefore, because the reduced glutathione as well as glycine which is the substrate for glutathione synthetase inhibit the activity of ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase, it is recommended to design a bioreactor system with two separate reactions for glutathione synthesis : one with ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase reaction and the other glutathione synthetase reaction. In addition since ADP, resulted from these reactions, reduces the activity of ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase, it is necessary to introduce an ATP regeneration system for glutathione synthesis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.278-283
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• 1991

Two amino acid residues ($Ala^{494}$ and $Ser^{495}$ of E. coli .gamma.-glutamylcysteine synthetase have been investigated whether they are the site of feedback inhibition by site specific mutagenesis. Single substitution of $serine^{495}$ (S495F), and double substitutions of alanine$^{494}$ and $serine^{495}$ (A494G-S495F) resulted in the inactivation of the .gamma.-glutamylcysteine synthetase activity. Substitution of $alanine^{494}$ with $glycine^{494}$ resulted in a higher level of feedback inhibition. These results suggest that $serine^{495}$ in .gamma.-glutamylcysteine synthetase is required for its catalytic acitvity and $alanine^{494}$ is presumably related to the feeback inhibition site.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.69-73
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• 1994

The effects of paraquat administration on glutathione was studied in rats. The contents of glutathione in the liver, kidney and lung were significantly decreased but the alteration was not significant in blood by paraquat administration. The decrease occured without concomitant increases in oxidized glutathione (GSSG) or in the GSH/GSSG ratio. The activities of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase in liver and kidney were decreased by paraquat administration. And γ-glutamyl transpeptidase activities were significantly decreased in kidney and lung of paraquat treated-rats. These results suggest that the decreased synthesis of glutathione by paraquat were an important mechanism of the decreased level of glutathione in liver and kidney, and decreased glutathione transport was a factor on the changes of glutathione contents in lung.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.254-257
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• 1998

The gshI gene from the Escherichia coli K-12 strain codes for ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase which mediates the rate-limiting step of glutathione biosynthesis. The isolated gshI gene from E. coli K-12 has an unusual translation initiation codon, UUG. The 494th amino acid is Ala rather than Gly which was found in a mutant strain E. coli B. In order to improve the translational rate of the gshI gene of E. coli K-12, the initiation codon, UUG, was changed to the usual AUG codon by the site-specific mutagenesis. This change has resulted in a 53% increase of ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase activity. The enzyme activity was also improved by replacing $Ala^{494}$ with Val (A494V) or Leu (A494L). The replacement of $Ser^{495}$ with Thr (S495T) also resulted in a 62% increase of the enzyme activity. Therefore, the specific activity of ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase was increased with the increasing chain length of the aliphathic amino acid at the site of the 494th amino acid (Ala<$Val{\leq}Leu$).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Grassland Science Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.158-159
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• 2005

• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2007

Metformin is a drug used to lower blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes via activation of adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK). The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether metformin at the pharmacologically effective concentrations affects the expressions of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase and phase II antioxidant genes in the H4IIE cell. Treatment of the cells with either metformin or 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide riboside (AICAR) abrogated tert-butylhydroxyquinone (t-BHQ) induction of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase, a rate limiting enzyme of GSH synthesis. The ability of t-BHQ to induce glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), a major class of phase II detoxifying enzymes that playa critical role in protecting cells from oxidative stress or electrophiles, was also inhibited by the agents. Transcriptional gene repression by metformin was verified by the GSTA2 promoter luciferase assay. Moreover, either metformin or AICAR treatment significantly decreased t-BHQ-dependent induction of other GSTs (i.e., $GST{\mu}$ and $GST{\pi}$ forms). Taken together, our data indicate that metformin treatment may result in the repression of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione S-transferase genes possibly via AMPK activation.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.654-660
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• 1995

The present study was attempted to investigate the mechanism of oxidative cellular injuries which occur in diabetic rats by determining changes of antioxidant enzymes activity in the lung of alloxan-induced diabetic rats, the contents of glutathione in the lung, liver, blood samples, and ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase activities in the liver. Superoxide dismutase activities (SOD), including Cu, Zn-SOD and Mn-SOD, decreased in the lung of diabetic rats compared with those of normal control rats. However, activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase(GPX) activities were not affected in the lung of diabetic rats. In diabetic rats, glutathione contents in the lung, liver, and blood samples, as well as the activities of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase in the livers which is known to be the key enzyme of glutatione biosynthesis, decreased significantly. From these experimental results, it is thought that the decrease in SOD activities in the lung, glutathione contents and ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase activities in some tissues in alloxan-induced diabetic rats may be the crucial cause of vullnerability to oxidative cellular injuries.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.248-251
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• 2003

Glutathione (GSH) is an important factor in determining tolerance against oxidative stress in living organisms. It is synthesized in two sequential reactions catalyzed by ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase (GCS) and glutathione synthetase (GS) in the presence of ATP. In this work, the effects of three different oxidative stresses were examined on GSH content and GSH-related enzyme activities in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. GSH content in S. pombe was significantly enhanced by treatment with hydrogen peroxide, ${\beta}$-naphthoflavone (BNF) and tert-butylhydroquinone (BHQ). Simultaneously, they greatly induced GCS and GS activity. However, they did not have any effects on glutathione reductase activity. These results suggest that GCS and GS activities in S. pombe are up-regulated by oxidative stress.

• Bulletin of Food Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.98-106
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• 2004

Two mutant enzymes of $\gamma$-glutamylcysteine synthetase ($\gamma$-GCS) which catalyzed the synthesis of $\gamma$-glutamylcysteine from L-glutamic acid and L-cysteine in the presence of ATP, were prepared bypoint mutation of $\gamma$-GCS gene with site-directed mutagensis in E. coli. Conformational structuresand catalytic reaction kinetics of mutant enzymes were compared with wild type $\gamma$-GCS afterpurification. The S495F mutant enzyme (serine at 495 residue was substituted with phenylalanine),which had no catalytic activity for $\gamma$-glutamylcysteine synthesis, rarely folded even in neutral pH.However, the mutant A494V (alanine of 494 residue was replaced by valnine) which showed 50 %increase of activity, had a high folding structure. The folding structure of A494V also more stable athigh temperature and extreme pH compared to wild type and S495F. Reaction kinetics of wild typeand A494V were also investigated, Km value of A494V was smaller than that of wild type, while itshowed a little difference at Vmax values. This result evolved that alanine at 494 may be involved inbinding site of substrate rather than catalytic site. In addition, change of catalytic activity by onepoint mutation was highly correlated with the folding structure of enzyme.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2005

The effects of constituent amino acids of glutathione (GSH), glutamate (Glu), cysteine (Cys) and glycine (Gly), on GSH synthesis in lettuce seedlings were examined in this study. The GSH concentration of the seedlings was increased to 5.1-fold and 1.6-fold the concentration of the control in the first leaves and roots, respectively, by simultaneous application of these constituent amino acids (Glu+Cys+Gly) at 100 mg/l to the culture solution for two days. In the first leaves and roots of these seedlings, the concentration of GSH was 180.4 and 14.6 nmole/gFW, and non-essential amino acids including Glu, Cys and Gly occupied 93.2% and 84.0% of the total free amino acids, respectively. Application of Cys greatly increased the concentration of GSH in the roots, and application of 50 mg/l Cys increased it to 26.1-fold the concentration in the control. The activity of GSH synthetase was higher in the leaves than in the roots, whereas the activity of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase was higher in the roots than in the leaves.