• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.2355-2360
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• 2008

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1090-1094
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• 2007

Melittin (ME), a linear 26-residue non-cell-selective antimicrobial peptide, displays strong lytic activity against bacterial and human red blood cells. To design ME analogue with improved cell selectivity, we synthesized a melittin diastereomer (ME-D) with D-amino acid in the leucine zipper sequence (Leu-6, Lue-13 and Ile-20). Compared to ME, ME-D exhibited the same or 2-fold higher antibacterial activity but 8-fold less hemolytic activity. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that ME-D has much less $\alpha$-helical content in $\alpha$-helical content in the presence of zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes compared to negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. The blue shift of the fluorescence emission maximum of ME-D in zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes was much smaller than in negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. These results suggested that the improvement in therapeutic index/cell selectivity of ME-D is correlated with its less permeability to zwitterionic membranes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.710-719
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• 2001

Several amino acid transport systems in mammary gland have been characterized during the last few years. These systems may be divided into two broad categories based on whether they are sodium-dependent or $Na^{+}$-independent, and each of these categories is subdivided into 3 groups depending on whether the systems prefer zwitterionic, cationic or anionic substrates. The zwitterion preferring transport processes in mammary gland are $Na^{+}$-dependent system A and $Na^{+}$-independent systems L and T. System $y^{+}$ is a $Na^{+}$-independent transporter of cationic amino acids and $X_{AG^{-}}$ is a $Na^{+}$-dependent system for anionic amino acids. A ($Na^{+}+Cl^{-}$)-dependent system, selective for $\beta$-amino acids has been reported in rat mammary tissue. In addition, there is yet another class of transporters that have still broader specificity. The $Na^{+}$-dependent systems $BCl^{-}$-dependent and $BCl^{-}$-independent and $Na^{+}$-independent system $y^{+}L$ have been reported to mediate the transport of zwitterionic as well as cationic amino acids. Each system has been characterized with respect to its substrate specificity, affinity, kinetics and ion-dependence. Transport of amino acids by mammary tissue is regulated by i) the intracellular substrate concentration, ii) lactogenic hormones and iii) milk stasis. Four of the above transport systems (i.e. A, L, $y^{+}$ and $BCl^{-}$-independent) are up-regulated by lactogenic hormones (insulin, cortisol and prolactin) in mammary gland.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1985

The crystal structure or $\gamma$-hydroxy-$\betha$-aminobutyric acid was determined by MULTAN system with X-ray intensity data on a diffractometer and refined by the least-squares method to an R-value 0.034 for 711 reflections. The crystals were orthorhombic, space group $P2_{1}2_{1}2_{1}$, Z = 4, with a = 10.220, b = 8.257 and c = 6.556$\AA$. The molecule takes the zwitterionic form and skeletal conformation is trans-transform. The molecules are held together by intra-and intermolecular NH-O and OH--O hydrogen bonds.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.133-136
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• 2009

We present calculations for the 4-aminopyrimidine (4AP) – HCl and –HBr complexes. We predict that the charge separated (zwitterionic) form [4AP$H^+-Cl^-$] is not stable, but that [4AP$H^+-Br^-$] is stable enough for experimental detection in gas phase at low temperatures. The latter observation is attributed to smaller dissociation energy of HBr compared with HCl, and to “solvation” of HBr by the amino group in 4AP.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1477-1483
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• 2004

We present the tandem mass spectrometry applications carried out to elucidate the coordination structure of Zn(II) bound lysine ternary complexes, $(Zn+Lys+Lys-H)^+$, which is a good model system to represent a simple (metallo)enzyme-substrate complex (ES). In particular, experimental efforts were focused on revealing the involvement of a lysine side chain ${\varepsilon}$-amino group in the coordination of $Zn^{2+}$ divalent ions. MS/MS fragmentation pattern showed that all the oxygen species within a complex fell off in the form of $H_2O$ in contrast to those of other ternary complexes containing amino acids with simple side chains (4-coordinate geometries, Figure 1a), suggesting that the lysine complexes have different coordination structures from the others. The participation of a lysine basic side chain in the coordination of Zn(II) was experimentally evidenced in MS/MS for $N{\varepsilon}$-Acetyl-L-Lys Zn(II) complexes with acetyl protection groups as well as in MS/MS for the ternary complexes with one $NH_3$ loss, $(Zn+Lys+Lys-NH_3-H)^+$. Detailed structures were predicted using ab initio calculations on $(Zn+Lys+Lys-H)^+$ isomers with 4-, 5-, and 6-coordinate structures. A zwitterionic 4-coordinate complex (Figure 7d) and a 5-coordinate structure with distorted bipyramidal geometry (Figure 7b) are found to be most plausible in terms of energy stability and compatibility with the experimental observations, respectively.