• Macromolecular Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2003

A molecular-thermodynamic model is developed for the salt-induced protein precipitation. The protein molecules interact through four intermolecular potentials. An equation of state is derived based on the statistical mechanical perturbation theory with the modified Chiew's equation for the fluid phase, Young's equation for the solid phase as the reference system and a perturbation based on the protein-protein effective two body potential. The equation of state provides an expression for the chemical potential of the protein. In a single protein system, the phase separation is represented by fluid-fluid equilibria. The precipitation behaviors are simulated with the partition coefficient at various salt concentrations and degree of pre-aggregation effect for the protein particles. In a binary protein system, we regard the system as a fluid-solid phase equilibrium. At equilibrium, we compute the reduced osmotic pressure-composition diagram in the diverse protein size difference and salt concentrations.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.241-249
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• 2003

A molecular-thermodynamic model to describe the salt-induced protein precipitation is developed based on the perturbation theory. We employed the modified perturbed hard-sphere-chain (PHSC) equation of state for copolymer mixtures to take into account the pre-aggregation effect among protein particles. Hypothetical pressure-composition diagrams are computed with various size differences and salt concentrations. The precipitation behaviors are also studied for various types of pre-aggregation effect for the given systems.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.236-242
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• 2005

Membrane fouling by protein mixtures during microfiltration has been investigated for binary mixtures of bovine serum albumin (BSA), casein, lysozyme, pepsin, and ovalbumin. Filtration experiments were carried out using $0.2{\mu}m$ polycarbonate track-etched (PCTE) membrane in a stirred cell under constant transmembrane pressure (14 kPa) and concentration of hydrogen ion (pH=11) to study the effect of mixture composition on filtrate flux decline. Flux decline data were analyzed using a pore blockage-cake formation model developed recently. It was found that the model is in a good agreement with the experimental data. Fouling parameters such as the rate of pore blockage(${\alpha}$), the initial resistance of the protein deposit ($R_{po}$) and the increasing rate of the protein layer resistance(${\beta}$) were used to evaluate the rate of filtrate flow by membrane fouling in the binary mixture system. Generally, the trend of ${\alpha}$ is comparable with that of filtrate flux decline. It was also found that fast flux decreasing was observed over the binary mixture containing casein. The result is due to high value of the initial resistance of the protein deposit ($R_{po}$) over casein.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 1995

The coat protein (CP) gene of cucumber mosaic virus-As (CMV-As) strain was engineered for expression in the plant by using the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S transcript regulatory sequences. The CP gene was cloned into an Agrobacterium-derived binary vector. A chimeric gene was constructed by the cDNA of CMV-As CP and plant expression vector pBI121. The clone, pCMAS66, was first introduced into the phagemid vector pSPORT1 for situating sense orientation for translation and making restriction sites in order to re-introduce plant expression vector, pHI121. The resulting subclone pCASCP02 and plant expression vector pBI121 were treated with BamHI-SacI for excising the target gene and removing GUS gene, respectively. After Agrobacterium transformation by freeze-thaw technique, the clone, pCMASCP121-123 which contains sense orientation of the target gene, was selected and confirmed by restriction endonuclease analysis. The CMV-As CP gene was introduced into A. tumefaciens. The results on tobacco plant transformation with the vector system revealed that the system could be successfully introduced and showed high frequency of selection to putative transformations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.270-275
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• 2006

The cultivated pearls collected for the study were pretreated through the removal of contaminants and the surface bleaching for easy dyeing. Coloring of pearls are necessary after selecting dyes adsorbable to the Conchiolin layer, a kind of hard protein formed in the seawater, covering the surface of the pretreated pearls. Dyes adsorbable to the Conchiolin layers are mostly basic dyes such as Rhodamine 6G(R6G), Rhodamine B(RB), Methylene Blue(MB) etc. and the binary and ternary competitive adsorption were performed by mixing two or three dyes together. The multi-dye adsorption data were compared with the predictions from the ideal adsorbed solution theory(IASI) combined with the single-dye adsorption model, the Langmuir or the Redlich-Peterson(RP) model. The quality of prediction was compared by using determination coefficient($R^2$) and standard deviation(SSE) values. Predictions from the IAST were found to be in good agreement with the data for the R6G/RB binary adsorption to the pearl layers not fractionated with their size, except for the adsorption data for RB at high concentrations. Among the three binary adsorption systems, R6G/RB, R6G/MB, and MB/RB, only the RB sorption data in the R6G/RB binary system was in poor agreement with the IAST prediction. Competitive adsorption data in ternay systems were in good agreement with the predictions from the IAST except for the RB data.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.225-231
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• 2005

Acid-labile subunit (ALS) is a component of the 150-kDa insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) complex, which, by sequestering the majority of IGFs-I and -II and thereby prolonging the half-life of them in plasma, serves as a circulating reservoir of IGFs in mammalian species. A pGEX-2T plasmid and a baculovirus expression constructs harboring a coding sequence for glutathione-S transferase (GST)-porcine ALS (pALS) fusion protein were expressed in BL21(DE3) E. coli and Sf9 insect cells, respectively. The expressed protein was purified by glutathione or Ni-NTN affinity chromatography, followed by cleavage of the fusion protein using Factor Xa. In addition, pALS and hIGFBP-3 were also produced in small amounts in the Xenopus oocyte expression system which does not require any purification procedure. A 65-kDa pALS polypeptide was obtained following the prokaryotic expression and the enzymatic digestion, but biochemical characterization of this polypeptide was precluded because of an extremely low expression efficiency. The baculovirus-as well as Xenopus-expressed pALS exhibited the expected molecular mass of 85 kDa which was reduced into 75 and 65 kDa following deglycosylation of Asn-linked carbohydrates by Endo-F glycosidase, indicating that the expressed pALS was properly glycosylated. Moreover, irrespective of the source of pALS, the recombinant pALS and hIGFBP-3 formed a 130-kDa binary complex which could be immunoprecipitated by anti-hIGFBP-3 antibodies. Collectively, results indicate that an authentic pALS protein can be produced by the current expression systems.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.186-193
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• 2002

The acid-bible subunit (ALS) associates with the insulinlike growth factor (IGF)-I or II, and the IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) in order to form a 150-kD complex in the circulation. This complex may regulate the serum IGFs by restricting them in the vascular system and promoting their endocrine actions. Little is known about how ALS binds to IGFBP3, which connects the IGFs to ALS. Xenopus oocyte was utilized to study the function of ALS in assembling IGFs into the ternary complexes. Xenopus oocyte was shown to correctly translate in vitro transcribed mRNAs of ALS and IGFBP3. IGFBP3 and ALS mRNAs were injected in a mixture, and their products were immunoprecipitated by antisera against ALS and IGFBP3. Contrary to traditional reports that ALS interacts only with IGF-bound IGFBP3, this study shows that ALS is capable of forming a binary complex with IGFBP3 in the absence of IGF When cross-linked by disuccinimidyl suberate, the band that represents the ALS-IGFBP3 complex was evident on the PAGE. IGFBP3 movement was monitored according to the distribution between the hemispheres. Following a localized translation in the vegetal hemisphere, IGFBP3 remained in the vegetal half in the presence of ALS. However, the mutant IGFBP3 freely diffused into the animal half, despite the presence of ALS, which is different from the wild type IGFBP3. This study, therefore, suggests that ALS may play an important role in sequestering IGFBP3 polypeptides via the intermolecular aggregation. Studies using this heterologous model will lead to a better understanding of the IGFBP3 and ALS that assemble into the ternary structure and circulate the IGF system.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.11
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• pp.909-920
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• 2020

Cytosolic Ca²⁺ levels ([Ca²⁺]_c) change dynamically in response to inducers, repressors, and physiological conditions, and aberrant [Ca²⁺]_c concentration regulation is associated with cancer, heart failure, and diabetes. Therefore, [Ca²⁺]_c is considered as a good indicator of physiological and pathological cellular responses, and is a crucial biomarker for drug discovery. A genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI) was recently developed to measure [Ca²⁺]_c in single cells and animal models. GECI have some advantages over chemically synthesized indicators, although they also have some drawbacks such as poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), low positive signal, delayed response, artifactual responses due to protein overexpression, and expensive detection equipment. Here, we developed an indicator based on interactions between Ca²⁺-loaded calmodulin and target proteins, and generated an innovative GECI sensor using split nano-luciferase (Nluc) fragments to detect changes in [Ca²⁺]_c. Stimulation-dependent luciferase activities were optimized by combining large and small subunits of Nluc binary technology (NanoBiT, LgBiT:SmBiT) fusion proteins and regulating the receptor expression levels. We constructed the binary [Ca²⁺]_c sensors using a multicistronic expression system in a single vector linked via the internal ribosome entry site (IRES), and examined the detection efficiencies. Promoter optimization studies indicated that promoter-dependent protein expression levels were crucial to optimize SNR and sensitivity. This novel [Ca²⁺]_c assay has high SNR and sensitivity, is easy to use, suitable for high-throughput assays, and may be useful to detect [Ca²⁺]_c in single cells and animal models.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2024

Chlorella has various biotechnological applications, including in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries, because of its advantages, including rich nutrients, fast growth rate, easy cultivation, and high biomass. We used the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method to express human GM-CSF and EGF proteins, which are widely used in regenerative medicine, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical materials in Chlorella. The codon-optimized hGM-CSF and hEGF genes were cloned into plant binary vectors and transformed into Chlorella vulgaris using the Agrobacterium-mediated coculture transformation method. After transformation, genomic DNA PCR was performed for each C. vulgaris line that was stably subcultured on an antibiotic-resistant solid medium to confirm the insertion of hGM-CSF and hEGF into the chromosome. Furthermore, PT-PCR and protein expression of hGM-CSF and hEGF in each transformed C. vulgaris were significantly increased compared to the untransformed Chlorella. This study suggests that high-value proteins, including hGM-CSF and hEGF, which are foreign genes of C. vulgaris, can be stably expressed through the Agrobacterium-mediated Chlorella transformation system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.99-99
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• 2001

The acid-labile subunit (ALS) associates with insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I or -II and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) to form a 150-kD complex in the circulation. This complex is thought to regulate the serum IGFs by restricting them in the vascular system and promotes their endocrine actions. Little is known about how ALS binds to IGFBP3, which connects the IGFs to ALS. Xenopus oocyte was utilized to study the function of ALS in assembling IGFs into the ternary complexes. Xenopus oocyte was shown to correctly translate in vitro transcribed mRNAs of ALS and IGFBP3. IGFBP3 and ALS mRNAs were injected in mixture and their products were immunoprecipitated by antisera against ALS and IGFBP3. Contrary to the traditional reports that ALS interacts only with IGF-bound IGFBP3, this study shows that ALS is capable of forming a binary complex with IGFBP3 in the absence of IGF. When cross-linked by disuccinimidyl substrate, band representing ALS-IGFBP3 complex was evident on the PAGE. IGFBP3 movement was monitored according to the distribution between the hemispheres. Following a localized translation in the vegetal hemisphere, IGFBP3 was shown to remain in the vegetal half in the presence of ALS. Different from wild type IGFBP3, however, mutant IGFBP3 freely diffused into the animal half despite the presence of ALS. Taken together, this study suggests that ALS may play an important role in sequestering IGFBP3 polypeptides via the intermolecular aggregation. Studies using this heterologous model will lead to a better understanding of the IGFBP3 and ALS assembling into the ternary structure and circulating IGF system.