• Title/Summary/Keyword: biological function

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Effects of pegylation on physical and biological activities of N-acetylphytosphingosine, a short chain phytoceramide

  • Park, J. H.;Park, C. Y.;Y. A. Hwang;Kim, E. J.;Kim, J. W.;Park, C. S.
    • Proceedings of the SCSK Conference
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    • 2003.09a
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    • pp.498-498
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    • 2003
  • Sphingolipids are important structural components of the stratum corneum lipids and serve the epidermal permeability barrier function. Recent investigations on biological activities of sphingolipids have revealed that they have a number of important biological functions in the cell such as cell proliferation and differentiation, anti-inflammation, mediation of signal transduction and many more.(omitted)

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Structural and Functional Importance of Two Glutamate Residues, Glu47 and Glu146, Conserved in N-Carbamyl D-Amino Acid Amodohydrolases

  • Oh, Ki-Hoon;Kim, Geun-Joong;Park, Joo-Ho;Kim, Hak-Sung
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.29-34
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    • 2001
  • The mutant enzymes of N-carbamyl-D-amino aicd amidohydrolase (N-carbamylase) from Agrobacterium radiobacter NRRL B11291, showing a negligible activity, were selected from the library generated by random mutagenesis. From the sequence analysis, these mutants were found to contain the amino acids substitutions at Cys172, Glu47, and Glu146. Previously, Cys172 was reported to be necessary for the enzyme catalysis. The chemical modification of the N-carbamylase by carboxyl group specific chemical reagent, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide(EDC), resulted in a loss of activity. The replacement of glutamic acids with glutamines by site-directed mutagenesis led to aggregation of the enzymes. Mutant enzymes fused with maltose binding protein (MBP) were expressed in soluble form, but were inactive. These results indicate that two glutamic acid residues play an important role in structure and function of the N-carbamylase. Multiple sequence alignment of the related enzymes revealed that Glu47 and Glu146 are rigidly conserved, which suggests that tese residues are crucial for the structure and function of the functionally related C-N hydrolases.

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Nuclear Localization of Chfr Is Crucial for Its Checkpoint Function

  • Kwon, Young Eun;Kim, Ye Seul;Oh, Young Mi;Seol, Jae Hong
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.359-363
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    • 2009
  • Chfr, a checkpoint with FHA and RING finger domains, plays an important role in cell cycle progression and tumor suppression. Chfr possesses the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and stimulates the formation of polyubiquitin chains by Ub-conjugating enzymes, and induces the proteasome-dependent degradation of a number of cellular proteins, including Plk1 and Aurora A. While Chfr is a nuclear protein that functions within the cell nucleus, how Chfr is localized in the nucleus has not been clearly demonstrated. Here, we show that nuclear localization of Chfr is mediated by nuclear localization signal (NLS) sequences. To reveal the signal sequences responsible for nuclear localization, a short lysine-rich stretch (KKK) at amino acid residues 257-259 was replaced with alanine, which completely abolished nuclear localization. Moreover, we show that nuclear localization of Chfr is essential for its checkpoint function but not for its stability. Thus, our results suggest that NLS-mediated nuclear localization of Chfr leads to its accumulation within the nucleus, which may be important in the regulation of Chfr activation and Chfr-mediated cellular processes, including cell cycle progression and tumor suppression.

Ubiquitin E3 ligases controlling p53 stability

  • Lee, Seong-Won;Seong, Min-Woo;Jeon, Young-Joo;Chung, Chin-Ha
    • Animal cells and systems
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.173-182
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    • 2012
  • The p53 protein plays a pivotal role in tumor suppression. The cellular level of p53 is normally kept low by proteasome-mediated degradation, allowing cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. Under stress conditions, such as DNA damage, p53 is stabilized and activated through various post-translational modifications of itself as well as of its regulatory proteins for induction of the downstream genes responsible for cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, and apoptosis. Therefore, the level of p53 should be tightly regulated for normal cell growth and for prevention of the accumulation of mutations in DNA under stress conditions, which otherwise would lead to tumorigenesis. Since the discovery of Mdm2, a critical ubiquitin E3 ligase that destabilizes p53 in mammalian cells, nearly 20 different E3 ligases have been identified and shown to function in the control of stability, nuclear export, translocation to chromatin or nuclear foci, and oligomerization of p53. So far, a large number of excellent reviews have been published on the control of p53 function in various aspects. Therefore, this review will focus only on mammalian ubiquitin E3 ligases that mediate proteasome-dependent degradation of p53.

In Vitro Antifungal Activities of 13 Fungicides against Pepper Anthracnose Fungi (고추 탄저병균에 대한 13종 살균제의 살균 활성)

  • Choi, Yong-Ho;Kim, Heung-Tae;Kim, Jin-Cheol;Jang, Kyoung-Soo;Cho, Kwang-Yun;Choi, Gyung-Ja
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.36-42
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    • 2006
  • For the effective control of pepper anthracnose, in vitro antifungal activities of 13 commercial fungicides were tested on spore germination, mycelial growth, and sporulation of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, anthracnose fungus. Among them, captan, chlorothalonil, dithianon, fluazinam and folpet completely inhibited the spore germination of C. gloeosporioides at the concentration of 0.8 ${\mu}g/ml$. They were followed by mancozeb and propineb, showing more than 80% inhibition of spore germination at 20 ${\mu}g/ml$. The mycelial growth of C. gloeosporioides was strongly inhibited by fluazinam and nuarimol. Except for nuarimol, most of the fungicides represented more antifungal activity on the spore germination than the mycelial growth of C. gloeosporioides. Azoxystrobin and metominostrobin, Strobilurin fungicides, were only moderately active against the spore germination and the mycelial growth of C. gloeosporioides, but they were effective antisporulant against C. gloeosporioides. From these results, control of pepper anthracnose will have achieved by preventive spray of the commercial fungicides.

Control Efficacy of Ethaboxam on Chinese Cabbage Clubroot Caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae (Ethaboxam의 배추 뿌리혹병 방제효과)

  • Choi, Gyung-Ja;Jang, Kyoung-Soo;Kim, Jin-Cheol;Lim, He-Kyoung;Chun, Sam-Jae;Kim, Dal-Soo;Cho, Kwang-Yun
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.81-87
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    • 2005
  • Ethaboxam[(RS)-N-(a-cyano-2-thenyl)-4-ethyl-2-(ethylamino)-1,3-thiazole-5-carboximide] is a novel fungicide with high level of activity against Oomycetes fungi. The control effects of ethaboxam technical and various ethaboxam formulations were investigated against P. brassicae, the causal agent of clubroot disease in Chinese cabbage. When ethaboxam was applied to infested soil, club formation caused by P. brassicae was strongly inhibited at 8.33 mg/L soil and $EC_{50}$ of ethaboxam was 2.65 mg/L soil. Five ethaboxam formulations [10% suspension concentrate (SC), 15% SC, 2% granule (GR), 5% GR, 25% wettable powder] and mixture formulation of ethaboxam and metalaxyl (3%+1% GR) exhibited good efficacy against the pathogen. 10% SC, 15% SC, and 2% GR formulations of ethaboxam showed better disease controlling efficacy on Chinese cabbage clubroot than the other formulations. The $EC_{50}$ values of 10% SC, 15% SC, and 2% GR formulations of ethaboxam were 3.72 mg AI/L soil, 1.1 mg AI/L soil, and 4.95 mg AI/L soil, respectively. Among them, soil drenching application by 15% SC formulation of ethaboxam exhibited the most in vivo antifungal activity on P. brassicae. These results indicate that ethaboxam has a high potential for the control of clubroot disease.

In Vivo Antifungal Activities of Various Fungicides against Plamodiophora brassicae (다양한 살균제의 배추 뿌리혹병 방제효과)

  • Jang, Kyoung-Soo;Kim, Jin-Cheol;Lim, He-Kyoung;Cho, Kwang-Yun;Choi, Gyung-Ja
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.422-428
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    • 2005
  • In vivo antifungal activity of 44 fungicides consisting of 3 clubroot fungicides, 7 Oomycetes fungicides, 7 botriticides, 7 blasticides, 9 sterol biosynthesis inhibitors, and 11 broad spectrum fungicides were investigated against Plamodiophora brassicae, the causal agent of clubroot disease in Chinese cabbage. When fluazinam, flusulfamide and cyazofamid, commercial fungicide to control clubroot of Chinese cabbage in Korea, were applied to infested soil, club formations by P. brassicae were strongly inhibited at pot (35 $cm^2$) per 0.63 mg. Ethaboxam and cymoxanil, Oomycetes fungicides, completely controlled Chinese cabbage clubroot at 5 mg/pot, but cymoxanil represented sever phytotoxicity. Besides, dichlofluanid and procymidone of botriticides effectively controlled the development of Chinese cabbage clubroot at 2.5 mg/pot. Chlorothalonil, quintozene and trichlamide, broad spectrum fungicides, showed disease-control efficacy of 85%, 100% and 100% at 2.5 mg/pot, respectively. Most of sterol biosynthesis inhibitors displayed the strong antifungal activity against P. brassicae on cabbage seedlings and plant growth -retarding activity. From these results, 7 fungicides were selected and further tested in vivo antifungal activity against P. brassicae in glasshouse. Among them, ethaboxam showed the most antifungal activity against P. brassicae on cabbage seedlings, followed by fenarimol, procymidone, nuarimol and chlorothalonil.