• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.116-120
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• 2004

In order to investigate low molecular antioxidants synthesized by enhanced UV-B radiation, we used the seedlings of two rice varieties. Woonjangbyeo, UV-tolerant, and Hwajoongbyeo, UV-susceptible, were subjected under supplemental UV-B irradiation. When rice seedlings were irradiated with UV light for short period, biosynthesis of total phenolic compound, ascorbate and glutathione were momently reduced. With an increase of UV-B radiation, however, those were slightly synthesized. The content of lipid peroxides in UV-challenged rice leaves was considerably increased after 12 hrs of UV-B treatment. Lipoxygenase activity under supplemental UV-B radiation was differently responded on rice varieties.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1572-1575
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• 2006

Water extract from Cnidii Rhizoma (CRW) was tested for colon cancer chemopreventive activity by measuring the induction of phase II detoxification enzyme activity [quinone reductase (QR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST)] and glutathion (GSH) levels and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity in cultured human colorectal adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells. CRW inhibited cell proliferation in cultured HT-29 cells. CRW induced QR activity in a dose-dependent manner in a concentration range of 0.1${\sim}$5.0 $mg/m{\ell}$. GST activity was also induced with the treatment of CRW in HT-29 cells. In addition GSH levels was increased with CRW. CRW inhibited ODC activity, a key enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis, which is enhanced in tumor promotion. These results suggest that CRW has colon cancer chemopreventive activity by increasing phase II enzyme activity and GSH levels and inhibiting ODC activity in vitro.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.166-176
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• 2022

Objective: Sperm is particularly susceptible to reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. Glutathione (GSH) is an endogenous antioxidant that regulates sperm redox homeostasis. However, it is not clear whether boar sperm could utilize cysteine for synthesis GSH to protect sperm quality from ROS damage. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of how cysteine is involved in protecting boar sperm quality during liquid storage. Methods: Sperm motility, membrane integrity, lipid peroxidation, 4-hydroxyIlonenal (4-HNE) modifications, mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as the levels of ROS, GSH, and, ATP were evaluated. Moreover, the enzymes (GCLC: glutamate cysteine ligase; GSS: glutathione synthetase) that are involved in glutathione synthesis from cysteine precursor were detected by western blotting. Results: Compared to the control, addition of 1.25 mM cysteine to the liquid storage significantly increased boar sperm progressive motility, straight-line velocity, curvilinear velocity, beat-cross frequency, membrane integrity, mitochondrial membrane potential, ATP level, acrosome integrity, activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase, and GSH level, while reducing the ROS level, lipid peroxidation and 4-HNE modifications. It was also observed that the GCLC and GSS were expressed in boar sperm. Interestingly, when we used menadione to induce sperm with ROS stress, the menadione associated damages were observed to be reduced by the cysteine supplementation. Moreover, compared to the cysteine treatment, the γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS) activity, GSH level, mitochondrial membrane potential, ATP level, membrane integrity and progressive motility in boar sperm were decreased by supplementing with an inhibitor of GSH synthesis, buthionine sulfoximine. Conclusion: These data suggest that boar sperm could biosynthesize the GSH from cysteine in vitro. Therefore, during storage, addition of cysteine improves boar sperm quality via enhancing the GSH synthesis to resist ROS stress.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.10a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2010

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an essential component for collagen biosynthesis and also for the proper functioning of the cardiovascular system in humans. Unlike most of the animals, humans lack the ability to synthesize ascorbic acid on their own due to a mutation in the gene encoding the last enzyme of ascorbate biosynthesis. As a result, vitamin C must be obtained from dietary sources like plants. In this study, we have developed two different kinds of transgenic potato plants (Solanumtuberosum L. cv. Taedong Valley) overexpressing strawberry GalUR and mouse GLoase gene under the control of CaMV 35S promoter with increased ascorbic acid levels. Integration of the these genes in the plant genome was confirmed by PCR and Southern blotting. Ascorbic acid(AsA) levels in transgenic tubers were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The over-expression of these genes resulted in 2-4 folds increase in AsA intransgenic potato and the levels of AsA were positively correlated with increased geneactivity. The transgenic lines with enhanced vitamin C content showed enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses induced by methyl viologen(MV), NaCl or mannitol as compared to untransformed control plants. The leaf disc senescence assay showed better tolerance in transgenic lines by retaining higher chlorophyll as compared to the untransformed control plants. Present study demonstrated that the over-expression of these gene enhanced the level of AsA in potato tubers and these transgenics performed better under different abiotic stresses as compared to untransformed control. We have also investigated the mechanism of the abiotic stress tolerance upon enhancing the level of the ascorbate in transgenic potato. The transgenic potato plants overexpressing GalUR gene with enhanced accumulation of ascorbate were investigated to analyze the antioxidants activity of enzymes involved in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle and their tolerance mechanism against different abiotic stresses under invitro conditions. Transformed potato tubers subjected to various abiotic stresses induced by methyl viologen, sodium chloride and zinc chloride showed significant increase in the activities of superoxide dismutase(SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), catalase, enzymes of ascorbate-glutathione cycle enzymes such as ascorbate peroxidase(APX, EC 1.11.1.11), dehydroascorbate reductase(DHAR, EC 1.8.5.1), and glutathione reductase(GR, EC 1.8.1.7) as well as the levels of ascorbate, GSH and proline when compared to the untransformed tubers. The increased enzyme activities correlated with their mRNA transcript accumulation in the stressed transgenic tubers. Pronounced differences in redox status were also observed in stressed transgenic potato tubers that showed more tolerance to abiotic stresses when compared to untransformed tubers. From the present study, it is evident that improved to lerance against abiotic stresses in transgenic tubers is due to the increased activity of enzymes involved in the antioxidant system together with enhanced ascorbate accumulated in transformed tubers when compared to untransformed tubers. At moment we also investigating the role of enhanced reduced glutathione level for the maintenance of the methylglyoxal level as it is evident that methylglyoxal is a potent cytotoxic compound produced under the abiotic stress and the maintenance of the methylglyoxal level is important to survive the plant under stress conditions.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.2 s.75
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• pp.259-265
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• 2006

This study is investigated the effect on mechanism of nephrotoxicity formation of methotrexate(MTX) by hyperglycemic by streptozotocin(STZ). MTX was injected daily at two doses of 3, 6 mg/kg for 1 week in STZ-induced hyperglycemic rats. Activities of BUN, creatinine and LDH were significantly increased by treatment with MTX in STZ-induced diabetic group when compared to MTX treatment group in normal rats' Renal lipid peroxide content and activities of cytosolic enzyme were significantly increased in the treatment of MTX in diabetic group. The concentration of glutathione and glutathione biosynthesis enzymes were decreased by treatment with MTX in STZ-induced diabetic group. These results suggest that nephrotoxicity of MTX in STZ-induced hyperglycemic rat was caused by activation of renal metabolizing enzymes in cytosol and decrease of glutathione concentration.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.148-160
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• 1991

Localization of isoenzyme of glutathione transferase Pi class was compared in different human tissues by immunohistochemical analysis. Strong enrich-ment of GST-Pi in the epithelial tissues was observed in the granular layer of skin, nipple and esophagus which are vulnerable to exogenous chemicals and in the duct epithelium such as pancreatic, biliary, salibvary, renal tubules as well as in the steroid biosynthesis organs such as theca and granulosa of ovary, leydig cell of testis and zona reticularis of adrenal glands.

• 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<$Val{\leq}Leu$).

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.462-467
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• 1996

Acetolactate synthase (ALS, EC 4.1.3.18) is the first common enzyme in the biosynthesis of leucine, isoleucine, and valine. It is the target enzyme for several classes of herbicides, including the sulfonylureas, the imidazolinones, the mazolopyrimidines, the pyrimidyl-oxy-benzoates, the pyrimidyl-thio-benzens, and the 4,6-dimethoxypyrimidines. An amino-terminal fragment of the sulfonylurea-resistant ALS gene (SurB) from Nicotiana tabaccum was cloned into the bacterial expression vector pGEX-2T. The resulting recombinant plasmid pGEX-ALS1 was used to transform Escherichia coli strain BL21, and the tobacco ALS was expressed in the bacteria as a protein fused with glutathione S-transferase (GST). Polyclonal antibodies against the fusion product (GST-ALS) were produced, and the sensitivity of GST-ALS with the rabbit anti-GST-ALS IgG was up to 50 ng. This antibody was used for Western blot analysis of the partially purified ALS from barley shoots. The results suggest that the polyclonal antibody produced in this study can be used to detect plant ALS.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.287-295
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• 1998

Acetolactate synthase (ALS) is the first common enzyme in the biosynthesis of L-Ieucine, L-isoleucine, and L-valine. The sulfonylurea-resistant ALS gene from Nicotiana tabacum was cloned into the bacterial expression vector pGEX-2T. The resulting recombinant plasmid pGEX-ALS3 was used to transform Escherichia coli strain XL1-Blue, and the mutant tobacco ALS (mALS) was expressed in the bacteria as a protein fused with glutathione S-transferase (GST). The fusion product GST-mALS was purified in a single step on a glutathione-Sepharose column. ALS activities of 0.9-2.5 ${\mu}mol/min/mg$ protein were observed in the GST-mALS, and the Km values for pyruvate, FAD, and TPP were 10.8-24.1, $(1.9-8.9){\times}10^{-3}$, and 0.14-0.38 mM, respectively. The purified GST-mALS was resistant to both the sulfonylurea and the triazolopyrimidine herbicides, and lost its sensitivity to end products, L-valine and L-leucine. For comparision, the tobacco wild-type recombinant ALS fused with GST, GST-wALS, was also characterized with respect to its pyruvate and cofactor bindings. These results suggest that the purified mutant recombinant tobacco ALS was functionally active, that the mutations resulting in herbicide resistance has affected pyruvate and cofactor bindings," and that the two classes of herbicides interact at a common site on the plant ALS.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.3 s.70
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• pp.461-467
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• 2005

This study was conducted to investigate the biological activity and hepatoprotective effect of DWP-04 [DDB : selenium yeast: glutathione (31.1 : 6.8 : 62.1(w/w/w)] in D-galactosamine (GaIN) intoxicated rats. The DWP-04 (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg) or its vehicle was orally administered everyday before the start of GaIN injection (400 mg/kg, ip) for two weeks and animal decapitated for 24 hrs after GaIN­injected. The activities of serum enzymes, markers of liver function, were increased in the GaIN group compared to normal group and significantly lowered in the DWP-04 pretreated group than in the GaIN group. Hepatic lipid peroxide level and activities of phase 1 enzymes were significantly higher than those of GaIN group compared to normal group and lower in the DWP-04 pretreated group than in the GaIN group, and phase II enzyme activities in liver were lower in the GaIN group than in the normal group and were increased in the DWP-04 pretreated group than in the GaIN group. Total hepatic glutathione content and glutathione biosynthesis enzymes were lower in the GaIN group than in the normal group and were increased in the DWP-04 pretreated group than in the GaIN group. Therefore, the current results indicated that DWP-04 administration alleviated the GaIN-induced adverse effect through enhancing the antioxidant enzyme activities.