• BMB Reports
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.437-442
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• 1995

The potency of yeast-derived methionyl-free human growth hormone (rhGH), which was obtained by removal of the N-terminal Met from methionyl-hGH, was estimated by in vitro and in vivo assays. In radio-receptor assay where the binding affinity of growth hormone to the receptor was estimated, the recombinant hGH showed 2.9 international units (IU) per mg of specific activity. In contrast, pitUitary-derived human growth hormone had a slightly lower receptor binding activity (2.5 IU/mg) compared with recombinant growth hormone. For the in vivo assay, efficacy of rhGH was tested by use of hypophysectomized rats, in which pituitary organs were surgically removed, resulting in the termination of growth hormone secretion. The weight-increase in rats by the injection of rhGH was almost identical to the result obtained by the injection of the same amount of pituitary-derived (international standard) hGH. A comparision of the secondary structures of rhGH and rMet-hGH by circular dichroism spectrophotometer demonstrated that the removal of the methionyl residue from rMet-hGH did not exert any effect on the structure of the growth hormone. In conclusion, methionyl-free human growth hormone produced from yeast was highly potent in biological activity and maintained a legitimate three dimensional structure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.271-278
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• 2020

Glycerol dehydrogenase (GlyDH) catalyzes the oxidation of glycerol to dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which is the first step in the glycerol metabolism pathway. GlyDH has attracted great interest for its potential industrial applications, since DHA is a precursor for the synthesis of many commercially valuable chemicals and various drugs. In this study, GlyDH from Klebsiella pneumoniae (KpGlyDH) was overexpressed in E. coli and purified to homogeneity for biochemical and molecular characterization. KpGlyDH exhibits an exclusive preference for NAD⁺ over NADP⁺. The enzymatic activity of KpGlyDH is maximal at pH 8.6 and pH 10.0. Of the three common polyol substrates, KpGlyDH showed the highest k_cat/K_m value for glycerol, which is three times higher than for racemic 2,3-butanediol and 32 times higher than for ethylene glycol. The k_cat value for glycerol oxidation is notably high at 87.1 ± 11.3 sec^-1. KpGlyDH was shown to exist in an equilibrium between two different oligomeric states, octamer and hexadecamer, by size-exclusion chromatography analysis. KpGlyDH is structurally thermostable, with a T_m of 83.4℃, in thermal denaturation experiment using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The biochemical and biophysical characteristics of KpGlyDH revealed in this study should provide the basis for future research on its glycerol metabolism and possible use in industrial applications.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.305-310
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• 1987

대두 및 고구마로부터 얻은 ${\beta}-Amylase$의 단백질 구조를 CD Spectra, 항체반응, 화학적 절단을 통하여 비교하였다. 고구마 ${\beta}-Amylase$는 4개의 동일한 subunit로 구성되어 있으며 대두 ${\beta}-Amylase$는 Subunit구조를 하고 있지 않았다. 또한 두 효소는 변성시킨 상태에서 SDS-gel전기영동, gel filtration한 결과 분자량은 동일하였다. 그리고 대두 및 고구마 ${\beta}-Amylase$는 CD spectra상 유사한 2차구조를 나타내고 있으나 방향족 측쇄가 상이함을 나타냈다. 한편 cyteine 잔기 및 methionine 잔기의 화학적 절단한 결과 두 효소는 동일한 아미노산 배일을 나타냈다. 또한 면역학적인 방법에 의해서도 두 효소는 유사성이 인정되었다. 한편 대두 ${\beta}-Amylase$에 대한 항체는 고구마 ${\beta}-Amylase$의 활성을 억제하였으나 밀, 보리, 무우 ${\beta}-Amylase$에 대해서는 활성 억제가 나타나진 않았다.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.103-110
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• 2006

Objectives : This study was conducted to investigate the effects of ginseng saponins and commercial surfactants such as Triton X-100, sodium deoxycholate, and sodium dodecyl sulfate on the gastric enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis. Methods : Saponins (a surface-active plant component) from fresh ginseng root were extracted to examine its effect on the gastric enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis. Commercial surfactants such as Triton X-100, sodium deoxycholate, and sodium dodecyl sulfate were also employed in the hydrolysis system to compare their effects with that of the ginseng saponins. The effects of surfactants on the gastric enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis were measured by using a spectrophotometer. A spectropolarimeter was used to examine the conformational change of enzymes and substrates by the addition of ginseng saponins into the system. Results : Both the tryptic and the peptic digestion of milk casein or eggalbumin were slightly improved with an increase in the amount of ginseng saponins in the system. Triton X-100 showed an effect similar to that of ginseng saponins, while sodium dodecyl sulfate and sodium deoxycholate diminished the hydrolysis. Circular dichroism spectra of enzymes and substrates was significantly changed by the addition of ginseng saponins into the system. Conclusions : These results show that ginseng saponins affect positively the gastric enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis, and suggest that the digestion of substrates by gastric enzymes is affected by the change of enzyme conformation by ginseng saponins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권12호
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• pp.1557-1564
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• 2009

Human CDX2 is known as a caudal-related homeodomain transcription factor that is expressed in the intestinal epithelium and is important in differentiation and maintenance of the intestinal epithelial cells. The caudal-related homeobox proteins bind DNA according to a helix-turn-helix structure, thereby increasing the structural stability of DNA. A cancer-tumor suppressor role for Cdx2 has been shown by a decrease in the level of the expression of Cdx2 in colorectal cancer, but the mechanism of transcriptional regulation has not been examined at the molecular level. We developed a large-scale system for expression of the recombinant, novel CDX2, in Escherichia coli. A highly purified and soluble CDX2 protein was obtained in E. coli strain BL21(DE3)RIL and a hexahistidine fusion system using Ni-NTA affinity column, anion exchange, and gel filtration chromatographies. The identity and secondary structure of the purified CDX2 protein were confirmed by MALDI-TOF MS, Western blot, and a circular dichroism analyses. In addition, we studied the DNA-binding activity of recombinant CDX2 by ELISA experiment and isolated human CDX2-binding proteins derived from rat cells by an immobilized GST-fusion method. Three CDX2-binding proteins were found in the gastric tissue, and those proteins were identified to the homeobox protein Hox-D8, LIM homeobox protein 6, and SMC1L1 protein.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.671-678
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• 2018

Papiliocin, isolated from the swallowtail butterfly (Papilio xuthus), is an antimicrobial peptide with high selectivity against gram-negative bacteria. We previously showed that the N-terminal helix of papiliocin (PapN) plays a key role in the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity of papiliocin. In this study, we measured the selectivity of PapN against multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria, as well as its anti-inflammatory activity. Interactions between Trp2 of PapN and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is a major component of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, were studied using the Trp fluorescence blue shift and quenching in LPS micelles. Furthermore, using circular dichroism, we investigated the interactions between PapN and LPS, showing that LPS plays critical roles in peptide folding. Our results demonstrated that Trp2 in PapN was buried deep in the negatively charged LPS, and Trp2 induced the ${\alpha}$-helical structure of PapN. Importantly, docking studies determined that predominant electrostatic interactions of positively charged arginine residues in PapN with phosphate head groups of LPS were key factors for binding. Similarly, hydrophobic interactions by aromatic residues of PapN with fatty acid chains in LPS were also significant for binding. These results may facilitate the development of peptide antibiotics with anti-inflammatory activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권7호
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• pp.1163-1172
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• 2016

The Ω-loop is a nonregular and flexible structure that plays an important role in molecular recognition, protein folding, and thermostability. In the present study, molecular dynamics simulation was carried out to assess the molecular stability and flexibility profile of the porcine trypsin structures. Two Ω-Loops (fragment 57-67 and fragment 78-91) were confirmed to represent the flexible region. Subsequently, glycosylation site-directed mutations (A73S, N84S, and R104S) were introduced within the Ω-loop region and its wing chain based on its potential N-glycosylation sites (Asn-Xaa-Ser/Thr consensus sequences) and structure information to improve the thermostability of trypsin. The result demonstrated that the half-life of the N84S mutant at 50℃ increased by 177.89 min when compared with that of the wild-type enzyme. Furthermore, the significant increase in the thermal stability of the N84S mutant has also been proven by an increase in the T_m values determined by circular dichroism. Additionally, the optimum temperatures of the wild-type enzyme and the N84S mutant were 75℃ and 80℃, respectively. In conclusion, we obtained the thermostability-improved enzyme N84S mutant, and the strategy used to design this mutant based on its structural information and N-linked glycosylation modification could be applied to engineer other enzymes to meet the needs of the biotechnological industry.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.1713-1719
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• 2014

1FSD is a 28-residue designed protein with a ${\beta}{\beta}{\alpha}$ motif. Since this protein displays most essential features of protein structures in such a small size, this model protein can be an outstanding system for evaluating the balance in the propensity of the secondary structures and the quality of all-atom protein force fields. Particularly, this protein would be difficult to fold to its correct native structure without establishing proper balances between the secondary structure elements in all-atom energy functions. In this work, a series of the recently optimized five amber protein force fields [$ff03^*$, $f99sb^*$-ildn, ff99sb-${\phi}^{\prime}$-ildn, ff99sb-nmr1-ildn, ff99sb-${\Phi}{\Psi}$(G24, CS)-ildn] were investigated for the simulations of 1FSD using a conventional molecular dynamics (MD) and a biased-exchange meta-dynamics (BEMD) methods. Among those tested force fields, we found that ff99sb-nmr1-ildn and ff99sb-${\Phi}{\Psi}$(G24, CS)-ildn are promising in that both force fields can locate the native state of 1FSD with a high accuracy (backbone rmsd ${\leq}1.7{\AA}$) in the global free energy minimum basin with a reasonable energetics conforming to a previous circular dichroism (CD) experiment. Furthermore, both force fields led to a common set of two distinct folding pathways with a heterogeneous nature of the transition state to the folding. We anticipate that these force fields are reasonably well balanced, thereby transferable to many other protein folds.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제28권12호
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• pp.2303-2309
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• 2007

Expressed protein ligation (EPL) technique, joining recombinantly expressed proteins to polypeptides, has been widely adopted for addressing various biological questions and for drug discovery. However, joining two recombinant proteins together is sometimes difficult when proteins are expressed insoluble and unrefoldable, because ligation-active proteins via intein-fusion are obtainable when they are folded correctly. We overcame this limitation coexpressing target protein with additional methionine aminopeptidase (MAP) which enhances removal of the initiation methionine of recombinantly expressed protein. Our approach demonstrated that two domains of 46 kDa 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase, a target of herbicide glyphosate, were successfully joined by native chemical ligation, although its C-terminal domain was expressed as an inclusion body. The intein-fused N-terminal fragment of EPSP synthase (EPSPSN, residues 1-237) was expressed and the ligation-active thioester tagged N-terminal fragment (EPSPSN-thioester) was purified using a chitin affinity chromatography and mercapto-ethanesulphonate (MESNA) as intein thiolysis reagent. Its Cterminal fragment (EPSPSC, residues Met237-238CYS-427), expressed as an inclusion body, was prepared from an additional MAP-expressing strain. Protein ligation was initiated by mixing ~1 mM of EPSPSN-thioester with ~2 mM of EPSPSCCYS (residues 238CYS-427). Also we found that addition of 2% thiophenol increased the ligation efficiency via thiol exchange. The ligation efficiency was ~85%. The ligated full-length EPSP synthase was dissolved in 6 M GdHCl and refolded. Circular dichroism (CD) and enzyme activity assay of the purified protein showed that the ligated enzyme has distinct secondary structure and ~115% specific activity compared to those of wild-type EPSP synthase. This work demonstrates rare example of EPL between two recombinantly expressed proteins and also provides hands-on protein engineering protocol for large proteins.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제32권9호
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• pp.3327-3332
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• 2011

Antimicrobial peptides have recently gained the much attention because of their ability to make defense system from attacking bacterial infections. Drosocin has been considered as very attractive antibiotic agents because of low toxicity against human erythrocytes and active at the low concentration. We have studied the structureactivity relationship of a glycopeptide drosocin focused on the N-acetyl-D-galactoside at $Thr^{11}$ residue. Based on the radial diffusion assay, we found that the acetylation of carbohydrate moiety increased the antimicrobial activity and the $Pro^{10}$, present in the middle of drosocin plays an important role in the antimicrobial activity. Our results provide a good lead compound for further studies on the design of drosocin-based analogues targeting glyco linked Thr site.