• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
• /
• 2013.04a
• /
• pp.13-24
• /
• 2013

Dopamine agonists and antagonists and its receptor play a critical role in the information transfer in the nervous system, and dopamine receptor-ligands interactions are deeply related to Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and some other mental diseases. However, the only experimental 3D structure available for dopamine receptors is human D3 dopamine receptor. Therefore, it is important to create model of subtype dopamine receptor-ligands interactions. We report here the 3D structures of the human D1 and D2 dopamine receptor predicted by using GalaxyTBM, and its predicted binding site determined by using GalaxyDock. The highly conserved Asp on TM 3 and Phe on TM 6 have critical role in ligand binding. Also, highly conserved serines on TM 5 are essential for binding agonists and some kinds of antagonists. We identify differences between binding sites of agonists and antagonists of human D1 and D2 dopamine receptor, and find the reasons of selective binding of antagonists.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.443-450
• /
• 2005

The multi-host pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, possesses an extraordinary versatility which makes it capable of surviving the adverse conditions provided by environmental, host, and, presumably, competing microbial factors in its natural habitats. Here, we investigated the P. aeruginosa-Bacillus subtilis interaction in laboratory conditions and found that some P. aeruginosa strains can outcompete B. subtilis in mixed planktonic cultures. This is accompanied by the loss of B. subtilis viability. The bactericidal activity of P. aeruginosa is measured on B. subtilis plate cultures. The bactericidal activity is attenuated in pqsA, mvfR, lasR, pilB, gacA, dsbA, rpoS, and phnAB mutants. These results suggest that P. aeruginosa utilizes a subset of conserved virulence pathways in order to survive the conditions provided by its bacterial neighbors.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.252-259
• /
• 1995

The PCR was employed to detect and characterize the bovine immunodeficiency-like virus (BIV), which is a newly recognized member of the I entivirinae of the retroviruses. Degenerate primers representing the conserved regions in the pol genes of the Lentivirinae, were used to detect proviral DNA obtained from the bovine embryonic spleen cell cultures infected with BIV. The PCR amplified DNA fragment was molecularly cloned and sequenced. The BIV DNA fragment contained a sequence identical to that reported by Garvey et al. (Garvey et al., 1990. Virology, 175, 391-409). With the degenerate primers, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of sick cattle and cells cultured with BIV were tested to determine genetic variation of BIV pol conserved sequence. We found the sequence heterogeneity within cultures and most variations occurred at the third base of codons that would not lead to amino acid substitutions. Another change was GAG (Glu) to AAG (Lys) within the BIV isolates. Interestingly, the altered sequence is also found in other lentiviruses such as HIV-2, SIV mac, CAEV and EIAV.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2016

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are a very large and highly conserved family of peroxidases that reduce peroxides, with a conserved cysteine residue, designated the "peroxidatic" Cys ($C_P$) serving as the site of oxidation by peroxides (Hall et al., 2011; Rhee et al., 2012). Peroxides oxidize the $C_P$-SH to cysteine sulfenic acid ($C_P$-SOH), which then reacts with another cysteine residue, named the "resolving" Cys ($C_R$) to form a disulfide that is subsequently reduced by an appropriate electron donor to complete a catalytic cycle. This overview summarizes the status of studies on Prxs and relates the following 10 minireviews.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.407-415
• /
• 2009

The sirtuins are a protein family named after the first identified member, S. cerevisiae Sir2p. Sirtuins are protein deacetylases whose activity is dependent on $NAD^+$ as a cosubstrate. They are structurally defined by two central domains that together form a highly conserved catalytic center, which catalyzes the transfer of an acetyl moiety from acetyllysine to $NAD^+$, yielding nicotinamide, the unique metabolite O-acetyl-ADP-ribose and deacetylated lysine. One or more sirtuins are present in virtually all species from bacteria to mammals. Here we describe a phylogenetic analysis of sirtuins. Based on their phylogenetic relationship, sirtuins can be grouped into over a dozen classes and subclasses. Humans, like most vertebrates, have seven sirtuins: SIRT1-SIRT7. These function in diverse cellular pathways, regulating transcriptional repression, aging, metabolism, DNA damage responses and apoptosis. We show that these seven sirtuins arose early during animal evolution. Conserved residues cluster around the catalytic center of known sirtuin family members.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.984-988
• /
• 2019

Blue mold in citrus is caused by Penicillium italicum. In this study, the P. italicum-specific primers were developed for rapid detection based on the conserved genes RPB1 and RPB2 among Penicillium genomes. The two primer pairs RPB1-a and RPB1-b proved to be specific to detect P. italicum. The PCR assay among 39 fungal isolates and the colonial, pathogenic morphologies and molecular methods validated the specificity and reliability of these two primer pairs. This report provided a method and P. italicum-specific primers, which might greatly contribute to citrus postharvest industry.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.253-259
• /
• 2021

Aging is characterized by a functional decline in most physiological processes, including alterations in cellular metabolism and defense mechanisms. Increasing evidence suggests that caloric restriction extends longevity and retards age-related diseases at least in part by reducing metabolic rate and oxidative stress in a variety of species, including yeast, worms, flies, and mice. Moreover, recent studies in invertebrates - worms and flies, highlight the intricate interrelation between reproductive longevity and somatic aging (known as disposable soma theory of aging), which appears to be conserved in vertebrates. This review is specifically focused on how the reproductive system modulates somatic aging and vice versa in genetic model systems. Since many signaling pathways governing the aging process are evolutionarily conserved, similar mechanisms may be involved in controlling soma and reproductive aging in vertebrates.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.274-277
• /
• 1994

We subcloned two chicken H3 histone genes and transfected them into Rat 3 cell line. One contains 300 bp 5' to its cap site and the other contains 130 bp 5' to its cap site when cloned into plasm ids. Both of them showed 5' phase specific expression of their mRNA about 8 fold higher (during 5' phase) than during Gl phase. This means that only 130 bp 5' to its cap site was enough to confer cell cycle regulated expression of the latter gene. The DNA sequences of their 5' flanking region did not reveal any particular homologies or subtype-specific sequences. The DNA sequence data also showed that even though the protein coding regions of the histone genes have been conserved exceptionally well throughout evolution, their 5' untranslated regions have not been conserved as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.145.1-145
• /
• 2003

This study was conducted to designing conserved regions of molecules for virus-derived resistance to transgenic Phlaenopsis orchids to protect against two major orchid viruses, Cymbidum mosaic virus (CymMV) and Odontoglossum ringspot virus (ORSV). Infected leaf samples of Phalaenopsis were randomly screened by the RT-PCR with specific primers to both of viruses. RT-PCR products of the viruses were cloned and their nucleotide sequences were determined. Multiple alignments of coat protein (CP) genes of the viruses revealed that over the 88 ％ and 94 ％ identities with CymMV and ORSV, respectively, were observed. These data can be useful for selection of highly conserved regions of CP gene of the viruses for transgenic orchid experiments.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.1924-1926
• /
• 2013