• BMB Reports
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.58-63
• /
• 2011

Zinc finger (ZNF) proteins play a critical role in cell growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and intracellular signal transduction. In this paper, we cloned and characterized a novel human KRAB-related zinc finger gene, ZNF425, which encodes a protein of 752 amino acids. ZNF425 is strongly expressed in the three month old human embryos and then is almost undetectable in six month old embryos and in adult tissues. An EGFP-ZNF425 fusion protein can be found in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. ZNF425 appears to act as a transcription repressor. Over-expression of ZNF425 inhibits the transcriptional activities of SRE, AP-1, and SRF. Deletion analysis indicates that the C2H2 domain is the main region responsible for the repression. Our results suggest that the ZNF425 gene is a new transcriptional inhibitor that functions in the MAPK signaling pathway.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.1749-1759
• /
• 2018

Recombinant (rec) prion protein (PrP) is an extremely useful resource for studying protein misfolding and subsequent protein aggregation events. Here, we report mass production of high-purity rec-polypeptide encoding the C-terminal globular domain of PrP; (90-230) for human and (89-231) for murine PrP. These proteins were expressed as His-tagged fusion proteins in E. coli cultured by a high cell-density aerobic fermentation method. RecPrPs recovered from inclusion bodies were slowly refolded under reducing conditions. Purification was performed by a sequence of metal-affinity, cation-exchange, and reverse-phase chromatography. The current procedure yielded several dozens of milligrams of recPrP per liter with >95% purity. The purified recPrPs predominantly adopted an ${\alpha}$-helix-rich conformation and were functionally sufficient as substrates to measure the seeding activity of human and animal prions. Establishment of a procedure for high-level production of high-purity recPrP supports the advancement of in vitro investigations of PrP including diagnosis for prion diseases.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.1637-1643
• /
• 2008

This study has investigated whether extracellular HSP90 predisposes vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to pro-inflammatory phenotype. Exposure of rat aortic smooth muscle cells to HSP90 not only enhanced IL-6 release but also profoundly induced IL-6 transcript via promoter activation. HSP90-induced IL-6 promoter activation was suppressed by dominant-negative forms of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), but not by dominant-negative-forms of TLR-3 and TIR-domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon-${\beta}$ (TRIF). Curcumin, which inhibits dimerization of TLR-4, also attenuated the IL-6 induction by HSP90. Mutation at the NF-${\kappa}B$- or C/EBP-binding site in the IL-6 promoter region suppressed the promoter activation in response to HSP90. The gene delivery of $I{\kappa}B$ using recombinant adenoviruses and treatment with resveratrol, which inhibit NF-${\kappa}B$ activity, attenuated the HSP90-induced IL-6 release from VSMCs. The present study proposes that extracellular HSP90 would contribute to inflammatory reaction in the stressed vasculature by inducing IL-6 in VSMCs, and that TLR-4 and NF-${\kappa}B$ would play active roles in the process.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.559-565
• /
• 2008

Members of the TGA family of basic domain/leucine zipper transcription factors regulate defense genes through physical interaction with NON-EXPRESSOR OF PR1 (NPR1). Of the seven TGA family members, TGA4/octopine synthase (ocs)-element-binding factor 4 (OBF4) is the least understood. Here we present evidence for a novel function of OBF4 as a regulator of flowering. We identified CONSTANS (CO), a positive regulator of floral induction, as an OBF4-interacting protein, in a yeast two-hybrid library screen. OBF4 interacts with the B-box region of CO. The abundance of OBF4 mRNA cycles with a 24 h rhythm under both long-day (LD) and short-day (SD) conditions, with significantly higher levels during the night than during the day. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that OBF4 binds to the promoter of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene, a direct target of CO. We also found that, like CO and FT, an OBF4:GUS construct was prominently expressed in the vascular tissues of leaf, indicating that OBF4 can regulate FT expression through the formation of a protein complex with CO. Taken together, our results suggest that OBF4 may act as a link between defense responses and flowering.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.17
• /
• pp.143-155
• /
• 2008

Purpose of this study is to analyze actual perception of security business of security workers centering on employees working within building and to improve accomplishment of works for security workers. For this, first, activities of security workers are discussed. Second, perception of employees of companies for the necessity of security workers, non-necessity of security workers, qualification requirements of security workers for improving business recognition were established as a framework of the study. Changes for recognition of security works in modern life are a little falling behind compared to unstopping economic development and diversifying job classifications. Even at present, expression of security works is still regarded as manager of facilities or apartments in the past. In other words, it is recognized as a simple change of title and names from apartment guard to security workers. Security works in the modern job classification is settling down as a professional field of facility management and as a part of various controls such as protection and security and its field is also expanding. It is a professional job with the purpose to analyze and prevent diverse criminal actions occurring in the society and also to introduce alternative measures with the role to prevent accidents to be occurred in variety in advance instead of simple working format taking a fixed guard post. Area of security works for the purpose of maximizing necessity of security works shall have equipped with deployment of professional security workers, consideration of business satisfaction of security workers, prevention education for rapidly changing safety accidents, and substantiality in the field. We expect to have more sophisticated area of security works with ceaseless efforts and with instillation of recognition of professionalism by security workers themselves.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.325-330
• /
• 2004

The RAD3 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for excision repair and is essential for cell viability. RAD3 encoded protein possesses a single stranded DNA-dependent ATPase and DNA and DNA-RNA helicase activities. To examine the extent of conservation of structure and function of RAD3 during eukaryotic evolution, the RAD3 homolog gene was isolated by screening of genomic DNA library. The isolated gene was designated as HRD3 (Homologue of RAD3 gene). The over-expressed HRD3 protein was estimated to be a 75 kDa in size which is in good agreement with the estimated by the nucleotide sequence of the cloned gene. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that a number of other protein spots dramatically disappeared when the HRD3 protein was overexpressed. The overexpressed RAD3 protein showed a toxicity in E. coli host, suggesting that this protein may be involved in the inhibition of protein synthesis and/or degradation of host protein. To determine which part of HRD3 gene contributes to the toxicity in E. coli, various fusion plasmids containing a partial sequence of HRD3 and lac'Z gene were constructed. These results suggest that the C-terminal domain of HRD3 protein may be important for both toxic effect in E. coli and for its role in DNA repair in S. pombe.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.301-310
• /
• 2006

Two pathways of ammonium assimilation and glutamate biosynthesis have been identified in microorganisms. One pathway involves the NADP-linked glutamate dehydrogenase, which catalyzes the amination of 2-oxoglutarate to form glutamate. An alternative pathway involves the combined activities of glutamine synthetase, which aminates glutamate to form glutamine, and glutamate synthase, which transfers the amide group of glutamine to 2-oxoglutarate to yield two molecules of glutamate. We have cloned the large subunit of the glutamate synthase (GOGAT) from Salmonella typhimurium by screening the expression of GOGAT and complementing the gene in E. coli GOGAT large subunit-deficient mutants. Three positive clones (named pUC19C12, pUC19C13 and pUC19C15) contained identical Sau3AI fragments, as determined by restriction mapping and Southern hybridization, and expressed GOGAT efficiently and constitutively using its own promoter in the heterologous host. The coding region expressed in Escherichia coli was about 170 kDa on SDS-PAGE. This gene spans 4,732 bases, contains an open reading frame of 4,458 nucleotides, and encodes a mature protein of 1,486 amino acid residues (Mr =166,208). The EMN-binding domain of GOGAT contains 12 glycine residues, and the 3Fe-4S cluster has 3 cysteine residues. The comparison of the translated amino acid sequence of the Salmonella GOGAT with sequences from other bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Shigella flexneri, Yersinia pestis, Vibrio vulnificus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa shows sequence identity between 87 and 95%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Biophysical Society Conference
• /
• 2003.06a
• /
• pp.39-39
• /
• 2003

In our previous study, WEHI-231, an immature B cell line, showed intractable increase in [C $a^{2+}$]$_{c}$ after the B-cell receptor (BCR) ligation and treatment with 2-aminoethoxydiphenylborate (2-APB), which was never observed in Bal-17, a mature B cell line (Nam et al., 2003, FEBS Lett). In this study, a whole cell voltage clamp study revealed a specific expression of a novel type of $K^{+}$ current, namely voltage-independent background-type $K^{+}$ channels (IK-bg), in WEHI-231 cells. IK-bg was dramatically increase by the application of 2-APB (50 $\square$M), which induced severe hyperpolarization of WEHI-231 from -45 ㎷ to -90 ㎷, When dialyzed with $Mg^{2+}$ and ATP-free pipette solution, a spontaneous development of IK-bg and membrane hyperpolarization were observed. IK-bg was insensitive to classical $K^{+}$ channel blockers (TEA, glibenclamide, $Ba^{2+}$(1 mM)), whereas blocked by quinine and quinidine in a voltage-dependent manner ($IC_{50}$/=6~9 $\square$M at +60㎷). Phorbol myrstate, a PKC activator, decreased the amplitude of IK-bg. Extracellular acidification (pH 6.5) slightly inhibited IK-bg. Arachidonic acid, riluzole, or hyposmotic stress could not affect the IK-bg after the full development by the intracellular dialysis with Mg-ATP-free solution. In a cell-attached mode of single channel recording from WEHI231, we found two types of voltage-independent $K^{+}$ channels with unitary conductance of 300 pS and 120 pS, respectively. Both channels showed very short mean open times and their open probabilities were increase by the application of 2-APB. In Bal-17 cells, no such $K^{+}$ current was observed in 50 cells tested. In summary, WEHI-231 immature B cells express background $K^{+}$ channels. The pharmacological properties and the large unitary conductance suggest that novel types of two-pore domain $K^{+}$ channels (2-P-K channels) might be expressed in WEHI-231, which may provide an intriguing targets of signal transduction in the immature B lymphocytes.e B lymphocytes.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.299-308
• /
• 2002

We have derived an analytical expression for the sensitivity of the frequency domain small-loop electromagnetic (EM) surveys over a two-layer earth in order to estimate the depth of investigation with an instrument having the source-receiver separation of about 2 m. We analyzed the sensitivities to the lower layer normalized by those to the upper half-space and estimated the depth of investigation from the sensitivity analyses and the mutual impedance ratio. The computational results showed that the in-phase components of the sensitivity to the lower layer dominates those to the upper layer when the thickness of the upper layer is less than 20 m, while the quadrature components are not sensitive to the lower layer over the entire frequency range. Hence we confirmed that the accurate measurement of the in-phase component is essential to increase the depth of investigation in the multi-frequency small-loop EM survey. When conductive basement of 10 ohm-m underlies the upper layer of 100 ohm-m, an accurate measurement of the in-phase components ensures the depth of the investigation more than 10 m even accounting a noise effect, from which we conclude that the small-loop EM survey is quite effective in imaging the conductive plume down to a considerable depth. On the other hand, in the presence of the resistive basement of 1,000 ohm-m, the depth of investigation may not exceed 5 m considering the instrumental accuracy, which implies that the application of the small-loop EM survey is not recommended over the resistive environment other than detecting the buried conductor.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.805-813
• /
• 2003

cDNA encoding somatolactin (SL) was obtained by RT-PCR from pituitary glands of rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus). The full length cDNA of rock bream somatolactin (rbSL) is 1636 bp long. It contains a 696 bp open reading frame encoding a signal peptide of 24 amino acids (an) and a mature protein of 207 aa. rbSL has seven cysteine residues$(Cys^{5},\; Cys^{15},\; Cys^{42},\; Cys^{65},\; Cys^{181},\; Cys^{198}\; $and $Cys^{206})$ and two potential N-glycosylation sites at positions $Asn^{121}$and $Asn^{153}$. The rbSL shares 61.1∼92.6% amino acid sequence similarities and 63∼92.6% nucleotide sequence identities with other teleost SLs, except for goldfish and channel catfish SL. Amino acid sequence alignment revealed that rbSL has four conserved domains $(A_{SL},\; B_{SL},\; C_{SL}and\; D_{SL})$ common to all SLs. Out of these domains, $(A_{SL},\; B_{SL},\; C_{SL}and\; D_{SL})$, are also conserved in all teleost growth hormones and prolactins. The cDNA of rbSL has been cloned into pET expression vector in order to produce recombinant rbSL in E. coli BL2l(DE3) cells. The recombinant protein showed a molecular weight of 27 kDa in SDS-PAGE.