• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.3817-3824
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• 2013

Various separation modes in HPLC, such as anion exchange (AE), reversed-phase (RP), and affinity (AF) chromatography were examined for the separation of selenium species in human blood serum and urine. While RP- and AE-HPLC were mainly used for the separation of small molecular selenium species, double column AF-HPLC achieved the separation of selenoproteins in blood serum efficiently. Further, the effluent of AF-HPLC was enzymatically hydrolyzed and then analyzed with RP HPLC for selenoamino acid study. The versatility of the hybrid technique makes the in-depth study of selenium species possible. For quantification, post column isotope dilution (ID) with $^{78}Se$ spike was performed. ORC ICP/MS (octapole reaction cell inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry) was used with 4 mL $min^{-1}$ Hydrogen as reaction gas. In urine sample, inorganic selenium and SeCys were identified. In blood serum, selenoproteins GPx, SelP and SeAlb were detected and quantified. The concentration for GPx, SelP and SeAlb was $22.8{\pm}3.4\;ng\;g^{-1}$, $45.2{\pm}1.7\;ng\;g^{-1}$, and $16.1{\pm}2.2\;ng\;g^{-1}$, respectively when $^{80}Se/^{78}Se$ was used. The sum of these selenoproteins ($84.1{\pm}4.4\;ng\;g^{-1}$) agrees well with the total selenium concentration measured with the ID method of $87.0{\pm}3.0\;ng\;g^{-1}$. Enzymatic hydrolysis of each selenium proteins revealed that SeCys is the major amino acid for all three proteins and SeMet is contained in SeAlb only.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2016

$Na^+/K^+$-ATPase is a membrane protein and plays a key role in osmotic regulation in living organisms. In the present study, a cDNA sequence encoding the $Na^+/K^+$-ATPase alpha subunit from the monogonont rotifer, Brachionus koreanus was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends technique. To investigate the role of this enzyme in osmotic stress, enzymatic activities of $Na^+/K^+$-ATPase were measured after exposure to different salinities for 48 h. The full-length Bk $Na^+/K^+$-ATPase cDNA was 3069 bp-long, encoding a 1022-amino acid polypeptide. Bk $Na^+/K^+$-ATPase possesses eight membrane spanning regions and five conserved domains. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Bk $Na^+/K^+$-ATPase had high identity with those of other species, and was closely clustered with other Brachionus sp. These findings indicate that this protein was conserved both structurally and functionally. B. koreanus $Na^+/K^+$-ATPase activity was stimulated in both hyposaline (6 psu) and hypersaline (32 psu) conditions, suggesting that this protein may play a role in osmoregulation. This study would provide better understanding of the physiology of B. koreanus and this enzyme may be useful as a molecular marker for evaluation of osmotic stress in aquatic environment.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 2014

This study investigated the effects of three proteases (trypsin, pepsin and chymotrypsin) on the hydrolysis efficiency of porcine placenta and the molecular weight (Mw) distributions of the placental hydrolysates. Because placenta was made up of insoluble collagen, the placenta was gelatinized by applying thermal treatment at $90^{\circ}C$ for 1 h and used as the sample. The placental hydrolyzing activities of the enzymes at varying concentrations and incubation times were determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Based on the SDS-PAGE, the best placental hydrolysis efficiency was observed in trypsin treatments where all peptide bands disappeared after 1 h of incubation as compared to 6 h of chymotrypsin. Pepsin hardly hydrolyzed the placenta as compared to the other two enzymes. The Mw distribution revealed that the trypsin produced placental peptides with Mw of 106 and 500 Da. Peptides produced by chymotrypsin exhibited broad ranges of Mw distribution (1-20 kDa), while the pepsin treatment showed Mw greater than 7 kDa. For comparisons of pre-treatments, the subcritical water processing (37.5 MPa and $200^{\circ}C$) of raw placenta improved the efficiency of tryptic digestions to a greater level than that of a preheating treatment ($90^{\circ}C$ for 1 h). Consequently, subcritical water processing followed by enzymatic digestions has the potential of an advanced collagen hydrolysis technique.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.435-441
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• 2014

Objectives: Bisphenol A, or BPA, is a chemical component in polycarbonate plastic with which many people come into contact every day. A great deal of controversy has arisen over its safety since this material, which is known to disrupt the human endocrine system and cause neurological difficulties and cancer, is commonplace in beverage containers, food can liners, and receipt paper rolls. In this study, we determined the levels of exposure to BPA of workers in the service industry depending on the number of receipts contacted. Methods: The participants were 16 male and 18 female workers employed in the service industry. Using a questionnaire, we investigated general and job characteristics. Urine samples were collected and analyzed by the LC-MS/MS technique after enzymatic hydrolysis and solid phase extraction (SPE). Results: The geometric mean (GM) concentration of urinary BPA from all subjects was 1.02 ng/ml. Workers were exposed significantly to more BPA according to the number of receipts they contacted, their work experience, and working hours per day. The BPA concentration of those who touched more than 100 receipts per day was 3.09 ng/ml, while that of the other participants was 0.61 ng/ml. It was shown that wearing gloves can protect from BPA exposure. Conclusion: We determined the urinary BPA concentrations of workers in service industry and found that the contact with receipts could increase the BPA exposure of service workers.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.50-58
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• 1996

Interspecific hybrids between Aspergillus oryzae var oryzae and A. nidulans 514 were obtained by nuclear transfer technique. Several autotrophic mutants isolated from conidiospores of the two strains were mutagenized with ultraviolet and N-methyl-N-nitrosoguanidine. Optimal conditions for formation of intergeneric hybrids were investigated. Frequencies of hybrid formation by nuclear transfer were $3{\times}10^{-5}{\sim}1{\times}10^{-5}$. From observation of genetic stability, conidial size, DNA content, and nuclear stain, it was suggested that their karyptypes are aneuploid. The hybrids showed 1.1~1.4 fold higher xylanase activities than parental strains did. The xylanase of Aspergiilus sp. TAVD514-3 was purified and some of it's enzymatc characteristics were investigated. The enzyme was purified about 85 fold with an overall yield of 17% from the culture medium by ammonium sulfate fractionation, Sephadex G-75 gel permeation chromatography, and CM-sephadex A-50 ion exchange chromatography. The purified enzyme functions optimally at pH 9.0 and 80$^{\circ}C$. The enzymatic activity was increased by the presence of $Mg^{2+}$ and $Mn^2$ ions.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2000

Biodegradation of vanous medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) by an extracellular depolymerase system from Pseudomonas sp. RY-1 was investigated under laboratoly conditions. The degradation rate of the polymers was determined by quantitative clem zone technique, enzyme (turbidity) assay, and respirometry assay. Although the enzyme system secreted by Pscudomor~as sp. RY-1 was capable of degrading all MCL-PHAs tested. its secretion was influenced by the availability of secondary carbon sources. The rate of enzymatic degradation of MCL-PHAs was dependent upou the monomeric composition of the polyesters and reduced as the chain lengths of the monomer m t s in the polyesters increased. MCL-PHAs containing C-even monomer units showed faster degradation rate than MCL-PHAs containing C-odd monomer units. Respiration rates of MCL-PHAs with C-even monomer uuts were also much faster than those of MCL-PHAs with C-odd monomer units. The degmdation rate of MCL-PHAs bearing unsaturated substituents was faster than that of mcl-PHAs without functional substituents, which is suggesting the correlation between the degradation rate and the crystallinity of MCL-PHAs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1559-1565
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• 2014

Cellulase and xylanase are main hydrolysis enzymes for the degradation of cellulosic and hemicellulosic biomass, respectively. In this study, our aim was to develop and test the efficacy of a rapid, high-throughput method to screen hydrolytic-enzyme-producing microbes. To accomplish this, we modified the 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method for microwell plate-based screening. Targeted microbial samples were initially cultured on agar plates with both cellulose and xylan as substrates. Then, isolated colonies were subcultured in broth media containing yeast extract and either cellulose or xylan. The supernatants of the culture broth were tested with our modified DNS screening method in a 96-microwell plate, with a $200{\mu}l$ total reaction volume. In addition, the stability and reliability of glucose and xylose standards, which were used to determine the enzymatic activity, were studied at $100^{\circ}C$ for different time intervals in a dry oven. It was concluded that the minimum incubation time required for stable color development of the standard solution is 20 min. With this technique, we successfully screened 21 and 31 cellulase- and xylanase-producing strains, respectively, in a single experimental trial. Among the identified strains, 19 showed both cellulose and xylan hydrolyzing activities. These microbes can be applied to bioethanol production from cellulosic and hemicellulosic biomass.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2007

Trehalose is non-reducing disaccharide which is found in bacteria, fungi, plants and insects. Trehalose has been determined by several analysis methods. To monitor the concentrations of trehalose in a process, enzymatic methods have more advantage over others, e.g. more specific. In this work, trehalase was immobilized on VA-epoxy polymer and applied to FIA systems. The behaviours of these FIA systems were characterized and used to monitor the trehalose concentrations. Use of optical detection technique was chosen for trehalose-FIA system. On-line monitoring data and off-line data were measured by HPLC.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.2156-2162
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• 2012

Many literatures focus on the biological relevance and the identification of biomarkers for disease activity assessment while less attention has been paid to the development of standard procedures for sample preparation and storage based on liquid chromatography technique. The influencing factors including protein precipitation, storage temperature, storage time, and reconstitution by ultra pure water were analyzed employing HPLC-DAD. The effects were investigated from five participants over three months by principal components analysis (PCA) and the values of percent changes (PC). The samples with protein precipitation might slow the rate of bacterial enzymatic conversion. After protein precipitation, the average PC of urine samples ($0.136{\pm}0.013$, n = 5) is relatively less than that of the serum samples ($0.173{\pm}0.026$, n = 5) for three months. Minimal effects on metabolic profiles of serum and urine (PC < 0.15) are reasonable for metabolomic studies after protein precipitation and storage at $-20^{\circ}C$ for two months.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.732-738
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• 2009

An acidic polygalacturonase (PG) from Aspergillus kawachii was produced by solid state fermentation employing a polyurethane foam support. The conditions used for the production of acidic PG were particle size of support (0.6 or 500 $mm^3$) and fermentation time. From the factors studied, the particle size had important influence on enzyme production. The best conditions for acidic PG production were $0.6\;mm^3$ particle size, 18 hr at $30^{\circ}C$ and initial pH of 5.0. In addition, pectin was extracted from citrus pomaces (grapefruit, lime, and tangerine) by acidic PG at $50^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr with citric acid solution. Infrared spectroscopy showed that lime pomace had more high-methoxylated (65%) endogenous pectin than was obtained than from grapefruit or tangerine pomaces. The enzymatically extracted pectin yield in dry basis (d.b.) for grapefruit and lime pectins were 6.95 and 4.25%, respectively. The citric acid solution alone also contributed to pectin extraction from citrus pomaces (7-9%, d.b.). Limited pectin extraction by acidic PG from tangerine pomace was most likely due to the presence of low-methoxylated endogenous pectin. The enzymatic method for pectin extraction using acidic PG from A. kawachii is a promising technique for releasing highly polymerized pectic substances from high-methoxylated lime or grapefruit pomaces.