• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.532-541
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• 2010

Peroxidase-like activity of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) has been recently disclosed. To maximize such activity, two catalytically conserved residues (histidine and arginine) found in the distal pocket of peroxidases have successfully been introduced into that of the VHb. A 15-fold increase in catalytic constant ($k_{cat}$) was obtained in P54R variant,which was presumably attributable to the lower rigidity and higher hydrophilicity of the distal cavity arising from substitution of proline to arginine. None of the modifications altered the affinity towards either $H_2O_2$ or ABTS substrate. Spectroscopic studies revealed that VHb variants harboring the T29H mutation apparently demonstrated a spectral shift in both ferric and ferrous forms (406-408 to 411 nm, and 432 to 424-425 nm, respectively). All VHb proteins in the ferrous state had a $\lambda_{soret}$ peak at ~419 nm following the carbon monoxide (CO) binding. Expression of the P54R mutant mediated the downregulation of iron superoxide dismutase (FeSOD) as identified by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF). According to the high peroxidase activity of P54R, it could effectively eliminate autoxidation-derived $H_2O_2$, which is a cause of heme degradation and iron release. This decreased the iron availability and consequently reduced the formation of the $Fe^{2+}$-ferric uptake regulator protein ($Fe^{2+}$-Fur), an inducer of FeSOD expression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.277-288
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• 2017

Rhizomucor miehei NRRL 5282 and Rhizopus oryzae NRRL 1526 can produce lipases with high synthetic activities in wheat bran-based solid-state culture. In this study, the purification and biochemical characterization of the lipolytic activities of these lipases are presented. SDS-PAGE indicated a molecular mass of about 55 and 35 kDa for the purified R. miehei and Rh. oryzae enzymes, respectively. p-Nitrophenyl palmitate (pNPP) hydrolysis was maximal at $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0 for the R. miehei lipase, and at $30^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.2 for the Rh. oryzae enzyme. The enzymes showed almost equal affinity to pNPP, but the $V_{max}$ of the Rh. oryzae lipase was about 1.13 times higher than that determined for R. miehei using the same substrate. For both enzymes, a dramatic loss of activity was observed in the presence of 5 mM $Hg^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, or $Mn^{2+}$, 10 mM N-bromosuccinimide or sodium dodecyl sulfate, and 5-10% (v/v) of hexanol or butanol. At the same time, they proved to be extraordinarily stable in the presence of n-hexane, cyclohexane, n-heptane, and isooctane. Moreover, isopentanol up to 10% (v/v) and propionic acid in 1 mM concentrations increased the pNPP hydrolyzing activity of R. miehei lipase. Both enzymes had 1,3-regioselectivity, and efficiently hydrolyzed p-nitrophenyl (pNP) esters with C8-C16 acids, exhibiting maximum activity towards pNP-caprylate (R. miehei) and pNP-dodecanoate (Rh. oryzae). The purified lipases are promising candidates for various biotechnological applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.792-799
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• 2007

A gene encoding a putative glycogen-debranching enzyme in Sulfolobus shibatae(abbreviated as SSGDE) was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzyme was purified to homogeneity by heat treatment and Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The recombinant SSGDE was extremely thermostable, with an optimal temperature at $85^{\circ}C$. The enzyme had an optimum pH of 5.5 and was highly stable from pH 4.5 to 6.5. The substrate specificity of SSGDE suggested that it possesses characteristics of both amylo-1,6-glucosidase and $\alpha$-1,4-glucanotransferase. SSGDE clearly hydrolyzed pullulan to maltotriose, and $6-O-\alpha-maltosyl-\beta-cyclodextrin(G2-\beta-CD)$ to maltose and $\beta$-cyclodextrin. At the same time, SSGDE transferred maltooligosyl residues to the maltooligosaccharides employed, and maltosyl residues to $G2-\beta-CD$. The enzyme preferentially hydrolyzed amylopectin, followed in a decreasing order by glycogen, pullulan, and amylose. Therefore, the present results suggest that the glycogen-debranching enzyme from S. shibatae may have industrial application for the efficient debranching and modification of starch to dextrins at a high temperature.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.347-356
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• 2019

Bacillus sp. BS2 showing strong fibrinolytic activity was isolated from sea squirt (munggae) jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood. BS2 was identified as B. velezensis by molecular biological methods. B. velezensis BS2 grows well at 15% NaCl and at $10^{\circ}C$. When B. velezensis BS2 was cultivated in TSB broth for 96 h at $37^{\circ}C$, the culture showed the highest fibrinolytic activity ($131.15mU/{\mu}l$) at 96 h. Three bands of 27, 35 and 60 kDa were observed from culture supernatant by SDS-PAGE, and fibrin zymography showed that the major fibrinolytic protein was the 27 kDa band. The gene (aprEBS2) encoding the major fibrinolytic protein was cloned, and overexpressed in heterologous hosts, B. subtilis WB600 and E. coli BL21 (DE3). B. subtilis transformant showed 1.5-fold higher fibrinolytic activity than B. velezensis BS2. Overproduced AprEBS2 in E. coli was purified by affinity chromatography. The optimum pH and temperature were pH 8.0 and $37^{\circ}C$, respectively. $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ were 0.15 mM and $39.68{\mu}M/l/min$, respectively, when N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-pNA was used as the substrate. AprEBS2 has strong ${\alpha}$-fibrinogenase and moderate ${\beta}$-fibrinogenase activity. Considering its high fibrinolytic activity, significant salt tolerance, and ability to grow at $10^{\circ}C$, B. velezensis BS2 can be used as a starter for jeotgal.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.274-282
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• 2023

Background: Ginsenoside compound K (CK) stimulated activation of the PI3K-Akt signaling is one of the major mechanisms in promoting cell survival after stroke. However, the underlying mediators remain poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the docking protein of ginsenoside CK mediating the neuroprotective effects. Materials and methods: Molecular docking, surface plasmon resonance, and cellular thermal shift assay were performed to explore ginsenoside CK interacting proteins. Neuroscreen-1 cells and middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model in rats were utilized as in-vitro and in-vivo models. Results: Ginsenoside CK interacted with recombinant human PTP1B protein and impaired its tyrosine phosphatase activity. Pathway and process enrichment analysis confirmed the involvement of PTP1B and its interacting proteins in PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. PTP1B overexpression reduced the tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) after oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) in neuroscreen-1 cells. These regulations were confirmed in the ipsilateral ischemic hemisphere of the rat brains after MCAO/R. Ginsenoside CK treatment reversed these alterations and attenuated neuronal apoptosis. Conclusion: Ginsenoside CK binds to PTP1B with a high affinity and inhibits PTP1B-mediated IRS1 tyrosine dephosphorylation. This novel mechanism helps explain the role of ginsenoside CK in activating the neuronal protective PI3K-Akt signaling pathway after ischemia-reperfusion injury.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.62-62
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• 1999

Carbon based materials have many attractive properties such as a wide band gap, a low electron affinity, and a high chemical and mechanical stability. Therefore, researches on the carbon-based materials as field emitters have been drawn extensively to enhance the field emission properties. Especially, diamond gives high current density, high current stability high thermal conductivity durable for high temperature operation, and low field emission behaviors, Among these properties understanding the origin of low field emission is a key factor for the application of diamond to a filed emitter and the verification of the emission site and its distribution of diamond is helpful to clarify the origin of low field emission from diamond There have been many investigations on the origin of low field emission behavior of diamond crystal or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond films that is intentionally doped or not. However, the origin of the low field emission behavior and the consequent field emission mechanism is still not converged and those may be different between diamond crystal and CVD diamond films as well as the diamond that is doped or not. In addition, there have been no systematic studies on the dependence of nondiamond carbon on the spatial distribution of emission sites and its uniformity. Thus, clarifying a possible mechanism for the low field emission covering the diamond with various properties might be indeed a difficult work. On the other hand, it is believed that electron emission mechanisms of diamond are closely related to the emission sites and its distributions. In this context, it will be helpful to compare the spatial distribution of emission sites and field emission properties of the diamond films prepared by systematic variations of structural property. In this study, we have focused on an understanding of the field emission variations of structural property. In this study, we have focused on an understanding of the field emission mechanism for the CVD grown undoped polycrystalline diamond films with significantly different structural properties. The structural properties of the films were systematically modified by varying the CH4/H2 ratio and/or applying positive substrate bias examined. It was confirmed from the present study that the field emission characteristics are strongly dependent on the nondiamond carbon contents of the undoped polycrystalline diamond films, and a possible field emission mechanism for the undoped polycrystalline diamond films is suggested.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.111-122
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• 2009

When the cattail pollen was identified by using fibrinolytic agents, we found that the fibrinolytic activity was controlled by an enzyme. Therefore, for determining the fibrinolytic activity of cattail pollen, the fibrinolytic enzyme in cattail pollen was purified by gel filtration using DEAE-cellulose, Sephadex G-150 and HPLC. Also, its purity was certified by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and its physico-chemical properties, such as pH and temperature stabilities and effects of metal, inhibitors and substrates, were examined. The specific activity, purification fold, and molecular weight of the enzyme were 38U/mg, 86.4,and 75kDa, respectively. The optimum pH for the purified enzyme was at 4.0 and it was stable at pH 4.0-6.0. The optimum temperature was $55^{\circ}C$ and it was stable at $30-60^{\circ}C$. But the enzyme began to be inactivated at $70^{\circ}C$ and its activity was totally lost at temperatures above $80^{\circ}C$. As for substrate specificity, the enzyme was most effective in dissolving fibrin, followed by whole casein, ${\kappa}$-casein, ${\alpha}$-casein, ${\beta}$-casein, and BSA. With casein as the substrate, Km value was found to be 0.44mM and the enzyme showed a high affinity for casein. As for the metal ions affecting enzyme activity, $K^+$, $Na^+$, and $Mg^{2+}$ had no effect on enzyme reaction while $Zn^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$ showed potent inhibitory activity. Judging from the fact that the purified enzyme was also strongly inhibited by PMSF, iodoacetic acid, and SDA, it assumed to be a serine protease.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 1998

Enzymatic hydrolysis using an immobilized enzyme was carried out to produce chitosan oligosaccharides (COSs) from chitosan effectively. Chitosanase was immobilized on eight different carriers by physical adsorption. The enzyme immobilized on chitin had higher activity than those immobilized on the other carriers in spite of its lower adsorption. The activity of chitin-immobilized enzyme was more than 90% of the original activity. Optimal temperature of the immobilized enzyme increased by about $15^{\circ}C$ and its thermostability was excellent in relatively wide range of temperature. But its effects of pH did not improve compared to the free enzyme. The immobilized enzyme produced 153 mg/g chitosan of the reducing sugar for 3hrs of hydrolytic incubation time. The total content of higher oligomers, tetramer to hexamer, among amount of total COSs obtained for 2hrs was more than 90%. In kinetic parameters for both enzymes, immobilized enzyme showed lower affinity for substrate and reaction rate than free enzyme, however, no reduction of the rate for high substrate concentrations. Consequently, chitin-immobilized could effectively hydrolyse chitosan and produce the higher COSs without activity decrease in comparison with the free enzyme.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.27-27
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• 2011

For the design of real applicable molecular devices, current-voltage properties through molecular nanostructures such as metal-molecule-metal junctions (molecular junctions) have been studied extensively. In thiolate monolayers on the gold electrode, the chemical bonding of sulfur to gold and the van der Waals interactions between the alkyl chains of neighboring molecules are important factors in the formation of well-defined monolayers and in the control of the electron transport rate. Charge transport through the molecular junctions depends significantly on the energy levels of molecules relative to the Fermi levels of the contacts and the electronic structure of the molecule. It is important to understand the interfacial electron transport in accordance with the increased film thickness of alkyl chains that are known as an insulating layer, but are required for molecular device fabrication. Thiol-tethered RuII terpyridine complexes were synthesized for a voltage-driven molecular switch and used to understand the switch-on mechanism of the molecular switches of single metal complexes in the solid-state molecular junction in a vacuum. Electrochemical voltammetry and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics are measured to elucidate electron transport processes in the bistable conducting states of single molecular junctions of a molecular switch, Ru(II) terpyridine complexes. (1) On the basis of the Ru-centered electrochemical reaction data, the electron transport rate increases in the mixed self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of Ru(II) terpyridine complexes, indicating strong electronic coupling between the redox center and the substrate, along the molecules. (2) In a low-conducting state before switch-on, I-V characteristics are fitted to a direct tunneling model, and the estimated tunneling decay constant across the Ru(II) terpyridine complex is found to be smaller than that of alkanethiol. (3) The threshold voltages for the switch-on from low- to high-conducting states are identical, corresponding to the electron affinity of the molecules. (4) A high-conducting state after switch-on remains in the reverse voltage sweep, and a linear relationship of the current to the voltage is obtained. These results reveal electron transport paths via the redox centers of the Ru(II) terpyridine complexes, a molecular switch.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.4
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• pp.55-64
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• 1986

Polyphenol oxidase in japanese pear (Pyrus communis var. mansamkil) was isolated, partially purified and its some properties were investigated. Polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis indicated two bands with polyphenol oxidase activity in the extract from acetone dry powder of par flesh. These two polyphenol oxidases (PPO A and PPO B) were purified through acetone precipitation and diethylaminoethyl cellulose column chromatography. PPO A and B were purified 7.8 fold and 8.7 fold by the present procedure, respectively. The Rm values of partially purified PPO A and B were estimated to be 0.58 and 0.68, respectively. The optimum temp, and pH of PPO A activity were $33^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0, while those of PPO B were $30^{\circ}C$ and pH 4.2, respectively. Two PPO were unstable over the temperature of $60^{\circ}C$. The substrate specificity of pear PPO showed high affinity toward o-diphenolic compounds, especially catechol in PPO A and chlorogenic acid in PPO B, but inactive toward m-diphenol, p-diphenol and monophenols. PPO A showed affinity toward the trihydroxyphenolic compound. $Zn^{{+}{+}}$ activated the PPO A activity but $Fe^{{+}{+}}$ inhibited PPO B activity, while $Fe^{{+}{+}}$ and $Zn^{{+}{+}}$ activated the PPO B activity, while $Fe^{{+}{+}}$ and $Zn^{{+}{+}}$ activated the PPO B activity but $K^+$, $Mg^{{+}{+}}$, $Ca^{{+}{+}}$ and $Hg^{{+}{+}}$ inhibited at 10mM concentration. $Cu^{{+}{+}}$ activated the enzyme action at low concentrations but inhibited at high concentration. Inhibition studies indicated that L-ascorbic acid, L-cysteine and thiourea were most potent. The Km values of PPO A and PPO B for catechol were 20mM and 14.3mM, respectively.