• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제49권2호
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• pp.103-108
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• 2011

Autophagy is a catabolic process involved in the degradation of a cell's own components for cell growth, development, homeostasis, and the recycling of cellular products. Autophagosome is an essential component in the protozoan parasite during differentiation and encystation. The present study identified and characterized autophagy-related protein (Atg) 3, a member of Atg8 conjugation system, in Acanthamoeba castellanii (AcAtg3). AcAtg3 encoding a 304 amino acid protein showed high similarity with the catalytic cysteine site of other E2 like enzymes of ubiquitin system. Predicted 3D structure of AcAtg3 revealed a hammer-like shape, which is the characteristic structure of E2-like enzymes. The expression level of AcAtg3 did not increase during encystation. However, the formation of mature cysts was significantly reduced in Atg3-siRNA transfected cells in which the production of Atg8-phosphatidylethanolamine conjugate was inhibited. Fluorescent microscopic analysis revealed that dispersed AcAtg3-EGFP fusion protein gathered around autophagosomal membranes during encystation. These results provide important information for understanding autophagic machinery through the lipidation reaction mediated by Atg3 in Acanthamoeba.

• 한국자기공명학회논문지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.67-72
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• 2019

Caveolae are small plasma membrane invaginations that play many roles in signal transduction, endocytosis, mechanoprotection, lipid metabolism. The most important protein in caveolae is the integral membrane protein, caveolin, which is divided into three families such as caveolin 1, caveolin 2, and caveolin 3. Caveolin 1 and 3 are known to incorporate palmitate through linkage to three cysteine residues. Regulation of the protein palmitoylation cycle is important for the cellular processes such as intracellular localization of the target protein, membrane association, conformation, protein-protein interaction, and activity. However, the detailed aspect of individual palmitoylation has not been studied. In the present work, the role of each lipid modification at three cysteines was studied by NMR. Our results suggest that each lipid modification at the natively palmitoylation site has its own roles. For example, lipidations to C106 and C129 are play a role in structural stabilization, however, interestingly, lipid modification to C116 interrupts the structural stabilization.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.400-405
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• 2011

Autophagy는 항상성 유지와 스트레스반응을 효율적으로 조정하기 위해 필수적인 세포 내 질적 조절작용이다. 노화가 진행되는 동안 autopahgy에 의한 degradation 효율성 저하와 그로 인한 세포 내 부산물의 축적이 증가하여 결국, 근육의 약화를 초래한다. 그러므로 본 연구의 목적은 골격근에서 운동에 의한 autopahgy 관련 단백질의 변화를 규명하는데 있다. 이를 위해 24마리의 Young 그룹과 Old 그룹을 나누어 각각 대조군(n=6)과 운동군(n=6)으로 배정하였다. 운동은 8주간 주 5회 실시하였고, 트레드밀 속도 16.4 m/min와 경사도 4%로 설정하여 40분간 지속적인 운동을 실시하였다. autopahgy 관련 단백질에 대한 검증 결과 Young 그룹과 비교하여 Old 그룹에서 LC3-1, Beclin-1, Atg7은 모두 유의하게 감소하였다. 그러나 8주간의 규칙적인 운동에 의하여 autophagy 관련 단백질은 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 노화에 의해 약화된 autopahgy 기능은 규칙적인 운동에 의해 개선될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제39권8호
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• pp.581-586
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• 2016

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins are essential to increase the functional diversity of the proteome. By adding chemical groups to proteins, or degrading entire proteins by phosphorylation, glycosylation, ubiquitination, neddylation, acetylation, lipidation, and proteolysis, the complexity of the proteome increases, and this then influences most biological processes. Although small RNAs are crucial regulatory elements for gene expression in most eukaryotes, PTMs of small RNA microprocessor and RNA silencing components have not been extensively investigated in plants. To date, several studies have shown that the proteolytic regulation of AGOs is important for host-pathogen interactions. DRB4 is regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system, and the degradation of HYL1 is modulated by a de-etiolation repressor, COP1, and an unknown cytoplasmic protease. Here, we discuss current findings on the PTMs of microprocessor and RNA silencing components in plants.

• 한국자원식물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국자원식물학회 2019년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.33-33
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• 2019

The AKT signaling pathway is a highly regulated cell signaling system that forms a network with other cell signaling pathways. Hence, the AKT signaling pathway mediates several important cellular functions that include cell survival, proliferation, cell migration, and et cetera. Irregularities that led overactive AKT signaling have been linked to many diseases such as cancer and metabolic-associated diseases. Hence, modulating the overactive AKT signaling pathway via inhibitor is a tantalizing prospect for treatment of cancer and metabolic-associated diseases. Two inhibitors of the AKT signaling pathway will be presented in this symposium: 1) Bisleuconothine A (BisA), a bisindole alkaloid that inhibit autophagy and 2) Ceramicine B (CerB), a limonoid that inhibit adipogenesis. The first topic is on a bisindole alkaloid, BisA and its mechanism in inducing autophagosome formation in lung cancer cell line, A549.(1) Since most autophagy inducing agents generally induce apoptosis, we found that BisA does not induce apoptosis even in high dose. BisA up-regulation of LC3 lipidation is achieved through mTOR inactivation. The phosphorylation of PRAS40, a mTOR repressor was suppressed by BisA. This observation suggested that BisA inactivates mTOR via suppression of PRAS40 phosphorylation. Interestingly, the phosphorylation of AKT, an upstream regulator of PRAS40 phosphorylation was also down-regulated by BisA. These findings suggested that Bis-A induces autophagosomes formation by interfering with the AKT-mTOR signaling pathway. The second topic is on CerB and its mechanism in inhibiting adipogenesis in preadipocytes cell line, MC3T3-G2/PA6.(2,3) CerB inhibits the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (AKT) at the Thr308 position but not the Ser473. Consequently, the phosphorylation of FOXO3 which is located downstream of AKT is also inhibited. Considering that FOXO3 is an important regulator of PPARγ which is a key factor in adipogenesis, CerB may inhibit adipogenesis via the AKT-FOXO3 signaling pathway. Taken together, both BisA and CerB highlighted the potential of AKT signaling pathway modulation as an approach to induce autophagy and inhibit the formation of fat cells, respectively.