• Title/Summary/Keyword: metal cofactor

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Effect of Heavy Metals on the Secretion of Amylase in Rat Pancreatic Fragments (중금속류가 취절편의 Amylase 분비에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Hea-Young;Kim, Won-Joon
    • The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.31-36
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    • 1981
  • Heavy metals which are present as trace elements in human body have been known to modify various enzymatic reaction. These metals can be essential or non-essential. Zinc, copper and calcium are essential in maintaining some biological processes, whereas non-essential metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury produce accumulatve toxic effect. Cadmium accumulated in pancreas can cause toxicity and damage of pancreatic cells, thereby influencing CHO metabolism. Lead compounds are known to produce toxic effects on the kidney, digestive system and brain fellowed by inhibition of activity of ${\rho}-aminolevulinic$ acid and biosynthesis of hemoproteins and cytochrome. Evidence has been accumulated that zinc not only acts as a cofactor in enzyme reaction but also prevents toxic effect induced by heavy metal such as copper and cadmium. To demonstrate the effect of heavy metals on pancreatic secretion, part of uncinate pancreas was taken and incubated in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer with heavy metals used. Additional treatment with CCK-OP was performed when needed. After incubation during different period of time, medium was analyzed for amylase activity using Bernfeld's method. The present study was attempted in order to elucidate the effect of several kinds of heavy metal on exocrine pancreatic secretion in vitro. The results obtained are as follows: 1) CCK-OP stimulated significantly amylase release from pancreatic fragments in vitro. 2) CCK-OP response of amylase release from pancreatic fragments was inhibited by treatmant with cadmium, especially high doses of cadmium. 3) CCK-OP response of amylase release from pancreatic fragments was inhibited when pretreated with $10^{-4}M$ copper chloride. 4) Lead chloride at the concentration of $10^{-3}M\;and\;10^{4}M$ stimulated the basal amylase release in vitro but CCK-OP response did not augment by lead chloride. 5) Zine chloride did not affect amylase release from pancreatic fragment in vitro. From the results mentioned above, it is suggested that CCK-OP response was inhibited it the amylase release from pancreatic fragments pretreated with cadmium and copper chloride.

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Characterization of Phytase from Bacillus coagulans IDCC 1201 (Bacillus coagulans IDCC 1201이 생산하는 Phytase의 특성)

  • Lee Seung-Hun;Kwon Hyuk-Sang;Koo Kyo-Tan;Kang Byung-Hwa;Kim Tae-Yong
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.34 no.1
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    • pp.28-34
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    • 2006
  • A native extracellular acid phosphatase, phytase (EC 3.1.3.8), from Bacillus coagulans IDCC 1201 (commercially known as Lactobacillus sporogenes) used as probiotics, was characterized. Though some strains of B. coagulans have been evaluated with regard to several health-promoting effects, it has not been reported to produce phytase. Partially purified phytase front the strain IDCC 1201 had a pH optimum of 4.0 and a temperature optimum of $50^{\circ}C$, respectively. The requirement for divalent cations was studied and cobalt ion remarkably increased the enzyme activity. The removal of metal ions from the enzyme by EDTA decreased activity below 50%. The enzyme activity depleted restored when the assay was performed in the presence of $Co^{2+}$. Also, $Co^{2+}$ is the most active stimulator and has unique activation effect at high temperature. The phytase was specific for sodium phytate and p-nitrophenylphosphate, which is different from other known Bacilli phytases. The putative amino acid sequences of the phytase from B. coagulans IDCC 1201 were very similar to that of the phytase from B. subtilis strain 168. Based on these data, we concluded that the phytase from B. coagulans IDCC 1201 is a $Co^{2+}$-dependent acid phosphatase. Therefore, the strain B. coagulans IDCC 1201 is thought to be a valuable addititive for livestocks as well as a beneficial probiotics for human.

Biochemical Characterization of $\small{L}$-Asparaginase in NaCl-Tolerant Staphylococcus sp. OJ82 Isolated from Fermented Seafood

  • Han, Sangwon;Jung, Jaejoon;Park, Woojun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.24 no.8
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    • pp.1096-1104
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    • 2014
  • $\small{L}$-Asparaginase from gram-positive bacteria has been poorly explored. We conducted recombinant overexpression and purification of $\small{L}$-asparaginase from Staphylococcus sp. OJ82 (SoAsn) isolated from Korean fermented seafood to evaluate its biotechnological potential as an antileukemic agent. SoAsn was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) with an estimated molecular mass of 37.5 kDa, determined using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Consistent with asparaginases in gram-negative bacteria, size-exclusion chromatography determined SoAsn as a homodimer. Interestingly, the optimal temperature of SoAsn was $37^{\circ}C$ and over 90% of activity was retained between $37^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C$, and its thermal stability range was narrower than that of commercial E. coli $\small{L}$-asparaginase (EcAsn). Both SoAsn and EcAsn were active between pH 9 and 10, although their overall pH-dependent enzyme activities were slightly different. The $K_m$ value of SoAsn was 2.2 mM, which is higher than that of EcAsn. Among eight metals tested for enzyme activity, cobalt and magnesium greatly enhanced the SoAsn and EcAsn activity, respectively. Interestingly, SoAsn retained more than 60% of its activity under 2 M NaCl condition, but the activity of EcAsn was reduced to 48%. Overall, the biochemical characteristics of SoAsn were similar to those of EcAsn, but its kinetics, cofactor requirements, and NaCl tolerance differed from those of EcAsn.

Crystal Structure of Cytochrome cL from the Aquatic Methylotrophic Bacterium Methylophaga aminisulfidivorans MPT

  • Ghosh, Suparna;Dhanasingh, Immanuel;Ryu, Jaewon;Kim, Si Wouk;Lee, Sung Haeng
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.30 no.8
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    • pp.1261-1271
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    • 2020
  • Cytochrome cL (CytcL) is an essential protein in the process of methanol oxidation in methylotrophs. It receives an electron from the pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) cofactor of methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) to produce formaldehyde. The direct electron transfer mechanism between CytcL and MDH remains unknown due to the lack of structural information. To help gain a better understanding of the mechanism, we determined the first crystal structure of heme c containing CytcL from the aquatic methylotrophic bacterium Methylophaga aminisulfidivorans MPT at 2.13 Å resolution. The crystal structure of Ma-CytcL revealed its unique features compared to those of the terrestrial homologues. Apart from Fe in heme, three additional metal ion binding sites for Na+, Ca+, and Fe2+ were found, wherein the ions mostly formed coordination bonds with the amino acid residues on the loop (G93-Y111) that interacts with heme. Therefore, these ions seemed to enhance the stability of heme insertion by increasing the loop's steadiness. The basic N-terminal end, together with helix α4 and loop (G126 to Y136), contributed positive charge to the region. In contrast, the acidic C-terminal end provided a negatively charged surface, yielding several electrostatic contact points with partner proteins for electron transfer. These exceptional features of Ma-CytcL, along with the structural information of MDH, led us to hypothesize the need for an adapter protein bridging MDH to CytcL within appropriate proximity for electron transfer. With this knowledge in mind, the methanol oxidation complex reconstitution in vitro could be utilized to produce metabolic intermediates at the industry level.

Molecular Cloning of a Gene Encoding $\alpha$-L-Arabinofuranosidase from Hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima and Characterization of Its Biochemical Properties

  • Keum, In-Kyung;Lee, Eun-Joo;Kim, Tae-Jip;Kim, Chung-Ho;Han, Nam-Soo
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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    • 2004.06a
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    • pp.273-277
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    • 2004
  • $\alpha$-L-Arabinofuranosidase ($\alpha$-L-AFase, EC 3.2.1.55) was isolated from hyperthermophilic microorganism, Thermotoga maritima. The open reading frame (ORF) of $\alpha$-L-AFase gene is 1,455 bp long and encodes 484 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 55,265 Da. The ORF of $\alpha$-L-AFase gene was introduced into the E. coli expression vector, $_p/RSET-B, and overexpressed in E. coli BL21. The purified recombinant $\alpha$-L-AFase showed the highest activity at 10$0^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.5. The purified enzyme appeared to have no metal cofactor requirement. The Km and specific activity values of the recombinant enzyme were 0.99 mM and 1,200 U/mg on p-nitrophenyl-$\alpha$-L-arabinofuranoside. It released only L-arabinose from sugar beet arabinan, sugar beet debranched arabinan and oat spelts arabinoxylan but had no activity onarabinogalactan and gum arabic. This result suggests that L-arabinose could be produced from natural polysaccharides using this enzyme. Mutant enzymes which Glu26, Glu172 and Glu281 residues were replaced to alanine, aspartic acid or glutamine caused Kcat to decrease by a factor of between 10$^3$ and 10$^4$. Glu172 and Glu281 residues of $\alpha$-L-AFase are seemed to be the acid/base and nucleophile in catalytic reaction, respectively, and Glu26 is supposed to playa key role in substrate binding.ng.

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Identification and Characterization of a Pantothenate Kinase (PanK-sp) from Streptomyces peucetius ATCC 27952

  • Mandakh, Ariungerel;Niraula, Narayan Prasad;Kim, Eung-Pil;Sohng, Jae-Kyung
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.20 no.12
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    • pp.1689-1695
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    • 2010
  • Pantothenate kinase (PanK) catalyzes the first step in the biosynthesis of the essential and ubiquitous cofactor coenzyme A (CoA) in all organisms. Here, we report the identification, cloning, and characterization of panK-sp from Streptomyces peucetius ATCC 27952. The gene encoded a protein of 332 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 36.8 kDa and high homology with PanK from S. avermitilis and S. coelicolor A3(2). To elucidate the putative function of PanK-sp, it was cloned into pET32a(+) to construct pPKSP32, and the PanK-sp was then expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) as a His-tag fusion protein and purified by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The enzyme assay of PanK-sp was carried out as a coupling assay. The gradual decrease in NADH concentration with time clearly indicated the phosphorylating activity of PanK-sp. Furthermore, the ca. 1.4-fold increase of DXR and the ca. 1.5-fold increase of actinorhodin by in vivo overexpression of panK-sp, constructed in pIBR25 under the control of a strong $ermE^*$ promoter, established its positive role in secondary metabolite production from S. peucetius and S. coelicolor, respectively.

Expression of a Glutathione Reductase from Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis Enhanced Cellular Redox Homeostasis by Modulating Antioxidant Proteins in Escherichia coli

  • Kim, Il-Sup;Shin, Sun-Young;Kim, Young-Saeng;Kim, Hyun-Young;Yoon, Ho-Sung
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.28 no.5
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    • pp.479-487
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    • 2009
  • Glutathione reductase (GR) is an enzyme that recycles a key cellular antioxidant molecule glutathione (GSH) from its oxidized form (GSSG) thus maintaining cellular redox homeostasis. A recombinant plasmid to overexpress a GR of Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis (BrGR) in E. coli BL21 (DE3) was constructed using an expression vector pKM260. Expression of the introduced gene was confirmed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, immunoblotting and enzyme assays. Purification of the BrGR protein was performed by IMAC method and indicated that the BrGR was a dimmer. The BrGR required NADPH as a cofactor and specific activity was approximately 458 U. The BrGR-expressing E. coli cells showed increased GR activity and tolerance to $H_2O_2$, menadione, and heavy metal ($CdCl_2$, $ZnCl_2$ and $AlCl_2$)-mediated growth inhibition. The ectopic expression of BrGR provoked the co-regulation of a variety of antioxidant enzymes including catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Consequently, the transformed cells showed decreased hydroperoxide levels when exposed to stressful conditions. A proteomic analysis demonstrated the higher level of induction of proteins involved in glycolysis, detoxification/oxidative stress response, protein folding, transport/binding proteins, cell envelope/porins, and protein translation and modification when exposed to $H_2O_2$ stress. Taken together, these results indicate that the plant GR protein is functional in a cooperative way in the E. coli system to protect cells against oxidative stress.

Identification and Characterization of Protein Encoded by orf382 as $\small{L}$-Threonine Dehydrogenase

  • Ma, Fei;Wang, Tianwen;Ma, Xingyuan;Wang, Ping
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.24 no.6
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    • pp.748-755
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    • 2014
  • In the genome annotation of Escherichia coli MG1655, the orf382 (1,149 bp) is designated as a gene encoding an alcohol dehydrogenase that may be Fe-dependent. In this study, the gene was amplified from the genome by PCR and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The recombinant $6{\times}$His-tag protein was then purified and characterized. In an enzymatic assay using different hydroxyl-containing substrates (n-butanol, $\small{L}$-threonine, ethanol, isopropanol, glucose, glycerol, $\small{L}$-serine, lactic acid, citric acid, methanol, or $\small{D}$-threonine), the enzyme showed the highest activity on $\small{L}$-threonine. Characterization of the mutant constructed using gene knockout of the orf382 also implied the function of the enzyme in the metabolism of $\small{L}$-threonine into glycine. Considering the presence of tested substrates in living E. coli cel ls and previous literature, we believed that the suitable nomenclature for the enzyme should be an $\small{L}$-threonine dehydrogenase (LTDH). When using $\small{L}$-threonine as the substrate, the enzyme exhibited the best catalytic performance at $39^{\circ}C$ and pH 9.8 with $NAD^+$ as the cofactor. The determination of the Km values towards $\small{L}$-threonine (Km = $11.29{\mu}M$), ethanol ($222.5{\mu}M$), and n-butanol ($8.02{\mu}M$) also confirmed the enzyme as an LTDH. Furthermore, the LTDH was shown to be an ion-containing protein based on inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry with an isoelectronic point of pH 5.4. Moreover, a circular dichroism analysis revealed that the metal ion was structurally and enzymatically essential, as its deprivation remarkably changed the ${\alpha}$-helix percentage (from 12.6% to 6.3%).

Sesquiterpenoids Bioconversion Analysis by Wood Rot Fungi

  • Lee, Su-Yeon;Ryu, Sun-Hwa;Choi, In-Gyu;Kim, Myungkil
    • 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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    • 2016.05a
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    • pp.19-20
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    • 2016
  • Sesquiterpenoids are defined as $C_{15}$ compounds derived from farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP), and their complex structures are found in the tissue of many diverse plants (Degenhardt et al. 2009). FPP's long chain length and additional double bond enables its conversion to a huge range of mono-, di-, and tri-cyclic structures. A number of cyclic sesquiterpenes with alcohol, aldehyde, and ketone derivatives have key biological and medicinal properties (Fraga 1999). Fungi, such as the wood-rotting Polyporus brumalis, are excellent sources of pharmaceutically interesting natural products such as sesquiterpenoids. In this study, we investigated the biosynthesis of P. brumalis sesquiterpenoids on modified medium. Fungal suspensions of 11 white rot species were inoculated in modified medium containing $C_6H_{12}O_6$, $C_4H_{12}N_2O_6$, $KH_2PO_4$, $MgSO_4$, and $CaCl_2$ for 20 days. Cultivation was stopped by solvent extraction via separation of the mycelium. The metabolites were identified as follows: propionic acid (1), mevalonic acid lactone (2), ${\beta}$-eudesmane (3), and ${\beta}$-eudesmol (4), respectively (Figure 1). The main peaks of ${\beta}$-eudesmane and ${\beta}$-eudesmol, which were indicative of sesquiterpene structures, were consistently detected for 5, 7, 12, and 15 days These results demonstrated the existence of terpene metabolism in the mycelium of P. brumalis. Polyporus spp. are known to generate flavor components such as methyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,6-dimethyl benzoate; 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-6-methyl benzoic acid; 3-hydroxy-5-methyl phenol; and 3-methoxy-2,5-dimethyl phenol in submerged cultures (Hoffmann and Esser 1978). Drimanes of sesquiterpenes were reported as metabolites from P. arcularius and shown to exhibit antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (Fleck et al. 1996). The main metabolites of P. brumalis, ${\beta}$-Eudesmol and ${\beta}$-eudesmane, were categorized as eudesmane-type sesquiterpene structures. The eudesmane skeleton could be biosynthesized from FPP-derived IPP, and approximately 1,000 structures have been identified in plants as essential oils. The biosynthesis of eudesmol from P. brumalis may thus be an important tool for the production of useful natural compounds as presumed from its identified potent bioactivity in plants. Essential oils comprising eudesmane-type sesquiterpenoids have been previously and extensively researched (Wu et al. 2006). ${\beta}$-Eudesmol is a well-known and important eudesmane alcohol with an anticholinergic effect in the vascular endothelium (Tsuneki et al. 2005). Additionally, recent studies demonstrated that ${\beta}$-eudesmol acts as a channel blocker for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction, and it can inhibit angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo by blocking the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway (Seo et al. 2011). Variation of nutrients was conducted to determine an optimum condition for the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenes by P. brumalis. Genes encoding terpene synthases, which are crucial to the terpene synthesis pathway, generally respond to environmental factors such as pH, temperature, and available nutrients (Hoffmeister and Keller 2007, Yu and Keller 2005). Calvo et al. described the effect of major nutrients, carbon and nitrogen, on the synthesis of secondary metabolites (Calvo et al. 2002). P. brumalis did not prefer to synthesize sesquiterpenes under all growth conditions. Results of differences in metabolites observed in P. brumalis grown in PDB and modified medium highlighted the potential effect inorganic sources such as $C_4H_{12}N_2O_6$, $KH_2PO_4$, $MgSO_4$, and $CaCl_2$ on sesquiterpene synthesis. ${\beta}$-eudesmol was apparent during cultivation except for when P. brumalis was grown on $MgSO_4$-free medium. These results demonstrated that $MgSO_4$ can specifically control the biosynthesis of ${\beta}$-eudesmol. Magnesium has been reported as a cofactor that binds to sesquiterpene synthase (Agger et al. 2008). Specifically, the $Mg^{2+}$ ions bind to two conserved metal-binding motifs. These metal ions complex to the substrate pyrophosphate, thereby promoting the ionization of the leaving groups of FPP and resulting in the generation of a highly reactive allylic cation. Effect of magnesium source on the sesquiterpene biosynthesis was also identified via analysis of the concentration of total carbohydrates. Our current study offered further insight that fungal sesquiterpene biosynthesis can be controlled by nutrients. To profile the metabolites of P. brumalis, the cultures were extracted based on the growth curve. Despite metabolites produced during mycelia growth, there was difficulty in detecting significant changes in metabolite production, especially those at low concentrations. These compounds may be of interest in understanding their synthetic mechanisms in P. brumalis. The synthesis of terpene compounds began during the growth phase at day 9. Sesquiterpene synthesis occurred after growth was complete. At day 9, drimenol, farnesol, and mevalonic lactone (or mevalonic acid lactone) were identified. Mevalonic acid lactone is the precursor of the mevalonic pathway, and particularly, it is a precursor for a number of biologically important lipids, including cholesterol hormones (Buckley et al. 2002). Farnesol is the precursor of sesquiterpenoids. Drimenol compounds, bi-cyclic-sesquiterpene alcohols, can be synthesized from trans-trans farnesol via cyclization and rearrangement (Polovinka et al. 1994). They have also been identified in the basidiomycota Lentinus lepideus as secondary metabolites. After 12 days in the growth phase, ${\beta}$-elemene caryophyllene, ${\delta}$-cadiene, and eudesmane were detected with ${\beta}$-eudesmol. The data showed the synthesis of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons with bi-cyclic structures. These compounds can be synthesized from FPP by cyclization. Cyclic terpenoids are synthesized through the formation of a carbon skeleton from linear precursors by terpene cyclase, which is followed by chemical modification by oxidation, reduction, methylation, etc. Sesquiterpene cyclase is a key branch-point enzyme that catalyzes the complex intermolecular cyclization of the linear prenyl diphosphate into cyclic hydrocarbons (Toyomasu et al. 2007). After 20 days in stationary phase, the oxygenated structures eudesmol, elemol, and caryophyllene oxide were detected. Thus, after growth, sesquiterpenes were identified. Per these results, we showed that terpene metabolism in wood-rotting fungi occurs in the stationary phase. We also showed that such metabolism can be controlled by magnesium supplementation in the growth medium. In conclusion, we identified P. brumalis as a wood-rotting fungus that can produce sesquiterpenes. To mechanistically understand eudesmane-type sesquiterpene biosynthesis in P. brumalis, further research into the genes regulating the dynamics of such biosynthesis is warranted.

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