• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1307-1314
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• 2015

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a member of the IL-6 cytokine family, having pleiotropic actions such as maintaining stem cell pluripotency and enabling blastocyst implantation. Because the action of LIF is mediated by a ligand-receptor interaction with the LIF receptor (LIF-R), an antagonist for LIF-R has been developed to inhibit LIF-induced signaling. In this study, we present a novel method for the production and purification of an antagonist to human LIF-R (hLA). His-tagged hLA was expressed in E. coli, and simple purification methods without any endopeptidase cleavage were designed. In addition, we determined the optimal temperature conditions for enhancing the production of soluble hLA. Finally, the bioactivity of His-tagged hLA was examined using STAT3 phosphorylation and receptivity of human endometrial ECC-1 cells. Our strategy provides a rapid and efficient method to produce biologically active recombinant hLA.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2000

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), transactivator of transcription (Tat), is one of the viral gene products that is essential for HIV-1 replication. The HIV-l Tat protein regulates transcription from an HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) and affects the gene expression of cellular proteins during infection. In order to develop an expression system to overexpress and simply purify HIV-1 Tat proteins, the HIV-1 Tat coding sequences that contain one or two exons were amplified using PCR and cloned into a pET vector, which contains a consecutive stretch of six histidine residues at the amino-terminus. The reconstituted vectors were overexpressed in the E. coli strain and the soluble recombinant proteins were purified to be homogeneity in a single step by $Ni^{+2}-nitrilotriacetic$ acid Sepharose chromatography under nondenaturing conditions. Recombinant HIV-1 Tat proteins were shown to transactivate the HIV-1 LTR promoter in a dose-dependent manner when introduced into mammalian cells. In addition, treatment of human endothelial cells with purified Tat proteins resulted in a significant increase in the level of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression. These results indicate that the recombinant HIV-1 Tat proteins are active in transactivating viral and cellular promoters. The expression and purification system described in this study will facilitate in characterizing the biological functions of the Tat proteins.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.111-123
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• 1988

Neutrophil elastases were purified by a three step procedure consiting of one Sephadex G-75 and two HPLC elutions. The elastases cross-reacted with antibodies to human neutrophil elastase. Three bands with molecular weights between 26,000 and 29,700 were observed by gel electrophoresis. At each stage of purification the quantity of Zn increased, reaching molar ratio of 2:1 with elastase in the most purified samples. Calcium content. was seletively elevated during the earlier stages of purification but decreased to a ratio of 0.25 to 1 with elastase at the final step of purfication. Neutrophil elastase could be inhibited by EDTA, EGTA and 1,10-phenanthroline. EGTA inhbition was noncompetitive inhibition and reversible only if the time of preincubation was relatively short, indicating the instability of the apoenzyme. The concentration of chelator required to show significant inhibition of elastase was also dependent upon the stage of purity and the ionic strength of the reaction mixture. Inhibition by EGTA, followed by the removal of EGTA, could be reversed by Zn. In the presence of EGTA the enzyme could be returened to full activity by the addition of Zn, Mn and Ca, but not Mg or Na. All of the above evidence strongly supports human neturophil elastase could be a metalloenzyme as well as a serine protease.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 1994

A simple, safe, and sensitive gas chromatographic method using packed column and electron capture detector to analyze 2, 4-D herbicide in imported lemon, grapefruit, and orange was described and its usefulness evaluated. In this scheme of analysis the acid herbicide was converted into its alkyl esters by an one-step reaction prior to analysis. The herbicide in the fruits was extracted with ethyl acetate and partitioned against dichloromethane for purification, and the extracts finished partitioning were derivatized with alcohol, using sulfuric acid as a catalyst to form the corresponding alkyl derivatives. The analytical scheme studiedwas found to be applicable for the herbicide in the fruits without a column clean-up procedure. The mean recoveries of the herbicide for lemon samples fortified at 0.1 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg were 93% and 95%, respectively. The detection limit was 0.5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg for 2.4-D methyl ester.

• Carbon letters
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• v.26
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• pp.31-42
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• 2018

Adsorption is one of the best methods for wastewater purification. The fact that water quality is continuously decreasing requires the development of novel, effective and cost available adsorbents. Herein, a simple procedure for the preparation of a magnetic adsorbent from agricultural waste biomass and ferrofluid has been introduced. Specifically, ferrofluid mixed with wheat straw was directly pyrolyzed either by microwave irradiation (900 W, 30 min) or by conventional heating ($550^{\circ}C$, 90 min). Magnetic biochars were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, $M{\ddot{o}}ssbauer$ spectroscopy, textural analysis and tested as adsorbents of As(V) oxyanion and cationic methylene blue, respectively. Results showed that microwave pyrolysis produced char with high adsorption capacity of As(V) ($Q_m=25.6mg\;g^{-1}$ at pH 4), whereas conventional pyrolysis was not so effective. In comparison to conventional pyrolysis, one-step microwave pyrolysis produced a material with expressive microporosity, having a nine times higher value of specific surface area as well as total pore volume. We assumed that sorption properties are also caused by several iron-bearing composites identified by $M{\ddot{o}}ssbauer$ spectroscopy ([super] paramagnetic $Fe_2O_3$, ${\alpha}-Fe$, non-stoichiometric $Fe_3C$, ${\gamma}-Fe_2O_3$, ${\gamma}-Fe$) transformed from nano-maghemite presented in the ferrofluid. Methylene blue was also more easily removed by magnetic biochar prepared by microwaves ($Q_m=144.9mg\;g^{-1}$ at pH 10.9) compared to using conventional techniques.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.95-101
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• 2008

The gene encoding a putative esterase of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae was cloned using PCR technique. The gene was expressed with His6 tag in E. coli. One-step purification of the recombinant esterase with Ni-NTA resin resulted in one band by SDS-PAGE analysis. The purified enzyme showed a molecular weight of 30 kDa, as expected, therefore the enzyme was a mononer. The enzyme was the most active toward p-nitrophenyl (p-NP) acetate and p-NP-butyrate to a lesser extent. However, the enzyme could not hydrolyze p-NP-myristate, palmitate, and stearate. Therefore, the enzyme is considered as an esterase, very different from lipase. The purified esterase had optimal pH at around 8.0 and was stable in a broad range of pH values. The optimal temperature ranged from 30 to $40^{\circ}C$, and the residual activity observed after heat treatment at $55^{\circ}C$ for 20 min was 72 % of the initial activity. The activity was inhibited by the presence of copper and cobalt ions.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.158-162
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• 2010

The gene encoding N-terminally truncated Tod polymerase ($\Delta$Tod polymerase) from Thermus thermophilus HJ6 was expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of the lambda pR and pL tandem promoters on the expression vector pJLA503. The N-terminal domain (250 amino acids) of Tod polymerase was removed without significant effect on enzyme activity and stability, while no 5'$\rightarrow$3' exonuclease activity was detected. The $\Delta$Tod polymerase was verified to possess very efficient reverse transcriptase (RT) activity in the presence of $MgCl_2$. The cDNA can also be amplified in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with this mutant enzyme. The $\Delta$Tod polymerase was exhibited higher activity than the Taq polymerase in a one-step RT-PCR.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1191-1196
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• 2009

The production of Streptomyces griseus trypsin (SGT) by S. griseus IFO13350 transformed with the expression vector pWHM3-TR1R2, containing sprT encoding SGT and the two positive regulatory genes sgtR1 and sgtR2, was investigated in various media. Cultivation in Ferm-0 gave 1.4 times more trypsin activity than in C5/L medium. In addition, replacement of 2% glucose and 1% skim milk in Ferm-0 with 2% dextrin and 1% tryptone (designated Ferm-II) enhanced trypsin activity 4.1-fold. To simplify the purification process, the supernatant from the S. griseus transformant cultured in Ferm-II medium was fractionated with ammonium sulfate (25-55%), then subjected to Hitrap Benzamidine FF affinity column chromatography. The specific activity of SGT purified by one-step chromatography was 69,550 unit/mg protein and the overall purification yield was above 8%, indicating that this method is more effective than those previously reported. Purified SGT was most active at pH 8.0 and $50^{\circ}C$, and it maintained activity between pH 7.0 and 9.0 and at temperatures up to $70^{\circ}C$. These enzymatic properties are very similar to those of authentic eukaryotic trypsin purified from bovine pancreas.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.622-632
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• 2020

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) catalyzes the reversible deamination of phenylalanine to cinnamic acid and ammonia. Algae have been considered as biofactories for PAL production, however, biochemical characterization of PAL and its potency for myristicin biotransformation into MMDA (3-methoxy-4, 5-methylenedioxyamphetamine) has not been studied yet. Thus, PAL from Anabaena flos-aquae and Spirulina platensis has been purified, comparatively characterized and its affinity to transform myristicin was assessed. The specific activity of purified PAL from S. platensis (73.9 μmol/mg/min) and A. flos-aquae (30.5 μmol/mg/min) was increased by about 2.9 and 2.4 folds by gel-filtration comparing to their corresponding crude enzymes. Under denaturing-PAGE, a single proteineous band with a molecular mass of 64 kDa appeared for A. flos-aquae and S. platensis PAL. The biochemical properties of the purified PAL from both algal isolates were determined comparatively. The optimum temperature of S. platensis and A. flos-aquae PAL for forward or reverse activity was reported at 30℃, while the optimum pH for PAL enzyme isolated from A. flos-aquae was 8.9 for forward and reverse activities, and S. platensis PAL had maximum activities at pH 8.9 and 8 for forward and reverse reactions, respectively. Luckily, the purified PALs have the affinity to hydroaminate the myristicin to MMDA successfully in one step. Furthermore, a successful method for synthesis of MMDA from myristicin in two steps was also established. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was conducted to track the product formation.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.55-60
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• 2002

This paper presents a technique for the preparation of vertically grown CNTs by ICPHFCVD(inductively coupled plasma hot filament chemical vapor deposition) below $580^{\circ}C$. Purification of the CNTs(carbon nanotubes) using RE(radio frequency) plasma in a one step process, based on the different etching property of the Ni-tip, amorphous carbon and carbonaceous materials is also discussed. After purifying the grown materials. CNTs shown the multi walled and hollow typed structure. The typical outer and inner diameters or CNT were 50 nm and 25 nm, respectively. The graphitic wall was composed of 82 layers and the distance between wall and wall was 0.34 nm. From the results of TEM observation, the Ni catalyst at the tip of the carbon nanotubes were effectively removed by using a RF plasma etching, continuously.