• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제19권8호
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• pp.1100-1105
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• 2006

During involution of the mammary gland after the lactation period, the gland undergoes an extensive epithelial cell death. In our previous study, overexpression of an extracellular proteinase inhibitor (Expi) gene accelerated apoptosis of mammary epithelial cells. Here we found that expression of the cathepsin D gene was induced in the Expi-overexpressed apoptotic cells. To understand the role of cathepsin D in apoptosis, we transfected cathepsin D gene into mammary epithelial HC11 cells and established the stable cell lines overexpressing the cathepsin D gene. We found that overexpression of the cathepsin D gene partially induced apoptosis of mammary epithelial cells. Expression patterns of the cathepsin D gene were examined in mouse mammary gland at various reproductive stages. Expression of the cathepsin D gene was increased during involution stages compared to lactation stages, and highest expression levels were shown at involution on day 4. We also examined expression of the cathepsin D gene in various mouse tissues. Mammary gland at involution on day 2 showed highest levels of cathepsin D mRNA of the mouse tissues that we examined. Liver tissues showed high levels of cathepsin D expression. These results demonstrate that cathepsin D may contribute to the apoptotic process of mammary epithelial cells.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.341-346
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• 2012

Indican (indoxyl-${\beta}$-D-glucoside) is a colorless natural compound and can be used as a precursor for the production of indigo. This production step only require an enzyme, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, that readily screened from microbial resource by using selective media supplemented with indican as a sole carbon source. Agrobacterium tumefaciens was well grown in this media and thus presumed to produce a related enzyme. The corresponding gene, encoding a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 51 kDa, was cloned and overexpressed as MBP fusion proteins. The purified enzyme was determined to be a dimer and showed the maximum activity for indican at pH 7.0 and $40^{\circ}C$. The kinetic parameters for indican, Km and Vmax, were determined to be 1.4 mM and 373.8 ${\mu}M/min/mg$, respectively. The conversion yield of indican into indigo using this enzyme was about 1.7-1.8 folds higher than that of previously isolated enzyme from Sinorhizobium meliloti. Additionally, this enzyme was able to hydrolyze various ${\beta}$-1,4 glycoside substrates.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.167-172
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• 2001

Staphylokinase (SAK) was produced in B. subtilis using two different promoter systems, i.e. the P43 and sacB promoters. To maximize SAK expression in B. subtilis, fermentation control strategies for each promoter were examined. SAK, under P43, a vegetative promoter transcribed mainly by $\sigma$(sup)B containing RNA polymerase, was overexpressed at low dissolved oxygen (D.O.) levels, suggesting that the sigB operon is somewhat affected by the energy charge of the cells. The expression of SAK at the 10% D.O. level was three times higher than that at the 50% D.O. level. In the case of sacB, a sucrose-inducible promoter, sucrose feeding was used to control the induction period and induction strength. Since sucrose is hydrolyzed by two sucrose hydrolyzing enzymes in the cell and culture broth, the control strategy was based on replenishing the loss of sucrose in the culture. With continuous feeding of sucrose, WB700 (pSAKBQ), which contains the SAK gene under sacB promoter, yielded ca. 35% more SAK than the batch culture. These results present efficient promoter-dependent control strategies in B. subtilis host system for foreign protein expression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.344-349
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• 2004

A gene encoding inulin-degrading enzyme of Bacillus sp. snu-7 with ORF of 1536 nucleotides was cloned. And it was overexpressed as His-tagged protein in E. coli BL21(DE3) pLysS using pRSET B vector containing mature enzyme sequence. Maximum enzyme production was achieved by IPTG (0.1 mM) induction at $OD_{600}$ 1.2 and $30^{\circ}C$ followed by 6 h incubation. The expressed protein purified through immobilized metal affinity chromatography showed molecular mass of 60 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Results of thin-layer chromatography using inulin as a substrate showed the enzyme to be an exotype inulinase capable of producing only monomeric fructose as a product. $K_m$ and $k_{cat}$, for the hydrolyses of inulin and sucrose were $2.28\pm0.08$ mM and 358.05$\pm$20.38 $min^{-l}$, and 22.02$\pm$0.41 mM and 4619.11$\pm$215.12 $$min^{-1}, respectively. Optimal activity of the exoinulinase occurred at pH 7.0 and $50^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.594-599
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• 2007

It is well known that the Escherichia coli inner membrane-bound protease DegS is a periplasmic stress sensor for unfolded outer membrane proteins (OMPs). Previous studies have also shown that the outer membrane protease OmpT activates plasminogen in vitro and this may be exploited by bacteria in the course of pathogenesis. However, there has been no research on the plasminogen activation ability of the important periplasmic protein DegS. Accordingly, in this study, the whole-length and truncated degS genes were separately overexpressed in Escherichia coli, the recombinant proteins purified by affinity chromatography, and their plasminogen activator role tested in vitro. The results suggested that the whole-length DegS was able to activate plasminogen on a plasma plate. The truncated form of DegS (residues 80-345), designated ${\Delta}DegS$, also acted as a plasminogen activator, as confirmed by different assays. The serine protease property of ${\Delta}DegS$ was verified based on the complete inhibition of its enzyme activity by PMSF (phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride). Therefore, the present results indicate that DegS is a plasminogen activator in vitro.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.579-585
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• 2007

Formation of inclusion bodies is usually observed when foreign proteins are overexpressed in E. coli. The formation of inclusion bodies might be prevented by lowering the rate of protein synthesis, and appropriate regulation of the protein expression rate may lead to the soluble expression. In this study, human growth hormone (rhGH) was expressed in a soluble form by slowing down the protein synthesis rate, which was controlled in the transcriptional and translational levels. The transcriptional level was controlled by the regulation of the amount of RNA polymerase specific to the promoter in front of the rhGH gene. For lowering the rate of translation, the T7 transcription terminator-deleted vector was used to synthesize the longer mRNA of the target gene because the longer mRNA is expected to reduce the availability of tree ribosomes. In both methods, the percentage of soluble expression increased when the expression rate slowed down, and more than 93% of rhGH expressed was a soluble form in the T7 transcription terminator-deleted expression system.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.48-54
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• 2008

A putative ${\omega}$-aminotransferase gene, cc3143 (aptA), from Caulobacter crescentus was screened by bioinformatical tools and overexpressed in E. coli, and the substrate specificity of the ${\omega}$-aminotransferase was investigated. AptA showed high activity for short-chain ${\beta}$-amino acids. It showed the highest activity for 3-amino-n-butyric acid. It showed higher activity toward aromatic amines than aliphatic amines. The 3D model of the ${\omega}$-aminotransferase was constructed by homology modeling using a dialkylglycine decarboxylase (PDB ID: 1DGE) as a template. Then, the ${\omega}$-aminotransferase was rationally redesigned to increase the activity for 3-amino-3-phenylpropionic acid. The mutants N285A and V227G increased the relative activity for 3-amino-3-phenylpropionic acid to 3-amino-n-butyric acid by 11-fold and 3-fold, respectively, over that of wild type.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제28권7호
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• pp.1217-1224
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• 2018

Seaweeds produce antioxidants to counteract environmental stresses, and these antioxidant genes are regarded as important defense strategies for marine algae. In this study, the expression of Pyropia yezoensis (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) ascorbate peroxidase (PyAPX) and manganese-superoxide dismutase (PyMnSOD) was examined by qRT-PCR in P. yezoensis blades under abiotic stress conditions. Furthermore, the functional relevance of these genes was explored by overexpressing them in Chlamydomonas. A comparison of the different expression levels of PyAPX and PyMnSOD after exposure to each stress revealed that both genes were induced by high salt and UVB exposure, being increased approximately 3-fold after 12 h. The expression of the PyAPX and PyMnSOD genes also increased following exposure to $H_2O_2$. When these two genes were overexpressed in Chlamydomonas, the cells had a higher growth rate than control cells under conditions of hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress, increased salinity, and UV exposure. These data suggest that Chlamydomonas is a suitable model for studying the function of stress genes, and that PyAPX and PyMnSOD genes are involved in the adaptation and defense against stresses that alter metabolism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.773-779
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• 2002

A gene (hap) encoding aminopeptidase from the chromosomal DNA of Bacillus licheniformis was cloned. The gene is 1,347 bp long and encodes a 449 amino acid preproprotein with a major mature region of 401 amino acids (calculated molecular mass 43,241 Da). N-Terminal sequence of the purified protein revealed a potential presence of N-terminal propeptide. The deduced primary amino acid sequence and the mass analysis of the purified protein suggested that a C-terminal peptide YSSVAQ was also cleaved off by a possible endogeneous protease. Tho amino acid sequence displayed 58% identity with that of the aminopeptidase from alkaliphilic Bacillus halodurans. This bacterial enzyme was overexpressed in recombinant Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis cells. Clones containing the intact hap gene, including its own promoter and signal sequence, gave rise to the synthesis of extracellular and thrmostable enzyme by B. subtilis transformants. The secreted protein exhibited the same biochemical properties and the similar apparent molecular mass as the B. lichenzyormis original enzyme.

• Applied Microscopy
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.189-196
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• 1997

The ultrastrucures of Xenopus otic vesicle from normal embryo (st. 43) and induced otic vesicle from animal cap assay with Activin A were compared. Activin A was applied to the presumptive ectoderm at various concentrations for three days at $20^{\circ}C$. The results were almost identical to the reference studies, but it was found that the otic vesicle was induced at the concentration of 10 ng/ml in to)v rate. This otic vesicle may be secondarily induced by the neural tissue showed commonly at the concentration of 10 ng/ml. Otoliths were observed as three or four-axis crystaline bodies in the lumen of otic vesicle. In electron micrograph of the normal embryo, two kinds of microvilli were observed on the apical position of hair cells. One was small and common, the other was large-sized and sparsely distributed. In both cell of otic vesicle, mitochondria, golgi apparatus and multivesicular body were rich, so, they showed a lot of similarities in ultrastructure. However, the otolith was not found and microvilli were overexpressed in the otic vesicle induced by Activin A.