• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.359-364
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• 1995

As the first step to elucidate the relationship between the structure and function of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (EC 2.7.7.15) in plants, the partial nucleotide sequence of soybean cytidylyltransferase cDNA was determined using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Degenerate oligonucleotide primers were synthesized from the conserved region revealed from the rat and yeast cytidylyltransferase DNA sequences. The catalytic domain region showed 78 and 76% homology with the rat and yeast amino acid sequences, respectivly. The hydropathy profile indicated that the C-terminal non-catalytic portion of the protein was very hydrophilic, and in the region between the catalytic domain and the C-terminal region, there was a large amphipathic $\alpha$-helical domain that was believed to bind the membrane surface in the active formation. There are 7 potential sites for phosphorylation by protein kinase C and 4 potential sites for phosphorylation by Ca2+/calmodulin kinase within the determined sequence.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.595-601
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• 2005

In this study, we have isolated a rice (Oryza sativa L.) glutamate decarboxylase (RicGAD) clone from a root cDNA library, using a partial Arabidopsis thaliana GAD gene as a probe. The rice root cDNA library was constructed with mRNA, which had been derived from the roots of rice seedlings subjected to phosphorus deprivation. Nucleotide sequence analysis indicated that the RicGAD clone was 1,712 bp long, and harbors a complete open reading frame of 505 amino acids. The 505 amino acid sequence deduced from this RicGAD clone exhibited 67.7% and 61.9% identity with OsGAD1 (AB056060) and OsGAD2 (AB056061) in the database, respectively. The 505 amino acid sequence also exhibited 62.9, 64.1, and 64.2% identity to Arabidopsis GAD (U9937), Nicotiana tabacum GAD (AF020425), and Petunia hybrida GAD (L16797), respectively. The RicGAD was found to possess a highly conserved tryptophan residue, but lacks the lysine cluster at the C-proximal position, as well as other stretches of positively charged residues. The GAD sequence was expressed heterologously using the high copy number plasmid, pVUCH. Our activation analysis revealed that the maximal activation of the RicGAD occurred in the presence of both $Ca^{2+}$ and calmodulin. The GAD-encoded 56~58 kDa protein was identified via Western blot analysis, using an anti-GAD monoclonal antibody. The results of our RT-PCR analyses revealed that RicGAD is expressed predominantly in rice roots obtained from rice seedlings grown under phosphorus deprivation conditions, and in non-germinated brown rice, which is known to have a limited phosphorus bioavailability. These results indicate that RicGAD is a $Ca^{2+}$/calmodulin-dependent enzyme, and that RicGAD is expressed primarily under phosphate deprivation conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.158-167
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• 2007

In this study, we have cloned a novel cDNA encoding for a papain-family cysteine protease from the Uni-ZAP XR cDNA library of the polychaete, Periserrula leucophryna. This gene was expressed in Escherichia coli using the T7 promoter system, and the protease was characterized after partial purification. First, the partial DNA fragment (498 bp) was amplified from the total RNA via RT-PCR using degenerated primers derived from the conserved region of cysteine protease. The full-length cDNA of cysteine protease (PLCP) was prepared via the screening of the Uni-ZAP XR cDNA library using the $^{32}P-labeled$ partial DNA fragment. As a result, the PLCP gene was determined to consist of a 2591 bp nucleotide sequence (CDS: 173-1024 bp) which encodes for a 283-amino acid polypeptide, which is itself composed of an 59-residue signal sequence, a 6-residue propeptide, a 218-residue mature protein, and a long 3'-noncoding region encompassing 1564 bp. The predicted molecular weights of the preproprotein and the mature protein were calculated as 31.8 kDa and 25 kDa, respectively. The results of sequence analysis and alignment revealed a significant degree of sequence similarity with other eukaryotic cysteine proteases, including the conserved catalytic triad of the $Cys^{90},\;His^{226},\;and\;Asn^{250}$ residues which characterize the C1 family of papain-like cysteine protease. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the novel gene were deposited into the GenBank database under the accession numbers, AY390282 and AAR27011, respectively. The results of Northern blot analysis revealed the 2.5 kb size of the transcript and ubiquitous expression throughout the entirety of the body, head, gut, and skin, which suggested that the PLCP may be grouped within the cathepsin F-like proteases. The region encoding for the mature form of the protease was then subcloned into the pT7-7 expression vector following PCR amplification using the designed primers, including the initiation and termination codons. The recombinant cysteine proteases were generated in a range of 6.3 % to 12.5 % of the total cell proteins in the E. coli BL21(DE3) strain for 8 transformants. The results of SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis indicated that a cysteine protease of approximately 25 kDa (mature form) was generated. The optimal pH and temperature of the enzyme were determined to be approximately 9.5 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively, thereby indicating that the cysteine protease is a member of the alkaline protease group. The evaluation of substrate specificity indicated that the purified protease was more active towards Arg-X or Lys-X and did not efficiently cleave the substrates with non-polar amino acids at the P1 site. The PLCP evidenced fibrinolytic activity on the plasminogen-free fibrin plate test.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.930-936
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• 2011

Two new cyclic depsipeptides wewakamide A (1) and guineamide G (2) have been isolated from the marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya semiplena and Lyngbya majuscula, respectively, collected from Papua New Guinea. The amino and hydroxy acid partial structures of wewakamide A and guineamide G were elucidated through extensive spectroscopic techniques, including HR-FABMS, 1D $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR, as well as 2D COSY, HSQC, HSQC-TOCSY, and HMBC spectra. The sequence of the residues of wewakamide A was determined through a combination of ESI-MS/MS, HMBC, and ROESY. Wewakamide A possesses a ${\beta}$-amino acid, 3-amino-2-methylbutanoic acid (Maba) residue, which has only been previously identified in two natural products, guineamide B (3) and dolastatin D (4). Although both new compounds (1,2) showed potent brine shrimp toxicity, only guineamide G displayed significant cytotoxicity to a mouse neuroblastoma cell line with $LC_{50}$ values of 2.7 ${\mu}M$.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.155-165
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• 2006

The results of this study confirm that the availability of hemin influences the expression of selected membrane proteins of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, and Prevotella nigrescens. A 30 kDa (heated 24 kDa) hemin-binding protein whose expression is hemin regulated was identified and purified in P. gingivalis. A strong hemin-binding function was found by LDS-PAGE and TMBZ staining when P. gingivalis cells were grown under hemin-limited conditions. A 50 kDa cell envelope associated protein, whose expression is hemin regulated, is considered to be a putative hemin binding protein from P. intermedia and P. nigrescens, respectively. N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis of CNBr-digested 24 kDa hemin binding protein from P. gingivalis revealed that this protein belongs to a new, so far undescribed hemin-binding class of proteins. N-terminal amino acid sequence of a 50 kDa putative hemin binding protein from P. intermedia was identical with Enolase from Streptococcus intermedia. Work is in progress to further characterize the molecular structure of these proteins.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.306-310
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• 1999

The partial cDNA of the MT-c clone encoding snake venom metalloprotease was subcloned and expressed in E. coli. The expressed metalloprotease was purified by affinity chromatography in the presence of urea, and then successfully refolded into its functional form, retaining metalloprotease activity that hydrolyzes fibrinogen. The simple and convenient refolding strategy established in this work was highly efficient in recovering the recombinant enzyme activity. Experimental evidence suggests that the C-terminal amino acid stretch of 16 residues is a critical sequence for proper folding of the metalloprotease domain.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.351-360
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• 2002

In the study presented here, identification, purification, and partial characterization of a hemin-regulated protein in Prevotella nigrescens were carried out. The results of this study confirm that the availability of hemin influences the expression of a selected membrane protein as well as the growth rate of P. nigrescens ATCC 33563. The 50 kDa cell envelope associated protein, whose expression is hemin regulated, is considered to be a putative hemin-binding protein from P. nigrescens. Disulfide bonds were not present in this protein, and N'-terminal amino acid sequence analysis revealed that this protein belongs to a new, so far undescribed protein. The 50 kDa protein was found to be rich in hydrophilic amino acids, with glycine comprising approximately 60% of the total amino acids. The study described here is the first to identify, purify, and biochemically characterize a putative hemin-binding protein from P. nigrescens. Work is in progress to further characterize the molecular structure of this protein.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

An attempt was made to link rice embryo proteins to DNA sequences and to understand their functions. One hundred of the 700 spots detected on the embryo 2-DE gels were microsequenced. Of these, 28% of the embryo proteins were matched to DNA sequences with known functions, but 72% of the proteins were unknown in functions as previously reported (Woo et al. 2002). In addition, twenty-four protein spots with 100% of homology and nine with over 80% were matched to ESTs (expressed sequence tags) after expanding the amino acid sequences of the protein spots by Database searches using the available rice EST databases at the NCBI (http://www/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and DDBJ (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/). The chromosomal location of some proteins were also obtained from the rice genetic map provided by Japanese Rice Genome Research Program (http://rgp.dna.affrc.go.jp). The DNA sequence databases including EST have been reported for rice (Oryza sativa L.) now provides whole or partial gene sequence, and recent advances in protein characterization allow the linking proteins to DNA sequences in the functional analysis. This work shows that proteome analysis could be a useful tool strategy to link sequence information and to functional genomics.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2001

4-Aminobutyrate aminotransferase plays an essential role in the 4-aminobutyric acid shunt, converting 4-aminobutyrate to succinic semi aldehyde. We isolated and sequenced' a fish cDNA fragment that encodes 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase. A brain cDNA library from flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) was constructed using the ZAP- III XR vector and screened for the fish 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase gene using a probe derived from the conserved sequences of known mammalian 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferases. A partial cDNA for 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase was cloned and found to be 700 bp in length corresponding to 66 amino acids. Nucleotide sequence of the clone was aligned with NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) DNA sequence data base. The result showed high sequence identity with previously reported mammalian 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferases. The trans­criptional level of flounder 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase was detected with the presence of mRNA at different flounder tissues by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The expression of flounder 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase was also tested and detected from the flounder tissues of the brain, liver, kidney and pancreas.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1023-1029
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• 2007

Inhibins participate in the regulation of pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone synthesis and secretion, follicular maturation and steroidogenesis in the female. Inhibin ${\beta}_A$ gene (INHBA) was studied as a candidate gene for the prolificacy of sheep. Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the entire coding region and partial 3' untranslated region of INHBA were detected by PCR-SSCP in two high fecundity breeds (Small Tail Han and Hu sheep) and six low fecundity breeds (Dorset, Texel, German Mutton Merino, South African Mutton Merino, Chinese Merino and Corriedale sheep). Only the PCR products amplified by primers 3, 4 and 5 displayed polymorphisms. For primer 3, genotype CC was only detected in Chinese Merino sheep, genotype AA was detected in the other seven sheep breeds. Genotype BB was only detected in Hu sheep. Only Hu sheep displayed polymorphism. Eight or four nucleotide mutations were revealed between BB or CC and AA, respectively, and these mutations did not result in any amino acid change. For primer 4, genotypes EE, EG and GG were detected in Dorset and German Mutton Merino sheep, genotypes EE, EF and FF were detected in Chinese Merino sheep, only genotype EE was detected in the other five sheep breeds. Only Dorset, German Mutton Merino and Chinese Merino sheep displayed polymorphism. Sequencing revealed one nucleotide mutation ($114G{\rightarrow}A$) of exon 2 of INHBA gene between genotype FF and genotype EE, and this mutation did not cause any amino acid change. Another nucleotide change ($143C{\rightarrow}T$) was identified between genotype GG and genotype EE, and this mutation resulted in an amino acid change of $serine{\rightarrow}leucine$. For primer 5, genotypes KK and KL were detected in German Mutton Merino and Corriedale sheep, genotypes KK, LL and KL were detected in the other six sheep breeds. Genotype MM was only detected in Hu sheep. All of these eight sheep breeds displayed polymorphism. Sequencing revealed one nucleotide mutation ($218A{\rightarrow}G$) of exon 2 of the INHBA gene between genotype LL and genotype KK, and nine nucleotide mutations between genotype MM and genotype KK. These mutations did not alter amino acid sequence. The partial sequence (395 bp for exon 1 and 933 bp for exon 2) of the INHBA gene in Small Tail Han sheep (with genotype KK for primer 5) was submitted into GenBank (accession number EF192431). Small Tail Han sheep displayed polymorphisms only in the fragment amplified by primer 5. The Small Tail Han ewes with genotype LL had 0.53 (p<0.05) or 0.63 (p<0.05) more lambs than those with genotype KL or KK, respectively. The Small Tail Han ewes with genotype KL had 0.10 (p>0.05) more lambs than those with genotype KK.