• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.69-79
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• 2002

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.382-390
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• 2020

Periplanetasin-4 is an antimicrobial peptide with 13 amino acids identified in cockroaches. It has been reported to induce fungal cell death by apoptosis and membrane-targeted action. Analogs were designed by substituting arginine residues to modify the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions accordingly and explore the effect of periplanetasin-4 through the increase of net charge and the decrease of hydrophobicity. The analogs showed lower activity than periplanetasin-4 against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Similar to periplanetasin-4, the analogs exhibited slight hemolytic activity against human erythrocytes. Membrane studies, including determination of changes in membrane potential and permeability, and fluidity assays, revealed that the analogs disrupt less membrane integrity compared to periplanetasin-4. Likewise, when the analogs were treated to the artificial membrane model, the passage of molecules bigger than FD4 was difficult. In conclusion, arginine substitution could not maintain the membrane disruption ability of periplanetasin-4. The results indicated that the attenuation of hydrophobic interactions with the plasma membrane caused a reduction in the accumulation of the analogs on the membrane before the formation of electrostatic interactions. Our findings will assist in the further development of antimicrobial peptides for clinical use.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.403-406
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• 2009

Rev is an essential regulatory protein for HIV-1 replication. Rev (11-20) is known as the significant region regarding the function of a nuclear entry inhibitory signal (NIS) of Rev. In this study, anticandidal effects and mechanism of action of Rev (11-20) were investigated. The result exhibited that Rev (11-20) contained candidacidal activities. To understand target site(s) of Rev (11-20), the intracellular localization of the peptide was investigated. The result showed that Rev (11-20) rapidly accumulated in the fungal cell surface. The cell wall regeneration test also indicated that Rev (11-20) exerted its anticandidal activity to fungal plasma membrane rather than cell wall. The fluorescent study using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) further confirmed the membrane-disruption mechanism(s) of Rev (11-20). The present study suggests that Rev (11-20) possesses significant potential regarding therapeutic agents for treating fungal diseases caused by Candida species in humans.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.759-769
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• 2002

Mutated forms of ras are found in many human tumors and the rate of incidence is significantly higher in colon and pancreatic cancers. The protein product from the ras oncogene is a small G-protein, $p21^{ras}{\;}(Ras)$ that is known to playa key role in the signal transduction cascade and cell differentiation and proliferation. Mutated Ras is unable to regulate itself and remains constantly activated, leading to uncontrolled cell growth. The function of Ras in signal transduction requires its location near the growth factor receptor at the cell membrane. However, Ras does not have a transmembrane domain. Ras requires farnesylation to increase its hydrophobicity and subsequent plasma membrane association for its transforming activity. This key post-translational modification is catalyzed by the enzyme Ras farnesyltransferase (FTase), which transfers a farnesyl group from farnesylpyrophosphate to the C-terminal cysteine of the Ras protein. The requirement has focused attention on FTase as a target for therapeutic intervention. Selective inhibition of FTase will prevent Ras protein from association with the plasma membrane, leading to a disruption of oncogenic Ras function.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.29.1-29.23
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• 2023

Cholesterol (CL) is required for various biomolecular production processes, including those of cell membrane components. Therefore, to meet these needs, CL is converted into various derivatives. Among these derivatives is cholesterol sulfate (CS), a naturally produced CL derivative by the sulfotransferase family 2B1 (SULT2B1), which is widely present in human plasma. CS is involved in cell membrane stabilization, blood clotting, keratinocyte differentiation, and TCR nanocluster deformation. This study shows that treatment of T cells with CS resulted in the decreased surface expression of some surface T-cell proteins and reduced IL-2 release. Furthermore, T cells treated with CS significantly reduced lipid raft contents and membrane CLs. Surprisingly, using the electron microscope, we also observed that CS led to the disruption of T-cell microvilli, releasing small microvilli particles containing TCRs and other microvillar proteins. However, in vivo, T cells with CS showed aberrant migration to high endothelial venules and limited infiltrating splenic T-cell zones compared with the untreated T cells. Additionally, we observed significant alleviation of atopic dermatitis in mice injected with CS in the animal model. Based on these results, we conclude that CS is an immunosuppressive natural lipid that impairs TCR signaling by disrupting microvillar function in T cells, suggesting its usefulness as a therapeutic agent for alleviating T-cell-mediated hypersensitivity and a potential target for treating autoimmune diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1397-1402
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• 2010

Papyriflavonol A (PapA), a prenylated flavonoid [5,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxy-6,5'-di-(${\gamma},{\gamma}$-dimethylallyl)-flavonol], was isolated from the root barks of Broussonetia papyrifera. Our previous study showed that PapA has a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria and fungi. In this study, the mode of action of PapA against Candida albicans was investigated to evaluate PapA as an antifungal agent. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were 10~25 ${\mu}g/ml$ for C. albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium), and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus). The kinetics of cell growth inhibition, scanning electron microscopy, and measurement of plasma membrane florescence anisotrophy revealed that the antifungal activity of PapA against C. albicans and S. cerevisiae is mediated by its ability to disrupt the cell membrane integrity. Compared with amphotericin B, a cell-membrane-disrupting polyene antibiotic, the hemolytic toxicity of PapA was negligible. At 10~25 ${\mu}g/ml$ of MIC levels for the tested strains, the hemolysis ratio of human erythrocytes was less than 5%. Our results suggest that PapA could be a therapeutic fungicidal agent having potential as a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1367-1374
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• 2012

Pleurocidin, a 25-mer antimicrobial peptide, has been known to exhibit potent antibacterial activity. To investigate the functional roles in N- and C-terminal regions of pleurocidin on the antibacterial activity, we designed four truncated analogs. The antibacterial susceptibility testing showed that pleurocidin and its analogs exerted antibacterial effect against various bacterial strains and further possessed specific activity patterns corresponding with their hydrophobic scale [pleurocidin > Anal 3 (1-22) > Anal 1 (4-25) > Anal 4 (1-19) > Anal 2 (7-25)]. Fluorescence experiments using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) and 3,3'-dipropylthiadicarbocyanine iodide [$diSC_3(5)$] indicated that the differences in antibacterial activity of the peptides were caused by its membrane-active mechanisms including membrane disruption and depolarization. Blue shift in tryptophan fluorescence demonstrated that the decrease in net hydrophobicity attenuates the binding affinity of pleurocidin to interact with plasma membrane. Therefore, the present study suggests that hydrophobicity in the N- and C-terminal regions of pleurocidin plays a key role in its antibacterial activity.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2006

TALP-32 is highly basic protein with a molecular weight of 32 kDa purified from human term placenta. Some basic proteins such as defensins and cecropins are known to induce cell death by increasing membrane permeability and some of them are under development as an anticancer drug especially targeting multi-drug resistant cancers. Therefore, we investigated cytotoxic effect and mechanism of TALP-32 When HeLa cell was incubated with TALP-32, cytotoxicity was increased in time and dose dependent manner. As time goes by, HeLa cells became round and plasma membrane was ruptured. Increase of plasma membrane permeability was determined with LDH release assay. Also in transmission electron microscopy, typical morphology of necrotic cell death, such as cell swelling and intracellular organelle disruption was observed, but DNA fragmentation and caspase activation was not. And necrotic cell death was determined with Annexin V/Pl staining. The cytotoxicity of TALP-32 was minimal and decreased or RBC and Hep3B respectively. These data suggests that TALP-32 induces necrosis on rapidly growing cells but not on slowly growing cells implicating the possibility of its development of anticancer peptide drug.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.162-167
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• 1994

Surface changes of tissues caused by B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki-$\delta$-endotoxin intoxication of Helicoverpa assulta were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Bt-endotoxin crystals induced the erosion and disruption on the surface of all tissues tested. The results revealed that the toxin binds to all exposed plasma membranes without apparent specificity for particular membrane domains.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 2015

As sessile organisms, plants are exposed to persistently changing stresses and have to be able to interpret and respond to them. The stresses, drought, salinity, chemicals, cold and hot temperatures, and various pathogen attacks have interconnected effects on plants, resulting in the disruption of protein homeostasis. Maintenance of proteins in their functional native conformations and preventing aggregation of non-native proteins are important for cell survival under stress. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) functioning as molecular chaperones are the key components responsible for protein folding, assembly, translocation, and degradation under stress conditions and in many normal cellular processes. Plants respond to pathogen invasion using two different innate immune responses mediated by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) or resistance (R) proteins. HSPs play an indispensable role as molecular chaperones in the quality control of plasma membrane-resident PRRs and intracellular R proteins against potential invaders. Here, we specifically discuss the functional involvement of cytosolic and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) HSPs/chaperones in plant immunity to obtain an integrated understanding of the immune responses in plant cells.