• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1023-1031
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• 2017

The conformational change of cellular prion protein ($PrP^C$) to its misfolded counterpart, termed $PrP^{Sc}$, is mediated by a hypothesized cellular cofactor. This cofactor is believed to interact directly with certain amino acid residues of $PrP^C$. When these are mutated into cationic amino acid residues, $PrP^{Sc}$ formation and prion replication halt in a dominant negative (DN) manner, presumably due to strong binding of the cofactor to mutated $PrP^C$, designated as DN PrP mutants. Previous studies demonstrated that plasminogen and its kringle domains bind to PrP and accelerate $PrP^{Sc}$ generation. In this study, in vitro binding analysis of kringle domains of plasminogen to Q167R DN mutant PrP (PrPQ167R) was performed in parallel with the wild type (WT) and Q218K DN mutant PrP (PrPQ218K). The binding affinity of PrPQ167R was higher than that of WT PrP, but lower than that of PrPQ218K. Scatchard analysis further indicated that, like PrPQ218K and WT PrP, PrPQ167R interaction with plasminogen occurred at multiple sites, suggesting cooperativity in this interaction. Competitive binding analysis using $\small{L}$-lysine or $\small{L}$-arginine confirmed the increase of the specificity and binding affinity of the interaction as PrP acquired DN mutations. Circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrated that the recombinant PrPs used in this study retained the ${\alpha}$-helix-rich structure. The ${\alpha}$-helix unfolding study revealed similar conformational stability for WT and DN-mutated PrPs. This study provides an additional piece of biochemical evidence concerning the interaction of plasminogen with DN mutant PrPs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.417-421
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• 2004

A normal prion protein (PrPc) is converted to a protease resistant isoform (PrPsc) by an apparent self-propagating activity in bovine spongiform encephalopathies (BSE), which is a neurodegenerative disease. The cDNA encoding bovine PrP open reading frame (ORP) in Korean cattle was cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The cloned cDNA had a length of 795 base pairs which coded for a protein of 264 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 28.6 kDa. Identities of 90, 90, 79 and 78% on nucleotide and 94, 94, 84, and 84% on amino acid sequence were shown to PrP genes from sheep, goat, human, and mouse, respectively. The cloned DNA was ligated into the pQE30 expression vector and transformed into E. coli M15. The PrP was expressed by induction with isopropyl-$\beta$-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) and purified on the Ni-NTA affinity column. High specific activities of the recombinant PrP were observed in the fraction of pH 5.8 eluate and showed a molecular mass of-29 kDa on SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.453-458
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• 2009

Prion protein (PRNP) is known to be a causative protein for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), a disease occurring in human and animals. Previous results indicate that the genetic variability can affect the resistance and susceptibility of goat scrapie and can give the guideline for reducing the risk of this disease. Until now, 35 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in goat PRNP gene from many countries such as Great Britain, Italy, United States of America and Asian countries etc. In this study, SNPs in PRNP gene have been investigated to research the PRNP variations and their possible TSE risks in 60 Korean native goats. Based on the sequencing results, we identified four SNPs and three of those polymorphisms (G126A, C414T and C718T) were synonymous and the A428G polymorphism was non-synonymous which changes the amino acid histidine to arginine. Previously, all of these four SNPs were identified in Asian native goats. Specifically, five polymorphisms were identified in Asian native goats and two of them (G126A and C414T) were silent mutations, and the other SNPs (T304G, A428G and T718C) caused amino acid changes (W102G, H143R and S240P). Comparing with SNP results from other breeds, this study is an initial step to understand resistance and susceptibility of this disease in Korean native goats.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.259-265
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• 2005

Proteins must fold into their correct three-dimensional conformation in order to attain their biological function. Conversely, protein aggregation and misfolding are primary contributors to many devastating human diseases, such as prion-mediated infections, Alzheimer's disease, type II diabetes and cystic fibrosis. While the native conformation of a polypeptide is encoded within its primary amino acid sequence and is sufficient for protein folding in vitro, the situation in vivo is more complex. Inside the cell, proteins are synthesized or folded continuously; a process that is greatly assisted by molecular chaperones. Molecular chaperones re a group of structurally diverse and mechanistically distinct proteins that either promote folding or prevent the aggregation of other proteins. With our increasing understanding of the proteome, it is becoming clear that the number of proteins that can be classified as molecular chaperones is increasing steadily. Many of these proteins have novel but essential cellular functions that differ from that of more 'conventional' chaperones, such as Hsp70 and the GroE system. This review focuses on the emerging role of molecular chaperones in protein quality control, i.e. the mechanism that rids the cell of misfolded or incompletely synthesized polypeptides that otherwise would interfere with normal cellular function.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2018

Formation of toxic protein aggregates is a common feature and mainly contributes to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), which include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and prion diseases. The transglutaminase 2 (TG2) gene encodes a multifunctional enzyme, displaying four types of activity, such as transamidation, GTPase, protein disulfide isomerase, and protein kinase activities. Many studies demonstrated that the calcium-dependent transamidation activity of TG2 affects the formation of insoluble and toxic amyloid aggregates that mainly consisted of NDD-related proteins. So far, many important and NDD-related substrates of TG2 have been identified, including $amlyoid-{\beta}$, tau, ${\alpha}-synuclein$, mutant huntingtin, and ALS-linked trans-activation response (TAR) DNA-binding protein 43. Recently, the formation of toxic inclusions mediated by several TG2 substrates were efficiently inhibited by TG2 inhibitors. Therefore, the development of highly specific TG2 inhibitors would be an important tool in alleviating the progression of TG2-related brain disorders. In this review, the authors discuss recent advances in TG2 biochemistry, several mechanisms of molecular regulation and pleotropic signaling functions, and the presumed role of TG2 in the progression of many NDDs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Biophysical Society Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.64-64
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• 2003

In growing number of diseases it has been shown that the aggregation of specific proteins has an important role in the pathogenesis of the disorder. This has been demonstrated in structural detail with the liver cirrhosis of ${\alpha}$$_1$-antitrypsin deficiency, and it is now believed that similar protein aggregation underlies many neurodegenerative disorders such as autosomal dominant Parkinson disease, prion diseases, Alzheimer disease, Huntington disease.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2018

Studies on the interactions of amyloidogenic proteins with trace metals, such as copper, have indicated that the metal ions perform a critical function in the early oligomerization process. Herein, we investigate the effects of Cu(II) ions on the active sequence regions of amyloidogenic proteins using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and collision induced dissociation tandem MS (CID-MS/MS). We chose three amyloidogenic peptides NNQQNY, LYQLEN, and VQIVYK from yeast prion like protein Sup35, insulin chain A, and tau protein, respectively. [Cu-peptide] complexes for all three peptides were observed in the mass spectra. The mass spectra also show that increasing Cu(II) concentrations decrease the population of existing peptide oligomers. The tandem mass spectrum of NNQQNY shows preferential binding for the N-terminal region. All three peptides are likely to appear to be in a Cu-monomer-monomer (Cu-M-M) structure instead of a monomer-Cu-monomer (M-Cu-M) structure.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2019

The ${\pi}-{\pi}$ interactions of the peptide-dimer and peptide-trimer complexes were investigated in the (VQIVYK + LYQLEN) and (VQIVYK + NNQQNY) mixing solutions. The results showed that tyrosine (Y) residues were critical in the formation of hetero peptide-dimers and -trimers during the early oligomerization process. We used collision-induced dissociation (CID) along with electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS) to obtain the structural information of the hetero-dimers and -trimers. We chose three amyloidogenic peptides-VQIVYK, NNQQNY, and LYQLEN-from tau protein, yeast prion-like protein Sup35, and insulin chain A, respectively. Hetero-dimer, -trimer, -tetramer, and -pentamer complexes were observed in the mass spectra. The tandem mass spectrum of the hetero-dimer and hetero-trimer showed two different fragmentation patterns (covalent and non-covalent bond dissociation). Y-Y interaction structures were also proposed for the hetero-dimer and -trimer complexes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.9
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• pp.541-551
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• 2009

Amyloidogenesis defines a condition in which a soluble and innocuous protein turns to insoluble protein aggregates known as amyloid fibrils. This protein suprastructure derived via chemically specific molecular self-assembly process has been commonly observed in various neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Prion diseases. Although the major culprit for the cellular degeneration in the diseases remains unsettled, amyloidogenesis is considered to be etiologically involved. Recent recognition of fibrillar polymorphism observed mostly from in vitro amyloidogeneses may indicate that multiple mechanisms for the amyloid fibril formation would be operated. Nucleation-dependent fibrillation is the prevalent model for assessing the self-assembly process. Following thermodynamically unfavorable seed formation, monomeric polypeptides bind to the seeds by exerting structural adjustments to the template, which leads to accelerated amyloid fibril formation. In this review, we propose another in vitro model of amyloidogenesis named double-concerted fibrillation. Here, two consecutive assembly processes of monomers and subsequent oligomeric species are responsible for the amyloid fibril formation of $\alpha$-synuclein, a pathological component of Parkinson's disease, following structural rearrangement within the oligomers which then act as a growing unit for the fibrillation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Biophysical Society Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.57-57
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• 2003

In growing number of diseases it has been shown that aggregation of specific proteins has an important role in pathogenesis of the disorder. This has been demonstrated in structural details with the liver cirrhosis of ${\alpha}$$_1$-antitrypsin deficiency, and it is now believed that similar protein aggregation underlies many neurodegenerative disorders such as autosomal dominant Parkinson disease, prion diseases, Alzheimer disease, and Huntington disease. ${\alpha}$$_1$-Antieypsin, a member of serine pretense inhibitor (serpin) family, functions as an inhibitor of neutrophil elastase.