• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1761-1767
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• 2015

Sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus, is becoming an important aquaculture species in Korea. However, viral nervous necrosis disease is a large problem causing mass mortality in sevenband grouper aquaculture. Recombinant protein vaccines are one of the best methods to reduce these economic losses. However, the cell-based expression method mainly produces inclusion bodies and requires additional procedures. In this study, we expressed a recombinant viral coat protein of sevenband grouper nervous necrosis virus (NNV) using a cell-free protein synthesis system. The purified recombinant NNV coat protein (rNNV-CP) was injected into sevenband grouper at different doses followed by a NNV challenge. Nonimmunized fish in the first trial (20 μg/fish) began to die 5 days post-challenge and reached 70% cumulative mortality. In contrast, immunized fish also starting dying 5 days postchallenge but lower cumulative mortality (10%) was observed. Cumulative morality in the second trial with different doses (20, 4, and 0.8 μg/fish) was 10%, 40%, and 50%, respectively. These results suggest that rNNV-CP can effectively immunize sevenband grouper depending on the dose administered. This study provides a new approach to develop a recombinant vaccine against NNV infection for sevenband grouper.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2008

To express an increased level of recombinant Mefp1 (marine mussel adhesive protein) in soluble form, we constructed expression vectors encoding truncated OmpA signal peptide-Mefp1 fusion proteins. OmpA signal peptide (OmpASP) is the 21 residue peptide fragment of the 23 residue OmpA signal sequence cleavable by signal peptidase I. We successfully produced increased levels of soluble recombinant Mefp1 (rMefp1) with various deletions of OmpASP, and found that the increased expression was caused by the increased pI of the N-terminus of the fusion proteins (${\geq}10.55$). All the OmpA signal peptide segments of 3-21 amino acids in length had the same pI value (10.55). Our results suggest that the pI value of the truncated OmpASP ($OmpASP_{tr}$) play an important role in directional signaling for the fusion protein, but we found no evidence for the presence of a secretion enhancer in OmpASP. For practical applications, we increased the expression of soluble rMefp1 with $OmpASP_{tr}$ peptides as directional signals, and obtained rMefp1 with the native amino terminus (nN-rMefp1) using an $OmpASP_{tr}$ Xa leader sequence that contains the recognition site for Xa protease.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.989-992
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• 2003

Recombinant human tissue plasminogen activator deletion mutein (Reteplase) is a clinically promising thrombolytic drug. Reteplase cDNA was subcloned into a bacteria expression system, and the resultant recombinant was biologically characterized. The Reteplase was expressed in Escherichia coli as an inclusion body, and the downstream processes of the Reteplase inclusion body included denaturation, renaturation, and purification. A protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) was used to assist the refolding of Reteplase, and it was found to increase the refolding rate from less than 2％ to more than 20％. The refolded Reteplase was purified through two chromatography steps, including lysine-coupled agarose affinity chromatography and then CM-sepharose cation-exchange chomatography. The purity of r-PA was analyzed by Western bolt analysis, and N-terminal amino acid and amino acid composition analyses confirmed the end-product. Reteplase showed higher thrombolytic potency in an animal thrombus model.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.306-311
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• 2002

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is an abundant posttranslationally modified compound in eukaryotic cells. Human O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) was produced as a maltose binding protein (MBP) fusion protein, which showed significant catalytic activity to modify recombinant Sp1, transcription factor. To facilitate the production of O-GlcNAc modified proteins, instead of using the tedious in vitro glycosylation reaction or expression in eukaryotic cells, a MBP-fusion OGT expression vector (pACYC184-MBPOGT) was constructed using pACYC184 plasmid, which could coexist with general prokaryotic expression vectors containing ColE1 origin. By cotransforming pACYC184-MBPOGT and pGEX-2T vectors into Escherichia coli BL21, intracellular O- GlcNAcylated proteins could be obtained by a simple purification procedure. It is expected that this may be a useful tool for production of O-GlcNAc modified proteins.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.401-409
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• 2010

FLICE inhibitory protein (FLIP) is one of the important anti-apoptotic proteins in the Fas/FasL apoptotic path which has death effect domains, mimicking the pro-domain of procaspase-8. To reveal the intracellular signal transduction molecules involved in the process of follicular development in the bovine ovary, we cloned the c-FLIP(L) gene in bovine ovary tissue with the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), deleted the termination codon in its cDNA, and directionally cloned the amplified c-FLIP(L) gene into eukaryotic expression vector pAcGFP-Nl, including AcGFP, and successfully constructed the fusion protein recombinant plasmid. After identifying by restrictive enzyme BglII/EcoRI and sequencing, pAcGFP-bFLIP(L) was then transfected into follicular granulosa cells, mediated by Lipofectamine 2000, the expression of AcGFP observed and the transcription and expression of c-FLIP(L) detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. The results showed that the cattle c-FLIP(L) was successfully cloned; the pAcGFPbFLIP(L) fusion protein recombinant plasmid was successfuly constructed by introducing a BglII/EcoRI cloning site at the two ends of the c-FLIP(L) open reading frame and inserting a Kozak sequence before the start codon. AcGFP expression was detected as early as 24 h after transfection. The percentage of AcGFP positive cells reached about 65% after 24 h. A 1,483 bp transcription was amplified by RT-PCR, and a 83 kD target protein was detected by Western blot. Construction of the pAcGFP-bFLIP(L) recombinant plasmid should be helpful for further understanding the mechanism of regulation of c-FLIP(L) on bovine oocyte formation and development.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2013

Coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) is included in the protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) family, which methylates histone arginine residues through posttranslational modification. It has been proposed that CARM1 may up-regulate the expression of pluripotency-related genes through the alteration of the chromatin structure. Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are pluripotent and have the ability to self-renew. The cells are mainly used to study the genetic function of novel genes, because the cells facilitate the transmission of the manipulated genes into target mice. Since the up-regulated methylation levels of histone arginine residue lead to the maintenance of pluripotency in embryos and stem cells, it may be suggested that CARM1 overexpressing mESCs elevate the expression of pluripotency-related genes in reconstituted embryos for transgenic mice and may resist the differentiation into trophectoderm (TE). We constructed a fusion protein by connecting CARM1 and 7X-arginine (R7). As a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP), can translocate CARM1 protein into mESCs. CPP-CARM1 protein was detected in the nuclei of the mESCs after a treatment of 24 hours. Accordingly, the expression of pluripotency-related genes was up-regulated in CPP-CARM1-treated mESCs. In addition, CPP-CARM1-treated mESC-derived embryoid bodies (EBs) showed an elevated expression of pluripotency-related genes and delayed spontaneous differentiation. This result suggests that the treatment of recombinant CPP-CARM1 protein elevates the expression of pluripotency-related genes of mESCs by epigenetic modification, and this protein-delivery system could be used to modify embryonic fate in reconstituted embryos with mESCs.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.435-441
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• 2009

In the present study, we analyzed the defensin protein deduced from Korean radish (Raphanus sativus L.) seeds.To express the genes in E. coli, we constructed a recombinant expression vector with a defensin gene, named rKRs-AFP gene isolated from Korean radish seeds. Over expressed rKRs-AFP proteins was separated by SDS-PAGE to determine the purity, and protein concentration was determined by the Bradford method. Antifungal activity was assessed by disk assay method against the tested fungi. As a result, when 500 mL of cell culture were disrupted by sonicator, 32.5 mg total proteins were obtained. The purified protein showed a single band on SDS-PAGE with estimated molecular weight about 6 KDa, consistent with the molecular mass calculated from the deduced amino acid sequence. The purified rKRs-AFP protein showed remarkable antifungal activities against several fungi including Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea causing the gray mold disease, and Candida albicans. In field tests using the purified rKRs-AFP protein, the protein showed the reducing activity of disease spot and the mitigating effect of spreading of disease like agrichemicals. The immuno-assay of rKRs-AFP protein showed that the purified protein entirely accumulated at B. cinerea cytoplasm through the hyphal septa shown by fluorescence imaging. There was no fluorescence inside the cell, when the hypha was incubated without the protein. These all results indicate that the recombinant rKRs-AFP proteins can be utilized as a potential antifungal drug to control harmful plant fungal pathogens.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1470-1478
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• 2015

Adjuvant is an immune enhancer commonly used during vaccination to enhance the host immune response. In the present study, we produced the several recombinant protein from immune related gene of olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). Especially, to produce the soluble type of recombinant protein, we constructed the MBP (Maltose binding protein) fusion G-CSF (Granulocyte colony stimulating factor) recombinant protein among the flounder immune related genes. To verify the immune stimulatory effect and safety of this recombinant protein (rPoGCSF), expression changes of several immune genes were tested using quantitative real-time PCR method with gene specific primer from flounder head kidney leukocytes. As a result, we confirmed that the rPoGCSF has an ability of immune stimulatory effect, also it has broad range of pH and temperature.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.234-238
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• 2012

Recombinant Escherichia coli displaying organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) was used to overcome the diffusion barrier limitation of organophosphorus pesticides. A new anchor system derived from the N-terminal domain of ice-nucleation protein from Pseudomonas syringae InaV (InaV-N) was used to display OPH onto the surface. The designed sequence was cloned in the vector pET-28a(+) and then was expressed in E. coli. Tracing of the expression location of the recombinant protein using SDS-PAGE showed the presentation of OPH by InaV-N on the outer membrane, and the ability of recombinant E. coli to utilize diazinon as the sole source of energy, without growth inhibition, indicated its significant activity. The location of OPH was detected by comparing the activity of the outer membrane fraction with the inner membrane and cytoplasm fractions. Studies revealed that recombinant E. coli can degrade 50% of 2 mM chlorpyrifos in 2 min. It can be concluded that InaV-N can be used efficiently to display foreign functional protein, and these results highlight the high potential of an engineered bacterium to be used in bioremediation of pesticide-contaminated sources in the environment.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.297-305
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• 2011

A trap identification system for isolating functional sequences to allow the constitutive expression of foreign protein from Edwardsiella tarda was developed. Using the green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter-based trap system, various functional sequences to drive heterologous expression of the GFP were selectable in Escherichia coli host. However from the bioinformatic sequence analysis, all the segments predicted as regulatory regions were not native promoters actually existing upstream of endogenous E. tarda genes. Instead, a number of non-authentic sequences, possibly resulted from the random shuffling and/or intermolecular ligation were also proven to be able to display a potent GFP expression in the recombinant E. coli. Further analysis with selected clones showed that both authentic and non-authentic sequences could function in as a constitutive promoter, leading quite a consistent and stable GFP expression after repetitive subcultures. Microscopic examination also confirmed the uniform pattern of GFP expression in every host bacterium. Semi-quantitative assay of GFP showed that there was no clear relationship between expression levels and organizational features of the promoters trapped. Functional promoter-like elements achieved in the present study could be a good starting material for multivalent genetic engineering of E. tarda in order to produce recombinant vaccines in a cost-effective fashion.