• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.550-555
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• 2013

Extrinsic skin aging is characterized by the loss of skin tone and resilience, irregular pigmentation, and deep wrinkles. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Ehwa Makgeolli containing oriental herbs (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., Lycium chinense MILL., Morus alba L., and Saururus chinensis Baill) on skin whitening and wrinkling in human skin cells. We prepared Makgeolli extracts (HEE) with 70% ethanol. HEE significantly inhibited in vitro mushroom tyrosinase activity and reduced the cellular and secreted melanin content of mouse melanoma melanocytes (B16F1 cells). HEE down-regulated the protein expression of tyrosinase related protein (TRP)-1/-2, a key player in melanogenesis. Treatment with HEE in human keratinoctyes (HaCaT cells) inhibited the proteolytic activities of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2/-9 in a dose-dependent manner and dramatically reduced the expression of MMP-2/-9. In addition, HEE attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide production in murine macrophages (RAW264.7 cells). These results indicate that HEE may be a great cosmeceutical ingredient for its whitening, anti-wrinkle, and anti-inflammatory effects.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.163-177
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• 2008

Periodontal disease, a form of chronic inflammatory bacterial infectious disease, is known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Porphyromonas gingivalis has been implicated in periodontal disease and widely studied for its role in the pathogenesis of CVD. A previous study demonstrating that periodontopathic P. gingivalis is involved in CVD showed that invasion of endothelial cells by the bacterium is accompanied by an increase in cytokine production, which may result in vascular atherosclerotic changes. The present study was performed in order to further elucidate the role of P. gingivalis in the process of atherosclerosis and CVD. For this purpose, invasion of human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMC) by P. gingivalis 381 and its isogenic mutants of KDP150 ($fimA^-$), CW120 ($ppk^-$) and KS7 ($relA^-$) was assessed using a metronidazole protection assay. Wild type P. gingivalis invaded HASMCs with an efficiency of 0.12%. In contrast, KDP150 failed to demonstrate any invasive ability. CW120 and KS7 showed relatively higher invasion efficiencies, but results for these variants were still negligible when compared to the wild type invasiveness. These results suggest that fimbriae are required for invasion and that energy metabolism in association with regulatory genes involved in stress and stringent response may also be important for this process. ELISA assays revealed that the invasive P. gingivalis 381 increased production of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$ and the chemotactic cytokines (chemokine) IL (interleukin)-8 and monocyte chemotactic (MCP) protein-1 during the 30-90 min incubation periods (P<0.05). Expression of RANTES (regulation upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted) and Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, a pattern recognition receptor (PRR), was increased in HASMCs infected with P. gingivalis 381 by RT-PCR analysis. P. gingivalis infection did not alter interferon-$\gamma$-inducible protein-10 expression in HASMCs. HASMC nonspecific necrosis and apoptotic cell death were measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and caspase activity assays, respectively. LDH release from HASMCs and HAMC caspase activity were significantly higher after a 90 min incubation with P. gingivalis 381. Taken together, P. gingivalis invasion of HASMCs induces inflammatory cytokine production, apoptotic cell death, and expression of TLR-4, a PRR which may react with the bacterial molecules and induce the expression of the chemokines IL-8, MCP-1 and RANTES. Overall, these results suggest that invasive P. gingivalis may participate in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, leading to CVD.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 1998

The overproduction and high level secretion of Glucose Oxidase (GOD) from A. niger in S. cerevisiae was carried out by cloning GOD gene. For this purpose, using two different strong promoters (ADH1 promoter, GAL10 promoter) and signal sequences (${alpha}$-MF signal sequence of S. cerevisiae and ${alpha}$-amylase signal sequence of A. oryzae) and GAL7- and GOD terminator, four expression vectors were constructed. All the expression vectors were transformed in S. cerevisiae 2805 using auxotroph method. By the flask culture, transformants of pGAL expression vector series containing GAL 10 promotor showed much higher GOD productivity than transformants of pADH expression vector series containing ADH1 promoter Transformants of pGALGO2 containing GAL10 promotor and ${alpha}$-amylase signal sequence has shown the best productivity of GOD ($GOD_{total}$: 10.3 unit/mL, $GOD_{ex}$: 8.7 unit/mL) at 115 hr. This value was three fold higher than that of pGALGO1 containing GAL 10 promotor and ${alpha}$-MF signal sequence, even if the same promotor was involved. Through the ${alpha}$-amylase signal sequence of A. oryzae, GOD was secreted much more than the case of ${alpha}$-MF signal sequence from S. cerevisiae. These results suggest that signal sequence may play a important roles in not only the secretion but also the overproduction of foreign protein. Secretion rate of GOD in pGALGO1 and pGALGO2 was 89% and 84%, respectively, Because of the overglycosylation in S. cerevisiae the molecular weight of recombinant GOD in S. cerevisiae was much larger (250 kDa) than that of nature GOD in A. niger (170 kDa).

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.249-253
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• 2016

The inky cap, Coprinellus congregatus, produces several laccase isozymes during its life cycle: both hyphal tip laccase and sclerotial laccase are involved in the fungal development. When this fungus was transferred to an acid liquid medium (pH 4.0-4.5), a new laccase was synthesized and secreted into the culture supernatant. In order to examine its regulation by external pH, green fluorescent protein gene was ligated at the downstream of the promoters having different lengths. These expression vectors having different promoter lengths were inserted into the fungal transformation vector, pBARGEM7-1. These expression vectors were introduced to the mating type a1 and a2 monokaryons, and the transformants were selected by the phosphinothricin resistance. Transformant a1 (a1TF) and transformant a2 (a2TF) were mated with each other to generate homozygotic dikaryon transformants. All these transformants were grown in neutral liquid medium for 5 days, and then the whole cell homogenates were transferred to the acidic liquid medium (pH 4.1). After 36 h incubation at $25^{\circ}C$, cells were harvested for the analysis of GFP expression. GFP expression was detected in the transformant having full-length promoter (2.0 kb), but other transformants having shorter length promoter (shorter than 1.29 kb) failed to show the fluorescence. Therefore, the acid-responsive element in the laccase promoter should be localized between -2.0 kb ~ -1.29 kb region.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.134-139
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• 2010

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is one of the most successful pathogens to infect one third of world population. Th1-mediated immunity against Mtb infection is known as critical to express mycobacteriostatic function but it is not sufficient to resolve the infection. In this study, to verify the possibility Mtb itself change the gene expression to survive against host immune response, expression pattern of selected H37Rv genes, 16S rRNA, acr, fbpA, aceA, and ahpC, during the course of infection was measured with absolute quantitation method using real-time RT-PCR. The total number of transcripts of 16S rRNA increased during the course of infection, which was coincide with the increasing CFU. The total number of fbpA transcripts per CFU, which encode typical secreted Mtb antigen, Ag85A, increased for 10 days of infection before decreasing. The number of transcripts of acr per CFU, which encode heat shock protein, ${\alpha}$-crystallin, increased during the infection, and ahpC and aceA, they both are enzymes produced in oxidative stressful condition, increased for 20 days and then slightly decreased on day 30. These findings are one of survival strategy of pathogen evading host immune response lead to persistent infection inside host cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.347-354
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• 2013

Innate immunity is the ability to differentiate infectious agents from self. The innate immune system is comprised of a complicated network of recognition and effector molecules that act together to protect the host in the early stage of an infectious challenge. Mannose-binding lectin (MBL or mannose-binding protein, MBP) belongs to the family of $Ca^{2+}$-dependent lectins (C-type lectin with a collagen-like domain), which are considered an important component of innate immunity. While it is associated with increased risk and severity of infections and autoimmunity, the most frequent immuno-deficiency syndrome was reported to be low MBL level in blood. Deficiency of human MBL is caused by mutations in the coding region of the MBL gene. Rat homologue gene of human MBL gene was used to study functions of wild type and mutant MBL proteins. Although extensive studies have yielded the structural information of MBL, the functions of MBL, especially mutant MBL, still require investigation. We previously reported the cloning of rat wild-type MBL gene and the production of a truncated form of MBL protein and its antibody. Here, we present the cloning of mutant MBL cDNA in collagen-like domain (R40C, G42D, and G45E) using site-directed mutagenesis and differential behaviors of wild type and mutant MBL in cells. The major difference between wild type and mutant MBL was that while wild type MBL was secreted, mutant MBL was inhibited for secretion, retained in endoplasmic reticulum, and still functioned as a lectin.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2003

Moraxella sp. CK-l is known to inhibits the growth of Anabaena cylindrica, a cyanobacterium. It has been documented that the ability of this growth inhibition of Anabaena cylindrica was attributed to extracellular autolysin from Moraxella sp. CK-l. However, it remains to be elucidated identification and characterization of autolysin have yet been elucidated. In this study, we tried to purify and identify autolysin secreted from Moraxella sp. CK-l. Cells were grown in a complex liquid medium (BGC-11) and culture supernatants were collected, followed by ammonium sulfate fractionation. Fractions were further separated with anion exchange column, Mono-Q, in FPLC system and analyzed by SDS/PAGE. The fraction containing high autolysin activity showed a single distinct protein peak in anion column and molecular mass of about 17 kDa in SDS/PAGE. Nterminal amino acid sequencing of the protein was analyzed, of which result showed the homology with some proteases, including extracellular serine protease, Dichelobacter nodosus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1720-1728
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• 2020

We have previously characterized AprESJ4, the major fibrinolytic enzyme from Bacillus subtilis SJ4 (Yao et al., 2019). During that study, we observed a 68 kDa protein with fibrinolytic activity. In this study, we cloned the gene (vprSJ4) encoding the 68 kDa protein, a mature Vpr and minor protease secreted by Bacillus species. vprSJ4 encodes a preproenzyme consisting of 810 amino acids (aa) including signal sequence (28 aa) and prosequence (132 aa). The mature enzyme (650 aa) has a predicted molecular weight of 68,467.35. Unlike Vprs from other B. subtilis strains, VprSJ4 has 4 additional amino acids (DEFA) at the C-terminus. vprSJ4 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli. PreproVprSJ4 was localized in inclusion bodies, and subjected to in vitro renaturation and purification by an affinity column. SDS-PAGE and western blot showed that autoprocessing of preproVprSJ4 occurred and 68 kDa and smaller proteins were produced. The optimum pH and temperature of the recombinant VprSJ4 were pH 7.0 and 40℃, respectively. Kinetic parameters of recombinant VprSJ4 were measured by using an artificial substrate, N-succinyl-ala-ala-pro-phe-p-nitroanilide. Coexpression of vprSJ4 and aprESJ4 using pHY300PLK increased the fibrinolytic activity a further 117% when compared with aprESJ4 single expression using the same vector in B. subtilis WB600.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.385-396
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• 2006

For the regeneration of periodontal tissues, the microenvironment for new attachment of connective tissue fibers should be provided, At this point of view, cementum formation in root surface plays a key role for this new attachment. This study was performed to figure out which factor promotes differentiation of cementoblast Considering anatomical structure of tooth, we selected the cells which may affect the differentiation of cementoblast - Ameloblast, OD11&MDPC23 for odontoblasts, NIH3T3 for fibroblsts and MG63 for osteoblasts. And OCCM30 was selected for cementoblast cell line. Then, the cell lines were cultured respectively and transferred the conditioned media to OCCM30. To evaluate the result, Alizarin red S stain was proceeded for evaluation of mineralization. The subjected mRNA genes are bone sialoprotein(BSP), alkaline phosphate(ALP) , osteocalcin(OC), type I collagen(Col I), osteonectin(SPARC ; secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine). Expression of the gene were analysed by RT-PCR, The results were as follows: 1. For alizarin red S staining, control OCCM30 didn't show any mineralized red nodules until 14 days. But red nodules started to appear from about 4 days in MDPC-OCCM30 & OD11-OCCM30. 2. For results of RT-PCR, ESP mRNAs of control-OCCM30 and others were expressed from 14 days, but in MDPC23-OCCM30 & OD11-OCCM30 from 4 days. Like this, the gene expression of MDPC23-OCCM30 & OD11-OCCM30 were detected much earlier than others. 3. For confirmation of odontoblast effect on cementoblast, conditioned media of osteoblasts(MG63) which is mineralized by producing matrix vesicles didn't affect on the mineralized nodule formation of cementoblasts(OCCM30). This suggest the possibility that cementoblast mineralization is regulated by specific factor in dentin matrix protein rather than matrix vesicles. Therefore, we proved that the dentin/odontoblast promotes differentiation/mineralization of cementoblasts. This new approach might hole promise as diverse possibilities for the regeneration of tissues after periodontal disease.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.426-434
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• 2014

Peptidylarginine deiminase type 2 (PADI2) deiminates (or citrullinates) arginine residues in protein to citrulline residues in a $Ca^{2+}$-dependent manner, and is found in lymphocytes and macrophages. Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein and a well-known substrate of PADI2. Citrullinated vimentin is found in ionomycin-induced macrophage apoptosis. Citrullinated vimentin is the target of anti-Sa antibodies, which are specific to rheumatoid arthritis, and play a critical role in the pathogenesis of the disease. To investigate the role of PADI2 in apoptosis, we generated a Jurkat cell line that overexpressed the PADI2 transgene from a tetracycline-inducible promoter, and used a combination of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and ionomycin to activate Jurkat cells. We found that PADI2 overexpression reduced the cell viability of activated Jurkat cells in1a dose- and time-dependent manner. The PADI2-overexpressed and -activated Jurkat cells presented typical manifestations of apoptosis, and exhibited greater levels of citrullinated proteins, including citrullinated vimentin. Vimentin overexpression rescued a portion of the cells from apoptosis. In conclusion, PADI2 overexpression induces apoptosis in activated Jurkat cells. Vimentin is involved in PADI2-induced apoptosis. Moreover, PADI2-overexpressed Jurkat cells secreted greater levels of vimentin after activation, and expressed more vimentin on their cell surfaces when undergoing apoptosis. Through artificially highlighting PADI2 and vimentin, we demonstrated that PADI2 and vimentin participate in the apoptotic mechanisms of activated T lymphocytes. The secretion and surface expression of vimentin are possible ways of autoantigen presentation to the immune system.