• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.146-151
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• 1992

The aim of this study was to evaluate capability of pertussis toxin (PT) to active mouse macrophages. The investigations were undertaken to determine whether the role played by this toxin required the A-protomer of the toxin to ADP-ribosylate a guanine nucleotide binding protein (a class I activity) or was dependent on the binding of B-oligomer of the toxin to the surface of target cells (a Class II activity). The results of these experiments have established that the mechanism of macrophage activation with PT seems to be dependent upon a Class II activity of the toxin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.170-175
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• 2012

Clostridium difficile toxin A glucosylates Rho family proteins, resulting in actin filament disaggregation and cell rounding in cultured colonocytes. Given that the cellular toxicity of toxin A is dependent on its receptor binding and subsequent entry into the cell, we herein sought to identify additional colonocyte proteins that might bind to toxin A following its internalization. Our results revealed that toxin A interacted with ERK1 and ERK2 in two human colonocyte cell lines (NCM460 and HT29). A GST-pulldown assay also showed that toxin A can directly bind to ERK1 and ERK2. In NCM460 cells exposed to PMA (an ERK1/2 activator), the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 did not affect the interaction between toxin A and ERK1/2. However, an in vitro kinase assay showed that the direct binding of toxin A to ERK1 or ERK2 inhibited their kinase activities. These results suggest a new molecular mechanism for the cellular toxicity seen in cells exposed to toxin A.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.659-665
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• 2016

The oligosaccharides in human milk constitute a major innate immunological mechanism by which breastfed infants gain protection against infectious diarrhea. Clostridium difficile is the most important cause of nosocomial diarrhea, and the C-terminus of toxin A with its carbohydrate binding site, TcdA-f2, demonstrates specific abolishment of cytotoxicity and receptor binding activity upon diethylpyrocarbonate modification of the histidine residues in TcdA. TcdA-f2 was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). A human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) mixture displayed binding with TcdA-f2 at 38.2 respond units (RU) at the concentration of 20 μg/ml, whereas the eight purified HMOs showed binding with the carbohydrate binding site of TcdA-f2 at 3.3 to 14 RU depending on their structures via a surface plasma resonance biosensor. Among them, Lacto-N-fucopentaose V (LNFPV) and Lacto-N-neohexaose (LNnH) demonstrated tight binding to TcdA-f2 with docking energy of −9.48 kcal/mol and −12.81 kcal/mol, respectively. It displayed numerous hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions with amino acid residues of TcdA-f2.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.257-261
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• 2007

Pseudomonas tolaasii에 의해서 분비되는 펩티드 독소인 tolaasin은 재배버섯에 세균성 갈반병을 유발한다. Tolaasin의 독성은 적혈구를 파괴하는 용혈활성으로 평가된다. Tolaasin 펩티드는 C-말단부위에 두 개의 amine기를 갖고있어, 이 펩티드의 세포막 결합은 amine기의 전하상태에 따라 다를 수 있다. 이것을 확인하기 위하여 tolaasin을 적정하였을 때, 적정곡선은 pH 7.0에서 9.6 사이에서 적정이 되는 amine기가 있음을 보였다. Tolaasin에 의한 용혈활성의 pH 의존성을 조사하였을 때, 용혈활성은 알칼리 조건에서 증가함을 확인하였다. 따라서, pH 변화에 따른 tolaasin의 막결합 특성을 조사하기 위하여 적혈구를 tolaasin과 사전배양한 후, tolaasin을 포함하지 않은 완충액으로 씻어내고, 사전배양중 적혈구에 결합한 tolaasin의 용혈활성을 측정하였을 때, 활성은 pH 8 이상에서 크게 증가하였다. 이러한 결과는 tolaasin이 전하가 없거나 양전하량이 적은 상태에서 세포막에 잘 결합하여 세포독성이 커진다는 것을 의미한다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.939-945
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• 2006

The physiological characteristics and function of the exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 9595 were determined. The total quantity of EPS was rapidly increased to 496$\pm$20 mg/l during the exponential phase, and then maintained steadily during the stationary phase. During the exponential phase (18 h), the total EPS consisted of 61% cell-bound EPS (cb-EPS) and 39% released EPS (r-EPS), whereas the relative proportion of EPS during the stationary phase (48 h) was convered to 23% cb-EPS and 77% r-EPS. On gel permeation chromatography, cb-EPS was fractionated as a single peak of 8.6$\times10^6$ Da, whereas r-EPS was fractionated as two peaks with average molecular weights of 4.3$\times$10$^4$ and 8.6$\times10^6$ Da. Interestingly, both EPS species exhibited anticancer properties and cholera toxin-binding activities. Our results suggest that the EPS generated by L. rhamnosus ATCC 9595 might be suitable for use as a functional food or food supplement.

• BMB Reports
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• 제47권10호
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• pp.546-551
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• 2014

The insecticidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry toxins involves toxin stabilization, oligomerization, passage across the peritrophic membrane (PM), binding to midgut receptors and pore-formation. The residues Arg-158 and Tyr-170 have been shown to be crucial for the toxicity of Bt Cry4Ba. We characterized the biological function of these residues. In mosquito larvae, the mutants R158A/E/Q (R158) could hardly penetrate the PM due to a significantly reduced ability to alter PM permeability; the mutant Y170A, however, could pass through the PM, but degraded in the space between the PM and the midgut epithelium. Further characterization by oligomerization demonstrated that Arg-158 mutants failed to form correctly sized high-molecular weight oligomers. This is the first report that Arg-158 plays a role in the formation of Cry4Ba oligomers, which are essential for toxin passage across the PM. Tyr-170, meanwhile, is involved in toxin stabilization in the toxic mechanism of Cry4Ba in mosquito larvae.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제21권9호
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• pp.937-946
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• 2011

Several isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) were screened for the vegetative insecticidal protein (Vip) effective against sap-sucking insect pests. Screening results were based on $LC_{50}$ values against cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii), one of the dangerous pests of various crop plants including cotton. Among the isolates, the Bt#BREF24 showed promising results, and upon purification the aphidicidal protein was recognized as a binary toxin. One of the components of this binary toxin was identified by peptide sequencing to be a homolog of Vip2A that has been reported previously in other Bacillus spp. Vip2 belongs to the binary toxin group Vip1-Vip2, and is responsible for the enzymatic activity; and Vip1 is the translocation and receptor binding protein. The two genes encoding the corresponding proteins of the binary toxin, designated as vip2Ae and vip1Ae, were cloned from the Bt#BREF24, sequenced, and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. Aphid feeding assay with the recombinant proteins confirmed that these proteins are indeed the two components of the binary toxins, and the presence of both partners is essential for the activity. Aphid specificity of the binary toxin was further verified by ligand blotting experiment, which identified an ~50 kDa receptor in the brush border membrane vesicles of the cotton aphids only, but not in the lepidopteran insects. Our finding holds a promise of its use in future as a candidate gene for developing transgenic crop plants tolerant against sap-sucking insect pests.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제16권7호
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• pp.1104-1110
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• 2006

Recombinant antibody-toxin is a bifunctional protein that binds and kills a target cell expressing a specific antigen on the surface of the cell, and its structure is chimeric, in which a toxin is fused to an antigen-binding domain such as scFv or Fab. Divalent antibody-toxin molecules showed higher cytotoxicities against cancer cell lines than monovalent molecules. However, the yields of the divalent molecules were very low. In this study, we introduced the CH2, CH3, or CH2-CH3 (=Fc) domain of antibody in the middle of the Fab-toxin between the hinge region of human IgG1 and the toxin domain to increase the yield. The covalently bonded dimer could be formed by three disulfide bridges from cysteine residues in the hinge region. The molecule with the CH3 domain showed about 3-fold higher dimerization yield than previously constructed Fab-toxin molecules, while maintaining the cytotoxic activity comparable to that of scFv-toxin. However, the introduction of CH2 or Fc domain to the same position showed little effect on the dimerization yield. We also observed that the introduction of the CH3 region made it possible to form noncovalently associated dimer molecules.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.627-636
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• 2016

The causative agent of pandemic cholera, Vibrio cholerae, infects the anaerobic environment of the human intestine. Production of cholera toxin (CT), a major virulence factor of V. cholerae, is highly induced during anaerobic respiration with trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) as an alternative electron acceptor. However, the molecular mechanism of TMAO-stimulated CT production is not fully understood. Herein, we reveal that CT production during anaerobic TMAO respiration is affected by glucose fermentation. When the seventh pandemic V. cholerae O1 strain N16961 was grown with TMAO and additional glucose, CT production was markedly reduced. Furthermore, an N16961 Δcrp mutant, devoid of cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP), was defective in CT production during growth by anaerobic TMAO respiration, further suggesting a role of glucose metabolism in regulating TMAO-mediated CT production. TMAO reductase activity was noticeably decreased when grown together with glucose or by mutation of the crp gene. A CRP binding region was identified in the promoter region of the torD gene, which encodes a structural subunit of the TMAO reductase. Gel shift assays further confirmed the binding of purified CRP to the torD promoter sequence. Together, our results suggest that the bacterial ability to respire using TMAO is controlled by CRP, whose activity is dependent on glucose availability. Our results reveal a novel mechanism for the regulation of major virulence factor production by V. cholerae under anaerobic growth conditions.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제38권sup2호
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• pp.343-354
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• 2008

Purpose: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is associated with localized aggressive periodontitis. It produces cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), which induces cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase. The CDT holotoxin is composed of CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC. CdtB has structural homology to human DNase I and is an active component of the CDT complex acting as a DNase. In particular, the pattern homology seen in the CdtB subunit has been associated with specific DNase I residues involved in enzyme catalysis, DNA binding, and metal ion binding. So, to study the functions and regulation of recombinant CdtB, we made up a quantity of functional recombinant CdtB and tested it in relation to the metal ion effect. Materials and Methods: We constructed the pET28a-cdtB plasmid from A. actinomycetemcomitans Y4 by genomic DNA PCR and expressed it in the BL21 (DE3) Escherichia coli system. We obtained the functional recombinant CdtB by the refolding system using the dialysis method and then analyzed the DNase activity and investigated the metal ion effect from plasmid digestion. Results: The recombinant CdtB subunit was expressed as the inclusion bodies. We were able to obtain functional recombinant CdtB subunit using refolding system. We confirmed that our refolded recombinant CdtB had DNase activity and was influenced by the metal ions $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ca^{2+}$. Conclusion: We suggest that the factors influencing recombinant CdtB may contribute to CDT associated diseases, such as periodontitis, endocarditic, meningitis, and osteomyelitis.