• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.109-113
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• 2017

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) internal ribosome entry site (IRES) is an RNA structure located in the 5'-UTR of the HCV RNA genome. The HCV IRES consists of four domains I, II, III, and IV, where domains II - IV are recognized by 40S ribosomal subunit and the domain III is bound to eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF3) for translation initiation. Here, we have characterized the tertiary interaction between an L-/K- rich peptide and the HCV IRES domain IV. To probe the peptide binding interface in RNA, we synthesized $^{13}C$- and $^{15}N$-double labeled RNA and the binding site was identified by using the chemical shift perturbation (CSP) NMR methods. Our results showed that the peptide binds to the upper stem of the IRES domain IV, indicating that the tertiary interaction between the IRES domain IV and the peptide would disrupt the initiation of translation of HCV mRNA by blocking the start codon exposure. This study will provide an insight into the new peptide-based anti-viral drug design targeting HCV IRES RNA.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.162-171
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• 2012

SAV2228 has an OB (Oligomer-Binding)-motif which is frequently used for nucleic acid recognition. To characterize the activity of translation initiation factor-1 (IF-1) from Staphylococcus aureus, SAV2228 was expressed and purified in Escherichia coli. We acquired 3D NMR spectra showing well dispersed and homogeneous signals which allow us to assign 94.4% of all $^1HN$, $^{15}N$, $^{13}C{\alpha}$, $^{13}C{\beta}$ and $^{13}CO$ resonances. We could predict a secondary structure of SAV2228 using TALOS and CSI from NMR data. SAV2228 was consisted of one ${\alpha}$-helix and five ${\beta}$-sheets. The predicted secondary structure, ${\beta}-{\beta}-{\beta}-{\alpha}-{\beta}-{\beta}$, was similar to other bacterial IF-1, but it was not completely same to the eukaryotic one. Assigned NMR peaks and secondary structre prediction can be used for the study on interaction with nucleic acid in the future.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2010

It is well-established that phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) regulates myogenesis by inducing transcription of myogenin, a key muscle regulatory factor, at the initiation of myoblast differentiation. In this study, we investigated the role of PI3-kinase in cells that have committed to differentiation. PI3-kinase activity increases during myogenesis, and this increase is sustained during the myogenic process; however, its function after the induction of differentiation has not been investigated. We show that LY294002, a PI3-kinase inhibitor, blocked myoblast fusion even after myogenin expression initially increased. In contrast to the inhibitory effects of LY294002 on myogenin mRNA levels during the initiation of differentiation, LY294002 blocked the accumulation of myogenin protein without affecting its mRNA level after differentiation was induced. Treatment with cycloheximide, a translation inhibitor, or actinomycin D, a transcription inhibitor, indicated that the stability of myogenin protein is lower than that of its mRNA. LY294002 inhibited the activities of several important translation factors, including eukaryotic elongation factor-2(eEF2), by altering their phosphorylation status. In addition, LY294002 blocked the incorporation of [$^{35}S$]methionine into newly synthesized proteins. Since myogenin has a relatively short half-life, LY294002-mediated inhibition of post-transcriptional processes resulted in a rapid depletion of myogenin protein. In summary, these results suggest that PI3-kinase plays an important role in regulating the expression of myogenin through post-transcriptional mechanisms after differentiation has been induced.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2009

Translation initiation factor eIF1A performs essential functions in various initiation steps including 43S preinitiation complex formation in eukaryotes, and contains a highly conserved oligonucleotide-binding (OB) fold. In our previous study, we discovered that eIF1A possesses RNA annealing activity and forms a stable complex with double-stranded RNA. In this study, we initiated site-directed mutations in eIF1A to find the active sites for these biochemical activities and to investigate whether they are essential functions for yeast cell growth. A truncated protein, eIF1A($\Delta$T), devoid of both N- and C-terminal domains but containing an intact OB-fold exhibited RNA annealing activity. In contrast, all point mutations in OB-fold domain, except R57D, impaired both RNA annealing and dsRNA binding activities, indicating that the intact OB-fold domain is required for both activities. Viabilities of the mutant yeast cells were not correlated with RNA annealing activity but with the in vivo protein stabilities in the case of R57D and K94D.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.539-545
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• 2017

The Integrated Stress Response (ISR) refers to a signaling pathway initiated by stress-activated $eIF2{\alpha}$ kinases. Once activated, the pathway causes attenuation of global mRNA translation while also paradoxically inducing stress response gene expression. A detailed analysis of this pathway has helped us better understand how stressed cells coordinate gene expression at translational and transcriptional levels. The translational attenuation associated with this pathway has been largely attributed to the phosphorylation of the translational initiation factor $eIF2{\alpha}$. However, independent studies are now pointing to a second translational regulation step involving a downstream ISR target, 4E-BP, in the inhibition of eIF4E and specifically cap-dependent translation. The activation of 4E-BP is consistent with previous reports implicating the roles of 4E-BP resistant, Internal Ribosome Entry Site (IRES) dependent translation in ISR active cells. In this review, we provide an overview of the translation inhibition mechanisms engaged by the ISR and how they impact the translation of stress response genes.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 2004

eIF5B is a translation initiation factor that delivers Met-$tRNA^{Met}$ to AUG start codon and subsequently joins the small and large ribosomes. In order to study the function of eIF5B encoded by FUN12, we constructed FUN12 which lacked 5' end of its sequence. We found that this construct lacking almost all of its promoter in pRS plasmid partially complemented slow growth phenotype of fun12 deletion strain. Interestingly, this construct expressed N-terminally truncated eIF5B and its expression level was about 5% of that of wild type eIF5B. Low amount of the eIF5B expressed additionally in fun12 deletion strain played a direct role as a limiting factor for its growth. This limiting factor eIF5B in those strains also modulates activities of overall translation in vitro.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.127-132
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• 2019

Programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) is a novel tumor suppressor that function in the nucleus and the cytoplasm and appears to be involved in the regulation of transcription and translation. Stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic foci at which untranslated mRNAs accumulate when cells exposed to environmental stresses. Since PDCD4 has implicated in translation repression through direct interaction with eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A (eIF4A), we here investigated if PDCD4 has a functional role in the process of SG assembly under oxidative stresses. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, we found that PDCD4 is localized to SGs under oxidative stresses. Next, we tested if knockdown of PDCD4 has an effect on the assembly of SG using PDCD4-specific siRNA. Interestingly, SG assembly was accelerated and this effect was caused by sensitization of phosphorylation of eIF2α and dephosphorylation of eIF4E binding protein (4E-BP). These results suggest that PDCD4 has an effect on SG dynamics and possibly involved in cap-dependent translation repression under stress conditions.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.96-96
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• 2001

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.126-130
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• 2015

There are several studies that show hypothermia improves cellular ischemia damages on experimental and clinical bases. However, its exact molecular mechanisms are unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that hypothermia induced insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene expression, and its expression was dramatically decreased under ischemic insults. It was also demonstrated that hypothermia activated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensors especially both the phosphorylation of $eIF2{\alpha}$ (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha) and ATF6 (activating transcription factor-6) proteolytic cleavage. However, the factors of apoptosis and autophagy were not associated with hypothermia. We suggest that hypothermia-treated IGF1 gene expression after ischemia may show a good possibility for the development of treatments and diagnostic methods in cerebral ischemic damages.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.595-601
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• 2013

The clusters of orthologous groups of proteins (COG) algorithm was applied to identify essential proteins in eukaryotes and to measure the degree of conservation. Sixty-three orthologous groups, which were conserved in 66 microbial genomes, enlarged to 104 eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs) and 71 KOGs were conserved at the nuclear genome of 7 eucaryotes. Fifty-four of 71 translation-related genes were conserved, highlighting the importance of proteins in modern organisms. Translation initiation factors (KOG0343, KOG3271) and prolyl-tRNA synthetase (KOG4163) showed high conservation based on the distance value analysis. The genes of Caenorhabditis elegans appear to harbor high genetic variation because the genome showed the highest variation at 71 conserved proteins among 7 genomes. The 71 conserved genes will be valuable in basic and applied research, for example, targeting for antibiotic development.