• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.427-434
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• 2019

The role of hydrophobic residues on protein folding reaction was studied by folding kinetics measurements in conjunction with protein engineering. The HubWA, which was derived from human ubiquitin by mutating the residues at 45 (Phe to Trp) and 26 (Val to Ala), was used as a mutational background. Fourteen hydrophobic residues were mutated to alanine. Among fourteen variants generated, only four variant proteins (V5A, I13A, V17A, and I36A) were suitable for folding study. The folding kinetics of these variants was measured by stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy. The folding kinetics of HubWA and V17A was observed to follow a three-state on-pathway mechanism. On the other hand, folding kinetics of V5A, I13A, and I36A was observed to follow a two-state mechanism. Based on these observations, transition of protein folding reaction from collision-diffusion mechanism to nucleation-condensation mechanism was discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.560-568
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• 2014

The contribution of electrostatic interactions to protein folding reaction was studied by using mutant ubiquitin with lysine to alanine mutation at residue position 29. Based on the three dimensional structure of ubiquitin, lysine 29 is located close to negatively charged glutamate 16 and aspartate 21 and considered to stabilize the native state of ubiquitin by electrostatic interactions between these residues. The equilibrium unfolding experiment showed that the native stability was decreased by about ~20% upon mutation. This observation indicates lysine 29 indeed forms electrostatic interactions with nearby residues. Folding kinetics measurements using stopped-flow device and quantitative analysis of kinetics data indicate that ubiquitin folds from unfolded state to native state via intermediate state as observed previously. This intermediate state was observed to form immediately after the initiation of folding reaction. The folding intermediate was shown to be destabilized considerably upon lysine to alanine mutation. These observations indicate that electrostatic interactions can form early stage of protein folding and hence lead the folding reaction.

• Biophysical Society Newsletter
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.6-10
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• 2001

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.146-152
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• 1999

In order to elucidate a role of residue 24 in the folding of tryptophan synthase $\alpha$ subunit, mutant proteins in which Thr 24 was replaced by Met, Ala, Ser, Leu or Lys were overexpressed in E. coli, and the extents of accumulated proteins as soluble or aggregated forms were examined. The mutant proteins with Met or Leu at residue 24 were predominantly accumulated as soluble forms as the native protein. On the other hand, mutant proteins with Ser, Ala or Lys at residue 24 were expressed as aggregated forms as well. This result suggests that residue 24 of tryptophan synthase $\alpha$ subunit may be implicated in the folding of this protein.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2004

Thermodynamic properties of ubiquitin transient folding intermediate were studied by measuring folding kinetics in varying temperatures and denaturant concentrations. Through quantitative kinetic modeling, the equilibrium constant, hence folding free energy, between unfolded state and intermediate state in several different temperatures were calculated. Using these values, the thermodynamic parameters were estimated. The heat capacity change $({\Delta}C_p)$ upon formation of folding intermediate from unfolded state were estimated to be around 80% of the overall folding reaction, indicating that ubiquitin folding intermediate is highly compact. At room temperature, the changes of enthalpy and entropy upon formation of the intermediate state were observed to be positive. The positive enthalpy change suggests that the breaking up of the highly ordered solvent structure surrounding hydrophobic side-chain upon formation of intermediate state. This positive enthalpy was compensated for by the positive entropy change of whole system so that formation of transient intermediate has negative free energy.

• The Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.10 s.341
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• pp.84-85
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• 1997

단백질이 합성된 후 어떻게 고유의 3차 구조를 형성하는가에 대하여 의문을 갖고 15년간 단백질폴딩연구를 계속하고 있는 대전 한국과학기술연구원 생명공학연구소의 책임연구원 유명희박사. 76년 서울대 미생물학과를 졸업한 후 미국에 유학하여 81년 버클리대학에서 박사학위를 받고 귀국한 유박사는 "앞으로 여성후학들이 공동연구로 더욱 좋은 환경 속에서 연구활동을 할 수 있는 분위기 조성을 위해 노력하겠다" 강조한다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.624-629
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• 2009

It is the most important step to screen soluble and insoluble proteins when we attempt to improve the solubility of recombinant proteins through directed evolution approach. Here we show that the solubility of a recombinant protein in vivo can be examined by expressing the recombinant protein with beta-lactamase as a fusion partner. First we constructed an expression system which can produc a fusion protein with the C-terminal of beta-lactamase. Two soluble proteins, i.e. adenine deaminase and aspartate aminotransferase, and insoluble GlcNAc-2-epimerase were cloned into the developed expression vector, respectively. We investigated the effect of the expression of the three recombinant fusion proteins on the growth of E. coli, and confirmed that the solubilities of the recombinant proteins correlated with cell growth rates.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.118-122
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• 2006

In this report, we describe that the use of GroEL/GroES-enriched S30 extract remarkably enhances the solubility and enzymatic activity of cell-free synthesized rPA, which requires the correct formation of 9 disulfide bonds for its biological activity. We found that the stable maintenance of redox potential is necessary, but not sufficient for the optimal expression of active rPA. In a control reaction without using additional molecular chaperones, most of the rPA molecules were aggregated almost instantly after their expression and thus failed to exhibit the enzymatic activity. However, by the use of GroEL/GroES-enriched extract, combined with IAM-treatment, approximately $30{\mu}g/ml$ of active rPA was expressed in the cell-free synthesis reaction. This result not only demonstrates the efficient production of complex proteins, but also shows the control and flexibility offered by the cell-free protein synthesis system.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.490-495
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• 2016

Brefeldin A (BFA), a lactone antibiotic isolated from the fungus Eupenicillium brefeldianum, inhibits the transport of secreted and membrane proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi apparatus. BFA disrupts Golgi function, the accumulation of unfolded proteins in ER, and the induction of ER stress. Prolonged ER stress induces apoptosis at least in part through the transcription factor C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein) homologous protein (CHOP),which is activated by the unfolded protein response (UPR). In this paper, we demonstrate that BFA-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress leads to different CHOP expression in primary astrocyte cells and C6 glioma cells. BFA induced lower CHOP expression levels in primary astrocyte cells than in C6 glioma cells; however, other ER stress inducers (thapsigargin and tunicamycin) resulted in similar expression patterns in these two cell types. Interestingly, the three different ER stress inducers (BFA, thapsigargin, and tunicamycin) induced similar levels of CHOP mRNA expression in primary astrocyte cells. The ubiquitin-proteasome inhibitor MG132 also markedly up-regulated the BFA-mediated CHOP protein expression in primary astrocyte cells. BFA also induced higher proteasome activity in primary astrocyte cells than in C6 glioma cells. Taken together, our results suggest that higher proteasomal activity might down-regulate BFA-induced CHOP expression in primary astrocyte cells.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.305-310
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• 2003

Hydrophobic core variant of ubiquitin appeared to have partially folded structure at pH around 2. The intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence emission maximum of this ubiquitin variant at pH 2 showed slight blue shift compare to that of unfolded state, suggesting that some residual tertiary structures remain in this solvent condition. At the same solvent condition, this ubiquitin variant binds with hydrophobic dye, 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonic acid(AMS), which is known to bind to exposed hydrophobic surface. Furthermore, far-UV circular dichroic spectrum of this ubiquitin variant in the diminished pH was remarkably different from the far-UV CD spectrum of the native state or unfolded state. Based on the molar ellipticity at 220 nm, this ubiquitin variant at pH 2 appeared to have significant amount of secondary structures. All these observations suggest that this ubiquitin variant in the diminished solvent pH has loosely folded hydrophobic core with some secondary structures, which are key features of molten globule conformation. Since molten globule has long been considered as a protein folding intermediate, it is considered that this hydrophobic core variant ubiquitin will serve as a valuable model to study protein folding process.