• Title/Summary/Keyword: Cleavage reaction

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p66Shc in sheep preimplantation embryos: Expression and regulation of oxidative stress through the manganese superoxide dismutase-reactive oxygen species metabolic pathway

  • Tong Zhang;Jiaxin Zhang;Ruilan Li
    • Animal Bioscience
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    • v.36 no.7
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    • pp.1022-1033
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    • 2023
  • Objective: p66Shc, a 66 kDa protein isoform encoded by the proto-oncogene SHC, is an essential intracellular redox homeostasis regulatory enzyme that is involved in the regulation of cellular oxidative stress, apoptosis induction and the occurrence of multiple age-related diseases. This study investigated the expression profile and functional characteristics of p66Shc during preimplantation embryo development in sheep. Methods: The expression pattern of p66Shc during preimplantation embryo development in sheep at the mRNA and protein levels were studied by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and immunofluorescence staining. The effect of p66Shc knockdown on the developmental potential were evaluated by cleavage rate, morula rate and blastocyst rate. The effect of p66Shc deficiency on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, DNA oxidative damage and the expression of antioxidant enzymes (e.g., catalase and manganese superoxide dismutase [MnSOD]) were also investigated by immunofluorescence staining. Results: Our results showed that p66Shc mRNA and protein were expressed in all stages of sheep early embryos and that p66Shc mRNA was significantly downregulated in the 4-to 8-cell stage (p<0.05) and significantly upregulated in the morula and blastocyst stages after embryonic genome activation (EGA) (p<0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed that the p66Shc protein was mainly located in the peripheral region of the blastomere cytoplasm at different stages of preimplantation embryonic development. Notably, serine (Ser36)-phosphorylated p66Shc localized only in the cytoplasm during the 2- to 8-cell stage prior to EGA, while phosphorylated (Ser36) p66Shc localized not only in the cytoplasm but also predominantly in the nucleus after EGA. RNAi-mediated silencing of p66Shc via microinjection of p66Shc siRNA into sheep zygotes resulted in significant decreases in p66Shc mRNA and protein levels (p<0.05). Knockdown of p66Shc resulted in significant declines in the levels of intracellular ROS (p<0.05) and the DNA damage marker 8-hydroxy2'-deoxyguanosine (p<0.05), markedly increased MnSOD levels (p<0.05) and resulted in a tendency to develop to the morula stage. Conclusion: These results indicate that p66Shc is involved in the metabolic regulation of ROS production and DNA oxidative damage during sheep early embryonic development.

Results of the 2019 European Parliament Elections: The Rise of Far-right Populism and Liberal Centrism (2019년 유럽의회선거의 함의: 극우 포퓰리즘과 중도자유주의의 부상)

  • OH, Chang Rhyong
    • Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.5-33
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    • 2019
  • This study aims to explore the implications of the 2019 European Parliament elections. Existing studies show that European elections serve as secondary elections dominated by domestic issues. However, the 2019 European elections have highlighted pan-European issues such as the Brexit negotiations and the rise of far-right populism, with voter turnout also rising sharply to 50.62%, which is the highest record since the 2000s. There was also a significant change in the number of parliamentary seats held by each political group. First, the European People's Party(EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats(S&D), which had hitherto led the European Parliament, failed to achieve a majority. Second, the number of seats won by Renew Europe, a new liberal-centrist group, was considerably high. Third, the far-right groups organized a full-fledged political force by rallying around the Identity and Democracy(ID) group. The rise of liberal-centrism can be explained as a reaction to the popularity of anti-European populism. Renew Europe's emphasis on open-market competition has created a different issue, especially since the center-left and center-right groups have stressed on the need for state intervention in employment, welfare, security and immigration control. Along with far-right populism, liberal centrism has also reshuffled Europe's political cleavage, and the conflict between 'liberalism' and 'protectionism' has become more evident in the European Parliament.

Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis and Monoclonal Antibody Analysis of Leptospira interrogans Isolated in Korea (국내 분리 렙토스피라균의 단클론 항체 및 Genomic DNA의 Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis 분석)

  • 조민기;기선호;김형준;김윤원;장우현;오희복
    • Korean Journal of Microbiology
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.197-204
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    • 1999
  • A total of 22 Leptospiua inlermgans field isolates from the ~ a t s captured in 5 provinces of Korea in 1996, and 6 antigenically closely related relerence serovars of lai, yeonchon, birkini. gem, mwogolo. and canicola were analysed. When the antigenic characteristics were analysed by reactivity with 7 monoclonal antibodies prepared with sh.ains belongng to serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae. all 22 isolates showed the same reaction pattern with that of serovar lai. Large restriction fragment patterns obtained after cleavage of geno~nic DNAs with infrequently cuttimg restriction enzymes were analyzed by pulsed-field pel electrophoresis(PFGE). Identification of leptospira strains by PFGE with Nor I, Asc I or Iise I digests correlated with their antigenically typed serovars, silh a few exceptions. PFGE of isolates, except for JR89, digested wjth Nor I showed identical pattern w~th serovar lai, showing 13 Cragments between 940 kb and 63 kb. When PFGE pallerns of JR89 were compared with those of serovar lai, Not I digest showed additional two hands of 1000 kb and 460 kb, while Asc I digest showed 650 kb fragment and Fse I digest did not show the fragment of 280 kb. Whereas serovar yeonchon. which was isolated in Korea and identified as a new serovar previously. could be differentiated from serovar lai in antigenic reactivities with monoclonal antibodres. it showed the similar PFGE pattern with serovar lai includin~ reference and field isolates. It was suggested that Korean leptospiral field isolates are closely related in DNA level.

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Detection and Differentiation of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and 2, and Varicella-Zoster Virus in Vesicle Fluid, Joint Fluid and Serum using PCR Method (중합효소 연쇄반응에 의한 수포액, 혈액과 관절액에서 단순포진 바이러스 1, 2와 대상포진 바이러스의 검출과 감별)

  • Park, Hae-Kyung;Woo, So-Youn;Kim, Hyun-Jin;Lee, Chung-Hwa
    • The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.191-201
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    • 2000
  • The viruses of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1), Herpes Simplex Virus 2 (HSV-2) and Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV) which belong to the alpha herpes subfamily are important human pathogens. When eruptions were not fully developed from these viral infections, clinical diagnosis was not always easy and required virological confirmation test. The above viruses were reactivated in individuals who were compromised in immune competence for one reason or another. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) enables rapid and sensitive detection of HSV and VZV DNAs. Its sensitivity was largely influenced by choice of primers. Authors conducted a study to detect of those three viruses in human specimens including vesicle fluid and joint fluid and serum using PCR methods. Primers used for this study were the general primer pair GPHV-RU which was known to amplify within the genes enjoying the highest degree of homology between UL15 of HSV and UL42 of VZV. PCR with primers hybridized pair GPHV-RU amplifies a 396 bp with THP-1 and HSV-2 standard strain DNA and 405 bp with VZV standard strain DNA. Restriction enzyme cleavage with HpaII and DdeI were used to detect and distinguish DNAs of THP-1 and HSV-2 and VZV. The purpose of this study was a rapid and easy detection of VZV and THP-1 or HSV-2 from various clinical specimens (vesicle fluid, serum and joint fluid) by PCR method. Used methods were: HSV PCR with primer 1, 2 and HpaII RE digestion; VZV nested PCR; HSV PCR with primer A, Band BssHII RE digestion. 1) In 33 cases (33/42, 78.6%) VZV was detected single or mixed infection from 42 clinical specimens which included vesicle fluid (5), serum form respiratory infected children (10), serum from immune suppressed adult cancer patients (7) and joint fluid from arthritis patients (20). 2) In 20 cases (20/42, 47.6%) HSV was detected singly or mixed infection and 19 of those cases were HSV-2 and 1 case was THP-1. 3) In 19 cases (19/42, 45.2%) VZV was singly detected which included serum from respiratory infected children (6 cases), joint fluid from arthritis patients (9 cases), vesicle fluid (2 cases) and serum form immunosuppressed cancer patients (2 cases). 4) HSV was singly detected in 6 cases (6/42, 14.3%) which included joint fluid from arthritis patients (5 cases) and serum form respiratory infected children (1 cases). 5) 14 cases of VZV and HSV mixed infection (14/42, 33.3%) were detected. They included vesicle fluid (3 cases), serum form immunosuppressed cancer patients (4 cases), serum from respiratory infected children (2 cases) and joint fluid from arthritis patients (5 cases). 6) HSV-1 and HSV-2 detection and typing by HSV PCR with primer A, Band BssHII RE digestion method was more sensitive and the results were easier to detect than on other method.

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Role of Citrate Synthase in Acetate Utilization and Protection from Stress-Induced Apoptosis

  • Lee, Yong-Joo;Kang, Hong-Yong;Maeng, Pil Jae
    • Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2008.05a
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    • pp.39-41
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    • 2008
  • The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to contain three isoforms of citrate synthase (CS). The mitochondrial CS, Cit1, catalyzes the first reaction of the TCA cycle, i.e., condensation of acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate to form citrate [1]. The peroxisomal CS, Cit2, participates in the glyoxylate cycle [2]. The third CS is a minor mitochondrial isofunctional enzyme, Cit3, and related to glycerol metabolism. However, the level of its intracellular activity is low and insufficient for metabolic needs of cells [3]. It has been reported that ${\Delta}cit1$ strain is not able to grow with acetate as a sole carbon source on either rich or minimal medium and that it shows a lag in attaining parental growth rates on nonfermentable carbon sources [2, 4, 5]. Cells of ${\Delta}cit2$, on the other hand, have similar growth phenotype as wild-type on various carbon sources. Thus, the biochemical basis of carbon metabolism in the yeast cells with deletion of CIT1 or CIT2 gene has not been clearly addressed yet. In the present study, we focused our efforts on understanding the function of Cit2 in utilizing $C_2$ carbon sources and then found that ${\Delta}cit1$ cells can grow on minimal medium containing $C_2$ carbon sources, such as acetate. We also analyzed that the characteristics of mutant strains defective in each of the genes encoding the enzymes involved in TCA and glyoxylate cycles and membrane carriers for metabolite transport. Our results suggest that citrate produced by peroxisomal CS can be utilized via glyoxylate cycle, and moreover that the glyoxylate cycle by itself functions as a fully competent metabolic pathway for acetate utilization in S. cerevisiae. We also studied the relationship between Cit1 and apoptosis in S. cerevisiae [6]. In multicellular organisms, apoptosis is a highly regulated process of cell death that allows a cell to self-degrade in order for the body to eliminate potentially threatening or undesired cells, and thus is a crucial event for common defense mechanisms and in development [7]. The process of cellular suicide is also present in unicellular organisms such as yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae [8]. When unicellular organisms are exposed to harsh conditions, apoptosis may serve as a defense mechanism for the preservation of cell populations through the sacrifice of some members of a population to promote the survival of others [9]. Apoptosis in S. cerevisiae shows some typical features of mammalian apoptosis such as flipping of phosphatidylserine, membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation and margination, and DNA cleavage [10]. Yeast cells with ${\Delta}cit1$ deletion showed a temperature-sensitive growth phenotype, and displayed a rapid loss in viability associated with typical apoptotic hallmarks, i.e., ROS accumulation, nuclear fragmentation, DNA breakage, and phosphatidylserine translocation, when exposed to heat stress. Upon long-term cultivation, ${\Delta}cit1$ cells showed increased potentials for both aging-induced apoptosis and adaptive regrowth. Activation of the metacaspase Yca1 was detected during heat- or aging-induced apoptosis in ${\Delta}cit1$ cells, and accordingly, deletion of YCA1 suppressed the apoptotic phenotype caused by ${\Delta}cit1$ mutation. Cells with ${\Delta}cit1$ deletion showed higher tendency toward glutathione (GSH) depletion and subsequent ROS accumulation than the wild-type, which was rescued by exogenous GSH, glutamate, or glutathione disulfide (GSSG). Beside Cit1, other enzymes of TCA cycle and glutamate dehydrogenases (GDHs) were found to be involved in stress-induced apoptosis. Deletion of the genes encoding the TCA cycle enzymes and one of the three GDHs, Gdh3, caused increased sensitivity to heat stress. These results lead us to conclude that GSH deficiency in ${\Delta}cit1$ cells is caused by an insufficient supply of glutamate necessary for biosynthesis of GSH rather than the depletion of reducing power required for reduction of GSSG to GSH.

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Purification of Human HtrA1 Expressed in E. coli and Characterization of Its Serine Protease Activity (E. coli에서 발현된 human HtrA1 단백질의 정제와 HtrA1의 serine protease 활성 조건에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Kyung-Hee;Kim, Sang-Soo;Kim, Goo-Young;Rhim, Hyang-Shuk
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.16 no.7 s.80
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    • pp.1133-1140
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    • 2006
  • Human HtrA1 (High temperature requirement protein A1) is a homologue of the E. coli periplasmic serine protease HtrA. A recent study has demonstrated that HtrA1 is a serine protease involved in processing of insulin like growth factor binding protein (ICFBP), indicating that it serves as an important regulator of IGF activity. Additionally, several lines of evidence suggest a striking correlation between proteolytic activity of HtrA1 serine protease and the pathogenesis of several diseases; however, physiological roles of HtrA1 remain to be elucidated. We used the pGEX bacterial expression system to develop a simple and rapid method for purifying HtrA1, and the recombinant HtrA1 protein was utilized to investigate the optimal conditions in executing its proteolytic activity. The proteolytically active HtrA1 was purified to approximately 85% purity, although the yield of the recombinant HtrA1 protein was slightly low $460{\mu}g$ for 1 liter E. coli culture). Using in vitro endoproteolytic cleavage assay, we identified that the HtrA1 serine protease activity was dependent on the enzyme concentration and the incubation time and that the best reaction temperature was $42^{\circ}C$ instead of $37^{\circ}C$. We arbitrary defined one unit of proteolytic activity of the HtrA1 serine protease as 200nM of HtrA1 that cleaves half of $5{\mu}M\;of\;{\beta}-casein$ during 3 hr incubation at $37^{\circ}C$. Our study provides a method for generating useful reagents to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which HtrA1 serine protease activity contributes in regulating its physiological function and to identify natural substrates of HtrA1.

Characterization of an Antarctic alkaline protease, a cold-active enzyme for laundry detergents (세탁세제 첨가용 효소 개발을 위한 남극 해양세균 유래 저온성 단백질분해효소의 특성 연구)

  • Park, Ha Ju;Han, Se Jong;Yim, Joung Han;Kim, Dockyu
    • Korean Journal of Microbiology
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    • v.54 no.1
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    • pp.60-68
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    • 2018
  • A cold-active and alkaline serine protease (Pro21717) was partially purified from the Antarctic marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas arctica PAMC 21717. On a zymogram gel containing skim milk, Pro21717 produced two distinct clear-zones of approximately 37 kDa (low intensity) and 74 kDa (high intensity). These were found to have identical N-terminal sequences, suggesting they arose from an identical precursor and that the 37 kDa protease might homodimerize to the more active 74 kDa form of the protein. Pro21717 displayed proteolytic activity at $0-40^{\circ}C$ (optimal temperature of $40^{\circ}C$) and maintained this activity at pH 5.0-10.0 (optimal pH of 9.0). Notably, relative activities of 30% and 45% were observed at $0^{\circ}C$ and $10^{\circ}C$, respectively, in comparison to the 100% activity observed at $40^{\circ}C$, and this enzyme showed a broad substrate range against synthetic peptides with a preference for proline in the cleavage reaction. Pro21717 activity was enhanced by $Cu^{2+}$ and remained stable in the presence of detergent surfactants (linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and sodium dodecyl sulfate) and other chemical components ($Na_2SO_4$ and metal ions, such as $Ba^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $K^+$, and $Na^{2+}$), which are often included in commercial detergent formulations. These data indicate that the psychrophilic Pro21717 has properties comparable to the well-characterized mesophilic subtilisin Carlsberg, which is commercially produced by Novozymes as the trademark Alcalase. Thus it has the potential to be used as a new additive enzyme in laundry detergents that must work well in cold tap water below $15^{\circ}C$.