• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.45-51
• /
• 2014

A cecropin-A gene was isolated from the immunized larvae of the Japanese oak silkworm, Antheraea yamamai and designed Ay-CecA. The complete Ay-CecA cDNA consists of 419 nucleotides with 195 bp open reading frame encoding a 64 amino acid precursor that contains a putative 22-residue signal peptide, a 4-residue propetide and a 37-residue mature peptide with a theoretical mass of 4046.81. The deduced amino acid sequence of the peptide evidenced a significant degree of identity (62 ~ 78% identity) with other lepidopteran cecropins. Like many insect cecropin, Ay-CecA also harbored a glycine residue for C-terminal amidation at the C-end, which suggests potential amidation. To understand this peptide better, we successfully expressed bioactive recombinant Ay-CecA in Escherichia coli that are highly sensitive to the mature peptide. For this, we fused mature Ay-CecA gene with insoluble protein ketosteroid isomerase (KSI) gene to avoid the cell death during induction. The fusion KSI-CecA protein was expressed as inclusion body. The expressed fusion protein was purified by Ni-NTA immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC), and cleaved by cyanogen bromide (CNBr) to release recombinant Ay-CecA. The purified recombinant Ay-CecA showed considerably antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, E. cori ML 35, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Our results proved that this peptide with a potent antibacterial activity may play a role in the immune response of Japanese oak silkworm.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.475-483
• /
• 2019

Special chemical warfare agents are lethal gases that attack the human respiratory system. One of such gases are blood agents that react with the irons present in the electron transfer system of the human body. This reaction stops internal respiration and eventually causes death. The molecular sizes of these agents are smaller than the pores of an activated carbon, making chemical adsorption the only alternative method for removing them. In this study, we carried out a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation by passing a blood agent: cyanogen chloride gas through an SG-1 gas mask canister developed by SG Safety Corporation. The adsorption bed consisted of a Silver-Zinc-Molybdenum-Triethylenediamine activated carbon impregnated with copper, silver, zinc and molybdenum ions. The kinetic analysis of the chemical adsorption was performed in accordance with the test procedure for the gas mask canister and was validated by the kinetic data obtained from experimental results. We predicted the dynamic behaviors of the main variables such as the pressure drop inside the canister and the amount of gas adsorbed by chemisorption. By using a granular packed bed instead of the Ergun equation that is used to model porous materials in Computational Fluid Dynamics, applicable results of the activated carbon were obtained. Dynamic simulations and flow analyses of the chemical adsorption with varying gas flow rates were also executed.