• BMB Reports
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.238-242
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• 1995

The tadpole H-ferritin produced in E. coli was purified and its molecular properties were investigated to obtain information about the contribution of the H-subunit in the reaction of iron core formation. All the expressed subunits were assembled into complete holoprotein in vitro, presumably 24-mer, and the protein was heat-stable. Electron microscopy revealed that the recombinant ferritin forms spherically and contains iron core. No difference was observed in the absorption spectrum of the expressed protein compared to that of the natural ferritin. The Ouchterlony double diffusion of the expressed protein showed that the H-chain ferritin shares an antigenic determinant with natural tadpole ferritin. Rabbit anti-horse spleen ferritin discriminated the H-ferritin from natural ferritin. The rate of ferritin formation by the recombinant H-chain apoferritin was determined to be higher than that shown by natural tadpole ferritin, which consists of H, M and L-subunits. This phenomenon may be caused by the absence of M and L-subunits in the recombinant H-chain apoferritin.

• BMB Reports
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.165-169
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• 2011

Excess free iron generates oxidative stress that may contribute to the pathogenesis of various causes of neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we assessed the modification of ferritin induced by $H_2O_2$. When ferritin was incubated with $H_2O_2$, the degradation of ferritin L-chain increased with the $H_2O_2$ concentration whereas ferritin H-chain was remained. Free radical scavengers, azide, thiourea, and N-acetyl-$_L$-cysteine suppressed the $H_2O_2$-mediated ferritin modification. The iron specific chelator, deferoxamine, effectively prevented $H_2O_2$-mediated ferritin degradation in modified ferritin. The release of iron ions from ferritin was increased in $H_2O_2$ concentration-dependent manner. The present results suggest that free radicals may play a role in the modification and iron releasing of ferritin by $H_2O_2$. It is assumed that oxidative damage of ferritin by $H_2O_2$ may induce the increase of iron content in cells and subsequently lead to the deleterious condition.

• BMB Reports
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.219-224
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• 2010

Lipid peroxidation is known to be an important factor in the pathologies of many diseases associated with oxidative stress. We assessed the lipid peroxidation induced by the reaction of ferritin with $H_2O_2$. When linoleic acid micelles or phosphatidyl choline liposomes were incubated with ferritin and $H_2O_2$, lipid peroxidation increased in the presence of ferritin and $H_2O_2$ in a concentration-dependent manner. The hydroxyl radical scavengers, azide and thiourea, prevented lipid peroxidation induced by the ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system. The iron specific chelator desferoxamine also prevented ferritin/$H_2O_2$ systemmediated lipid peroxidation. These results demonstrate the possible role of iron in ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated lipid peroxidation. Carnosine is involved in many cellular defense processes, including free radical detoxification. In this study, carnosine, homocarnosine, and anserine were shown to significantly prevent ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated lipid peroxidation and also inhibited the free radical-generation activity of ferritin. These results indicated that carnosine and related compounds may prevent ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated lipid peroxidation via free radical scavenging.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.926-932
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• 2008

Human heavy chain (H-) and light chain (L-) ferritins were amplified from a human cDNA library. Each ferritin gene was inserted downstream of the T7 promoter of bacterial expression vectors, and two types of coexpression vectors were constructed. The expression levels of recombinant ferritins ranged about 26-36% of whole-cell protein. H-ferritin exhibited a lower expression ratio compared with L-ferritin, by a coexpression system. However, the coexpression of HL-ferritins was significantly increased above the expression ratio of H-ferritin by cultivation without IPTG induction overnight. Purified recombinant H-, L-, HL-, and LH-ferritins were shown to be homo- and heteropolymeric high molecular complexes and it was indicated that their assembled subunits would be able to work functionally in the cell. Thus, these results indicate an improvement in the expression strategy of H-ferritin for heteropolymeric production and studies of ferritin assembly in Escherichia coli.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.352-357
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• 2004

Human ferritin H- and L-chain genes (hfH and hfL) were cloned into the yeast shuttle vector YEp352 containing the GAL1 (galactokinase) and GAL10 (epimerase) divergent promoters and the vectors constructed were used to transform Saccharomyces cerevisiae 2805. SDS-PAGE displayed expression of the introduced hfH and hfL in both recombinant strains of Y1H10L and Y1L10H. The ferritin subunits, that represented ca. $22\%$ and $15\%$ of the soluble proteins in Y1H10L and Y1L10H, were spontaneously assembled into active ferritin heteropolymers. The H subunit content of the purified recombinant human ferritin heteropolymers was proven to reflect the relative expression yield of the subunits. When the cells of 2d culture were incubated with 14.3 mM Fe(2), the cellular iron concentration of Y1H10L and Y1L10H was 1.7 and 2.0 times, respectively, that of the control strain. It is assumed that increase in the iron uptake of the recombinant yeasts is closely related to ferritin expression and H subunit content.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.162-168
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• 2002

본 연구에서는 유도성 promoter인 GAL1과 상시성 promoter인 GPD와 ADH1 promoter 하류에 사람 ferritin H-chain 유전자(hfL) 및 사람 ferritin L-chain 유전자(hfL)를 연결하여 재조합 plasmid를 구축하고 이들을 S. cerevisiae 2805에 형질 전환시켜 외래 유전자를 성공적으로 발현시켰다. Ferritin 발현에 미치는 promoter의 영향을 비교한 바, 이 두 단백질 생간에 있어서 GAL1 promoter가 GPD나 ABH1 promoter 보다 더 효율적이었다. GAL1 promoter를 사용한 형질 전환체 (YG-H와 YG-L)에서 H-chain의 발현율은 전체 수용성 단백질 중 4.5%에 해당하였고, L-chain의 발현율은 9.8%에 이르렀다. 각 균주에서 발현된 H 및 L subunit은 비변성 젤은 사용한 전기 영동의 결과 대장균에서 생산된 재조합 단백질과 마찬가지로 자발적으로 holoprotein으로 조합되어졌다. 재조합 H-와 L-ferritin들은 단백질 내공에 철을 축적할 수 있음이 Prussian blue 염색으로 확인되었다. 그리고 효모 세포를 10 mM ferric citrate를 함유한 배지에서 배양했을 때, H-ferritin과 L-ferritin을 생산하는 재조합 효모 균주에 있어서의 펄의 농도는 각각 174.9 $\mu\textrm{g}$ Per gram(dry cell weight)과 148.8 $\mu\textrm{g}$ Per gram(dry cell weight)이었고 야생형 효모 균주에 있어서의 털의 농도는 49.4 $\mu\textrm{g}$ Per gram(dry cell weight)이었다. 이것은 사람 ferritin 유전자를 효모 균주에 발현시킴으로써 효모의 철 함량이 증진되었음을 유추하는 결과이다.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.365-369
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• 2002

수용성 형태로 존재하는 융합 페리틴을 정제함에 있어서 실리카 분말을 이용한 전처리 공정은 전체 정제 공정효율 증가에 기여하였다. 전처리 공정을 통해 정제된 융합 페리틴의 순도를 높이기 위해 젤 여과 크로마토그래피를 통해 보다 정제된 응합 페리틴을 얻을 수 있었다. 이렇게 정제된 융합 페리틴의 철분결합능력을 분석해본결과 320 moles $F_{H}+F_{L}$ mole로 활성이 우수함을 알 수 있었으며, 분자량 분석을 통해 융합페리틴(40 k dalton)은 trimer와 monomer형태로 존재함을 확인할 수 있었다

• BMB Reports
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.365-370
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• 2001

We constructed a comparative expression system in order to produce recombinant human ferritin homo- and heteropolymers in Escherichia coli. Human ferritin H-(hfH) and L-chain (hfL) genes were expressed without amino acid changes under the control of a tac promoter. Ferritin heteropolymers of varying subunit composition were also produced by combining two different expression systems, a bicistronic expression system and a coplasmid expression system. As a result, recombinant H-chain ferritin and ferritin heteropolymers were catalytically active in forming iron core in vivo. In particular, the ferritin heteropolymer that is composed of 7% H-subunit and 93% L-subunit was capable of forming an iron core of the protein, while the L-chain ferritin homopolymer was inactive in vivo. This result indicates that the two H-subunits (i.e., 7% H-subunit content) are important to keep ferritin active in the cells. In addition, human ferritins were identified as the major iron binding proteins in the transformed cells. Also, the amount of iron bound to the recombinant ferritins was proportional to the H-subunit content in ferritin heteropolymers in vivo.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제31권10호
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• pp.2873-2876
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• 2010

Excess free iron generates oxidative stress that may contribute to the pathogenesis of various causes of neurodegenerative diseases. Previous studies have shown that one of the primary causes of increased brain iron may be the release of excess iron from intracellular iron storage molecules. In this study, we attempted to characterize the oxidative damage of DNA induced by the reaction of ferritin with $H_2O_2$. When DNA was incubated with ferritin and $H_2O_2$, DNA strand breakage increased in a time-dependent manner. Hydroxyl radical scavengers strongly inhibited the ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-induced DNA cleavage. We investigated the generation of hydroxyl radical in the reaction of ferritin with $H_2O_2$ using a chromogen, 2,2'-azinobis-(2-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), which reacted with ${\cdot}OH$ to form $ABTS^{+\cdot}$. The initial rate of $ABTS^{+\cdot}$ formation increased as a function of incubation time. These results suggest that DNA strand breakage is mediated in the reaction of ferritin with $H_2O_2$ via the generation of hydroxyl radicals. The iron-specific chelator, deferoxamine, also inhibited DNA cleavage. Spectrophotometric study using a color reagent showed that the release of iron from $H_2O_2$-treated ferritin increased in a time-dependent manner. Ferritin enhanced mutation of the lacZ' gene in the presence of $H_2O_2$ when measured as a loss of $\alpha$-complementation. These results indicate that ferritin/$H_2O_2$ system-mediated DNA cleavage and mutation may be attributable to hydroxyl radical generation via a Fenton-like reaction of free iron ions released from oxidatively damaged ferritin.

• BMB Reports
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• 제43권10호
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• pp.683-687
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• 2010

Previous studies have shown that one of the primary causes of increased iron content in the brain may be the release of excess iron from intracellular iron storage molecules such as ferritin. Free iron generates ROS that cause oxidative cell damage. Carnosine and related compounds such as endogenous histidine dipetides have antioxidant activities. We have investigated the protective effects of carnosine and homocarnosine against oxidative damage of DNA induced by reaction of ferritin with $H_2O_2$. The results show that carnosine and homocarnosine prevented ferritin/$H_2O_2$-mediated DNA strand breakage. These compounds effectively inhibited ferritin/$H_2O_2$-mediated hydroxyl radical generation and decreased the mutagenicity of DNA induced by the ferritin/$H_2O_2$ reaction. Our results suggest that carnosine and related compounds might have antioxidant effects on DNA under pathophysiological conditions leading to degenerative damage such as neurodegenerative disorders.