• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2012

Our previous study demonstrated that CopA3, a disulfide dimer of the coprisin peptide analogue (LLCIALRKK), has antibacterial activity. In this study, we assessed whether CopA3 caused cellular toxicity in various mammalian cell lines. CopA3 selectively caused a marked decrease in cell viability in Jurkat T, U937, and AML-2 cells (human leukemia cells), but was not cytotoxic to Caki or Hela cells. Fragmentation of DNA, a marker of apoptosis, was also confirmed in the leukemia cell lines, but not in the other cells. CopA3-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells was mediated by apoptosis inducing factor (AIF), indicating induction of a caspase-independent signaling pathway.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.115-121
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• 2012

The bumblebee Bombus terrestris is widely used in greenhouses to pollinate crops. Here, we report the molecular cloning and characterization of chymotrypsin inhibitor and chitin-binding protein homologs from B. terrestris. Two cDNAs encoding chymotrypsin inhibitor (Bt-CI) and chitin-binding protein (Bt-CBP) homologs were cloned from B. terrestris. Gene sequence analysis showed that Bt-CI gene consists of three exons encoding 75 amino acids, including a predicted 20-amino acid signal peptide, while Bt-CBP consists of two exons encoding 78 amino acids, including a predicted 26-amino acid signal peptide. The mature Bt-CI and Bt-CBP peptides contain ten and six conserved cysteine residues, respectively. Database searches using the deduced sequences of Bt-CI and Bt-CBP showed similarity to those from B. impatiens (96% peptide sequence identities). Bt-CI and Bt-CBP were expressed in both the venom gland and fat body of B. terrestris worker bees. The recombinant Bt-CI and Bt-CBP peptides were expressed in baculovirus-infected insect cells. Taken together, our findings describe the molecular characterization of Bt-CI and Bt-CBP from B. terrestris.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.291-296
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• 2002

Thanatin, a 21-residue peptide, is an inducible insect peptide with a broad range of activity against bacteria and fungi. It has a C-terminal disulfide loop, like the frog skin secretion antimicrobial peptides of the brevinin family. In this study, we tried to find the effect of a number of amino acids between the disulfide bond. Thanatin showed stronger antibacterial activity to Gram negative bacteria than other mutants, except Th1; whereas, the mutant peptides with deletion had higher activity to Gram positive bacteria than thanatin. An increase in the number of amino acid(s) using the alanine residue decreased the antibacterial activity in all of the bacteria. Th1 with deletion of threonine at position 15 ($Thr^{15}$) showed similar antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, but had higher activity against the Gram positive bacteria. In order to study the structure-function relationship, we measured liposome disruption by the peptides and CD spectra of the peptides. Th1 also showed the highest liposome leaking activity and α-helical propensity in the sodium dodecyl sulfate solution, compared with other peptides. Liposome disruption activity was closely correlated with the anti-Gram positive bacterial activity. All of the peptides showed no hemolytic activity. Th1 was considered to be useful as an antimicrobial peptide with broad spectrum without toxicity.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2012

Cecropin is a well-studied antimicrobial peptide that play important role as key factor in insect humoral immunity. In this study, cecropin-like antimicrobial peptide was isolated and purified from the larval haemolymph of immune-challenged japanese oak silkworm, Antheraea yamamai. To isolate antimicrobial peptide, we separated and compared acidic extracted hemolymph protein bends between control and immune-challenged larvae using SDS-PAGE analysis. In the immune hemolymph extract, but not of non-immune hemolymph, we detected differential expressed peptide band with molecular mass 4,223.01 Da. To understand this peptide better, we successfully purified this peptide using cation exchange chromatography and gel permeation chromatography. Its N-terminal amino acid sequence obtained by Edman degradation evidenced a significant degree of identity with other lepidopteran cecropins. The purified A. yamamai cecropin-like peptide showed a broad spectrum of activity against fungi, Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2019

Numerous studies have reported that enteric neurons involved in controlling neurotransmitter secretion and motility in the gut critically contribute to the progression of gut inflammation. Clostridium difficile toxins, which cause severe colonic inflammation, are also known to affect enteric neurons. Our previous study showed that C. difficile toxin A directly induces neural cell toxicities, such as viability loss and apoptosis. In the current study, we attempted to identify a potent inhibitor of toxin A-induced neural cell toxicity that may aid in managing toxin A-induced gut inflammation. In our recent study, we found that the Korea dung beetle-derived antimicrobial peptide CopA3 completely blocked neural cell apoptosis caused by okadaic acid or 6-OHDA. Here, we examined whether the antimicrobial peptide CopA3 inhibited toxin A-induced neural cell damage. In neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, CopA3 treatment protected against both apoptosis and viability loss caused by toxin A. CopA3 also completely inhibited activation of the pro-apoptotic factor, caspase-3. Additionally, CopA3 rescued toxin A-induced downregulation of neural cell proliferation. However, CopA3 had no effect on signaling through ROS/p38 $MAPK/p27^{kip1}$, suggesting that CopA3 inhibits toxin A-induced neural cell toxicity independent of this well-characterized toxin A pathway. Our data further suggest that ability of CopA3 to rescue toxin A-induced neural cell damage may also ameliorate the gut inflammation caused by toxin A.

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

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.483-489
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• 2002

We investigated the biochemical properties of insect defensin expressed and secreted from Saccharomyces corevisiae. The defensin showed extremely high resistance to boiling for up to 30 min and to pH values tested from 2.0 to 12.0. The treatment of defensin with various proteases abolished antibacterial activity. However, amylases, cellulase, lipase and catalase had no effect on the activity. The defensin was purified to homogeneity through ammonium sulfate concentration of culture supernatant, SP-Sepharose column chromatography and RP-HPLC. Tricin-SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the molecular weight of the defensin was about 4.0 kDa. The antibacterial activity of the purified defensin was verified by renaturation of stained gel and gel pouring assay using Micrococcus luteus as a test organism.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2006

Enterococcus faecalis was isolated from the body fluid of dead Galleria mellonella larvae. Upon injection of E. faecalis into the hemocoel of G. mellonella, the bacteria destroyed parts of humoral defense systems in the hemolymph. In a test for the proteolytic activity of E. faecalis CS, it was confirmed that the enzyme degraded three well-known a-helical antimicrobial peptides, cecropin A, melittin and halocidin, and abolished their activities. We also determined putative cleavage sites on the primary sequences of three peptides through purification and mass analysis of peptide fragments digested by E. faecalis CS. Furthermore it was found that apolipophorin-III, recently known as a critical recognition protein for invading microbes in the hemolymph of G. mellonella, was also degraded by E. faecalis CS. Taken together, the present work shows that the protease in secretions from E. faecalis destroyed two critical humoral immune factors in the hemolymph of G. mellonella larvae. In addition, this paper demonstrates that the relationship between the host insect and the pathogenic bacteria might provide a valuable model system to study the enterococcal virulence mechanism, which may be relevant to mammalian pathogenesis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.77-90
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• 2006

Beta-amyloid peptide (A$\beta$) is a major component of senile plaques and its aggregation is considered to play a critical role in pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aggregation of A$\beta$ could result from both increased synthesis and decreased degradation of A$\beta$. Our laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanism of A$\beta$ degradation in brain. Recently our laboratory identified a bacterial gene (SKAP) from Streptomyces sp KK565 whose protein product has an activity to cleave A$\beta$ and thus reduce the A$\beta$-induced neurotoxicity. The sequence analysis showed that this gene was closely related to aminopeptidase. Maldi-Tof analysis showed that the recombinant SKAP protein expressed in E. coli cleaves both A$\beta$ 40 and A$\beta$ 42 at the N-terminal of A$\beta$ while an aminopeptidase from Streptomyces griseus (SGAP) cleaves at the C-terminal. We also identified a mammalian homolog of SKAP and the recombinant mammalian protein expressed in Sf-9 insect cells showed a similar proteolytic activity to SGAP, cutting A$\beta$ at the C-terminus. I well discuss the detailed mechanism of the enzyme action and its functional implication in AD.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.109-115
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• 2022

Vitellogenesis is the process by which yolk accumulates in developing oocytes. The initiation of vitellogenesis represents an important control point in oogenesis. When females of the model insect Drosophila melanogaster molt to become adults, their ovaries lack mature vitellogenic oocytes, only producing them after reproductive maturation. After maturation, vitellogenesis stops until a mating signal re-activates it. Juvenile hormone (JH) from the endocrine organ known as the corpora allata (CA) is the major insect gonadotropin that stimulates vitellogenesis, and the seminal protein sex peptide (SP) has long been implicated as a mating signal that stimulates JH biosynthesis. In this review, we discuss our new findings that explain how the nervous system gates JH biosynthesis and vitellogenesis associated with reproductive maturation and the SP-induced post-mating response. Mated females exhibit diurnal rhythmicity in oogenesis. A subset of brain circadian pacemaker neurons produce Allatostatin C (AstC) to generate a circadian oogenesis rhythm by indirectly regulating JH and vitellogenesis through the brain insulin-producing cells. We also discuss genetic evidence that supports this model and future research directions.