• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.129-134
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• 2006

Lon, also known as protease La, belongs to a class of ATP-dependent serine protease. It plays an essential role in degradation of abnormal proteins and of certain short-lived regulatory proteins, and is thought to possess a Ser-Lys catalytic dyad. To examine the structural organization of Lon, we performed an electron microscope analysis. The averaged images of Lon with end-on orientation revealed a six-membered, ring-shaped structure with a central cavity. The side-on view showed a two-layered structure with an equal distribution of mass across the equatorial plane of the complex. Since a Lon subunit possesses two large regions containing nucleotide binding and proteolytic domains, each layer of the Lon hexamer appears to consist of the side projections of one of the major domains arranged in a ring. Lon showed a strong tendency to form hexamers in the presence of $Mg^{2+}$, but dissociated into monomers and/or dimers in its absence. Moreover, $Mg^{2+}$-dependent hexamer formation was independent of ATP. These results indicate that Lon has a hexameric ring-shaped structure with a central cavity, and that the establishment of this configuration requires $Mg^{2+}$, but not ATP.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.195-198
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• 2001

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase, which possesses the activities of terminal binding, DNA polymerase, reverse transcriptase and RNaseH, has been shown to accomplish viral DNA replication through a pregenomic intermediate. Because the HBV polymerase has not been purified, the expression of HBV polymerase was examined in an E. coli expression system that is under the regulation of arabinose operon. The expressed individual domain containing terminal binding protein, polymerase, or RNaseH turned out to be insoluble. The activities of those domains were not able to be recovered by denaturation and renaturation using urea or guanidine-HCI. The expressed reverse transcriptase containing the polymerase and RNaseH domains became extensively degraded, whereas the proteolysis was reduced in a Ion- mutant. These results indicate that Lon protease proteolyzes the HBV reverse transcriptase expressed in E. coli.

• 한국전자현미경학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.85-85
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.190-190
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.99.1-100
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• 2003

E. intermedium Blocontrol activity of a P. chlororaphis rhizobacteium O6, depends to the synthesis of extracellular secondary metabolites and exoenzymes, thought to antagonize the pathogenicity of a variety of phytopathogenic fungi. The production of secondary metabolites and exoenzymes in O6, depends essentially on the GacS-mediated signal transduction pathway, which activates largely unknown signal transduction pathway. To exploit the GacS-mediated signal transdcution pathway involved in activation of ph genes that are necessary for biosynthesis of phenazine from P. chlororaphis O6, we cloned and sequenced the phz operon, rpoS gene encoding stationary specific sigma factor, ppx gene encoding polyphosphatase, and lon gene encoding ion protease. Expression of each gene in wild type and GacS mutant were analyzed by RT-PCR. Transcripts from rpoS, phzI enconing acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) synthase, and ph structural genes in the GacS mutant were reduced in each of these growth phases compared to the wild type. The GacS or Lon mutant was found to be deficient in the production of phenzines, exoenzymes, and the acylhomoserine lactone. These mutants were not complemented by ph operon and addition of exogenous AHL. These results indicate that the GacS global regulatory systems controls phenazine production at multiple levels. Future research will focus to identifying the GacS-mediated regulatory cascade involving in production of phenazine in P. chlororaphis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.488-495
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• 2000

Strain SA72 was isolated from Jeot-gal and identified as producer of a bacteriocin, which showed some bactericidal activity against Lactobacillus delbrueckii ATCC 4797. Strain SA72 was tentatively identified as Lactococcus lactis according to the AOI test. Lactococcus lactis SA72 showed a broad spectrum of microorganisms, tested by the modified deferred method. The activity of lacticion SA72, named tentatively as a bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus lactis SA72, was detected during the mid-lon growth phase, reached a maximum during the early stationary phase, and then declined after the late stationary phase. Lacticin SA72 also showed a relatively broad spectrum of activity against non-pathogenic and pathogenic microorganisms when assessed by the spot-on-lawn method. Its anitimicrobial activity on sensitive indicator cells disappeared completely by protease XIV treatment. The inhibitory activity of lacticin SA72 remained after treatment for 15 min at $121^{\circ}C$, 문 was stable in a pH range of 2.0 to 9.0 and all organic solvents examined. It demonstrated a typical bactericidal mode of inhibition against Lactobacillus delbrueckii ATCC 4797. The apparent molecular mass of lacticin SA72 was in the region of 3-3.5 kDa, determined by SDS-PAGE.