• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.783-792
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• 2014

The binding interaction between a hemolytic peptide ${\delta}$-lysin and a zwitterionic lipid bilayer POPC was investigated through a series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. ${\delta}$-Lysin is a 26-residue, amphipathic, ${\alpha}$-helical peptide toxin secreted by Staphylococcus aureus. Unlike typical antimicrobial peptides, ${\delta}$-lysin has no net charge and it is often found in aggregated forms in solution even at low concentration. Our study showed that only the monomer, not dimer, inserts into the bilayer interior. The monomer is preferentially attracted toward the membrane with its hydrophilic side facing the bilayer surface. However, peptide insertion requires the opposite orientation where the hydrophobic side of peptide points toward the membrane interior. Such orientation allows the charged residues, Lys and Asp, to have stable salt bridges with the lipid head-group while the hydrophobic residues are buried deeper in the hydrophobic lipid interior. Our simulations suggest that breaking these salt bridges is the key step for the monomer to be fully inserted into the center of lipid bilayer and, possibly, to translocate across the membrane.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.1 s.137
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• pp.35-41
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• 2006

Protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania cause a number of important human diseases. One of the key determinants of parasite infectivity and survival is the surface glycoconjugate lipophosphoglycan (LPG). In addition, LPG is shown to be useful as a transmission blocking vaccine. Since culture supernatant of parasite promastigotes is a good source of LPG, we made attempts to characterize functions of the culture supernatant, and membrane LPG isolated from metacyclic promastigotes of Leishmania major. The purification scheme included anion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and cold methanol precipitation. The purity of supernatant LPG (sLPG) and membrane LPG (mLPG) was determined by SOS-PAGE and thin layer chromatography. The effect of mLPG and sLPG on nitric oxide (NO) production by murine macrophages cell line (J77 4.1 A) was studied. Both sLPG and mLPG induced NO production in a dose dependent manner but sLPG induced significantly higher amount of NO than mLPG. Our results show that sLPG is able to promote NO production by murine macrophages.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.227-235
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• 1996

poly(acrylic acid)(PAA)-poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) membranes have been prepared by crosslinking reaction between the carboxylic acid groups of PAA and the hydroxylic groups of PVA. In the measurements of the swelling and preferential sorption of the membranes, sorption behaviors of the membranes in pure water, pure acetic acid and a mixture of them have been investigated, respectively. From the measurements of the preferential sorption in 90wt% acetic acid of aqueous mixture, the sorption of water component was found to be more enhanced at high PAA content in the membrane than that of acetic acid component due to the interaction of water with acetic acid. The sorption behavior and the degree of crosslinking influenced competitively the permeation behavior of permeants. Permeation behavior of perrecants through the membranes was analyzed by using permeation activation energies which had been obtained from the Arrhenius plots of fluxes.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.442-445
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• 2005

HP0894 (SwissProt/TrEMBL ID O25554) is an 88-residue conserved hypothetical protein from Helicobacter pylori strain 26695 with a calculated pI of 8.5 and a molecular weight of 10.38 kDa. Proteins with sequence similarity to HP0894 exist in Vibrio choierae, Enterococcus faecalis, Campylobacter jejuni, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Escherichia coli O157, etc. Here we report the sequence-specific backbone resonance assignments of HP0894. About 97.5% (418/429) of the HN, N, CO, $C{\alpha}$, $C{\beta}$ resonances of the 88 residues of HP0894 were assigned. On the basis of these assignments, three helical regions and four strand regions were identified using the CSI program. This study is a prerequisite for calculating the solution structure of HP0894, and studying its interaction with its substrates, if any, and/or with other proteins.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2008

Proton conducting composite membranes were prepared by solution blending of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene)-graft-poly(sulfopropyl methacrylate) (P(VDF-CTFE)-g-PSPMA) graft copolymer and heteropolyacid (HPA). The P(VDF-CTFE)-g-PSPMA graft copolymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of P(VDF-CTFE). FT-IR spectroscopy revealed that HPA nanoparticles were incorporated into the graft copolymer via hydrogen bonding interactions. The water uptake of membranes continuously decreased with increasing HP A concentration up to 45wt%, after which it slightly increased. It is presumably due to the decrease in number of water absorption sites due to hydrogen bonding interaction between the HP A particles and the polymer matrix. The proton conductivity of membranes increased with increasing HPA concentration up to 45wt%, resulting from both the intrinsic conductivity of HP A particles and the enhanced acidity of the sulfonic acid of the graft copolymer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1429-1433
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• 2006

Application of recombinant protein production and particularly their isotopic enrichment has stimulated development of a range of novel multidimensional heteronuclear NMR techniques. Peptides in most cases are amenable to assignment and structure determination without the need for isotopic labeling. However, there are many cases where the availability of $^{15}N$ and/or $^{13}C$ labeled peptides is useful to study the structure of peptides with more than 30 residues and the interaction between peptides and membrane. CRAMP (Cathelicidin-Related AntiMicrobial Peptide) was identified from a cDNA clone derived from mouse femoral marrow cells as a member of cathelicidin-derived antimicrobial peptides. CRAMP was successfully expressed as a GST-fused form in E. coli and purified using affinity chromatography and reverse-phase chromatography. The yield of the CRAMP was 1.5 mg/l 1. According to CD spectra, CRAMP adopted ${\alpha}$-helical conformation in membrane-mimetic environments. Isotope labeling of CRAMP is expected to make it possible to study the structure and dynamic properties of CRAMP in various membrane systems.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 1976

The trypanocidal drug suramin, an impermeant polyanion, has been shown to be a powerful inhibitor of the calcium uptake and calcium-stimulated ATPase activity of sarcoplasmic reticulum (Fortes et al., 1974). In view of this finding, an attempt was made to investigate the effect of suramin on $Ca^{++}$ transport in resealed red cells and on $Ca^{++}$-activated ATPase in red blood cell membrane fragments (RBCMF). The results obtained are summarized as follows. 1. $Ca^{++}$ outflux from the resealed RBC was inhibited by suramin and the inhibitory action of suramin is proportional to the concentration of drug added inside the RBC preparation. When suramin is added both inside and outside the RBC preparation simultaneously, the magnitude of the inhibitory effect was more pronounced, suggesting that suramin inhibits both active $Ca^{++}-^{45}Ca$ exchange diffusion across the RBC membrane. 2. Suramin inhibits the $Ca^{++}$-activated ATPase of the RBCMF and the effect of inhibition by the drug was also concentration dependent. From the above results, it may be concluded that suramin inhibits $Ca^{++}$ transport across RBC membrane by inhibiting $Ca^{++}$-activated ATPase activity which has been known to be linked with active $Ca^{++}$ transport.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.605-608
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• 2000

Oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) were separated by high-performance membrane chromatography (HPMC), a combined system of chromatography and membrane. The separation mechanism involved anion-exchange, and the stationary phase was cation CIM (Convective Interaction Media) DEAE disk (16${\times}$3 mm). Two types of mobile phase were used, buffer A (20mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4) and buffer B (buffer A + 1M NaCl). As the amount of NaCl dissolved in buffer linearly increased, the retention time shortened, which enabled a gradient elution mode. Based on the number of theoretical plates and resolution observed, the optimum mobile phase and operating condition (Buffer A/Buffer B=50/50 - 20/80 vol%, gradient time 2 min) were experimentally determined. In this experimental condition, ODNs were separated within 2 min at a mobile phase flow rate of 6 ml/min.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1774-1780
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• 2008

New PVC based polymeric membrane electrodes (PME) and coated glassy carbon electrodes (CGCE) based on synthesized Schiff base complexes of Co(III); [Co(Salen)$(PBu_3)_2$]$ClO_4$, [Co($Me_2$Salen)$(PBu_3)_2$]$ClO_4$, [Co(Salen)$(PBu_3)H_2O$]$ClO_4$; as anion carriers for potentiometric determination of $ClO_4\;^-$were studied. The PME and also CGCE electrodes prepared with [Co(Me2Salen)$(PBu_3)_2$]$ClO_4$ showed excellent response characteristics to perchlorate ions. The electrodes exhibited Nernstian responses to $ClO_4\;^-$ ions over a wide concentration range with low detection limits ($1.0 {\times} 10^{-6}\;mol\;L^{-1}$ for PME and $9.0 {\times} 10^{-7}\;mol\;L^{-1}$ for CGCE). The electrodes possess fast response time, satisfactory reproducibility, appropriate lifetime and, most importantly, good selectivity toward $ClO_4\;^-$ relative to a variety of other common inorganic anions. The potentiometric response of the electrodes is independent of the pH in the pH range 2.5-8.5. The proposed sensors were used in potentiometric determination of perchlorate ions in mineral water and urine samples. The interaction of the ionophore with perchlorate ions was shown by UV/Vis spectroscopy.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.44-44
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• 2003

Growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) synthesized by chemical vapor deposition is abided by two growth modes. These growth modes are classified by the position of activated catalytic metal particle in the CNTs. Growth mode can be also affected by interaction between substrate and catalytic metal and induced energy such as thermal and plasma. We studied the reaction of catalytic metal to the substrate and growth mode of CNTs. Various substrates such as Si(100), graphite plate, coming glass, sapphire and AAO membrane are used to study the relation between catalytic metal and substrate in the synthesis of CNTs. For catalytic metal, thin film was deposited on various substrate via sputtering technique with a thickness of ∼20nm and magnetic fluids with none-sized particles were dispersed on AAO membrane. After laying process on AAO membrane, it was dried at 80$^{\circ}C$ for 8 hour. Synthesizing of CNTs was carried out at 900$^{\circ}C$ in NH3/C2H2 mixture gases flow for 10minutes.