• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.64-73
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• 2008

The cDNA of CCF (coelomic cytolytic factor)-like gene (EC 3.2.1.16), a kind of glycosyl hydorlase, was isolated and cloned from the midgut of the earthworm Eisenia anderi. The size of nucleotide sequence appeared to be 1,152 bp and its predicted coding region was composed of 384 amino acid residues including the initiation methionine. The 17 residues at N-terminal end in the deduced amino acid sequence were regarded to be a signal peptide. Based on the amino acid sequence analysis, it appeared that this CCF-like protein could belong to glycosyl hydrolase family 16 (GHF16) and showed a high sequence homology of about 79~99% with CCF and CCF-like proteins from other earthworm species. The CCFs and CCF-like proteins from various earthworm species exhibited a 100% homology in the polysacchride-binding motif and glucanase motif. It has been reported that the CCFs isolated from E. fedita appeared to show a broader pattern recognition specificity than those from other earthworm species because this species resides in decaying organic matter showing very high microbial activity, implying that CCF-like protein isolated in this study from E. andrei might exhibit a broad substrate specificity that is a useful characteristic for industrial application. A phylogenetic analysis using the deduced amino acid sequences of CCF-related proteins through the BLASTX revealed that GHF16 families could be divided into three groups of metazoa, viriplantae and eubacteria subfamily. Subsequently the CCF-related proteins of metazoa subfamily could clearly be subgroup into lophotrochozoan and edysozoan type including a deuterostome origin. Further understanding of the biological properties of E. andrei CCF-like protein should be addressed to regulate the ${\beta}$-D-glucan hydrolysis and production for the industrial uses.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.240-246
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• 2018

Efferent and afferent sympathetic nerves are closely related to the development of hypertension and heart failure. Catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) is implemented as a strategy to treat resistant hypertension. We investigated whether RDN procedure causes inflammatory damage on myocardium in the early phase of sympathetic denervation. Twenty-five female swine were divided into 3 groups: normal control (Normal, n=5), sham-operated control (Sham, n=5), and RDN groups (RDN, n=15). The RDN group was further subdivided into 3 subgroups according to the time of sacrifice: immediately (RDN-0, n=5), 1 week (RDN-1, n=5), and 2 weeks (RDN-2, n=5) after RDN. There were no significant changes in the clinical parameters between the normal control and sham-operated group using contrast-media. In the myocardium, inflammatory cytokines, $IL-1{\beta}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ increased at the first week, and then decreased at the second week after RDN. Anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10 increased immediately, and then decreased at the second week after RDN. Caspase-1 activity and apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) expression increased immediately after RDN until the second week. However, nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine rich repeat and pyrin domain containing protein 3 (NLRP3) expression did not show any significant differences among the groups. The RDN can cause acute myocardial inflammation through activation of caspase-1 and $IL-1{\beta}$. We should pay attention to protecting against early inflammatory myocardial damage after RDN.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 1995

To understand the molecular structure of Korean garlic viruses, cDNA cloning of virus genomic RNA was attempted. Virus particles were isolated from virus-infected garlic leaves and a cDNA library was constructed from garlic virus RNA. One of these clones, S81, selected by random sequencing has been identified as a member of potexvirus group other than potyvirus and carlavirus. The clone is 873 bp long contains most of the coat protein (CP) coding region and 3'-noncoding region including poly(A) tail. A putative polyadenylation signal sequence (AAUAAA) and the hexanucleotide motif (ACUUAA), a replicational cis-acting element conserved in the 3'-noncoding region of potexvirus RNAs are noticed. The clone S81 shows about 30-40% identity in both nucleotide and amino acid sequences with CPs of potexviruses. The genome size of the virus was analysed to be 7.46 knt by Northern blot analysis, which was longer than those of other potexviruses. The open reading frame encoding CP was expressed as a fusion protein (S81CP) in Escherichia coli and the recombinant protein was purified by immobilized metal binding affinity chromatography. Polyclonal antibody was raised against S81CP in rabbit to examine the occurrence of garlic potexvirus in Korean garlic plants by immunoblot analysis. Two virus protein bands of Mr 27,000 and 29,000 from garlic leaf extract of various cultivars reacted with the antibody. It was shown that Mr 27,000 band might not be a degradation product of Mr 29,000 band, suggesting that two types of potexvirus different in size of coat protein could exist in Korean garlic plants.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 1992

As it has been reported that the depolarization-induced acetylcholine (ACh) release is modulated by activation of presynaptic $A_1-adenosine$ heteroreceptor in hippocampus and various lines of evidence indicate the involvement of adenylate cyclase system in $A_1-adenosine$ post-receptor mechanism in hippocampus, it was attempted to delineate the role of adenylate cyclase system in the $A_1-receptor-mediated$ control of ACh release in this study. Slices from rat hippocampus were incubated with $[^3H]-choline$ and the release of the labelled products was evoked by electrical stimulation $(3\;Hz,\;5\;Vcm^{-1},\;2\;ms,\;rectangular\;pulses)$, and the influence of various agents on the evoked tritium-outflow was investigated. $N^6-cyclopentyladenosine$ (CPA), a specific $A_1-adenosine$ receptor agonist, in concentrations ranging from 0.1 to $10\;{\mu}M$, decreased the $[^3H]-ACh$ release in a dose-dependent manner without the changes of basal rate of release. 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine $(DPCPX,\;1{\sim}10\;{\mu}M)$, a selective $A_1-receptor$ antagonist, increased the $[^3H]-ACh$ release in a dose-related fashion with slight increase of basal tritium-release. And the CPA effects were significantly inhibited by DPCPX $(2\;{\mu}M)$ pretreatment and the dose-response curve produced by CPA was shifted to the right. The responses to N-ethylmaleimide $(NEM,\;10\;&\;30\;{\mu}M)$, a SH-alkylating agent of G-protein, were characterized by increments of the evoked ACh-release and the basal release, and the CPA effect were completely abolished by NEM pretreatment. Forskolin, a specific adenylate cyclase activator, in concentrations ranging from 0.3 to $10\;{\mu}M$, increased the evoked ACh-release in a dose-dependent manner and the CPA effects were inhibited by forskolin. These results indicate that the $A_1-adenosine$ heteroreceptor plays an important role in ACh-release via nucleotide-binding protein Gi in the rat hippocampus and that the adenylate cyclase system might be participated in this process.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.343-351
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• 2014

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) plays a central role in cell signaling and leads to cell proliferation, survival, motility, exocytosis, and cytoskeletal rearrangements, as well as specialized cell responses, superoxide production, and cardiac myocyte growth. PI3K is divided into three classes; type I PI3K is preferentially expressed in leukocytes and activated by ${\beta}{\gamma}$ subunits of heterotrimeric G-proteins. In this study, the cDNAs encoding the $PI3K{\gamma}$ gene were isolated from a brain cDNA library constructed using the flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). The sequence of the isolated $PI3K{\gamma}$ was 1341 bp, encoding 447 amino acids. The nucleotide sequence of the $PI3K{\gamma}$ gene was analyzed with that of other species, including Oreochromis niloticus and Danio rerio, and it turned out to be well conserved during evolution. The $PI3K{\gamma}$ gene was subcloned into the expression vector pET-44a(+), and expressed in the E. coli BL21 (DE3) codon plus cell. The resulting protein was expressed as a fusion protein of approximately 49 kDa containing a C-terminal six-histidine extension that was derived from the expression vector. The expressed protein was purified to homogeneity by His-tag affinity chromatography and showed enzymatic activity corresponding to $PI3K{\gamma}$. The binding of wortmannin to $PI3K{\gamma}$, as detected by anti-wortmannin antisera, closely followed the inhibition of the kinase activities. The results obtained from this study will provide a wider base of knowledge on the primary structure and characterization of the $PI3K{\gamma}$ at the molecular level.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.263-268
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• 2016

Metallothionein (MT) family of metal-binding proteins are involved in maintaining homeostasis and heavy metal poisoning. Recently, MT has been considered as a biomarker that can identify a particular species, very similar to the use of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene. Satsuma myomphala species of land snails have been reported from North-East Asia, including South Korea and Japan. In particular, the land snail species have been known from only a limited area of Geoje Island, Gyeongsangnam-do province of South Korea. Genetic studies of S. myomphala has been limited with only 6 nucleotide, 2 protein registered on the NCBI server. For elucidating the genetic information of S. myomphala, we conducted RNA sequencing analysis using Illumina HiSeq 2500 next-generation platform. We screened the MT gene from the RNA-Seq database to confirm the molecular phylogenetic relationship. After sequencing, the de novo analysis and clustering generated 103,774 unigenes. After annotation against PANM database using BLAST program, we obtained MT sequence of 74 amino acid residues containing the coding region of 222 bp. Based on this sequence, we found about 53 sequences using the BLAST program in NCBI nr database. Using ClustalX alignment, Maximum-Likehood Tree of MEGA program, we confirmed the molecular phylogenetic relationships that showed similarity with mollusks such as Helix pomatia and H. aspersa, Megathura crenulata.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1301-1309
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• 2011

The major function of adipocytes is to store fat in the form of triglycerides. One of the signaling pathways known to affect adipogenesis, i.e. fat formation, is the WNT/${\beta}$-catenin pathway which inhibits the expression and activity of key regulators of adipogenesis. The purpose of this research is to find genes among the WNT/${\beta}$-catenin pathway which regulate adipogenesis by using small interfering (si) RNA and to find the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the gene with serum triglyceride levels in the human population. To elucidate the effects of ${\beta}$-catenin siRNA on adipogenesis key factors, PPAR${\gamma}$ and C/EBP${\alpha}$, we performed real-time PCR and western blotting experiments for the analyses of mRNA and protein levels. It was found that the siRNA-mediated knockdown of ${\beta}$-catenin upregulates adipogenesis key factors. However, upstream regulators of the WNT/${\beta}$-catenin pathway, such as DVL2 and LRP6, had no significant effects compared to ${\beta}$-catenin. These results indicate that ${\beta}$-catenin is a candidate gene for human fat accumulation. In general, serum triglyceride level is a good indicator of fat accumulation in humans. According to statistical analyses of the association between serum triglyceride level and SNPs of ${\beta}$-catenin, -10,288 C>T SNP (rs7630377) in the promoter region was significantly associated with serum triglyceride levels (p<0.05) in 290 Korean subjects. On the other hand, serum cholesterol levels were not significantly associated with SNPs of the ${\beta}$-catenin gene. The results of this study showed that ${\beta}$-catenin is associated with fat accumulation both in vitro and in the human population.