• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.137-145
• /
• 2016

This study screened the biological activity of an acidified gill extract of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum including antimicrobial, hemolytic, membrane permeabilization, and DNA-binding activity, and purified the antimicrobial material. The acidified gill extract showed potent antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli without significant hemolytic activity, but showed no membrane permeabilization or DNA-binding ability. An antimicrobial material was purified from the acidified gill extract using C₁₈ reversed-phase and cation-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Treatment of the purified material with trypsin completely abolished all of the antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis, suggesting that the purified material is a proteinaceous antibiotic. The molecular weight of the purified material was 2571.9 Da, but no primary structural information was obtained due to N-terminal blocking. A future study should confirm the primary structure. Our results suggest that the Manila clam gill contains proteinaceous antibiotics that have a role in first-line defense. This information could be used to better understand the Manila clam innate immune system.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.44-48
• /
• 1999

The ionization of tyrosine residue is known to be involved in the stabilization of transition-state in catalysis of astacin based upon the astacin-transition state analog structure. Two tyrosine residues, Tyr-216 and Tyr-219, are conserved in all MMPs related with astacin family, We replaced Tyr-216 and Tyr-219 into phenylalanine, respectively and the zinc binding properties, kinetic parameters, and pH dependence of each mutant are determined in order to examine the role of tyrosine residue in matrilysin catalysis. Both mutants contain two zinc atoms per mol of enzyme, indicating that either tyrosime does not affect the zinc binding property of the enzyme. Y216F and Y219F mutants are highly active and the kcat/Km values are only decreased 1.1-1.5-fold compared to the wild-type enzyme. The decrease in the activity of the mutants is essentially due to the increase in Km value. The pH dependencies of the kcat/Km values for both mutants are similar to the corresponding dependencies obtained with the wild type enzyme. The pKa values at the alkaline side of both mutants are not changed. These kinetic and pH dependence results indicate that the ionization of active site tyrosine residue of matrilysin is not reflected in the kinetics of peptide hydrolysin as catalyzed by astacin.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.89-95
• /
• 2017

The thermodynamic functions for the binding of the peptide Substance P (SP) on the surface of lipid vesicles made of various types of lipids were obtained by using isothermal titration calorimetry. The reaction enthalpies measured from the experiments were -0.11 to $-4.5kcal\;mol^{-1}$. The sizes of the lipid vesicles were measured with dynamic light scattering instrument in order to get the correlation between the reaction enthalpies and the vesicle sizes. The bindings of SP on the lipid vesicles with diameter of 37 to 108 nm were classified into the enthalpy-driven reaction or the entropy-driven reaction according to the size of the lipid vesicles. For the enthalpy-driven binding reaction, the significance of the electrostatic interactions between SP and lipid molecules was affirmed from the experimental results of the DMPC/DMPG/DMPH and DMPC/DMPS/DMPH vesicles as well as the importance of the hydrophobic interactions between hydrophobic groups of SP and lipid molecules.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.9-14
• /
• 2003

Recent studies indicated that cancer cells become resistant to ionizing radiation (IR) and chemotherapy drugs by enhanced DNA repair of the lesions. Therefore, it is expected to increase the killing of cancer cells and reduce drug resistance by inhibiting DNA repair pathways that tumor cells rely on to escape chemotherapy. There are a number of key human DNA repair pathways which depend on multimeric polypeptide activities. For example, Ku heterodimer regulatory DNA binding subunits (Ku70/Ku80) on binding to double strand DNA breaks (DSBs) are able to interact with 470-kDa DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), and are essential for DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) activity. It has been known that DNA-PK is an important factor for DNA repair and also is a sensor-transmitting damage signal to downstream targets, leading to cell cycles arrest. Our ultimate goal is to develop a treatment of breast tumors by targeting proteins involved in damage-signaling pathway and/or DNA repair. This would greatly facilitate tumor cell cytotoxic activity and programmed cell death through DNA damaging drug treatment. Therefore, we designed a domain of Ku80 mutants that binds to Ku70 but not DNA end binding activity and used the peptide in co-therapy strategy to see whether the targeted inhibition of DNA-PK activity sensitized breast cancer cells to irradiation or chemotherapy drug. We observed that the synthesized peptide (HNI-38) prevented DNA-PKcs from binding to Ku70/Ku80, thus resulting in inactivation of DNA-PK activity. Consequently, the peptide treated cells exhibited poor to no DNA repair, and became highly sensitive to IR or chemotherapy drugs, and the growth of breast cancer cells was inhibited. Additionally, the results obtained in the present study also support the physiological role of resistance of cancer cells to IR or chemotherapy.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.42 no.8
• /
• pp.506-510
• /
• 2009

The Toll signalling pathway in invertebrates is responsible for defense against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, leading to the expression of antimicrobial peptides via NF-$\kappa$B-like transcription factors. Gram-negative binding protein 3 (GNBP3) detects beta-1,3-glucan, a fungal cell wall component, and activates a three step serine protease cascade for activation of the Toll signalling pathway. Here, we showed that the recombinant N-terminal domain of Tenebrio molitor GNBP3 bound to beta-1,3-glucan, but did not activate down-stream serine protease cascade in vitro. Reversely, the N-terminal domain blocked GNBP3-mediated serine protease cascade activation in vitro and also inhibited beta-1,3-glucan-mediated antimicrobial peptide induction in Tenebrio molitor larvae. These results suggest that the N-terminal GNBP homology domain of GNBP3 functions as a beta-1,3-glucan binding domain and the C-terminal domain of GNBP3 may be required for the recruitment of immediate down-stream serine protease zymogen during Toll signalling pathway activation.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.550-556
• /
• 2014

Recently, the peptide(or protein)-polymer hybrid materials (PPs) were sought in many research areas as potential building blocks for assembling nanostructures in selective solvents. In PPs, the facile routes of preparing well-defined peptide-polymer bio-conjugates and their specific activities in various applications are important issues. Our strategy to prepare the peptide-polymer hybrid materials was to combine atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method with solid phase peptide synthesis. The standard solid phase peptide synthesis method was employed to prepare the PYGK (proline-tyrosine-glycine-lysine) peptide. PYGK is an analogue peptide, PFGK (proline-phenylalanine-glycine-lysine), which interacted with plasminogen in fibrinolysis. The peptide and the peptide-initiator were characterized with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and $^1H$ NMR spectrometer. The peptide-polymer, pSt-PYGK was characterized by GPC, IR, $^1H$ NMR spectrometer and TLC. Spherical micellar aggregates were determined by TEM and SEM. Current synthesis methodology suggested opportunities to create the well-defined peptide-polymer hybrid materials with specific binding activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2021

Inflammatory reactions activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria can lead to severe septic shock. With the recent emergence of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria and a lack of efficient ways to treat resulting infections, there is a need to develop novel anti-endotoxin agents. Antimicrobial peptides have been noticed as potential therapeutic molecules for bacterial infection and as candidates for new antibiotic drugs. We previously designed the 9-meric antimicrobial peptide Pro9-3 and it showed high antimicrobial activity against gram-negative bacteria. Here, to further examine its potency as an anti-endotoxin agent, we examined the anti-endotoxin activities of Pro9-3 and elucidated its mechanism of action. We performed a dye-leakage experiment and BODIPY-TR cadaverine and limulus amebocyte lysate assays for Pro9-3 as well as its lysine-substituted analogue and their enantiomers. The results confirmed that Pro9-3 targets the bacterial membrane and the arginine residues play key roles in its antimicrobial activity. Pro9-3 showed excellent LPS-neutralizing activity and LPS-binding properties, which were superior to those of other peptides. Saturation transfer difference-nuclear magnetic resonance experiments to explore the interaction between LPS and Pro9-3 revealed that Trp3 and Tlr7 in Pro9-3 are critical for attracting Pro9-3 to the LPS in the gram-negative bacterial membrane. Moreover, the anti-septic effect of Pro9-3 in vivo was investigated using an LPS-induced endotoxemia mouse model, demonstrating its dual activities: antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria and immunosuppressive effect preventing LPS-induced endotoxemia. Collectively, these results confirmed the therapeutic potential of Pro9-3 against infection of gram-negative bacteria.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.92-101
• /
• 2020

The cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp (cRGD) peptide is well-known as a binding molecule to the integrin α_vβ₃ receptor which is highly expressed on activated endothelial cells and new blood vessels in tumors. Although numerous results have been reported by the usage of cRGD peptide-based ligands for cancer diagnosis and therapy, the distinct mechanisms, and functions of cRGD-integrin binding to cancer cells are still being investigated. In this study, we evaluated the internalization efficacy of different types of cRGD peptides (monomer, dimer and tetramer form) in integrin α_vβ₃ overexpressing cancer cells. Western blot and flow cytometric analysis showed U87MG expresses highly integrin α_vβ₃, whereas CT-26 does not show integrin α_vβ₃ expression. Cytotoxicity assay indicated that all cRGD peptides (0-200 µM) had at least 70-80% of viability in U87MG cells. Fluorescence images showed cRGD dimer peptides have the highest cellular internalization compare to cRGD monomer and cRGD tetramer peptides. Additionally, transmission electron microscope results clearly visualized the endocytic internalization of integrin α_vβ₃ receptors and correlated with confocal microscopic results. These results support the rationale for the use of cRGD dimer peptides for imaging, diagnosis, or therapy of integrin α_vβ₃-rich glioblastoma.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.29 no.12
• /
• pp.1154-1157
• /
• 2006

The ermK gene from Bacillus lichenformis encodes an inducible rRNA methylase that confers resistance to the macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B antibiotics. The ermK mRNA leader sequence has a total length of 357 nucleotides and encodes a 14-amino acid leader peptide together with its ribosome binding site. The secondary structure of ermK leader mRNA and a leader peptide sequence have been reported as the elements that control expression. In this study, the contribution of specific leader peptide amino acid residues to induction of ermK was studied using the PCR-based megaprimer mutation method. ermK methylases with altered leader peptide codons were translationally fused to E. coli ${\beta}-galactosidase$ reporter gene. The deletion of the codons for Thr-2 through Ser-4 reduced inducibility by erythromycin, whereas that for Thr-2 and His-3 was not. The replacement of the individual codons for Ser-4, Met-5 and Arg-6 with termination codon led to loss of inducibility, but stop mutation of codon Phe-9 restored inducibility by erythromycin. Collectively, these findings suggest that the codons for residue 4, 5 and 6 comprise the critical region for induction. The stop mutation at Leu-7 expressed constitutively ermK gene. Thus, ribosome stalling at codon 7 appears to be important for ermK induction.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.927-937
• /
• 2021

This study was performed to screen the antimicrobial activities of the extract from the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas against skin pathogens and to purify the relevant antibacterial peptide. The acidified extract showed potent antibacterial activities against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria but showed no activity against Candida albicans and no significant cell toxicity. Among acne-causing pathogens, the acidified extract showed potent antibacterial activity only against Staphylococcus aureus, and its antibacterial activity was completely abolished by treatment with trypsin or chymotrypsin, and was inhibited by salt treatment. The acidified extract showed strong DNA-binding ability but did not show bacterial membrane permeabilizing ability. Based on antimicrobial activity screening and cytotoxic effects, a novel antibacterial peptide was purified from the acidified gill extract using solid-phase extraction, cation-exchange, and reversed-phase HPLC. The resulting peptide had a molecular weight of 4800.8 Da and showed partial sequence homology with the carbonic anhydrase 4 (CA4) protein in the hard-shelled mussel. Overall, we purified a novel antibacterial peptide, named cgCAFLP, which is related to carbonic anhydrase 4 (CA4) protein, against skin pathogens. Our results suggest that the Pacific oyster extract could be used as an additive to control some acne-related skin pathogens (S. aureus).