• BMB Reports
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.68-71
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• 1995

Bovine gastricsin catalyzes peptide synthesis over an optimum range of pH 4~5, resulting in satisfactory yields of methyl esters and p-nitroanilides of benzyloxycarbonyl tetra- to hexa-peptides, provided that hydrophobic amino acid residues form new peptide bonds. The effectiveness of the enzyme also depends on the nature of adjacent amino acid residues. An aspartic proteinase with a characteristic gastricsin specificity pattern would be useful for the synthesis of middle-length peptides.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.148-149
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• 2001

Protein inhibitors are proteins or peptides capable of inhibiting catalytic activities of proteolytic enzymes. They are grouped primarily as either serine, cysteine, aspartic or metallto-proteinase inhibitors. Pretense inhibitors have been hewn since the end of the last century in nematodes and human blood serum, and their ubiquitous distribution in microorganisms, animals and plants has been widely documented. (omitted)

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2012

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been used as starter cultures in the manufacturing processes of fermented dairy products such as cheese and yogurt. LAB have a proteolytic system to use the nitrogen source from milk for their growth. The proteolytic system involved in casein utilization provides cells with essential amino acids during growth in milk and is also of industrial importance, because of its contribution to the development of the organoleptic properties such as flavor of fermented milk products. In the most extensively studied LAB, Lactococcus lactis, the main features of the proteolytic system comprise 3 groups. The first is proteinase, which initially cleaves the milk protein to peptides. The second group consists of transport systems for the internalization of oligopeptides, which are involved in the cellular uptake of small peptides and amino acids. The third group, peptidases in the cell, cleaves peptides into smaller peptides and amino acids. This review is to provide the information about the proteolytic system of LAB.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.490-496
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• 2008

Symbiobacterium toebii is a commensal symbiotic thermophile that cannot grow without support from a partner bacterium. We investigated the properties of Symbiobacterium growth-supporting factors (SGSFs) produced by the partner bacterium Geobacillus toebii. SGSFs occurred in both the cell-free extract (CFE) and culture supernatant of G. toebii and might comprise multifarious materials because of their different biological properties. The heavy SGSF contained in the cytosolic component exhibited heat- and proteinase-sensitive proteinaceous properties and had a molecular mass of >50 kDa. In contrast, the light SGSF contained in the extracellular component exhibited heat-stable, proteinase-resistant, nonprotein properties and had a molecular mass of <10 kDa. Under morphological examination using light microscopy, S. toebii cultured with the culture supernatant of G. toebii was filamentous, whereas S. toebii cultured with the CFE of G. toebii was rod-shaped. These results strongly suggest that the SGSFs produced by G. toebii comprise two or more types that differ in their growth-supporting mechanisms, although all support the growth of S. toebii. Upon the examination of the distribution of SGSFs in other bacteria, both cytosolic and extracellular components of Geobacillus kaustophilus, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis had detectable growth-supporting effects for S. toebii, indicating that common SGSF materials are widely present in various bacterial strains.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.1 s.68
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• pp.94-99
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• 2005

Sixty four bacterial colonies which were able to oxidize the manganese were isolated from soil samples in Mokcheon and Ochang area. Among them, one bacterial strain was selected for this study based on its higher manganese oxidation, and this selected bacterial strain was identified as Aeromonas sp. MN44 through physiological-biochemical test and analysis of its 16s rRNA sequence. Aeromonas sp. MN44 was able to utilize lactose but did not utilize various carbohydrates as a sole carbon source. Aeromonas sp. MN44 showed a very sensitive to antibiotics such as kanamycin, chloramphenicol, ampicillin, tetracycline and spectinomycin, and heavy metal such as cadmium. But this strain showed a high resistance up to mg/ml unit to heavy metals such as lithium and manganese. Optimal manganese oxidation condition of Aeromonas sp. MN44 was pH 7.4 and manganese oxidation activity was inhibited by proteinase K and boiling treatment. So, we concluded that this factor was protein. The manganese oxidizing factor produced by Aeromonas sp. MN44 was partial purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Toyopearl 650M ion exchange chromatography and Sephadex gel filtration chromatography. Its molecular mass was about 113 kDa.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.509-516
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• 2009

The CJ6 bacterial strain, which possesses strong antifungal activity, was isolated from meju and identified as Bacillus polyfermenticus based on Gram staining, biochemical properties, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. B. polyfermenticus CJ6 showed antimicrobial activity against the various pathogenic molds, yeasts, and bacteria. Antifungal activity from B. polyfermenticus CJ6 was reduced after 24 hr at $70^{\circ}C$ but antifungal activity was not completely destroyed. The antifungal activity was stable in the pH range of $3.0{\sim}9.0$, and inactivated by proteinase K, protease, and ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin, which indicate its proteinaceous nature. The apparent molecular masses of the partially purified antifungal compound, as indicated by using the direct detection method in Tricine-SDS-PAGE, was approximately 1.4 kDa.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.221-228
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• 1999

In order to find a biochemical marker for late Iysosomes, we characterized two cDNAs which were cloned by using a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against Iysosomes in Amoeba proteus as a probe. The two cDNAs, a 1.3-kb cDNA in pBSK-Iys45 and a 1.6-kb cDNA in pBSK-Iys60, were found to encode proteins homologous to pepstatin-insensitive carboxyl proteinases (PICPs). E. coli transformed with pBSK-Iys45 produced two immunopositive polypeptides (45 and 43 kDa) and the cDNA in 1274 bases encoded a 44,733-Da protein (Lys45) of 420 amino acids containing one site for a core oligosaccharide. On the other hand, E. coli transformed with pBSK-Iys60 produced several polypeptides (64, 54, 45, 41, and 37 kDa) reacting with the mAb. The cDNA contained 1629 bases and encoded a 59,231-Da protein (Lys60) of 530 amino acids containing two sites for asparagine-linked core oligosaccharides. These two cDNAs showed identities of 60.3% in nucleotide sequences and 23.6% in amino acid sequences. Lys45 and Lys60 appeared to share XXEFQK as a common antigenic domain. The amino acid sequence of the Lys45 protein showed 17.4% identity and 40.9% similarity to that of PICP from Pseudomonas sp. 101. On the other hand, Lys60 showed a 24.3% identity and 51.9% similarity with human Iysosomal PICP in the amino acid sequence. A putative active center for serine protease, GTS＊xxxxxFxG, was found to be conserved among PICP homologues. The two PICPs are the first reported enzymatic markers for late Iysosomes.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.83-87
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• 2000

Carnation petals exhibit autocatalytic ethylene production and wilting during senescence. The autocatalytic ethylene production is induced by the expression of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase and ACC oxidase genes, whereas the wilting of petals is related to expression of the cysteine proteinase (CP) gene. Until recently, it has been believed that these two phenomena, autocatalytic ethylene production and wilting, are regulated in concert in senescing carnation petals, since the two phenomena occurred closely in parallel. Our studies with petals of a transgenic carnation harboring a sense ACC oxidase transgene and petals of carnation flowers treated with 1,1-dimethyl-4-(phenylsulfonyl) semicarbazide showed that the expression of ACC synthase and ACC oxidase genes and that of CP are regulated differently in carnation psanetals. Interestingly, in the petals of transgenic carnation, the transcript for CP was accumulated but the transcripts for ACC synthase and ACC oxidase were not accumulated in response to exogenous ethylene. Based on these results, we hypothesized that two ethylene signaling pathways, one leading to the expression of ACC synthase and ACC oxidase genes and the other leading to the expression of CP gene, are functioning in senescing carnation petals.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.341-347
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• 2011

Acanthamoeba infection is difficult to treat because of the resistance property of Acanthamoeba cyst against the host immune system, diverse antibiotics, and therapeutic agents. To identify encystation mediating factors of Acanthamoeba, we compared the transcription profile between cysts and trophozoites using microarray analysis. The DNA chip was composed of 12,544 genes based on expressed sequence tag (EST) from an Acanthamoeba ESTs database (DB) constructed in our laboratory, genetic information of Acanthamoeba from TBest DB, and all of Acanthamoeba related genes registered in the NCBI. Microarray analysis indicated that 701 genes showed higher expression than 2 folds in cysts than in trophozoites, and 859 genes were less expressed in cysts than in trophozoites. The results of real-time PCR analysis of randomly selected 9 genes of which expression was increased during cyst formation were coincided well with the microarray results. Eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOG) analysis showed an increment in T article (signal transduction mechanisms) and O article (posttranslational modification, protein turnover, and chaperones) whereas significant decrement of C article (energy production and conversion) during cyst formation. Especially, cystein proteinases showed high expression changes (282 folds) with significant increases in real-time PCR, suggesting a pivotal role of this proteinase in the cyst formation of Acanthamoeba. The present study provides important clues for the identification and characterization of encystation mediating factors of Acanthamoeba.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.7-24
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• 1983

On the basis of the semen analysis in 66 subjects, they were divided into six different groups: Group I consisted of 16 normal subjects with sperm counts of over 40 ${\times}10^6$/ml and motility of over 40 percent, Group II, 7 subjects with normal sperm counts, but motility of under 40 percent, Group III, 15 oligospermic patients with under 40 ${\times}10^6$/ml, Group IV 14 azoospermic patients, Group V, 10 patients with vasectomy and Group VI, 4 abnormal patients with 2 cases of hypoplastic testis, 1 case of Klinefelter's syndrome and 1 case of testis tumor. After seperation of semen into sperm and seminal plasma by centrifugation, the protein contents and the activities of hyaluronidase, ${\beta}$-N acetylglucosaminidase, ${\beta}$-glucuronidase, arylsulfatase, acrosin and azocoll proteinase in seminal plasma were measured. Vasectomy group has 30 percent less of total protein than normal group. For the comparison of enzyme activities of seminal plasma, it could be assumed that the enzymes in seminal plasma were not contaminated with the enzymes of spermatozoa by testing the enzymes of the seminal plasma from the vasectomy and azoospermic groups. It had been reported that hyaluronidase was only released from spermatozoa, however, the result obtained in this investigation showed that azoospermic and vasectomy group had high specific activities of hyaluronidase. The results indicated that hyaluronidase was not only from the testis but also from the male accessory sexual glands. Oligospermic group (Group III) showed the lowest total activity of hyaluronidase among them. The specific activities of ${\beta}$ -N-acetylglucosaminidase was high in oligospermic group (Group III) and low in vasectomy group (Group V). These results were contradictory with the pattern of hyaluronidase activities. This indicated that the spermatozoa which were stayed in epididymis would increase the activity of this enzyme. The specific activity of ${\beta}$ - glucuronidase was low in oligospermic and vasectomy groups. Group VI including testis tumor had remarkably high arylsulfatase activity. Arylsulfatase, a typical lysosomal enzyme, has been known to be released unusually large amounts from certain tumor cells. Arylsulfatase was also released with high activities from azoospermic and vascetomy group. This result indicated that this enzyme was also released from the sources other than testis. Acrosin, a proteolytic enzyme locating in the sperm acrosome, was not found throughout all the samples of seminal plasma. The activities of azocoll proteinase, a non-specific neutral proteinase was nearly identical in all the groups. This enzyme must have been released from the sources other than testis.