• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.44-55
• /
• 1997

This study was carried out to find out the relationship between qualities and contraction phenomenon of silk fibers by treatment of concentrated neutral salts. The contraction effects of silk fibers showed the critical point on the treatment conditions of concentration, temperature and time, among three kinds of neutral salts such as calcium nitrate, calcium chloride and lithium bromide. But, The silk fibers, pretreated with bromide and/or formaldehyde, did not show the contraction upon treating with calcium nitrate. This indicates that tyrosine and serine can be correlated with the contraction reaction because of coupling these amino acids with bromide and formaldehyde. In conclusion, a mechanism for the contraction of silk fiber with highly concentrated calcium nitrate solution is supposed as follows. At the initial stage of ration, the water was penetrated into the amorphous regions and fibers swollen, therefore, the contraction took place mainly in amorphous regions, which have plenty of functional groups with hydroxyl residues. Then, as the calcium nitrate is penetrated into the microfibril, the gydrogen bonds of tyrosine and serine residues and broken and crystalline regions are more and more influenced by increasing concentration of calcium nitrate solution. Microgibrils of crystalline regions become entangled, contracted to linear direction and rearranged to form new stable hydrogen bonds.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.1769-1776
• /
• 2014

Binding modes of a series of catechol derivatives such as protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitors were identified by molecular modeling techniques. Docking, molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations were employed to determine the modes of these new inhibitors. Binding free energies were calculated by involving different energy components using the Molecular Mechanics-Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area and Generalized Born Surface Area methods. Relatively larger binding energies were obtained for the catechol derivatives compared to one of the PTP1B inhibitors already in use. The Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) free energy decomposition analysis indicated that the hydroxyl functional groups and biphenyl ring system had favorable interactions with Met258, Tyr46, Gln262 and Phe182 residues of PTP1B. The results of hydrogen bound analysis indicated that catechol derivatives, in addition to hydrogen bonding interactions, Val49, Ile219, Gln266, Asp181 and amino acid residues of PTP1B are responsible for governing the inhibitor potency of the compounds. The information generated from the present study should be useful for the design of more potent PTP1B inhibitors as anti-diabetic agents.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.243-248
• /
• 1998

We have partially sequenced glutaminyl cyclases from several mammalian and one avian species and found that the two cysteine residues of the human glutaminyl cyclase are completely conserved. The mammalian glutaminyl cyclase has been reported to possess reactive thiols (Busby, Jr, et aI., 1987, J BioI Chern 262, 8532-8536). Mutagenesis of these cysteine residues, however, resulted in only a slight decrease in enzyme activity. Likewise, the recombinant human enzyme was completely resistant to attempted chemical modification of the putative reactive thiols. Although the human glutaminyl cyclase did not appear to have reactive thiols, it was sensitive to diethylpyrocarbonate and acetylimidazole, indicating the presence of functionally important histidine and tyrosine residues which could act as acid/base catalysts. Almost identical deuterium solvent isotope effect (1.2 vs 1.3) upon the reaction by the human and papaya enzymes, respectively, provides an evidence both animal and plant glutaminyl cyclases catalyze pyroglutamyl-peptide formation by intramolecular cyclization.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.416-421
• /
• 1988

Humic acids were extracted from straw of wheat and rye at three different stages of decomposition. Contents and distribution of amino acids in the hydrolysates of humic acids were examined and the results obtained can be summarized as the following: 1. Contents and distribution of amino acids in the hydrolysates of humic acids differ from plant to plant and from one stage of decomposition to another. 2. Neutral amino acids as a group take the largest portion of the total amino acids in humic acid hydrolysates followed by the acidic and the basic. 3. The total amount of amino acids in decomposed wheat straw at the 90 days of humification was greater than that in the case of rye straw. 4. Contents of amino acids other than arginine, histidine and tyrosine were increased in the case of wheat straw, while only the contents of lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and methionine were observed to increase in the case of rye straw. 5. Exceptionally high contents of phenylalanine and tyrosine were measured in the hydrolysate from rye straw taken at the end of experimental period. 6. No amount of arginine was detected in any hydrolysate of humic acids from decomposed plant residues.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.138-143
• /
• 2004

Soybean curd residues (SCR) obtained from hot and cold manufacturing processes were fermented by indigenous microorganisms, Lactobacillus rhamnosus LS and Bacillus firmus NA-l for 15 h at 37$^{\circ}C$. The pH, acidity, viable cell counts, and tyrosine content were evaluated in samples with variations in sugar, starter and type of SCR. The raw Doowon SCR (D-SCR, cold-processed) fermented by indigenous microorganism had a 0.9% acidity and 6.7 ${\times}$ 10$^{7}$ CFU/g viable cell counts, compared with the 0.11 % acidity and 6.7 ${\times}$ 10$^{6}$ CFU/g viable cell counts of raw fermented Pulmuwon SCR (P-SCR, hot-processed). After fermentation of raw P-SCR with 1 % glucose and 1 % L. rhamnosus LS starter, the viable cell counts, tyrosine content and acidity were 4.7 ${\times}$ 10$^{8}$ CFU/g, 16.3 mg% and 0.9%, respectively. In addition, the raw P-SCR fermented with Bacillus firmus NA-l as co-starter had a 0.45% acidity, 2.4 ${\times}$ 10$^{8}$ CFU/g lactic acid bacteria, and 3.3 ${\times}$ 10$^{6}$ CFU/g Bacillus sp. In particular, the tyrosine content was increased 5 fold. The drying of fermented SCR was completed by hot-air drying (5$0^{\circ}C$) within 12 h; the dried P-SCR and D-SCR had 1.8 ${\times}$ 10$^{7}$ CFU/g and 5.3 ${\times}$ 10$^{6}$ CFU/g viable cell counts, respectively. The concentrate of methanol extract from fermented D-SCR inhibited the initial cell growth of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in liquid culture.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 2008

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling is a crucial component of eukaryotic cells; it plays an important role in responses to extracelluar stimuli and in the regulation of various cellular activities. The signaling cascade is evolutionarily conserved in the eukaryotic kingdom from yeast to human. In response to a variety of extracellular signals, MAPK activity is known to be regulated via phosphorylation of a conserved $T{\times}Y$ motif at the activation loop in which both threonine and tyrosine residues are phosphorylated by the upstream kinase. However, the mechanism by which both residues are phosphorylated continues to remain elusive. In the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Fus3 MAPK is involved in the mating signaling pathway. In order to elucidate the functional mechanism of MAPK activation, we quantitatively profiled phosphorylation of the $T{\times}Y$ motif in Fus3 using mass spectrometry (MS). We used synthetic heavy stable isotope-labeled phosphopeptides and nonphosphopeptides corresponding to the proteolytic $T{\times}Y$ motif of Fus3 and accompanying data-dependent tandem MS to quantitatively monitor dynamic changes in the phosphorylation events of MAPK. Phosphospecific immunoblotting and the MS data suggested that the tyrosine residue is dynamically phosphorylated upon stimulation and that this leads to dual phosphorylation. In contrast, the magnitude of threonine phosphorylation did not change significantly. However, the absence of a threonine residue leads to hyperphosphorylation of the tyrosine residue in the unstimulated condition, suggesting that the threonine residue contributes to the control of signaling noise.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.200-205
• /
• 2008

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway is activated in response to extracellular stimuli and regulates various activities in eukaryotic cells. Following exposure to stimuli, MAPK is known to be activated via dual phosphorylation at a conserved TxY motif in the activation loop; both threonine and tyrosine residues are phosphorylated by an upstream kinase. However, the mechanism underlying dual phosphorylation is not clearly understood. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Hog1 MAPK mediates the high-osmolarity glycerol (HOG) signaling pathway. Tandem mass spectrometry and phosphospecific immunoblotting were performed to quantitatively monitor the dynamic changes occurring in the phosphorylation status of the TxY motif of Hog1 on exposure to osmotic stress. The results of our study suggest that the tyrosine residue is preferentially and dynamically phosphorylated following stimulation, and this in turn leads to the dual phosphorylation. The tyrosine residue was hyperphosphorylated in the absence of a threonine residue; this result suggests that the threonine residue is critical for the control of signaling noise and adaptation to osmotic stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
• /
• 2001.06a
• /
• pp.135-136
• /
• 2001

The Tk-ptp gene encoding a protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis KODI was cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis indicated that Tk-ptp encoded a protein consisting 147 amino acid residues (16,953 Da). The wild type and the mutants were expressed in Escherichia coli cells as His-tagged fusion proteins and examined for enzyme characteristics. Tk-PTP possessed two unique features that were not found in eucaryal and bacterial counterparts. First, the recombinant Tk-PTP showed the phosphatase activity not only for the phosphotyrosine but also phosphoserine. Second, the conserved Asp (Asp-63), which was considered to be a critical residue, was not involved in catalysis. In order to know a specific substrate for Tk-PTP, C93S mutant was used to trap substrate protein. Proteins of 120, 60 and 53 kDa were isolated specifically from KODI cell lysates by affinity chromatography with Tk-PTP-C93S. It is suggested that these proteins are tyrosine-phosphorylated substrates of Tk-PTP.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.1043-1046
• /
• 2009

Human protein tyrosine kinase-6 (PTK6) is a member of the non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase family and it is found in two-thirds of all breast tumors. Very recently, we proposed that the SH3 domain of PTK6 interacts with the linker region (Linker) between the SH2 and kinase domains, proving that the interaction between SH3 domain and Linker plays an important role in auto-inhibition mechanism. Residues from 1 to 191 corresponding region of SH3-SH2-Linker (SH32L) of PTK6 was cloned into the pET32a expression vector with Tobbaco etch virus (TEV) protease enzyme site by sequence homology and 3D structural model. The purified PTK6-SH32L was determined as a monomer conformation in solution. The amide proton resonances in the $^{15}N-^{1}H$ 2D-HSQC spectrum suggest that PTK6-SH32L possesses disordered structural region of the flexible/unstructured linker region. In addition, the backbone amide proton chemical shifts of the SH3 domain in the PTK6-SH32L differ from that of the independent domain, indicating that intra-molecular interaction between SH3 and Linker in the PTK6-SH32L is present.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.153-164
• /
• 1998

Cytokines regulate proliferation, differentiation and functions of haemotopoietic cells. Each cytokine possesses a variety of activities on various target cells (pleiotropy) and various cytokines have similar and overlapping activities on the same target cells (redundancy). The nature of these cytokine activities predicts unique feature of cytokine receptors, namely, cytokine has multiple receptors, different cytokines share a common receptor, and different cytokine receptors are linked to common signaling pathways. cDNA cloning of genes for cytokine receptors revealed distinct sets of receptor family with different structural features. The cytokine receptor superfamily consists of a largest family, and contains more than twenty cytokine receptor subunits. This receptor has common structural features in both extracellular and intracellular regions without tyrosine kinase domain. Another striking feature of the receptor is to share common subunit of multiple cytokines, which partly explains the redundancy of activities of some cytokines. Recent studies revealed detailed signaling events of the cytokine receptor, the primary activation of JAK and subsequent phosphorylation of tyrosine residues of receptor, and various cellular proteins. Many SH2 containing adapter proteins play an important role in cytokine signals, and this system has similarities with tyrosine kinase receptor signal transduction. STAT may mainly account for cytokine specific functions as suggested by knockout mice studies. It is of importance to note that cytokine activates multiple signaling pathways and the balance and combination of related signaling events may determine the specificity of functions of cytokines.