• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2019

Screening microorganisms that can produce glucan hydrolases for industrial, environmental, and biomedical applications is important. Herein, we describe a novel approach to perform glucan hydrolase screening-based on analysis of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) spectra-which involves degradation of the oligo- and polysaccharides. As a proof-of-concept study, glucan hydrolases that could break down glucans made of several glucose units were used to demonstrate the MALDI-MS-based enzyme assay. First, the enzyme activities of ${\alpha}$-amylase and cellulase on a mixture of glucan oligosaccharides were successfully discriminated, where changes of the MALDI-MS profiles directly reflected the glucan hydrolase activities. Next, we validated that this MALDI-MS-based enzyme assay could be applied to glucan polysaccharides (i.e., pullulan, lichenan, and schizophyllan). Finally, the bacterial glucan hydrolase activities were screened on 96-well plate-based platforms, using cell lysates or samples of secreted enzyme. Our results demonstrated that the MALDI-MS-based enzyme assay system would be useful for investigating bacterial glucoside hydrolases in a high-throughput manner.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.2 s.109
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• pp.114-120
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• 2005

In this study, a biological reaction and measurement control system was developed to rapidly measure the insecticide imidacloprid residues in agricultural products. The biological reaction part of the system was designed to include micro-pumps and valves for fluid transport, and a polystyrene covet as a reaction chamber. The measurement control part of the system consisted of a photodiode with a light-emitting diode for optical density measurement, and a control microcomputer to implement assay. Signal output was read as the rate of change in optical density at 645 nm. The sensitivity of the system was 2.2 ng/mL ($IC_50$). The system could execute a measurement cycle in about 19 minutes. Research will be continued to develop an automatic sampler fur imidacloprid residues from agricultural products.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.782-787
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• 2015

In this study, we developed an assay system for missense mutations in human phenylalanine hydroxylases (hPAHs). To demonstrate the reliability of the system, eight mutant proteins (F39L, K42I, L48S, I65T, R252Q, L255V, S349L, and R408W) were expressed in a mutant strain (pah^-) of Dictyostelium discoideum Ax2 disrupted in the indigenous gene encoding PAH. The transformed pah - cells grown in FM minimal medium were measured for growth rate and PAH activity to reveal a positive correlation between them. The protein level of hPAH was also determined by western blotting to show the impact of each mutation on protein stability and catalytic activity. The result was highly compatible with the previous ones obtained from other expression systems, suggesting that Dictyostelium is a dependable alternative to other expression systems. Furthermore, we found that both the protein level and activity of S349L and R408W, which were impaired severely in protein stability, were rescued in HL5 nutrient medium. Although the responsible component(s) remains unidentified, this unexpected finding showed an important advantage of our expression system for studying unstable proteins. As an economic and stable cell-based expression system, our development will contribute to mass-screening of pharmacological chaperones for missense PAH mutations as well as to the in-depth characterization of individual mutations.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.271-276
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• 2003

The inoculation of some microorganisms into a microcosm containing soil from a barren lakeside area at Lake Paro in Kangwon-do enhanced plant growth significantly. The direct and viable counts of soil bacteria and soil microbial activities measured by electron transport system assay and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis assay were higher in inoculated soil. The plant growth promoting effect of this inoculation may be caused by phytohormone production and the solubilization of insoluble phosphates by the inoculated bacteria. Three inoculated strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens produced several plant growth promoting phytohormones, including indole-3-acetic acid (auxin), which was confirmed by thin layer chromatography and GC/MS. P. fluorescens strain B16 and M45 produced 502.4 and 206.1 mg/l of soluble phosphate from Ca3(PO4)2 and hydroxyapatite, respectively. Bacillus megaterium showed similar solubilization rates of insoluble phosphates to those of Pseudomonas spp. We believe that this plant growth promoting capability may be used for the rapid revegetation of barren or disturbed land.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.286-291
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• 2002

Histone deacetylase I (HDAC1) works as one of the components in a nucleosome remodeling (NuRD) complex that consists of several proteins, including metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1). Since the protein-protein interaction of HDAC1 and MTA1 would appear to be important for both the integrity and functionality of the HDAC1 complex, the interruption of the HDAC1 and MTA1 interaction may be an efficient way to regulate the biological function of the HDAC1 complex. Based on this idea, a yeast two-hybrid system was constructed with HDAC1 and MTA1 expressing vectors in the DNA binding and activation domains, respectively. To verify the efficiency of the assay system, 3,500 microbial metabolite libraries were tested using the paper disc method, and KB0699 was found to inhibit the HDAC1 and MTA1 interaction without any toxicity to the wild-type yeast. Furthermore, KB0699 blocked the interaction of HDAC1 and MTA1 in an in vitro GST pull down assay and induced morphological changes in B16/BL6 melanoma cells, indicating the interruption of the HDAC1 complex function. Accordingly, these results demonstrated that the yeast assay strain developed in this study could be a valuable tool for the isolation of a HDAC1 complex disruptor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.136-145
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• 2022

Later flow immunoassay (LFIA) is a protein analytical method based on immunoreaction. On the LFIA based protein analytical method, bioreceptor molecule plays a key role, and so a system that evaluates and manages the binding affinity of bioreceptor is needed to secure detection reliability. In this study, Lateral Flow Immunoassay based rapid Bioreceptor Screening Method (rBSM) is presented that provide a simple and quick evaluating method for the binding affinity to the target protein of the antibody as model bioreceptor. To verify this evaluation method, Virus-like particles (VLP) and anti-VLP antibodies are selected as a model norovirus, which is target protein, and the candidate bioreceptors respectively. Among the 5 different candidate antibodies, appropriate antibody could be sorted out within 30 minutes through rBSM. In addition, selected antibodies were applied to two representative LFIA based techniques, sandwich assay and competitive assay. Among these methods, sandwich assay showed more effective VLP detection method. Through applying selected antibodies and techniques to the commercialized mass production lines, an VLP detecting LFIA kit was developed with a detection limit of 10¹² copies/g of VLPs in real samples. Since this proposed method in this study could be easily transformable into other combinations with bioreceptors, it is expected that this technique would be applied to LFIA kit development system and bioreceptor quality management.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.232-239
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• 2009

This paper describes the simple nanopatterning of proteins on polyelectrolyte surfaces using microcontact printing with a nanopatternable, hydrophilic composite nanomold. The composite nanomold was easily fabricated by blending two UV-curable materials composed of Norland Optical Adhesives(NOA) 63 and poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate(PEG-DMA). NOA 63 provided stable nanostructure formation and PEG-DMA induced high wettability of proteins in the nanomold. Using the composite mold and functionalized surface with polyelectrolytes, the fluorescent, isothiocyanate-tagged, bovine serum albumin(FITC-BSA) was successfully patterned with 8 nm height and 500 nm width. To confirm the feasibility of the protein assay on a nanoscale, a glycoprotein-lectin assay was successfully demonstrated as a model system. As expected, the lectins correctly recognized the nano-patterned glycoproteins such as chicken ovalbumin. The simple preparation of composite nanomold and functionalized surface with a universal platform can be applied to various biomolecules such as DNA, proteins, carbohydrates, and other biomolecules on a nanoscale.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.699-704
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• 2011

Nitric oxide (NO) is a critical biological mediator involved in numerous diseases. However, the short lifetime of this molecule in biological conditions can make its study in situ complicated. Here, we review some recent results on the role of NO in angiogenesis, obtained using a biocompatible microelectrode array. This simple system allowed for the quick and easy quantification of NO released from cells grown directly on the surface of the sensor. We have used this technology to demonstrate that angiogenin induces NO release, and to partially elucidate its intracellular transduction pathway.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.59-61
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• 2000

The cytotoxic activities of the methanol extracts of 44 plant species in 31 families against five human solid A549 (lung), SK-OV-2 (ovarian), SK-MEL-2 (melanoma), XF-498 (central nervous system), and HCT-15 (colon) tumor cell lines were examined using the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. Responses varied with both cell line and plant species used. Potent cytotoxic activities ($ED_{50}$, <$40{\mu}g/ml$) against all model tumor cell lines were produced from the extracts of Rhus chinensis gall (Galla rhois), Betula platyphylla var. japonica bark, Inula helenium root, Cinnamomum cassia bark, Cinnamomum sieboldii root bark, Lysimachia davurica whole plant, and Evodia rutaecarpa fruit. These plants may be useful for developing new types of naturally occurring anti-tumor agents.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.468-473
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• 2010

Previously, various inhibitors of cell wall synthesis induced the drp35 gene of Staphylococcus aureus efficiently. To determine whether drp35 could be exploited in antistaphylococcal drug discovery, we cloned the promoter of drp35 ($P_d$) and developed different biological assay systems using an engineered S. aureus strain that harbors a chromosomally-integrated $P_d$ - lacZ transcriptional fusion. An agarose-based assay showed that $P_d$ is induced not only by the cell wall-affecting antibiotics but also by rifampicin and ciprofloxacin. In contrast, a liquid medium-based assay revealed the induction of $P_d$ specifically by the cell wall-affecting antibiotics. Induction of $P_d$ by sublethal concentrations of cell wall-affecting antibiotics was even assessable in a microtiter plate assay format, indicating that this assay system could be potentially used for high-throughput screening of new cell wall-inhibiting compounds.