• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.263-284
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• 1986

Effects of putrescine, spermidine and spermine on the activity of D-glucose-6-phosphate cyclohydrolase in the Daucus carota L. protoplast cultured for 4 days and effects of polyamines on the incorporation of D-[u-14C]-glucose treated to protoplasts in culture-medium were investigated. The activity of D-glucose-6-phosphate cyclohydrolase was increased by polyamines and among them spermine was the most effective. Polyamiens increased protein synthesis and this due to the increasing effect of the polyamines on the synthesis of glycoprotein which is one of cell wall components. The synthesis of cell polysaccharides, such sa pectic substances, hemicelluloses and cellulose was increased by polyamines, which stimulated synthesis of pectin substances, and hemicellulose more greatly than that of cellulose, and spermidine was the most effective. In the light of the above results it seems that the polyamines increase cell wall regeneration by the stimulation of enzyme activities which synthesize cell wall components.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.619-622
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• 1993

Rumen bacterial amino acids in sheep on urea diet were monitored to assess a possible change in amino acid synthesis as a long term response to high rumen ammonia environment. A sheep was fed a semipurified diet with soybean meal, followed by a diet with urea as a main nitrogen source. Mixed rumen bacteria were harvested from ruminal fluid taken 3 h after feeding (twice in soybean meal feeding and 6 times in urea feeding) and fractionated as cell wall, proteins and protein-free cell supernatant of monitor amino acids in each fraction. Ruminal ammonia concentration at the sampling ranged from 5.7 to 39.5 mgN/dl. Cell wall and protein fractions of mixed rumen bacteria were stable in their amino acid composition regardless of nitrogen sources of diet and the feeding duration. However, protein-free cell supernatant fraction showed a higher alanine proportion with urea feeding (18.6 and 28.2 molar % of alanine for samples from sheep fed soybean meal and urea, respectively) and its duration (20.6 and 32.9 molar % for samples from sheep on urea diet for 1 and 65 days, respectively). Total free amino acid level of bacteria was depressed in the initial period of urea feeding but restored on 65th day of the feeding. These results suggest that an alanine synthesizing system may develop in rumen bacteria as urea feeding becomes longer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.212-219
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• 1991

Four species of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida utilis, Saccharomycopsis flbuligera, and Schwanniomyces castellii were evaluated for their ability to bioconvert potato processing waste water into microbial protein and the resulting single-cell proteins were evaluated as protein sources for rainbow trout, using in vitro analyses. The studies indicated that Schwanniomyces castellii, which utilizes starch dircetly and converts it into cell mass efficiently, was suitable for the bioconversion. In the single-stage continuous bioconversion, the yield S. castellii cell mass, which contained approximately 37% protein, was 77%, at dilution rate 0.25 $h^{-1}$. Reduction of total carbohydrate was 81%. During batch fermentations, cell mass yield was about 72% and total carbohydrate reduction was 81%. Among the yeasts tested, S. castellii possessed the most fragile cell wall and had a favorable amino acid profile for salmonid fish; protein score of 86% (Met). In an in vitro pepsin digestibility test 80% digestibility (23~38% above control) was observed when cells were pre-heated in a steam bath for 30 min. Results presented should be regarded as being preliminary in nature because they were derived from single experiments.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.403-406
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• 2009

Rev is an essential regulatory protein for HIV-1 replication. Rev (11-20) is known as the significant region regarding the function of a nuclear entry inhibitory signal (NIS) of Rev. In this study, anticandidal effects and mechanism of action of Rev (11-20) were investigated. The result exhibited that Rev (11-20) contained candidacidal activities. To understand target site(s) of Rev (11-20), the intracellular localization of the peptide was investigated. The result showed that Rev (11-20) rapidly accumulated in the fungal cell surface. The cell wall regeneration test also indicated that Rev (11-20) exerted its anticandidal activity to fungal plasma membrane rather than cell wall. The fluorescent study using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) further confirmed the membrane-disruption mechanism(s) of Rev (11-20). The present study suggests that Rev (11-20) possesses significant potential regarding therapeutic agents for treating fungal diseases caused by Candida species in humans.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.23-23
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• 2015

Rice blast disease caused by M. oryzae is the most devastating fungal disease in rice. During the infection process, M. oryzae secretes a large number of glycosyl hydrolase (GH) proteins into the apoplast to digest host cell wall and assist fungal ingress into host tissues. In this study, we identified a novel M. oryze arabinofuranosidase B (MoAbfB) which is secreted during fungal infection. Live-cell imaging exhibited that fluorescent labeled MoAbfB was highly accumulated in fungal invasive structures such as appressorium, tips of penetration peg, biotrophic interfacial complex (BIC), as well as invasive hyphal tip. Deletion of MoAbfB mutants extended biotrophic phase followed by enhanced disease severity, whereas, over-expression of OsMoAbfB mutant induced rapid defense responses and enhanced rice resistance to M. oryzae infection. Furthermore, exogenous treatment of MoAbfB protein showed inhibition of fungal infection via priming of defense gene expression. We later found that the extract of MoAbfB degraded rice cell wall fragments could also induce host defense activation, suggesting that not MoAbfB itself but oligosaccharides (OGs) derived from MoAbfB dissolved rice cell wall elicited rice innate immunity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2022

The fungal cell wall and membrane are the principal targets of antifungals. Herein, we report that myricetin exerts antifungal activity against Candida albicans by damaging the cell wall integrity and notably enhancing the membrane permeability. In the presence of sorbitol, an osmotic protectant, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of myricetin against C. albicans increased from 20 to 40 and 80 ㎍/ml in 24 and 72 h, respectively, demonstrating that myricetin disturbs the cell wall integrity of C. albicans. Fluorescence microscopic images showed the presence of propidium iodide-stained C. albicans cells, indicating the myricetin-induced initial damage of the cell membrane. The effects of myricetin on the membrane permeability of C. albicans cells were assessed using crystal violet-uptake and intracellular material-leakage assays. The percentage uptakes of crystal violet for myricetin-treated C. albicans cells at 1×, 2×, and 4× the MIC of myricetin were 36.5, 60.6, and 79.4%, respectively, while those for DMSO-treated C. albicans cells were 28.2, 28.9, and 29.7%, respectively. Additionally, myricetin-treated C. albicans cells showed notable DNA and protein leakage, compared with the DMSO-treated controls. Furthermore, treatment of C. albicans cells with 1× the MIC of myricetin showed a 17.2 and 28.0% reduction in the binding of the lipophilic probes diphenylhexatriene and Nile red, respectively, indicating that myricetin alters the lipid components or order in the C. albicans cell membrane, leading to increased membrane permeability. Therefore, these data will provide insights into the pharmacological worth of myricetin as a prospective antifungal for treating C. albicans infections.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.263-268
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• 2003

Recently, we identified a domain, termed MIRC3-4, for the protein-protein interaction between yeast chitin synthase 3 (CHS3) and chitin synthase 4 (CHS4). In this study, the functional roles of MIRC3-4 were examined at the G1 phase and cytokinesis of the cell cycle by Calcofluor staining and FISH. Some mutations in MIRC3-4 resulted in disappearance of the chitin ring in the early G1 phase, but did not affect chitin synthesis in the cell wall at cytokinesis. The chitin distribution in chs4 mutant cells indicated that CHS4 was involved in the synthesis of chitinring in the G1 phase and in the synthesis of cell wall chitin after cytokinesis, suggesting that Chs4p regulates chitin synthase 3 activity differently in G1 and cytokinesis. Absence of the chitin ring could be caused either by delocalization of Chs3p to the bud-neck or by improper interaction with Chs4p. When mutant cells were immunostained with a Chs3p-specific antibody to discriminate between these two alternatives, the mutated Ch3p was found to localize to the neck in all MIRC3-4 mutants. These results strongly irdicate that Chs4p regulates Chs3p as an activator but not a recruiter.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2010

Monofunctional biosynthetic peptidoglycan transglycosylase (MBPT) catalyzes the formation of the glycan chain in bacterial cell walls from peptidoglycan subunits: N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) and acetylmuramic acid (NAM). Bifunctional glycosyltransferases such as the penicillin binding protein (PBP) have peptidoglycan glycosyltransferase (PGT) on their C terminal end which links together the peptidoglycan subunits while transpeptidase (TP) on the N terminal end cross-links the peptide moieties on the NAM monosaccharide of the peptide subunits to create the bacterial cell wall. The singular function of MBPT resembles the C terminal end of PBP as it too contains and utilizes a similar PGT domain. In this article we analyzed the infectious and non infectious protein sequences of MBPT from 31 different strains of bacteria using a variety of bioinformatic tools. Motif analysis, dot-plot comparison, and phylogenetic analysis identified a number of significant differences between infectious and non-infectious protein sequences. In this paper we have made an attempt to explain, analyze and discuss these differences from an evolutionary perspective. The results of our sequence analysis may open the door for utilizing MBPT as a new target to fight a variety of infectious bacteria.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.227-238
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• 2012

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are conserved signaling modules in the eukaryotic cells. They are involved in many major cell processes in fungi such as stress responses, vegetative growth, pathogenicity, secondary metabolism and cell wall integrity. In this review, we summarized the advances of research on the MAPK signaling pathways in Alternaria species. As major phytopathogenic fungi, Alternaria species reduce crop production. In contrast to the five MAPK pathways known in yeast, only three MAPK pathways as Fus3/Kss1-type, Hog1-type, and Slt2-type have been characterized in Alternaria. The Fus3/Kss1-type MAPK pathway participates in regulation of vegetative growth, conidiation, production of some cell-wall-degrading enzymes and pathogenicity. The Hog1-type pathway is involved in osmotic and oxidative stress, fungicides susceptibility and pathogenicity. The Slt2-type MAP kinases play an important role on maintaining cell wall integrity, pathogenicity and conidiation. Although recent advances on the MAPK pathways in Alternaria spp. reveal many important features on the pathogenicity, there are many unsolved problems regarding to the unknown MAP kinase cascade components and network among other major signal transduction. Considering the economic loss induced by Alternaria spp., more researches on the MAPK pathways will need to control the Alternaria diseases.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.549-576
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• 1995

Bacteria are one of the most important causative agents of the pulpal and periapical diseases. Streptococci are one of the most frequently isolated facultative anarerobic bacteria in the infected root canals. Bacterial cell wall components have a direct effect in the pathogenesis of the pulpal and periapical infections. Hyaluronidase produced by bacteria has been implicated in dissemination of the diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cell wall extract of streptococci on the L929 cells using inverted microscope and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Hyaluronidase production of streptococcal strains were investigated to determine the correlation between the severity of cell damage and the activity of enzymes. Bacterial cell wall extracts of S. sanguis, S. mitis and S. uberis isolated from infected root canals and ATCC type strains of S. mutans (ATCC 10449) and E. faecalis (ATCC 19433) were prepared by sonication and confirmed with SDS-PAGE. Silver stain of SDS-PAGE of sonic extract was efficient at $100{\mu}g$/ml concentration of cell wall protein, while Coomasie blue stain was efficient at $100{\mu}g$/ml concentration. Inverted microscope showed that sonic extract-treated L929 cells were round and detached from the substratum while others lost their fibroblastic shapes. Transmission electron microscopic examination revealed that streptococcal extracts induced death of L929 cells. Sonic extracts of streptococci had variable effect on microstructure of L929 cells. significant chromatin condensation was observed in the nucleus of the cells. Disappearance of cell surface microvilli and nuclear fragments with dense chromatin were observed. The cell nucleus had an irregular shape and numerous large vacuoles were seen in the cytoplasm and some breaks of the cell membrane could be seen. Cell organelles were in various stages of destruction and cristae of mitochondria were disoriented or disappeared. Eighteen strains of streptococci did not produce hyaluronidase.