• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.177-180
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• 2001

Glycinecin A, a bacteriocin produced by Xanthomonas campestris pv. glycines, inhibits the growth of X. c. pv. vesicatoria. We have reported that purified glycinecin A is composed of two polypeptides, is active over a wide range of pH (6 to 9), and is stable at temperatures up to 60$\^{C}$. Glycinecin A is a heterodimer consisting of 39- and 14-kDa subunits; the two encoding genes, glyA and glyB, respectively, have been cloned (Heu et al. 2001. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67, 4105-4110). Co-expression of glyA and glyB in the same cell is essential for bacteriocin activity. We constructed and produced a chimeric glycinecin A connecting glyA and glyB in one open reading frame. The chimeric glycinecin A has the same bactericidal activity as the wild-type glycinecin A. However, the chimeric glycinecin A is more stable in a wider range of pH and temperature.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.432-443
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• 1998

The poliovirus Sabin 1 strain has features that make it a particularly attractive live recombinant mucosal vaccine vehicle. Sabin 1 cDNA was manipulated to have multiple cloning sites and a viral specific 3C-protease cutting site at the N-terminal end of the polyprotein. The gene for the N-terminal 169 amino acids of the HIV-1 p24 was cloned into the multiple cloning site of the manipulated Sabin cDNA. A recombinant progeny virus was produced from HeLa cells when it was transfected with the RNA synthesized from the p24-Sabin chimeric cDNA. The recombinant progeny virus expresses substantial amounts of the HIV-1 p24 protein, which was clearly detected in the infected cell lysates and culture supernatants in Western blot experiments with rabbit anti-p24 serum and AIDS patients' sera. Differing from the Mahoney strain, the recombinant Sabin 1 poliovirus maintained the foreign gene stably during the subsequent passages. Replication capacity was about 1 to 1.5 log lower than that of the wild-type Sabin 1. Other physicochemical stability characteristics of the recombinant virus were similar to that of the wild-type Sabin 1. These results suggest that the manipulated Sabin 1 poliovirus can be used as a live viral vaccine vector for the development of mucosal vaccines.

• BMB Reports
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• v.57 no.8
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• pp.369-374
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• 2024

Antigen 43 (Ag43) proteins, found on the outer membrane of Escherichia coli, are β-sheets that fold into a unique cylindrical structure known as a β-barrel. There are several known structural similarities between bacterial Ag43 autotransporters and physical components; however, the factors that stabilize the barrel and the mechanism for Ag43 passenger domain-mediated translocation across the pore of the β-barrel remain unclear. In this study, we analyzed Ag43β-enhanced green fluorescent protein chimeric variants to provide new insights into the autotransporter Ag43β-barrel assembly, focusing on the impact of the α-helical linker domain. Among the chimeric variants, Ag43β700 showed the highest surface display, which was confirmed through extracellular protease digestion, flow cytometry, and an evaluation of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). The Ag43β700 module offered reliable information on stable barrel folding and chimera expression at the exterior of the OMVs.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-92
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• 1999

Drug delivery to the brain may be achieved by producing chimeric peptide, attaching the drug to protein 'vectors' which are transported into the brain from the blood by a receptor-mediated transcytosis through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Since the BBB expresses high concentrations of transferrin receptor, and it was reported that anti-transferrin receptor mouse monoclonal antibody (OX26) undergoes transcytosis through the BBB, it is logical to assume that a drug delivery system via transferrin receptor-mediated transcytosis is a promising strategy. In the present study, therefore, we tested feasibility of several OX26 based vectors for the brain delivery of a model drug. Avidin-based delivery vectors such as OX26-streptavidin (OX26-SA), OX26-neutralite avidin (OX26-NLA) were chemically synthesized vectors and OX26 immunoglobulin G 3 type $C_{H}3$ fusion avidin $(OX26\;IgG3C_H3-AV)$ was genetically engineered. To improve the efficiency of producing chimeric peptide, we used avidin-biotin technology. Pharmacokinetics of $[^3H]biotin$ bound to OX26-SA, OX26-NLA and $OX26\;IgG3C_H3-AV$ was determined by intravenous injection technique, and their stabilities in plasma were analyzed using HPLC. The brain delivery of $[^3H]biotin$ bound to OX26-SA, OX26-NLA and OX26\;$IgG3C_{H}3-AV$ (expressed as %ID/g brain) was $0.22{\pm}0.01$, $0.18{\pm}0.01$ and $0.25{\pm}0.09$, respectively. The areas under the plasma concentration versus time curve (AUC) for OX26-SA, OX26-NLA, $OX26\;IgG3C_H3-AV$ from time zero to 60 min were $209{\pm}10$, $195{\pm}9$, $134{\pm}29\;%ID\;min/ml$ respectively and their total clearances $(CL_{tot})$ were $1.00{\pm}0.09$, $1.08{\pm}0.07$ and $1.54{\pm}0.29\;ml/min/kg$, espectively. These results showed that these vectors possess preferable pharmaceutical (e.g., resonable stability) and pharmacokinetics (e.g., significant brain uptake and enhanced AUC) for brain delivery. Therefore, these vectors may be broadly useful in the brain delivery of drugs that are not transported into the brain to a significant extent.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2001

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are widely used for various food fermentation. With the recent advances in modern biotechnology, a variety of bio-products with the high economic values have been produced using microorganisms. For molecular cloning and expression studies on the gene of interest, E. coli has been widely used mainly because vector systems are fully developed. Most plasmid vectors currently used for E, coli carry antibiotic-resistant markers. As it is generally believed that the antibiotic resistance markers are potentially transferred to other bacteria, application of the plasmid vectors carrying antibiotic resistance genes as selection markers should be avoided, especially for human consump-tion. By contrast, as LAB have some desirable traits such that the they are GRAS(generally recognized as safe), able to secrete gene products out of cell, and their low protease activities, they are regarded as an ideal organism for the genetic manipulation, including cloning and expression of homologous and heterologous genes. However, the vec-tor systems established for LAB are stil insufficient to over-produce gene products, stably, limiting the use of these organisms for industrial applications. For a past decade, the two popular plasmid vectors, pAM$\beta$1 of Streptococcus faecalis and pGK12 theB. subtilis-E. coli shuttle vector derived from pWV01 of Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris wg 2, were most widely used to construct efficient chimeric vectors to be stably maintained in many industrial strains of LAB. Currently, non-antibiotic markers such as nisin resistance($Nis^{r}$ ) are explored for selecting recombi-nant clone. In addition, a gene encoding S-layer protein, slp/A, on bacterial cell wall was successfully recombined with the proper LAB vectors LAB vectors for excretion of the heterologous gene product from LAB Many food-grade host vec-tor systems were successfully developed, which allowed stable integration of multiple plasmid copies in the vec-mosome of LAB. More recently, an integration vector system based on the site-specific integration apparatus of temperate lactococcal bacteriophage, containing the integrase gene(int) and phage attachment site(attP), was pub-lished. In conclusion, when various vector system, which are maintain stably and expressed strongly in LAB, are developed, lost of such food products as enzymes, pharmaceuticals, bioactive food ingredients for human consump-tion would be produced at a full scale in LAB.