• BMB Reports
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.595-601
• /
• 2005

In this study, we have isolated a rice (Oryza sativa L.) glutamate decarboxylase (RicGAD) clone from a root cDNA library, using a partial Arabidopsis thaliana GAD gene as a probe. The rice root cDNA library was constructed with mRNA, which had been derived from the roots of rice seedlings subjected to phosphorus deprivation. Nucleotide sequence analysis indicated that the RicGAD clone was 1,712 bp long, and harbors a complete open reading frame of 505 amino acids. The 505 amino acid sequence deduced from this RicGAD clone exhibited 67.7% and 61.9% identity with OsGAD1 (AB056060) and OsGAD2 (AB056061) in the database, respectively. The 505 amino acid sequence also exhibited 62.9, 64.1, and 64.2% identity to Arabidopsis GAD (U9937), Nicotiana tabacum GAD (AF020425), and Petunia hybrida GAD (L16797), respectively. The RicGAD was found to possess a highly conserved tryptophan residue, but lacks the lysine cluster at the C-proximal position, as well as other stretches of positively charged residues. The GAD sequence was expressed heterologously using the high copy number plasmid, pVUCH. Our activation analysis revealed that the maximal activation of the RicGAD occurred in the presence of both $Ca^{2+}$ and calmodulin. The GAD-encoded 56~58 kDa protein was identified via Western blot analysis, using an anti-GAD monoclonal antibody. The results of our RT-PCR analyses revealed that RicGAD is expressed predominantly in rice roots obtained from rice seedlings grown under phosphorus deprivation conditions, and in non-germinated brown rice, which is known to have a limited phosphorus bioavailability. These results indicate that RicGAD is a $Ca^{2+}$/calmodulin-dependent enzyme, and that RicGAD is expressed primarily under phosphate deprivation conditions.

• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.7-16
• /
• 2002

In order to obtain the specific genes of snailfish a subtracted cDNA library was constructed, and analysed by sequencing and GenBank search. Among them C90-171 clone was turned out to be genes showing low homology and nonredundant genes. This novel clone was named Gomsin(C90-171). Gomsin was shown to be intensely expressed in the epithelial cells, some mesenchymal cells, and sheaths of muscle bundles in the result of immunohistochemistry. In the cross reaction assay of Gomsin antibody against various human tissues, the Gomsin was strongly expressed in the ductal and acinar cells of salivary glands, which was similar to the expression patterns of proline-rich proteins(PRPs) of human. The antibody raised against the Gomsin was clearly cross-reacted with human salivary PRPs and also recombinant proteins of human PRPs in the Western blot and immunoprecipitation analysis. Contrast to the salivary PRPs, the Gomsin was not easily degraded in the mixed saliva, but rapidly attacked on the cultured keratocytes in vitro. The simulated protein structure of Gomsin was similar to the whorled pattern of PRPs, even though the amino acid sequence of Gomsin was quite different from those of PRPs. These data suggest that the Gomsin is a characteristic matrix protein in the skin and body of snailfish, which is also utilized for the tissue protection in the similar way to the PRPs of human muco-secretory organs.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.45 no.2 s.142
• /
• pp.87-94
• /
• 2007

In this study, we describe Korean isolates of Trichomonas vaginalis infected with double-stranded (ds) RNA virus (TVV). One T. vaginalis isolate infected with TVV IH-2 evidenced weak pathogenicity in the mouse assay coupled with the persistent presence of a dsRNA, thereby indicating a hypovirulence effect of dsRNA in T. vaginalis. Cloning and sequence analysis results revealed that the genomic dsRNA of TVV IH-2 was 4,647 bp in length and evidenced a sequence identity of 80% with the previously-described TVV 1-1 and 1-5, but only a 42% identity with TVV 2-1 and 3 isolates. It harbored 2 overlapping open reading frames of the putative capsid protein and dsRNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). As previously observed in the TVV isolates 1-1 and 1-5, a conserved ribosomal slip-page heptamer (CCUUUUU) and its surrounding sequence context within the consensus 14-nt overlap implied the gene expression of a capsid protein-RdRp fusion protein, occurring as the result of a potential ribosomal frameshift event. The phylogenetic analysis of RdRp showed that the Korean TVV If-2 isolate formed a compact group with TVV 1-1 and 1-5 isolates, which was divergent from TVV 2-1, 3 and other viral isolates classified as members of the Giardiavirus genus.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.34 no.8
• /
• pp.2419-2424
• /
• 2013

Guanosine-5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp) serves as alarmone in bacterial stringent responses. In this study, an affinity column was constructed by immobilizing ppGpp to NHS-Sepharose for isolating ppGpp-binding proteins. A novel ppGpp-binding protein, YjgA, was isolated and characterized by MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry) coupled with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. YjgA and truncated forms of YjgA were cloned and over-expressed in BL21 (DE3). The binding affinity of YjgA to ppGpp was determined by equilibrium dialysis. The interaction of YjgA with ppGpp was very specific, considering that the dissociation constant of YjgA with ppGpp was measured as $5.2{\pm}2.0{\mu}M$, while the affinities to GTP and GDP were about 60 and 30 times weaker than ppGpp. Expression of yjgA gene in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 was examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RT-PCR results revealed that yjgA was expressed from early to late stationary phase. The yjgA deletion mutant exhibited decreased cell number at stationary phase compared to parent strain and the over-expression of YjgA increased the cell number. These results suggested that YjgA might stimulate cell division under stationary phase. In most prokaryotic genome, about half of the protein candidates are hypothetical, that are expected to be expressed but there is no experimental report on their functions. The approach utilized in this study may serve as an effective mean to probe the functions of hypothetical proteins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.670-677
• /
• 2010

An alkaline pectate lyase, Bsp165PelA, was purified to homogeneity from the culture broth of alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. N16-5. The enzyme showed a specific activity as high as 1,000 U/mg and had optimum activity at pH 11.5 and $50^{\circ}C$. It was composed of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular mass of 42 kDa deduced from SDS-PAGE, and its isoelectric point was around pH 6.0. It could efficiently depolymerize polygalacturonate and pectin. Characterization of product formation revealed unsaturated digalacturonate and trigalacturonate as the main products. The pectate lyase gene (pelA) contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,089 bp, encoding a 36-amino acids signal peptide and a mature protein of 326 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 35.943 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence from the pelA ORF exhibited significant homology to those of known pectate lyases in polysaccharide lyase family 1. Some conserved active-site amino acids were found in the deduced amino acid sequence of Bsp165PelA. $Ca^{2+}$ was not required for activity on pectic substrates.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.1360-1364
• /
• 2009

The bacterium Sphingomonas chungbukensis DJ77 produces the extracellular polysaccharide gellan in high yield. Gellan produced by this bacterium is widely used as a gelling agent, and the enzyme UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGP) is thought to play a key role in the gellan biosynthetic pathway. The UGP gene has been successfully cloned and over-expressed in E. coli. The expressed enzyme was purified with a molecular weight of approximately 32 kDa, as determined by a SDS-polyacrylamide gel, but the enzyme appears as ca. 63 kDa on a native gel, suggesting that the enzyme is present in a homodimer. Kinetic analysis of UDP-glucose for UGP indicates $K_m$ = 1.14 mM and $V_{max}$ = 10.09 mM/min/mg at pH 8.0, which was determined to be the optimal pH for UGP catalytic activity. Amino acid sequence alignment against other bacteria suggests that the UGP contains two conserved domains: An activator binding site and a glucose-1-phosphate binding site. Site-directed mutagenesis of Lys194, located within the glucose-1-phosphate binding site, indicates that substitution of the charge-reversible residue Asp for Lys194 dramatically impairs the UGP activity, supporting the hypothesis that Lys194 plays a critical role in the catalysis.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.637-642
• /
• 1996

We isolated a marine bacterium, Pseudomonas sp,, which could produce the enzyme of alginate lyase, and cloned the alginate lyase gene in Escherichia coli. The cloned DNA was overexpressed with approximately $50\%$ amount of total proteins. In addition, the expressed proteins were not secreted into the medium, and most of them existed in the cytoplasm by the soluble form, but not observed any inclusion body by TIM. For the optimum enzyme activity, temperature was $20^{\circ}C$, pH was 7.0, and Km and Vmax values of the enzyme were $0.4\%$ and 625 units/mg, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
• /
• 2001.03a
• /
• pp.62-62
• /
• 2001

Recently, production of transgenic animal by nuclear transfer has been known as a useful method. The production of cloned offspring derived from nuclear transfer depends upon a variety of factors such as species, donor cells type and cell cycle, and source of recipient ova. Therefore, we attempted a different transgenic methods using follicular granulosa cells (GCs). In general, ovulated GCs undergoes lutenization and transformation in vitro which might defective effects on developmental potential. In order to avoid the GCs transformation in vitro culture system, we introduced a direct injection of retrovirus into the follicles and then collected them mechanically from ovaries of 6-8 week-old ICR mice. Retrovirus vector constructed with pLN $\beta$ EGFP was injected into the follicles. The follicles are cultured in $\alpha$ -MEM supplemented with human FSH, LH and ITS in Costar Transwell dish for 4 days. Survival rate of virus injected follicles was 52.1% (12/23) and expression rate of EGPP gene was 33.3% (4/12). In this study, we found GCs performed transgenesis in our culture system. In addition, the GCs in follicle may be developed in vivo like environment rather than in vitro environment. Thus, the use of GCs as donor cells may be useful in the nuclear transfer for cloning of genetic modification. Therefore, these results suggest that follicular GCs can be transfected by viral vector during folliculogenesis in vitro.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.20 no.8
• /
• pp.1193-1200
• /
• 2010

The cDNA cloning and developmental profiles of the mRNA for A. pernyi arylphorin was determined. The complete A. pernyi arylphorin cDNA sequence comprised 2,234 bp (without the poly $A^+$ tail), including an open reading frame of 2,112 bp beginning with a methionine ATG at bp34. The A. pernyi arylphorin contained 704 amino acids which are highly enriched in aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine and tyrosine. The calculated molecular mass of the A. pernyi arylphorin from the ORF was 83,439 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence of A. pernyi arylphorin showed 78, 71, 62 and 64% identity with those of H. cecropia, M. sexta $\alpha$ subunit, M. sexta $\beta$ subunit and B. mori storage protein. In Northern blot analysis, the A. pernyi arylphorin mRNA only in the fat body of the 5th instar larvae was responsible for gene expression of the protein, and the synthetic activity of the mRNA was detected strongly in the early larvae, but not in the middle or late-stage larvae. In addition, a very weak signal in mRNA activity was detected in pupal stages, but this was considered to be inactive mRNA after reviewing the results of the labeling experiment of this protein.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.665-680
• /
• 1996

Bovine Pneumonic Pasteurellosis는 수송열(輸送熱)로 일반적으로 알려져 있는 질병으로서, 여러가지 요인의 복합적(複合的)인 작용에 의해 발병하는 것으로 알려져 있으나, Pasteurella haemolytica A1이 가장 주요(主要)한 인자(因子)로 밝혀져 있다. P haemolytica A1은 leukotoxin(LKT), lipopolysaccharide(LPS), capsular polysaccharide 등 여러가지의 병원성인자(病原性因子)을 생성한다. 이들 인자중 LKT가 가장 중요한 병원성인자로 밝혀져 있다. 이에 본 실험은 P haemolytical A1의 LKT 유전자를 Bacillus subtilis에서 발현(發現)시킴으로서 LPS에 오염(汚染)되지 않은 LKT을 대량으로 생산할 목적으로 실시되었다. 실험의 첫 단계(段階)로서 pLKT52 plasmid을 Sau3 A1의 제한효소을 이용하여 부분소화(部分消化)시킨 후 이 부분 소화(消化)된 유전자들로부터 3~5kb 크기의 유전자들을 순수분리하여 pUC18와 결합시킨 후 E coli NM522에 형질전환(形質轉換)시켰다. 이때 형질전환된 균주들은 LKT에 대한 단크론 항체인 MAb601을 이용하여 colony blot 법에 의해서 LKT 유전자 보유 및 발현여부(發現與否)을 조사하였다. 이들 양성 clone들은 제한효소분석(制限酵素分析), 염기서열분석(鹽基序列分析) 및 Western blot 등에 의해서 재확인(再確認)하였다. 총 9개의 양성 clone중 위의 방법에 의해서 한 clone을 선택(選擇)하여 lktCA insert를 재분리하여 shuttle vector에 subcloning 하였다. Subcloning된 LKT 유전자들은 shuttle vector의 종류(種類)(pHPS9, p602/20, pHPS9-Sac)와 각기(各其) 다른 종류(種類)의 B subtilis(spoO12A, BR121, WB3O, Raj1105) 숙주내(宿主內)에서 발현정도를 Western blot 법에 의해서 비교(比較)하였다. 이때 최적발현조건(最適發現條件)은 p602/20와 pBL1의 dual plasmid system을 이용하여 B subtilis spoO12A에서 2시간동안 IPTG로 발현을 유도(誘導)하는 것이었다. B subtilis에서 발현된 LKT을 visual 법과 neutral red uptake 법을 이용하여 소 폐포(肺胞) 대식구(大食求)에 대한 biological activity를 확인하였다. 발현된 LKT에 대한 LPS 오염은 LKT을 SDS-PAGE 후 silver stain에 의해서 확인하였다. 본 실험을 통해서 볼 때에 lktCA 유전자를 보유(保有)하고 있는 p602/20는 B subtilis에서 매우 불안정(不安定)하였고, 발현된 LKT는 세균자체(細菌自體)에서 생성되는 protease들에 의해서 파괴(破壞)됨으로서 농도(濃度)가 매우 낮았다. 이러한 문제점들은 다음 단계(段階)의 실험에서 해결되어야할 문제들이다.