• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.1-14
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• 1999

As the biodegradation of wood constituents has been understood as a multi-basidiomycetes and enzymatic processes, this review will focus on the roles of low molecular compounds and radicals working in harmony with fungal enzymes. Wood rotting basidiomycete fungi penetrate wood, and lead to more easily metabolize carbohydrates of the wood complex. The white-rot fungi, having versatile enzymes, are able to attack directly the "lignin barrier". They also use a multi-enzyme system including so-called "feedback" type enzymes allowing for simultaneous degradation of lignin and carbohydrates. The multi-enzymes including laccase support the proposed route by explaining how the high molecular weight enzymes can function in the wood complex. These enzymes may function separately or cooperate each other. In addition, veratryl alcohol oxidase, cellobiose dehydrogenase, arylalcohol dehydrogenase, and particularly low molecular mediators and radicals have an important role in wood biodegradation. However, the possibility of other mechanism as well as other enzymes, as operating as feedback systems in the process of wood degradation, could not be excluded.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.133-140
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• 2006

Jun activation domain-binding protein 1 (Jab1) is involved in various cellular mechanisms including development in Drosophila and mouse, cell cycle control and signal transduction pathways. Recent studies also determined that Jab1 functions as a nuclear exporter and inducer of cytoplasmic degradation for several proteins including p53, p27, capsid of West Nile virus, and Smad4/7 proteins. In particular, p53 is shown to bind to and to be exported into the cytoplasm by Jab1, which helps to maintain low levels of p53 under normal conditions. This review was undertaken in an effort to understand the biological significance of the homeostasis of p53 as maintained in the presence of Jab1. Based on our observations, we have provided potential mechanistic hypotheses for the nuclear export of p53 in coordination with Jab1 and the role of other factors in these processes.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.21-29
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to determine if hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) generated by glucose oxidase (GO) induces apoptosis or necrosis of BJAB cells and which radical is the direct mediator of cell death. We found that GO produced $H_2O_2$ continuously in low concentrations, similar to in vivo conditions, and decreased proliferation and cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. The GO-mediated cytotoxicity resulted from apoptosis, and was confirmed by monitoring the cells after H33342/Annexin V/propidium iodide staining. Decreases of mitochondrial membrane potential and intracellular glutathione level were found to be critical events in the $H_2O_2$-mediated apoptosis. Additional experiments revealed that $H_2O_2$ exerted its apoptotic action through the formation of hydroxyl radicals via the Fenton rather than the Haber-Weiss reaction. Moreover, intracellular redox-active iron, but not copper, participated in the $H_2O_2$-mediated apoptosis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제28권6호
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• pp.1005-1009
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• 2007

Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a potent chemoattractant for leukocytes and considered to be an inflammatory mediator. Human BLT2 (hBLT2) is a low-affinity G-protein coupled receptor for LTB4 and mediates pertussis toxin-sensitive chemotactic cell movement. Here, we dissected the interaction between hBLT2 and G-protein alpha subunits using GST fusion proteins containing intracellular regions of hBLT2 and various Gα protein including Gα i1, Gα i2, Gα i3, Gα s1, Gα o1, and Gα z. Among the tested Gα subunits, Gα i3 showed the highest binding to the third intracellular loop region of hBLT2 with a dissociation constant (KD) of 5.0 × 10?6 M. These results suggest that Gα i3 has the highest affinity to hBLT2, and the third intracellular loop region of hBLT2 is the major component for the interaction with Gα i3.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.113-118
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• 1999

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) is found in all vertebrates and its type-II molecule is regarded as a fundamental embryonic growth factor during development. We have firstly identified, in this study, a cDNA clone corresponding to IGF-II (flIGF-II) from the adult brain of the teleost, Paralichthys olivaceus. We also examined the tissue expression of flIGF-II in several adult tissues by RT-PCR. The flIGF-II cDNA contained a complete ORF consisting of 215 amino acids and one stop codon. Its molecular characteristics appear to be similar to the previously identified IGF-II molecules, in which a common primary structure exhibiting B, C, A, D, and E domains is evidently observed. This cDNA clone seems to be cleaved at $Ala_{52}$ for the $NH_2$-end signal peptide and appears to produce a 98 amino acid-long E-peptide from the $Arg^{118}$. The functional B-D domain regions, therefore, include 65 amino acids and is able to encode a 7.4-kDa protein. The most prominent structural difference between IGF-I and IGF-II was that the D domain of IGF-II exhibits a two-codon-deleted pattern compared to the 8 amino acid-containing IGF-I. The insulin family signature in the A domain and six cysteins forming three disulfide bridges between the B and A domains were evolutionary-conserved from teleosts to mammalian IGF-II. Interestingly, the E-peptide region appears to provide a distinct hallmark between teleosts in amino acid composition. The flIGF-II shows 85.1% of sequence identity to salmon and trout, 90.6% to tilapia, and 98.4% to perch in amino acid level. In tissue expressions of IGF-II, it is very likely that flIGF-II has a significant expression in the adult brain. However, liver seems to be the main source for IGF-II production, and relatively low signals were observed in the adult muscle and kidney. Taken together, it would be concluded that the functional region for IGF-II mRNA is highly similar in phylogeny and is evolutionary, conserved as a mediator for the growth of vertebrates.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.1120-1127
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• 2017

Marasmius scorodonius secretes an extracellular laccase in potato dextrose broth, and this enzyme was purified up to 206-fold using $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ precipitation and a Hi-trap Q Sepharose column. The molecular mass of the purified laccase was estimated to be ~67 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The UV/vis spectrum of the enzyme was nontypical for laccases, and metal content analysis revealed that the enzyme contains 1 mole of Fe and Zn and 2 moles of Cu per mole of protein. The optimal pH for the enzymatic activity was 3.4, 4.0, and 4.6 with 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), guaiacol, and 2,6-dimethoxy phenol as the substrate, respectively. The optimal temperature of the enzyme was $75^{\circ}C$ with ABTS as the substrate. The enzyme was stable in the presence of some metal ions such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Ba^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$ at a low concentration (1 mM), whereas $Fe^{2+}$ completely inhibited the enzymatic activity. The enzymatic reaction was strongly inhibited by metal chelators and thiol compounds except for EDTA. This enzyme directly decolorized Congo red, Malachite green, Crystal violet, and Methylene green dyes at various decolorization rates of 63-90%. In the presence of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole as a redox mediator, the decolorization of Reactive orange 16 and Remazol brilliant blue R was also achieved.

• 한국패류학회지
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.241-247
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• 2016

Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) are well-defined role as unique cytokine and critical mediator in acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases. In this study, we isolated and characterized a full-length of MIF cDNA from the abalone (Haliotis discus hannai). The full-length cDNA of abMIF was of 1264 bp, consisting of a 5'-terminal UTR of 143 bp, an open reading frame of 360 bp and a 3-terminal UTR of 761 bp. The abalone MIF cDNA encodes a 119-amino acid polypeptide with a calculated molecular mass of 13.4 kDa and isoelectric point of 9.07. Multiple alignments and phylogenetic analysis with the deduced abalone MIF protein and showed strong homology with disk abalone (Haliotis discusdiscus). The deduced amino acid sequence of abMIF exhibited homology with other reported MIFs, such as 80%, with that of other disk abalone H. discus discus MIF gene. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis indicated that abMIF was highly expression observed in hapatopacreas, intestine, foot, and gonad of normal conditioned abalone. Even though AbMIF mRNA level in hemocytes was low under the normal condition, it was sharply up-regulated and reached the maximum at 6 h post-infection with Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and then decreased at 24 h post-infection. This result indicates that abMIF plays an important role in responding in the innate immune system.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제44권12호
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• pp.893-899
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• 2021

BLT2 is a low-affinity receptor for leukotriene B₄, a potent lipid mediator of inflammation generated from arachidonic acid via the 5-lipoxygenase pathway. The aim of this study was to investigate whether BLT2 plays any role in sepsis, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome caused by infection. A murine model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis was used to evaluate the role of BLT2 in septic inflammation. In the present study, we observed that the levels of ligands for BLT2 (LTB₄ [leukotriene B₄] and 12(S)-HETE [12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid]) were significantly increased in the peritoneal lavage fluid and serum from mice with CLP-induced sepsis. We also observed that the levels of BLT2 as well as 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) and 12-LO, which are synthesizing enzymes for LTB₄ and 12(S)-HETE, were significantly increased in lung and liver tissues in the CLP mouse model. Blockade of BLT2 markedly suppressed the production of sepsis-associated cytokines (IL-6 [interleukin-6], TNF-α [tumor necrosis factor alpha], and IL-1β [interleukin-β] as well as IL-17 [interleukin-17]) and alleviated lung inflammation in the CLP group. Taken together, our results suggest that BLT2 cascade contributes to lung inflammation in CLP-induced sepsis by mediating the production of inflammatory cytokines. These findings suggest that BLT2 may be a potential therapeutic target for sepsis patients.