• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.47-50
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• 2002

Raft is a distinctive membrane domain enriched in a certain class of lipids, cholesterol, and proteins observed on the plasma membrane. Growing evidence has revealed that such membrane domains play key roles in signal transduction, fertilization, development, transmitter release, and so on. Recently, we have isolated raft-like detergent-resistant membrane (DRM) fraction from bovine photoreceptor rod outer segments. Transducin and its effecter, cGMP-phosphodiesterase, elicited stimulus-dependent translocation between detergent-soluble membrane and DRM. This suggested potential importance of such distinct membrane domains in vertebrate phototransduction. Here, we will discuss physiological meaning of the translocation of major components of cGMP cascade to raft-like membrane in phototransduction. We would like to propose a hypothesis that raft-like membrane domains on the disk membrane are the place where cGMP cascade system could be quenched.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.42.1-42.23
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• 2023

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis, one of the most deadly infections in humans. The emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Mtb strains presents a global challenge. Mtb has shown resistance to many frontline antibiotics, including rifampicin, kanamycin, isoniazid, and capreomycin. The only licensed vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guerin, does not efficiently protect against adult pulmonary tuberculosis. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to develop new vaccines to prevent infections caused by these strains. We used a subtractive proteomics approach on 23 virulent Mtb strains and identified a conserved membrane protein (MmpL4, NP_214964.1) as both a potential drug target and vaccine candidate. MmpL4 is a non-homologous essential protein in the host and is involved in the pathogen-specific pathway. Furthermore, MmpL4 shows no homology with anti-targets and has limited homology to human gut microflora, potentially reducing the likelihood of adverse effects and cross-reactivity if therapeutics specific to this protein are developed. Subsequently, we constructed a highly soluble, safe, antigenic, and stable multi-subunit vaccine from the MmpL4 protein using immunoinformatics. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed the stability of the vaccine-bound Tolllike receptor-4 complex on a nanosecond scale, and immune simulations indicated strong primary and secondary immune responses in the host. Therefore, our study identifies a new target that could expedite the design of effective therapeutics, and the designed vaccine should be validated. Future directions include an extensive molecular interaction analysis, in silico cloning, wet-lab experiments, and evaluation and comparison of the designed candidate as both a DNA vaccine and protein vaccine.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.2607-2612
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• 2010

Human tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a valuable thrombolytic agent used to successfully treat acute myocardial infarction, thromboembolic stroke, peripheral arterial occlusion, and venous thromboembolism. Recombinant tPA is accumulated as an inactive form in inclusion bodies of E. coli and is refolded in vitro, which is accompanied by extensive aggregation. In the present study, a tPA protease domain was expressed in an active soluble form in the cytosol of E. coli Rosetta-gami cells, which allowed disulfide bond formation and supplied the tRNA molecules required for six rarely used codons in E. coli. This strategy increased the amount of soluble protease domain protein and avoided the cumbersome refolding process. The purified protease domain not only degraded tPA substrate peptides but also formed a covalently bound complex with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, as does full-length tPA. Soluble expression and purification of tPA domains may aid in functional analyses of this multi-domain protein, which has been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2015

Ubiquitination is a post translational modification which mostly links with proteasome dependent protein degradation. This process has been known to play pivotal roles in the number of biological events including apoptosis, cell signaling, transcription and translation. Although the process of ubiquitination has been studied extensively, the mechanism of polyubiquitination by multi protein E3 ubiquitin ligase, SCF complex remains elusive. In the present study, we identified UbcH5a as a novel stimulating factor for poly-ubiquitination catalyzed by $SCF^{hFBH1}$ using biochemical fractionations and MALDI-TOF. Moreover, we showed that recombinant UbcH5a and Cdc34 synergistically stimulate $SCF^{hFBH1}$ catalyzed polyubiquitination in vitro. These data may provide an important cue to understand the mechanism how the SCF complex efficiently polyubiquitinates target substrates.

• BMB Reports
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• v.57 no.7
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• pp.318-323
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• 2024

Regulation of cell fate and lung cell differentiation is associated with Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARS)-interacting multifunctional protein 2 (AIMP2), which acts as a non-enzymatic component required for the multi-tRNA synthetase complex. In response to DNA damage, a component of AIMP2 separates from the multi-tRNA synthetase complex, binds to p53, and prevents its degradation by MDM2, inducing apoptosis. Additionally, AIMP2 reduces proliferation in TGF-β and Wnt pathways, while enhancing apoptotic signaling induced by tumor necrosis factor-α. Given the crucial role of these pathways in tumorigenesis, AIMP2 is expected to function as a broad-spectrum tumor suppressor. The full-length AIMP2 transcript consists of four exons, with a small section of the pre-mRNA undergoing alternative splicing to produce a variant (AIMP2-DX2) lacking the second exon. AIMP2-DX2 binds to FBP, TRAF2, and p53 similarly to AIMP2, but competes with AIMP2 for binding to these target proteins, thereby impairing its tumor-suppressive activity. AIMP2-DX2 is specifically expressed in a diverse range of cancer cells, including breast cancer, liver cancer, bone cancer, and stomach cancer. There is growing interest in AIMP2-DX2 as a promising biomarker for prognosis and diagnosis, with AIMP2-DX2 inhibition attracting significant interest as a potentially effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of lung, ovarian, prostate, and nasopharyngeal cancers.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.101-115
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• 2019

The pathogenesis of cerebral malaria is biologically complex and involves multi-factorial mechanisms such as microvascular congestion, immunopathology by the pro-inflammatory cytokine and endothelial dysfunction. Recent data have suggested that a pleiotropic T-cell immunomodulatory protein (TIP) could effectively mediate inflammatory cytokines of mammalian immune response against acute graft-versus-host disease in animal models. In this study, we identified a conserved homologue of TIP in Plasmodium berghei (PbTIP) as a membrane protein in Plasmodium asexual stage. Compared with PBS control group, the pathology of experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) in rPbTIP intravenous injection (i.v.) group was alleviated by the downregulation of pro-inflammatory responses, and rPbTIP i.v. group elicited an expansion of regulatory T-cell response. Therefore, rPbTIP i.v. group displayed less severe brain pathology and feverish mice in rPbTIP i.v. group died from ECM. This study suggested that PbTIP may be a novel promising target to alleviate the severity of ECM.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.841-850
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• 2014

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are conserved chromatin regulators involved in the control of key developmental programs in eukaryotes. They collectively provide the transcriptional memory unique to each cell identity by maintaining transcriptional states of developmental genes. PcG proteins form multi-protein complexes, known as Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). PRC1 and PRC2 contribute to the stable gene silencing in part through catalyzing covalent histone modifications. Components of PRC1 and PRC2 are well conserved from plants to animals. PcG-mediated gene silencing has been extensively investigated in efforts to understand molecular mechanisms underlying developmental programs in eukaryotes. Here, we describe our current knowledge on PcG-mediated gene repression which dictates developmental programs by dynamic layers of regulatory activities, with an emphasis given to the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.52
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• pp.11.1-11.9
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• 2022

Zoonotic poxvirus infections pose significant threat to human health as we have witnessed recent spread of monkeypox. Therefore, insights into molecular mechanism behind poxvirus replication cycle are needed for the development of efficient antiviral strategies. Virion assembly is one of the key steps that determine the fate of replicating poxviruses. However, in-depth understanding of poxvirus assembly is challenging due to the complex nature of multi-step morphogenesis and heterogeneous virion structures. Despite these challenges, decades of research have revealed virion morphologies at various maturation stages, critical protein components and interactions with host cell compartments. Transmission electron microscopy has been employed as an indispensable tool for the examination of virion morphology, and more recently for the structure determination of protein complexes. In this review, we describe some of the major findings in poxvirus morphogenesis and the contributions of continuously advancing electron microscopy techniques.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.101-112
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• 2015

A type of cell junction that is formed between different parts within the same cell is called autotypic cell junction. Autotypic junction proteins form tight junctions found between membrane lamellae of a cell, especially in myelinating glial cells. Some of them have postsynaptic density-95/disks large/zonula occludens-1 (PDZ) domains, which interact with the carboxyl (C)-terminal PDZ-binding motif of other proteins. PDZ domains are protein-protein interaction modules that play a role in protein complex assembly. The PDZ domain, which is widespread in bacteria, plants, yeast, metazoans, and Drosophila, allows the assembly of large multi-protein complexes. The multi-protein complexes act in intracellular signal transduction, protein targeting, and membrane polarization. The identified PDZ domain-containing proteins located at autotypic junctions include zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), ZO-2, pals-1-associated tight junction protein (PATJ), multi-PDZ domain proteins (MUPPs), membrane-associated guanylate kinase inverted 2 (MAGI2), and protease-activated receptor (PAR)-3. PAR-3 interacts with atypical protein kinase C and PAR-6, forming a ternary complex, which plays an important role in the regulation of cell polarity. MAGI2 interacts with ${\alpha}$-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) receptor at excitatory synapses. PATJ is detected in paranodal loops associated with claudin-1. On the other hand, MUPP1 is found in mesaxons and Schmidt-Lanterman incisures with claudin-5. ZO-1, ZO-2, and PAR-3 are found at all three sites. Different distributions of PDZ domain-containing proteins affect the development of autotypic junctions. In this review, we will describe PDZ domain-containing proteins at autotypic tight junctions in myelinating Schwann cells and their roles.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2007

Interactions between viral proteins and host proteins are essential for virus replication. Especially, translation of viral genes completely depends on the host machinery. In potyviruses, interactions of genome-linked viral protein (VPg) with host translation factors including eIF4E, eIF(iso)4E, and poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) has previously been characterized. In this study, we investigated interactions between Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) viral proteins and host translation factors by yeast two-hybrid system. SMV VPg interacted with eIF4E, eIF(iso)4E, and PABP in yeast two-hybrid system, while SMV helper component proteinase (HC-pro) interacted with neither of those proteins. The interaction between SMV NIb and PABP was also detected. These results are consistent with those reported previously in other potyviruses. Interestingly, we found reproducible and specific interactions between SMV coat protein (CP) and PABP. Deletion analysis showed that the region of CP comprising amino acids 116 to 206 and the region of PABP comprising amino acids 520 to 580 are involved in CP/PABP interactions. Soybean library screening with SMV NIb by yeast two-hybrid assay also identified several soybean proteins including chlorophyll a/b binding preprotein, photo-system I-N subunit, ribulose 1,5-biphosphate carboxylase, ST-LSI protein, translation initiation factor 1, TIR-NBS type R protein, RNA binding protein, ubiquitin, and LRR protein kinase. Altogether, these results suggest that potyviral replicase may comprise a multi-protein complex with PABP, CP, and other host factors.