• Journal of Photoscience
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.302-304
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• 2002

pharaonis phoborhodopsin (ppR), a photophobic sensor of haloalkaliphilic bacteria, Natronobacterium phar-aonis, has retinal as a chromophore covalently bound to Lys in G-helix via a protonated Schiff base (PSB), as is the same as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). For ppR, the corresponding counter-ion is Asp residue (Asp75) located in C-helix. Here we investigated the influence of the protonated state of this counter-ion and its location on the chromophore configuration. Under alkaline condition, the chromophore configuration of D75E mutant was analyzed by HPLC. D75E had a much larger content of 13-cis isomer: the ratio of 13-cis to all-trans was 6:4 while the wild-type had this ratio of 1 :9. On the other hand, under acidic condition where Glu was associated, D75E had no 13-cis retinal isomer. Mutants whose Asp75 was replaced by neutral amino acids (D75N and D75Q) did not contain 13-cis retinal. Furthermore, retinal isomer compositions and the change in the visible ab- sorption spectra (indicating the dissociation state of Glu75) were measured under varying pH, and these were almost the same dependencies. These results indicate that an important factor determining the 13-cis isomer content is the presence of negative charge of the counter-ion against PSB, but not the size of this residue. Com- parison between the wild-type and D75E in alkaline solutions indicates the influence of the location of the counter-ion.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.72-78
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• 2002

Background: The precise mechanism by which CTLA-4 regulates T cell immune responses is still not fully understood. Previously we proposed that CTLA-4 could downregulate T cell function by modulating a signaling cascade initiated from the T cell receptor complex. The evidence for this notion comes from our findings that CTLA-4 associated with the T cell receptor zeta (TCR zeta) chain, and hence regulated TCR zeta phosphorylation by co-associated SHP-2 tyrosine phosphatase (1). In this report, we investigated whether any other signaling molecules could be involved in the CTLA-4 signaling pathway. Methods: We have taken biochemical approaches, such as immunoprecipitation followed by autoradiography or immunoblotting, to identify the molecules associated with CTLA-4. To perform these assays, we used activated primary T cells and ectopically transfected 293 cells. Various truncation mutants of CTLA-4 were used to map the interaction site on CTLA-4. Results: We found that in addition to TCR zeta and SHP-2, a recently cloned small adaptor molecule, SAP (SLAM-associated protein), was also able to associate with CTLA-4. We identified the domain of SAP association in CTLA-4 being a motif involving GVYVKM. This motif has been previously found to bind SHP-2 through its phosphorylated tyrosine interaction with SH-2 domain of SHP-2. Indeed, co-expression of SAP and SHP-2 reduced their binding to CTLA-4 significantly, suggesting that SAP and SHP-2 compete for the common binding site, GVYVKM. Thus, by blocking SHP-2 recruitment SAP could function as a negative regulator of CTLA-4. Conclusion: Taken together, our data suggest the existence of complicate signaling cascade in regulating CTLA-4 function, and further provide evidence that SAP can act either as a positive or negative regulator depending on the nature of the associating receptors.

• BMB Reports
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.291-296
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• 2002

Thanatin, a 21-residue peptide, is an inducible insect peptide with a broad range of activity against bacteria and fungi. It has a C-terminal disulfide loop, like the frog skin secretion antimicrobial peptides of the brevinin family. In this study, we tried to find the effect of a number of amino acids between the disulfide bond. Thanatin showed stronger antibacterial activity to Gram negative bacteria than other mutants, except Th1; whereas, the mutant peptides with deletion had higher activity to Gram positive bacteria than thanatin. An increase in the number of amino acid(s) using the alanine residue decreased the antibacterial activity in all of the bacteria. Th1 with deletion of threonine at position 15 ($Thr^{15}$) showed similar antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, but had higher activity against the Gram positive bacteria. In order to study the structure-function relationship, we measured liposome disruption by the peptides and CD spectra of the peptides. Th1 also showed the highest liposome leaking activity and α-helical propensity in the sodium dodecyl sulfate solution, compared with other peptides. Liposome disruption activity was closely correlated with the anti-Gram positive bacterial activity. All of the peptides showed no hemolytic activity. Th1 was considered to be useful as an antimicrobial peptide with broad spectrum without toxicity.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국응용약물학회 1996년도 제4회 추계심포지움
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• pp.65-73
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• 1996

LPS/LOS, the compound found only in gram-negative bacterial outer membrane, plays important roles in bacterial maintenance as well as its pathogenesis. We isolated and characterized several genes required for NTHi 2019 LOS biosynthesis, which encode enzymes required for sugar substrate synthesis or the transfer of substrates to receptor molecules. The htrB gene, however, appears to have more complex role. It has acryltransferase activity as well as various other activity, which may control regulation of LOS biosynthesis as well as its pathogenicity. Evidences supporting the latter come from the observations that the lipid A of the B29 induced significantly less TNF ${\alpha}$ from macrophages than that of the wild type LOS (unpublished data). H. influenzae A2-htrB mutant strain was also significantly less invasive than the wild type strain. The structural similarities of the enterobacterial LPS and the Haemophilus LOS enabled us to isolate the NTHi 2019 genes involved in LOS biosynthesis genes by using the S. typhimurium LPS deep core mutants. While a similar approach has been used for E. coli, this technique for selection of an LPS phenotype has not been applied to nonenterobacterial species. The difficulties inherent in the molecular manipulation of organism such as Neisseria and Haemophilus species make this approach particularly attractive in the identification and cloning LOS genes. Studies on genetic features of LPS/LOS biosynthesis would be useful for understanding bacterial pathogenesis as well as for developing vaccines for these gram-negative pathogenic bacteria.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.28.1-28.9
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• 2019

Bar-code (tag) microarrays of yeast gene-deletion collections facilitate the systematic identification of genes required for growth in any condition of interest. Anti-sense strands of amplified bar-codes hybridize with ~10,000 (5,000 each for up-and down-tags) different kinds of sense-strand probes on an array. In this study, we optimized the hybridization processes of an array for fission yeast. Compared to the first version of the array (11 ㎛, 100K) consisting of three sectors with probe pairs (perfect match and mismatch), the second version (11 ㎛, 48K) could represent ~10,000 up-/ down-tags in quadruplicate along with 1,508 negative controls in quadruplicate and a single set of 1,000 unique negative controls at random dispersed positions without mismatch pairs. For PCR, the optimal annealing temperature (maximizing yield and minimizing extra bands) was 58℃ for both tags. Intriguingly, up-tags required 3× higher amounts of blocking oligonucleotides than down-tags. A 1:1 mix ratio between up- and down-tags was satisfactory. A lower temperature (25℃) was optimal for cultivation instead of a normal temperature (30℃) because of extra temperature-sensitive mutants in a subset of the deletion library. Activation of frozen pooled cells for >1 day showed better resolution of intensity than no activation. A tag intensity analysis showed that tag(s) of 4,316 of the 4,526 strains tested were represented at least once; 3,706 strains were represented by both tags, 4,072 strains by up-tags only, and 3,950 strains by down-tags only. The results indicate that this microarray will be a powerful analytical platform for elucidating currently unknown gene functions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제6권5호
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• pp.321-325
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• 1996

Mutants having altered levels and/or types of EPS in exopolysaccharide biosynthesis were isolated after NTG mutagenesis of Zoogloea ramigera 115SLR. Mutant candidates were classfied with five groups based on the observed characteristics for EPS biosynthesis pattern. The recombinant plasmids pLEX3BS and pLEX3BM were constructed from pEX3B which was previously isolated from genomic DNA of Z. ramigera 115SLR. Plasmid pLEX3BM with a 7.8 kb insert DNA contains an additional 1.8kb DNA fragment which is not present in pLEX3BS containing 13 kb insert DNA. Plasmid pLEX3BM was able to complement the mutation responsible for the changes in morphology of Z. ramigera 115SLR. However, the complementation of EPS negative mutant strains was not successful with pLEX3BM. Plasmid pLEX3BS on the other hand complemented the mutation responsible for the loss of EPS biosynthesis, resulting in the restoration of Z. ramigera 115SLR phenotype. But this plasmid was not able to complement the morphological mutant strain, Z. ramigera 115SLR.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.305-309
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• 2015

After four years of cold storage, dimethachlon resistance of two laboratory-induced resistant Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates SCG7 and LA50 declined by 99.5% and 98.9%, respectively, and cross resistance to iprodione and procymidone also declined dramatically. Along with the decline of fungicide resistance, osmotic sensitivity to sodium chloride and glucose decreased tremendously; mycelial growth rate, sclerotia number and weight per potato dextrose agar (PDA) plate increased on average by 118.6%, 85. 5% and 64.5%, respectively; and virulence to detached leaves of oilseed rape increased by 72.7% on average. Significant negative correlations were detected between dimethachlon resistance levels and mycelial growth rate on PDA (r = -0.980, P = 0.021), and between resistance levels and lesion diameters on detached leaves of oilseed rape plants (r = -0.997, P = 0.002). These results have profound implications for assessing the potential risk for resistance development to dicarboximide fungicides in S. sclerotiorum.

• 한국작물학회지
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.277-281
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• 1999

Dull grains segregated from F$_3$ and F$_4$ of the crosses between two dull mutants and a glutinous cultivar were compared with non-glutinous and glutinous segregants for their physicochemical properties. Amylose content of dull rice grain segregated from the dull/glutinous cross showed the intermediate value between glutinous and non-glutinous rice grain, whether it is controlled by the recessive or dominant gene. Alkali digestibility value (ADV) of dull rice grain was lower than that of glutinous or non-glutinous rice. A positive correlation was found between ADV and amylose content of homozygous non-glutinous or dull F$_4$ grains, but a negative relationship was observed in glutinous grains. Protein content of dull grain was significantly higher than that of glutinous or non-glutinous grain segregated from the same cross, while those of glutinous and non-glutinous grains were not different. Among gelatinization characteristics, initial pasting temperature and peak viscosity of dull grains were higher than glutinous rice, and were not different with non-glutinous grain. Hot, cool and consistency viscosities of dull grain were intermediate between glutinous and non-glutinous rices. Dull grains showed the highest breakdown viscosity and the lowest setback viscosity among the three endosperm types.

• BMB Reports
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• 제53권3호
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• pp.133-141
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• 2020

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a member of the ErbB family (EGFR, ErbB2, ErbB3 and ErbB4), plays a crucial role in regulating various cellular responses such as proliferation, differentiation, and survival. As a result, aberrant activation of EGFR, mostly mediated through different classes of genomic alterations occurring within EGFR, is closely associated with the pathogenesis of numerous human cancers including lung adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma, and colorectal cancer. Thus, specific suppression of oncogenic activity of mutant EGFR with its targeted drugs has been routinely used in the clinic as a very effective anti-cancer strategy in treating a subset of tumors driven by such oncogenic EGFR mutants. However, the clinical efficacy of EGFR-targeted therapy does not last long due to several resistance mechanisms that emerge in the patients following the drug treatment. Thus, there is an urgent need for the development of novel therapeutic tactics specifically targeting mutant EGFR with the focus on the unique biological features of various mutant EGFR. Regarding this point, our review specifically emphasizes the recent findings about distinct requirements of receptor dimerization and autophosphorylation, which are critical steps for enzymatic activation of EGFR and signaling cascades, respectively, among wildtype and mutant EGFR and further discuss their clinical significance. In addition, the molecular mechanisms regulating EGFR dimerization and enzymatic activity by a key negative feedback inhibitor Mig6 as well as the clinical use for developing potential novel drugs targeting it are described in this review.

• 한국식물병리학회지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.13-18
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• 1998

The use of bioluminescence as a sensitive marker for the detection of Pseudomnas sp. in the rhizosphere was investigated. Transposon Tn4431 which contains a promoterless luciferase operon and tetracycline resistant gene was used. This transposon, present on a suicide vector (pUCD623) in E. coli HB101, was mated with spontaneous rifampicin mutant of Pseudomonas fluorescens B16, a plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), and then rifampicin and tetracycline resistant survivors were isolated. Twenty tow mutants wer isolated from the conjugants between E. coli HB101 and P. fluorescens B16. One of these, B16::Tn4431 (L22) recombinant which glowed brightly in the dark was selected for analysis. The cucumber seeds inoculated with L22 were grown in moisten two layers of filter paper and nonsterile soil contained in half cut PVC pipe. The roots were removed from the filter paper and PVC pipe, then placed on the 1/2 LB media plates. The plates were incubated at room temperature for 16 hr. L22 could successfully be detected in the rhizoplane by using the ordinary negative camera film (ASA100-400) with 30 minutes exposure under dark condition. The root colonizing ability and the plant growth promoting effect of L22 were not reduced compared to the untreated bacteria and wild type. L22 was superior to will type.