• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.391-398
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• 1993

It has been inferred that membrane-ECM (extracellular matrix) interaction in plants may be also mediated by an RGD-dependent recognition system as in animal cells. Effects of RGD peptide on ethylene production was examined in suspension cultured carrot cells. Treatment of the cells with RGD peptide containing RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) sequence stimulated ethylene production. When RGD peptide was applied to carrot cells treated with 1M, the effect of RGD peptide appeared to be additive. ACC synthase activity in cells pretreated with RGD peptide likewise increased over the control. In an effort to check the sequence specificity of the RGD peptide, cells were treated with substituted RGD peptide, i.e. RGK (Arg-Gly-Lys) and RGE (Arg-Gly-Glu) peptide, respectively. RGK peptide did not stimulate ethylene production but RGE peptide did. The results strongly suggest that the stimulatory effect of RGD peptides on ethylene production may be associated with a physiological phenomenon through a specific recognition between RGD peptide including RGD sequence and their putative plasma membrane receptors.eptors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.399-405
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• 1998

From the sequence alignment of various non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, several motifs of highly conserved sequences have been identified within each domain of peptide synthetases. We designed PCR primers based on the highly conserved nucleotide sequences to amplify and isolate a ∼7.2-kb DNA fragment of the Bacillus subtilis 713 which was isolated and reported to produce an antifungal peptide compound. Nucleotide sequence analysis of 4.8 kb of the predicted amino acids revealed significant homology to various peptide synthetases over the whole sequence and also revealed two amino acid-activating domains with highly conserved Core 1 to Core 6 and spacer motif. This suggests that the isolated DNA fragment is part of a peptide synthetase gene for antifungal peptide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 1998

Peptide synthetases are large multifunctional enzyme complexes that catalyze the nonribosomal synthesis of a structurally diverse family of peptide antibiotics. These enzymes are composed of functionally independent domains with independent enzymatic activities. Their specific linkage order of domains forms the protein template that defines the sequence of the incorporated amino acids. Within each domain, several motifs of highly conserved sequences have been identified from the sequence alignment of the various peptide synthetases ［30］. Taking advantage of the conserved nucleotide sequence of Core 1 and Core 2, we designed PCR primers to amplify the peptide synthetase genes from three different gram-positive bacterial strains. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the amplified PCR products from those three strains showed significant homology to various peptide synthetase genes, suggesting that the PCR products are parts of peptide synthetase genes. Therefore, this rapid and efficient PCR technique can be used for the isolation of peptide synthetase genes from various strains.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.460-465
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• 2004

A 16-residue polypeptide model with the sequence acetyl-YALSLAATLLKEAASL-OH was derived by rational de novo peptide design. The designed sequence consists of amino acid residues with high propensity to adopt an alpha helical conformation, and sequential order was arranged to produce an amphipathic surface. The designed sequence was chemically synthesized using a solid-phase method and the polypeptide was purified by reverse-phase liquid chromatography. Molecular mass analysis by electro-spray ionization mass spectroscopy confirmed the correct designed sequence. Structural characterization by circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrated that the peptide adopts the expected alpha helical conformation in 50% acetonitrile solution. Liposome binding assay using Small Unilamellar Vesicle (SUV) showed a marked release of entrapped glucose by interaction between the lipid membrane and the tested peptide. The channel-forming activity of the peptide was revealed by a planar lipid bilayer experiment. An analysis of the conducting current at various applied potentials suggested that the peptide forms a cationic ion channel with an intrinsic conductance of 188 pS. These results demonstrate that a simple rational de novo design can be successfully employed to create short peptides with desired structures and functions.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.199-203
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• 2001

Sperminogen was purified from the acid extracts of boar spermatozoa and partial peptide sequence of the 34-36 kd sperminogen was determined. Acid extracts of boar spermatozoa was gel-filtered through Sephadex G-75, and the 34-36 kd sperminogen was purified by preparative SDS-PAGE. The sperminogen bands were sliced out, and 34-36 kd sperminogen were eluted from the gel fragments and was subjected to peptide sequencing. Since the amino termini were blocked for Edman degradation method, internal amino acid sequences of the eluted 34-36 kd sperminogen were obtained from CNBr-digested peptides of sperminogen. Among several bands resolved on tricine SDS-PAGE, 14, 22 and 26 kd peptides were subjected to peptide sequencing. The ana1yzed amino acid sequences of the 26 and 22 kd peptides showed high homologies with that of the zona pellucida binding protein, Sp38, and the analyzed amino acid sequence of the 14 kd peptide showed neither sequence homology nor similarity with any known proteins.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.313-318
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• 1999

Cloning of the 5'untranslated region (5' UTR) and Nterminus of the glycoprotein precursor (G2G1) open reading frame of tomato spotted wilt virus has been problematic, possibly because of the toxicity of a signal peptide at the beginning of th G2G1 protein precursor. The toxicity of the signal peptide to bacterial growth and the reason for the expression of the peptide gene in Escherichia coli were investigated by cloning the 5' UTR and the signal peptide sequence separately. Cells transformed with the plasmid containing both the first 30 amino acids of the glycoprotein and the 5' UTR showed a severe growth inhibition whereas transformants harboring either the plasmid with the signal sequence or the 5'UTR alone did not show any ingibition. An E. coli promoter-like sequence was found in the 5'UTR and tis promoter acivity was confirmed with a promoter-less GUS gene cloned downstream of the 5'UTR. In the cloning of the Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) glycoprotein G2G1 open reading frame all the recovered plasmids contained stop codons in the signal sequence region. However, clones containing no stop codon were recovered when the signal sequence and the 5'UTR were cloned separately.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.276-281
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• 1999

In order to determine the functional region of the antifungal protein (AFP) isolated from Aspergillus giganteus responsible for growth inhibitory activity and the promotion of phospholipid vesicle aggregation, overlapping peptides covering the complete sequence of AFP were synthesized. The antibiotic activity against bacterial, fungal, and tumor cells, and the vesicle-aggregation activity of the synthetic peptides were investigated. The AFP functional sequence responsible for antibiotic and vesicle-aggregation activity was determined to be located within the region between AFP residues 19 to 32. AFP (19-32) exhibited an a-helical conformation in a cell membrane-like environment. AFP (19-32) displayed potent antibiotic activity against bacterial, fungal, and tumor cells without peptide toxicity as indicated by hemolysis. Accordingly, AFP (19-32) could be used as a good model for the design of effective antibiotic agents with powerful antibiotic activity yet without any cytotoxic effects against the host organism.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.597-602
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• 2009

Although the existing design principle of full-sequence ionic complement is convenient for the development of peptides, it greatly constrains the exploration of peptides with other possible assembly mechanisms and different yet essential functions. Herein, a novel designed half-sequence ionic complementary peptide (referred to as P9), AC-Pro-Ser-Phe-Asn-Phe-Lys-Phe-Glu-Pro-$NH_2$, is reported. When transferred from pure water to sodium chloride solution, P9 underwent a dramatic morphological transformation from globular aggregations to nanofibers. Moreover, the rheological experiment showed that the P9 could form a hydrogel with a storage modulus of about 30 Pa even at very low peptide concentration (0.5% (wt/vol)). The P9 hydrogel formed in salt solution could recover in a period of about 1,800 sec, which is faster than that in the pure water. The data suggestcd that the half-sequence, ionic complementary peptide might be worthy of further research for its special properties.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2001

The angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors from laver hydrolysate was isolated. Among the 13 kinds of proteases, Maxazyme NNP was most effective for preparing the high ACE inhibitory compound. In extraction conditions of ACE inhibitory peptide from laver hydrolysate, ACE inhibitory activity of hydrolysate treated with diethylether for decolorization and that of $70\%$ ethanol soluble fraction among the different ethanol concentrations were higher than other preparations. Low molecular fraction less than 3,000 dalton of layer hydrolysate separated by ultrafiltration had the highest ACE inhibitory activity, for further separation of ACE inhibitory peptide from laver hydrolysate, gel filtration chromatography (Sephadex G-25), reverse-phase HPLC (ODS & Vydac C-18) and gel permeation chromatography (Superdex Peptide HR) were performed. The molecular mass of the ACE inhibitory peptide fractions of gel permeation chromatography determined by electrospray-mass spectrometer were 413.48 (S1O2V2V1P),346.86 (S1O2V2V2P) and 320.32 (S2O6V3V1P) dalton and their amino acid sequence were Val-Gln-Gly-Asn, Thr-Glu-Thr and Phe-Arg, respectively.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2008

Acid-labile subunit(ALS) is a 85-kDa glycosylated plasma protein which forms a 150-kDa ternary complex with 7.5-kDa insulin-like growth factor(IGF) and 40~45-kDa IGF-binding protein-3. In a previous study, the present authors prepared a porcine ALS(pALS) expression construct by inserting a pALS coding sequence into a plasmid vector following synthesis of the sequence by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). The expression construct, however, was subsequently found to have a mis-sense mutation at two bases of the pALS coding sequence which is presumed to have occurred through a PCR error. In the present study, the correct coding sequence was synthesized by the site-directed mutagenesis and inserted into the pET-28a(+) plasmid expression vector containing the His-tag sequence flanking the last codon of the insert DNA. After induction of the expression construct in E. coli BL21(DE3) cells, the resulting presumptive recombinant peptide was purified by the Ni-affinity chromatography. Upon SDS- PAGE, the affinity-purified peptide was resolved as a single band at a 66-kDa position which is consistent with the expected molecular mass of the presumptive recombinant pALS. Collectively, results indicate that a recombinant pALS peptide was successfully expressed and purified in the present study.