• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.274-278
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• 1999

Expression of the active urease of the enterobacterium, Klebsiella aerogens, requires the presence of the accessory genes (ureD, ureE, ureF, and ureG) in addition to the three structural genes (ureA, ureB, and ureC). These accessory genes are involved in functional assembly of the nickel-metallocenter for the enzyme. Characterization of ureF gene has been hindered, however, since the UreF protein is produced in only minute amount compared to other urease gene products. In order to overexpress the ureF gene, a recombinant pMAL-UreF plasmid was constructed from which the UreF was produced as a fusion with maltose-binding protein. The MBP-UreF fusion protein was purified by using an amylose-affinity column chromatography followed by an anion exchange column chromatography. Polyclonal antibodies raised against the fusion protein were purified and shown to specifically recognize both MBP and UreF peptides. The UreF protein was shown to be unstable when separated from MBP by digestion with factor Xa.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.533-542
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• 1999

H. pylori produces urease abundantly amounting to 6% of total protein of bacterial mass. Urease genes are composed of a cluster of 9 genes of ureC, ureD, ureA, ureB, ureI, ureE, ureF, ureG, ureH. Production of H. pylori urease in E. coli was studied with genetic cotransformation. Structural genes ureA and ureB produce urease apoprotein in E. coli but the apoprotein has no enzymatic activity. ureC and ureD do not affect urease production nor enzyme activity ureF, ureG, and ureH are essential to produce the catalytically active H. pylori urease of structural genes (ureA and ureB) in E.coli. The kinetics of activation of H. pylori urease apoprotein were examined to understand the production of active H. pylori urease. Activation of H. pylori urease apoprotein, pH dependency, reversibility of $CO_2$ binding, irreversibility of $CO_2$ and $Ni^{2+}$ incorporation, and $CO_2$ dependency of initial rate of urease activity have been observed in vitro. The intrinsic reactivity (ko) for carbamylation of urease apoprotein co expressed with accessory genes was 17-fold greater than that of urease apoprotein expressed without accessory genes. It is concluded that accessory genes function in maximizing the carbamylating deprotonated ${\varepsilon}$-amino group of Lys 219 of urease B subunit and metallocenter of urease apoprotein is supposed to be assembled by reaction of a deprotonated protein side chain with an activating $CO_2$ molecule to generate ligands that facilitate productive nickel binding.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.577-581
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• 2002

In an attempt to produce recombinant proteins using the pollen enriched in some plant species, a 1.7 kb DNA encoding urease subunit B (UreB) amplified by PCR from Helicobacter pylori urease gene cluster in pH808 plasmid was cloned to be expressed under CaMV35S promoter in lily (Lilium longiflorum) pollen tubes elongated in vitro. Lily pollen at early germinating stage was transformed with the ureB DNA using Agrobacterium via vacuum infiltration and, incubated for a full pollen tube growth 16 - 24 h in the dark in the presence of kanamycin. DNA integration and expression in the transgenic pollen were analyzed by the standard molecular techniques and the results suggest that the pollen in vitro may be employed as a protein factory in a disposable fashion.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.311-315
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• 1995

The K. aerogenes ureal gene product was previously shown to facilitate assembly of the crease metallocenter (Lee, M. H., Mulrooney, S. B., Renner, M. J., Markowicz, Y., and Hausinger, R. P. (1992) J. Bacteriol. 174, 4324-4330). UreG protein has now been purified and characterized. Although the protein is predicted to possess a putative NTP-binding P-loop motif, equilibrium dialysis studies showed negative results. Immunogold electron microscopic studies using polyclonal antibodies directed against UreG protein confirm that UreG is located in the cytoplasm as predicted in the DNA sequence.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 1997

Helicobacter pylori is a spiral-shaped, microaerophilic human gastric pathogen causing chronic-active gastritis in association with duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer. To investigate the possibility of H. pylori outer membrane proteins (OMPS) as the oral vaccine antigens, sarcosine-insoluble outer membrane fraction has been prepared from H. pylori NCTC 11637. The major OMPs having apparent molecular masses of 62 kDa, 54 kDa and 33 kDa were detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), which were identified as urease B subunit (UreB), heat shock protein (Hsp54 kDa) and urease A subunit (UreA), respectively. Minor protein bands of 57 kDa, 52 kDa, 40 kDa, 36 kDa and 31 kDa were also observed. The antigenicity of H. pylori OMPs and antigenic cross-reactivity among the strains were determined by immunoblot analysis using anti-H. pylori OMPs antisera or intestinal lavage solutions. The results showed that UreB, Hsp54 kDa, UreA and 40 kDa proteins vigorously stimulated mucosal immune response rather than systemic immunity. From this results, these proteins seemed to be useful as the antigen candidates for the oral vaccine. The immunoblotting results with surface proteins from eight isolated H. pylori strains were similar to that of H. pylori NCTC 11637. The IgA which had been arised from oral administration of H. pylori OMPs, was able to bind H. pylori whole-cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.255-259
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• 1999

A 6.9-kb DNA fragment including the minimal Bacillus pasteurii urease gene cluster was subcloned into a high-copy-number plasmid vector, pUC19, and the recombinant B. pasteurii urease was overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant urease was purified 25.9-fold by using combinations of anion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography followed by Mono-Q chromatography on a FPLC. N-terminal peptide sequencing analyses revealed that two distinct smaller peptide bands resolved on a 10-18％ gradient SDS-PAGE corresponded to UreA and UreB peptides, respectively. It was also shown that the ureB gene was translated from a GUG codon and the first methionine residue was post-translationally cleaved off. The native molecular weight of the recombinant urease was 176,000 and 2 nickel atoms were present per catalytic unit. pH stability studies of the purified enzyme showed that the recombinant Bacillus pasteurii urease is stable in alkaline pH range, which is similar to the enzyme of the evolutionarily related bacterium, Sporosarcina ureae.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.316-322
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• 2019

Helicobacter pylori, a gram-negative bacterium, is one of the risk factors that induces gastritis and gastric cancer. Therefore, much attention has been paid to the compounds that inhibit bacterial growth or eradicate bacteria. Evodiae fructus (EF), the fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa, has been used for treating diarrhea and abdominal pain. EF extract was already found to inhibit the growth of H. pylori. However, to the best of our knowledge, the effect of EF on the virulence factors of H. pylori has not been reported. In this study, when comparing the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the different methanol concentration extracts, the 95% methanol extract (EF95) showed the lowest MIC value. EF95 extract suppressed the expressions of cagA, vacA and ureB, but interestingly, it up-regulated the expression of ureA. A decrease in production of ammonia in the culture medium and the cell lysates indicated that EF95 inhibited the urease activity in H. pylori, which was the result of EF95 inhibiting the ureB expression. Although the mechanism by which EF95 extract regulates the virulence factors in H. pylori needs further study, EF95 could be used for treatment of gastric troubles induced by H. pylori.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.700-704
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• 1998

Each of the recombinant structural genes of Helicobacter pylori urease, ureA and ureB, was cloned and overexpressed as inclusion bodies. Solubilization and renaturation of the inclusion bodies were carried out, to accelerate the pairing of sulfhydryl groups and the incorporation of nickel ions, which would lead to the native structure with high enzyme activity. Rates of urea hydrolysis were monitored as an indication of in vitro activation of renatured ureases. The activation of the apoprotein using 1 mM nickel ion, 100 mM sodium bicarbonate and a 10:1 ratio of reducing power resulted in a weak urease activity (about 11% of the native urease activity encoded by pTZ 19R/ure-l). When a sparse matrix screen method originally discovered for the crystallization of proteins was used, the activity increased higher than that obtained using glutathione. The effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the activity was noticeable, giving two-fold increase in the specific activity (about 11 U/mg of protein corresponding to 22% of the native urease activity encoded by pTZ19R/ure-1).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.286-290
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• 2006

A genomic library of Streptococcus vestibularis ATCC49124 was constructed in an E. coli plasmid vector, and the urease-positive transformants harboring the urease gene cluster were isolated on Christensen-urea agar plates. The minimal DNA region required for urease activity was located in a 5.6 kb DNA fragment, and a DNA sequence analysis revealed the presence of a partial ureI gene and seven complete open reading frames, corresponding to ureA, B, C, E, F, G, and D, respectively. The nucleotide sequence over the entire ure gene cluster and 3'-end flanking region of S. vestibularis was up to 95% identical to that of S. salivarius, another closely related oral bacterium, and S. thermophilus, isolated from dairy products. The predicted amino acid sequences for the structural peptides were 98-100% identical to the corresponding peptides in S. salivarius and S. thermophilus, respectively, whereas those for the accessory proteins were 96-100% identical. The recombinant E. coli strain containing the S. vestibularis ure gene cluster expressed a high level of the functional urease holoenzyme when grown in a medium supplemented with 1 mM nickel chloride. The enzyme was purified over 49-fold by using DEAE-Sepharose FF, Superdex HR 200, and Mono-Q HR 5/5 column chromatography. The specific activity of the purified enzyme was 2,019 U/mg, and the Michaelis constant ($K_{m}$) of the enzyme was estimated to be 1.4 mM urea. A Superose 6HR gel filtration chromatography study demonstrated that the native molecular weight was about 196 kDa.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-helicobacter activity of the ethanol extract of Sohamhyoongtang (Coptidis Rhizoma, Pinelliae Tuber and Trichosanthis Semen) and Coptidis Rhizoma total alkaloids, which is one of the components of Sohamhyoongtang. Crude ethanol extract of Sohamhyoongtang (ESHHT) and Coptidis Rhizoma total alkaloids (CRTA) were used for this experiment. Five different types of H. pylori (including H. pylori 26695) were used as test strain. To determine anti-helicobacter activity, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by agar dilution method. The effect of ESHHT and CRTA on the gene expression of H. pylori was investigated by quantitative realtime-PCR (qRT-PCR). MICs of ESHHT against five H. pylori strains were $250{\sim}500{\mu}g/ml$ and MICs of CRTA against five H. pylori strains were $50{\sim}200{\mu}g/ml$. Four representative virulence genes of H. pylori, cagA, ureA, ureB and ureI were tested as target genes for qRT-PCR. According to the qRT-PCR results, both ESHHT and CRTA markedly repressed the expression of cagA gene of H. pylori 26695 (6.91 and 20 folds respecively). These results showed that the ESHHT and CRTA demonstrated antihelicobacter properties, suggesting their potential use in gastritis or duodenal ulcer.