• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 1997

Glyphosate had no effect on 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase(EPSP-synthase) biosynthesis per se. But it inhibited clealy the activity of EPSP-synthase. EPSP-synthase seemed to be synthesized as a higher molecular weight(54 kDa) presusor protein and to be transported into plastid. The apparent molecular weight of mature EPSP-synthase in plastid is 45 kDa. Thus, the molecular size of transit peptide appeared to be about 9 kDa. The etiolation for 48 h after glyphosate application did not exhibit the inhibition of translocating level of EPSP-synthase across chloroplast envelope in actively growing meristematic leaves. But even when the plants were etiolated 2 hr after glyphosate treatment, a complete inhibition did not occur at least within 12 hr, i.e. 2 hr after beginning light period, suggesting that EPSP-synthase biosynthesis appeared to be not completely light dependent and the level of EPSP-synthase translocation to chloroplast could be controlled by an unknown regulatory mechanism of light dependent herbicidal effect of glyphosate.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1997

5-Enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate(EPSP) synthase is the sixth enzyme of the shikimate pathway that synthesizes aromatic amino acids. The enzyme is a primary target for the glyphos'lte which is a broad-spectrum and environmetally safe herbicide. As a first step toward development of glyphpsate-resistant EPSP synthase, the EPSP synthase gene(aroA) was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and cluned into pET-25b vector. In this construct. designated pET-aro, the aroA gene is expressed under control of strong T7 promoter. and the EPSP synthase is produced as a fusion protein with pelB leader at N-terminus and HSV-tag and His-tag at C-terminus. When the pET-aro clone was induced to produce the enzyme, it was found that the EPSP synthase was successfully exported to peri plasmic space. The periplasmic transport was greatly dependent on the induction temperatures. Among the induction temperatures examined($25^{\circ}C$, $30^{\circ}C$, $34^{\circ}C$ and $37^{\circ}C$). induction at $34^{\circ}C$ gave rise to maximal periplasmic transport. The recomhinant EPSP synthase could have been purified hy $Ni^{2+}$ -affinity chromatography using the His-tag. and detected hy anti-HSV -tag antibody. The recombinant EPSP synthase also hound to phosphocellulose resin and was eluted hy shikimate 3-phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate. as expected. The recombinant EPSP synthase purified from phosphocellulose resin showed typical EPSP synthase activity.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.148-153
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• 1995

Glyphosate (N-[phosphonomethyl]glycine) applied to the assimilate-exporting leaves or sprayed to the whole plants of tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum Mil var. Moneymaker) induced the rapid inhibition of 5-enolpyruvyl skimic acid 3-phosphate synthase(EPSP-synthase). It shows that EPSP-synthase activity precedes chlorophyll loss. There is no difference in EPSP-synthase activity between in vivo tomato meristem and cell suspension culture if glyphosate is not applied. The EPSP-synthase activity is in a range of 4 to 6 nkat per mg protein. The inhibition of EPSP-synthase action is induced within 36 h after glyphosate application while the Chl contents were reduced 48 h after the application. In cell suspension culture of tomato and Corydalis (Corydalis sempervirens), a sublethal concentration of glyphosate retards the fresh weight increase and prolonged lag phase. The fresh weight is reached maximal about 14 days after the subculture in the presence of glyphosate. The inhibitory effect of glyphosate on EPSP-synthase is remarkably induced in lag phase.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.153-157
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• 2007

5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP synthase, EC 2.5.1.19) is the sixth enzyme in the shikimate pathway which is essential for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids and many secondary metabolites. The enzyme is widely involved in glyphosate tolerant transgenic plants because it is the primary target of the nonselective herbicide glyphosate. In this study, the Dunaliella salina EPSP synthase gene was cloned by RT-PCR approach. It contains an open reading frame encoding a protein of 514 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 54.6 KDa. The derived amino acid sequence showed high homology with other EPSP synthases. The Dunaliella salina EPSP synthase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant EPSP synthase were identified by functional complementation assay.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1385-1389
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• 2007

5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase catalyzes the formation of EPSP and inorganic phosphate from shikimate-3-phosphate (S3P) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. To delineate the domain-specific function, we successfully isolated the discontinuous C-terminal domain (residues 1-21, linkers, 240-427) of EPSP synthase (427 residues) by site-directed mutagenesis. The engineered C-terminal domains containing no linker (CTD), or with gly-gly ($CTD^{GG}$) and gly-ser-ser-gly ($CTD^{GSSG}$) linkers were purified and characterized as having distinct native-like secondary and tertiary structures. However, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), $^{15}N-HSQC$,\;and\;^{31}P-NMR$ revealed that neither its substrate nor inhibitor binds the isolated domain. The isolated domain maintained structural integrity, but did not function as the half of the full-length protein.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2303-2309
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• 2007

Expressed protein ligation (EPL) technique, joining recombinantly expressed proteins to polypeptides, has been widely adopted for addressing various biological questions and for drug discovery. However, joining two recombinant proteins together is sometimes difficult when proteins are expressed insoluble and unrefoldable, because ligation-active proteins via intein-fusion are obtainable when they are folded correctly. We overcame this limitation coexpressing target protein with additional methionine aminopeptidase (MAP) which enhances removal of the initiation methionine of recombinantly expressed protein. Our approach demonstrated that two domains of 46 kDa 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase, a target of herbicide glyphosate, were successfully joined by native chemical ligation, although its C-terminal domain was expressed as an inclusion body. The intein-fused N-terminal fragment of EPSP synthase (EPSPSN, residues 1-237) was expressed and the ligation-active thioester tagged N-terminal fragment (EPSPSN-thioester) was purified using a chitin affinity chromatography and mercapto-ethanesulphonate (MESNA) as intein thiolysis reagent. Its Cterminal fragment (EPSPSC, residues Met237-238CYS-427), expressed as an inclusion body, was prepared from an additional MAP-expressing strain. Protein ligation was initiated by mixing ~1 mM of EPSPSN-thioester with ~2 mM of EPSPSCCYS (residues 238CYS-427). Also we found that addition of 2% thiophenol increased the ligation efficiency via thiol exchange. The ligation efficiency was ~85%. The ligated full-length EPSP synthase was dissolved in 6 M GdHCl and refolded. Circular dichroism (CD) and enzyme activity assay of the purified protein showed that the ligated enzyme has distinct secondary structure and ~115% specific activity compared to those of wild-type EPSP synthase. This work demonstrates rare example of EPL between two recombinantly expressed proteins and also provides hands-on protein engineering protocol for large proteins.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.648-655
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• 2010

This study is the first comprehensive report on the molecular cloning, structural characterization, sequence comparison between wild and mutant types, copy number in the genome, expression features and activities of a gene encoding 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) in Korean lawn grass ($Zoysia$ $japonica$). The full length cDNA of the EPSPS from Korean lawn grass ($zj$EPSPS) obtained from a 3' and 5' RACE method was 1540 bp, containing a 1176 bp ORF, a 144 bp leader sequence (5' UTR) and a 220 bp 3' UTR, which was eventually decoded 391 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 41.74 kDa. The Southern blot detection of the $zj$EPSPS showed that the gene exists as a single copy in the Korean lawn grass genome. Sequence comparison of the $zj$EPSPS gene demonstrated that the glyphosate-tolerant mutant (GT) having a Pro-53 to Ser substitution in the gene seems to have a preferred binding activity of the enzyme to phosphoenol pyruvate(PEP) over glyphosate, which allows the continuous synthesis of aromatic amino acids in the shikimate pathway. From the Northern blotting analysis, the $zj$EPSPS was found to be highly expressed, with continuous increase until 36 hours after 0.5% glyphosate treatment in both wild and mutant samples, but 1.5-fold higher EPSP synthase activity was observed in the tolerant mutant when exposed to the glyphosate treatment. The molecular information of the $zj$EPSPS gene obtained from this study needs to be further dissected to be more effectively applied to the development of gene-specific DNA markers and zoysiagrass cultivars; nevertheless, the glyphosate-tolerant mutant having the featured $zj$EPSPS gene can be provided to turfgrass managers for weed problems with timely adoptable management options.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.366-372
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• 2003

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for assaying the 5-enolpyruvyshikimate-3-phosphate synthase from Agribacterium sp. CP4 (CP4 EPSPS) in genetically modified soybeans was developed. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies (Pab, Mab) specific to the CP4 EPSPS were produced. When using the Pab, the detection limit of sandwich ELISA toward CP4 EPSPS (0.03 ${\mu}g/mL$) was better than that of competitive indirect ELISA(ciELISA) (1 ${\mu}g/mL$). It was found that 2 of 3 monoclonal antibodies, Mab1 and Mab2, recognized the same antigenic determinant on CP4 EPSPS, but Mab3 recognized different antigenic determinant when competitive ELISA was performed using the Mabs. On the other hand, when the sensitivity of sandwich ELISA using combination of Pab and/or Mabs was determined, the sandiwich ELISA using Mab2 as a capture antibody and Pab-HRP as a secondary antibody showed the lowest detection limit of CP4 EPSPS (0.02 ${\mu}g/mL$). The sandwich ELISA developed in this study could be applied to detect glyphosate-tolerant soybeans.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2005

Antioxidative responses of transgenic tobacco plants expressing both superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in chloroplasts was investigated with several herbicides. In greenhouse test, tolerance of SOD/APX-overexpressed tobacco (CA) to photosystem (PS) I inhibitor paraquat was increased by about 40%. However, any response differences between CA and wild type (WT) tobacco was not observed in a treatment with PS II inhibitors (bromoxynil, diuron and bromacil), chlorophyll biosynthesis inhibitor(oxyfluorfen), carotenoid biosynthesis inhibitor (fluridone) and 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase inhibitor (glyphosate). This tendency was also similar in the growth chamber test of low light intensity, using paraquat and diuron. That is, increased antioxidant activity of CA was shown only in paraquat treatment. When paraquat was foliar-treated to 6 to 9-leaf stage plant, the third to fourth placed leaf from shoot tip showed relatively higher antioxidant activity. Ascorbate supplemented to paraquat solution alleviated the phytotoxicity with a similar range in both CA and WT. In conclusion, CA specifically responded to oxidative stress induced by paraquat among tested herbicides in a whole plant assay.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.375-380
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• 2007

This study was conducted to develop herbicide-resistance domestic maize plants by introducing the CP4 5-enol-pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (CP4 EPSPS) gene using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated immature embryo transformation. Immature embryos of five genotypes (HW1, KL103, HW3, HW4, HW7) were co-cultivated with strains Agrobacterium tumefaciens (strain C58C1) containing the binary vector (pCAMBIA2300) carrying Ubiquitin promoter-CP4 EPSPS gene and Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV35S) promoter-nptll gene conferring resistance to paromomycin as a selective agent. The presence and expression of CP4 EPSPS transgene were confirmed by PCR, RT-PCR and Northern blot analysis, respectively. Also, the resistance to glyphosate in the transgenic maize ($T_1$) was analyzed by shikimate accumulation assay. The frequency (%) of paromomycin-resistance callus was 0.37, 0.03, 2.20, 2.37, and 0.81% in pure lines HW1, KL103, HW3, HW4 and HW7, respectively. EPSP transgene sequences were amplified in putative transgenic plants that regenerated from paromomycin-resistance calli of two inbred lines (HW3, HW4). Of them, RT-PCR and Northern blot analyses revealed that the transgene was only expressed in two transgenic events (M266, M104) of HW4 inbred line, and a mild glyphosate resistance of transgenic event (M266) was confirmed by the lower shikimate accumulation in leaf segments. These results demonstrate that transgenic maize with herbicide-resistance traits in Korean genotype can be genetically obtained.