• Animal cells and systems
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.207-211
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• 2003

Caveolin-1 is a principal protein in the plasma membrane microdomains called caveolae. Caveolae play an important role in the transcytosis and pinocytosis. Therefore, caveolin-1 is most likely to work for the membrane dynamic events. In addition, caveolin-1 interacts with various signaling molecules. Although caveolin-1 possesses a variety of physiological functions, its structural properties were little construed. Here we analyzed the structural dynamics of the N-terminal caveolin-1 (residues 1-101), in order to better understand the structural properties in terms of its versatile functionality. We first analyzed its oligomeric form using GST-fused N-terminal domain, revealing that it equilibrates between a dimer and monomers in av concentration-dependent manner. The N-terminal domain of caveolin-1 was previously found to form a heptamer, so that our data suggest the dimeric form as an intermediate structure for the heptamer formation. Then, we obtained the folding profile, which indicated that $\DeltaG_{H2O}\;is\;about\;0.5\;\pm0.03$ kcal/mol. The stability of N-terminal domain is relatively low, indicating that N-terminal domain may not be crystalline. Conclusively, the dynamic and flexible structure of N-terminal domain appears more favorable to maintain the versatile functions of caveolin-1.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1701-1707
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• 2016

Lipoxygenase (LOX) is an industrial enzyme with wide applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. The available structure information indicates that eukaryotic LOXs consist of N terminus β-barrel and C terminus catalytic domains. However, the latest crystal structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LOX shows it is significantly different from those of eukaryotic LOXs, including the N-terminal helix domain. In this paper, the functions of this N-terminal helix domain in the soluble expression and catalysis of P. aeruginosa LOX were analyzed. Genetic truncation of this helix domain resulted in an insoluble P. aeruginosa LOX mutant. The active C-terminal domain was obtained by dispase digestion of the P. aeruginosa LOX derivative containing the genetically introduced dispase recognition sites. This functional C-terminal domain showed raised substrate affinity but reduced catalytic activity and thermostability. Crystal structure analyses demonstrate that the broken polar contacts connecting the two domains and the exposed hydrophobic substrate binding pocket may contribute to the insoluble expression of the C terminus domain and the changes in the enzyme properties. Our data suggest that the N terminus domain of P. aeruginosa LOX is required for its soluble expression in E. coli, which is different from that of the eukaryotic LOXs. Besides this, this N-terminal domain is not necessary for catalysis but shows positive effects on the enzyme properties. The results presented here provide new and valuable information on the functions of the N terminus helix domain of P. aeruginosa LOX and further improvement of its enzyme properties by molecular modification.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.9 s.89
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• pp.1303-1307
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• 2007

A tumor suppressor, merlin is a member of ERM family proteins. It consists of N-terminal FERM domain, ${\alpha}-helical$ region, and C-terminal domain. Alternative splicing of merlin's mRNA generates two isotypes of merlin. Isotype I, which has exon17 at the C-terminus instead of exon16 in isotype II, is known to have tumor suppressor activity. Like other ERM proteins, the C-terminal domain of merlin isotype I interacts to its FERM domain. That of isotype II, however, was reported not to bind FERM domain despite the large common part of C-terminal domain, which possibly binds FERM domain. Here, we show the binding of FERM domain to both C-terminal domains of merlin's two isotypes by isothermal titration calorimetry. These results support that merlin isotype II also can form a closed conformation or a multimer by intramolecular or intermolecular interactions using their FERM domain and C-terminal domain.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.506-510
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• 2009

The Toll signalling pathway in invertebrates is responsible for defense against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, leading to the expression of antimicrobial peptides via NF-$\kappa$B-like transcription factors. Gram-negative binding protein 3 (GNBP3) detects beta-1,3-glucan, a fungal cell wall component, and activates a three step serine protease cascade for activation of the Toll signalling pathway. Here, we showed that the recombinant N-terminal domain of Tenebrio molitor GNBP3 bound to beta-1,3-glucan, but did not activate down-stream serine protease cascade in vitro. Reversely, the N-terminal domain blocked GNBP3-mediated serine protease cascade activation in vitro and also inhibited beta-1,3-glucan-mediated antimicrobial peptide induction in Tenebrio molitor larvae. These results suggest that the N-terminal GNBP homology domain of GNBP3 functions as a beta-1,3-glucan binding domain and the C-terminal domain of GNBP3 may be required for the recruitment of immediate down-stream serine protease zymogen during Toll signalling pathway activation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.539-546
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• 2007

The lysozymes encoded by bacteriophage T7 and K11 are both bifunctional enzymes sharing an extensive sequence homology (75%). The constructions of chimeric lysozymes were carried out by swapping the N-terminal and C-terminal domains between phage T7 and K11 lysozymes. This technique generated two chimeras, T7K11-lysozyme (N-terminal T7 domain and C-terminal K11 domain) and K11T7-lysozyme (N-terminal K11 domain and C-terminal T7 domain), which are both enzymatically active. The amidase activity of T7K11-lysozyme is comparable with the parental enzymes while K11T7-lysozyme exhibits an activity that is approximately 45% greater than the wild-type lysozymes. Moreover, these chimeric constructs have optimum pH of 7.2-7.4 similar to the parental lysozymes but exhibit greater thermal stabilities. On the other hand, the chimeras inhibit transcription comparable with the parental lysozymes depending on the source of their N-terminals. Taken together, our results indicated that domain swapping technique localizes the N-terminal region as the domain responsible for the transcription inhibition specificity of the wild type T7 and K11 lysozymes. Furthermore, we were able to develop a simple and rapid purification scheme in purifying both the wild-type and chimeric lysozymes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.1104-1107
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• 2020

The N-terminal domain of the Pseudomonas sp. FB15 phytase increases low-temperature activity and catalytic efficiency. In this study, the 3D structure of the N-terminal domain was predicted and substitutions for the amino acid residues of the region assumed to be the active site were made. The activity of mutants, in which alanine (A) was substituted for the original residue, was investigated at various temperatures and pH values. Significant differences in enzymatic activity were observed only in mutant E263A, suggesting that the amino acid residue at position 263 of the N-terminal domain is important in enzyme activity.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2011

Riboflavin synthase catalyzes the formation of one molecule of each riboflavin and 5-amino-6-ribitylamino-2,4-pyrimidinedione by the transfer of a 4-carbon moiety between two molecules of the substrates, 6,7-dimetyl-8-ribityllumazine. The most remarkable feature is the sequence similarity between the N-terminal half (1-97) and the C-terminal half domain (99-213). To investigate the structure and fluorescent characteristics of the N-terminal half of riboflavin synthase (N-RS) in Escherichia coli, more than 10 mutant genes coding for the mutated N-terminal domain of riboflavin synthase were generated by polymerase chain reaction. The genes coding for the proteins were inserted into pQE vector designed for easy purification of protein by 6X-His tagging system, expressed, and the proteins were purified. Almost all mutated N-terminal domain of riboflavin synthases bind to 6,7-dimethyl-8-ribityllumazine and riboflavin as fluorescent ligands. However, N-RS C47D and N-RS ET66,67DQ mutant proteins show colorless, indicating that fluorescent ligands were dissociated during purification. In addition, most mutated proteins show low fluorescent intensity comparing to N-RS wild type, whereas N-RS C48S posses stronger fluorescent intensity than that of wild type protein. Based on this result, N-RS C48S can be used as the tool for high throughput screening system for searching for the compound with inhibitory effect for the riboflavin synthase.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.519-524
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• 2000

NF1 proteins are a family of DNA binding proteins which consist of two separate domains, N-terminal DNA binding domain and C-terminal transcription activation domain. The N-terminal 220 amino acids are highly conserved and are also known to mediate dimerization of NF1 proteins. The C-terminal regions of different type of NF1 proteins are heterogeneous and responsible for transcriptional activation. In this study, we tested the interaction between different domains of rat NF1-A protein by yeast two hybrid analysis and observed the interaction between C-terminal regions of NF1-A which do not contain the N-terminal dimerization domain. Our results showed that the C-terminal region of rat NF1-A between residues 231 and 509 strongly interacted not only with itself, but also with human NF1/CTF1 which is a different type of NF1. When the C-terminal region was divided into two fragments, one from residue 231 to 447 and the other from 448 to 509, the two fragments were able to interact with the C-terminal region of NF1-A significantly. This indicates that both fragments contain independent interaction domains. Analysis of the interactions with alanine substituted fragments showed that substitutions of the heptasequence, SPTSPTY of NF1-A, affected interaction between NF1 proteins. Our results strongly suggest that C-terminal regions may also be important for the formation of homo- and heterodimers in addition to the N-terminal dimerization domain. Also, the heptasequence motif may play some roles in dimer formation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.881-885
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• 2008

Protein phosphatase 1 consists of a secondary structure arrangement, conserved in the serine/threonine protein phosphatase gene family, flanked by nonconserved N-terminal and C-terminal domains. The deletion mutant of PP1 with the 8 nonconserved N-terminal residues removed was designated PP1-(9-330). PP1-(9-330) had a higher activity and affinity than PP1 when assayed against four different substrates, and it also demonstrated a 6-fold higher sensitivity to the inhibitor okadaic acid. This suggested that the N-terminal domain suppresed the activity of PP1 and interfered with its inhibition by okadaic acid. The ANS fluorescence intensity of PP1-(9-330) was greater than that of PP1, which implies that the hydrophobic groove running from active site in the truncated PP1 was more hydrophobic than in PP1. Our findings provide evidence that the nonconserved N-terminus of PP1 functions as an important regulatory domain that influences the active site and its pertinent properties.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.606-611
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• 2023

The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 cleaves 11 sites of viral polypeptide chains and generates essential non-structural proteins for viral replication. Mpro is an important drug target against COVID-19. In this study, we developed a real-time fluorometric turn-on assay system to evaluate Mpro proteolytic activity for a substrate peptide between NSP4 and NSP5. It produced reproducible and reliable results suitable for HTS inhibitor assays. Thus far, most inhibitors against Mpro target the active site for substrate binding. Mpro exists as a dimer, which is essential for its activity. We investigated the potential of the Mpro dimer interface to act as a drug target. The dimer interface is formed of domain II and domain III of each protomer, in which N-terminal ten amino acids of the domain I are bound in the middle as a sandwich. The N-terminal part provides approximately 39% of the dimer interface between two protomers. In the real-time fluorometric turn-on assay system, peptides of the N-terminal ten amino acids, N10, can inhibit the Mpro activity. The dimer interface could be a prospective drug target against Mpro. The N-terminal sequence can help develop a potential inhibitor.