Changmin Sung

Engineering of daidzein 3'-hydroxylase P450 enzyme into catalytically self-sufficient cytochrome P450.

A cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme, 3’-daidzein hydroxylase, CYP105D7 (3’-DH), responsible for daidzein hydroxylation at the 3’-position, was recently reported. CYP105D7 (3’-DH) is a class I type of CYP that requires electrons provided through electron transfer proteins such as ferredoxin and ferredoxin reductase. Presently, we constructed an artificial CYP in order to develop a reaction host for the production of a hydroxylated product. Fusion-mediated construction with the reductase domain from self-sufficient CYP102D1 was done to increase electron transfer efficiency and coupling with the oxidative process. An artificial self-sufficient daidzein hydroxylase (3’-ASDH) displayed distinct spectral properties of both flavoprotein and CYP. The fusion enzyme catalyzed hydroxylation of daidzein more efficiently, with a kcat/Km value of 16.8 μM-1 min-1, which was about 24-fold higher than that of the 3’-DH-camA/B reconstituted enzyme. Finally, a recombinant Streptomyces avermitilis host for the expression of 3’-ASDH and production of the hydroxylated product was developed. The conversion that was attained (34.6%) was 5.2-fold higher than that of the wild-type.

Characterization and structure identification of an antimicrobial peptide, hominicin, produced by Staphylococcus hominis MBBL 2-9

Hominicin, antimicrobial peptide displaying potent activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) ATCC 11435 and vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) CCARM 3501, was purified by chloroform extraction, ion-exchange column chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC from culture supernatant of Staphylococcushominis MBBL 2-9. Hominicin exhibited heat stability up to 121 degrees C for 15min and activity under both acidic and basic conditions (from pH 2.0 to 10.0). Hominicin was cleaved into two fragments after treatment with proteinase K, resulting in the loss of its antibacterial activity, while it was resistant to trypsin, alpha-chymotrypsin, pepsin and lipase. The molecular mass of hominicin determined by mass spectrometry was 2038.4Da. LC-mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy analyses of the two fragments revealed the sequence of hominicin as DmIle-Dhb-Pro-Ala-Dhb-Pro-Phe-Dhb-Pro-Ala-Ile-Thr-Glu-Ile-Dhb-Ala-Ala-Val-Ile-Ala-Dmp, which had no similarity with other antimicrobial peptides previously reported. The present study is the first report of this novel antimicrobial peptide, which has uncommon amino acid residues like the ones in Class I group and shows potent activity against clinically relevant S. aureus, MRSA and VISA.

Probiotic potential of Staphylococcus hominis MBBL 2-9 as anti-Staphylococcus aureus agent isolated from the vaginal microbiota of a healthy woman.

Aims:  To isolate and characterize an antagonist for use as probiotic agent in the biocontrol of Staphylococcus aureus.

A MALDI-MS-based quantitative analytical method for endogenous estrone in human breast cancer cells

The level of endogenous estrone, one of the three major naturally occurring estrogens, has a significant correlation with the incidence of post-menopausal breast cancer. However, it is challenging to quantitatively monitor it owing to its low abundance. Here, we develop a robust and highly sensitive mass-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS)-based quantitative platform to identify the absolute quantities of endogenous estrones in a variety of clinical specimens. The one-step modification of endogenous estrone provided good linearity (R2 > 0.99) and significantly increased the sensitivity of the platform (limit of quantitation: 11 fmol). In addition, we could identify the absolute amount of endogenous estrones in cells of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 (34 fmol/106 cells) by using a deuterated estrone as an internal standard. Finally, by applying the MALDI-MS-based quantitative method to endogenous estrones, we successfully monitored changes in the metabolic expression level of estrones (17.7 fmol/106 letrozole-treated cells) in MCF-7 cells resulting from treatment with an aromatase inhibitor. Taken together, these results suggest that this MALDI-MS-based quantitative approach may be a general method for the targeted metabolomics of ketone-containing metabolites, which can reflect clinical conditions and pathogenic mechanisms.

Activation of Aro80 transcription factor by heat-induced aromatic amino acid influx in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transcription of ARO9 and ARO10 genes, involved in the catabolism of aromatic amino acids, is activated by Aro80 transcription factor in response to aromatic amino acids. Here we show that the transcription of ARO9 and ARO10 is also induced by heat shock in an Aro80-dependent manner. However, heat shock-related signaling pathways including PKA, PKC, and HOG pathways are not involved in the heat shock activation of Aro80. We elucidate that heat-induced increase in aromatic amino acid influx can lead to the inducer-dependent activation of Aro80 upon heat shock. Known aromatic amino acid permeases play an insignificant role in the heat-induced expression of ARO9 and ARO10, suggesting that an increase in plasma membrane fluidity might be responsible for the influx of aromatic amino acids during heat shock stress.

A new flow path design for multidimensional protein identification technology using nano-liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Multidimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT) is one of the most versatile methods for separating and identifying highly complex peptides or proteins. However, there are still inherent problems resulting from salt in eluent systems and instrumentation with MudPIT. We designed a novel and simple flow path using two-valve system and successfully performed a fully automated peptide analysis using MudPIT coupled with nano-liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (nLC-ESI-MS). It enables to generate a remarkably stable nanospray during the MudPIT analysis and realize the fully automated MudPIT system. This column arrangement could be easily installed to avoid laborious loading steps and unstable ionization from discontinuous flow. Consequently, the new flow path design for MudPIT system guarantees the detection of more peptides and higher protein coverage in proteome analysis.

Selective derivatization of nucleotide diphosphate (NDP)-4-keto sugars for electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS).

Nucleotide diphosphate (NDP) sugars are widely present in antibiotics and glycoconjugates, such as protein- and lipid-linked oligosaccharides, where they act as substrates for glycosyltransferase in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Among NDP sugars, NDP-4-keto sugars are key intermediates in the synthesis of structurally diverse NDP sugars with different functional groups. However, the structural identification of the NDP-4-keto sugars via mass spectrometry (electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS)) continues to be a challenge because of the carbonyl group in these sugars interferes with ionization process. In this study, we evaluated various hydroxylamine compounds for the derivatization of NDP-4-keto sugars, so that the detection of the sugars by ESI-MS is more efficient. As a result, O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine was found to be the most effective tagging molecule for the detection of NDP-4-keto sugars without being interfered by original MS. This method can be used for identifying NDP-4-keto sugars such as thymidine diphosphate (TDP)-, adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-, uridine diphosphate (UDP)-, and cytosine diphosphate (CDP)-4-keto sugars as well as new NDP-4-keto-dehydratases.