SulA protein is known to be one of the physiological substrates of Lon protease, an ATP-dependent protease from Escherichia coli. In this study, we investigated the cleavage speci®city of Lon protease toward SulA protein.The enzyme was shown to cleave 27 peptide bonds in the presence of ATP. Among them, six peptide bonds were cleaved preferentially in the early stage of digestion, which represented an apparently unique cleavage sites with mainly Leu and Ser residues at the P 1 , and P 1 ¢ positions, respectively, and one or two 1Gln residues in positions P 2 ±P 5 . They were located in the central region and partly in the C-terminal region, both of which are known to be important for the function of SulA, such as inhibition of cell growth and interaction with Lon protease, respectively. The other cleavage sites did not represent such consensus sequences, though hydrophobic or noncharged residues appeared to be relatively preferred at the P 1 sites. On the other hand, the cleavage in the absence of ATP was very much slower, especially in the central region, than in the presence of ATP. The central region was predicted to be rich in a helix and b sheet structures, suggesting that the enzyme required ATP for disrupting such structures prior to cleavage. Taken together, SulA is thought to contain such unique cleavage sites in its functionally and structurally important regions whose preferential cleavage accelerates the ATP-dependent degradation of the protein by Lon protease.

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Words not only describe the world but also influence the world or modify relationships (Austin, 1965; Pinker et al,, 2008). Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has presented his competence in influencing or even shaping diplomatic relationships through his words and utterances. This study explores the ways in which he has been successful as a strategic speaker (Lee & Pinker, 2010), establishing solidarity with Japan using the soft power introduced by Nye (2004, 2011). By closely examining his 12-minute online speech at the Japanese parliament in March 2022, it investigates the extent to which his speech has exerted influence on the Japanese people as well as on the two countries’ relationship. As for methodology, the data of an English-translated script were analyzed by adopting politeness theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), which stems from the concept of “face” (Goffman, 1967), a positive social value in social interaction. Specifically, all of President Zelensky’s utterances were evaluated by three factors that account for politeness strategies – relative power, social distance, and weight of imposition. Based on this analysis and the responses in Japan, this study argues that his speech adopted not only face-threatening but also face-boosting effects (Bayraktaroğlu, 1991), building common ground as an affiliation strategy and generating solidarity and soft power. This study concludes that President Zelensky’s speech to Japan contributes to consolidating solidarity in Japanese minds and soft power, which have encouraged the Japanese government and its citizens to continue supporting Ukraine financially, psychologically, and diplomatically.