• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2002

A fusion protein, consisting of a human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) as the recognition domain and human angiogenin as the toxin domain, can be used as a targeted therapeutic against breast cancer cells among others. The fusion protein was expressed as inclusion body in recombinant E. coli, and when the conventional, solution-phase refolding process was used the refolding yield was very low due to severe aggregation. It was probably because of the opposite electric charge at a neutral pH resulting from the vastly different pI values of each domain. The solid-phase refolding process that exploited the ionic interactions between ionic exchanger surface and the fusion protein was tried, but the adsorption yield was also very low, below $ 30\%$, regardless of the resins and pH conditions used. Therefore, to provide a higher ionic affinity toward the solid matrix, six lysine residues were tagged to the N-terminus of the hEGF domain. When heparin-Sepharose was used as the matrix, the adsorption capacity increased 2.5-3 times to about $88\%$. Besides the intrinsic affinity of angiogenin to heparin, the poly-lysine tag provided additional ionic affinity. And the subsequent refolding yield increased nearly 13-fold, from ca. $4.8\%$ in the conventional refolding of the untagged fusion protein to $63.6\%$. The process was highly reproducible. The refolded protein in the column eluate retained RNase bioactivity of angiogenin.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 2019

Upon viral infection, the 2', 5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS)-ribonuclease L (RNaseL) system works to cleave viral RNA, thereby blocking viral replication. However, it is unclear whether OAS proteins have a role in regulating gene expression. Here, we show that OAS1 and OAS3 act as negative regulators of the expression of chemokines and interferon-responsive genes in human macrophages. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein-9 nuclease (Cas9) technology was used to engineer human myeloid cell lines in which the OAS1 or OAS3 gene was deleted. Neither OAS1 nor OAS3 was exclusively responsible for the degradation of rRNA in macrophages stimulated with poly(I:C), a synthetic surrogate for viral double-stranded (ds)RNA. An mRNA sequencing analysis revealed that genes related to type I interferon signaling and chemokine activity were increased in $OAS1^{-/-}$ and $OAS3^{-/-}$ macrophages treated with intracellular poly(I:C). Indeed, retinoic-acid-inducible gene (RIG)-I- and interferon-induced helicase C domain-containing protein (IFIH1 or MDA5)-mediated induction of chemokines and interferon-stimulated genes was regulated by OAS3, but Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3)- and TLR4-mediated induction of those genes was modulated by OAS1 in macrophages. However, stimulation of these cells with type I interferons had no effect on OAS1- or OAS3-mediated chemokine secretion. These data suggest that OAS1 and OAS3 negatively regulate the expression of chemokines and interferon-responsive genes in human macrophages.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.912-916
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• 2014

Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Siebold and Zucc.) is a deciduous tree of the family Rosaceae, and it has long been used as a folk remedy for cough and dyspepsia. A new cultivar 'Okjoo' was developed from a cross between 'Gyokuei' and 'Rinsyu' carried out at the National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science in 1993. It w as s elected for good shape, large size and high yield capacity in 2006, and then it was granted official patent No. 4556 in 2013. It blooms 4 days and 2 days earlier than 'Gyokuei' and 'Rinsyu', respectively. Its flower petal color is pink, and the pollen amount is negligible. Its S-genotype, determined using Polymerase Chain Reaction with a S-RNase gene-specific primer pair, is $S_3S_6$. The average optimum harvest time of 'Okjoo' is late June. The fruit is round in shape and its suture is shallow. Average fruit weight is 18.5 g, and it contains total soluble solids $7.66^{\circ}Brix$ and titratable acidity at 4.81%. Fruit skin color is green. Sometimes only the light side of the fruits seems to develop blush. The incidence levels of scab (Cladosporium carpophilum Thumen) and bacterial shot hole (Xanthomonas arboricola pv. Pruni) are quite low. Consequently, 'Okjoo' seems to be a promising new cultivar for Japanese apricot growers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1550-1557
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• 2018

Objective: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a newfound class of non-coding RNA in animals and plants. Recent studies have revealed that circRNAs play important roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, autophagy and apoptosis during development. However, there are few reports about muscle development-related circRNAs in livestock. Methods: RNA sequencing analysis was employed to identify and annotate circRNAs from longissimus dorsi of sheep. Reverse transcription followed by real-time quantitative (q) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis verified the presence of these circRNAs. Targetscan7.0 and miRanda were used to analyse the interaction of circRNA-microRNA (miRNA). To investigate the function of circRNAs, an experiment was conducted to perform enrichment analysis hosting genes of circRNAs using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways. Results: About 75.5 million sequences were obtained from RNA libraries of sheep skeletal muscle. These sequences were mapped to 729 genes in the sheep reference genome. We identified 886 circRNAs, including numerous circular intronic RNAs and exonic circRNAs. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and DNA sequencing analysis confirmed the presence of several circRNAs. Real-Time RT-PCR analysis exhibited resistance of sheep circRNAs to RNase R digestion. We found that many circRNAs interacted with muscle-specific miRNAs involved in growth and development of muscle, especially circ776. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that hosting genes of circRNAs was involved in muscle cell development and signaling pathway. Conclusion: The study provides comprehensive expression profiles of circRNAs in sheep skeletal muscle. Our study offers a large number of circRNAs to facilitate a better understanding of their roles in muscle growth. Meanwhile, we suggested that circ776 could be analyzed in future study.