• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.89-93
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• 2002

A total of six crossbred barrows ($Duroc{\times}Landrace{\times}Large$ White, $44.17{\pm}1.94kg$ BW) were housed conducted to evaluate apparent fecal digestibilities of Brown Rice (BR) as an alternative energy source in growing pigs. Pigs were housed individually on metabolism crate on the basis of body weight. Four treatments contained: 1) 100% of corn-soybean meal (C100; Control diet), 2) 75% of corn-soybean meal diet plus 25% of corn meal (C25), 3) 100% of brown rice-soybean meal diet (BR100), 4) 75% of brown rice-soybean meal diet plus 25% of brown rice meal (BR25). Brown rice has an excellent gross energy and crude protein composition compared to corn. The BR used had 3,801 kcal of gross energy/kg, 8.0% crude protein, 2.6% of ether extract, 0.035% calcium and 0.35% total phosphorus. The best digestibilities of energy (87.75%), DM (81.71%) and CP (78.57%) were observed in BR 100 group and the worst were found in Corn 25 group. The nutrient digestibility was not significantly different in most nutrients. Through this experiment, BR appeared a good alternative energy source that can replace corn yellow to 100% in growing pigs. Therefore, the price relationship between corn and BR may provide an excellent opportunity for pork producers to use BR in order to reduce feed costs provided that diet has been balanced for digestible amino acids.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1091-1100
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• 2023

Objective: The present study is to examine the effect of high inclusion of co-products in pig diets (referred to as an alternative diet) during the finishing stage on pig growth performance, meat quality and boar taint compounds. Methods: Growing pigs were fed an alternative diet made with distillers dried grains with solubles (25%), canola meal (20%), and wheat middling (15%) or a control diet based on barley and soybean meal to investigate the impact of co-products on pig performance and meat quality. Sixteen female and sixteen entire male Duroc×(Large White×Landrace) pigs (22.6±2.07 kg, body weight±standard error) were equally allocated to the diets. Results: Pigs fed the alternative diet had a lower feed intake; however, growth rate and feed conversion efficiency were unaffected by diet. A diet by sex interaction was found for gain:feed whereby males fed the alternative diet had the best feed conversion (p<0.01). Pork from pigs fed the alternative diet had lower a^* and Chroma and protein % (p<0.05), while other meat quality characteristics were unaffected. The alternative diet reduced backfat skatole levels (p<0.001). Conclusion: A diet containing high inclusion levels of co-products can be fed to pigs during the finishing stage without detrimental effects on pig performance or meat quality and with the potential to enhance pork flavour. This finding suggests a solution to increase the sustainable development of pig production.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 2001

In 1980s, the fragmentation or subdivision of protein deposits at the periphery of protein storage vacuole was suggested as the only route of PB development in pea cotyledon cells. Since then, other independant processes such as terminal dilation , transformation and de novo development have been discussed as alternative routes for PB development, and today, these multiple mechanisms of PB development are accepted as a result of active investigations. For analysis of the protein accumulations in the ER cisternae during seed development, immunocytochemical gold labellings were applyed on the single cells separated by enzymatic digestion from cotyledon tissue. Anti-legumin labellings at the early stage, and anti-vicilin labellings at the intermediate stage were observed on the protein-filled ER. The $\alpha-Tip$, which is the ER retention protein, was labelled somewhat at late stage, and PPase, a sort of tonoplast membrane protein, was labelled at early stage.

• Kidney Research and Clinical Practice
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.384-392
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• 2018

Background: A very low protein diet (VLPD) with ketoacid analogs of essential amino acids (KA/EAA) administration can remarkably influence protein synthesis and metabolic disturbances of patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD), and may also slow the decline in renal function. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was carried out to monitor renal progression and metabolic and nutritional status among 140 patients with CKD stage III or IV. One group (n = 70) was on a low protein diet (LPD) with 0.6 g of protein intake, and another group (n = 70) was on a VLPD with 0.3 g of protein and KA/EAA supplementation of 100 mg/kg/day for 12 months. Results: At 12-month follow-up, estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) significantly decreased from $41.6{\pm}10.2$ to $36.4{\pm}8.8mL/min/1.73m^2$ (P < 0.001) and urine protein increased from $0.6{\pm}0.5$ to $0.9{\pm}1.1g/day$ (P = 0.017) in the LPD group, but no significant changes in estimated GFR and urine protein were found in the VLPD plus KA/EAA group. A significant mean difference in rate of change in estimated GFR ($-5.2{\pm}3.6mL/min/1.73m^2$ per year; P < 0.001) was observed between the two groups. After Cox regression analysis, treatment with VLPD plus KA/EAA significantly protected against the incidence of declining GFR > 10% annually (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.42; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.79; P = 0.006) and significant correlations were found between using VLPD plus KA/EEA and increased GFR. Conclusion: VLPD supplementation with KA/EAA is associated with delayed renal progression while preserving the nutritional status in the patients with CKD. Co-administration of VLPD and KA/EAA may prove an effective alternative to conservative management of CKD.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.435-440
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• 2013

Previous studies, including our own, have demonstrated that the intratesticular injection of hypertonic saline (20%) decreased serum testosterone level which was similar to the surgical castration in the rat, showing the state of chemical castration. In the present study, we further verify the efficacy of this less invasive method as an alternative of surgical orchidectomy in the andrological field. Sterilized 20% saline was directly injected into the adult male rats (750 ${\mu}l$ per testis). The tested rats were divided into 3 groups including intact group (intact), orchidectomy group (ORX) and saline injection group (SAL) after bilateral orchidectomy was performed at the same day of injection. All rats were sacrificed at 4 weeks after injection. The reproductive organs (testes, epididymis, seminal vesicles and prostates) were collected and used for DNA and protein pattern analyses. Also, patho-histological studies on the testes were performed. In contrast to the intact group, similar DNA damages of testis and seminal vesicle were appeared in ORX group and SAL group. The DNA degradations seemed to be the results of necrosis rather than apoptosis. In the protein pattern analysis, all the testing tissues exerted similar patterns in the ORX group and the SAL group compared to the those of intact group. Patho-histological studies revealed that severe degenerative changes in testicular seminiferous tubules and massive infiltration of immune cells in SAL group. The present study confirmed that direct injection of hypertonic saline into the testis caused the equivalent biochemical changes in the accessory sex organs as shown in the orchidectomized animals. These results suggest that hypertonic saline injection model could be a useful castration model which can substitute for surgical castration when its safety is secured through further study in the future.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.550-558
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• 1998

The experiment was conducted to evaluate CM (Cell Mass from Lysine Fermentation), which is used to produce synthetic lysine in industry, as an alternative protein source in broiler diets. Three different production conditions were employed to produce CMs (CM I, II, III). Treatments were control, CM I -1 (1 % of CM in the diet), CM I -3 (3% of CM in the diet), CM I -5 (5% of CM in the diet), CM II (3% of CM in the diet), and CM III (3% of CM in the diet). It was found that CM products were all high in crude protein content and especially high in lysine and methionine contents, while very low in minerals. For the starter period, all CM groups showed better weight gain, chicks fed CM I -1 diets were especially high in weight gain (p < 0.05). CM groups consumed 14.4 to 18.0% more feed than chicks fed control diets (p < 0.05). The best FCR was found in CM I -1 groups (p < 0.05), but as CM level was increased, FCR was also increased. For the finisher period, weight gain was similar through all treatments. Through whole experimental period, weight gain and feed intake were higher in all CM groups than control group (p < 0.05), however, as CM level was increased, FCR was also increased. Generally chicks fed CM diets showed higher utilizabilities of gross energy, dry matter, crude protein and crude fat. The best nutrients utilizability was obtained in CM I -1 group, and the worst was found in the control group. During the finisher period, the utilizabilities of crude protein, crude ash and phosphorus were not affected by the dietary treatments. Amino acids utilizability was not significantly affected by the treatments except CM I -5 group. In all amino acids tested, chicks did not show the big difference in utilizabilities. Only in the CM I -5 group, amino acids utilizability was significantly lower than control group. However, among CM I groups, the mean value of the amino acids utilizability was decreased as the level of CM inclusion in the diet was increased. During the finisher period, similar trend was found in amino acids utilizability.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.355-361
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• 2011

Ski protein is implicated in proliferation/differentiation in a variety of cells. We had previously reported that Ski protein is present in granulosa cells of atretic follicles, but not in preovulatory follicles, suggesting that Ski has a role in apoptosis of granulosa cells. The alternative fate of granulosa cells other than apoptosis is to differentiate to luteal cells, however, it is unknown whether Ski is expressed and has a role in granulosa cells undergoing luteinization. Thus, the aim of the present study was to locate Ski protein in the rat ovary during luteinization to predict the possible role of Ski. In order to examine the expression pattern of Ski protein along with the progress of luteinization, follicular growth was induced by administration of equine chorionic gonadotropin to immature female rat, and luteinization was induced by human chorionic gonadotropin treatment to mimic luteinizing hormone (LH) surge. While no Ski-positive granulosa cells were present in preovulatory follicle, Ski protein expression was induced in response to LH surge, and was maintained after the formation of corpus luteum (CL). Though Ski protein is absent in granulosa cells of preovulatory follicle, its mRNA (c-ski) was expressed and the level was unchanged even after LH surge. Taken together, these results demonstrated that Ski protein expression is induced in granulosa cells upon luteinization, and suggested that its expression is regulated post-transcriptionally.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.235-239
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• 2006

Due to recent advances in genome sequencing, there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of genetic information, which has lead to an even greater demand for a faster, more parallel expression system. Therefore, interest in cell-free protein synthesis, as an alternative method for high-throughput gene expression, has been revived. In contrast to in vivo gene expression methods, cell-free protein synthesis provides a completely open system for direct access to the reaction conditions. We have developed an efficient cell-free protein synthesis system by optimizing the energy source and S30 extract. Under the optimized conditions, approximately $650{\mu}g/mL$ of protein was produced after 2h of incubation, with the developed system further modified for the efficient expression of PCR-amplified DNA. When the concentrations of DNA, magnesium, and amino acids were optimized for the production of PCR-based cell-free protein synthesis, the protein yield was comparable to that from the plasmid template.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1222-1228
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• 2024

Protein-specific antibodies are essential for various aspects of protein research, including detection, purification, and characterization. When specific antibodies are unavailable, protein tagging is a useful alternative. Small epitope tags, typically less than 10 amino acids, are widely used in protein research due to the simple modification through PCR and reduced impact on the target protein's function compared to larger tags. The 2B8 epitope tag (RDPLPFFPP), reported by us in a previous study, has high specificity and sensitivity to the corresponding antibody. However, when attached to the C-terminus of the target protein in immunoprecipitation experiments, we observed a decrease in detection signal with reduced immunity and low protein recovery. This phenomenon was not unique to 2B8 and was also observed with the commercially available Myc tag. Our study revealed that C-terminal tagging of small epitope tags requires the addition of more than one extra amino acid to enhance (restore) antibody immunities. Moreover, among the amino acids we tested, serine was the best for the 2B8 tag. Our findings demonstrated that the interaction between a small epitope and a corresponding paratope of an antibody requires an extra amino acid at the C-terminus of the epitope. This result is important for researchers planning studies on target proteins using small epitope tags.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.60-65
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• 2021

As a part of the Chromosome-centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP), we have developed a few algorithms for accurate identification of missing proteins, alternative splicing variants, single amino acid variants, and characterization of function unannotated proteins. We have found missing proteins, novel and known ASVs, and SAAVs using LC-MS/MS data from human brain and olfactory epithelial tissue, where we validated their existence using synthetic peptides. According to the neXtProt database, the number of missing proteins in chromosome 11 shows a decreasing pattern. The development of genomic and transcriptomic sequencing techniques make the number of protein variants in chromosome 11 tremendously increase. We developed a web solution named as SAAvpedia for identification and function annotation of SAAVs, and the SAAV information is automatically transformed into the neXtProt web page using REST API service. For the 73 uPE1 in chromosome 11, we have studied the function annotaion of CCDC90B (NX_Q9GZT6), SMAP (NX_O00193), and C11orf52 (NX_Q96A22).