• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2020

We have identified a heat shock protein 70 gene from freshwater snail, Semisulcospira coreana. The freshwater snail HSP70 gene encode a polypeptide of 639 amino acids. Based on bioinformatic sequence characterization, HSP70 gene possessed three classical signature motifs and other conserved residues essential for their functionality. The phylogenetic analysis showed that S. coreana HSP70 had closet relationship with that of golden apple snails, Pomacea canaliculata. The HSP70 mRNA level was significantly up-regulated in response to thermal and salinity challenges. These results are in agreement with the results of other species, indicating that S. coreana HSP70 used be a potential molecular marker in response to external stressors and the regulatory process related to the HSP70 transcriptional response can be highly conserved among species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1420-1429
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• 2021

The safety of the probiotic strain Q180, which exerts postprandial lipid-lowering effects, was bioinformatically and phenotypically evaluated. The genome of strain Q180 was completely sequenced, and single circular chromosome of 3,197,263 bp without any plasmid was generated. Phylogenetic and related analyses using16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences revealed that strain Q180 is a member of Lactiplantibacillus (Lp., formerly Lactobacillus) plantarum. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes were bioinformatically analyzed using all Lp. plantarum genomes available in GenBank, which showed that AMR genes are present differently depending on Lp. plantarum strains. Bioinformatic analysis demonstrated that some mobile genetic elements such as prophages and insertion sequences were identified in the genome of strain Q180, but because they did not contain harmful genes such as AMR genes and virulence factor (VF)- and toxin-related genes, it was suggested that there is no transferability of harmful genes. The minimum inhibition concentrations of seven tested antibiotics suggested by the European Food Safety Authority guidelines were slightly lower than or equal to the microbiological cut-off values for Lp. plantarum. Strain Q180 did not show hemolytic and gelatinase activities and biogenic amine-producing ability. Taken together, this study demonstrated the safety of strain Q180 in terms of absence of AMR genes and VF- and toxin-related genes as a probiotic strain.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.365-375
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• 2022

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be important regulators in the progression of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) activity of lncRNAs plays crucial roles in osteogenesis. We identified the mechanism of the differentially expressed lncRNA MALAT1 in AS using bioinformatic analysis and its ceRNA mechanism. The interaction of MALAT1, microRNA-558, and GSDMD was identified using integrated bioinformatics analysis and validated. Loss- and gain-of-function assays evaluated their effects on the viability, apoptosis, pyroptosis and inflammation of chondrocytes in AS. We found elevated MALAT1 and GSDMD but reduced miR-558 in AS cartilage tissues and chondrocytes. MALAT1 contributed to the suppression of cell viability and facilitated apoptosis and pyroptosis in AS chondrocytes. GSDMD was a potential target gene of miR-558. Depletion of MALAT1 expression elevated miR-558 by inhibiting GSDMD to enhance cell viability and inhibit inflammation, apoptosis and pyroptosis of chondrocytes in AS. In summary, our key findings demonstrated that knockdown of MALAT1 served as a potential suppressor of AS by upregulating miR-558 via the downregulation of GSDMD expression.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1129-1140
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• 2022

Objective: With improvements in living standards and increase in global population, the demand for meat products has been increasing; improved meat production from livestock could effectively meet this demand. In this study, we examined the differences in the muscle traits of different male crossbred sheep and attempted to identify key genes that regulate these traits. Methods: Dubo sheep×small-tailed Han sheep (DP×STH) and Suffolk×small-tailed Han sheep (SFK×STH) were selected to determine meat quality and production performance by Masson staining. Transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis were performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to meat quality. The presence of DEGs was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The production performance of SFK×STH sheep was better than that of DP×STH sheep, but the meat quality of DP×STH sheep was better than that of SFK×STH sheep. The muscle fiber diameter of DP×STH sheep was smaller than that of SFK×STH sheep. Twenty-two DEGs were identified. Among them, four gene ontology terms were related to muscle traits, and three DEGs were related to muscle or muscle fibers. There were no significant differences in the number of single nucleotide mutations and mutation sites in the different male parent cross combinations. Conclusion: This study provides genetic resources for future sheep muscle development and cross-breeding research.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.547-554
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• 2021

Cancer patients can have different kinds of cancer driver genes, and identification of these patient-specific cancer driver genes is an important step in the development of personalized cancer treatment and drug development. Several bioinformatic methods have been proposed for this purpose, but there is room for improvement in terms of accuracy. In this paper, we propose NPD (Network based Patient-specific Driver gene identification) for identifying patient-specific cancer driver genes. NPD consists of three steps, constructing a patient-specific gene network, applying the modified PageRank algorithm to assign scores to genes, and identifying cancer driver genes through a score comparison method. We applied NPD on six cancer types of TCGA data, and found that NPD showed generally higher F1 score compared to existing patient-specific cancer driver gene identification methods.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2021

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were isolated from major Pleurotus pulmonarius cultivars in Korea, namely 'HS47' (monokaryon, gamete of 'Santari'), 'GB19' (monokaryon, gamete of 'Santari'), 'Hosan,' 'Yeoleumneutali1,' 'Sambok,' 'Gangsan,' 'Yaksan,' 'Jasan,' 'Hyangsan,' and 'Yeoleumneutali2,' and characterized via HiSeq genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. The genome sizes of the monokaryons 'HS47' and 'GB19' were estimated to be 37.3 and 37.2 Mb, respectively, and those of the other dikaryotic cultivars ranged from 47.1 to 61.1 Mb. A total of 711 (smallest) and 1,106 (1.5 times the smallest) SSRs were found in the 'HS47' and 'Gangsan' genomes, respectively. Hexanucleotide and octanucleotide motifs accounted for the top two fractions of all SSRs. CGA/TCG, A/T, and CTC/GAG were the most frequently detected nucleotides in the SSRs. Most of the SSRs were 21~30 nucleotides long (hypervariable for application), accounting for 70% of all lengths of SSRs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.506-520
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• 2023

Objective: Japanese Brown (JBR) cattle, especially the Kochi (Tosa) pedigree (JBRT), is a local breed of moderately marbled beef. Despite the increasing demand, the interbreed differences in muscle metabolites from the highly marbled Japanese Black (JBL) beef remain poorly understood. We aimed to determine flavor-related metabolites and postmortem metabolisms characteristic to JBRT beef in comparison with JBL beef. Methods: Lean portions of the longissimus thoracis (loin) muscle from four JBRT cattle were collected at 0, 1, and 14 d postmortem. The muscle metabolomic profiles were analyzed using capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The difference in post-mortem metabolisms and aged muscle metabolites were analyzed by statistical and bioinformatic analyses between JBRT (n = 12) and JBL cattle (n = 6). Results: A total of 240 metabolite annotations were obtained from the detected signals of the JBRT muscle samples. Principal component analysis separated the beef samples into three different aging point groups. According to metabolite set enrichment analysis, post-mortem metabolic changes were associated with the metabolism of pyrimidine, nicotinate and nicotinamide, purine, pyruvate, thiamine, amino sugar, and fatty acid; citric acid cycle; and pentose phosphate pathway as well as various amino acids and mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism. The aged JBRT beef showed higher ultimate pH and lower lactate content than aged JBL beef, suggesting the lower glycolytic activity in postmortem JBRT muscle. JBRT beef was distinguished from JBL beef by significantly different compounds, including choline, amino acids, uridine monophosphate, inosine 5'-monophosphate, fructose 1,6-diphosphate, and betaine, suggesting interbreed differences in the accumulation of nucleotide monophosphate, glutathione metabolism, and phospholipid metabolism. Conclusion: Glycolysis, purine metabolism, fatty acid catabolism, and protein degradation were the most common pathways in beef during postmortem aging. The differentially expressed metabolites and the relevant metabolisms in JBRT beef may contribute to the development of a characteristic flavor.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.563-573
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• 2022

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) is a globally important bacterial pathogen of walnut trees that causes substantial economic losses in commercial walnut production. Although prophages are common in bacterial plant pathogens and play important roles in bacterial diversity and pathogenicity, there has been limited investigation into the distribution and function of prophages in Xaj. In this study, we identified and characterized 13 predicted prophages from the genomes of 12 Xaj isolates from around the globe. These prophages ranged in length from 11.8 kb to 51.9 kb, with between 11-75 genes and 57.82-64.15% GC content. The closest relatives of these prophages belong to the Myoviridae and Siphoviridae families of the Caudovirales order. The phylogenetic analysis allowed the classification of the prophages into five groups. The gene constitution of these predicted prophages was revealed via Roary analysis. Amongst 126 total protein groups, the most prevalent group was only present in nine prophages, and 22 protein groups were present in only one prophage (singletons). Also, bioinformatic analysis of the 13 identified prophages revealed the presence of 431 genes with an average length of 389.7 bp. Prokka annotation of these prophages identified 466 hypothetical proteins, 24 proteins with known function, and six tRNA genes. The proteins with known function mainly comprised prophage integrase IntA, replicative DNA helicase, tyrosine recombinase XerC, and IS3 family transposase. There was no detectable insertion site specificity for these prophages in the Xaj genomes. The identified Xaj prophage genes, particularly those of unknown function, merit future investigation.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.321-329
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• 2023

The bacterium Neobacillus endophyticus BRMEA1^T, isolated from the medicinal plant Selaginella involvens, known as its thermotolerant can grow at 50℃. To explore the genetic basis for its heat tolerance response and its potential for producing valuable natural compounds, the genomes of two thermotolerant and four mesophilic strains in the genus Neobacillus were analyzed using a bioinformatic software platform. The whole genome was annotated using RAST SEED and OrthVenn2, with a focus on identifying potential heattolerance-related genes. N. endophyticus BRMEA1^T was found to possess more stress response genes compared to other mesophilic members of the genus, and it was the only strain that had genes for the synthesis of osmoregulated periplasmic glucans. This study sheds light on the potential value of N. endophyticus BRMEA1^T, as it reveals the mechanism of heat resistance and the application of secondary metabolites produced by this bacterium through whole-genome sequencing and comparative analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2009

BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) is a best well-known tool in a bioinformatics area. BLAST quickly compares input sequences with annotated huge sequence databases and predicts their functions. It helps biologists to make it easy to annotate newly found sequences with reduced experimental time, scope, and cost. However, as the amount of sequences is increasing remarkably with the advance of sequencing machines, performance of BLAST has been a critical issue and tried to solve it with several alternatives. In this paper, we propose a new PC-Based Cluster system (E-Cluster), a new physical data design methodology (logical partitioning technique) and a query routing technique (intra-query routing). To verify our system, we measure response time, speedup, and efficiency for various sizes of sequences in NR (Non-Redundancy) database. Experimental result shows that proposed system has better speedup and efficiency (maximum 600%) than those o( conventional approaches such as SMF machines, clusters, and grids.