• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.176-183
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• 2015

Corticotropin-releasing actor receptors (CRFRs) activates the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, one of the 2 parts of the fight or flight response to stress. Increased CRH production has is associated with Alzheimer's disease and major depression and hypoglycemia. In this study, we report the important structural and chemical parameters for CRFR inhibitors using the derivatives of 8-substituted-2-aryl-5-alkylaminoquinolines. A 3D QSAR study, Comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) was performed. The best predictions were obtained for the best CoMFA model with a $q^2$ of 0.607 with 6 components and $r^2$ of 0.991. The statistical parameters from the generated CoMFA models indicated that the data are well fitted and have high predictive ability. The contour map resulted from the CoMFA models might be helpful in the future designing of novel and more potent CRFR derivatives.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.149-152
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• 2012

The (S)-(+)-decursin and its analogues are reported as potent inhibitors of melanin production in B16 murine melanoma cells. In order to understand the factors responsible for potency as well as inhibition of potency of (S)-(+)-decursin and its analogues, three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) studies were performed. Since receptor structures are not available, a pharmacophore model was constructed. Using PHASE, we generated 3 different models and selected the seven-site model, which returned excellent statistical values ($r^2$ = 0.9127, $Q^2$ = 0.6878, Pearson-R = 0.9014). Using the generated pharmacophore model, we screened a natural products library and obtained 4'-epi-decursin as the most related compound. 4'-epidecursin is similar to (S)-(+)-decursin, but shows additional interaction possibilities with tyrosinase. The study thus sheds some light on possibility of developing more potent tyrosinase inhibitors.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2012

Gene set analysis (GSA) is useful in interpreting a genome-wide association study (GWAS) result in terms of biological mechanism. We compared the performance of two different GSA implementations that accept GWAS p-values of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or gene-by-gene summaries thereof, GSA-SNP and i-GSEA4GWAS, under the same settings of inputs and parameters. GSA runs were made with two sets of p-values from a Korean type 2 diabetes mellitus GWAS study: 259,188 and 1,152,947 SNPs of the original and imputed genotype datasets, respectively. When Gene Ontology terms were used as gene sets, i-GSEA4GWAS produced 283 and 1,070 hits for the unimputed and imputed datasets, respectively. On the other hand, GSA-SNP reported 94 and 38 hits, respectively, for both datasets. Similar, but to a lesser degree, trends were observed with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) gene sets as well. The huge number of hits by i-GSEA4GWAS for the imputed dataset was probably an artifact due to the scaling step in the algorithm. The decrease in hits by GSA-SNP for the imputed dataset may be due to the fact that it relies on Z-statistics, which is sensitive to variations in the background level of associations. Judicious evaluation of the GSA outcomes, perhaps based on multiple programs, is recommended.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.438-448
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• 2020

This study was performed to increase the accuracy of genomic estimated breeding value (GEBV) predictions for domestic pigs using single-breed and admixed reference populations (single-breed of Berkshire pigs [BS] with cross breed of Korean native pigs and Landrace pigs [CB]). The principal component analysis (PCA), linkage disequilibrium (LD), and genome-wide association study (GWAS) were performed to analyze the population structure prior to genomic prediction. Reference and test population data sets were randomly sampled 10 times each and precision accuracy was analyzed according to the size of the reference population (100, 200, 300, or 400 animals). For the BS population, prediction accuracy was higher for all economically important traits with larger reference population size. Prediction accuracy was ranged from -0.05 to 0.003, for all traits except carcass weight (CWT), when CB was used as the reference population and BS as the test. The accuracy of CB for backfat thickness (BF) and shear force (SF) using admixed population as reference increased with reference population size, while the results for CWT and muscle pH at 24 hours after slaughter (pH) were equivocal with respect to the relationship between accuracy and reference population size, although overall accuracy was similar to that using the BS as the reference.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.8.1-8.5
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• 2010

Introduction: Recently identified human homologues of ALKB protein have shown the activity of DNA damaging drugs, used for cancer therapy. Bioinformatics study of hABH2 and hABH3 had led to the discovery of a novel DNA repair mechanism. Very little is known about structure and function of hABH4, one of the members of this superfamily. Therefore, in present study we are intended to predict its structure and function through various bioinformatics tools. Materials and Methods: Modeling was done with modeler 9v7 to predict the 3D structure of the hABH4 protein. This model was validated with the program Procheck using Ramachandran plot statistics and was submitted to PMDB with ID PM0076284. The 3d2GO server was used to predict the functions. Residues at protein ligand and protein RNA binding sites were predicted with 3dLigandSite and KYG programs respectively. Results and Discussion: 3-D model of hABH4, ALKBH4.B99990003.pdb was predicted and evaluated. Validation result showed that 96.4 % residues lies in favored and additional allowed region of Ramachandran plot. Ligand binding residues prediction showed four Ligand clusters, having 24 ligands in cluster 1. Importantly, conserved pattern of Glu196-X-Pro198- Xn-His254 in the functional domain was detected. DNA and RNA binding sites were also predicted in the model. Conclusion and Prospects: The predicted and validated model of human homologue hABH4 resulted from this study may unveil the mechanism of DNA damage repair in human and accelerate the research on designing of appropriate inhibitors aiding in chemotherapy and cancer related diseases.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 2005

Bromobenzene (BB) is well known hepatotoxicant. Also, BB is an industrial solvent that arouses toxicity predominantly in the liver where it causes centrilobular necrosis. BB is subjected to Cytochrome P450 mediated epoxidation followed by either conjugation with glutathione, enzymatic hydrolysis or further oxidation. In this study, we focused on BB-induced gene expression at non-hepatotoxic dose. Mice were exposed to two levels of BB, sampled at 24 h, and hepatic gene expression levels were determined to evaluate dose dependent changes. When examining the toxic dose of BB treated group in other previous studies, genes related to heat shock protein, oxidative stress, and drug metabolism are expressed. Compared to these results, our study, in which non-toxic dose of BB was administrated, showed similar patterns as the toxic conditions above. The purpose of the study was to select genes that showed changes in relation to the differing dose through confirmation of the difference within transcriptomic boundaries, but those that are not detected by the existing classic toxicology tools in non-hepatotoxic dose.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.166-171
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• 2006

In this study, in using a piezoelectric material of $Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3-PbTiO_3$ (PMN-PT), which has a high electromechanical coupling coefficient, we have tried to study about this material can be practically available as a new biosensor to detect protein by using surface acoustic wave (SAW). As the results, the filtering of the center frequency of the PMN-PT substrate is a superior result to that of the $LiTaO_3$ (LT) substrate, but the result was not completely satisfactory. Also this study attempts to develop a sensing method to detect mismatched DNA in order to diagnose cancer. We could directly immobilize the MutS to the NTA using the EDC solution. But, we immobilized MutS using nickel and it is judged that is more effective method to detect mismatched DNA.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.112-124
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• 2016

Solid tumor is generally observed in tissues of epithelial or endothelial cells of lung, breast, prostate, pancreases, colorectal, stomach, and bladder, where several genes transcription is regulated by the microRNAs (miRNAs). Argonaute (AGO) protein is a family of protein which assists in miRNAs to bind with mRNAs of the target genes. Hence, study of the binding mechanism between AGO protein and miRNAs, and also with miRNAs-mRNAs duplex is crucial for understanding the RNA silencing mechanism. In the current work, 64 genes and 23 miRNAs have been selected from literatures, whose deregulation is well established in seven types of solid cancer like lung, breast, prostate, pancreases, colorectal, stomach, and bladder cancer. In silico study reveals, miRNAs namely, miR-106a, miR-21, and miR-29b-2 have a strong binding affinity towards PTEN, TGFBR2, and VEGFA genes, respectively, suggested as important factors in RNA silencing mechanism. Furthermore, interaction between AGO protein (PDB ID-3F73, chain A) with selected miRNAs and with miRNAs-mRNAs duplex were studied computationally to understand their binding at molecular level. The residual interaction and hydrogen bonding are inspected in Discovery Studio 3.5 suites. The current investigation throws light on understanding miRNAs based gene silencing mechanism in solid cancer.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5179-5186
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• 2012

Miglitol, a well-known therapeutic intervention agents for diabetes, exhibits competitive inhibitory activity against ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and it is usually produced through three sequential steps including chemical and bioconversion processes. Gluconobactor oxydans (G. oxydans) belonging to acetic acid bacteria biologically, converts 1-deoxy-1-(2-hydroxyethylamino)-D-glucitol (P1) into a key intermidiate, 6-(2-hydroxyetyl) amino-6-deoxy-${\alpha}$-L-sorbofuranose (P2) by incomplete oxidation. In this study, we identified and optimized fermentation conditions of CK-2165, that was selected in soil samples by comparing the bioconversion yield. CK-2165 strain was found to be closely related to G. oxydans based on the result of phylogenetic analysis using 16S rDNA sequence. Utilization of API 20 kits revealed that this strain could use glucose, mannose, inositol, sorbitol, rhamnose, sucrose, melibiose, amygdalin and arabinose as carbon sources. The culture conditions were optimized for industrial production and several important factors affecting bioconversion rate were also tested using mycelial cake. Cell harvested at the late-stationary phase showed the highest bioconversion yield and $MgSO_4$ was critically required for the catalytic activity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2629-2633
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• 2012

Background: Raw betel nut (RBN) chewing is an important contributing factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), although associated genomic changes remain unclear. One difficulty in assessing the effects of exclusively RBN induced genetic alterations has been that earlier studies were performed with samples of patients commonly using tobacco and alcohol, in addition to betel-quid. Both CDKN2A (at 9p21) and Rb1 gene (at 13q14.2) are regarded as tumor suppressors involved in the development of ESCC. Therefore, the present study aimed to verify the RBN's ability to induce ESCC and assess the involvement of CDKN2A and Rb1 genes. Methods: A panel of dinucelotide polymorphic markers were chosen for loss of heterozygosity studies in 93 samples of which 34 were collected from patients with only RBN-chewing habit. Promoter hypermethylation was also investigated. Results: Loss in microsatellite markers D9S1748 and D9S1749, located close to exon $1{\beta}$ of CDKN2A/ARF gene at 9p21, was noted in 40% ESCC samples with the habit of RBN-chewing alone. Involvement of a novel site in the 9p23 region was also observed. Promoter hypermethylation of CDKN2A gene in the samples with the habit of only RBN-chewing alone was significantly higher (p=0.01) than Rb1 gene, also from the samples having the habit of use both RBN and tobacco (p=0.047). Conclusions: The data indicate that the disruption of 9p21 where CDKN2A gene resides, is the most frequent critical genetic event in RBN-associated carcinogenesis. The involvement of 9p23 as well as 13q14.2 could be required in later stages in RBN-mediated carcinogenesis.