• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.400-406
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• 2015

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of non-coding RNA that are able to adjust the expression of many proteins, including ATP-binding cassette transporter and organic cation transporter. We sought to evaluate the effect of miR-511 on the regulation of OATP1B1 expression by free fatty acids. When using free fatty acids to stimulate Chang liver cells, we found that the expression of miR-511 increased significantly while the expression of OATP1B1 decreased. We also proved that SLCO1B1 is the target gene of miR-511 with a bioinformatics analysis and using the dual luciferase reporter assay. Furthermore, the expressions of SLCO1B1 and OATP1B1 decreased if transfecting Chang liver cells with miR-511, but did not increase when transfecting the inhibitors of miR-511 into steatosis cells. Our study indicates that miR-511 may play an important role in the regulation of OATP1B1 expression by free fatty acids.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.330-336
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• 2005

Lactococcus lactis A164 is a nisin Z-producing strain isolated from kimchi. Its antimicrobial spectrum has been found to be active against most Gram-positive bacteria tested, yet inactive against Gram-negative bacteria [3]. Accordingly, to overcome this drawback, the current study attempted to express human $\beta$-defensin-l (hBD-l), which kills both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in L. lactis AI64. When the hBD-l cDNA was introduced using a nisin Z-controlled expression cassette, the L. lactis A164 transformants grew very poorly, due to the bactericidal effect of the expressed hBD-l against the transformants. Therefore, a gene fusion system was designed to reduce the toxicity of the expressed heterologous protein against the host cells. As such, the hBD-l gene was fused to the DsbC- Tag of pET -40b(+), then introduced to L. lactis A 164. The transformants expressed an intracellular 35.6-kDa DsbC-hBD-l fusion protein that exhibited slight activity against the host cells, yet not enough to strongly inhibit the cell growth. To obtain the recombinant hBD-l, the DsbC-hBD-l fusion protein was purified by nickel-affinity column chromatography, and the DsbC-Tag removed by cleaving with enterokinase. The cleaved mature hBD-l exhibited strong bactericidal activity against E. coli JM109, indicating that the recombinant L. lactis A 164 produced a biologically active hBD-I. In addition, the recombinant L. lactis A 164 was also found to produce the same level of nisin Z as the wild-type.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2009

In an attempt to simultaneously produce two human proteins, hGH and hG-CSF, in the milk of transgenic mice, we constructed goat $\beta$-casein-directed hGH and hG-CSF expression cassettes individually and generated transgenic mice by co-injecting them into mouse zygotes. Out of 33 transgenic mice, 29 were identified as double transgenic harboring both transgenes on their genome. All analyzed double transgenic females secreted both hGH and hG-CSF in their milks. Concentrations ranged from 2.1 to $12.4\;mg/m{\ell}$ for hGH and from 0.04 to $0.13\;mg/m{\ell}$ for hG-CSF. hG-CSF level was much lower than hGH level but very similar to that of single hG-CSF mice, which were introduced with hG-CSF cassette alone. In order to address the causes of concentration difference between hGH and hG-CSF in milk, we examined mRNA level of hGH and hG-CSF in the mammary glands of double transgenic mice and tissue specificity of hG-CSF mRNA expression in both double and single transgenic mice. Likewise protein levels in milk, hGH mRNA level was much higher than hG-CSF mRNA, and hG-CSF mRNA expression was definitely specific to the mammary glands of both double and single transgenic mice. These results demonstrated that two transgenes have distinct transcriptional potentials without interaction each other in double transgenic mice although two transgenes co-integrated into same genomic sites and their expressions were directed by the same goat $\beta$-casein promoter. Therefore goat $\beta$-casein promoter is very useful for the multiple production of human proteins in the milk of transgenic animals.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: The resistance of rice bakanae disease pathogens against the fungicide prochloraz has been reported. Understanding the resistance mechanisms is an important for better control of the pathogens. In the present study, we investigated the resistance mechanisms of Fusarium fujikuroi CF337 (CF337) against prochloraz. METHODS AND RESULTS: Morphological changes in the cell wall of CF337 grown in potato dextrose broth (PDB) with or without prochloraz was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Growth inhibition of CF337 was examined in PDB containing prochloraz or an ABC transporter inhibitor or both of them. Cell wall thickness of CF337 grown in PDB with prochloraz was significantly increased from $80.73{\pm}1.99nm$ to $193.11{\pm}7.07nm$. Significant inhibition in the growth of CF337 was observed in the presence of both prochloraz and the inhibitor, but no growth inhibition was observed in the presence of the inhibitor or prochloraz. Sequence analysis of ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC) gene of CF337 showed 70 to 80% similarities to the genes of the pathogens resistant to other fungicides. CONCLUSION: Efflux transporter system and changes in cell wall thickness were suggested as resistance mechanisms of CF337 against prochloraz.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.279-286
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• 2009

Streptomyces is well known for their ability to synthesize enormous varieties of antibiotics as secondary metabolites. Among them, S. avermitilis produces avermectins, a group of antiparasitic agents used in human and veterinary medicine. However, S. avermitilis also produces oligomycin, which is a potential toxic inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation in mammalian cells. Therefore, we decided to disrupt oligomycin synthetase gene to prevent co-production of oligomycin in S. avermitilis. To create plasmid for disruption, the smallest gene of oligomycin synthetase gene cluster was obtained by PCR from S. avermitilis chromosome. Then, apramycin resistance gene was inserted in oligomycin synthetase gene for selection. After transformation of this plasmid, oligomycin synthetase gene (olmA5) in the chromosome was displaced with disruption cassette on the plasmid via homologous recombination. As a result of this gene replacement, we obtained mutants (olmA5::apra) that no longer makes the toxic oligomycin. And the mutants confirmed by PCR and HPLC analysis. However, showed no increasement of avermectin production in the mutant was observed.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 2004

Optimal regeneration conditions of ginseng transformants were studied. It has been known that Ferritin Light Heavy Chain (FLHC) gene remove the several heavy metal by combination, store and transport. To obtain the ginseng tolerant to heavy metal, binary vector was introduced in Agrobacterium by tri-parental mating and then Agrobacterium tumefaciens MP90/FLHC was selected on the AB media and MS media containing kanamycin. Explants were co-cultured with Agrobacterium tumefaciens MP90/FLHC, which contained NPT II as a selectable marker, tadpole ferritin heavy chain (FLHC) gene and human ferritin light chain gene and then a number of embryos were induced. The induced embryo transferred to shooting media consisting of MS medium supplemented with GA 10 mg/L. As a result of examination that induced the normal growth of transfomants, transformants showed the equivalent growth in both root and shoot on the media containing the 1/3 MS.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.856-865
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• 2012

We describe the construction and immunobiological properties of a novel whooping cough vaccine candidate, in which the aroQ gene, encoding 3-dehydroquinase, was deleted by insertional inactivation using the kanamycin resistance gene cassette and allelic exchange using a Bordetella suicide vector. The aroQ B. pertussis mutant required supplementation of media to grow but failed to grow on an unsupplemented medium. The aroQ B. pertussis mutant was undetectable in the trachea and lungs of mice at days 6 and 12 post-infection, respectively. Antigen-specific antibody isotypes IgG1 and IgG2a, were produced, and cell-mediated immunity [CMI], using interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma as indirect indicators, was induced in mice vaccinated with the aroQ B. pertussis vaccine candidate, which were substantially enhanced upon second exposure to virulent B. pertussis. Interleukin-12 was also produced in the aroQ B. pertussis-vaccinated mice. On the other hand, neither IgG2a nor CMI-indicator cytokines were produced in DTaP-vaccinated mice, although the CMI-indicator cytokines became detectable post-challenge with virulent B. pertussis. Intranasal immunization with one dose of the aroQ B. pertussis mutant protected vaccinated mice against an intranasal challenge infection, with no pathogen being detected in the lungs of immunized mice by day 7 post-challenge. B. pertussis aroQ thus constitutes a safe, non-reverting, metabolite-deficient vaccine candidate that induces both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses with potential for use as a single-dose vaccine in adolescents and adults, in the first instance, with a view to disrupting the transmission cycle of whooping cough to infants and the community.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.431-439
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• 2014

We report the construction of two Bacillus subtilis expression vectors, pBNS1/pBNS2. Both vectors are based on the strong promoter P43 and the ampicillin resistance gene expression cassette. Additionally, a fragment with the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and a multiple cloning site (BamHI, SalI, SacI, XhoI, PstI, SphI) were inserted. The coding region for the amyQ (encoding an amylase) signal peptide was fused to the promoter P43 of pBNS1 to construct the secreted expression vector pBNS2. The applicability of vectors was tested by first generating the expression vectors pBNS1-GFP/pBNS2-GFP and then detecting for green fluorescent protein gene expression. Next, the mannanase gene from B. pumilus Nsic-2 was fused to vector pBNS2 and we measured the mannanase activity in the supernatant. The mannanase total enzyme activity was 8.65 U/ml, which was 6 times higher than that of the parent strain. Our work provides a feasible way to achieve an effective transformation system for gene expression in B. subtilis and is the first report to achieve B. pumilus mannanase secretory expression in B. subtilis.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.231-235
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• 2014

Elevated serum uric acid levels are associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, including gout, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. Several genome-wide association studies on uric acid levels have implicated the ATP-binding cassette, subfamily G, member 2 (ABCG2) gene as being possibly causal. We investigated an association between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2725220 in the ABCG2 gene and uric acid levels in the Korean population. A total of 991 subjects in Seoul City were used for a replication study with ABCG2 SNP rs2725220. The rs2725220 SNP in the ABCG2 gene was associated with mean uric acid levels (effect per allele 0.25 mg/dL, p < 0.0001). Subjects with the GC/CC genotype had a 1.78-fold (range, 1.22- to 2.62-fold) higher risk of having abnormal uric acid levels (${\geq}7.0mg/dL$) than subjects with the GG genotype. When analyzed by gender, the association with ABCG2 was stronger in men than in women. The association with ABCG2 was much stronger in male subjects with body mass index (BMI) ${\geq}26.4$ (odds ratio, 5.09; 95% confidence interval, 2.41 to 10.8) than in male subjects with BMI < 26.4. This study clearly demonstrates that genetic variations in ABCG2 influence uric acid levels in Korean adults.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.509-516
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to identify the use of sound sources in music education for children, discuss how to use the digital sound sources, and explain the advantages and the disadvantages. The study participants collected data through focal group interviews with 8 preschool teachers interested in music education for children. The results of the study are as follows. Actual use of sound sources were divided into two categories: "Digital sound source is frequently used," "Need to play directly according to circumstances." The method of digital sound source use was divided into "Download as paid and provided as a cassette," "Playing sound sources directly from laptops and smartphones." Benefits and reasons for digital sound source use was divided into "Easy to use," and "Necessary when it is difficult to play the actual piece." Demerits of digital sound source use was divided into "Lacking variety" "Inconvenience of use." This study is believed to be meaningful in providing the basis for the provision of sound sources in music education for children and the basic sources of research on the use of sound sources.