• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.84-94
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• 2013

The cytotoxicity of coffee-like green tea (CLGT) was determined in a human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7; a human prostate cancer cell clone, PC-3; a human neuroblastoma cell line, SK-N-SH; and a rat cardiomyoblast cell line, H9c2, with reference to green tea leaves (GTL). The CLGT was prepared by roasting the GTL for 60 min at $240^{\circ}C$ in a temperature-controlled frying pan. The CLGT preparation imitated the flavor and taste characteristics of coffee fairly well according to sensory analysis. The CLGT preparation had no adverse cytotoxic effects on the cancer cells or the normal cells compared to GTL. No significant change in the antioxidant activity was seen in the CLGT preparation compared to that of GTL. The amount of total protein, sugar, and phenolic compounds was reduced in the preparation relative to those in GTL, a fact that might explain the coffee-like flavor and/or taste characteristics of the CLGT preparation. These results suggest that CLGT prepared by roasting GTL for 60 min at $240^{\circ}C$ does not show any adverse effects on cancer cells and normal cells compared to GTL. They imply that CLGT could be safe for human consumption.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.423-428
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• 2000

In 1997 when cloned sheep Dolly and soon after Polly were born, it had become head-line news because in the former the nucleus that gave rise to the lamb came from cells of six-year-old adult sheep and in the latter case a foreign gene was inserted into the donor nucleus to make the cloned sheep produce human protein, factor IX, in e milk. In the last few years, once the realm of science fiction, cloned mammals especially in livestock have become almost commonplace. What the press accounts often fail to convey, however, is that behind every success lie hundreds of failures. Many of the nuclear-transferred egg cells fail to undergo normal cell divisions. Even when an embryo does successfully implant in the womb, pregnancy often ends in miscarriage. A significant fraction of the animals that are born die shortly after birth and some of those that survived have serious developmental abnormalities. Efficiency remains at less than one % out of some hundred attempts to clone an animal. These facts show that something is fundamentally wrong and enormous hurdles must be overcome before cloning becomes practical. Cloning researchers now tent to put aside their effort to create live animals in order to probe the fundamental questions on cell biology including stem cells, the questions of whether the hereditary material in the nucleus of each cell remains intact throughout development, and how transferred nucleus is reprogrammed exactly like the zygotic nucleus. Stem cells are defined as those cells which can divide to produce a daughter cell like themselves (self-renewal) as well as a daughter cell that will give rise to specific differentiated cells (cell-differentiation). Multicellular organisms are formed from a single totipotent stem cell commonly called fertilized egg or zygote. As this cell and its progeny undergo cell divisions the potency of the stem cells in each tissue and organ become gradually restricted in the order of totipotent, pluripotent, and multipotent. The differentiation potential of multipotent stem cells in each tissue has been thought to be limited to cell lineages present in the organ from which they were derived. Recent studies, however, revealed that multipotent stem cells derived from adult tissues have much wider differentiation potential than was previously thought. These cells can differentiate into developmentally unrelated cell types, such as nerve stem cell into blood cells or muscle stem cell into brain cells. Neural stem cells isolated from the adult forebrain were recently shown to be capable of repopulating the hematopoietic system and produce blood cells in irradiated condition. In plants although the term$\boxDr$ stem cell$\boxUl$is not used, some cells in the second layer of tunica at the apical meristem of shoot, some nucellar cells surrounding the embryo sac, and initial cells of adventive buds are considered to be equivalent to the totipotent stem cells of mammals. The telomere ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes cannot be replicated because the RNA primer at the end of a completed lagging strand cannot be replaced with DNA, causing 5' end gap. A chromosome would be shortened by the length of RNA primer with every cycle of DNA replication and cell division. Essential genes located near the ends of chromosomes would inevitably be deleted by end-shortening, thereby killing the descendants of the original cells. Telomeric DNA has an unusual sequence consisting of up to 1,000 or more tandem repeat of a simple sequence. For example, chromosome of mammal including human has the repeating telomeric sequence of TTAGGG and that of higher plant is TTTAGGG. This non-genic tandem repeat prevents the death of cell despite the continued shortening of chromosome length. In contrast with the somatic cells germ line cells have the mechanism to fill-up the 5' end gap of telomere, thus maintaining the original length of chromosome. Cem line cells exhibit active enzyme telomerase which functions to maintain the stable length of telomere. Some of the cloned animals are reported prematurely getting old. It has to be ascertained whether the multipotent stem cells in the tissues of adult mammals have the original telomeres or shortened telomeres.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.299-310
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• 1994

Intraspecific clonal interactions have important influences on a population structure of the cellular slime mold (CSM). This study was to investigate whether or not evolutionary change in a population could be induced by clonal competition, and to elucidate how various clones in a population evolve in a homogeneous environment of laboratory culture. The characteristic clones of Polysphondylium pallidum which had different resource consumption rates (RCR) and mating types I and II were selected for study. Investigation was conducted for 4 experimental time interval $(T_0-T_4)$; one experimental time interval took almost 10-14 days from inoculation to havest of fruiting bodies. Two sets of 50 clones were cultured from 50 clones at To, and RCR variations of the population were compared between $(T_0\;and\;T_4)$ for each set of clones. Each clone of the CSM had a diverse resource consumption rate, or growth rate, in a homogeneous and limited Cerophyl agar plate despite the passage of 48-56 generations from the beginning of the experiment. Diverse clones with different growth rate could coexist in one site of the homogeneous agar plate as well as heterogeneous soil microenvironment. When there was high clonal diversity of RCR, a clone in a population had high chances to encounter other clones with resultant increased clonal competition. In one set, 26 of 37 clones of mating type I were changed to mating type Il for the 4 experimental time intervals, which indicated that the rate of competitive exclusion among clones during total experiment from $(T_0\;to\;T_4)$ was 0.703. In another set, 31 of 37 clones of mating type I were changed to mating type II , having the rate of competitive exclusion 0.838. The frequency of each of mat~ng types changed by 0.93-1.29% in each successive generation. The competitive exclusion among clones occurred by 1.26-1.75% when approximately $2.6{\times}10^8$ bacterial cells were provided as food and thereafter one generation of myxamoebae of CSM elapsed at room temperature. This finding implicated that in the vegetative state of P, pallidurn there was 1.26-1.75% probabil~ty of evolutionary change per generation changing from one clone to another clone.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.269-271
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• 2002

To investigate the visual and extra-ocular photoreception, we cloned the opsin genes in ayu (Plecoglossus allivelis). Amplified fragments encoding exon-4 (-5) of opsin cDNAs were cloned from the retina and brains of ayu, and sequenced. One clone was identified as rod (AYU-Rh), two as green cone (AYU-GI, -G2), one as red cone (A YU-R), two as ultraviolet cone (AYU-UVl, UV2), one as VA (AYU-VA), and one as extra-ocular rod (AYU-ExoRh) opsins. 335 amino acids sequence deduced from the full-length cDNA of AYU-Rh showed high identity with that of other fish. Southern blotting analysis indicated that ayu possess two 'rhodopsin' genes, one is visual rhodopsin and the other is non-visual extra-ocular rhodopsin. In situ hybridization showed that the mRNA of AYU-Rh was localized only in rod cells in the retina. On the other hands, AYU-ExoRh was expressed only in the pineal. We cloned two isoforms (AYU-VAM and -VAL) of VA opsin from ayu. The deduced amino acid sequences of these variants were identical to each other within the first 342 residues, but they showed divergence in the C-terminal sequence. AYU- VAL corresponded to the long isoform found in other fish, and AYU-VAM was identified as a new type of VA opsin variant. Pal-VAM is a new probably functional non-visual photoreceptive molecule in fish.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2013

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is responsible for the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV core protein plays not only a structural role in the virion morphogenesis by encapsidating a virus RNA genome but also a non-structural role in HCV-induced pathogenesis by blocking innate immunity. Especially, it has been shown to regulate JAK-STAT signaling pathway through its direct interaction with Janus kinase (JAK) via its proline-rich JAK-binding motif ($^{79}{\underline{P}}GY{\underline{P}}WP^{84}$). However, little is known about the physiological significance of this HCV core-JAK association in the context of the virus life cycle. In order to gain an insight, a mutant HCV genome (J6/JFH1-79A82A) was constructed to express the mutant core with a defective JAK-binding motif ($^{79}{\underline{A}}GY{\underline{A}}WP^{84}$) using an HCV genotype 2a infectious clone (J6/JFH1). When this mutant HCV genome was introduced into hepatocarcinoma cells, it was found to be severely impaired in its ability to produce infectious viruses in spite of its robust RNA genome replication. Taken together, all these results suggest an essential requirement of HCV core-JAK protein interaction for efficient production of infectious viruses and the potential of using core-JAK blockers as a new anti-HCV therapy.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.54-57
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• 1999

We have got several clones from Serratia marcescens which stimulated the cells to use maltose as a carbon source in E. coli TP2139 (${\Delta}$lac, ${\Delta}$crp). One of the cloned genes, pCKB13, was further analyzed. In order to find whether the increased expression of the gene under the direction of maltose metabolism, we constructed several recombinant subclones. We have confirmed that the clone, pCKB13 codes Coenzyme A transferase gene by partial nucleotide sequencing in the terminal region. The enzyme activity of Coenzyme A transferase increased after introduction of the multicopy of the cloned gene in E. coli. The recombinant proteins expressed by multicopy and induction with IPTG, two polypeptide of 26-and 28-kDa, were confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Southern hybridization analysis confirmed that the cloned DNA fragment was originated from S. marcescens chromosomal DNA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.470-475
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• 2000

Genetic chracterstics of the structural gene of guamerin (a novel elastase inhibitor from Korean leech), integrated into the HIS4 locus of chromosomal DNA of Pichia pastoris along with the $\alpha$-factor leader sequence, were investigated. In the selected clone from candidates, two copies of the integration cassette including the structural gene copies of the integration cassette including the structural gene of guamerin were found in the integration site of the chromosomal DNA of P.pastoris. It was demonstrated that the integrated structural gene of guamerin was stable up to about 70 generations in the relay flask culture. Then, a high-cell-density culture could be fulfilled easily by DO-stat fed-batch culture, in which the cell growth and the recombinant guamerin production reached about 250 of OD600nm and 260 mg/l, respectively. Finally, it was revealed that the DNA sequence of the integrated structural gene of guamerin in P. pastoris was maintained correctly in the end of production cells of relay flask culture and high-cell-density culture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 1991

Yeast expression plasmids containing an appropriate leader sequence and bovine $\beta$-casein cDNA were constructed to produce $\beta$-casein for the study of its functional characteristics. Two kinds of expression systems for $\beta$-casein were constructed using pCGYl444 as a precursor plasmid. This plasmid is a yeast-E. coli shuttle vector which contains the chelatin promoter. The plasmid pISB202 contains the invertase leader sequence and $\beta$-casein gene. The plasmid pDEB303 contains the original bovine $\beta$-casein leader sequence gene. These two plasmids were introduced into S. cerevisiae AB116 which is a strain deficient in the major yeast proteinases. Each clone was grown in minimal media for 24 h before induction by $CuSO_4$. The cells were thus grown under expression conditions. Both strains harbouring pISB202 and pDEB303 expressed bovine $\beta$-casein. The $\beta$-casein was detected using immunochemical staining after western blot. Secretion of $\beta$-casein was detected in the culture broth. The estimated amount of secreted $\beta$-casein was approximately 50 ${\MU}g$/l.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.835-842
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• 2014

Haloperoxidase (HPO, E.C.1.11.1.7) is a metal-containing enzyme oxidizing halonium species, which can be used in the synthesis of halogenated organic compounds, for instance in the production of antimicrobial agents, cosmetics, etc., in the presence of halides and $H_2O_2$. To isolate and evaluate a novel non-metal HPO using a culture-independent method, a cassette PCR library was constructed from marine seawater in Japan. We first isolated a novel HPO gene from Pseudomonas putida ATCC11172 by PCR for constructing the chimeric HPO library (HPO11172). HPO11172 showed each single open-reading frame of 828 base pairs coding for 276 amino acids, respectively, and showed 87% similarity with P. putida IF-3 sequences. Approximately 600 transformants screened for chimeric genes between P. putida ATCC11173 and HPO central fragments were able to identify 113 active clones. Among them, we finally isolated 20 novel HPO genes. Sequence analyses of the obtained 20 clones showed higher homology genes with P. putida or Sinorhizobium or Streptomyces strains. Although the HPO A9 clone showed the lowest homology with HPO11172, clones in group B, including CS19, showed a relatively higher homology of 80%, with 70% identy. E. coli cells expressing these HPO chimeric genes were able to successfully bioconvert chlorodimedone with KBr or KCl as substrate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.881-887
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• 2009

Forty-four eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)-producing microbial strains were isolated from the intestines of marine fishes. Among them, one strain showing a maximum level of EPA (4.78% of total fatty acids) was identified as Shewanella sp. BR-2 on the basis of its 168 rRNA sequence. The EPA content reached a maximum level during the mid-exponential phase of cell growth, and gradually decreased with further growth of the cells. A cosmid DNA including the EPA biosynthesis gene cluster consisting of pfaA-E was isolated from a cosmid library of genomic DNA of Shewanella sp. BR-2, named pCosEPA-BR2. An E. coli clone harboring pCosEPA-BR2 produced EPA at a maximum level of 7.5% of total fatty acids, confirming the EPA biosynthesis activity of the cloned gene cluster.