• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 1996

An embryonic stem (ES) cell-based in vitro model system was examined to determine whether a simple differentiation of embryoid bodies (EB) in the suspension medium is useful to dissect early erythropoiesis. Characteristics of the differentiating EBs were monitored for their differentiation potential to generate hematopoietic cell types by general morphology, benzidine staining and two-step colony assays, and expressivity of several erythroid marker genes by the RT-PCR analysis for total cellular RNA prepared from the differentiating EBs. Every ematopoietic lineage cells were generated from the differentiating EBs with reproducible frequencies, similar to the other sophisticated differentiation protocols. Furthermore, the globin gene switching in differentiating ES cells paralleled the sequence of events found in the mouse embryo, and such that their expression was activated by at least 12 hrs later than those of erythroid-specific transcription factors, GATA-1 and Tal-1 The erythropoietic differentiation program initiated reproducibly and efficiently in this simple differentiation system in a suspension culture, such that this system may be useful for dissection of the molecular events of early erythropoiesis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.863-871
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• 2015

Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum BBMN68, isolated from centenarians in Guangxi, China, has been proved to be a promising probiotic strain for its health benefits. In this study, the biodistribution of this strain in the rat gut was first investigated using the quantitative realtime PCR assay and propidium monoazide. Strain-specific primers were originally designed based on the BBMN68 genome sequence. Healthy rats were orally inoculated with either a single dose of BBMN68 (10¹⁰ colony-forming units/kg), or with one dose per day for 7 days and bacterial concentrations were analyzed in detail from the intestinal contents and feces of four different gut locations, including stomach, small intestine, colon, and rectum. Results indicated that strain BBMN68 could overcome the rigors of passage through the upper gastrointestinal tract and transiently accumulate in the colon, even though survival in the stomach and small intestine was not high. A good level of BBMN8 could stay in vivo for 72 h following a 7-day oral administration, and a daily administration is suggested for a considerable and continuous population of BBMN68 to be maintained in the host intestine.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6349-6355
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• 2012

Previous studies showed that Math1 homologous to human Hath1 can cause mouse goblet cells to differentiate. In this context it is important that the majority of colon cancers have few goblet cells. In the present study, the potential role of Hath1 in colon carcinogenesis was investigated. Sections of paraffin-embedded tissues were used to investigate the goblet cell population of normal colon mucosa, mucosa adjacent colon cancer and colon cancer samples from 48 patients. Hath1 and Muc2 expression in these samples were tested by immunohistochemistry, quantitative real-time reverse transcription -PCR and Western blotting. After the recombinant plasmid, pcDNA3.1(+)-Hath1 had been transfected into HT29 colon cancer cells, three clones were selected randomly to test the levels of Hath1 mRNA, Muc2 mRNA, Hath1, Muc2, cyclin D1 and p27 by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR and Western blotting. Moreover, the proliferative ability of HT29 cells introduced with Hath1 was assessed by means of colony formation assay and xenografting. Expression of Hath1, Muc2, cyclin D1 and p27 in the xenograft tumors was also detected by Western blotting. No goblet cells were to be found in colon cancer and levels of Hath1 mRNA and Hath1, Muc2 mRNA and Muc2 were significantly down-regulated. Hath1 could decrease cyclin D1, increase p27 and Muc2 in HT29 cells and inhibit their proliferation. Hath1 may be an anti-oncogene in colon carcinogenesis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.315-320
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• 2015

Acarapis mites, including Acarapis woodi, Acarapis externus, and Acarapis dorsalis, are parasites of bees which can cause severe damage to the bee industry by destroying colonies and decreasing honey production. All 3 species are prevalent throughout many countries including UK, USA, Iran, Turkey, China, and Japan. Based on previous reports of Acarapis mites occurring in northeast Asia, including China and Japan, we investigated a survey of Acarapis mite infestations in honey bees in Korean apiaries. A total of 99 colonies of Apis mellifera were sampled from 5 provinces. The head and thorax of 20 bees from each colony were removed for DNA extraction. PCR assays were performed with 3 primer sets, including T, A, and K primers. Results indicated that 42.4% (42/99) of samples were Acarapis-positive by PCR assay which were sequenced to identify species. Each sequence showed 92.6-99.3% homology with reference sequences. Based on the homology, the number of colonies infected with A. dorsalis was 32 which showed the highest infection rate among the 3 species, while the number of colonies infected with A. externus and A. woodi was 9 and 1, respectively. However, none of the Acarapis mites were morphologically detected. This result could be explained that all apiaries in the survey used acaricides against bee mites such as Varroa destructor and Tropilaelaps clareae which also affect against Acarapis mites. Based on this study, it is highly probable that Acarapis mites as well as Varroa and Tropilaelaps could be prevalent in Korean apiaries.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 2003

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) was transformed with Agrobacterium tumefacience LBA4404 containing human granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) gene to produce in cell suspension cultures. Cell suspension culture was established using callus from transgenic lettuce plant. Integration of hGM-CSF gene into plant chromosome was confirmed through genomic PCR and Southern blot analysis. In addition, Northern blot analysis indicated the expression of the introduced hGM-CSF gene in transformed lettuce. The recombinant hGM-CSF was expressed in transgenic cell cultures derived from transgenic plants as a yield of about 149.0 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L in culture filtrate, which was determined by ELISA. These results demonstrated that transformed lettuce cell suspension cultures could be used as a production system of therapeutic proteins such as hGM-CSF.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.402-407
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• 1998

Phytophthora rot on jujube fruit has occurred at several cultivation areas in Kyung-buk and Kyung-nam provinces. Symptoms consisted of brownish to reddish rot on fruits resulting in early drop or mummification. The causal fungus isolated from infected fruits and adjacent leaf stalks was identified as Phytophthora citricola, which has never been reported in Korea. Sporangia were semi-papillate, noncaducous and highly variable in shapes. Plerotic oospores with paragynous antheridia were abundant is single cultures. Sporangia of two isolates were measured as 38-76$\times$20-40 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and averaged 51.4$\times$27.0 and 55.6$\times$36.0 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Oogonia were ranged from 26 to 36 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and averaged 31.3 and 32.0 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Colony pattern was slightly radiated with sparse aerial mycelia on common media. Minium, optimum and maximum temperatures for mycelial growth were recorded at 7, 25, and 32$^{\circ}C$, respectively. Among tested media, 10% V8A was the best and $25^{\circ}C$ was better than 15$^{\circ}C$ for oospore formation of the fungus. The jujube isolates of P. citricola were readily differentiated from other closely related species in the genus, namely; P. nicotianae, P. citrophthora, P. cactorum, P. capsici, and P. plalmivora on the basis of PCR-RFLP of r-DNA. The fungus showed strong pathogenicty to jujube, apple, pear, orange, persimmon and eggplant, and relatively weak to citron, tomato, pepper and cucumber. In this study, P. citrocola is firstly identified and jujube fruit rot caused by the fungus is recorded as a new disease in Korea.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.452-457
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• 1998

Thirty-eight isolates of Phytophthora sp. caused rots on roots and basal stems were collected from five flowering plants from 1992 to 1997 at eight cultivation areas in Korea. All the isolates were identified as P. nicotianae based on following characteristics. The fungus produced markedly papillate, not caducous and ovoid to spherical sporangia, abundant chlamydospores, and small oospores with amphigynous antheridia only when paired with either A1 or A2 mating type. All isolates grew well at 35$^{\circ}C$ and showed distinct arachnoid colony patterns on CMA and PDA. Sizes of sporangia and chlamydospores of five representative isolates from each plant averaged 43-52$\times$30-38 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and 28 ~34 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Mating type of the isolates was either A1 or A2, and oogonia and oospores were measured as 28~31 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and 21~25 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. PCR-RFLP analysis of rDNA of the five isolates resulted that restriction band patterns of the small subunit and ITS regions were identical to a perilla isolate of P. nicotianae, but distinct from P. cactorum and P. capsici. Cross inoculation tests showed that the five isolates had pathogenicity to lily, christmas cactus, anthurium, baby's breath and carnation with different degrees. However, each isolate showed stronger pathogenicity to its corresponding original host than others. Among five lily cultivars Georgia and Quririna were more susceptible than Napoli and others. This is first report of Phytophthora root and stem rot of lily, Christmas cactus, anthurium, baby's breath and monochoria in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.451-465
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• 1998

The present study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of brucellosis in Kyungbuk area for the 3 years from 1966 to 1998. Collective milk samples were routinely screened to detect positive farms by using the milk ring test(MRT), and serum agglutination test was performed to detect sero-positive individuals in the MRT positive farms. Attempt were made to isolate the causative organismas from slaughtered sero-positive reactors and some biochemical and polymerase chain reation characters of the isolates were also made to identify the organisms. Seroprevalence to brucellosis in peoples who are close contact with infected dairy herds was also investigated. Brucellosis of dairy cattle was rare before 1997, but has been broken more frequently since early 1998. By the MRT for dairy herds, positive rate was gradually increased every year : 0.6% in 1996, 1.5% in 1997, 3.9% in 1998. Among 262 MRT-positive herds, only 21 herds(8.0%) showed positive brucellosis in serological test. The isolation rates of Brucella sp from tested materials were 51.2% in supramammary glands, 39.5% in milks, and 50.0% in pulmonary Iymphnode, respectively. Isolated strain and biotype were Brucella(B) arbortus biotype 1 in 26 heads, and were B suis biotype 1 in 2 heads. Isolated strain and vaccine strain were very similar in their colony morphology and staining. In drug susceptibility, isolated stains(B abortus) and vaccine strain(B abortus RB-51) were sensitive to ampicillin, gentamycin, kanamycin, neomycin, penicillin, streptomycin, and to tetracycline, but resistant to erythromycin. In the PCR, field strains reacted to BA and IS711 primers, and vaccine strain reacted to BA, IS711, and RB5l primers. In the plate agglutination test of 96 sera of human contacted with animals, serum antibody titer detected 1 : 100 in one person, 1 : 200 in one, and below 1 : 25 in the others.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2006

Anaerobic black-pigmented bacteria have been implicated in the endodontic infections. This group of microorganisms includes Porphyromonas endodontalis, P. gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, and Prevotella nigrescens. The organisms display a wide variety of virulence factors that may be pertinent to acute endodontic infections. The aim of this study was to identify P. endodontalis, P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, and P. nigrescens by using the special potency disk test, filter paper spot test, 16S rRNA gene-directed PCR, and API 32A system. Microbial samples were collected from root canals of 33 intact teeth with necrotic pulp and apical periodontitis. Conventional laboratory methods were used to identify the strains of anaerobic black pigmented bacteria. Eighteen out of 33 samples were positive for the growth of black-pigmented bacrteria. Five colonies were cultured from each pure cultured colony from Brucella agar plates. Seventy seven colonies were positive for the growth of black-pigmented bacteria. Thirty three out of 77(42.8%) were identifed as P. nigrescens, 10 out of 77(13%)were P. gingivalis, 6 out of 77(7.8%) were P. endodontalis, 10 out of 77(13%) were P. intermedia. On the contrary the reference strains of P. nigrescens, experimental strains of P. nigrescens were susceptible to kanamycin in the special potency disk test. We concluded that after rapid presumptive identification methods, such as the special potency disk test and filter paper spot test were done, 16S rRNA gene PCR and API 32A test would be accurate detection methods for black-pigemented bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.116-119
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• 2016

Stable maintenance of telomere is required for cell proliferation and survival. Although telomerase is the primary means for telomere maintenance, recombination is another important pathway to maintain telomeres. In this study, we developed a genetic assay for telomere recombination using the internal $TG_{1-3}$ repeats present in subtelomeric regions of yeast. The recombination frequencies were dependent on the presence of the internal $TG_{1-3}$ repeats. PCR amplification of the regions near URA3 and CAN1 markers using genomic DNA isolated from $FOA^rCan^r$ colonies indicated that each isolate had lost the chromosome end including the markers. In addition, the recombination frequencies increased with longer internal $TG_{1-3}$ repeats. Our results suggest that the $FOA^rCan^r$ colony formation is the consequence of recombination between the internal and terminal $TG_{1-3}$ repeats.