• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.95-109
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• 2003

Inflammatory lung diseases are characterized by chronic inflammation and oxidant/antioxidant imbalance. The sources of the increased oxidative stress in patients with chronic inflammatory lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) derive from the increased burden of inhaled oxidants, and from the increased amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by several inflammatory, immune and various structural cells of the airways. Increased levels of ROS produced in the airways is reflected by increased markers of oxidative stress in the airspaces, sputum, breath, lungs and blood in patients with lung diseases. ROS, either directly or via the formation of lipid peroxidation products such as 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal may play a role in enhancing the inflammation through the activation of stress kinases (JNK, MAPK, p38) and redox sensitive transcription factors such as NF-${\kappa}B$ and AP-1. Recent evidences have indicated that oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory mediators can alter nuclear histone acetylation/deacetylation allowing access for transcription factor DNA binding leading to enhanced pro-inflammatory gene expression in various lung cells. Understanding of the mechanisms of redox signaling, NF-${\kappa}B$/AP-1 regulation, the balance between histone acetylation and deacetylation and the release and expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators may lead to the development of novel therapies based on the pharmacological manipulation of antioxidants in lung inflammation and injury. Antioxidants that have effective wide spectrum activity and good bioavailability, thiols or molecules which have dual antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, may be potential therapeutic agents which not only protect against the direct injurious effects of oxidants, but may fundamentally alter the underlying inflammatory processes which play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory lung diseases.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2000

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent cell lines, which derived from preimplantation embryo. These cells have been used as a vehicle of foreign DNA for production of transgenic mammals. this experiment was performed to examined the possible use of blastodermal cells derived from hen's egg for germline manipulation. Stage X blsdtodermal cells isolated from fertilized eggs were cultured in DMEM containing 15% fetal calf serum. Blastodermal cells wre co-cultured on the chicken embryonic fibroblast (CEF) or mouse embryonic fibroblast(MEF) cells. to examine the effects of growth factors on stem cell growth, bFGF and LIF were added. There was no significant difference in colony formation of putative ES cells between CEF and MEF as a feederlayer, but the addition of growth factors enhanced the proliferation and inhibited differentiation of blastodermal cells. To characterize the cell colonies as a putative ES cells, putative embryonic cell colonies were stained by periodic acid Schiffs (PAS) reagent. The putative ES cell colonies showed intensive positive reaction similar to the property of undifferentiated PGC upto 20days in vitro, but not in other cell types. this result demonstrates that PAS-positive cell colonies may be used for the study of establishment of chicken ES cell lines for the production of transgenic chicken.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.07a
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• pp.133-170
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• 1995

The major objectives of fruit breeding lie in improvement of cultivar, easy to be cultivated and of high quality, in order to produce unexpensive, delicious fruit both for fresh fruit market and processing. Recently, fruit breeding in Korea has contributed to breeding of several superior cultivars in major fruit crops, resulting in appreciable improvement in qualities such as skin color, taste and fruit-bearing habit concerned with productivity. In spite of accomplishments mentioned above, the need for both highly disease-resistant cultivars and long-keeping, physiological disorder-resistant cultivars to meet long distance transsportation in the temperate fruit crops of apples, oriental pears, stone fruits such as peaches, and grapes grown in Korea is rapidly pressing more than ever, as cultivars of today susceptible to pests and diseases and vulnerable to physiological disorders are very expensive and time-consuming in post-harvest handling and management. Thus, imporvements made in the above problems through breeding level will lead to the really enhanced productivity in fruit industry. The major impediments of tree size, the long length of juvenile period and the highly heterogeneous genetic composition to the improvement of fruit crops are responsible for the lower amount and rate of improvements of fruit crops as compared to annuals. Considering the expected limitations of the above problems to be solved through conventional breeding methods and strategy, a turning point of breeding a near perfect cultivar would be laid down if innovative breakthroughs in biological technology will be realized in applying some of the techniques of genetic manipulation at the molecular level to the cultivar improvement of fruit crops, such as the selective insertion of DNA carrying genes that govern desirable characteristics. More than anything else, those traits such as fruiting habit deciding productivity, elements of fruit qualities conditioned by monogene, and disease-and pest-resistance of vital importance for successful fruit growing are urgently desired to be improved by advancement of biotechnology for they are more than difficult and need long period to be attained through conventional breeding method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 2016

We report a finding of fast(exceeding 2,000 K/s) heating of polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS), one of the most commonly-used microchannel materials, under cyclic loadings at high(~MHz) frequencies. A microheater was created based on the finding. The heating mechanism utilized vibration damping of sound waves, which were generated and precisely manipulated using a conventional surface acoustic wave(SAW) microfluidic system, in PDMS. The penetration depths were measured to range from $210{\mu}m$ to $1290{\mu}m$, enough to cover most microchannel heights in microfluidic systems. The energy conversion efficiency was SAW frequency-dependent and measured to be the highest at around 30 MHz. Independent actuation of each interdigital transducer(IDT) enabled independent manipulation of SAWs, permitting spatiotemporal control of temperature on the microchip. All the advantages of this microheater facilitated a two-step continuous flow polymerase chain reaction(CFPCR) to achieve the billion-fold amplification of a 134 bp DNA amplicon in less than 3 min. In addition, a technique was developed for establishing dynamic free-form temperature gradients(TGs) in PDMS as well as in gases in contact with the PDMS.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.222-228
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• 2001

Vibrio metschnikovii strain RH530 is a non-pathogenic, industrially-important alkaline protease producer which has been isolated from wastewater. In this paper, we report on the transformation of this strain by using the method of electroporation. A field strength of $7.5\;kVcm^{-1}$ and $25\;{\mu}F$, and using a 0.2-cm cuvette, appeared to be the optimal conditions for electroporation of the cells with the recombinant pSBCm plasmid carrying the vapK alkaline protease gene and the ColE1 replicon. Cells were subjected to osmotic shock in order to remove extracelluar DNase, and adding 200 mM of sucrose to electroporation buffer cells showed an increased transformation efficiency. Maximum efficiency of transformation was obtained at an early exponential growth phase. Using all of the conditions mentioned above, we routinely obtained a transformation efficiency of more than $10^4{({\mu}g\;plasmid\;DNA)}^{-1}$. The stability of the plasmid pSBCm in V. metschnikovii RH530 was 25% after 18h of growth (27 generations) in the medium without antibiotic selection. The insertion of the par locus to the pSBCm increased the stability of the plasmid up to 42% without selective pressure. The increase in plasmid stability was accompanied by the increase in the productivity of alkaline protease in the recombinant V. metschnikovii strain RH530. Determining optimal conditions for the transformation of the industrially-important, nonpathogenic Vibrio strain, and the improvement of plasmid stability by introducing the par locus into the high copy number plasmid vector, will allow the development of procedures involved in the genetic manipulation of this strain, particularly for its use in the production of industrial enzymes such as alkaline protease.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1258-1263
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• 2012

2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD) is a major metabolite produced by Klebsiella pneumoniae KCTC2242, which is a important chemical with wide applications. Three genes important for 2,3-BD biosynthesis acetolactate decarboxylase (budA), acetolactate synthase (budB), and alcohol dehydrogenase (budC) were identified in K. pneumoniae genomic DNA. With the goal of enhancing 2,3-BD production, these genes were cloned into pUC18K expression vectors containing the lacZ promoter and the kanamycin resistance gene to generate plasmids pSB1-7. The plasmids were then introduced into K. pneumoniae using electroporation. All strains were incubated in flask experiments and 2,3-BD production was increased by 60% in recombinant bacteria harboring pSB04 (budA and budB genes), compared with the parental strain K. pneumoniae KCTC2242. The maximum 2,3-BD production level achieved through fed-batch fermentation with K. pneumoniae SGJSB04 was 101.53 g/l over 40 h with a productivity of 2.54 g/l.h. These results suggest that overexpression of 2,3-BD synthesis-related genes can enhance 2,3-BD production in K. pneumoniae by fermentation.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 1999

The visco-elastic properties of gluten are major determinants of the processing properties of doughs. These visco-elastic properties are strongly influenced by the ratio of monomeric and polymeric proteins and the size distribution of the polymeric proteins, which make up the gluten fraction of the dough. Recent studies have revealed that other features, such as the number of the cysteine residues of the HMW-GS, also play an important role in determining the functional characteristics. To modify the processing properties at molecular level, the relationship between the structure of molecules and dough properties has to be understood. In order to explore the relationships between individual proteins and dough properties, we have developed procedures for incorporating bacterially expressed proteins into doughs, and measuring their functional properties in small-scale equipment. A major problem in investigating the structure/function relationships of individual seed storage proteins is to obtain sufficient amounts of pure polypeptides from the complex families of proteins expressed in the endosperm. Therefore, we have established a simplified model system in which we produce specific protein genes through bacterial expression and test their functional properties in smallscale apparatus after incorporation into base flour. An S poor protein gene has been chosen as a template gene. This template gene has been modified using standard recombinant DNA techniques in order to test the effects of varying the number and position of cysteine residues, and the size of the protein. Doughs have been mixed in small scale apparatus and characterized with respect to their polymeric composition and their functional properties, including dough mixing, extensibility and small scale bating. We conclude that dough characteristics can be manipulated in a predictable manner by altering the cysteine residues and the size of high molecular weight glutenins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.911-917
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• 2022

As valuable antibiotics, microbial natural products have been in use for decades in various fields. Among them are polyene compounds including nystatin, amphotericin, and nystatin-like Pseudonocardia polyenes (NPPs). Polyene macrolides are known to possess various biological effects, such as antifungal and antiviral activities. NPP A1, which is produced by Pseudonocardia autotrophica, contains a unique disaccharide moiety in the tetraene macrolide backbone. NPP B1, with a heptane structure and improved antifungal activity, was then developed via genetic manipulation of the NPP A1 biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC). Here, we generated a Streptomyces artificial chromosomal DNA library to isolate a large-sized NPP B1 BGC. The NPP B1 BGC was successfully isolated from P. autotrophica chromosome through the construction and screening of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library, even though the isolated 140-kb BAC clone (named pNPPB1s) lacked approximately 8 kb of the right-end portion of the NPP B1 BGC. The additional introduction of the pNPPB1s as well as co-expression of the 32-kb portion including the missing 8 kb led to a 7.3-fold increase in the production level of NPP B1 in P. autotrophica. The qRT-PCR confirmed that the transcription level of NPP B1 BGC was significantly increased in the P. autotrophica strain containing two copies of the NPP B1 BGCs. Interestingly, the NPP B1 exhibited a previously unidentified SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) inhibition activity in vitro. These results suggest that the Streptomyces BAC cloning of a large-sized, natural product BGC is a valuable approach for titer improvement and biological activity screening of natural products in actinomycetes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1107-1112
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• 2009

The separation of X and Y chromosome-bearing sperm is of use in many aspects of livestock maintenance. In this study, we sought to determine the difference in DNA content between X- and Y-bearing sperm, separate sperm into X- and Y-enriched pools, and assess the efficacy of sorting. Sperm collected from Duroc and miniature pigs were stained with 20.8 $\mu{M}$ Hoechst 33342 and analyzed using a high-speed cell sorter. Measurement of the fluorescence intensity of stained sperm nuclei revealed that the X-bearing sperm of Duroc and miniature pigs respectively contain 2.75% and 2.88% more DNA than Y-bearing sperm. In total, 50.18% of the sperm were assigned to the X-sorted sample and 49.82% was assigned to the Y-sorted sample for Duroc pigs. For miniature pigs, the Xsorted sample represented 50.19% of the population and the Y-sorted represented 49.81% of the population. Duplex PCR was used to evaluate accuracy of sorting. A fast and reliable method for porcine sexing was developed through amplification of the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome gene (SRY). Oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify the conserved porcine SRY high motility group (HMG) box sequence motif. We found that the primer pair designed in this study was 1.46 times more specific than previously reported primers. Thus, this study shows that the present method can be applied in porcine breeding programs to facilitate manipulation of the sex ratio of offspring and to achieve precise sexing of porcine offspring by amplification of the HMG box of the SRY gene.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.47-52
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• 2009

This study has been to examine the occupational exposure levels of Fluorouracil (5-FU) in a hospital and to investigate the most effective cleaning reagent for control. Fluorouracil is one of the cytotoxic drugs which are therapeutic agents used to treat cancer. The health practitioners working in the cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas are exposed to adverse health risks like cytogenetic and DNA damage from cytotoxic drugs exposure by frequent skin contact from contaminated surfaces. Four kinds of cleaning reagents has been examined to degrade the 5-FU. It was found that 5-FU was only degraded soon after the reaction in 0.5%(w/v) NaClO solution. Therefore, 0.5%(w/v) NaClO solution has been chosen to decompose any residues on the contamination surfaces. A substantial level of contamination was found on the surfaces of cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas. The contamination ranges of the surfaces in cytotoxic work room and oncology ward areas were from 2.0 to $13.8{\mu}g/m^2$ and 5.39 to $11.53{\mu}g/m^2$ respectively. Consequently, regulation of the occupational exposure limit, procedure of special cleaning, and the use of personal protective equipment are recommended during the manipulation and administration of the drugs to avoid skin contamination from cytotoxic drugs like 5-FU.