• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.69-72
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• 2004

Somaclonal variation, defined as phenotypic and genetic variations among regenerated plants from a parental plant, could be caused by changes in chromosome structure, single gene mutation, cytoplasm genetic mutation, insertion of transposable elements, and DNA methylation during plant regeneration. The objective of this study was to evaluate DNA variations among somaclonal variants from the cotyledonary node culture in soybean. A total of 61 soybean somaclones including seven $\textrm{R}_1$ lines and seven $\textrm{R}_2$ lines from Iksannamulkong as well as 27 $\textrm{R}_1$ lines and 20 $\textrm{R}_2$ lines from Jinju 1 were regenerated by organogenesis from the soybean cotyledonary node culture system. Field evaluation revealed no phenotypic difference in major agronomic traits between somaclonal variants and their wild types. AFLP and SSR analyses were performed to detect variations at the DNA level among somaclonal variants of two varieties. Based on AFLP analysis using 36 primer sets, 17 of 892 bands were polymorphic between Iksannamulkong and its somaclonal variants and 11 of 887 bands were polymorphic between Jinju 1 and its somaclonal variants, indicating the presence of DNA sequence change during plant regeneration. Using 36 SSR markers, two polymorphic SSR markers were detected between Iksannamulkong and its somaclonal variants. Sequence comparison amplified with the primers flanking Satt545 showed four additional stretches of ATT repeat in the variant. This suggests that variation at the DNA level between somaclonal variants and their wild types could provide basis for inducing mutation via plant regeneration and broadening crop genetic diversity.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.52
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• pp.337.1-337.14
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• 2018

Background: Mitochondrial heteroplasmy, the co-existence of different mitochondrial polymorphisms within an individual, has various forensic and clinical implications. But there is still no guideline on the application of massively parallel sequencing (MPS) in heteroplasmy detection. We present here some critical issues that should be considered in heteroplasmy studies using MPS. Methods: Among five samples with known innate heteroplasmies, two pairs of mixture were generated for artificial heteroplasmies with target minor allele frequencies (MAFs) ranging from 50% to 1%. Each sample was amplified by two-amplicon method and sequenced by Ion Torrent system. The outcomes of two different analysis tools, Torrent Suite Variant Caller (TVC) and mtDNA-Server (mDS), were compared. Results: All the innate heteroplasmies were detected correctly by both analysis tools. Average MAFs of artificial heteroplasmies correlated well to the target values. The detection rates were almost 90% for high-level heteroplasmies, but decreased for low-level heteroplasmies. TVC generally showed lower detection rates than mDS, which seems to be due to their own computation algorithms which drop out some reference-dominant heteroplasmies. Meanwhile, mDS reported several unintended low-level heteroplasmies which were suggested as nuclear mitochondrial DNA sequences. The average coverage depth of each sample placed on the same chip showed considerable variation. The increase of coverage depth had no effect on the detection rates. Conclusion: In addition to the general accuracy of the MPS application on detecting heteroplasmy, our study indicates that the understanding of the nature of mitochondrial DNA and analysis algorithm would be crucial for appropriate interpretation of MPS results.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2014

Asian populations contain a variety of ethnic groups that have ethnically specific genetic differences. Ethnic variants may be highly relevant in disease and human differentiation studies. Here, we identified ethnically specific variants and then investigated their distribution across Asian ethnic groups. We obtained 58,960 Pan-Asian single nucleotide polymorphisms of 1,953 individuals from 72 ethnic groups of 11 Asian countries. We selected 9,306 ethnic variant single nucleotide polymorphisms (ESNPs) and 5,167 ethnic variant copy number polymorphisms (ECNPs) using the nearest shrunken centroid method. We analyzed ESNPs and ECNPs in 3 hierarchical levels: superpopulation, subpopulation, and ethnic population. We also identified ESNP- and ECNP-related genes and their features. This study represents the first attempt to identify Asian ESNP and ECNP markers, which can be used to identify genetic differences and predict disease susceptibility and drug effectiveness in Asian ethnic populations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1683-1686
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• 2012

In the present case control study mRNA expression of the GSTP1 gene, encoding a phase II enzyme that detoxifies via glutathione conjugation, was investigated using semiquantitative PCR followed by SSCP for 49 confirmed head and neck (HN) cancer and 49 control samples. It was found that GSTP1 was upregulated in significantly higher number of cancers (OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.2-15.3). Grade wise correlation was also observed with more up regulation in patients with more advanced grades of HN carcinomas. We also found that 5 patients showed variation in mRNA with a larger product size than expected. Sequencing revealed insertion of an intronic segment between the $6^{th}$ and $7^{th}$ exon of the GSTP1 gene. Germline screening was performed showing mobility shifts which suggested mutation at the DNA level resulting in intronic portion retention. This study is of prime importance for drug design and treatment selection to overcome increased resistance of HN cancers to drugs due to alteration in the GSTP1 gene.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2006

The interferon-induced, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase PKR plays a key role in interferon-mediated host defense against viral infection, and is implicated in cellular transformation and apoptosis. We have isolated a cDNA of simian PKR encoding a product with 83% amino acid identity to the human homolog and showed that PKR expression is significantly attenuated in the Vero E6 African green monkey kidney cells devoid of type I interferon genes. A variant form of PKR lacking the exon 12 in the kinase domain is produced in these cells, presumably from an alternatively spliced transcript. Unlike wild type PKR, the variant protein named PKR-${\Delta}E12$ is incapable of auto-phosphorylation and phosphorylation of eIF2-${\alpha}$, indicating that the kinase sub-domains III and IV embedded in exon 12 are indispensable for catalytic function. PKR-${\Delta}E12$ had no dominant negative effect but was weakly phosphorylated in trans by wild type PKR.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.111-114
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• 2022

Many monogenic neurodevelopmental disorders have been newly identified in recent years owing to the rapid development of genetic sequencing technology. These include variants of the epigenetic machinery - up to 300 known epigenetic factors of which about 50 have been linked to specific clinical phenotypes. Chromodomain, helicase, DNA binding 1 (CHD1) is an ATP-dependent chromatin remodeler, known to be the causative gene of the autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder Pilarowski-Bjornsson syndrome. Patients exhibit various degrees of global developmental delay, autism, speech apraxia, seizures, growth retardation, and craniofacial dysmorphism. We report the first case of Pilarowski-Bjornsson syndrome in Korea, due to a de novo missense variant of the CHD1 gene (c.862A>G, p.Thr288Ala) in a previously undiagnosed 17-year-old male. His infantile onset of severe global developmental delay, intellectual disability, speech apraxia, and failure to thrive are compatible with Pilarowski-Bjornsson syndrome. We also noted some features not previously reported in this syndrome such as skeletal dysplasia and ichthyosis. Further studies are needed to discover the specific phenotypes and pathogenic mechanisms behind this rare disorder.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6385-6390
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• 2015

Background: Genetic polymorphisms in DNA repair genes may influence individual variation in DNA repair capacity, which may be associated with risk of developing cancer. For colorectal cancer the importance of mutations in mismatch repair genes has been extensively documented. Materials and Methods: In this study we focused on the Arg194Trp polymorphism of the DNA repair gene XRCC1, involved in base excision repair (BER) and its role in colorectal cancer in Kashmiri population. A case-control study was conducted including 100 cases of colorectal cancer, and 100 hospital-based age- and sex-matched healthy controls to examine the role of XRCC1 genetic polymorphisms in the context of colorectal cancer risk for the Kashmiri population. Results: Genotype analysis of XRCC1 Arg194Trp was conducted with a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. The overall association between the XRCC1 polymorphism and the CRC cases was found to be significant (p < 0.05) with both the heterozygous genotype (Arg/Trp) as well as homozygous variant genotype (Trp/Trp) being moderately associated with the elevated risk for CRC [OR=2.01 (95% CI=1.03-3.94) and OR=5.2(95% CI=1.42-19.5)] respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggest an increased risk for CRC in individuals with XRCC1 Arg194Trp polymorphism suggesting BER repair pathway modulates the risk of developing colorectal cancer in the Kashmiri population.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2006

Background and Objectives : Thyroid carcinoma is the sixth commonest cancer in Korea and the papillary carcinoma is the most common type(88%) of the malignant thyroid tumors. Bulky DNA adducts formed by the carcinogens are repaired by DNA repair process, but failure to repair this DNA damage can cause mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes resulting in tumor formation. The xeroderma pigmentosum group C(XPC) gene is essential for this repair procedure and the XPC-PolyAT(PAT) polymorphisms may alter DNA repair capacity(DRC) and genetic susceptibility to cancer. Subjects and Methods : In a case-control study of 113 Korean patients with pathologically diagnosed thyroid papillary carcinoma and 65 control subjects, we investigated the association between the three XPC-PAT gene polymorphisms and thyroid papillary cancer susceptibility. Results : The frequency of the variant XPC-PAT allele was lower in the cases(0.349) than in the controls (0.423), but the difference was not significant(p=0.140). Using logistic regression adjusting for age and sex, risk for thyroid papillary cancer was not increased in the XPC-PAT-/+ and XPC-PAT+/+ compared to XPCPAT-/-(adjusted overall odds ratio[95% confidence intervals;95%CI]=0.52[0.26-1.03] and 0.62 [0.22-1.75], respectively; trend test, p=0.167). Conclusion : There are no relationship between the XPC-PAT polymorphism and the risk of thyroid papillary carcinoma in Korean population. Based on our results, XPC-PAT polymorphism do not modulate genetic susceptibility to thyroid papillary cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3603-3606
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• 2013

Background: To investigate the infection status and predominant genotype distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among Chinese patients with mucopurulent cervicitis (MPC) or cervical cancer (CC) in Hangzhou. Methods: Initially, 217 cases of healthy cervix controls (n=50), acute MPC (n=89), and CC (n=78) were included; samples were collected between January 1, 2010, and January 30, 2013. Cervical specimens were screened for HPV using a nested polymerase chain reaction assay and DNA sequencing. Results: Overall prevalence of HPV infection was 16.7% in the control group, 51.9% in the MPC group, and 84.4% in the CC group. The predominant genotype detected in all 3 groups was the oncogenic variant HPV 16 (55.8%, 17.3%, and 6.3% in the CC, MPC and control specimens, respectively), HPV58 was the second most predominant HPV type in CC (9.1%), MPC (8.6%), and control group (4.2%). Most or all of the genotypes were oncogenic in the three groups. Conclusions: Infection with HPV was found to be prevalent among Chinese women with MPC or CC and oncogenic variants were in the majority. Therefore, peoples who suffered MPC with HPV DNA positive should be regularly followed-up, for prevention and early treatment of cervical cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.4917-4920
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• 2016

For advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases, a platinum-based regimen is the first-line chemotherapy treatment. The excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) plays an important role in DNA repair and has been related to resistance to platinum chemotherapy. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the ERCC1 (C118T) polymorphism on treatment response in 26 Thai advanced NSCLC patients receiving first line platinum-based chemotherapy during January to July 2015 at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH). DNA was extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes and the single nucleotide polymorphism of ERCC1 was genotyped using a real-time PCR method with the TaqMan assay. The distribution of C/C, C/T and T/T genotypes was 57.7 %, 34.6 % and 7.7 %, respectively. The response rate to platinum-based chemotherapy in the wild type (C/C) of ERCC1 (C118T) was better than with the variant types (C/T and T/T) but the difference was not statistically significant (29.7% vs 9.1%, P=0.274). The results showed that a genetic polymorphism in ERCC1 might influence patient response to platinum-based chemotherapy. Further multicenter studies are now required to confirm the results of our study.