• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.56-56
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• 2001

The exogenous gene transfer by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure has been recently used to produce transgenic mice and pigs. Sperm-mediated DNA transfer has the potential to markedly simplify the generation of transgenic animals. This method may serve as an alternative to the pronucleus injection of DNA for the production of transgenic pigs. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the expression of transgene after co-injection of spermatozoon or sperm head with green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene into in vitro matured porcine oocytes. Spermatozoon and sperm head, that was obtained by sonication, were treated with 0.03% Triton X-100 to remove the membrane. They were preincubated with linearized pEGFP-N1 for 1 min, and then embryos cultured NCSU23 medium for 2.5 days after co-injected of sperm and DNA. We monitored expression of GFP in embryos under epifluorescent microscope. The remove of sperm membrane did not alter the developmental competence of embryos after ICSI. At 7 days following injection, the rates of blastocysts following injection of intact sperm (15.0%), and of sperm with disrupted membrane (14.2%) were higher than that following IVF (10.0%). Porcine oocytes injected with sperm which co-cultured with DNA concentration of 1, 0.1, and 0.01 ng were 60, 65.7 and 75% and 18.5, 37.4 and 22.2% for rates of cleavage and GFP expression, respectively. In vitro matured porcine oocytes injected with sperm and isolated sperm head resulted in 69 and 59.7% of cleavage rates, respectively The rates of embryo GFP expressed did not significantly different between sperm (20.4%) and sperm head (20.0%) injection. The transgenic embryos with the clusters of positive blastomeres were observed under fluorescent microscope. Most of embryos expressed GFP gene showed mosaicism. They showed GFP expression at 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 of blastomeres at the 4-cell stage. Among these 4-cell embryos, the expression rate of 1/4 blastomere group (54.6%) was higher than the other groups (15.3-30.7%). These results indicate that membrane disrupted sperm could attach with exogenous DNA, and that this procedure may be useful to introduce foreign gene into porcine oocytes. Therefore, our data suggest that the ICSI car be a useful tool to efficiently produce transgenic pig as well as other mammals.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.365-372
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• 1990

For the effort to produce transgenic amphibians, a plasmid DNA sequence (cytoplasmic actin promoter-linked bacterial $\beta$-galactosidase gene) was microinjected into fertilized Xenopus eggs. It appeared that the injection of 20 nl solution containing 1-2 ng of DNA was not toxic, but over 4 ng was toxic to embryonic development. The translational product of $\beta$-gal gene ($\beta$-galactosidase) had enzyme activity in all three germ layers of the embryo. Expression of the injected $\beta$-gal genes was first detected at mid-gastrula stage, and the activity persisted up to stage 43 (feeding tadpole) with decreased level of retention. However, the level of the expression was various among the injected individuals as well as each experiment. That is, $\beta$-galactosidase activities did not appear in all cells, instead a localized distribution pattern. Although other possibilities could not be omitted, this mosaic distribution of gene expression seemed to arise from unequal partition of the injected DNA into each blastomere during early cleavage.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2014

Transcription activator like effector nucleases (TALENs) are artificial restriction enzymes generated by fusing a TALE DNA binding domain to a DNA cleavage domain which remove and introduce specific genes to produce transgenic animals. To investigate the efficient laboratory techniques for the injection of TALEN mRNA, pEGFP-N1 commercial plasmid were microinjected into porcine parthenogenetic and in vitro fertilization (IVF). In Experiment 1, to investigate injection time, compared 4 different time durations (2 hr, 4 hrs, 6 hrs & 8 hrs) after post activation of parthenogenetic embryos and after 6 hrs of co-incubation with sperms in IVF embryos. There were significant difference (P<0.05) in development to the blastocysts (4.4, 8.9, 3.9, 0.6%), GFP expression in blastocysts (1.3, 5.7, 2.3, 0.0%) which injected after post activation of 4 hrs compared with other 3 groups. IVF embryos after 2 hrs and 4 hrs injected were expressed GFP significantly higher than rest of two groups (P<0.05). In Experiment 2, compared development of 2 different concentrations ($20ng/{\mu}l$ and $50ng/{\mu}l$) of EGFP injection. There were significant difference (P<0.05) between two treatments which has higher cleavage (58.8 vs 41.9%), blastocysts development rate (13.0 vs 11.1%) and GFP expressed blastocysts (5.7 vs 0.0%) in $20ng/{\mu}l$ than the $50ng/{\mu}l$ in parthenogenetic embryos. In IVF embryos, only $20ng/{\mu}l$ injected embryos were expressed GFP (4.2%) after 7 days of incubation and 77.3 vs 64.7% of cleavage, 26.4 vs 23.5% development to blastocysts. In Experiment 3, three different volumes (5, 10 and 20 pl) were microinjected into porcine embryos to determine the most appropriate volume. Out of 3 groups, significantly higher development rates of cleavage (68.3, 58.0, 29.3%), blastocysts (11.7, 12.7, 0.5%) and GFP expressed blastocysts (2.9, 7.8, 0.0%) were shown in the 10 pl group (P<0.05). In conclusion, these results imply that $20ng/{\mu}l$ concentration, 10 pl of volume and injection at 4 hrs after post activation for parthenogenetic and 2~4 hrs after IVF, $20ng/{\mu}l$ concentration and 10 pl volume for IVF embryos were more effective microinjection conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 2009

It is very important to differentiate of DNA derived from live or dead bacteria within mixed microbial communities in aquatic environments. Ethidium monoazide (EMA) is a DNA intercalating agent and the treatment of EMA with strong visible light cleaves the genomic DNA of bacteria. In dead bacterial cells, EMA intercalates into the genomic DNA, induces the cleavage of DNA, and inhibits the PCR amplification. In this study, we developed the EMA-PCR and EMA real-time PCR to detect the DNA derived from viable Escherichia coli (E.coli) in mixed cultures of live and dead E.coli. The treatment of EMA, $50{\mu}g/mL$, and 650 W visible halogen light exposure for 2 minutes cleaved the genomic DNA derived from heat killed E.coli but did not those of live E.coli. EMA-PCR could detect the DNA from live E.coli in mixed culture samples of live and dead E.coli at various ratio and there was no DNA amplification in only dead E.coli cultures. Similar results were observed in EMA real-time PCR. Further studies are needed to develop various EMA-PCR methods to detect viable waterborne pathogens such as Helicobacter pylori, Giardia lamblia, and so on.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 2009

We cloned and sequenced the open reading frame (ORF) cDNA encoding myostatin from the muscle of abalone (Haliotis discus hannai). The ORF cDNA of the abalone myostatin is 1134 bp and encoded 377 amino acid residues that were 60-96% homologous with the amino acids of other organism myostatins. In addition, the ORF contained a conserved proteolytic cleavage site (RXRR) and nine conserved cysteine residues in the C-terminus. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed the presence of myostatin mRNA in various tissues. The strongest expression was observed in the mantle of female abalone, and the gills and heart of male abalone.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2009

A vitellogenin cDNA was cloned from the bumblebee Bombus ignitus. The cDNA encoding B. ignitus vitellogenin (BiVg) is 5473 bases long with an open reading frame of 1773 amino acid residues. BiVg possesses two consensus (RXXR/S) cleavage sites and has the conserved DGXR and GL/ICG motif near its C-terminus. The deduced amino acid sequence of BiVg cDNA showed significant similarity with hymenopteran Vgs (51% identity to Apis mellifera Vg, and $33{\sim}36%$ to other insect Vgs). The BiVg cDNA was expressed as a 200-kDa polypeptide in baculovirus-infected insect Sf9 cells. Northern and Western blot analyses showed the expression of BiVg in fat bodies of pupae and adults. In queens, the expression of BiVg was first detected in late pupal stage fat bodies, and secreted BiVg was also observed in late pupal stage hemolymph.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.281-287
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• 2005

Although actinomycin D (AMD) is known to induce apoptotic cell death to various cell lines, the mechanism of apoptosis induced by AMD is still unclear. Understanding this mechanism may improve its therapeutic efficacy. The present study has been performed to elucidate expression of Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 proteins related to apoptosis in human leukemia K-562 cells. Five different assays were performed in this study; DNA fragmentation analysis by agarose gel electrophoresis, quantitative assay of fragmented DNA, morphological assessment of apoptotic cells, quantification of apoptosis by annexin V (AV) and propidium iodide (PI) staning, and expression of Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 proteins by the western blot analysis. The number of apoptotic cells and amount of fragmented DNA in this cell line treated with AMD was increased at 6 hour. DNA ladder pattern was also appeared at 6 hour. The expression of Bcl-2 was decreased, and disappeared from 12 hours after AMD treatment. Precursor of Caspase-3 was degraded, and 20 kDa cleavage products were detected. These results suggest that AMD induced apoptosis of K-562 cells is Caspase-3-dependent fashion, and this apoptosis is related to the degradation of Bcl-2 proteins.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.394-399
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• 2008

Multiple sequence alignments of the Bombyx mori fibroin light chain gene (fib-L) from hybrids and from Chinese and Japanese strains demonstrated that 51.6% of the fib-L third intron is conserved. One of these conserved segments, 41 bp long, contains the sequence CGTTATTATACATATT, which is duplicated in the B. mori Nd-$s^D$ mutant. In the present work, electrophoretic mobility assays and computational analyses revealed a major peak of intrinsic bent DNA within the segment that undergoes breakage in the previously-described Nd-$s^D$ mutation. This result suggested that this intrinsically-curved region might mediate DNA cleavage and enhance recombination events in the third intron of the Bombyx mori fib-L gene.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.20-24
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• 2017

Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) is a new and effective genetic editing tool. CRISPR was initially found in bacteria to protect it from virus invasions. In the first step, specific DNA strands of virus are identified by guide RNA that is composed of crRNA and tracrRNA. Then RNAse III is required for producing crRNA from pre-crRNA. In The second step, a crRNA:tracrRNA:Cas9 complex guides RNase III to cleave target DNA. After cleavage of DNA by CRISPR-Cas9, DNA can be fixed by Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) and Homology Directed Repair (HDR). Whereas NHEJ is simple and random, HDR is much more complex and accurate. Gene editing by CRISPR is able to be applied to various biological field such as agriculture and treating genetic diseases in human.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.7 no.2_3
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• pp.109-113
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• 2013

In a previous study, a relatively high dose of gamma radiation (1 kGy) did not fully induce typical SOS genes such as sulA, recA, recN, and din in Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) (Lim et al. 2008, Gene expression profiles following high-dose exposure to gamma radiation in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimuium. J. Radiat. Ind. 3:111-119). In this study, we examined changes in the transcriptional repertoire of S. Typhimurium after a dose of 10 Gy using DNA microarrays. It was found that more than half (~65%) of the 26 up-regulated genes belong to the SOS regulon: ten genes are typical SOS genes, and seven genes are Salmonella prophage genes, which are known to be activated by LexA cleavage. Among 29 down-regulated genes, the function of five genes with the most decreased expression is associated with carbohydrate transport and energy production. This suggests that upon exposure to gamma radiation cells may cease growing by reducing the metabolic activity, and repair DNA damage using a DNA repair system such as the SOS response system. The difference in expression of the SOS genes between a high (1 kGy) and low (10 Gy) dose of radiation shows the possibility that cells may opt for one of multiple regulatory circuits in response to the specific gamma radiation dose.