• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1007-1015
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• 2018

The E6-associated protein (E6AP) is known to induce the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of HCV core protein and thereby directly impair capsid assembly, resulting in a decline in HCV replication. To counteract this anti-viral host defense system, HCV core protein has evolved a strategy to inhibit E6AP expression via DNA methylation. In the present study, we further explored the mechanism by which HCV core protein inhibits E6AP expression. HCV core protein upregulated both the protein levels and enzyme activities of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), DNMT3a, and DNMT3b to inhibit E6AP expression via promoter hypermethylation in HepG2 cells but not in Hep3B cells, which do not express p53. Interestingly, p53 overexpression alone in Hep3B cells was sufficient to activate DNMTs in the absence of HCV core protein and thereby inhibit E6AP expression via promoter hypermethylation. In addition, upregulation of p53 was absolutely required for the HCV core protein to inhibit E6AP expression via promoter hypermethylation, as evidenced by both p53 knockdown and ectopic expression experiments. Accordingly, levels of the ubiquitinated forms of HCV core protein were lower in HepG2 cells than in Hep3B cells. Based on these observations, we conclude that HCV core protein evades ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal degradation in a p53-dependent manner.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.325-330
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• 2004

The RAD3 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for excision repair and is essential for cell viability. RAD3 encoded protein possesses a single stranded DNA-dependent ATPase and DNA and DNA-RNA helicase activities. To examine the extent of conservation of structure and function of RAD3 during eukaryotic evolution, the RAD3 homolog gene was isolated by screening of genomic DNA library. The isolated gene was designated as HRD3 (Homologue of RAD3 gene). The over-expressed HRD3 protein was estimated to be a 75 kDa in size which is in good agreement with the estimated by the nucleotide sequence of the cloned gene. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that a number of other protein spots dramatically disappeared when the HRD3 protein was overexpressed. The overexpressed RAD3 protein showed a toxicity in E. coli host, suggesting that this protein may be involved in the inhibition of protein synthesis and/or degradation of host protein. To determine which part of HRD3 gene contributes to the toxicity in E. coli, various fusion plasmids containing a partial sequence of HRD3 and lac'Z gene were constructed. These results suggest that the C-terminal domain of HRD3 protein may be important for both toxic effect in E. coli and for its role in DNA repair in S. pombe.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.133-139
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• 2008

DNA methylation is one of the reasons for poor survival of clone animals. The OCT-4 gene is essential for maintaining pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells and early embryos. We previously reported that the 5'-promoter region of Oct-4 gene was a target of DNA methylation and the methylation status was changed variously during embryonic development in bovine. The study conducted to examine the expression and methylation pattern of tissue-dependent differentially methylated region (T-DMR) of Oct-4 gene in bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) blastocysts. The Oct-4 gene expression was evaluated by RT-PCR and fluorescence immunocytochemistry. The methylation pattern of T-DMR was analyzed using restriction mapping and bisulfite sequencing methods. The Oct-4 transcripts were highly expressed in IVF, while they were not expressed in SCNT. The Oct-4 protein was not detected or expressed at very low level in SCNT, the intensity of Oct-4 protein, however, was strong in IVF. On the other hand, the T-DMR of Oct-4 gene was hypermethylated in SCNT compared to that of IVF. These results suggested that expression and the failure of demethylation of Oct-4 gene was closely associated with incomplete development of SCNT embryos.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.265-273
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• 2009

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a small single-stranded RNA virus which belongs to the family Picornaviridae, genus Apthovirus. It is a principal cause of FMD which is highly contagious in livestock. In a wild type virus infection, infected animals usually elicit antibodies against structural and non-structural protein of FMDV. A structural protein, VP1, is involved in neutralization of virus particle, and has both B and T cell epitopes. A RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, 3D, is highly conserved among other serotypes and strongly immunogenic, therefore, we selected VP1 and 3D as vaccine targets. VP1 and 3D genes were codon-optimized to enhance protein expression level and cloned into mammalian expression vector. To produce recombinant protein, VP1 and 3D genes were also cloned into pET vector. The VP1 and 3D DNA or proteins were co-immunized into 5 weeks old BALB/C mice. Antigen-specific serum antibody (Ab) responses were detected by Ab ELISA. Cellular immune response against VP1 and 3D was confirmed by ELISpot assay. The results showed that all DNA- and protein-immunized groups induced cellular immune responses, suggesting that both DNA and recombinant protein vaccine administration efficiently induced Ag-specific humoral and cellular immune responses.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.144-149
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• 2008

Despite versatile activity (cancericidal, antimicrobial, hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) inhibition, immune deactivation of DNA bis-intercalation agent, echinomycin, its specific mechanism has been elusive. Of these novel mechanisms, we reported that using human colon cancer cells (HT-29), apoptotic machinery induced by echinomycin might be dependent of caspase-3 pathway. Despite a partial enlightenment of prototypic signal path triggered by echinomycin, the role of Bcl-2 in this signaling pathway is unclear. To address this issue, we explored whether or not echinomycin would overcome the anti-apoptotic impact of Bcl-2 in HT-29 cells by the controlled Bcl-2 overexpression. Prior to this proof, we confirmed that echinomycin induces mitochondrial depolarization, then triggering the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis with an involvement of upstream cas-pases-3. Transiently transfection with inactive Bax-DNA failed to prevent echinomycin-induced apoptosis in HT-29 cells. To dissect the role of Bcl-2 in echinomycin-induced apoptosis, HT-29 cells were transiently transfected with Bcl-2 DNA for overexpression and then treated with echinomycin for 24h. Combined analyses of DNA fragmentation and flow cytometric analysis clearly verified that echinomycin-induced apoptosis was drastically attenuated by Bcl-2 overexpression, whereas a control vector rarely affected echinomycin-induced apoptosis. Collectively, these data verify that Bcl-2 regulates echinomycin-induced apoptosis in HT-29 cells. To my knowledge, this is the first evidence that of diverse, structured minor groove binders (MGB), the prototypic echinomycin might control the apoptotic signaling via Bcl-2-mitochondrial pathway.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.184-187
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• 2000

Prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) plays an important role in the regulation of various gastric functions, and the growth-inhibitory activities on tumor cells are studied in vitro and in vivo. Although the mechanisms have attracted many researchers in the past decade, the molecular mechanisms of cell cycle arrest, or induction of apoptosis by $PGE_2$, is unclear. We investigated the effects of $PGE_2$ on the growth of the human gastric carcinoma cell line SNU1 and genes that are regulated by $PGE_2$ and isolated them using differential display RT-PCR (DD RT-PCR). FACS analysis suggested that SNU1 cells were arrested at the G1 phase by $PGE_2$ treatment. This growth inhibitory effect was in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Treatment of SNU1 cells with $10\;{\mu}g/ml$ $PGE_2$, followed by DD RT-PCR analysis, revealed differently expressed bands patterns from the control. Among the differently expressed clones, we found an unidentified cDNA clone (HGP-27) overexpressed in $PGE_2$-treated cells. The full-length cDNA of HGP-27 was isolated using RACE, which consisted of a 30-nt 5'-noncoding region, a 891-nt ORF encoding the 296 amino acid protein, and a 738-nt 3'-noncoding region including a poly(a) signal. This gene was localized on the short arm of chromosome number 11. Using the Motif Finder program, a myb-DNA binding repeat signature was detected on the ORF region. The COOH-terminal half was shown to have similarity with the $NH_3$-terminal domain of thioredoxin (Trx). This relation between HGP-27 and Trx implied a potential role for HGP-27 in modulating the DNA binding function of a transcription factor, myb.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.563-570
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• 2016

Two Streptomyces griseus strains, a wild-type strain and an A-factor-dependent transcriptional activator mutant strain harboring multiple copies of a gene, dasA, that encodes a substrate-binding protein of the ATP-binding cassette transporter, showed severe ectopic sporulation of young substrate hyphae in response to glucose. The effect of dasA overexpression on the ectopic sporulation of Streptomyces strains was evaluated by comparing the transcriptomes of the strain harboring multiple copies of dasA and a strain harboring empty vector. By DNA microarray, 4 genes (SGR794, SGR2469, SGR3656, and SGR3657) and 3 clusters (SGR795-797, SGR2377-2378, and SGR6997-6998) were differentially expressed by more than 2-fold in S. griseus strains harboring dasA. The DNA microarray result was validated by low-resolution S1 nuclease mapping.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.539-543
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• 1998

Hrp1, of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, is a new member of the SW12/SNF2 protein family that contains a chromodomain and a DNA binding domain as well as ATPase/7 helicase domains. This configuration suggests that Hrp1 could be a homolog of mouse CHD1, which is thought to function in altering the chromatin structure to facilitate gene expression. To understand the enzymatic nature of Hrp1 we purified the 6-Histidine-tagged Hrp1 protein (6$\times$His-Hrp1) to homogeneity from a S. pombe Hrp1-overexpressing strain and hen examined its biochemical properties. We demonstrate that the purified 6$\times$His-Hrp1 protein exhibited a DNA-binding activity with a moderate preference to the (A＋T)-rich tract in double-stranded NA via a minor groove interaction. However, we failed to detect any intrinsic DNA helicase activity from the purified Hrp1 like other SW12/SNF2 proteins. These observations suggest that the DNA binding activities of Hrp1 may be involved in the remodeling of the chromatin structure with DNA-dependent ATPase. We propose that Hrp1 may function in heterochromatins as other proteins with a chromo- or ATPase/helicase domain and play an important role in the determination of chromatin architecture.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2004

The alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay, called the comet assay, has been applied to detect DNA damage induced by a number of chemicals and biological factors in vivo and in vitro. The DNA damage was analysed by tail moment (TM) and tail length (TL), which were markers of DNA strand breaks in SCGE. Human, mouse and rat peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) were irradiated with different doses of $^{60}Co$ ${\gamma}$-rays, e.g. 1, 2, 4, and 8 Gy at a dose rate of 1 Gy/min. A dose-dependent increase in TM (p<0.01) and TL (p<0.01) was obtained at all the radiation doses (1-8 Gy) in human, mouse and rat PBLs. Mouse PBLs were more sensitive than human PBLs which were in turn more sensitive than rat PBLs when the treated dosages were 1 and 2 Gy. However, human PBLs were more sensitive than mouse PBLs which were in turn more sensitive than rat PBLs when the irradiation dosages were 4 and 8 Gy. Data from all three species could be fitted to a linear-quadratic model. These results indicated that there may be inherent differences in the radio-sensitivity among PBLs of mammalian species.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.758-763
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• 2011

Immunostimulatory CpG-DNA targeting TLR9 is one of the most extensively evaluated vaccine adjuvants. Previously, we found that a particular form of natural phosphodiester bond CpG-DNA (PO-ODN) encapsulated in a phosphatidyl-${\beta}$-oleoyl-${\gamma}$-palmitoyl ethanolamine (DOPE) : cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHEMS) (1 : 1 ratio) complex (Lipoplex(O)) is a potent adjuvant. Complexes containing peptide and Lipoplex(O) are extremely useful for B cell epitope screening and antibody production without carriers. Here, we showed that IL-12 production was increased in bone marrow derived dendritic cells in a CpG sequence-dependent manner when PO-ODN was encapsulated in Lipoplex(O), DOTAP or lipofectamine. However, the effects of Lipoplex(O) surpassed those of PO-ODN encapsulated in DOTAP or lipofectamine and also other various forms of liposome-encapsulated CpG-DNA in terms of potency for protein antigen-specific IgG production and Th1- associated IgG2a production. Therefore, Lipoplex(O) may have a unique potent immunoadjuvant activity which can be useful for various applications involving protein antigens as well as peptides.