• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.218-222
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• 2005

Transferrin-conjugated liposomes ($T_f$-liposomes) were made and formulated with pCMVluc DNA to form a lipoplex. Among the various formulations studied, the $T_f$-liposome: pCMVluc DNA complex at a ratio of 5: 1 (wt/wt) showed the highest transfection efficiency, which was twice that of $Lipofectin^{TM}$ on HeLa cells. The maxi-mum tolerated dose (MTD) of this lipoplex formulation from a single intravenous injection was over 10 mg/kg in healthy ICR mice. The RT-PCR results showed that the highest level of luciferase mRNA was detected in the lungs, followed by the liver, spleen, heart and kidneys, after an intravenous injection into mice. Two weeks after the injection, the levels of luciferase mRNA decreased gradually in the liver, spleen, heart, and kidney, but not in the lungs. The micro-array study showed that the cancer-related genes, including the bcl 6 gene, were highly up-regulated by the treatment with $T_f$-liposome/ pCMVluc DNA complex on HeLa cells, indicating that there were possible interactions between the host chromosomal DNA and the $T_f$-liposome within the cells. The results obtained from this study are expected to be useful for designing a safe and efficient gene delivery system using transferrin-conjugated liposomes.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 1999

To assess genetic diversity amoug 21 strains from sixleen Frrsn~i~nn species , we used RAPD(rando1n amplified pol.ymorphic DNA) analysis based on PCR(po1ymerase chain reaction). Eleven primers showing Ule polymorphism were chosen from the 40 random pnmers-tcstcd. A total of 263 polymorphic bands were generated by the primers and the size of amplified DNA fragments ranged from 0.1 lo 3.0 kb. Sirnilku-it), coefficients between strains were calcnlatcd, and UPGMA cluster analysis was used to generate a dendrogram showing relationships among them. The results from RAPD-PCR analysis were grouped into four main groups at the si~nilarity level of 0.627.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2014

Lichen studies, including biodiversity, phylogenetic relationships, and conservation concerns require definitive species identification, however many lichens can be challenging to identify at the species level. Molecular techniques have shown efficacy in discriminating among lichen taxa, however, obtaining genomic DNA from herbarium and fresh lichen thalli by conventional methods has been difficult, because lichens contain high proteins, polysaccharides, and other complex compounds in their cell walls. Here we report a rapid, easy, and inexpensive protocol for extracting PCR-quality DNA from various lichen species. This method involves the following two steps: first, cell breakage using a beadbeater; and second, extraction, isolation, and precipitation of genomic DNA. The procedure requires approximately 10 mg of lichen thalli and can be completed within 20 min. The obtained DNAs were of sufficient quality and quantity to amplify the internal transcribed spacer region from the fungal and algal lichen components, as well as to sequence the amplified products. In addition, 26 different lichen taxa were tested, resulting in successful PCR products. The results of this study validated the experimental protocols, and clearly demonstrated the efficacy and value of our KCl extraction method applied in the fungal and algal samples.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.522-529
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• 1991

The purpose of this research is to evaluate effects of chloramphenicol, phenobarbital and progesterone on damage of DNA, RNA and protein which was induced by dimethylnitrosamine. $N,N-Di[^{14}C]$ methyl-nitrosamine (DMN) was used as a damaging agent and levels of DNA, RNA and protein damage in liver, brain and pancreas were compared with a control group. Pretreatment of mice with chloramphenicol increased protein damage in pancreas two times more than the control level. Liver RNA damage was increased up to 5.8 times and brain DNA damage up to 6.95 times by treatment of phenobarbital but brain RNA damage was decreased significantly down to 21% of the control group. The damage of liver RNA was significantly decreased by treatment of progesterone, although liver protein damage, pancreas RNA damage and pancreas protein damage were increased.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.418-423
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• 2000

Oka strain VR-795 (Varicella Zoster Virus, VZV) of American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) has been used for chickenpox vaccine production. In order to use this strain for vaccine production, the strain must be identified and its stability must be confirmed. The identification of the Oka strain has been confirmed using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) and DNA sequence analysis of glycoprotein-II (gp-II). The amino acid sequences of Oka deduced from the DNA sequence of gp-II have changed at three amino acids against Ellen and at one amino acid against Webster. To prove the stability of the Oka strain during the passage, RFLP and DNA sequence analyses were also used with 11, 15 and 23 times of virus passage. We found that the Oka strain was stable at passages of up to 23 times, based on the RFLP and DNA sequence analyses. The confirmed Oka strain was renamed as BR-Oka for the purposes of chickenpox vaccine production.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.449-465
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• 2023

Plants are challenged by various pathogens throughout their lives, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and insects; consequently, they have evolved several defense mechanisms. In addition, plants have developed localized and systematic immune responses due to biotic and abiotic stress exposure. Animals are known to activate DNA damage responses (DDRs) and DNA damage sensor immune signals in response to stress, and the process is well studied in animal systems. However, the links between stress perception and immune response through DDRs remain largely unknown in plants. To determine whether DDRs induce plant resistance to pathogens, Arabidopsis plants were treated with bleomycin, a DNA damage-inducing agent, and the replication levels of viral pathogens and growth of bacterial pathogens were determined. We observed that DDR-mediated resistance was specifically activated against viral pathogens, including turnip crinkle virus (TCV). DDR increased the expression level of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes and the total salicylic acid (SA) content and promoted mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascades, including the WRKY signaling pathway in Arabidopsis. Transcriptome analysis further revealed that defense-and SA-related genes were upregulated by DDR. The atm-2atr-2 double mutants were susceptible to TCV, indicating that the main DDR signaling pathway sensors play an important role in plant immune responses. In conclusion, DDRs activated basal immune responses to viral pathogens.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2005

Background: DNA vaccination represents an anticipated approach for the control of numerous infectious diseases. Used alone, however, DNA vaccine is weak immunogen inferior to viral vectors. In recent, heterologous prime-boost vaccination leads DNA vaccines to practical reality. Methods: We assessed prime-boost immunization strategies with a DNA vaccine (minigene, $gB_{498-505}$ DNA) and recombinant vaccinia virus $(vvgB_{498-505})$ expressing epitope $gB_{498-505}$ (SSIEF ARL) of CD8+ T cells specific for glycoprotein B (gB) of herpes simplex virus (HSV). Animals were immunized primarily with $gB_{498-505}$ epitope-expressing DNA vaccine/recombinant vaccinia virus and boosted with alternative vaccine type expressing entire Ag. Results: In prime-boost protocols using vvgBw (recombinant vaccinia virus expressing entire Ag) and $vvgB_{498-505}$, CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity was induced maximally at both acute and memory stages if primed with vvgBw and boosted with $vvgB_{498-505}$ as evaluated by CTL activity, intracellular IFN-staining, and MHC class I tetramer staining. Similarly $gB_{498-505}$ DNA prime-gBw DNA (DNA vaccine expressing entire Ag) boost immunization elicited the strongest CD8+ T cell responses in protocols based on DNA vaccine. However, the level of CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity induced with prime-boost vaccination using DNA vaccine expressing epitope or entire Ag was inferior to those based on vvgBw and $vvgB_{498-505}$. Of particular interest CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity was optimally induced when $vvgB_{498-505}$ was used to prime and gB DNA was used as alternative boost. Especially CD7+ T cell responses induced by such protocol was longer lasted than other protocols. Conclusion: These facts direct to search for the effective strategy to induce optimal CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity against cancer and viral infection.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.318-329
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• 2013

This paper proposes a DNA watermarking method for the privacy protection and the prevention of illegal copy. The proposed method allocates codons to random circular angles by using random mapping table and selects triplet codons for embedding target with the help of the Lipschitz regularity value of local modulus maxima of codon circular angles. Then the watermark is embedded into circular angles of triplet codons without changing the codes of amino acids in a DNA. The length and location of target triplet codons depend on the random mapping table for 64 codons that includes start and stop codons. This table is used as the watermark key and can be applied on any codon sequence regardless of the length of sequence. If this table is unknown, it is very difficult to detect the length and location of them for extracting the watermark. We evaluated our method and DNA-crypt watermarking of Heider method on the condition of similar capacity. From evaluation results, we verified that our method has lower base changing rate than DNA-crypt and has lower bit error rate on point mutation and insertions/deletions than DNA-crypt. Furthermore, we verified that the entropy of random mapping table and the locaton of triplet codons is high, meaning that the watermark security has high level.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.479-481
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• 2002

UV-induced DNA damage causes cell killing and mutations leading to carcinogenesis. In normal human cells, UV damage such as cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and primidine-prymidone (6-4) photoproducts are mainly repaired by nucleotide excision repair mechanism. The molecular processes have been well characterized recently. To know the influence of mitochondrial genome on the nucleotide excision repair mechanism against CPDs, we comparatively examined the production of CPDs by UVC irradiation and their repair kinetics in human cells completely lacking mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the parental HeLa S cells. Whole DNA extracted from the cells exposed to UVC was treated with T4-endonuclease V to break the phosphodiester bond adjacent to CPDs. The DNA was electrophoresed in a denaturing agarose gel, which was visualized by ethidium bromide staining. The relative amount of CPDs was determined by image analysis using NIH Image software. MtDNA- less (rho-O) cells were apparently more sensitive to UVC than HeLa S cells, while the level of induction of CPDs in rho-O and HeLa cells was comparable. The repair of CPDs was less efficient in rho-O cells compared with HeLa cells. The residual amount of CPDs after 24-h repair was larger in rho-O cells than in HeLa cells where more than 90 % of CPDs were repaired by then. The non-repaired CPDs would lead to apoptosis in rho-O cells. These results suggest that mitochondrial genome may contribute to some ATP-dependent steps in nucletide excision repair by supplying sufficient ATP which is generated through a respiratory chain in mitochondria.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.35-43
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• 2014

Objectives : Official Arisaematis Rhizoma is described only three species, Arisaema amurnse, Arisaema erubescens, and Arisaema heterophyllum, in national Pharmacopoeia. However, other Arisaema species, Arisaema ringens, Arisaema takesimense and Arisaema serratum, also have been distributed as an inauthentic Arisaematis Rhizoma in the herbal market. To develop a reliable molecular authentication method for Arisaematis Rhizoma in species level, we analyzed DNA barcode regions using six Arisaema species. Methods : Thirty-eight samples of six Arisaema plants species (A. amurense, A. amurense f. serratum, A. heterophyllum, A. takesimense, and A. serratum) were collected from different habitate and nucleotide sequences of DNA barcode regions (rDNA-ITS, matK, and rbcL gene) were analyzed after PCR amplification. The species-specific sequences and phylogenetic relations were estimated using entire sequences of three DNA barcodes based on the analysis of ClastalW and UPGMA, respectively. Results : The comparative analysis of DNA barcode sequences were revealed inter-species specific nucleotides to distinguish the medicinal plant of Arisaema Rhizoma in species levels excluding between A. amurense and its subspecies (A. amurense f. serratum) and A. takesimense and A. serratum, respectively. However, we obtained sequence differences enough to discriminate authentic and inauthentic Arisaematis Rhizoma. Therefore, we suggest that these SNP type molecular genetic markers were an reliable method avaliable to identify official herbal medicines. Conclusions : These marker nucleotides could be useful to identify the official herbal medicines by providing definitive information that can identify original medicinal plant and distinguish from inauthentic adulterants and substitutes.