• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.30.1-30.18
• /
• 2023

About 0.8 million people die because of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection each year. In around 5% of infected adults, the immune system is ineffective in countering HBV infection, leading to chronic hepatitis B (CHB). CHB is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, which can lead to patient death. Unfortunately, although current treatments against CHB allow control of HBV infection, they are unable to achieve complete eradication of the virus. Cytokines of the IFN family represent part of the innate immune system and are key players in virus elimination. IFN secretion induces the expression of interferon stimulated genes, producing proteins that have antiviral properties and that are essential to cell-autonomous immunity. IFN-α is commonly used as a therapeutic approach for CHB. In addition, IFN-γ has been identified as the main IFN family member responsible for HBV eradication during acute infection. In this review, we summarize the key evidence gained from cellular or animal models of HBV replication or infection concerning the potential anti-HBV roles of IFN-γ with a particular focus on some IFN-γ-inducible genes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Aquaculture Society Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.39-39
• /
• 2003

Antioxidant enzyme genes play a key role in cell defense against the lethal effects of oxidative stresses in animals and have an essential function which has allowed the evolution of aerobic respiration starting from an ancient form of oxygen-insensitive life. Piscine antioxidant enzymes are also involved in the rapid response to various toxic chemicals as well as many biological stresses, indicating that they could be used as biomarkers for health and aquatic environment. With the purpose for developing fine molecular probing tool to assess the stresses in marine fish, we identified three major antioxidant enzyme genes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione-S-transferase) from Korean rock bream using expressed sequence tag analysis and/or high density filter screening. Here we report the molecular information on these gene transcripts including complete sequence data and expression profiles.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.53 no.5
• /
• pp.241-247
• /
• 2020

As an intracellular degradation system, autophagy is an essential and defensive cellular program required for cell survival and cellular metabolic homeostasis in response to various stresses, such as nutrient deprivation and the accumulation of damaged organelles. In general, autophagy flux consists of four steps: (1) initiation (formation of phagophore), (2) maturation and completion of autophagosome, (3) fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes (formation of autolysosome), and (4) degradation of intravesicular components within autolysosomes. The number of genes and reagents that modulate autophagy is increasing. Investigation of their effect on autophagy flux is critical to understanding the roles of autophagy in many physiological and pathological processes. In this review, we summarize and discuss ways to analyze autophagy flux quantitatively and qualitatively with the use of imaging tools. The suggested imaging method can help estimate whether each modulator is an inhibitor or a promoter of autophagy and elucidate the mode of action of specific genes and reagents on autophagy processes.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.443-451
• /
• 2002

Malonate is a three-carbon dicarboxylic acid. It is well known as a competitive inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase. It occurs naturally in biological systems, such as legumes and developing rat brains, which indicates that it may play an important role in symbiotic nitrogen metabolism and brain development. Recently, enzymes that are related to malonate metabolism were discovered and characterized. The genes that encode the enzymes were isolated, and the regulation of their expression was also studied. The mutant bacteria, in which the malonate-metabolizing gene was deleted, lost its primary function, symbiosis, between Rhizobium leguminosarium bv trifolii and clover. This suggests that malonate metabolism is essential in symbiotic nitrogen metabolism, at least in clover nodules. In addition to these, the genes matB and matC have been successfully used for generation of the industrial strain of Streptomyces for the production of antibiotics.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.104-108
• /
• 1990

The chromosomal DNA of Agrobacterium tumefaciens contains the genes required for bacterial attachment to plant cell which is an essential atage in crown gall tumorigenesis by Ti-plasmid. In order to clone the genes, Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain A5512 was mutagenized by transposon Tn5 and two Agrobacterium tumefaciens mutants which are attachment-defective and nontumorigenic were isolated. From one of the two mutants, a chromosomal virulence region which was required for attachment to the plant cells was cloned.

• The Microorganisms and Industry
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.17-20
• /
• 1988

A genetic analysis of the complex Bacillus subtilis transcriptional apparatus is essential to understand the function, regulation, and interaction of the transcriptase components during growth and sporulation. This approach in Escherichia coli has uncovered fundamental mechanisms regulating gene expression Cole and Nomura, 1986; Lindahl and Zengel, 1986) and an analysis of the B. subtilis transcriptase will allow comoparison of the E.coli system to another bacterium that has evolved under different selective pressures. To this end we used antibody probes to isolate the alpha, beta, and beta' core subunit genes from a .lambda.gtill expression vector library. To address the question of function ans regulation of the minor sigma factors that confer promoter specifity on the polymerase core (Losick et al., 1986), we used the same approach to isolate the gene for the 37,000 dalton sigma factor, sigma-37.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.6-9
• /
• 2005

Plant biotechnology involving genetic modification has been rather controversial. However, the major issues related to safety are being addressed by continued improvements in technology. Some of the related facts will be highlighted to set the tone for a scientific discussion on the possibilities of using the technology for crop improvement. Our main research interest is to understand the molecular regulation of shoot bud regeneration in plant tissue culture, which is essential for crop improvement by biotechnology. We have isolated and characterized some genes that are associated with adventitious shoot regeneration. These include a MADS-box cDNA (PkMADS1) from paulownia kawakamii, which regulates vegetative shoot development and in vitro shoot regeneration from leaf explants. Another gene we have characterized from petunia codesfor a cytokinin binding protein (PETCBP). Preliminary functional analysis of this gene indicated that this also affects adventitious shoot bud initiation. Also, the antisense suppression of this gene in petunia causedexcessive branching. Results from our work and selected other publications will be used to highlight the possibilities of manipulation of such genes to improve crop species.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.243-253
• /
• 2008

In the post-genomic era, the mechanisms controlling activation of genes are thought to be more important. Gene-environment interactions are crucial in both development and treatment of psychiatric disorders as they are complex genetic disorders. Epigenetics is defined as a change of gene expression that occurs without a change of DNA sequence and can be heritable by certain mechanisms. Epigenetic changes play essential roles in control of gene activation. DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling and RNAi act as key mechanisms for epigenetic modifications of genes. Here, we review the basic mechanisms of epigenetics and discuss their potential involvement of human diseases, including psychiatric disorders.

• Plant Disease and Agriculture
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 1999

Cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV) is an isometric plant virus with functionally divided genomic RNAs and a broad host range. RNA 1 and RNA 2 each encode one protein, both of which are essential for replication. RNA 3 encodes the viral coat protein and an additional protein thought to be involved in potentiating the cell-to-cell movement of the virus. Functions of the RNAs have been confirmed using a pseudorecombinant virus constructed with infectious cDNA-derived transcripts of the RNAs. Generally, CMV produces different symptoms in various host plants depending on the virus strains. In this mini-review, we describe the potential role of the genes associated with symptom expression of CMV RNAs.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.553-558
• /
• 2008

Essential aspects of the innate immune response to microbial infection appear to be conserved between insects and mammals. In order to identify new Drosophila melanogaster genes involved in the immune response, we performed gene expression profiling of Drosophila SL2 cells stimulated with bacterial (LPS/PGN) or fungal (curdlan) components using a cDNA microarray that contained 5,405 Drosophila cDNAs. We found that some genes were similarly regulated by LPS/PGN and curdlan. However, a large number, belonging to the functional classes of cell organization, development, signal transduction, morphogenesis, cell cycle, and DNA replication, displayed significant differences in their transcription profiles between the two treatments, demonstrating that bacterial and fungal components induce different immune response even in an in vitro cell system.