• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.536-547
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• 2008

Anthocyanidin synthase (ANS, leucoanthocyanidin oxygenase), a 2-oxoglutarate iron-dependent oxygenase, catalyzed the penultimate step in the biosynthesis of the anthocyanin class of flavonoids, from the colorless leucoanthocyanidins to the colored anthocyanidins. The full-length cDNA and genomic DNA sequences of ANS gene (designated as GbANS) were isolated from Ginkgo biloba for the first time. The full-length cDNA of GbANS contained a 1062-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 354-amino-acid protein. The genomic DNA analysis showed that GbANS gene had three exons and two introns. The deduced GbANS protein showed high identities to other plant ANSs. The conserved amino acids (H-X-D) ligating ferrous iron and residues (R-X-S) participating in 2-oxoglutarate binding were found in GbANS at the similar positions like other ANSs. Southern blot analysis indicated that GbANS belonged to a multi-gene family. The expression analysis by real-time PCR showed that GbANS expressed in a tissue-specific manner in G. biloba. GbANS was also found to be up-regulated by all of the six tested abiotic stresses, UV-B, abscisic acid, sucrose, salicylic acid, cold and ethylene, consistent with the promoter region analysis of GbANS. The recombinant protein was successfully expressed in E. coli strain with pET-28a vector. The in vitro enzyme activity assay by HPLC indicated that recombinant GbANS protein could catalyze the formation the cyanidin from leucocyanidin and conversion of dihydroquercetin to quercetin, suggesting GbANS is a bifunctional enzyme within the anthocyanidin and flavonol biosynthetic pathway.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2010

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a heterotrimeric enzyme that plays a central role in cellular metabolic stress. Modulation of nitric oxide (NO) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is considered a promising approach for the treatment of inflammation and neuronal diseases. In this study, the AMPK gene was fused in-frame with PEP-1 peptide in a bacterial expression vector to produce a PEP-1-AMPK fusion protein. Expressed and purified PEP-1-AMPK fusion proteins were transduced efficiently into macrophage Raw 264.7 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, transduced PEP-1-AMPK fusion protein markedly inhibited LPS-induced iNOS and COX-2 expression. These results suggest that the PEP-1-AMPK fusion protein can be used for the protein therapy of COX-2 and NO-related disorders such as inflammation and neuronal diseases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.5 s.66
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• pp.579-589
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• 2003

Most beam-to-column connections are symmetrically reinforced because of the reverse action caused by earthquakes. However, in weak-earthquake regions like Korea, asymmetrically reinforced connections could be used. In particular, the connections between concrete-filled tube (CFT) column and H-shape beam could be applied using a simplified lower diaphragm. The tensile capacity or Combined Cross Diaphragm for upper reinforcing was tested using a simple tension test. Four types for lower reinforcing combined Cross, none, horizontal T-bar, and vertical plate were tested using the ANSI/AISC SSPEC 2002 loading program. Horizontal T-bar and stud bolts in vertical flat, bar transmit tensile stress from the beam's bottom flange to filled concrete. All test specimens satisfied 0.01 radian inelastic rotational requirement in ordinary moment frame of AISC seismic provision. According to the results of the parametric studies simplified lower diaphragms demonstrated outstanding strength, stiffness, and plastic deformation capacity which could lead to more sufficient seismic performance in the field.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2003

Many box girder bridges have been constructed during the past several decades due to their large bending and torsional rigidities as well as aesthetic considerations. However, box girders have shortcoming in that the cross section distorts under an eccentric loading and warps out of the section plane. Therefore, in order to reduce distortional stresses such as distortional warping and transverse bending normal stresses, diaphragms were generally installed in the box girders. Shapes of the diaphragms in steel-box-girder bridges constructed up to date were solid-plate, frame, and truss types. The objectives of this study using parametric study were to evaluate the appropriate stiffness ratio of intermediate diaphragms and then to propose the effective spacing and numbers of intermediate diaphragms based on the evaluated stiffness ratio. Target bridges for this study were straight continuous span bridges with a single-cell steel box section. The parameters for the parametric study were the shape of box section, the span numbers, the equivalent span length, the stiffness of intermediate diaphragms, and the spacing of intermediate diaphragms. From the results of the parametric study, the effective spacing and numbers as well as the stiffness ratio of the intermediate diaphragms will be presented.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2009

Oryza grandiglumis Chitinase IVa (OgChitIVa) cDNA encoding a class IV chitinase was cloned from wild rice (Oryza grandiglumis). OgChitIVa cDNA contains an open reading frame of 867 nucleotides encoding 288 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 30.4 kDa and isoelectric point of 8.48. Deduced amino acid sequences of OgChitIVa include the signal peptide and chitin-binding domain in the N-terminal domain and conserved catalytic domain. OgChitIVa showed significant similarity at the amino acid level with related monocotyledonous rice and maize chitinase, but low similarity with dicotyledoneous chitinase. Southern blot analysis showed that OgChitIVa genes are present as two copies in the wild rice genome. It was shown that RNA expression of OgChitIVa was induced by defense/stress signaling chemicals, such as jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and ethephon or cantharidin and endothall or wounding, and yeast extract. It was demonstrated that overexpression of OgChitIVa in Arabidopsis resulted in mild resistance against the fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, by lowering disease rate and necrosis size. RT-PCR analysis showed that PR-1 and PR-2 RNA expression was induced in the transgenic lines. Here, we suggest that a novel OgChitIVa gene may play a role in signal transduction process in defense response against B. cinerea in plants.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.17-28
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• 2004

As Korean ginseng is hybrid, an individual variation is very severe, and it takes long times in new breeding because it is required 4 years to pick the seed. But, transformation technique makes the high-functional breeding in short time. The focus of these ginseng studies is to find and secure the useful gene. And it is urgent to accumulate the fundamental data for the molecular breeding and secure the useful genes. Therefore, transformation and soil acclimatization technique are necessary to molecular breeding in use of the introduction of functional genes. In this study, it add to secure of new regulation gene and useful gene as to accumulate the fundamental data for the place where it will contribute to raise the national competitive power. To analyze the useful genes in large scale, we constructed CDNA libraries with various tissues, species, and treated tissue. EST analysis of ginseng perform in large scale and build the EST database of ginseng. We perform the full length sequencing about the selected lots of clones that include the entire open reading frame of the amino acid residues and construct cDNA chip with the parental EST clones. Establishment of the transformation and a soil acclimatization system throuth the re-introduction of the selected ginseng gene that related with the secondary metabolism and anti-stress into the ginseng.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2009

Two types of piloti-type high-rise RC building structures having irregularity in the lower two stories were selected as prototypes, and nonlinear time history analysis was performed using OpenSees to verify the analysis technique and to investigate the seismic capacity of those buildings. One of the buildings studied had a symmetrical moment-resisting frame (BF), while the other had an infilled shear wall in only one of the exterior frames (ESW). A fiber model, consisting of concrete and reinforcing bar represented from the stress-strain relationship, was adapted and used to simulate the nonlinearity of members, and MVLEM (Multi Vertical Linear Element Model) was used to simulate the behavior of the wall. The analytical results simulate the behavior of piloti-type high-rise RC building structures well, including the stiffness and yield force of piloti stories, the rocking behavior of the upper structure and the variation of the axial stiffness of the column due to variation in loading condition. However, MVLEM has a limitation in simulating the abrupt increasing lateral stiffness of a wall, due to the torsional mode behavior of the building. The design force obtained from a nonlinear time history analysis was shown to be about $20{\sim}30%$ smaller than that obtained in the experiment. For this reason, further research is required to match the analytical results with real structures, in order to use nonlinear time history analysis in designing a piloti-type high-rise RC building.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2012

A general earthquake resistant design philosophy of ductile frame buildings allows beams to form plastic hinges adjacent to beam-column connections. In order to carry out this design philosophy, the ultimate bond or shear strength of the beam should be greater than the flexural yielding force and should not degrade before reaching its required ductility. The behavior of RC members dominated by bond or shear action reveals a dramatic reduction of energy dissipation in the hysteretic response due to the severe pinching effects. In this study, a method was proposed to predict the deformability of reinforced concrete members with short-span-to-depth-ratios, which would result in bond failure after flexural yielding. Repeated or cyclic loading produces a progressive deterioration of bond that may lead to failure at lower cyclic bond stress levels. Accumulation of bond damage is caused by the propagation of micro-cracks and progressive crushing of concrete in front of the lugs. The proposed method takes into account bond deterioration due to the degradation of concrete in the post yield range. In order to verify bond deformability of the proposed method, the predicted results were compared with the experimental results of RC members reported in the technical literature. Comparisons between the observed and calculated bond deformability of the tested RC members showed reasonably good agreement.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.47-58
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• 2008

Spatial structure is an appropriate shape that resists external force only with in-plane force by reducing the influence of bending moment, and it maximizes the effectiveness of structural system. With this character of the spatial structure, generally long span is used. As a result, large deflection is accompanied from the general frame. the structure is apt to result in a large deflection even though this structure experiences a small displacement in absence. Usually, nonlinear analysis in numerical analysis means geometric nonlinearity and material nonlinearity and complex nonlinearity analysis considers both of them. In this study, nonlinear equation of equilibrium considering geometric nonlinearity as per finite element method was applied and also considered the material nonlinearity using the relation of stress-strain in element. It is applied to find unstable result for tracing load-deflection curve in the numerical analysis tech. especially Arc-length method, and result of the analysis was studied by ABAQUS a general purpose of the finite element program. It is found that the present analysis predicts accurate nonlinear behavior of plane and space truss.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.425-435
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• 2006

The objectives of this research were to investigate the drought resistance as well as the growth of Wisteria floribunda seedlings with the soil water conditions. The seedlings for the research were grown in pots with strict water content control on a frame located outdoors. During the experiments, the soil water contents were adjusted to 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70%. In addition, the effects of Rhizobium inoculation on the growth of seedlings were investigated. The experimental results are summarized as follows: 1. The seedlings in the pots with 5% soil water content withered to death due to the water stress. Withering or any distinct growth was not observed from the seedlings in the 10% soil water content. It can be inferred from these results that about 5% of soil water content is the wilting point of W. floribunda seedlings and about 10% is the critical soil water content of its growth in this experiment soils. Therefore, it seems that W. floribunda possesses a good drought resistance. 2. From the analyses of the main growth parameters such as stem elongation, diameter growth, leaf area growth and total dry weight, it was found that the seedling growth can be improved with increasing soil water contents. The relation between each growth parameter(Y) and the soil water contents(W) was well described by a quadratic equation, $Y=a+bW+cW^2$. 3. In soil water contents higher than 20%, the seedling growth(Y) was remarkable along with-its extended growing period, and related to the growing period(D) by a quadratic equation, $Y=a+bD+cD^2$. 4. The artificial inoculation of Rhizobiun promoted the growth of Wisteria floribunda seedlings. 5. Rhizobium was found to be more readily inoculated and to form more root nodules compared to seedlings grown in higher soil water contents.