• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.321-331
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• 2020

Background: The patatin-related phospholipase AIII family (pPLAIIIs) genes alter cell elongation and cell wall composition in Arabidopsis and rice plant, suggesting diverse commercial purposes of the economically important medicinal ginseng plant. Herein, we show the functional characterization of a ginseng pPLAIII gene for the first time and discuss its potential applications. Methods: pPLAIIIs were identified from ginseng expressed sequence tag clones and further confirmed by search against ginseng database and polymerase chain reaction. A clone showing the highest homology with pPLAIIIβ was shown to be overexpressed in Arabidopsis using Agrobacterium. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to analyze ginseng pPLAIIIβ expression. Phenotypes were observed using a low-vacuum scanning electron microscope. Lignin was stained using phloroglucinol and quantified using acetyl bromide. Results: The PgpPLAIIIβ transcripts were observed in all organs of 2-year-old ginseng. Overexpression of ginseng pPLAIIIβ (PgpPLAIIIβ-OE) in Arabidopsis resulted in small and stunted plants. It shortened the trichomes and decreased trichome number, indicating defects in cell polarity. Furthermore, OE lines exhibited enlarged seeds with less number per silique. The YUCCA9 gene was downregulated in the OE lines, which is reported to be associated with lignification. Accordingly, lignin was stained less in the OE lines, and the expression of two transcription factors related to lignin biosynthesis was also decreased significantly. Conclusion: Overexpression of pPLAIIIβ retarded cell elongation in all the tested organs except seeds, which were longer and thicker than those of the controls. Shorter root length is related to auxinresponsive genes, and its stunted phenotype showed decreased lignin content.

• Plant Resources
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2005

Lysine is the first essential amino acid for optimal nutrient quality in rice grain. For the narrow genetic diversities of lysine contents in rice, somaclonal variation was the source of mutation in our breeding program. Biochemical selection was conducted using 1 mM S-(2-aminoethyl) cysteine followed by two passages of 5 mM lysine plus threonine in the callus subculture medium. The lysine contents in endosperm of all progenies recovered from the biochemical selection were higher than those of their donor cultivar 'Hwayeongbyeo'. These elevated lysine levels of mutants were successfully transmitted to $M_4$ generation. The lysine contents in endosperm varied 3.85 to $4.80\%$ compare to their donor cultivar 'Hwayeongbyeo' was $3.85\%$. Three of high-lysine germplasms, Lys-l, Lys-2 and Lys-7 were selected by biochemical selection and rapid screening methods. DNA analysis showed that a new insertion of Tos 17 which mapped to rice chromosome 11 on the high-lysine mutant, Lys-2.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.257-263
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• 2003

The NDK1 is an ubiquitous enzyme that transfer phosphate groups from triphosphate nucleoside diphosphates(NDPs) in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. We isolated and characterized a cDNA encoding a nucleoside diphosphate kinase 1(CNDK 1) in Codonopsis lanceolata. The CNDK 1 is 444bp long and open reading frame of 447bp with a deduced amino acid of 148 residue. The CNDK 1 has an ATP binding site in 12­16 residue and phosphohistidine intermediate in 115 residue of amino acid sequence. Although several NDK 1 genes have been cloned in plants, but little is known about the functional significance of this enzyme during plant growth and development. The CNDK 1 shows the identities to Arabidopsis thaliana (71％), Oryza sativa(75％), Glycine max (79％), Brassica rapa (77％), Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (85 ％), Spinacia oleracea (83％), Pisum sativum (82％). The CNDK 1 of C. laceolata have a closer relationship of Glycine max and Pisum sativum at the phylogenic analysis.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.211-216
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• 2004

Mono-and diacylglycerol-enriched oil was produced from corn oil through enzymatic glycerolysis using 1,3-specific immobilized lipase in solvent-free system and stirred-tank batch reactor. HPLC analysis revealed enriched oil was respectively composed of: 45.05, 16.27, 23.05, and 14.98% triacylglycerol, 1,3-diacylglycerol, 1,2-diacylglycerol, and monoacylglycerol; 13.21, 0.15, 2.02, 34.36, 49.12, and 1.14 mol% palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids; and 0.014, 0.029, 0.010 and 0.053% ${\alpha},\;{\gamma},\;{\delta}-$, and total tocopherols. Physiochemical and melting properties of enriched oil were evaluated. Oxidative stability study revealed enriched oil showed higher peroxide and p-anisidine values than corn oil. Rosemary extracts (100 to 300 ppm) reduce oxidation.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2015

Thioredoxin (TRX) is a disulfide reductase present ubiquitously in all taxa and plays an important role as a regulator of cellular redox state. Recently, a redox-independent, chaperone function has also been reported for some thioredoxins. We previously identified nodulin-35, the subunit of soybean uricase, as an interacting target of a cytosolic soybean thioredoxin, GmTRX. Here we report the further characterization of the interaction, which turns out to be independent of the disulfide reductase function and results in the co-localization of GmTRX and nodulin-35 in peroxisomes, suggesting a possible function of GmTRX in peroxisomes. In addition, the chaperone function of GmTRX was demonstrated in in vitro molecular chaperone activity assays including the thermal denaturation assay and malate dehydrogenase aggregation assay. Our results demonstrate that the target of GmTRX is not only confined to the nodulin-35, but many other peroxisomal proteins, including catalase (AtCAT), transthyretin-like protein 1 (AtTTL1), and acyl-coenzyme A oxidase 4 (AtACX4), also interact with the GmTRX. Together with an increased uricase activity of nodulin-35 and reduced ROS accumulation observed in the presence of GmTRX in our results, especially under heat shock and oxidative stress conditions, it appears that GmTRX represents a novel thioredoxin that is co-localized to the peroxisomes, possibly providing functional integrity to peroxisomal proteins.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.866-875
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• 2015

COPI vesicles are essential to the retrograde transport of proteins in the early secretory pathway. The COPI coatomer complex consists of seven subunits, termed ${\alpha}-$, ${\beta}-$, ${\beta}^{\prime}-$, ${\gamma}-$, ${\delta}-$, ${\varepsilon}-$, and ${\zeta}$-COP, in yeast and mammals. Plant genomes have homologs of these subunits, but the essentiality of their cellular functions has hampered the functional characterization of the subunit genes in plants. Here we have employed virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and dexamethasone (DEX)-inducible RNAi of the COPI subunit genes to study the in vivo functions of the COPI coatomer complex in plants. The ${\beta}^{\prime}-$, ${\gamma}-$, and ${\delta}$-COP subunits localized to the Golgi as GFP-fusion proteins and interacted with each other in the Golgi. Silencing of ${\beta}^{\prime}-$, ${\gamma}-$, and ${\delta}$-COP by VIGS resulted in growth arrest and acute plant death in Nicotiana benthamiana, with the affected leaf cells exhibiting morphological markers of programmed cell death. Depletion of the COPI subunits resulted in disruption of the Golgi structure and accumulation of autolysosome-like structures in earlier stages of gene silencing. In tobacco BY-2 cells, DEX-inducible RNAi of ${\beta}^{\prime}$-COP caused aberrant cell plate formation during cytokinesis. Collectively, these results suggest that COPI vesicles are essential to plant growth and survival by maintaining the Golgi apparatus and modulating cell plate formation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Dyers and Finishers Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.213-215
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• 2005

The metal complexes can be influenced not only by the central metal atoms and the substituent groups, but also by the native of the chelating atoms. For example, near-infrared absorbing chromophores were synthesized by the reaction of phenylenediamine derivatives with a solution of pottassium hydroxide followed by the addition of nickel(II) chloride. These dyes provide absorbing infrared light over 780-840 nm with an extinction coefficient of $2.5-6.0{\times}10^4$. By introduction of alkyl, alkoxyl, cyano, and other functional group into the parent dye, these dyes greatly improved the solubility in organic solvent. New near-infrared absorbing donor-acceptor chromophores have been investigated by varying the electron donating and accepting strength of the two halves of the molecule. The cyanine chromophores permit the simplest way of obtaining systems that absorb well into the near-infrared region of the spectrum. Cyanine dyes possess high extinction coefficients that initially increase with Increasing chain length. These chromophores could be useful in near-infrared optical materials.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.1428-1438
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• 2016

In the present work, Arthrobacter sp. 25, a lead-tolerant bacterium, was assayed to remove lead(II) from aqueous solution. The biosorption process was optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) based on the Box-Behnken design. The relationships between dependent and independent variables were quantitatively determined by second-order polynomial equation and 3D response surface plots. The biosorption mechanism was explored by characterization of the biosorbent before and after biosorption using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of 9.6 mg/g was obtained at the initial lead ion concentration of 108.79 mg/l, pH value of 5.75, and biosorbent dosage of 9.9 g/l (fresh weight), which was close to the theoretically expected value of 9.88 mg/g. Arthrobacter sp. 25 is an ellipsoidal-shaped bacterium covered with extracellular polymeric substances. The biosorption mechanism involved physical adsorption and microprecipitation as well as ion exchange, and functional groups such as phosphoryl, hydroxyl, amino, amide, carbonyl, and phosphate groups played vital roles in adsorption. The results indicate that Arthrobacter sp. 25 may be potentially used as a biosorbent for low-concentration lead(II) removal from wastewater.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1148-1161
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• 2016

Lactobacilli are universally recognized as probiotics that are widely used in the adjuvant treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as vaginitis and enteritis. With the overuse of antibiotics in recent years, the lactobacilli in the human body are killed, which could disrupt the microecological balance in the human body and affect health adversely. In this work, cephalosporin-resistant Lactobacillus casei RL20 was obtained successfully from the feces of healthy volunteers, which possessed a stable genetic set. However, the shortage of lactic acid (72.0 g/l at 48 h) by fermentation did not meet the requirement for its use in medicine. To increase the production of lactic acid, the functional genes pfk and glk were introduced into the wild strain. A yield of 144.2 g/l lactic acid was obtained in the transgenic L. casei RL20-2 after fermentation for 48 h in 1 L of basic fermentation medium with an initial glucose concentration of 100 g/l and increasing antibacterial activity. These data suggested that L. casei RL20-2 that exhibited a high yield of lactic acid may be a potential probiotic to inhibit the spread of bacterial infectious diseases and may be used for vaginitis therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1644-1652
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• 2012

Iron plays a key role in host-pathogen interactions. Microbial pathogens require iron for survival and virulence, whereas mammalian hosts sequester and withhold iron as a means of nutritional immunity. We previously identified two paralogous genes, CFT1 and CFT2, which encode homologs of a fungal iron permease, Cft1 and Cft2, respectively, in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Cft1 was shown to play a role in the high-affinity reductive iron uptake system, and was required for transferrin utilization and full virulence in mammalian hosts. However, no role of Cft2 has been suggested yet. Here, we identified the third gene, CFT3, that produces an additional fungal iron permease homolog in C. neoformans, and we also generated the cft3 mutant for functional characterization. We aimed to reveal distinct functions of Cft1, Cft2 and Cft3 by analyzing phenotypes of the mutants lacking CFT1, CFT2 and CFT3, respectively. The endogenous promoter of CFT1, CFT2 and CFT3 was replaced with the inducible GAL7 promoter in the wild-type strain or in the cft1 mutant for gain-of-function analysis. Using these strains, we were able to find that CFT2 is required for growth in low-iron conditions in the absence of CFT1 and that overexpression of CFT2 compensates for deficiency of the cft1 mutant in iron uptake and various cellular stress conditions. However, unlike CFT2, no clear phenotypic characteristic of the cft3 mutant and the strain overexpressing CFT3 was observed. Overall, our data suggested a redundant role of Cft2 in the high-affinity iron uptake and stress responses in C. neoformans.