• Molecules and Cells
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.247-253
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• 2006

Protein modification by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) controls diverse cellular functions of protein targets including transcription factors and coregulators mainly in the nucleus and participates in maintaining cellular homeostasis. In addition, SUMO system plays important roles in DNA damage repair and maintaining genome integrity. Thus, in some cases, the loss of control on SUMOylation or deSUMOylation processes causes a defect in maintaining homeostasis and hence gives a cue to cancer development. Furthermore, recent study showed that SUMO system is also involved in cancer metastasis. In this review, we will summarize and discuss the possible role of SUMO system in cancer development and metastasis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.337-344
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• 2014

Adipose-derived stem cells represent a type of mesenchymal stem cells with the attendant capacity to self-renew and differentiate into multiple cell lineages. We have performed a microarray-based gene expression profiling of osteogenic differentiation and found that the transcription factor Sox11 is down-regulated during the process. Functional assays demonstrate that down-regulation of Sox11 is required for an efficient differentiation. Furthermore, results from forced expression of constitutively-active and dominant-negative derivatives of Sox11 indicate that Sox11 functions as a transcriptional activator in inhibiting osteogenesis. Sox11 thus represents a novel regulator of osteogenesis whose expression and activity can be potentially manipulated for controlled differentiation.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.10-16
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• 2017

When peripheral axons are damaged, neuronal injury signaling pathways induce transcriptional changes that support axon regeneration and consequent functional recovery. The recent development of bioinformatics techniques has allowed for the identification of many of the regeneration-associated genes that are regulated by neural injury, yet it remains unclear how global changes in transcriptome are coordinated. In this article, we review recent studies on the epigenetic mechanisms orchestrating changes in gene expression in response to nerve injury. We highlight the importance of epigenetic mechanisms in discriminating efficient axon regeneration in the peripheral nervous system and very limited axon regrowth in the central nervous system and discuss the therapeutic potential of targeting epigenetic regulators to improve neural recovery.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제41권5호
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• pp.373-380
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• 2018

Synapses and neural circuits form with exquisite specificity during brain development to allow the precise and appropriate flow of neural information. Although this property of synapses and neural circuits has been extensively investigated for more than a century, molecular mechanisms underlying this property are only recently being unveiled. Recent studies highlight several classes of cell-surface proteins as organizing hubs in building structural and functional architectures of specific synapses and neural circuits. In the present minireview, we discuss recent findings on various synapse organizers that confer the distinct properties of specific synapse types and neural circuit architectures in mammalian brains, with a particular focus on the hippocampus and cerebellum.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제41권6호
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• pp.506-514
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• 2018

The transcriptional regulation of genes determines the fate of animal cell differentiation and subsequent organ development. With the recent progress in genome-wide technologies, the genomic landscapes of enhancers have been broadly explored in mammalian genomes, which led to the discovery of novel specific subsets of enhancers, termed super-enhancers. Super-enhancers are large clusters of enhancers covering the long region of regulatory DNA and are densely occupied by transcription factors, active histone marks, and co-activators. Accumulating evidence points to the critical role that super-enhancers play in cell type-specific development and differentiation, as well as in the development of various diseases. Here, I provide a comprehensive description of the optimal approach for identifying functional units of super-enhancers and their unique chromatin features in normal development and in diseases, including cancers. I also review the recent updated knowledge on novel approaches of targeting super-enhancers for the treatment of specific diseases, such as small-molecule inhibitors and potential gene therapy. This review will provide perspectives on using super-enhancers as biomarkers to develop novel disease diagnostic tools and establish new directions in clinical therapeutic strategies.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.27-32
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• 2015

The current investigation was carried out to explore the possibility of submerged fermentation of Saccharina japonica as sole substrate using Aspergillus oryzae. In this study we used 2% S. japonica powder as fermentation media for A. oryzae. Fermentation period was optimized by monitoring the fermented sample at regular intervals for a period of 7 days. Results found that a fermentation period of 5 days was effective with maximum desirable characteristics such as total sugar, total phenolic and flavonoid contents. Under optimum fermentation period, fermented extracts showed enhanced antioxidant activity as determined by different assays such DPPH radical scavenging, ABTS scavenging and phosphomolydenum assay. This study provides the information for the enhancement of bioactive molecules in an eco-friendly manner and also paves way towards the development of wide range of seaweed-based functional foods.

• 한국염색가공학회지
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.36-42
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• 1998

The dyeabilities of C.I. Reactive Blue 19(B19, MW ; 626), C.I. Reactive Blue 4(B4, MW ; 637) and C.I. Reactive Black 5(B5, MW : 991) were investigated. Initial dyeing rates were increased and the amount of dye on the fabric at equilibrium was decreased with temperature like other ordinary dyeing processes. Activation entropy$(\Delta{S}^*)$ was decreased because of loose bonding between dyestuffes and fiber molecules at transition state. It can be clarified that the entire reaction is exothermic and the number of molecular species at transition state becomes greater from decrease in activation enthalpy$(\Delta{H}^*)$ and the increase in activation free energy$(\Delta{G}^*)$ with temperature, respectively. The amount of B19 on the fabric at equilibrium was greater than that of B4, because B4 became unreactive towards textile substrates through hydrolysis. Due to the biggest size of the dye molecule, the reaction rate of B5 was the slowest but its difunctional group played an important role in achieving the greatest amount of dye on the fabric at equilibrium.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.73-79
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• 2000

The influence of mastication of natural rubber (NR) on properties of carbon black-filled NR compounds was studied. Variations of viscosities of the masticated NR and the carbon black-filled NR compound by heating were also investigated. The viscosities of the compounds decreased by increasing the mastication time of the raw rubber. The viscosities of the masticated NR and the compounds increased by increasing the heating time. This was explained by the combination reaction between functional groups in the rubber. The viscosity increment of the masticated rubber and the compounds by heating became larger with increased mastication time. Cure rate of the compound became faster by increasing the mastication time. Modulus of the vulcanizate made of the rubber masticated for a long time was higher than that of the vulcanizate made of the rubber masticated for a short time while elongation at break of the former was shorter than that of the latter. This was explained by the content of bound rubber and chain length of the rubber molecules.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2013년도 제45회 하계 정기학술대회 초록집
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• pp.136-136
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• 2013

High-resolution photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES) measurements were collected and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were conducted to track the coverage dependent variation of the absorption structure of 2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde (C4H3SCHO: TPCA) on the Ge(100) surface at room temperature. In an effort to identify the most probably adsorption structures on the Ge(100) surface, we deposited TPCA molecules at a low coverage and at a high coverage and compared the differences between the electronic features measured using HRPES. The HRPES data provided three possible adsorption structures of TPCA on the Ge(100) surfaces, and DFT calculations were used to determine the plausibility of the structures. HRPES analysis, corroborated by DFT calculations, indicated that an S-dative bonded structure was the most probable adsorption structure at relatively lower coverage levels, the [4+2] cycloaddition structure was the second most probable structure, and the [2+2]-C=O cycloaddition structure was the last probable structure on the Ge(100) surfaces at relatively higher coverage levels.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.344-349
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• 2008

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), a pyrimidine antagonist, has a long history in cancer treatment. The targeted pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway includes dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), which converts 5-FU to an inactive metabolite, and thymidylate synthase (TS), which is a major target of 5-FU. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to study the functional and resistance mechanisms of anti-cancer drugs, we examined these two genes in order to determine the extent of molecular conservation between C. elegans and humans. Overexpression of the worm DPD and TS homologs (DPYD-1 and Y110A7A.4, respectively) suppressed germ cell death following 5-FU exposure. In addition, DPYD-1 depletion by RNAi resulted in 5-FU sensitivity, while treatment with Y110A7A.4 RNAi and 5-FU resulted in similar patterns of embryonic death. Thus, the pathway of 5-FU function appears to be highly conserved between C. elegans and humans at the molecular level.