• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2011

[ ${\alpha}$ ]Galactosidase was purified from a culture filtrate of Mortierella sp. by CM-sephadex C-50, and subsequent Sephadex G-100 column chromatography. The final preparation thus obtained showed a single band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight was determined to be 56 kDa. $Gal^3Man^4$ ($6^3$-mono-O-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranosyl-4-O-${\beta}$-D-mannotetraose), $Gal^{2,3}Man_5$ ($6^{2,3}$-di-O-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranosyl-4-O-${\beta}$-D-mannopentaose), $Gal_2Man_3$ ($6^2$-mono-O-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranosyl-4-O-${\beta}$-D-mannotriose), $Gal^2Man_6$ ($6^2$-mono-O-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranosyl-4-O-${\beta}$-D-mannohexaose) and $Gal^2Man_5$ ($6^2$-mono-O-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranosyl-4-O-${\beta}$-D-mannopentaose), prepared from 3 types of microbial ${\beta}$-mannnanase, were used as substrates. $Gal^3Man_4$ and $Gal^2Man_3$ had a stubbed ${\alpha}$-galactosyl residue on the $2^{nd}$ and $3^{rd}$ mannose from the reducing end of mannotetraose and mannotriose, thus ${\alpha}$-galactosidase showed a preference for stubbed ${\alpha}$-galactosyl residue. ${\alpha}$-Galactosidase hydrolyzed $Gal^3Man_4$ more rapidly than $Gal^2Man_3$. However, ${\alpha}$-galactosidase hardly acted on $Gal^{2,3}Man_5$, $Gal^2Man_6$ or $Gal^2Man_5$. The enzyme hydrolyzed melibiose to galactose and glucose, raffinose to galactose and sucrose, and also stachyose to galactose and raffinose.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.168-174
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• 2012

Gal (1-3) receptors are members of GPCR superfamily with seven transmembrane helices. The neuropeptide galanin mediates its effects through the receptor subtypes Gal1, Gal2, and Gal3 and has been implicated in anxiety and depression related behaviors. Galanin receptors are considered to be important targets for the development of novel antidepressant drugs. Owing to the importance of these receptors, a short communication about the sequential and structural studies about the functional Galanin (1-3) receptors has been reported. Structural studies have been hampered due to the lack of X-ray crystal structures. However with the availability of templates with close homologs comparative modeling could be encouraging. Sequence analysis was done for each receptors and homology modeling of each receptors were done with recently reported templates. Comparative analyses were done between these receptors to identify the relationships between them sequentially. Phylogram was generated between these receptors to identify the close homologue between this receptor and found that Gal2 and Gal3 receptors are closer. Our results could be useful for further structure based drug design targeting Gal1, Gal2 and Gal3 receptors.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.393-399
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• 1996

A zero-Iength croessinking procedure for studying protein-protein interactlons in preinitiation complex has heen developed. Preinltiadon complexes were assembled with immobilized DNA templates coupled to metal beads. Pudfied complexes were dIrectly crosslinked by 1-ethyl-3.(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodlimide (EDC). The reaction was stopped by addition of $\beta$-mercaptoethanol, and the complexes were isolated from EDC immedIately. An appllcatlion of this method with a preinltlation complex assembled with TBP, TFIIB, and GAL4-AH demonstrated that ThP dIrectly interacts with GAL4-AH and TFIIB in the prelnitlatlon complex. However, croeslinked produd between GAL4-AH and ThilB was not observed. These resutts lndlcate that GAL4-AH does not stably Interact with TFIIB In the GAL4-AH-TFIIB-TBP-DNA prelnitlatlon complex.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.127-132
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• 2015

To overcome the hyperacute immune rejection during pig-to-non-human primates xenotranasplantation, we have produced and bred ${\alpha}$-1,3-galactosyltransferase knock-out ($GalT^{-/-}$) pigs. In this study, the somatic cells and tissues from the $GalT^{-/-}$ pigs were characterized by an analysis of the expression of Gal${\alpha}$-1,3-Gal (${\alpha}-Gal$) epitope. Briefly, ear fibroblast cell lines of 19 homozygous $GalT^{-/-}$ pigs were established and cryopreserved. The expression of ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope in the cells was measured by fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis using BS-I-B4 lectin. Also, the homozygous ($GalT^{-/-}$) cells and tissues samples were immunostained with BS-I-B4 lectin for analysis of ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope expression. The results showed that the expression of ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope in $GalT^{-/-}$ cells (0.2 %) were significantly (p<0.05) down-regulated to the range of cynomolgus monkey fibroblast (0.2 %) cells compared to heterozygous ($GalT^{-/+}$) (9.3 %) and wild type ($GalT^{+/+}$) (93.7 %) fibroblast cells. In the immunostaining results, while the expression of ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope was detected a partly in $GalT^{-/+}$ cells and mostly in $GalT^{+/+}$ cells, it was almost not detected in the $GalT^{-/-}$ cells. Also, immunostaining results from various tissues of the $GalT^{-/-}$ pig showed that the expression of ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope was not detectable, whereas various tissues from $GalT^{+/+}$ pig showed a strong expression of ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope. Our results demonstrated that ${\alpha}-Gal$ epitope expressions from $GalT^{-/-}$ pigs were successfully knocked out to prevent hyperacute immune rejection for further study of xenotransplantation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2001

The cDNA encoding human NeuAc ${\alpha}$2,3Gal$\beta$ 1,3GalNAc GalNac ${\alpha}$2,6-Sialyltransferase (hST6GalNac IV) was isolated by screening of human fetal liver cDNA library with a DNA probe generated from the cDNA sequence of mouse ST6Gal NAc IV (mkST6GalNAc IV). The cDNA sequence included an open reading frame coding for 302 amino acids, and comparative analysis of this cDNA with mST6GalNAc IV showed that each sequence of the predicted coding region contains 88% and 85% identifies in nucleotide and amino acid levels, respecively. The primary structure of this enzyme suggested a putative domain structure, like that in other glycosyltransferases, consisting of a short N-terminal cytoplamic domain, a transmembrane domain and a large C-terminal active domain. This enzyme expressed in COS-7 cells echibited transferase activity toward NeuAc ${\alpha}$2,3Gal$\beta$ 1,3GalNAc, fetuin and GM1b, although the activity toward the later is very low, no significant activity being detected toward Gal${\beta}$ 1,3Gal NAc or asialofetuin, the other glycoprotein substrates tested. The $^{14}$ C-sialylated residue of fetuin sialylated by this enzyem with CMP-[$^{14}$C]NeuAc was sensitive to treatment with ${\alpha}$2,8-specific sialidase of Vibrio cholerae but resistant to treatment with ${\alpha}$2,3-specific sialidase (NaNase I), and ${\alpha}$2,3- and ${\alpha}$2,8-specific sialidase of Newcastle disease virus. These results clearly indicated that the expressed enzyme is a type of GalNAc ${\alpha}$2,6-sialyltransferase like mST6GalNAc IV, which requires sialic acid residues linked to Gal${\beta}$1,3GalNAc-residues for its activity.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 1999

Sialic acids are key determinants for biological processes, such as cell-cell interaction and differentiation. Sialyltransferases contribute to the diversity in carbohydrate structure through their attachment of sialic acid in various terminal positions on glycolipid and glycoprotein (N-linked and O-linked) carbohydrate groups. Gal$\beta$ 1,3(4)GlcNAc $\alpha$2,3-sialyltransferase (ST3Gal III) is involved in the biosynthesis of $sLe^{X}$ and sLe^{a}$ known as selection ligands and tumor-associated carbohydrate structures. The appearance and differential distribution of ST3Gal III mRNA during mice embryogenesis [embryonic (E) days; E9, E11, E13, E15] were investigated by in situ hybridization with digoxigenin-labeled RNA probes coupled with alkaline phosphatase detection. On E9, all tissues were positive for ST3Gal III mRNA expression whereas ST3Gal III mRNA on E11 was not detected throughout all tissues. On E13, ST3GAl III mRNA was expressed in different manner in various tissues. In this stage, ST3Gal III mRNA was positive only in the liver, pancreas and bladder. On E15, specific signal for ST3GAl III was detected in the liver, lung and forebrain. These results indicate that ST3Gal III is differently expressed at developmental stages of mice embryo, and this may be importantly related with regulation of organogenesis in mice.

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 1997

Two kinds of cDNA encoding mouse $Gal{\beta}$1,3(4)GlcNAc ${\alpha}$2,3-sialyltransferase (mST3Gal III) and $Gal{\beta}$1,4(3)GlcNAc ${\alpha}$2,3-sialyltransferase (mST3Gal IV) were isolated from mouse brain cDNA library by means of a PCR-based approach. The cDNA sequences included an open reading frame coding for proteins of 374 and 333 amino acids, respectively, and the primary structure of these enzymes suggested a putative domain structure consisting of four regions, like that in other glycosyltransferases. The deduced amino acid sequences of mST3GaI III and IV showed a 98% and 89% identity with rat ST3GaI III and human ST3Gal IV, respectively. Northern analysis indicated that the expression of mST3Gal III mRNA was abundant in heart, liver and adult brain, while that of mST3GaI IV mRNA was detected in all tissues tested except for testis, but the level was the highest in liver. Soluble forms of mST3GaI III and IV transiently expressed in COS cells exhibited enzyme activity toward acceptor substrates containing the terminal either $Gal{\beta}$1,3GlcNAc or $Gal{\beta}$1,4GlcNAc sequences. The substrate preferences of both enzymes were stronger for tetrasaccharides than for disaccharides.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.575-580
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• 2008

Thymocyte-specific transcriptional regulatory systems can be used to better understand the relationship between transcription and V(D)J recombination during early T cell development. In this study, we generated transgenic mice expressing the transactivator Gal4-VP16 or the Gal4 DNA binding domain (Gal4-DBD) under the control of the lck proximal promoter, which is only active in immature thymocytes. From these studies Gal4-VP16 and Gal4-DBD expression was shown to significantly alter thymic cellularity and differentiation without significantly changing the $CD3^+$ thymocyte distribution. Furthermore, the presence of Gal4-VP16 or Gal4-DBD in the transgenic thymocytes retarded the mobility of the Gal4 DNA binding motif as determined by a gel mobility shift assay, suggesting that the developmental alteration did not affect the functional property of the transgenic proteins. These results indicated that lck promoter-driven Gal4-VP16 or Gal4-DBD expression did not affect $CD3^+$ mature thymocytes, thus this system can be applied to study transcriptional regulation of transresponder genes in bigenic mouse model thymocytes.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.511-518
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• 2011

To avoid hyperacute rejection of xenografts, ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase knock-out (GalT KO) pigs have been produced. In this study, we examined whether Sia-containing glycoconjugates are important as an immunogenic non-Gal epitope in the pig liver with disruption of ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene. The target cells were then used as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer (scNT). A total of 1,800 scNT embryos were transferred to 10 recipients. One recipient developed to term and naturally delivered two piglets. Real-time RT-PCR and glycosyltransferase activity showed that ${\alpha}2,3$-sialyltransferase (${\alpha}2,3ST$) and ${\alpha}2,6$-sialyltransferase (${\alpha}2,6ST$) in the heterozygote GalT KO liver have higher expression levels and activities compared to controls, respectively. According to lectin blotting, sialic acidcontaining glycoconjugate epitopes were also increased due to the decreasing of ${\alpha}$-Gal in heterozygote GalT KO liver, whereas GalNAc-containing glycoconjugate epitopes were decreased in heterozygote GalT KO liver compare to the control. Furthermore, the heterozygote GalT KO liver showed a higher Neu5Gc content than control. Taken together, these finding suggested that the deficiency of GalT gene in pigs resulted in increased production of Neu5Gc-bounded epitopes (H-D antigen) due to increase of ${\alpha}2,6$-sialyltransferase. Thus, this finding suggested that the deletion of CMAH gene to the GalT KO background is expected to further prolong xenograft survival.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2012

This study was conducted to analyze the transgenic efficiency and sex ratio in ${\alpha}$-1,3-galactosyltransferase (GalT) knock-out (KO) transgenic pigs according to generation. GalT KO piglets were produced by artificial insemination or natural mating. The transgenic confirmation of GalT KO was evaluated by PCR amplification using specific primers. After electrophoresis, three types of bands were detected such as 2.3 kb single band (Wild), 2.3 and 3.6kb double bands (GalT KO -/+; heterozygote), and 3.6kb single band (GalT KO -/-; homozygote). Transgenic efficiency in F1 generation was 64.5% (23/35) of GalT KO (-/+). In F2 generation, GalT KO transgenic efficiency was 36.4% (21/57, Wild), 47.5% (28/57, GalT KO -/+), and 16.1% (8/57, GalT KO -/-), respectively. Interestingly, no homozygote piglets were born in 6 deliveries among total 11 deliveries, although they were pregnant between male (M) and female (F) $F_1$ heterozygote. In the 5 litters including at least one GalT KO -/- piglet, the transgenic efficiency was 13.3% (2/24, Wild), 51.3% (14/24, GalT KO -/+), and 35.3% (8/24, GalT KO -/-), respectively. The sex ratio of M and F was 40:60 in $F_1$ and 49:51 in $F_2$ generation, respectively. Based on these results, GalT KO transgenic pigs have had a reproductive ability with a normal range of transgenic efficiency and sex ratio.