• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.121-121
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• 2003

Expressed sequence tags (EST) are help to quickly identify functions of expressed genes and to understand the complexity of gene expression. To assist genetic study of the root development in Panax ginseng, which is one of the most important medicinal plant, expressed sequence tags (EST) analysis was carried out. We constructed a CDNA library using the 4-year Chunpoon root. Partial sequences were obtained from 3,841 clone. The ESTs could be clustered into 2,056 (64%) non-redundant groups. Similarity search of the non-redundant ESTs against public non-redundant databases of both protein and DNA indicated that 1,498 groups show similarity to genes of known function. These ESTs clones were divided into eighteen categories depending upon gene function. The most abundant transcripts were major latex protein (41), ribonuclease 2 (36), metallothionein 2(35). Our extensive EST analysis of genes expressed in 4-year Chunpoong root not only contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of genome expression patterns in root organ development but also adds data to the repertoire of all genomic genes.

• Genes and Genomics
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.1383-1388
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• 2018

The development of therapeutic bacteriophages will provide several benefits based on an understanding the basic physiological dynamics of phage and bacteria interactions for therapeutic use in light of the results of antibiotic abuse. However, studies on bacteriophage therapeutics against microbes are very limited, because of lack of phage stability and an incomplete understanding of the physiological intracellular mechanisms of phage. The major objective of this investigation was to provide opportunity for development of a novel therapeutic treatment to control respiratory diseases in swine. The cytokine array system was used to identify the secreted cytokines/chemokines after Bordetella bronchiseptica infection into swine nasal turbinate cells (PT-K75). We also performed the real-time quantitative PCR method to investigate the gene expression regulated by B. bronchiseptica infection or bacteriophage treatment. We found that B. bronchiseptica infection of PT-K75 induces secretion of many cytokines/chemokines to regulate airway inflammation. Of them, secretion and expression of IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 are increased in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, membrane-bound mucin production via expression of the Muc1 gene is increased in B. bronchiseptica-infected PT-K75 cells. However, cytokine production and Muc1 gene expression are dramatically inhibited by treatment with a specific B. bronchiseptica bacteriophage (Bor-BRP-1). The regulation of cytokine profiles in B. bronchiseptica-induced inflammation by B. bronchiseptica bacteriophage is essential for avoiding inappropriate inflammatory responses. The ability of bacteriophages to downregulate the immune response by inhibiting bacterial infection emphasizes the possibility of bacteriophage-based therapies as a novel anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategy in swine respiratory tracts.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.51
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• pp.20.1-20.12
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• 2021

We explored the link between mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial morphology using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in lymphoblasts of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients and compared these characteristics between tumors and control samples. Gene expression of mitochondrial biogenesis markers was analysed in 23 ALL patients and 18 controls and TEM for morphology analysis was done in 15 ALL patients and 9 healthy controls. The area occupied by mitochondria per cell and the cristae cross-sectional area was observed to be significantly higher in patients than in controls (p-value=0.0468 and p-value<0.0001, respectively). The mtDNA copy numbers, TFAM, POLG, and c-myc gene expression were significantly higher in ALL patients than controls (all p-values<0.01). Gene Expression of PGC-1α was higher in tumor samples. The analysis of the correlation between PGC-1α expression and morphology parameters i.e., both M/C ratio and cristae cross-sectional area revealed a positive trend (r=0.3, p=0.1). The increased area occupied by mitochondria and increased cristae area support the occurrence of cristae remodelling in ALL. These changes might reflect alterations in cristae dynamics to support the metabolic state of the cells by forming a more condensed network. Ultrastructural imaging can be useful for affirming changes occurring at a subcellular organellar level.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.577-586
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• 2022

Stress granules (SGs) are stress-induced subcellular compartments, which carry out a particular function to cope with stress. These granules protect cells from stress-related damage and cell death through dynamic sequestration of numerous ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) and signaling proteins, thereby promoting cell survival under both physiological and pathological condition. During tumorigenesis, cancer cells are repeatedly exposed to diverse stress stimuli from the tumor microenvironment, and the dynamics of SGs is often modulated due to the alteration of gene expression patterns in cancer cells, leading to tumor progression as well as resistance to anticancer treatment. In this mini review, we provide a brief discussion about our current understanding of the fundamental roles of SGs during physiological stress and the effect of dysregulated SGs on cancer cell fitness and cancer therapy.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.154-162
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• 2004

Hairy roots were induced from Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) root explants and studied for their gene expression. A total of 3,000 ESTs (expressed sequence tags) from ginseng hairy root were determined and about 2,700 ESTs have a length of readable sequence, which result in 1,352 unique ESTs sequences. The 879 ESTs showed significant similarities to known nucleotide or amino acid sequences in other plant species, which were divided into eleven categories depending upon gene function. The remaining 473 sequences showed no significant matches, which are likely to be transcripts or to be matched to other organisms. The results indicated that the analysis of the ginseng hairy root ESTs by partial sequencing of random cDNA clones may be an efficient approach to isolate genes that are functional in ginseng root in a large scale. Our extensive EST analysis of genes expressed in ginseng hairy root not only contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of genome expression patterns in root organ but also adds data to the repertoire of all genomic genes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2024

Prime editors (PEs), which are CRISPR-Cas9 nickase (H840A)-reverse transcriptase fusion proteins programmed with prime editing guide RNAs (pegRNAs), can not only edit bases but also install transversions, insertions, or deletions without both donor DNA and double-strand breaks at the target DNA. As the demand for in-locus tagging is increasing, to reflect gene expression dynamics influenced by endogenous genomic contexts, we demonstrated that PEs can be used to introduce the hemagglutinin (HA) epitope tag to a target gene locus, enabling molecular and biochemical studies using in-locus tagged plants. To promote genome-wide in-locus tagging, we also implemented a publicly available database that designs pegRNAs for in-locus tagging of all the Arabidopsis genes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.496-510
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• 2007

This paper describes the use of a discrete mathematical model to represent the basic mechanisms of regulation of the bacteria E. coli in batch fermentation. The specific phenomena studied were the changes in metabolism and genetic regulation when the bacteria use three different carbon substrates (glucose, glycerol, and acetate). The model correctly predicts the behavior of E. coli vis-a-vis substrate mixtures. In a mixture of glucose, glycerol, and acetate, it prefers glucose, then glycerol, and finally acetate. The model included 67 nodes; 28 were genes, 20 enzymes, and 19 regulators/biochemical compounds. The model represents both the genetic regulation and metabolic networks in an integrated form, which is how they function biologically. This is one of the first attempts to include both of these networks in one model. Previously, discrete mathematical models were used only to describe genetic regulation networks. The study of the network dynamics generated 8 $(2^3)$ fixed points, one for each nutrient configuration (substrate mixture) in the medium. The fixed points of the discrete model reflect the phenotypes described. Gene expression and the patterns of the metabolic fluxes generated are described accurately. The activation of the gene regulation network depends basically on the presence of glucose and glycerol. The model predicts the behavior when mixed carbon sources are utilized as well as when there is no carbon source present. Fictitious jokers (Joker1, Joker2, and Repressor SdhC) had to be created to control 12 genes whose regulation mechanism is unknown, since glycerol and glucose do not act directly on the genes. The approach presented in this paper is particularly useful to investigate potential unknown gene regulation mechanisms; such a novel approach can also be used to describe other gene regulation situations such as the comparison between non-recombinant and recombinant yeast strain, producing recombinant proteins, presently under investigation in our group.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.765-770
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• 2008

Undesirable hyperpigmentation that can arise from increased melanocyte activity may be alleviated by targeting active melanocytes for apoptosis. The role of Stathmin 1 as an important regulator of microtubule dynamics is well documented. The current study examined the potential of Stathmin 1-targeting strategies in eliminating active melanocytes. A vector to overexpress Stathmin 1 and vectors to express three distinct small hairpin RNAs to knockdown Stathmin 1 expression in normal melanocytes were produced and in cell cultures acted accordingly. Both overexpression and knockdown of Stathmin 1 led to a marked increase in melanocyte apoptosis, as indicated by the accumulation of apoptotic cells and increased levels of cleaved caspase-3. Both up- and down-regulation of Stathmin 1 expression inhibited the activity of differentiated melanocytes, as indicated by decreases in both melanin production and tyrosinase activity. Taken together, these results indicate that hyperactive melanocytes can be inhibited by altering Stathmin 1 expression.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2024

RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is a technique used for providing global patterns of transcriptomes in samples. However, it can only provide the average gene expression across cells and does not address the heterogeneity within the samples. The advances in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology have revolutionized our understanding of heterogeneity and the dynamics of gene expression at the single-cell level. For example, scRNA-seq allows us to identify the cell types in complex tissues, which can provide information regarding the alteration of the cell population by perturbations, such as genetic modification. Since its initial introduction, scRNA-seq has rapidly become popular, leading to the development of a huge number of bioinformatic tools. However, the analysis of the big dataset generated from scRNA-seq requires a general understanding of the preprocessing of the dataset and a variety of analytical techniques. Here, we present an overview of the workflow involved in analyzing the scRNA-seq dataset. First, we describe the preprocessing of the dataset, including quality control, normalization, and dimensionality reduction. Then, we introduce the downstream analysis provided with the most commonly used computational packages. This review aims to provide a workflow guideline for new researchers interested in this field.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.61-66
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• 2015

The plant hormone auxin is involved in all stages of plant development. Aux/IAAs are the transcriptional repressors that bind to the Auxin Response Factors (ARFs) to regulate the gene expression upon auxin release. Aux/IAA have highly conserved C-terminal domains (domains III-IV) that mediate both homotypic and heterotypic interactions between Aux/IAA and ARF family proteins. Recent studies revealed that the conserved domains III-IV share a common ${\beta}$-grasp fold that oligomerizes in a front-to-back manner. In particular, Aux/IAA contains a mobile insert helix in the domain III-IV, whereas ARFs do not. Here, we investigated the dynamics of the insert helix using paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy. The insert helix exhibited fast motions in the ps-ns time scale from $^{15}N$ relaxation data, but the amplitude of the motion is likely limited to the local neighborhood. Our result suggests that the motion of the helix may have functional implications in protein-protein interactions for transcriptional regulations.