• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.21-24
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• 2004

A modified $\delta$-endotoxin gene of Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. tenebrionis (B.t.t.), encoding a coleoptera-specific toxin, was utilized to transform citrus plants, Citrus reticulata Blanco 'Ponkan' mandarian. By co-culturing the nucelli with Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring the modified gene in the binary vector pBinAR-Btt, the chimeric toxin gene was transferred into citrus plants. The transgenic plants were selected on modified Murashige and Skoog medium containing kanamycin. Hybridization experiments demonstrated that the transgenic plants contained and expressed the toxin protein gene.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2020

The number of commercially approved gene-edited crops is gradually increasing, and in South Korea, it has led to intense investment in gene-edited crop development to increase international competitiveness. However, as with genetically modified crops, the safety of gene-edited crops regarding unexpected risks for humans and the environment is subject to an ongoing debate. In particular, unintentional "off-target effects" have become the center of controversy. In this review, we discuss typical plant characteristics (including somatic variation and ploidy), the extent of various off-target effects in genetically modified crops generated via horizontal transfer in nature, and the off-target effects in commercial genetically modified crops. We conclude that most off-target effects possibly occurring in gene-edited crops are not expected to be critically harmful to humans or the environment. Therefore, existing regulation for genetically modified crops should be enough for the risk assessment of gene-edited crops.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.398-406
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• 2019

Cancer immunotherapy using gene-modified tumor cells is safe and customized cancer treatment method. In this study, we made gene-modified tumor cells by transferring costimulatory molecules, 4-1BBL and OX40L, into tumor cells using lentivirus vector, and identified anti-cancer effect of gene-modified tumor cells in CT26 mouse colorectal tumor model. We construct pLVX-puro-4-1BBL, -OX40L vector for lentivirus production and optimized the transfection efficiency and transduction efficiency. The transfection efficiency is maximal at DNA:cationic polymer = 1:0.5 and DNA 2 ㎍ for lentivirus production. Then, the lentiviral including 4-1BBL and OX40L was used to deliver CT26 mouse tumor cells to establish optimal delivery conditions according to the amount of virus. The transduction efficiency is maximal at 500 μL volume of lentiviral stock without change in cell shape or growth rate. CT26-4-1BBL, CT26-OX40L significantly inhibited the tumor growth compare with CT26-WT or CT26-β-gal cell line. These data showed the possibility the use of genetically modified tumor cells with costimulatory molecule as cancer immunotherapy agent.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.307-319
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• 2018

High-throughput technologies enable the simultaneous evaluation of thousands of genes that could discriminate different subclasses of complex diseases. Ranking genes according to differential expression is an important screening step for follow-up analysis. Many statistical measures have been proposed for this purpose. A good ranked list should provide a stable rank (at least for top-ranked gene), and the top ranked genes should have a high power in differentiating different disease status. However, there is a lack of emphasis in the literature on ranking genes based on these two criteria simultaneously. To achieve the above two criteria simultaneously, we proposed to apply a previously reported metric, the modified area under the receiver operating characteristic cure, to gene ranking. The proposed ranking method is found to be promising in leading to a stable ranking list and good prediction performances of top ranked genes. The findings are illustrated through studies on both synthesized data and real microarray gene expression data. The proposed method is recommended for ranking genes or other biomarkers for high-dimensional omics studies.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.73-76
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• 2006

Neuronal precursor cells may provide for cell replacement or gene delivery vehicles in neurodegenerative disease therapy. One impediment to treating neuronal diseases is finding ways to introduce genes into neurons effectively. It is shown here that fiber-modified adenovirus vector delivered gene to neuronal precursor as well as differentiated neuronal cells more efficiently than first-generation adenoviral vector. Moreover, fiber-modified adenoviral vector transduced precursor cells retained the potential for differentiation into neurons and glia in vitro. These results show the potential of modified adenoviral vector in the improved gene delivery to neurons in direct gene therapy protocols. In addition it holds promise for the use of genetically manipulated stem cells for the therapy of neuronal diseases.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.348-353
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• 2006

For enhancing the gene delivery efficiency of polyplexes, a new formulation was developed using PEI conjugated Pluronic F127 copolymer as an effective additive. Low molecular weight, branched polyethylenimine Mw 600 (LMW BPEI 600) was conjugated to the terminal end of Pluronic F127. The PEI-modified Pluronic copolymers formed a micellar structure in aqueous solution, similar to that of unmodified Pluronic copolymer. PEI modification of Pluronic copolymer increased the size of micelles while concomitantly raising the critical micelle concentration (CMC). The PEI-modified Pluronic copolymer was used as a micellar additive to enhance the gene transfection efficiency of pre-formulated polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles composed of luciferase plasmid DNA and branched PEI Mw 25k (BPEI 25k) or polylysine Mw 39k (PLL 39k). The luciferase gene expression levels were significantly enhanced by the addition of the BPEI-modified Pluronic copolymer for the two formulations of BPEl and PLL polyplexes. The results indicated that the BPEI-modified Pluronic copolymer micelles ionically interacted on the surface of DNA/BPEI (PLL) polyplexes which might facilitate cellular uptake process.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.390-394
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• 2004

The genetically modified glyphosate-tolerant soybean contains the following introduced DNA sequences: the EPSPS (5-enol-pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase) gene from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4, the 35S promoter from the cauliflower mosaic virus, and the NOS terminator from Agrobacterium tumefaciens. In the present study, detection of these introduced DNAs was performed by amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A multiplex PCR method was also applied to prevent false positive results. When primers for 35S promoter, nos3', CTP(chloroplast transit peptide), and CP4 EPSPS (EPSPS from Agrobacterium sp. CP4) were used, positive results were obtained in PCR reactions using DNA from genetically modified glyphosate-tolerant soybeans. There were no false positive results when using DNA from non-genetically modified soybeans. The CP4 EPSPS gene was detected when less than 125 pg glyphosate-tolerant soybean DNA was amplified. Lectin Lel and psb A were amplified from both non-genetically modified and genetically modified glyphosate-tolerant soybean DNA. Multiplex PCR was performed using different primer sets for actin Sacl, 35S promoter and CP4 EPSPS. The actin gene was detectable in both non-genetically modified and glyphosate-tolerant soybeans as a constant endogenous gene. Target DNAs for the 35S promoter, and CP4 EPSPS were detected in samples containing 0.01-0.1% glyphosate-tolerant soybean, although there were variations depending on primers by multiplex PCR. Soybean seeds from five plants of non-genetically modified soybean were co-cultivated for six months with those of genetically modified soybean, and they were analyzed by PCR. As a result, they were not positive for 35S promoter, nos3' or CP4 EPSPS. Therefore, these results suggest there was no natural crossing of genes between glyphosate-tolerant and non-genetically modified soybean during co-cultivation, which indicates that gene transfer between these plants is unlikely to occur in nature.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.179-182
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• 2005

The inefficiency of in vivo gene transfer using currently available vectors reflects a major hurdle in cancer gene therapy. Both viral and non-viral approaches that improve gene transfer efficiency have been described, but suffer from a number of limitations. Herein, a fiber-modified adenovirus, carrying the small peptide ligand on the capsid, was tested for the delivery of a transgene to cancer cells. The fiber-modified adenovirus was able to mediate the entry and expression of a $\beta$-galactosidase into cancer cells with increased efficiency compared to the unmodified adenovirus. Particularly, the gene transfer efficiency was improved up to 5 times in OVCAR3 cells, an ovarian cancer cell line. Such transduction systems hold promise for delivering genes to transferrin receptor overexpressing cancer cells, and could be used for future cancer gene therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.451-454
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• 2005

Introduction of foreign genes into brain cells, such as neurons and astrocytes, is a powerful approach to study the gene function and regulation in the neuroscience field. Calcium phosphate precipitates have been shown to cause cytotoxicity in some mammalian cells and brain cells, thus leading to low transfection efficiency. Here, we describe a retrovirus-mediated gene delivery method to transduce foreign genes into brain cells. In an attempt to achieve higher gene delivery efficiency in these cells, we made several changes to the original method, including (1) use of a new packaging cell line, Phoenix ampho cells, (2) transfection of pMX retroviral DNA, (3) inclusion of 25 mM chloroquine in the transduction, and (4) 3- 5 h incubation of retroviruses with target cells. The results showed that the modified protocol resulted in a range of 40- 60% gene delivery efficiency in neurons and astrocytes. Furthermore, these results suggest the potential of the retrovirus-mediated gene delivery protocol being modified and adapted for other transfection-refractory cell lines and primary cells.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.1151-1160
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• 2014

In DNA microarray studies, the number of genes far exceeds the number of samples and the gene expression measures are highly correlated. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) is one of the popular methods for dimensional reduction and known to be useful for the classifications of microarray data by several studies. In this study, we suggest a modified version of the partial least squares regression to analyze gene expression data with survival information. The method is designed as a new gene selection method using PLSR with an iterative procedure of imputing censored survival time. Mean square error of prediction criterion is used to determine the dimension of the model. To visualize the data, plot for variables superimposed with samples are used. The method is applied to two microarray data sets, both containing survival time. The results show that the proposed method works well for interpreting gene expression microarray data.