• Entomological Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.390-399
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• 2018

In order to precisely assess gene expression levels, the suitable internal reference genes must be served to quantify real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) data. For armyworm, Mythimna separata, which reference genes are suitable for assessing the level of transcriptional expression of target genes have yet to be explored. In this study, eight common reference genes, including ${\beta}$-actin (${\beta}$-ACT), 18 s ribosomal (18S), 28S ribosomal (28S), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (GAPDH), elongation fator-alpha ($EF1{\alpha}$), TATA box binding protein (TBP), ribosomal protein L7 (RPL7), and alpha-tubulin (${\alpha}$-TUB) that in different developmental stages, tissues and insecticide treatments of M. separata were evaluated. To further explore whether these genes were suitable to serve as endogenous controls, three software-based approaches (geNorm, BestKeeper, and NormFinder), the delta Ct method, and one web-based comprehensive tool (RefFinder) were employed to analyze and rank the tested genes. The optimal number of reference genes was determined using the geNorm program, and the suitability of particular reference genes was empirically validated according to normalized HSP70, and MsepCYP321A10 gene expression data. We found that the most suitable reference genes for the different experimental conditions. For developmental stages, 28S/RPL7 were the optimal reference genes, both $RPL7/EF1{\alpha}$ were suitable for experiments of different tissues, whereas for insecticide treatments, $28S/{\alpha}-TUB$ were suitable for normalizations of expression data. In addition, $28S/{\alpha}-TUB$ were the suitable reference genes because they have the most stable expression among different developmental stages, tissues and insecticide treatments. Our work is the first report on reference gene selection in M. separata, and might serve as a precedent for future gene expression studies.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.519-532
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• 1999

Helicobacter pylori is a causative agent of type B gastritis and plays a central role in the pathogenesis of gastroduodenal ulcer and gastric cancer. To elucidate the host-parasite relationship of the H. pylori infection on the basis of molecular biology, we tried to evaluate the genomic diversity of H. pylori. An ordered overlapping bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library of a Korean isolate, H. pylori 51 was constructed to set up a genomic map. A circular physical map was constructed by aligning ApaI, NotI and SfiI-digested chromosomal DNA. When the physical map of H. pylori 51 was compared to that of unrelated strain, H. pylori 26695, completely different restriction patterns were shown. Fifteen known genes were mapped on the chromosome of H. pylori 51 and the genetic map was compared with those of strain 26695 and J99, of which the entire genomic sequences were reported. There were some variability in the gene location as well as gene order among three strains. For further analysis on the genomic diversity of H. pylori, when comparing the genomic structure of 150 H. pylori Korean isolates with one another, genomic macrodiversity of H. pylori was characterized by several features: whether or not susceptible to restriction digestion of the chromsome, variation in chromosomal restriction fingerprint and/or high frequency of gene rearrangement. We also examined the extent of allelic variation in nucleotide or deduced amino acid sequences at the individual gene level. fucT, cagA and vacA were confirmed to carry regions of high variation in nucleotide sequence among strains. The plasticity zone and strain-specific genes of H. pylori 51 were analyzed and compared with the former two genomic sequences. It should be noted that the H. pylori 51-specific sequences were dispersed on the chromosome, not congregated in the plasticity zone unlike J99- or 26695-specific genes, suggesting the high frequency of gene rearrangement in H. pylori genome. The genome of H. pylori 51 shows differences in the overall genomic organization, gene order, and even in the nucleotide sequences among the H. pylori strains, which are far greater than the differences reported on the genomic diversity of H. pylori.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1141-1149
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• 2018

Objective: Cluster of differentiation 4 protein (CD4) gene is an important immune related gene which plays a significant role in T cell development and host resistance during viral infection. Methods: In order to unravel the relationship of CpG island methylation level of CD4 gene with its gene expression and T lymphocyte subpopulation traits, we used one typical Chinese indigenous breed (Dapulian, DP) and one commercial breed (Landrace), then predicted the CpG island of CD4 gene, determined the methylation status of CpG sites by bisulfite sequencing polymerase chain reaction (BSP), and carried out the correlation analyses of methylation frequencies of CpG sites with mRNA expression and T lymphocyte subpopulation traits. Results: There was one CpG island predicted in the upstream -2 kb region and exon one of porcine CD4 gene, which located 333 bp upstream from the start site of gene and contained nine CpG sites. The correlation analysis results indicated that the methylation frequency of CpG_2 significantly correlated with CD4 mRNA expression in the DP and Landrace combined population, though it did not reach significance level in DP and Landrace separately. Additionally, 15 potential binding transcription factors (TFs) were predicted within the CpG island, and one of them (Jumonji) contained CpG_2 site, suggesting that it may influence the CD4 gene expression through the potential binding TFs. We also found methylation frequency of CpG_2 negatively correlated with T lymphocyte subpopulation traits CD4+CD8-CD3-, CD4-CD8+CD3- and CD4+/CD8+, and positively correlated with CD4-CD8+CD3+ and CD4+CD8+CD3+ (for all correlation, p<0.01) in DP and Landrace combined population. Thus, the CpG_2 was a critical methylation site for porcine CD4 gene expression and T lymphocyte subpopulation traits. Conclusion: We speculated that increased methylation frequency of CpG_2 may lead to the decreased expression of CD4, which may have some kind of influence on T lymphocyte subpopulation traits and the immunity of DP population.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.50-55
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• 2010

The R-r:standard (R-r:std) allele of maize R gene complex consists of S subcomplex and P component; the S subcomplex regulates anthocyanin pigmentation of seed aleurone layer, and the P component confers pigmentation of the other plant parts. The S subcomplex contains two functional genes, S1 and S2 components. In the presence of Pl gene some alleles of R gene induce anthocyanin pigmentation of pericarp. In the present study, the effects of different R alleles on the anthocyanin pigmentation of pericarp in the presence of Pl gene were analyzed in order to identify the R gene component responsible for pericarp pigmentation. The results show that R-ch and r-ch alleles condition similar degrees of pericarp pigmentation, and that R-r:Ecuador (R-r:Ec) conditions stronger pigmentation. The r-ch allele, which is inferred that its S subcomplex has lost function but the P component is normal, induces pericarp pigmentation in the presence of Pl gene. On the contrary, the R-g:g1111 allele, derived from R-r:Ec and inferred that its S subcomplex functions normal but the P component has lost its function, did not induce pericarp pigmentation in the presence of Pl gene. Moreover, PCR analysis of genomic DNA's of R-ch and r-ch indicate that R-ch maintains both P and S1 components, whereas r-ch lacks for the S1 component. Taken together, The results suggest that the P components of R alleles inducing pericarp pigmentation in the presence of Pl gene are responsible for pericarp pigmentation.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.05a
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• pp.27-28
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• 2014

Beauveria bassiana (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is an anamorphic fungus having a potential to be used as a biological control agent because it parasitizes a wide range of arthropod hosts including termites, aphids, beetles and many other insects. A number of bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs) have been isolated from B. bassiana and functionally verified. Among them, beauvericin and bassianolide are cyclic depsipeptides with antibiotic and insecticidal effects belonging to the enniatin family. Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) play a crucial role in the synthesis of these secondary metabolites. NRPSs are modularly organized multienzyme complexes in which each module is responsible for the elongation of proteinogenic and non-protein amino acids, as well as carboxyl and hydroxyacids. A minimum of three domains are necessary for one NRPS elongation module: an adenylation (A) domain for substrate recognition and activation; a tholation (T) domain that tethers the growing peptide chain and the incoming aminoacyl unit; and a condensation (C) domain to catalyze peptide bond formation. Some of the optional domains include epimerization (E), heterocyclization (Cy) and oxidation (Ox) domains, which may modify the enzyme-bound precursors or intermediates. In the present study, we analyzed genomes of B. bassiana and its allied species in Hypocreales to verify the distribution of NRPS-encoding genes involving biosynthesis of beauvericin and bassianolide, and to unveil the evolutionary processes of the gene clusters. Initially, we retrieved completely or partially assembled genomic sequences of fungal species belonging to Hypocreales from public databases. SM biosynthesizing genes were predicted from the selected genomes using antiSMASH program. Adenylation (A) domains were extracted from the predicted NRPS, NRPS-like and NRPS-PKS hybrid genes, and used them to construct a phylogenetic tree. Based on the preliminary results of SM biosynthetic gene prediction in B. bassiana, we analyzed the conserved gene orders of beauvericin and bassianolide biosynthetic gene clusters among the hypocrealean fungi. Reciprocal best blast hit (RBH) approach was performed to identify the regions orthologous to the biosynthetic gene cluster in the selected fungal genomes. A clear recombination pattern was recognized in the inferred A-domain tree in which A-domains in the 1st and 2nd modules of beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases were grouped in CYCLO and EAS clades, respectively, suggesting that two modules of each synthetase have evolved independently. In addition, inferred topologies were congruent with the species phylogeny of Cordycipitaceae, indicating that the gene fusion event have occurred before the species divergence. Beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases turned out to possess identical domain organization as C-A-T-C-A-NM-T-T-C. We also predicted precursors of beauvericin and bassianolide synthetases based on the extracted signature residues in A-domain core motifs. The result showed that the A-domains in the 1st module of both synthetases select D-2-hydroxyisovalerate (D-Hiv), while A-domains in the 2nd modules specifically activate L-phenylalanine (Phe) in beauvericin synthetase and leucine (Leu) in bassianolide synthetase. antiSMASH ver. 2.0 predicted 15 genes in the beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster of the B. bassiana genome dispersed across a total length of approximately 50kb. The beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster contains beauvericin synthetase as well as kivr gene encoding NADPH-dependent ketoisovalerate reductase which is necessary to convert 2-ketoisovalarate to D-Hiv and a gene encoding a putative Gal4-like transcriptional regulator. Our syntenic comparison showed that species in Cordycipitaceae have almost conserved beauvericin biosynthetic gene cluster although the gene order and direction were sometimes variable. It is intriguing that there is no region orthologous to beauvericin synthetase gene in Cordyceps militaris genome. It is likely that beauvericin synthetase was present in common ancestor of Cordycipitaceae but selective gene loss has occurred in several species including C. militaris. Putative bassianolide biosynthetic gene cluster consisted of 16 genes including bassianolide synthetase, cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, and putative Gal4-like transcriptional regulator genes. Our synteny analysis found that only B. bassiana possessed a bassianolide synthetase gene among the studied fungi. This result is consistent with the groupings in A-domain tree in which bassianolide synthetase gene found in B. bassiana was not grouped with NRPS genes predicted in other species. We hypothesized that bassianolide biosynthesizing cluster genes in B. bassiana are possibly acquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from distantly related fungi. The present study showed that B. bassiana is the only species capable of producing both beauvericin and bassianolide. This property led to B. bassiana infect multiple hosts and to be a potential biological control agent against agricultural pests.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 1984

To investigate the factors influencing the artifical transformation in Escherichia coli, E. coli C600 was transformed by pBR322 DNA with tetracycline and ampicillin resistant gene purified by CsCl-Etbr equilibrium density gradient centrifugation from E.coli HB 101. The influencing factors in the transformation such as concentration of calcium chloride, time of ice incubation, temperature and time of heat shock, time of gene expression, effects of plasmid DNA concentration and adding time were examined in these experiments. The results obtained were as follows; 1. The highest transformation frequency was observed in the treatments of 100 mM $CaCl_2$ before heat shock and the treatment of $CaCl_2$ was essential step in the process of E. coli transformation. 2. The highest transformation frequency was observed in the treatment of heat shock at $42^{\circ}C$ for 4 min. or $37^{\circ}C$ for 6 min., but the prolonged heat shock resulted a decreased transformation frequency. 3. Treatments of ice incubation at $0^{\circ}C$ for 45 min. before heat stocks or at $0^{\circ}C$ for 30min. after heat shock resulted an increased transformation frequency. 4. There was a linear relationship between DNA concentration and transformation frequency at the concentration of $8{\times}10^3$ recipient cells. The highest transformation frequency reached in carte of 7 mcg of donor DNA, but above 1 mcg of DNA concentration, transformation frequency was not remarkably increased. Addition of donor DNA just after the treatment of $CaCl_2$ was the best. 5. The best condition of gene expression at $37^{\circ}C$ were 40min. for TC-resistant gene and 100min. for AP-resistant gene. TC-resistant gene was higher in the transformation frequency and faster in the gene expression time than AP-resistant gene. In these results, the best conditions for the transformation of E. coli C 600 with pBR322 DNA were: treatment with 100mM $CaCl_2$, ice incubation at $0^{\circ}C$ for 45 min, heat shock at $42^{\circ}C$ for 4 min., 30 min. of ice incubation and incubation at $37^{\circ}C$ for 100min. for gene expression in that order.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.83 no.2
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• pp.191-204
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• 1994

Due to its topographic complexities and various climatical condition, Korea exhibits diverse forest types. Dominant tree species in this zone are Quercus spp., Betula spp., Zelkova spp., Fraxinus spp., Pinus densiflora, Pinus koraiensis, and Pinus thunbergii ete. Genetic conservation in forest species in Korea there are three ways ; one is in situ, other is ex situ and third is in-facility conservation. In situ conservation include that are the present status of conservation of rare and endangered flora and ecosystem, the reserved forest, the national and provincial park, and the gene pool of natural forests. Ex situ conservation means to be established the new forest from in situ forest stands, progeny and provenance test populations, seed orchard and clone banks, and gene conservation in-facility. As a tool for low temperature storage, several aspects on in vitro system were studied ; (1) establishment of in vitro cultures from juvenile and/or rejuvenated tissues, (2) induction of multiple shoots from the individual micropropagules, (3) elongation of the proliferated shoots. Studies on cold storage for short-and long-term maintenance of in vitro cultures under $4^{\circ}C$ in the refrigerator were conducted. For the cryopreservation at $-196^{\circ}C$, various factors affecting survivability of the plant materials are being examined. The necessity of gene conservation of forest trees is enlarged not only to increase the adaptability for various environments but also to gain the breeding materials in the future. For effective gene conservation of forest trees, I would like to suggest followings ; 1. Forest stands reserved for other than the gene conservation purposes such as national parks should be investigated by botanical and gene-ecological studies for selecting bio-diversity and gene conservation stands. 2. Reserved forest for gene pool should be extented both economically important tree spp. and non-economical species. 3. Reserved forest for progeny test and clone bank should be systematically investigated for the use of Ex situ forest gene conservation. 4. We have to find out a new methodology of genetic analysis determining the proper and effective size of subpopulation for in situ gene conservation. 5. We should develop a new tree breeding systems for successful gene conservation and utilization of the genetic resources. 6. New method of in-facility gene conservation using advanced genetic engineering should be developed to save time and economic resources. 7. For the conservation of species with short-life span of seed or shortage of knowledge of seed physiology, tissue culture techniques will be played a great role for gene conservation of those species. 8. It is are very useful conservation not only of genes but of genotypes which were selected already by breeding program. 9. Institutional and administrative arrangements including legistlation must be necessarily taken for gene conservation of forest trees. 10. It is national problems for conservation of forest resources which have been rapidly destroyed because of degenerating environmental condition and of inexperienced management system of bio-diversity and gene conservation. 11. In order to international cooperation for exchanging data of bio-diversity and gene conservation, we should connect to international net works as soon as possible.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.415-421
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• 2004

Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) is the most abundant CYPs in human liver, comprising approximately $30\%$ of the total liver CYPs contents and is involved in the metabolism of more than $60\%$ of currently used therapeutic drugs. However, the molecular mechanisms underly-ing regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression have not been understood. Thus, this study has been carried out to gain the insight of the molecular mechanism of CYP3A4 gene expression, investigating if the histone deacetylation is involved in the regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression by proximal promoter. Also SXR was investigated to see if they were involved in the regulation of CYP3A4 proximal promoter activity. Hepa-1 cells were transfected with a plasmid containing ${\~}1kb$ of the human CYP3A4 proximal promoter region (863 to +64 bp) cloned in front of a reporter gene, luciferase, in the presence or absence of SXR. Transfected cells were treated with CYP3A4 inducers such as rifampicin, PCN and RU 486, in order to examine the regulation of CYP3A4 gene expression in the presence or absence of trichostatin A (TSA). In Hepa-1 cells, CYP3A4 inducers increased modestly the luciferase activity when TSA was co-treated, but this increment was not enhanced by SXR cotransfection. Taken together, these results indicated that the inhibition of histone deacetylation was required to SXR-mediated increase in CYP3A4 proximal promoter region when rifampicin, or PCN was treated. Further a trans-activation by SXR may demand other species-specific transcription factors.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.44-55
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• 2009

Diagnosis of diseases using gene expression data obtained from microarray chip is an active research area recently. It has been done by general machine learning algorithms, because it is difficult to analyze directly. However, recent research results about the analysis based on the interaction between genes is essential for the gene expression analysis, which means the analysis using the traditional machine learning algorithms has limitations. In this paper, we classify the gene expression data using the hyper-network model that considers the higher-order correlations between the features, and then compares the classification accuracies. And also, we present the new hypo-network model that improve the disadvantage of existing model, and compare the processing performances of the existing hypo-network model based on general sequential processor and the improved hypo-network model implemented on parallel processors. In the experimental results, we show that the performance of our model shows improved and competitive classification performance than traditional machine learning methods, as well as, the existing hypo-network model. We show that the performance is maximized when the hypernetwork model is implemented on our parallel processors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2453-2457
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• 2016

Background: Dysregulation of HSP90 gene expression is known to take place in breast cancer. Here we used D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid-polyethylene glycol-17-dimethylaminoethylamino-17-demethoxy geldanamycin (PLGA-PEG-17DMAG) complexes and free 17-DMAG to inhibit the expression of HSP90 gene in the T47D breast cancer cell line. The purpose was to determine whether nanoencapsulating 17DMAG improves the anti-cancer effects as compared to free 17DMAG. Materials and Methods: The T47D breast cancer cell line was grown in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% FBS. Encapsulation of 17DMAG was conducted through a double emulsion method and properties of copolymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Assessment of drug cytotoxicity was by MTT assay. After treatment of T47D cells with a given amount of drug, RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized. In order to assess HSP90 gene expression, real-time PCR was performed. Results: Taking into account drug load, IC50 was significant decreased in nanocapsulated 17DMAG in comparison with free 17DMAG. This finding was associated with decrease of HSP90 gene expression. Conclusions: PLGA-PEG-17DMAG complexes can be more effective than free 17DMAG in down-regulating of HSP90 expression, at the saesm time exerting more potent cytotoxic effects. Therefore, PLGA-PEG could be a superior carrier for this type of hydrophobic agent.