• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.281-287
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• 1999

Codonopsis lanceolata ("Deoduck" in Korea) is a perennial herb, and belongs to family, Campanulaceae. Its taproot is used a good source of a wild vegetable as well as an herbaceous medicine. In this study, to develop a bialaphos-resistant transgenic Codonopsis, seed germination mechanism and somatic embryogenesis of the plant were investigated, and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation with bar gene encoding phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) was performed. Attempt were made to regenerate plant from cells via somatic embryogenesis. When the cotyledons, nodes and leaf disks were cultured on MS medium containing 2,4-D and zeatin, embryogenic calli were induced. Upon transferring the somatic embryos to N6 solid medium without plant growth regulators, they developed into plantlets under continuous illumination. All plants were dead on MS basal medium containing 10 mg/L phosphinothricin (PPT) and Basta, respectively. The explants did not produce calli in the medium containing 200 mg/L kanamycin. The explants were cocultured with Agrobacterium tumefaciens for 2 days, and transformants were selected in MS basal medium containing 1.0 mg/L 2,4-D, 100 mg/L kanamycin and 500 mg/L carbenicillin. After the selection, embryogenic calli were induced and then somatic embryos were produced by subsequent subculturing. The somatic embryos were germiated on N6 basal medium containing 200 mg/L kanamycin and 500 mg/L carbenicillin. PCR analysis showed that nptII and bar genes were introduced in the Deoduck transformants. After the confirmation of bar gene expression in RNA and protein level, the transgenic Deoduck will be used to study the genetics of filial generation with the herbicide control gene, bar.gene, bar.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.484-488
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• 2001

STATs are proteins with a dual function: signal transducers in the cytoplasm and transcriptional activators in the nucleus. Among the six known major STATs (STAT1-6), STAT3 has been implicated in the widest range of signaling pathways that regulate cell growth and differentiation. As a part of our on-going investigation on the pleiotropic functions of STAT proteins, we examined the role of STAT3 as a molecular adaptor that links diverse cell growth signaling pathways. We observed that STAT3 can be specifically activated by multiple cytokines, such as IL-3, in transformed fibroblasts and IL-4 or IFN-$\gamma$ in primary immune cells, respectively. The selective activation of STAT3 in H-ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells is associated with an increased expression of phosphoserioe STAT3 in these cells, compared to the parental cells. Notably phosphoresine-STAT3 interacts with oncogenic ras, shown by immunoprecipitation and Western blots. The results suggest the role of STAT3 in rasinduced cellular transformation as a molecular adaptor linking the Jak/STAT and Ras/MAPK pathways. In primary immune cells, IL-4 and IFN-$\gamma$ each induced (in addition to the characteristic STAT6 and STAT1 homodimers) the formation of STAT3-containing complexes that bind to GAS probes, which correspond to the $Fe{\varepsilon}$ Rll and $Fe{\gamma}$ RI promoter sequences, respectively. Since IL-4 and IFN-$\gamma$ are known to counter-regulate the expression of these genes, the ability of STAT3 to form heterodimeric complexes with STAT6 or STAT1 implies its role in the fine-tuned control of genes that are regulated by IL-4 and IFN-$\gamma$.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2007

An efficient regeneration system was developed using leaf, petiole, and internode explants. Highly embryogenic callus was obtained following cultivation on MS basal nutrient supplemented with 2 $mg/{\ell}$ 2,4-D. Globular, heart, torpedo and cotyledon shaped somatic embryo were produced from the surface of embryogenic callus. Direct shoot regeneration without intermediate callus formation has been achieved on MS medium supplemented NAA and BAP. The percentage of response varies with different concentration of auxin and cytokinin treated individually or in combination. The best shoot regeneration response (54.28%) and number of shoot per explant (12.67) were achieved on the medium supplemented with 0.1 $mg/{\ell}$ NAA and 1 $mg/{\ell}$ BAP. The regenerated shoot transformed into young plant when cultured into elongation and root induction medium. More than 90% of in vitro propagated plants could survive when transferred to the greenhouse for acclimation. This optimized regeneration system can be used for rapid shoot proliferation and genetic transformation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1147-1150
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• 2013

Background: Cancer diagnostic biomarkers have a wide range of applications that include early detection of oral precancerous lesions and oral squamous cell carcinomas, and assessing the metastatic status of lesions. The interferon stimulated ISG15 gene encodes an ubiquitin-like protein, which conjugates to stabilize activation status of associated proteins. Hence a deregulated expression of ISG15 may promote carcinogenesis. Indeed overexpression of ISG15 has been observed in several cancers and hence it has been proposed as a strong candidate cancer diagnostic biomarker. Given the emerging relationship between malignant transformation and ISG15, we sought to examine the expression pattern of this gene in tumor biopsies of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues collected from Indian patients. Materials and Methods: Total RNA isolated from thirty oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue biopsy samples were subjected to semi-quantitative RT-PCR with ISG15 specific primers to elucidate the expression level. Results: Of the thirty oral squamous cell carcinomas that were analyzed, ISG15 expression was found in twenty four samples (80%). Twelve samples expressed low level of ISG15, six of them expressed moderately, while the rest of them expressed very high level of ISG15. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, the results show for the first time an overexpression of ISG15 in up to 80% of oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues collected from Indian patients. Hence ISG15 may be explored for the possibility of use as a high confidence diagnostic biomarker in oral cancers.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.25 no.3 s.82
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• pp.191-201
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• 1997

A mutant (HSMl) of Cryphonectria parasitica created during transformation reproduced the hypovirulent symptoms in virus-free wild type. Its phenomena have been proved with morphological marker such as reduced sporulation, pigmentation, and laccase production. In addition to the changes in phenotypic characteristics, down-regulations of Lac1, Crp1, Vir1 and Vir2 were also observed. The integration of transforming vector was confirmed and located within genome by marker rescuing. Vector integration occurred between two genes, Cpg2 and Cpg3, which resulted in the disruption of neither Cpg2 nor Cpg3. Both Cpg2 and Cpg3 genes, sized at 1.8 kb and 1.9 kb respectively, were rarely transcribed genes in Cryphonectria parasitica. Cpg2 expression was significantly overexpressed from 4 to 5 day old culture of both UEP1 and HSM1 while no differences were observed in Cpg3 expression. It appears that an aberration from the normal expression of Cpg2, not Cpg3, results in the hypovirulent symptoms in virus-free wild type.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 1997

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein that mediates the growth and differentiation of erythroid progenitors. In order to produce recombinant human erythropoietin in tobacco plant, the EPO genomic DNA (5.4 kb) was cloned into plant expression vectors, pBI$\Delta$GUS121, pBD$\Delta$GUS121 and pPEV-1, and introduced in Nicotiana tabacum (var. Xanthi) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. After selection on MS media containing kanamycin (Km), 10 Km-resistant plants were obtained per each construct. The correct integration of EPO genomic DNA in the genome of transgenic plant was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Northern blot showed that transcripts of 1.8 kb length were produced in leaves of the plants, but there was no difference of mRNA amount according to promoter number and 5'-untranslated sequence (UTS). The proteins obtained from leaves of transgenic plants were immunologically detected by Western blot using rabbit anti-human EPO polyclonal antibody. The expressed protein appeared as smaller band of apparent mass of 30 kDa as compared to the EPO protein from human urine (37 kDa), suggesting that the modification (glycosylation) system in tobacco plant might be different from that of mammalian cells.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.339-345
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• 2007

Field performance and morphological characterization was conducted on seven transgenic lines of Codonopsis lanceolata expressing ${\gamma}-TMT$ gene. The shoots were obtained from leaf explants after co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tume-faciens strain LBA 4404 harboring a binary vector pYBI 121 that carried genes encoding ${\gamma}-Tocopherol$ methyltransferase gene (${\gamma}-TMT$) and a neomycin phosphotransferase II gene (npt II) for kanamycin resistance. The transgenic plants were transferred to a green house for acclimation. Integration of T-DNA into the $T_0\;and\;T_1$ generation of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata genome was confirmed by the polymerase chain reaction and southern blot analysis. The progenies of transgenic plants showed phenotypic differences within the different lines and with relative to control plants. When grown in field, the transgenic plants in general exhibited increased fertility, significant improvement in the shoot weight, root weight, shoot height and rachis length with relation to the control plants. However, all seven independently derived transgenic lines produced normal flower with respect to its shape, size, color and seeds number at its maturity. Indicating that the addition of a selectable marker gene in the plant genome does not effect on seed germination and agronomic performance of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata. $T_1$ progenies of these plants were obtained and evaluated together with control plant in a field experiment. Overall, the agronomic performance of $T_1$ progenies of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata showed superior to that of the seed derived non-transgenic plant. In this study, we report on the morphological variation and agronomic performance of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata developed by Agrobacterium transformation.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.127-133
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• 2011

The Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL) is one of the major genomic resources for human genetics and immunological studies. Use of LCLs is currently extended to pharmacogenetic studies to investigate variations in human gene expression as well as drug responses between individuals. We evaluated four common internal controls for gene expression analysis of selected hematopoietic transcriptional regulatory genes between B cells and LCLs. In this study, the expression pattern analyses showed that TBP (TATA box-binding protein) is a suitable internal control for normalization, whereas GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) is not a good internal control for gene expression analyses of hematopoiesis-related genes between B cells and LCLs at different subculture passages. Using the TBP normalizer, we found significant gene expression changes in selected hematopoietic transcriptional regulatory genes (downregulation of RUNX1, RUNX3, CBFB, TLE1, and NOTCH2 ; upregulation of MSC and PLAGL2) between B cells and LCLs at different passage numbers. These results suggest that these hematopoietic transcriptional regulatory genes are potential cellular targets of EBV infection, contributing to EBV-mediated B-cell transformation and LCL immortalization.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.105-116
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• 2011

Transgenic zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) expressing the bar gene inserted in the plant genome has been generated previously through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. The GM zoysiagrass (event: JG21) permits efficient management of weed control of widely cultivated zoysiagrass fields, reducing the frequency and cost of using various herbicides for weed control. Now we have carried out the environmental risk assessment of JG21 prior to applying to the governmental regulatory agency for the commercial release of the GM turf grass outside of test plots. The morphological phenotypes, molecular analysis, weediness and gene flow from each test plot of JG21 and wild-type zoysiagrasses have been evaluated by selectively analyzing environmental effects. There were no marked differences in morphological phenotypes between JG21 and wild-type grasses. The JG21 retained its stable integration in the host plant in T1 generation, exhibiting a 3:1 segregation ratio according to the Mendelian genetics. We confirmed the copy number (1) of JG21 by using Southern blot analysis, as the transgenic plants were tolerant to ammonium glufosinate throughout the culture period. From cross-fertilization and gene flow studies, we found a 9% cross-pollination rate at the center of JG21 field and 0% at distances over 3 m from the field. The JG21 and wild-type zoysiagrass plants are not considered "weed" because zoysiagrasses generally are not dominant and do not spread into weedy areas easily. We assessed the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of the transgene DNA to soil microorganisms from JG21 and wild-type plants. The bar gene was not detected from the total genomic DNA extracted from each rhizosphere soil of GM and non-GM Zoysia grass fields. Through the monitoring of JG21 transgene's unintentional release into the environment, we found no evidence for either pollen mediated gene flow of zoysiagrass or seed dispersal from the test field within a 3 km radius of the natural habitat.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.305-311
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• 1997

Bacillus thuringiensis, a gram-positive soil bacterium, is characterized by its ability to produce crystalline inclusions during sporulation. The crystal proteins exhibit a highly specific insecticidal activity. An insecticidal crystal protein (ICP), Cry II A, is specifically toxic to both lepidopteran and dipteran insects. In this study, tobacco plants transformed by the cry II A gene have been generated. The Cry II A crystal protein was purified from E. coli JM103 harboring cry II A gene by differential solubility. The activated Cry II A was prepared by tryptic digestion. The purified protoxin (70 kDa) and the activated toxin (50 kDa) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. To generate the transgenic tobacco having cry II A gene, the cry II A gene was subcloned to a plant expression vector, pSRL2, having two CaMV 35S promoters. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into tobacco (N. tabacum var. Petit Havana SR1) by Agrobacterium-mediated leaf disc transformation. Through the regeneration, six putative transgenic tobacco plants were obtained and three transformants were confirmed by Southern blot analysis. It has been found that one plant had single copy of cry II A gene, another had two copies of the gene, and the third had a truncated gene. After the immunochemical confirmation of cry II A expression in plants, the transgenic tobacco plants will be used to study the genetics of future generation with the insecticidal crystal protein gene cry II A.