• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.125-125
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• 2003

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 14-year ginseng root. Partial sequences were obtained from 2,975 clone. The ESTs could be clustered into 1,991 (70.2%) non-redundant groups. Similarity search of the non-redundant ESTs against public non-redundant databases of both protein and DNA indicated that 1,553 groups show similarity to genes of blown function. These ESTs clones were divided into sixteen categories depending upon gene function. The most abundant transcripts were ribonuclease 1 (67) and ribonuclease 2 (65). Our extensive EST analysis of genes expressed in 14-year ginseng root not only contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of genome expression patterns in root organ but also adds data to the reperoire of all genomic genes.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2014

The rice belonging to Oryza sativa is not only has significant economic importance, for it is the major source of nutrition for about 3 billion all around the world. But also plays a vital role as a model organism, because it has a number of advantages to be a model plant, such as efficient transformation system and small genome size. Many methods and techniques have been conducted to attempt to distinguish different Oryza sativa species, such as amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), simple sequence repeat (SSR) and so on. However, studies using sequence analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS), a region of ribosomal RNA has not been reported until now. This study was undertaken with an aim to understand the phylogenetic relationships among sixteen isolates of Oryza sativa collected from abroad and fifteen isolates collected from Korea, using ribosomal RNA (rRNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences to compare the phylogeny relationships among different Oryza sativa species. The size variation obtained among sequenced nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) ITS region ranged from 515bp to 1000bp. The highest interspecific genetic distance (GD) was found between Sfejare 45 (FR12) and Anapuruna (FR15). Taebong isolate showed the least dissimilarity of the ITS region sequence with other thirty isolates. This consequence will help us further understanding molecular diversification in intra-species population and their phylogenetic analysis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.623-632
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• 2006

To find potential targets of novel antimicrobial agents, we identified essential genes of Staphylococcus aureus N315 by using comparative genomics and allele replacement mutagenesis. By comparing the genome of S. aureus N315 with those of Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, a total of 481 candidate target genes with similar amino acid sequences with at least three other species by >40% sequence identity were selected. of 481 disrupted candidate genes, 122 genes were identified as essential genes for growth of S. aureus N315. Of these, 51 essential genes were those not identified in any bacterial species, and 24 genes encode proteins of unknown function. Seventeen genes were determined as non-essential although they were identified as essential genes in other strain of S. aureus and other species. We found no significant difference among essential genes between Streptococcus pneumoniae and S. aureus with regard to cellular function.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1350-1358
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• 2012

Viral pathogens, alongside other pathogens, have major effects on crustacean aquaculture. Hepatopancreatic parvovirus (HPV) is an emerging virus in the shrimp industry and has been detected in shrimp farms worldwide. The HPV genome has greater diversity than other shrimp viruses owing to its wide host range and geographical distribution. Therefore, developing diagnostic tools is essential to detect even small copy numbers from the target region of native HPV isolates. We have developed two easy to use quantitative real-time PCR kits, called Green Star and Dual Star, which contain all of the necessary components for real-time PCR, including HPV primers, using the primers obtained from the sequences of HPV isolates from Korea, and analyzed their specificity, efficiency, and reproducibility. These two kits could detect from 1 to $1{\times}10^9$ copies of cloned HPV DNA. The minimum detection limits obtained from HPV-infected shrimp were $7.74{\times}10^1$ and $9.06{\times}10^1$ copies in the Green Star and Dual Star assay kits, respectively. These kits can be used for rapid, sensitive, and efficient screening for HPV isolates from Korea before the introduction of postlarval stages into culture ponds, thereby decreasing the incidence of early development of the disease.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1101-1108
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• 2011

The rise in global energy demand has prompted researches on developing strategies for transforming coal into a cleaner fuel. This requires isolation of microbes with the capability to degrade complex coal into simpler substrates to support methanogenesis in the coal beds. In this study, aerobic bacteria were isolated from an Indian coal bed that can solubilize and utilize coal as the sole source of carbon. The six bacterial isolates capable of growing on coal agar medium were identified on the basis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences, which clustered into two groups; Group I isolates belonged to the genus Rhizobium, whereas Group II isolates were identified as Chelatococcus species. Out of the 4 methods of whole genome fingerprinting (ERIC-PCR, REP-PCR, BOX-PCR, and RAPD), REP-PCR showed maximum differentiation among strains within each group. Only Chelatococcus strains showed the ability to solubilize and utilize coal as the sole source of carbon. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence and the ability to utilize different carbon sources, the Chelatococcus strains showed maximum similarity to C. daeguensis. This is the first report showing occurrence of Rhizobium and Chelatococcus strains in an Indian coal bed, and the ability of Chelatococcus isolates to solubilize and utilize coal as a sole source of carbon for their growth.

• Mycobiology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.373-382
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• 2020

Laccases (EC 1.10.3.2), a group of multi-copper oxidases (MCOs), play multiple biological functions and widely exist in many species. Fungal laccases have been extensively studied for their industrial applications, however, there was no database specially focused on fungal laccases. To provide a comparative genomics platform for fungal laccases, we have developed a comparative genomics platform for laccases and MCOs (http://laccase.riceblast.snu.ac. kr/). Based on protein domain profiles of characterized sequences, 3,571 laccases were predicted from 690 genomes including 253 fungi. The number of putative laccases and their properties exhibited dynamic distribution across the taxonomy. A total of 505 laccases from 68 genomes were selected and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. As a result, four clades comprised of nine subclades were phylogenetically grouped by their putative functions and analyzed at the sequence level. Our work would provide a workbench for putative laccases mainly focused on the fungal kingdom as well as a new perspective in the identification and classification of putative laccases and MCOs.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.28.1-28.6
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• 2018

Due to the increasing interest in synonymous codons, several codon bias-related terms were introduced. As one measure of them, the tRNA adaptation index (tAI) was invented about a decade ago. The tAI is a measure of translational efficiency for a gene and is calculated based on the abundance of intracellular tRNA and the binding strength between a codon and a tRNA. The index has been widely used in various fields of molecular evolution, genetics, and pharmacology. Afterwards, an improved version of the index, named specific tRNA adaptation index (stAI), was developed by adapting tRNA copy numbers in species. Although a subsequently developed webserver (stAIcalc) provided tools that calculated stAI values, it was not available to access pre-calculated values. In addition to about 100 species in stAIcalc, we calculated stAI values for whole coding sequences in 148 species. To enable easy access to this index, we constructed a novel web database, named STADIUM (Species-specific tRNA adaptive index compendium). STADIUM provides not only the stAI value of each gene but also statistics based on pathway-based classification. The database is expected to help researchers who have interests in codon optimality and the role of synonymous codons. STADIUM is freely available at http://stadium.pmrc.re.kr.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2021

Resistance to diseases caused by turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) in crop species of the family Brassicaceae has been studied extensively, especially in members of the genus Brassica. The variation in response observed on resistant and susceptible plants inoculated with different isolates of TuMV is due to a combination of the variation in the plant resistome and the variation in the virus genome. Here, we review the breadth of this variation, both at the level of variation in TuMV sequences, with one eye towards the phylogeny and evolution of the virus, and another eye towards the nature of the various responses observed in susceptible vs. different types of resistance responses. The analyses of the viral genomes allowed comparisons of pathotyped viruses on particular indicator hosts to produce clusters of host types, while the inclusion of phylogeny data and geographic location allowed the formation of the host/geographic cluster groups, the derivation of both of which are presented here. Various studies on resistance determination in particular brassica crops sometimes led to further genetic studies, in many cases to include the mapping of genes, and in some cases to the actual identification of the genes. In addition to summarizing the results from such studies done in brassica crops, as well as in radish and Arabidopsis (the latter as a potential source of candidate genes for brassica and radish), we also summarize work done using nonconventional approaches to obtaining resistance to TuMV.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.493-500
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• 2021

Argyrins are a group of anticancer and antibacterial octapeptide bioactive substances isolated from myxobacteria. In this study, we showed that the myxobacterium Archangium gephyra MEHO_001, isolated in Korea, produces argyrins A and B. MEHO_001 cells tend to aggregate when cultured in liquid media. Hence, a dispersion mutant, MEHO_002, was isolated from MEHO_001. The MEHO_002 strain produced approximately 3.5 times more argyrins than that produced by the wild-type strain MEHO_001. We determined the whole-genome sequence of A. gephyra MEHO_002 and identified a putative argyrin biosynthetic gene cluster comprising five genes, arg1-arg5, encoding non-ribosomal peptide synthases and tailoring enzymes. Inactivation of arg2 by plasmid insertion disrupted argyrin production. The amino acid sequences of the proteins encoded by arg2-arg5 of A. gephyra MEHO_002 were 90-98% similar to those encoded by the argyrin biosynthetic genes of Cystobacter sp. SBCb004, an argyrin-producing myxobacterium with identical domain organization.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.41.1-41.10
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• 2021

In addition to mutations and copy number alterations, gene fusions are commonly identified in cancers. In thyroid cancer, fusions of important cancer-related genes have been commonly reported; however, extant panels do not cover all clinically important gene fusions. In this study, we aimed to develop a custom RNA-based sequencing panel to identify the key fusions in thyroid cancer. Our ThyChase panel was designed to detect 87 types of gene fusion. As quality control of RNA sequencing, five housekeeping genes were included in this panel. When we applied this panel for the analysis of fusions containing reference RNA (HD796), three expected fusions (EML4-ALK, CCDC6-RET, and TPM3-NTRK1) were successfully identified. We confirmed the fusion breakpoint sequences of the three fusions from HD796 by Sanger sequencing. Regarding the limit of detection, this panel could detect the target fusions from a tumor sample containing a 1% fusion-positive tumor cellular fraction. Taken together, our ThyChase panel would be useful to identify gene fusions in the clinical field.