• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.140-145
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• 2012

The flowering locus T (FT) gene, of which expression will be controlled at high temperature by heat shock promoter (it printed as to HSproFT), was introduced into spray-type chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura) 2 cultivars ('Pink PangPang' and 'Pink Pride' by co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58C1 harboring pCAMBIA2300 containing the HSproFT gene. After leaf segments of the 2 cultivars were infected with the A. tumafaciens with C58C1 as explants, shoots were regenerated from the explants cultured on the $1^{st}$ selection medium (MS basal salts + 1.0 mg/L BA, 0.5 mg/L IAA + 10 mg/L kanamycin + 0.7% plant agar, pH 5.8). The shoots were transferred into the $2^{nd}$ selection medium (MS basal salts + 1.0 mg/L BA, 0.5 mg/L IAA + 20 mg/L kanamycin + 0.7% plant agar, pH 5.8). One hundred seventeen plantlets from 'Pink PangPang' and 5 ones from 'Pink Pride' were confirmed as transformants by PCR analysis. Twenty six of the transformants and non-transformants were acclimatized and established well in a green house. Eights of 26 transgenic lines showed flower bud 1.7~10 days earlier than nontransgenic plants, and 24 of them flowered 1~6 days earlier than non- transgenic plants. The shape and color of flower of all HSproFT-transgenic lines were not different with those of non- transgenic plants.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2012

Bee venom (BV) has been used in medicine to treat a variety of diseases including arthritis, rheumatism, and various cancers. Recent reports indicate that BV has anti-angiogenic effects, but the precise molecular mechanism underlying the effects of BV against colorectal cancer remains to be elucidated. We examined the effects of BV and its major components (melittin and apamin) on tumor angiogenesis and found that BV significantly decreased protein levels of hypoxia-inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}$), an important factor involved in angiogenesis and tumor progression, in human colorectal carcinoma HCT116 cells. BV also suppressed the transcription of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ under hypoxia, leading to a decrease in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a major target gene of HIF-$1{\alpha}$. We also found that these effects were mainly elicited by apamin, but not melittin. BV specifically inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 without changing the total levels of this protein, but had no effect on kinases of p38/JNK and AKT. Our results suggest that BV may inhibit human colorectal cancer progression and angiogenesis by inhibiting HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and VEGF expression, thereby providing a novel potential mechanism for the anticancer action of BV.