• Toxicological Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

As the frequency and the intensity of so called Asian dust (AD) events have increased, public concerns about the adverse health effects has spiked sharply over the last two decades. Despite the recent reports on the correlation between AD events and the risk for cardiovascular and respiratory disease, the nature of the toxicity and the degree of the risk are yet largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the dichloromethane extract of AD (AD-X) and that of urban dust (NAD-X) collected during a non-AD period on gene expression in HL-60 cells using Illumina Sentrix HumanRef-8 Expression BeadChips. Global changes in gene expression were analyzed after 24 h of incubation with 50 or 100 ${\mu}g$/ml AD-X and NAD-X. By one-way analysis of variance (p < 0.05) and Benjamini-Hochberg multiple testing correction for false discovery rate of the results, 573 and 297 genes were identified as AD-X- and NAD-X-responsive, respectively. The genes were classified into three groups by Venn diagram analysis of their expression profile, i.e., 290 AD-X-specific, 14 NAD-X-specific, and 283 overlapping genes. Quantitative realtime PCR confirmed the changes in the expression levels of the selected genes. The expression patterns of five genes, namely SORL1, RABEPK, DDIT4, AZU1, and NUDT1 differed significantly between the two groups. Following rigorous validation process, these genes may provide information in developing biomarker for AD exposure.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7935-7941
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to implement massive parallel sequencing (MPS) technology in clinical genetics testing. We developed and tested an amplicon-based method for resequencing the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes on an Illumina MiSeq to identify disease-causing mutations in patients with hereditary breast or ovarian cancer (HBOC). The coding regions of BRCA1 and BRCA2 were resequenced in 96 HBOC patient DNA samples obtained from different sample types: peripheral blood leukocytes, whole blood drops dried on paper, and buccal wash epithelia. A total of 16 random DNA samples were characterized using standard Sanger sequencing and applied to optimize the variant calling process and evaluate the accuracy of the MPS-method. The best bioinformatics workflow included the filtration of variants using GATK with the following cut-offs: variant frequency >14%, coverage ($>25{\times}$) and presence in both the forward and reverse reads. The MPS method had 100% sensitivity and 94.4% specificity. Similar accuracy levels were achieved for DNA obtained from the different sample types. The workflow presented herein requires low amounts of DNA samples (170 ng) and is cost-effective due to the elimination of DNA and PCR product normalization steps.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7443-7447
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• 2014

Aim: Little is known about the genetic associations with Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) risk in non-Caucasian populations, in which BCC is rare, as in Korea. We here conducted a pilot genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 12 patients and 48 standard controls. Method: A total of 263,511 SNPs were analyzed with the Illumina HumanOmni1 Quad v1.0 DNA Analysis BeadChip for cases and Korean HapMap 570K for controls. Results: SNP-based analyses, based on the allele genetic model with adjustment for sex and age showed suggestive associations with BCC risk for 6 SNPs with a P-value (P < 0.0005). However, these associations were not statistically significant after Bonferroni correction: rs1040503, rs2216491, rs13407683, rs4751072, rs9891263, and rs1368474. In addition, results from gene-based analyses showed suggestive associations with BCC risk for 33 candidate genes with a P-value (P <0.0005). Consistent with previous GWAS and replication studies in Caucasian populations, PADI6, RHOU and SLC45A2 were identified as having null associations with BCC (P > 0.05), likely due to the smaller sample size. Conclusions: Although this was a small-scale negative study, to our knowledge, we have conducted the first GWAS for BCC risk in an Asian population. Further large studies in non-Caucasian populations are required to achieve statistical significance and confirm these findings.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.535-543
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• 2014

Backcross breeding is the method most commonly used to introgress new traits into elite lines. Conventional backcross breeding requires at least 4-5 generations to recover the genomic background of the recurrent parent. Marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) represents a new breeding approach that can substantially reduce breeding time and cost. For successful MABC, highly polymorphic markers with known positions in each chromosome are essential. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers have many advantages over other marker systems for MABC due to their high abundance and amenability to genotyping automation. To facilitate MABC in hot pepper (Capsicum annuum), we utilized expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to develop SNP markers in this study. For SNP identification, we used Bukang $F_1$-hybrid pepper ESTs to prepare a reference sequence through de novo assembly. We performed large-scale transcriptome sequencing of eight accessions using the Illumina Genome Analyzer (IGA) IIx platform by Solexa, which generated small sequence fragments of about 90-100 bp. By aligning each contig to the reference sequence, 58,151 SNPs were identified. After filtering for polymorphism, segregation ratio, and lack of proximity to other SNPS or exon/intron boundaries, a total of 1,910 putative SNPs were chosen and positioned to a pepper linkage map. We further selected 412 SNPs evenly distributed on each chromosome and primers were designed for high throughput SNP assays and tested using a genetic diversity panel of 27 Capsicum accessions. The SNP markers clearly distinguished each accession. These results suggest that the SNP marker set developed in this study will be valuable for MABC, genetic mapping, and comparative genome analysis.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.274-281
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• 2019

Pistacia chinensis Bunge has not only been used as a medicinal plant to treat various illnesses but its young shoots and leaves have also been used as vegetables. In addition, P. chinensis is used as a rootstock for Pistacia vera (pistachio). Here, the transcriptome of P. chinensis was sequenced to enrich genetic resources and identify secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways using Illumina RNA-seq methods. De novo assembly resulted in 18,524 unigenes with an average length of 873 bp from 19 million RNA-seq reads. A Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotation tool assigned KO (KEGG orthology) numbers to 6,553 (36.2%) unigenes, among which 4,061 unigenes were mapped into 391 different metabolic pathways. For terpenoid backbone and carotenoid biosynthesis pathways, 44 and 22 unigenes encode enzymes corresponding to 30 and 16 entries, respectively. Twenty-two unigenes encode proteins for 16 entries of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. As for the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways, 63 and 24 unigenes were homologous to 17 and 14 entry proteins, respectively. Mining of simple sequence repeat identified 2,599 simple sequence repeats from P. chinensis unigenes. The results of the present study provide a valuable resource for in-depth studies on comparative and functional genomics to unravel the underlying mechanisms of the medicinal properties of Pistacia L.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.715-722
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• 2013

Heugu (Korea Black Cattle) is one of the indigenous cattle breeds in Korea; however there has been severe lack of genomic studies on the breed. In this study, we report the first whole genome resequencing of Heugu at higher sequence coverage using Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. More than 153.6 Giga base pairs sequence was obtained, of which 97% of the reads were mapped to the bovine reference sequence assembly (UMD 3.1). The number of non-redundantly mapped sequence reads corresponds to approximately 28.9-fold coverage across the genome. From these data, we identified a total of over six million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), of which 29.4% were found to be novel using the single nucleotide polymorphism database build 137. Extensive annotation was performed on all the detected SNPs, showing that most of SNPs were located in intergenic regions (70.7%), which is well corresponded with previous studies. Of the total SNPs, we identified substantial numbers of non-synonymous SNPs (13,979) in 5,999 genes, which could potentially affect meat quality traits in cattle. These results provide genome-wide SNPs that can serve as useful genetic tools and as candidates in searches for phenotype-altering DNA difference implicated with meat quality traits in cattle. The importance of this study can be further pronounced with the first whole genome sequencing of the valuable local genetic resource to be used in further genomic comparison studies with diverse cattle breeds.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2012

Objectives : Urocanase domain containing 1 (UROC1) has never been studied in prior studies on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). UROC1 causes urocanic aciduria, one of the symptoms of which is mental retardation. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the UROC1 gene and ASDs in a Korean population. Methods : A total of 258 control and 214 patients with ASD were used as subjects of this study. SNPs selected from UROC1 were genotyped using Illumina Golden-Gate Genotyping assay with VeraCode$^{(R)}$ technology. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS and Plink software. Results : We found no association of the 12 SNPs in the UROC1 gene with ASDs in a Korean population. Conclusion : Our study suggests that the 12 SNPs (11 SNPs and 1 SNP in the intron and 3'UTR region, respectively) in the UROC1 were not associated with ASDs in a Korean population. Further study on the exon region of UROC1 is needed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1063-1072
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• 2012

Effective population size ($N_e$) is an important measure to understand population structure and genetic variability in animal species. The objective of this study was to estimate $N_e$ in Sapsaree dogs using the information of rate of inbreeding and genomic data that were obtained from pedigree and the Illumina CanineSNP20 (20K) and CanineHD (170K) beadchips, respectively. Three SNP panels, i.e. Sap134 (20K), Sap60 (170K), and Sap183 (the combined panel from the 20K and 170K), were used to genotype 134, 60, and 183 animal samples, respectively. The $N_e$ estimates based on inbreeding rate ranged from 16 to 51 about five to 13 generations ago. With the use of SNP genotypes, two methods were applied for $N_e$ estimation, i.e. pair-wise $r^2$ values using a simple expectation of distance and $r^2$ values under a non-linear regression with respective distances assuming a finite population size. The average pair-wise $N_e$ estimates across generations using the pairs of SNPs that were located within 5 Mb in the Sap134, Sap60, and Sap183 panels, were 1,486, 1,025 and 1,293, respectively. Under the non-linear regression method, the average $N_e$ estimates were 1,601, 528, and 1,129 for the respective panels. Also, the point estimates of past $N_e$ at 5, 20, and 50 generations ago ranged between 64 to 75, 245 to 286, and 573 to 646, respectively, indicating a significant $N_e$ reduction in the last several generations. These results suggest a strong necessity for minimizing inbreeding through the application of genomic selection or other breeding strategies to increase $N_e$, so as to maintain genetic variation and to avoid future bottlenecks in the Sapsaree population.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1672-1679
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• 2013

Linkage disequilibrium between markers or genetic variants underlying interesting traits affects many genomic methodologies. In many genomic methodologies, the effective population size ($N_e$) is important to assess the genetic diversity of animal populations. In this study, dairy cattle were genotyped using the Illumina BoviveHD Genotyping BeadChips for over 777,000 SNPs located across all autosomes, mitochondria and sex chromosomes, and 70,000 autosomal SNPs were selected randomly for the final analysis. We characterized more accurate linkage disequilibrium in a sample of 96 dairy cattle producing milk in Korea. Estimated linkage disequilibrium was relatively high between closely linked markers (>0.6 at 10 kb) and decreased with increasing distance. Using formulae that related the expected linkage disequilibrium to $N_e$, and assuming a constant actual population size, $N_e$ was estimated to be approximately 122 in this population. Historical $N_e$, calculated assuming linear population growth, was suggestive of a rapid increase $N_e$ over the past 10 generations, and increased slowly thereafter. Additionally, we corrected the genomic relationship structure per chromosome in calculating $r^2$ and estimated $N_e$. The observed $N_e$ based on $r^2$ corrected by genomics relationship structure can be rationalized using current knowledge of the history of the dairy cattle breeds producing milk in Korea.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1610-1616
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• 2020

Objective: This study was to evaluate the effect of husbandry systems and strains on cecum microbial diversity of Jingyang chickens under the same dietary conditions. Methods: A total of 320 laying hens (body weight, 1.70±0.15 kg; 47 weeks old) were randomly allocated to one of the four treatments: i) Silver-feathered hens in enrichment cages (SEC) with an individual cage (70×60×75 cm), ii) Silver-feathered hens in free range (SFR) with the stocking density of 1.5 chickens per ten square meters, iii) Gold-feathered hens in enrichment cages (GEC), iv) Gold-feathered hens in free range (GFR). The experiment lasted 8 weeks and the cecum fecal samples were collected for 16S rDNA high throughput sequencing at the end of experiment. Results: i) The core microbiota was composed of Bacteroidetes (49% to 60%), Firmicutes (21% to 32%) and Proteobacteria (2% to 4%) at the phylum level. ii) The core bacteria were Bacteroides (26% to 31%), Rikenellaceae (9% to 16%), Parabacteroides (2% to 5%) and Lachnoclostridium (2% to 6%) at the genus level. iii) The indexes of operational taxonomic unit, Shannon, Simpson and observed species were all higher in SFR group than in SEC group while in GEC group than in GFR group, with SFR group showing the greatest diversity of cecum microorganisms among the four groups. iv) The clustering result was consistent with the strain classification, with a similar composition of cecum bacteria in the two strains of laying hens. Conclusion: The core microbiota were not altered by husbandry systems or strains. The free-range system increased the diversity of cecal microbes only for silver feathered hens. However, the cecum microbial composition was similar in two strain treatments under the same dietary conditions.