• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 1998

The pathogenic potential of Acnnthamoebc strains was evaluated by experimental infection of murine AIDS (MAIDS) model. C57BL/6 mice were induced to immunocompromized state by intraperitoneal injection of LP-BM5 MuLV and revealed the typical splenomegalty and Iymphatic enlargement of axillar and inguinal regios on necropsy 4 weeks after viral infection. Although there was no significant difference in the mortality rate of MAIDS mouse according to the culture temperature, it was very different in the mortality rate from strain to strain of Accnthnmoebc. A. henIHi OC-3A strain isolated from the brain of a GAE patient showed !he highest mortality rate and A. culbertsoni A-1 strain from tissue culture was the second. KA/S3 and KA/S2 strains isolated from soil revealed very low virulence. The mice infected by intranasal inoculation of Acanthnmoebc showed relatively chronic course than intravenous inoculation. The gross findings of lungs and brains from infected mice were variable among mice. On the microscopic observations, the lungs showed much more severe inflammation and necrosis than the brains microscopically. This MAIDS model would be useful to study the opportunistic protozoan infections of AIDS patients. In the light of these results. the pathogenic potential and the virulence of Acnnthamoebo may be determined genetically.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.32-32
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• 2019

Mutation breeding is the useful tool to improve agronomic traits in various crop species. Soybean is most important crop and is rich in protein and oil contents. Despite of the importance as economic value and various genetic resource of soybean, there have been limited studies of genetic relationship among mutant resources through radiation breeding. In this study, the agronomical phenotype for selecting various genetic resources was evaluated in 528 soybean mutant lines. As a result, 210 soybean mutants with their original cultivars were selected with various traits. We named 210 selected lines as Mutant Diversity Pool (MDP). The genetic diversity and the relationship of the MDP were investigated using TRAP and TE-TRAP markers. In TRAP analysis, sixteen primer combination (PC)s were used and a total of 551 fragments were amplified. The highest (84.00%) and the lowest (32.35%) polymorphism levels were showed in PC MIR157B+Ga5 and B14G14B+Ga3, respectively. The mean of PIC values was 0.15 ranging from 0.07 in B14G14B+Sa12 to 0.23 in MIR157B+Sa4. Phylogenetic and population structure analysis indicated that the 210 MDP lines dispersed to four groups among the wild types and their mutants. The highest genetic diversity among populations was observed between lines Paldal and 523-7 (Fst=0.409), whereas the lowest genetic diversity was between population KAS360-22 and 94seori (Fst=0.065). AMOVA showed 11.583 (21.0%) and 43.532 (79.0%) variations in inter and intra mutant population, respectively. Overall, the genetic similarity of each intra mutant populations was closer than that of inter mutant population. A total of 408 fragments were amplified in the 210 MDP using twelve PCs of TE-TRAP markers that were obtained from a combination of three TIR sequence of transposable elements (MITE-stowaway; M-s, MITE-tourist; M-t, PONG). The highest (77.42%) and the lowest (56.00%) polymorphism levels were showed in PONG+Sa4 and PONG+Sa12, respectively. The mean of PIC values was 0.15 ranging from 0.09 in M-s+Sa4 and M-s+Ga5 to 0.21 in M-t+Ga5. AMOVA of M-s showed 2.209 (20%) and 8.957 (80%) variations in inter and intra mutant population, respectively. AMOVA of M-t showed 2.766 (18%) and 12.385 (82%) variations in inter and intra mutant population, respectively. AMOVA of PONG showed 3.151 (29%) and 7.646 (71%) variations in inter and intra mutant population, respectively. According to our study, the PONG had higher inter mutant population and lower intra mutant population. This mean was that for aspect of radiation sensitivity, M-s and M-t showed higher mobility than that of PONG. Our results suggest that the TRAP and the TE-TRAP markers may be useful for assessing the genetic diversity and relationship among soybean MDP and help to improve our knowledge of soybean mutation/radiation breeding.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.58.1-59
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• 2021

Exploration of asteroids' internal structure is essential for understanding their evolutional history. It also provides a fundamental information about the history of coalescence and collision of the solar system. Among several models of the internal structures, the rubble-pile model, confirmed by the near-Earth asteroid (25143) Itokawa by Hayabusa mission [1], is now widely regarded as the most common to asteroids with size ranging from 200 m to 10 km [2]. On the contrary, monolithic and core-mantle structures are also possible for small asteroids [3]. It is, however, still challenging to look through the interior of a target object using remote-sensing devices. In this presentation, we introduce our ongoing research conducted at Seoul National and propose an idea to infer the internal structure of Apophis using available instruments. Itokawa's research provides an important benchmark for Apophis exploration because both asteroids have similar size and composition [4][5]. We have conducted research on Itokawa's evolution in terms of collision and space weathering. Space weathering is the surface alteration process caused by solar wind implantation and micrometeorite bombardment [6]. Meanwhile, resurfacing via a collision acts as a counter-process of space weathering by exposing fresh materials under the matured layer and lower the overall degree of space weathering. Therefore, the balance of these two processes determine the space weathering degrees of the asteroid. We focus on the impact evidence on the boulder surface and found that space weathering progresses in only 100-10,000 years and modifies the surface optical properties (Jin & Ishiguro, KAS 2020 Fall Meeting). It is important to note that the timescale is significantly shorter than the Itokawa's age, suggesting that the asteroid can be totally processed by space weathering. Accordingly, our result triggers a further discussion about why Itokawa indicates a moderately fresh spectrum (Sq-type denotes less matured than S-type). For example, Itokawa's smooth terrains show a weaker degree of space weathering than other S-type asteroids [7]. We conjecture that the global seismic shaking caused by collisions with >1 mm-sized interplanetary dust particles induces granular convection, which hinders the progression of space weathering [8]. Note that the efficiency of seismic wave propagation is strongly dependent on the internal structure of the asteroid. Finally, we consider possible approaches to investigate Apophis's internal structure. The first idea is studying the space weathering age, as conducted for Itokawa. If Apophis indicates a younger age, the internal structure would have more voids [9]. In addition, the 2029 close encounter with Earth provides a rare natural opportunity to witness the contrast between before and after the event. If the asteroid exhibits a slight change in shape and space weathering degree, one can determine the physical structure of the internal materials (e.g., rubble-pile monolithic, thick or thin regolith layer, the cohesion of the materials). We will also consider a possible science using a seismometer.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2010

Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) are composed of 8-12 carbon atoms, and are found in coconut, cuphea, and palm kernel oil. MCFA were introduced into clinical nutrition in the 1950s for dietary treatment of malabsorption syndromes because of their rapid absorption and solubility. Recently, MCFA have been applied to Gastrointestinal Permeation Enhancement Technology (GIPET), which is one of the most important parts in drug delivery system in therapeutics. Therefore, to accumulate the MCFA in seed oil of rapeseed, much effort has been conducted by classical or molecular breeding. Laurate can be successfully accumulated up to 60 mol% in the seed oil of rapeseed by the expression of bay thioesterase (Uc FatB1) alone or crossed with a line over-expressing the coconut lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase (LPAAT) under the control of a napin seed-storage protein promoter. Also, caprylate and caprate were obtained 7 mol% and 29 mol%, respectively, from plants over-expressing of the medium-chain specific thioesterase (Ch FatB2) alone or together with the chain-length-specific condensing enzyme (Ch KASIV). Despite the success of some research in utilizing parallel classical and molecular breeding to produce MCFA, commercially available seed oils have for the most part, not been realized. Recent research in the field of developing MCFA-enriched transgenic plants has established that there is no single rate-limiting step in the production of the target fatty acids. The purpose of this article is to review some of the recent progress in understanding the mechanism and regulation of MCFA production in seed oil of rapeseed.