• BMB Reports
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• 제39권5호
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• pp.626-635
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• 2006

Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase (LPAAT) is an intrinsic membrane protein that catalyzes the synthesis of phosphatidic acid (PA) from lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). It is well known that LPAAT is involved in lipid biosynthesis, while its role in tumour progression has been of emerging interest in the last few years. To date, seven members of the LPAAT gene family have been found in human. Here we report a novel LPAAT member, designated as LPAAT-theta, which was 2728 base pairs in length and contained an open reading frame (ORF) encoding 434 amino acids. The LPAAT-theta gene consisted of 12 exons and 11 introns, and mapped to chromosome 4q21.23. LPAAT-theta was ubiquitously expressed in 18 human tissues by RT-PCR analysis. Subcellular localization of LPAAT-theta-EGFP fusion protein revealed that LPAAT-theta was distributed primarily in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of COS-7 cells. Furthermore, we found that the overexpression of LPAAT-theta can induce mTOR-dependent p70S6K phosphorylation on Thr389 and 4EBP1 phosphorylation on Ser65 in HEK293T cells.

• 한국축산식품학회지
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• 제37권6호
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• pp.926-930
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• 2017

High-quality meat is of great economic importance to the pig industry. The 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase 5 (AGPAT5) enzyme converts lysophosphatidic acid to phosphatidic acid in the mitochondrial membrane. In this study, we found that the porcine AGPAT5 gene was highly expressed in muscle tissue, influencing meat characteristics, and we also identified a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (nsSNP) (rs196952262, c.673 A>G) in the gene, associated with a change of isoleucine 225 to valine. The presence of this nsSNP was significantly associated with meat color (lightness), lower cooking loss, and lower carcass temperatures 1, 4, and 12 h after slaughter (items T1, T4, and T12 on the recognized quality scale, respectively), and tended to increase backfat thickness and the water-holding capacity. These results suggest that nsSNP (c.673A>G) of the AGPAT5 gene is a potential genetic marker of high meat quality in pigs.

• 한국환경독성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국환경독성학회 2003년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.107-107
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• 2003

The heavy metal cadmium is a xenobiotic toxicant of environmental and occupational concern and it has been classified as a human carcinogen. Inhalation of cadmium has been implicated in the development of emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis, but, the detailed mechanism by which cadmium induces adverse biological effects is not yet known. Therefore, we undertook the investigation of genes that are induced after cadmium exposure to illustrate the mechanism of cadmium toxicity For this purpose, we employed the polymerase chain reaction-based suppression subtractive hybridization technique. We identified 29 different cadmium-inducible genes in human peripheral mononuclear cells, such as macrophage migration inhibitory factor, lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase-${\alpha}$, enolase-1${\alpha}$, VEGF, Bax, neuron-derived orphan receptor-1, and Nur77, which are known to be associated with inflammation, cell survival, and apoptosis. Induction of these genes by cadmium treatment was further confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Further, we found that these genes were also induced after cadmium exposure in normal human lung fibroblast cell line, WI-38, suggesting potential use of this induction profile to monitor cadmium toxicity in the lung. Next, Nur77, one of cadmium-inducible genes, was further studied since the products of Nur77 are known to be involved in the apoptotic process of lung cells. Following cadmium treatment, Nur77 gene expression was increased at protein-level in A549 cells. Consistently, the reporter containing Nur77 binding sequence was activated by 2.5-fold after exposure to cadmium in reporter gene analysis by transient transfection experiments. When the plasmid encoding dominant negative Nur77 that represses the transcriptional function of wild-type Nur77 was transfected into A549 cells, the expression of Bax was significantly reduced, suggesting that induction of Nur77 was an important process in cadmium-induced apoptosis in the cells. Cadmium induced the expression of Nur77 in vivo, confirming the relevance of the data obtained in viro. Together our results suggest that Nur77 gene expression in exposure to cadmium leads apoptosis of lung cells which may cause pathological changes in lung.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제53권2호
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• pp.65-70
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• 2010

중쇄지방산은 탄소수가 8-12개로 구성된 포화지방산으로, 장쇄지방산과 달리 인체내 흡수가 빠르고 분해가 빨리 일어나 체지방으로 축적되지 않으면서 열효율이 높아 소화장애환자의 식이요법에 이용된다. 또한 최근 의료분야의 위장침투향상기술에 중쇄지방산 또는 중쇄지방산 유도물질이 사용되며, 이 기술은 최첨단 약물전달시스템 분야에 매우 중요하게 적용되고 있다. 이처럼 효용가치가 높은 중쇄지방산 기름은 아열대작물인 코코넛, 팜 그리고 쿠페아 종자에서 주로 생산되고 있는데, 기름함량이 적고 재배가 까다로워 상업적 이용의 어려움이 있다. 이러한 이유로 재배지역이 넓고 재배가 용이한 유채의 종자에서 중쇄지방산을 생산하고 함량을 증대시키기 위해 그 동안 많은 연구가 수행되어 왔다. 지금까지 밝혀진 중쇄지방산 생산에 관여하는 유전자는 크게 Thioesterase(지방산 사슬 길이), KAS(지방산 사슬 연장), 그리고 Acyltransferase(지방산 전이)로 알려져 있다. 이러한 유전자를 단독 또는 동시에 유채에 형질전환 한후, 여기에서 얻어진 형질전환체 계통을 이용하여 고전육종과 분자육종의 병행을 통해 유채 종자에서 중쇄지방산인 Laurate함량이 60 mol%까지 축적되는 결과를 얻었다. 또한 Caprylate와 Caprate함량은 각 각 8 mol%와 27 mol%까지 축적되었다. 비록 유채 종자에서 일부 중쇄지방산의 생산이 성공적으로 생산되는 결과를 얻었다 할지라도 실제 상업적으로 이용하려면 중쇄지방산 함량이 더 많이 생산되어야 한다. 본 총설에서는 지금까지 유채 종자 내에서 중쇄지방산이 생산된 연구결과를 면밀히 살펴보았고, 향후 연구방향에 대해 간략하게 논하였다.