• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.177-180
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• 1992

Among 120 U. maydis strains isolated in Korea 14 different strains containing specific viral dsRNA segments were analyzed for the distribution of dsRNA and the production of toxin protein. Several distinctive dsRNA patterns were identified, 9 cases of P type with typical H, M and L ds RNA and one case of non-P-type, the frequency of a specific isolate was decreased with increasing number of dsRNA segments. The presence of dsRNA had no effect on the cultural or morphological phenotype of the host. Two isolates containing P type dsRNA segments appeared to produce toxin protein (killer strains) which inhibited the growth of 4 isolates (sensitive strain) with different susceptibility. Two killer strains contain unique M dsRNA segment which may code for toxin protein. However, the presence of toxin-sensitive strains among dsRNA-free isolates was similar to that of ds RNA containing strains.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 1993

[Met5]-Enkephalin (ME) secretion and the expression of proenkephalin A (proENK) mRNA were studied following long-term exposure of bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin (BAMC) cells to pertussis toxin. Prolonged (24 hr) stimulation of BAMC cells with pertussis toxin increased the secretion of ME as well as proENK gene expression. BAMC cells were also incubated with pertussis toxin in the presence or absence of other secretagogues such as nicotine, angiotensin II and phorbol myristate acetate.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 1986

The present study was undertaken to investigate whether the known adenylate cyclase activators, forskolin and cholera toxin, would affect the germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and the production of cAMP in mouse oocytes in vitro. To do this, in vitro oocyte culture method and adenylate cyclase assay were employed. In response to different concentrations of forskolin (20 to 80 $\\mu$g/ml) added to a culture medium, the percentage of GVBD significantly decreased (56 to 31%) in a dose-dependent manner as compared to that of control (63%). This inhibitory phenomenon by forskolin was reversible since the rate of GVBD was returned to the control level when the oocytes were transferred to a control medium following exposure to forskolin (80 $\\mu$g/ml). Treatment of cholera toxin (10 to 1, 000 ng/ml) was, however, ineffective in suppressing GVBD. When forskolin (10 to 80 $\\mu$g/ml) was added to the mouse oocyte extracts, cAMP production significantly increased by 5 to 18 fold, whereas cholera toxin (10 to 1, 000 ng/ml) was no longer effective. In addition, treatment of guanidyl-imidodiphosphate (GppNHp, 100 $\\mu$M), which is an activator of the regulatory unit of adenylate cycleas, with forskolin did not exhibit any changes in cAMP production as compared to that induced by forskolin alone. Neither cholera toxin nor cholera toxin plus GppNHp (100 $\\mu$M) exhibited any differences in mouse oocytes. From the above results, the suppression of GVBD by forskolin may be mediated by a high level of intracellular cAMP in mouse oocytes. It appears that the changes in intracellular cAMP level may an important role in the mouse oocyte maturation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.463-468
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• 2000

Anthrax lethal toxin, which consists of two separate protein, protective antigen (83 KDa) and lethal factor (85 KDa) is responsible for major symptoms and death from systemic infection of Bacillus anthracis. High concentrations of this toxin are cytolytic to macrophages, whereas sublytic concentrations of lethal toxin induce these cells to produce interleukin $1{\beta}$ ($IL-1{\beta}$). It is proposed that melatonin and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may play an important role in modifying immune dysfunction. In this study, we investigated whether or not melatonin and DHEA could prevent $IL-1{\beta}$ production that is induced by anthrax lethal toxin in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Treatment of melatonin or DHEA alone, as well as together, prevented the production of $IL-1{\beta}$ caused by anthrax lethal toxin. We found that melatonin at a concentration of $10^{-6}-10^{-7}$ M inhibits $IL-1{\beta}$ production induced by anthrax lethal toxin. As expect, treatment of DHEA at a concentration $10^{-6}-10^{-7}$ M also suppressed production of $IL-1{\beta}$ by lethal toxin stimulated macrophages. The results of these studies suggest that melatonin and DHEA, immunomodulators, may have an important role in reducing the increase of cytokine production in anthrax lethal toxin-treated macrophages.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.597-601
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• 2017

The clpks18 gene was first cloned and identified in Curvularia lunata. It contains 6571 base pairs (bp) and an 6276 bp open reading frame encoding 2091 amino acids. The ClPKS18 deletion mutant displayed an albino phenotype, and almost lost the ability to product 5-(hydroxymethyl) furan-2-carboxylate (M5HF2C) toxin, implying that clpks18 gene in C. lunata is not only involved in 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene melanin synthesis, but also relatively associated with M5HF2C toxin biosynthesis of the pathogen. The pathogenicity assays revealed that ${\Delta}ClPKS18$ was impaired in colonizing the maize leaves, which corresponds to the finding that ClPKS18 controls the production of melanin and M5HF2C in C. lunata. Results indicate that ClPKS18 plays a vital role in regulating pathogenicity of in C. lunata.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.554-561
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• 2004

Trichostatin A, an antifungal antibiotics, and HC-toxin are potent and specific inhibitors of histone deacetylase activity. Histone deacetylase inhibitors are new class of chemotherapeutic drugs able to induce tumor cell apoptosis and/or cell cycle arrest. In this study, the antiproliferative activities of trichostatin A and HC-toxin were compared between estrogen receptor positive human breast cancer cell MCF-7 and estrogen receptor negative human breast cancer cell MDA-MB-468. Trichostatin A and HC-toxin showed potent antiproliferative activity in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 cells. In MCF-7 cells that contain high level estrogen receptor, trichostatin A and HC-toxin brought about three-times more potent cell growth inhibitory effect than estrogen receptor negative MDA-MB-468 cells. Both trichostatin A and HC-toxin showed cell cycle arrest at G$_2$/M phases of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 cells in a dose- and time- depen- dent manner. Trichostatin A and HC-toxin also induced apoptosis from MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Results of this study suggested that antipro-liferative effects of trichostatin A and HC-toxin might be involved in estrogen receptor signaling pathway, but cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of trichostatin A and HC-toxin might not be involved in estrogen receptor system of human breast cancer cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.380-387
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• 2000

Recently Vibrio sp. are the most frequently isolated microorganism, which causing food poisoning. We investigated the detection of toxin genes and effect of chitosan to toxin genes with PCR. Thirty strains of Vibrio sp. were isolated from sea water and sea products through biological and biochemical tests. Out of 30 strains, 8 were identified as V. parahemolyticus, 7 as V. mimcus, 6 as V. damsela, 5 as V. vulnificus, 4 as V. alginoyticus. In detection of ctx, tdh, and t고 as food poisoning-causing toxin genes, ctx from 7 strains, trh from 4 strains and tdh from 6 strains were detected. Among toxin genes detected strains, we selected V. vulnificus-2 V. damsela-1 and V. parahemolyticus-7. As adding chitosan solution to PCR product of 3 strains, the amplified DNA bands were not detected over 450$\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$ concentrantion of chitosan. Over the result, chitosan is thought to influence the detection of toxin gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.375-380
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• 2000

The preliminary screening of several cyanobacteria, using mice bioassay, reveale the production of a hepatotoxin by the cyanobacterium Scytonema sp. strain BT 23 isolated from soil. An intraperitoneal injection of the crude toxin (LD50 56 mg/kg body wt) from this strain caused the death of the mice within 40 min, and the anmals showed slinical signs of mice within 40 min, and the animals showed clinical signs of hepatotoxicity. The toxin was purified and partially characterized. The active fraction appears to be nonpolar in nature and shows absorption peaks at 240 and 285 nm. The purified toxin had an LD50 of TEX>$100<\mu\textrm{g}/kg$ body wt and the test mice died within 40 min of toxin administration. The toxin-treated mice showed a 1.65-fold increase in liver weight at 40 min and the liver color chnged to dark red due to intrahepatic hemorrhage and pooling of blood. Furthermore, the administration of the toxin to test mice induced a 2.58, 2.63, and 2.30-fold increse in the activity of the serum enzymes alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase, respectively. Further experiments with the 14C-labeled toxin revealed a maximum accumulation of the toxin in the liver. The clinical symptoms in the mice were similar to those produced by microcystin-L.R. These results suggest that hepatotoxins may also be produced in non bloom-forming planktonic cyanobacteria.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.184-188
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• 1993

Novel Ustilagomaydis strains, designated as SH1 to 14 containing new types of ds RNA segments, are identified from corn smut in Korea. Among 14 isolates, 7 isolates appear to posses virus particles and the other isolates may contain dsRNA as a plasmid form. The pattern of dsRNA is highly diverse form a typical P-type containing one or more of H, M, and L dsRNAs to the one containing one or move M dsRNAs. It is likely that the strains containing H dsRNA posses virus particles which were confirmed by sucrose density gradient followed with different range of specificity and the activity of the strain (SH14) is stronger than A4 toxin. The sensitivity of 14 isolates is also very diverse and two strains (SH10, SH11) appear tobe universal sensitve strains against 5 tested toxin samples.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.640-645
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• 2004

Histone deacetylase inhibitors are new class of chemotherapeutic drugs able to induce tumor cell apoptosis and／or cell cycle arrest. Trichostatin A, an antifungal antibiotic, and HC-toxin are potent and specific inhibitors of histone deacetylase activity. In this study, we have examined the antiproliferative activities of trichostatin A and HC-toxin in estrogen receptor positive human breast cancer, T47D cells. Both trichostatin A and HC-toxin showed potent antiprolifer-ative efficacy and cell cycle arrest at $G_2/M$ in T47D human breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Trichostatin A caused potent apoptosis of T47D human breast cancer cells and trichostatin A-induced apoptosis might be involved in an increase of caspase-3／7 activity. HC-toxin evoked apoptosis of T47D cells and HC-toxin induced apoptosis might not be medi-ated through direct increase in caspase-3/7 activity. We have identified potent activities of anti-proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest of trichostatin A and HC-toxin in estrogen receptor positive human breast cancer cell line T47D.