• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권1호
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• pp.81-88
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• 2015

Flowering time (or heading date) is controlled by intrinsic genetic programs in response to environmental cues, such as photoperiod and temperature. Rice, a facultative short-day (SD) plant, flowers early in SD and late in long-day (LD) conditions. Casein kinases (CKs) generally act as positive regulators in many signaling pathways in plants. In rice, Heading date 6 (Hd6) and Hd16 encode $CK2{\alpha}$ and CKI, respectively, and mainly function to delay flowering time. Additionally, the major LD-dependent floral repressors Hd2/Oryza sativa Pseudo-Response Regulator 37 (OsPRR37;hereafter PRR37) and Ghd7 also confer strong photoperiod sensitivity. In floral induction, Hd16 acts upstream of Ghd7 and CKI interacts with and phosphorylates Ghd7. In addition, Hd6 and Hd16 also act upstream of Hd2. However, whether CKI and $CK2{\alpha}$ directly regulate the function of PRR37 remains unclear. Here, we use in vitro pull-down and in vivo bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays to show that CKI and $CK2{\alpha}$ interact with PRR37. We further use in vitro kinase assays to show that CKI and $CK2{\alpha}$ phosphorylate different regions of PRR37. Our results indicate that direct posttranslational modification of PRR37 mediates the genetic interactions between these two protein kinases and PRR37. The significance of CK-mediated phosphorylation for PRR37 and Ghd7 function is discussed.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.312-319
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• 2002

저온성 균인 Sporosarcina psychrophilia의 염색체 DNA를 추출하여 Sau3AI으로 부분 절단하고 pUC19 vector에 ligation 시킨 후, Escherichia coli pyrB mutant 균주에 형질전환하여 uracil이 없는 AB배지에서 생존하는 균주를 선택한 후, 그 plasmid를 분리하여 pSMI과 pSM2라고 명명하였다. 두 plasmid의 염기배열을 결정한 결과 pSM2 insert DNA는 pSMl insert DNA 부분을 포함하는 2,606 nucleotide 단편이었다. 염기서열을 분석하였을 때 이것은 1개의 완전한 open reading frame(ORF)과 2개의 부분 ORFs를 포함하고 있었다. 두 번째 위치한 완전한 ORF는 Bacillus caldolyticus aspartate transcarbamylase(pyrB)와 아미노산 서열 수준에서 59% 상동성을 보였고, 첫 번째와 세 번째 위치한 부분적 ORFs는 각각 Bacillus속의 uracil permease(pyrP)와 dihydoorotase(pyrC)와 높은 상동성을 보였다. 그리고 pyrB와 pyrP사이에 intergenic 부분에는 잠재적인 terminator, antiterminator, anti-antiterminator 구조를 포함하고 있었다. 이러한 결과는 S. psychrophilia pyrimidine 생합성에 관련된 유전자들은 다른 Bacillus속에서 알려진 바와 같이 유전자군을 형성하고 있을 것으로 추정했다. S. psychrophilia pyrB 유전자의 생성물을 과다발현 시키고 정제해서 그 단백질을 SDS-PAGE로 확인한 결과 27 kDa 부근에서 band를 확인할 수 있었으며, 정제한 단백질도 ATCase 효소활성을 지니고 있었다.

• BMB Reports
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.112-118
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• 2008

Camptothecin is an anti-cancer monoterpene indole alkaloid. The gene encoding 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase (designated as CaHDR), the last catalytic enzyme of the MEP pathway for terpenoid biosynthesis, was isolated from camptothecin-producing Camptotheca acuminata. The full-length cDNA of CaHDR was 1686 bp encoding 459 amino acids. Comparison of the cDNA and genomic DNA of CaHDR revealed that there was no intron in genomic CaHDR. Southern blot analysis indicated that CaHDR belonged to a low-copy gene family. RT-PCR analysis revealed that CaHDR expressed constitutively in all tested plant organs with the highest expression level in flowers, and the expression of CaHDR could be induced by 100 ${\mu}M$ methyl-jasmonate (MeJA), but not by 100 mg/L salicylic acid (SA) in the callus of C. acuminata. The complementation of CaHDR in Escherichia coli ispH mutant MG1655 demonstrated its function.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 한국균학회 2014년도 추계학술대회 및 정기총회
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• pp.15-15
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• 2014

Fusarium graminearum (teleomorph Gibberella zeae) is an important plant pathogen that causes head blight of major cereal crops such as wheat, barley, and rice, as well as causing ear and stalk rot on maize worldwide. Plant diseases caused by this fungus lead to severe yield losses and accumulation of harmful mycotoxins in infected cereals [1]. Fungi utilize spore production as a mean to rapidly avoid unfavorable environmental conditions and to amplify their population. Spores are produced sexually and asexually and their production is precisely controlled. Upstream developmental activators consist of fluffy genes have been known to orchestrate early induction of condiogenesis in a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying conidiogenesis in F. graminearum, we characterized functions of the F. graminearum fluffy gene homologs [2]. We found that FlbD is conserved regulatory function for conidiogenesis in both A. nidulans and F. graminearum among five fluffy gene homologs. flbD deletion abolished conidia and perithecia production, suggesting that FlbD have global roles in hyphal differentiation processes in F. graminearum. We further identified and functionally characterized the ortholog of AbaA, which is involved in differentiation from vegetative hyphae to conidia and known to be absent in F. graminearum [3]. Deletion of abaA did not affect vegetative growth, sexual development, or virulence, but conidium production was completely abolished and thin hyphae grew from abnormally shaped phialides in abaA deletion mutants. Overexpression of abaA resulted in pleiotropic defects such as impaired sexual and asexual development, retarded conidium germination, and reduced trichothecene production. AbaA localized to the nuclei of phialides and terminal cells of mature conidia. Successful interspecies complementation using A. nidulans AbaA and the conserved AbaA-WetA pathway demonstrated that the molecular mechanisms responsible for AbaA activity are conserved in F. graminearum as they are in A. nidulans. F. graminearum ortholog of Aspergillus nidulans wetA has been shown to be involved in conidiogenesis and conidium maturation [4]. Deletion of F. graminearum wetA did not alter mycelial growth, sexual development, or virulence, but the wetA deletion mutants produced longer conidia with fewer septa, and the conidia were sensitive to acute stresses, such as oxidative stress and heat stress. Furthermore, the survival rate of aged conidia from the F. graminearum wetA deletion mutants was reduced. The wetA deletion resulted in vigorous generation of single-celled conidia through autophagy-dependent microcycle conidiation, indicating that WetA functions to maintain conidia dormancy by suppressing microcycle conidiation in F. graminearum. In A. nidulans, FlbB physically interacts with FlbD and FlbE, and the resulting FlbB/FlbE and FlbB/FlbD complexes induce the expression of flbD and brlA, respectively. BrlA is an activator of the AbaA-WetA pathway. AbaA and WetA are required for phialide formation and conidia maturation, respectively [5]. In F. graminearum, the AbaA-WetA pathway is similar to that of A. nidulans, except a brlA ortholog does not exist. Amongst the fluffy genes, only fgflbD has a conserved role for regulation of the AbaA-WetA pathway.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제23권11호
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• pp.1500-1508
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• 2013

Ebosin, a novel exopolysaccharide produced by Streptomyces sp. 139, has obvious antirheumatic arthritis activity in vivo, and its biosynthesis gene cluster (ste), consisting of 27 open reading frames, has been identified. This paper reports our study of the gene functionality of ste8, the predicted protein product of which is homologous to some bacterial chain length determinant Wzz proteins. For characterization of Ste8, ste8 was cloned and expressed in the mutant strain E. coli 086:H2 (${\Delta}wzz$). The functional complementation of wzz by ste8 was demonstrated by the restoration of wild-type lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and increased levels of serum resistance of E. coli 086:H2 (${\Delta}wzz$) (pET30a-ste8). To examine the function of ste8 in ebosin biosynthesis, the gene was knocked out with a double crossover via homologous recombination. The molecular weight of the ebosin derivative EPS-8m produced by the mutant Streptomyces sp. 139 ($ste8^-$) was much lower than that of ebosin, and the binding activity of EPS-8m for IL-1R decreased significantly compared with ebosin. These results demonstrate that ste8 encodes a chain length determinant (Wzz) that functions in ebosin biosynthesis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권3호
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• pp.259-266
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• 2015

The regulation of flowering time has crucial implications for plant fitness. MicroRNA156 (miR156) represses the floral transition in Arabidopsis thaliana, but the mechanisms regulating its transcription remain unclear. Here, we show that two AGAMOUS-like proteins, AGL15 and AGL18, act as positive regulators of the expression of MIR156. Small RNA northern blot analysis revealed a significant decrease in the levels of mature miR156 in agl15 agl18 double mutants, but not in the single mutants, suggesting that AGL15 and AGL18 co-regulate miR156 expression. Histochemical analysis further indicated that the double mutants showed a reduction in MIR156 promoter strength. The double mutants also showed reduced abundance of pri-miR156a and pri-miR156c, two of the primary transcripts from MIR156 genes. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that AGL15 directly associated with the CArG motifs in the MIR156a/c promoters. AGL18 did not show binding affinity to the CArG motifs, but pull-down and yeast two-hybrid assays showed that AGL18 forms a heterodimer with AGL15. GFP reporter assays and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) showed that AGL15 and AGL18 co-localize in the nucleus and confirmed their in vivo interaction. Overexpression of miR156 did not affect the levels of AGL15 and AGL18 transcripts. Taking these data together, we present a model for the transcriptional regulation of MIR156. In this model, AGL15 and AGL18 may form a complex along with other proteins, and bind to the CArG motifs of the promoters of MIR156 to activate the MIR156 expression.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.343-352
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• 2006

Sialic acid is a sugar typically found at the N-glycan termini of glycoproteins in mammalian cells. Lec3 CHO cell mutants are deficient in epimerase activity, due to a defect in the gene that encodes a bifunctional UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase/ManNAc kinase (GNE). Sialic acid modification on the cell surface is partially affected in these cells. We have mutagenized Lec3 CHO cells and isolated six mutants (termed C2m) deficient in the cell surface expression of polysialic acid (PSA). Mutant C2m9 was partially defective in expression of cell-surface PSA and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) binding, while in the other five mutants, both cell-surface PSA and WGA binding were undetectable. PSA expression was restored by complementation with the gene encoding the CMP-sialic acid transporter (CST), indicating that CST mutations were responsible for the phenotypes of the C2m cells. We characterized the CST mutations in these cells by Northern blotting and RT-PCR. C2m9 and C2m45 carried missense mutations resulting in glycine to glutamate substitutions at amino acids 217 (G217E) and 256 (G256E), respectively. C2m13, C2m39 and C2m31 had nonsense mutations that resulted in decreased CST mRNA stability, and C2m34 carried a putative splice site mutation. PSA and CD15s expression in CST-deficient Lec2 cells were partially rescued by G217E CST, but not by G256E CST, although both proteins were expressed at similar levels, and localized to the Golgi. These results indicate that the novel missense mutations isolated in this study affect CST activity.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.398-407
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• 2018

벼 자색 종자과피(Purple pericarp, Prp) 형질은 주요 생리활성물질인 안토시아닌 C3G 생성에 관여하며 흑미를 결정하는 주요 유전형질이다. Prp 유전형질을 가진 흑미와 종자과피에 색이 없는 벼를 교배할 경우 그 후대는 검정색, 갈색, 백색이 각각 9:3:4로 분리된다. 1921년 Nagai에 의하여 제시된 바 벼 종자 색의 9:3:4 유전분리비로 인하여 벼 Prp 형질은 유전자의 열성상위(recessive epistasis) 현상으로 해석되었다. 그러나 흑미를 결정하는 Prp 형질은 두 개의 상보적 유전자들의 상호관계(complementary gene interaction)에 의한 것이기도 하다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 논란이 발생되는 이유를 설명하기 위하여 두 유전자의 조성이 완전한 이형접합인 Pbpb Pppp 유전자형을 가진 $F_1$ 잡종을 만들었다. 이들의 자손은 진한자색(검정), 중간자색, 갈색, 백색 종자이며 각각 3:6:3:4로 분리되었다. 즉, 검정색, 갈색, 백색의 종자가 각각 9:3:4의 비율로 분리된다. 그러나 생화학적인 분석결과 이들은 안토시아닌 중 cyanidin 3-O-glucoside (C3G)가 축적된 검정색 종자와 C3G가 없는 갈색 또는 백색 종자인 두 개의 집단을 분리되며 정확히 9:7의 분리 비를 갖는다. 이 경우 벼 Prp 형질을 갖는 검정쌀 또는 흑미는 전형적인 상보적 유전자의 상호관계에 의한 유전현상이다. 즉, 흑미의 자색 종피 형질 발현에는 Pb 유전자와 Pp 유전자에서 각각 한 개 이상의 우성대립인자의 발현이 필요하다. 그러나 Pb 유전자만 우성대립인자가 존재하는 Pb_ pppp 유전자형의 벼는 C3G를 생성하지 못하고 갈색 종자과피(Brown pericarp, Brp) 형질을 갖게 된다. 즉 갈색쌀는 우성 Pb 유전자의 우성대립인자에 의하여 결정된다. 그러므로 종피색을 결정하는 Prp 형질의 유전양상은 열성상위 현상으로 보이나 흑미의 결정요소인 안토시아닌 C3G의 함유 여부에 관한 유전분석을 시행하면 9:7의 비율로서 전형적인 두 개의 유전자가 모두 관여하는 상보적 유전현상이다. 유전적 정의는 유전자의 최종산물에 의한 물리적 또는 화학적 결정이다. 그러므로 결론하여 검정 쌀의 주요 생리활성물질인 안토시아닌 C3G 생성에 관한 유전현상은 Pb와 Pp 유전자의 상보적 유전자의 상호에 의한 것이다.