• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.191-196
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• 2014

The identification and utilization of potential candidate genes with significant effects on economically important traits have become increasingly important in poultry breeding programs. The ovocalyxin-32 (OCX-32) gene is located chromosome 9 in chicken, plays an important role in eggshell formation. This study was performed to assess the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of OCX-32 gene and egg production traits in the Korean native chicken. Four Korean native chicken population (n = 181; including 46 females of Ogol, 46 females of white, 43 females of gray and 46 females of black) were used to analyze two SNPs (c.494A>C and c.267T>G) in the OCX-32 gene by PCR-RFLP (Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restricted Fragment Length Polymorphism). We measured egg production traits of age at first egg, first egg weight, egg production ratio and egg weight. The SNP c.494A>C was significantly associated with egg production ratio in Korean Ogol chickens (p<0.001) and egg weight in Korean white chickens (p<0.05). SNP c.267T>C was significantly associated with egg weight in Korean Ogol chickens (p<0.05). But there was no significant association in Korean gray and black chickens. Results suggest the possibility of using molecular markers in OCX-32 gene as a tool for performance and egg production traits in Korean native chicken breeding program.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2008

A peculiar virus-like disease of tomato showing yellow mosaic and necrotic spots on leaves and necrosis on veins, petioles and stems was observed at the Tomato Experimental Station (TES), Buyeo, Chungcheongnamdo, Korea. The disease incidence at TES fields ranged from 21 to 35% infecting different tomato cultivars. For this reason, to identify the virus infecting tomato and to characterize the virus based on biology, serology, cytology and at molecular level. Here, leaf samples were randomly collected from different infected tomato cultivars at TES fields and greenhouses and tested by ELISA using Pepper mottle virus (PePMoV) and Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) antisera. Infected saps were mechanically inoculated in different host plants to test for pathogenicity, symptomatology and host ranges. Infected tissues and ultrathin sections were examined by electron microscopy. Finally, putative coat protein and 3'-untranslated region (CP/3'-UTR) fragment was amplified and cloned for sequence determination and analyzed its genetic relationship to existing PepMoV and PVY sequences at the Genbank. Results showed 69% of the samples were positive with PepMoV, 13% with ToMV and 19 % were doubly infected with PepMoV and ToMV. Symptoms greatly varied from different host plants inoculated with tomato leaf sap infected with PepMoV alone and discussed in detailed in this paper. Electron microscopy from infected tissues showed filamentous particles of 720-750nm in length, a typical morphology and size of PepMoV. In addition, cylindrical inclusion bodies, pinwheels, scrolls and laminates with masses of fibrillar inclusions were also found in ultrathin sections. Alignment of the sequences of the CP/3'-UTR revealed >96% sequence identity with PepMoV and only <61% with PVY. Taken together, all these evidences presented clearly indicated that the causal agent infecting tomato at TES was PepMoV and we designated this PepMoV infecting tomato as Tom-sd2 strain in this study.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.401-418
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• 2000

1. Production of the artificial zeolite from coal ash Coal fly ash is mainly composed of several oxides including $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ derived from inorganic compounds remained after burning. As minor components, $Fe_2O_3$ and oxides of Mg, Ca, P, Ti (trace) are also contained in the ash. These components are presented as glass form resulting from fusion in the process of the combustion of coal. In other word, coal ash may refer to a kind of aluminosilicate glass that is known to easily change to zeolite-like materials by hydrothermal reaction. Lots of hot seawater is disposing near thermal power plants after cooling turbine generator periodically. Using seawater in the hydrothermal reaction caused to produce low price artificial zeolite by reduction of sodium hydroxide consumption, heating energy and water cost. As coal ash were reacted hydrothermally, peaks of quartz and mullite in the ash were weakened and disappeared, and new Na-Pl peaks were appeared strengthily. Si-O-Si bonding of the bituminous coal ash was changed to Si-O-Al (and $Fe^{3+}$) bonding by the reaction. Therefore the produced Na-Pl type zeolite had high CEC of 276.7 $cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ and well developed molecular sieve structure with low concentration of heavy metals. 2. Utilization of the artificial zeolite in agro-environment The artificial zeolite(1g) could remove 123.5 mg of zinc, 164.7 mg copper, 184.4 mg cadmium and 350.6 mg lead in the synthetic wastewater. The removability is higher 2.8 times in zinc, 3.3 times in copper, 4.7 times in cadmium and 4.8 times in lead than natural zeolite and charcoal powder. When the heavy metals were treated at the ratio of 150 $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ to the rice plant, various growth inhibition were observed; brownish discoloration and death of leaf sheath, growth inhibition in culm length, number of panicles and grains, grain ripening and rice yield. But these growth inhibition was greatly alleviated by the application of artificial zeolite, therefore, rice yield increased $1.1{\sim}3.2$ times according to the metal kind. In addition, the concentration of heavy metals in the brown rice also lowered by $27{\sim}75%$. Artificial Granular Zeolites (AGZ) was developed for the purification of wastewater. Canon exchange capacity was 126.8 $cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$. AGZ had Na-Pl peaks mainly with some minor $C_3S$ peaks in X-ray diffractogram. In addition, AGZs had various pore structure that may be adhere the suspended solid and offer microbiological niche to decompose organic pollutants. AGZ could remove ammonium, orthophosphate and heavy metals simultaneously. Mixing ratio of artificial zeolite in AGZs was related positively with removal efficiency of $NH_4\;^+$ and negatively with that of $PO_4\;^{3-}$. Root growth of rice seedling was inhibited severely in the mine wastewater because of strong acidity and high concentration of heavy metals. As AGZ(1 kg) stayed in the wastewater(100L) for 4days, water quality turned into safely for agricultural usage and rice seedlings grew normally.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1386-1392
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• 2008

A gene (sll0158) putatively encoding a glycogen branching enzyme (GBE, E.C. 2.4.1.18) was cloned from Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, and the recombinant protein expressed and characterized. The PCR-amplified putative GBE gene was ligated into a pET-21a plasmid vector harboring a T7 promoter, and the recombinant DNA transformed into a host cell, E. coli BL21(DE3). The IPTG-induced enzymes were then extracted and purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The putative GBE gene was found to be composed of 2,310 nucleotides and encoded 770 amino acids, corresponding to approx. 90.7 kDa, as confirmed by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF-MS analyses. The optimal conditions for GBE activity were investigated by measuring the absorbance change in iodine affinity, and shown to be pH 8.0 and $30^{\circ}C$ in a 50 mM glycine-NaOH buffer. The action pattern of the GBE on amylose, an $\alpha$-(1,4)-linked linear glucan, was analyzed using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) after isoamylolysis. As a result, the GBE displayed $\alpha$-glucosyl transferring activity by cleaving the $\alpha$-(1,4)-linkages and transferring the cleaved maltoglycosyl moiety to form new $\alpha$-(1,6)-branch linkages. A time-course study of the GBE reaction was carried out with biosynthetic amylose (BSAM; $M_p{\cong}$8,000), and the changes in the branch-chain length distribution were evaluated. When increasing the reaction time up to 48 h, the weight- and number-average DP ($DP_w$ and $DP_n$) decreased from 19.6 to 8.7 and from 17.6 to 7.8, respectively. The molecular size ($M_p$, peak $M_w{\cong}2.45-2.75{\times}10^5$) of the GBE-reacted product from BSAM reached the size of amylose (AM) in botanical starch, yet the product was highly soluble and stable in water, unlike AM molecules. Thus, GBE-generated products can provide new food and non-food applications, owing to their unique physical properties.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2011

Korean bennudagrass collections showed diverse genetic variations in their morphology, growth habit, and cytological aspects. Chromosome number and nuclear DNA content of the bennudagrasses indicated a ploidy level ranging from triploid (2n=3x) to hexaploid (2n=6x). In this study, we investigated the different responses of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase) and cell membrane stability of those bennudagrass cytotypes to lower temperature and shorter day length, which meets a dormant induction in Korea. All the antioxidant enzymes were found to be higher during dormant stage, while the heme-containing catalase which converts hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) to water and oxygen molecules was activated before dormant initiation in the three cytotypes except for hexaploid bennudagrass. The triploid and tetraploid which exhibited relatively finer leaves and a rapid establishment speed were found to show increased activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzyme. The malondialdehyde(MDA) which is a product of lipid peroxidation in the cell membrane damaged by the hydroxyl radical was increased in all cytotypes as temperature declined, and tri- and tetraploids which had more protective antioxidant enzymes demonstrated a significantly lower MDA production. Similarly electrolyte leakage was higher in penta- and hexaploidy, seemingly more damage to cell membrane when low temperature was implemented. Results indicated that antioxidant responses of different cytotypes were genetically specific, which needs to be investigated the relevance with the low temperature tolerance in the bermudagrass further at the molecular level.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.22-28
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• 1998

Twenty six derivatives of bis-aromatic ${\alpha},{\beta}$-unsaturated ketones as substrate(S) were synthesized and their fungicidal activities in vivo against rice blast(Pyricularia oryzae), tomato leaf blight(Phytophtora infestans) and barley powdery mildew(Erysiphe graminis) were examined. The quantitative structure-activity relationship(QSAR) between the fungicidal activities($pI_{50}$) and a physicochemical parameters of substitued($R_{2}$) phenyl backbone group in 2-thienyl and 2-furyl substituents were analyzed with regression equations. The activities of substituted($R_{2}$) phenyl backbone in 2-thienyl substituents, $1{\sim}10$ would depend largely on the resonance(R>0), molecular refractivity($M_{R}<0$) and optimal length of substituent(($L_{1})opt.=5.50{\AA}$). Whereas, in case of 2-furyl substituents, $10{\sim}26$ optimal molar attraction constant ($F_{opt}=0.49{\sim}l.11$), optimal steric($Es_{opt}=1.78$) constant and indicator variables(Io & Ip) for position of substituents. The fungicidal activity relationship of 2-thienyl substituents against Pyricularia oryzae and Phytophtora infestans have been a reciprocal proportioned.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.451-456
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• 1995

To elucidate the intrinsic rheological properties of carboxymethyl chitin (CM-chitin) from the shell of red snow cyab (Chinonecetes japonicus), the configuration and polyelectrolyte behavior of CM-chitin in low concentration solution were investigated. Unperturbed dimensions were ranged from $127{\AA}\;to\;113{\AA}$ as root mean square end-to-end distance$(r_0)$, $52{\AA}$ to $46{\AA}$ as radius of gyration$(S_0)$. The intramolecular expansion tarter(a) was not varied with molecular weight and was 2.1. And effective bond length $(b_0)$ was $14.5{\AA}$. In perturbed condition, Flory constant was $2.35\times10^{21}$. When ionic strength were 0.02 and 1.0, intrinsic viscosity were 1.95dl/g and 1,06 dl/g, respectively. These results suggested that CM-chitin is a polyelectrolyte in aqueous media. At infinite ionic strength, intrinsic viscosity was 0.91dl/g. The intrinsic stiffness of CM-chitin backbone was estimated by evaluating the stiffness parameter (B) as 0.11 and agreed well with the results of k-carrageenan.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2011

Genetic determinant for metallothionein (MT), a cysteine-rich protein playing essential roles in metal detoxification and homeostasis, was characterized in the Korean bitterling (Acheilognathus signifer, Cyprinidae), an endemic fish species. The full-length A. signifer MT (AsMT) cDNA (551 bp) is composed of a single open-reading frame (ORF) to encode a polypeptide of 60 amino acids containing 20 cysteine residues whose positions are conserved in most cypriniform MTs. At the genomic level, the AsMT (2,593 bp spanning the 5'-flanking region to the 3'-untranslated region) represented a conserved tripartite (three exons interrupted by two introns) structure with AT-rich introns. The upstream regulatory region (-1,914 bp from the ATG initiation codon) of AsMT displayed various sites and motifs for transcription factors involved in the metal-mediated regulation and stress/immune responses. The AsMT transcript was ubiquitously detected in various organs with variable expression levels, where the ovary and intestine showed the highest expression, while the heart and skeletal muscle represented the lowest level. During an exposure to copper (immersion in $0.5\;{\mu}M$ Cu for 48 h), the levels of AsMT transcripts were significantly elevated in the liver (more than 3.5-fold), moderately in the gill, kidney, and spleen (ranging from 1.5- to 2.5-fold), and barely in the brain and intestine. Results of this study could form a useful basis to explore the metal-related stress physiology of this endangered fish species.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.9
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• pp.655-666
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• 2017

We constructed a large $na{\ddot{i}}ve$ human Fab library ($3{\times}10^{10}$ colonies) from the lymphocytes of 809 human donors, assessed available diversities of the heavy-chain variable (VH) and ${\kappa}$ light-chain variable (VK) domain repertoires, and validated the library by selecting Fabs against 10 therapeutically relevant antigens by phage display. We obtained a database of unique 7,373 VH and 41,804 VK sequences by 454 pyrosequencing, and analyzed the repertoires. The distribution of VH and VK subfamilies and germline genes in our antibody repertoires slightly differed from those in earlier published natural antibody libraries. The frequency of somatic hypermutations (SHMs) in heavy-chain complementarity determining region (HCDR)1 and HCDR2 are higher compared with the natural IgM repertoire. Analysis of position-specific SHMs in CDRs indicates that asparagine, threonine, arginine, aspartate and phenylalanine are the most frequent non-germline residues on the antibody-antigen interface and are converted mostly from the germline residues, which are highly represented in germline SHM hotspots. The amino acid composition and length-dependent changes in amino acid frequencies of HCDR3 are similar to those in previous reports, except that frequencies of aspartate and phenylalanine are a little higher in our repertoire. Taken together, the results show that this antibody library shares common features of natural antibody repertoires and also has unique features. The antibody library will be useful in the generation of human antibodies against diverse antigens, and the information about the diversity of natural antibody repertoires will be valuable in the future design of synthetic human antibody libraries with high functional diversity.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2006

Because shipyard workers are involved with various manufacturing process in shipyard industry, and they are exposed to many kinds of hazardous materials. Especially, painting workers were exposed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). This study was conducted to assess the exposure status of PAH based on job-exposure matrix. We investigated the effect of genetic polymorphism of xenobiotic metabolism enzymes involved in PAH metabolism on levels of urinary metabolite. A total of 93 shipbuilding workers were recruited in this study. Questionnaire variables were age, sex, use of personal protective equipment, smoking, drinking, and work duration. The urinary metabolite was collected in the afternoon and corrected by urinary creatinine concentration. The genotypes of CYP1A1, CYP2E1, GSTM1, GSTT1 and UGT1A6 were investigated by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods with DNA extracted from venous blood. Urinary 1-OHP levels were significantly higher in direct exposured group (spray and touch-up) than indirect exposed group. Urinary 1-OHP, concentration of the high exposure with wild type of UGT1A6 was significantlyhigher than that of the high exposure with other UGT1A6 genotype. In multiple regression analysis of urinary 1-OHP, the regression coefficient of job grade was statistically significant (p<0.05) and UGT1A6 was not significant but a trend (p<0.1). The grade of exposure affected urinary PAH concentration was statistically significant. But genetic polymorphism of xenobiotics metabolism enzymes was not statistically significant. Further investigation of genetic polymorphism with large sample size is needed.