• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.54.1-54.16
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• 2024

Importance: As one of the main etiologic agents of infectious diseases in pigs, pseudorabies virus (PRV) infections have caused enormous economic losses worldwide. EP0, one of the PRV early proteins (EP) plays a vital role in PRV infections, but the mechanisms are unclear. Objective: This study examined the function of EP0 to provide a direction for its in-depth analysis. Methods: In this study, the EP0-deleted PRV mutant was obtained, and Tandem Mass Tag-based proteomic analysis was used to screen the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) quantitatively in EP0-deleted PRV- or wild-type PRV-infected porcine kidney 15 cells. Results: This study identified 7,391 DEPs, including 120 and 21 up-regulated and down-regulated DEPs, respectively. Western blot analysis confirmed the changes in the expression of the selected proteins, such as speckled protein 100. Comprehensive analysis revealed 141 DEPs involved in various biological processes and molecular functions, such as transcription regulator activity, biological regulation, and localization. Conclusions and Relevance: These results holistically outlined the functions of EP0 during a PRV infection and might provide a direction for more detailed function studies of EP0 and the stimulation of lytic PRV infections.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2008

N-ethyl-N-nitrosoures (ENU) is effective in inducing hypermorphic mutation as well as hypomorphic and antimorphic mutations. Therefore, this mutagen is used to the production of mutant in the mice. In order to perform an effective ENU mutagenesis using BALB/cAnN mice, determination of optimal dosage and dosage regimen of ENU is necessary. And this study tried to develop a suitable screening method and searched for novel and various mutants as model animals in phenotypedriven ENU mutagenesis. We have carried out dosage regimen for mutagenizing dose of 200 mg/kg ENU in the BALB/c mice. Total screened mice were 30,133. As the results of Esaki and Cho's Phenotype Screening, we got 2,516 phenotypic and behavior abnormalities in $G_1,\;G_2\;and\;G_3$ mice. One hundred thirty five $G_1$ phenodeviants were tested for inheritance and 16 dominant mutants were discovered. Forty two recessive mutants were also found in tested 201 micropedigrees. Early-onset mutant mice included the dysmorphology of face, eye, tail, limb, skin, and foot and abnormal behavior like circling, swimming, head tossing, stiff-walking, high cholesterol level, and tremor etc. In this study we could effectively screen $G_3$ recessive mutants. The frequent and concise early-onset screening before weaning will be available for ENU mutagenesis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1609-1616
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• 2017

The complex roles of cell surface modification in the biofilm formation of Campylobacter jejuni, a major cause of worldwide foodborne diarrheal disease, are poorly understood. In a screen of mutants from random transposon mutagenesis, an insertional mutation in the eptC gene (cj0256) resulted in a significant decrease in C. jejuni NCTC11168 biofilm formation (<20%) on major food contact surfaces, such as polystyrene and borosilicate glass, when compared with wild-type cells (p < 0.05). In C. jejuni strain 81-176, the protein encoded by eptC modified cell surface structures, such as lipid A, the inner core of lipooligosaccharide, and the flagellar rod protein (FlgG), by attaching phosphoethanolamine. To assess the role of eptC in C. jejuni NCTC11168, adherence and motility tests were performed. In adhesion assays with glass surfaces, the eptC mutant exhibited a $0.77log\;CFU/cm^2$ decrease in adherence compared with wild-type cells during the initial 2 h of the assay (p < 0.05). These results support the hypothesis that the modification of cell surface structures by eptC affects the initial adherence in biofilm formation of C. jejuni NCTC11168. In motility tests, the eptC mutant demonstrated reduced motility when compared with wild-type cells, but wild-type cells with the transposon inserted in a gene irrelevant to biofilm formation (cj1111c) also exhibited decreased motility to a similar extent as the eptC mutant. This suggests that although eptC affects motility, it does not significantly affect biofilm formation. This study demonstrates that eptC is essential for initial adherence, and plays a significant role in the biofilm formation of C. jejuni NCTC11168.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.123-131
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• 1998

The unc-29 region on the chromosome I of Caenorhabditis elegans has been mutagenized in order to obtain lethal mutations. In this screen, the uncoordinated phenotype of unc-29 (e193) mutant was used to identify any lethal mutations closely linked to the unc-29 gene, which encodes a subunit of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. We have isolated six independent mutations (jh1 to jh6) out of approximately 5,200 ethyl methanesulfonate(EMS) treated haploids. Four of the six mutations demonstrated embryonic lethal phenotypes, while the other two showed embryonic and larval lethal phenotypes. Terminal phenotypes observed in two mutations (jh1 and jh2) indicated developmental defects specific to posterior part of embryos which appeared similar to the phenotypes observed in nob (no back end) mutants. Another mutation (jh4) resulted in an interesting phenotype of body-wall muscle degeneration at larval stage. These mutations were mapped by using three-factor crosses and deficiency mutants in this region. Here we report genetic analysis and characterization of these lethal mutations.

• Mycobiology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.70-73
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• 2010

Temperature-sensitive yeast mutants were used to screen for cell cycle-related genes from Pleurotus eryngii genomic DNA. A mushroom genomic DNA library was established and each gene was screened for the ability to rescue seven Saccharomyces cerevisiae temperature-sensitive strains. Hundreds of yeast transformants were selected at restrictive temperatures over $30^{\circ}C$. Plasmids from the transformants that survived were isolated and transformed back into their host strains. The temperature sensitivity of the resulting transformants was tested from $30^{\circ}C$ to $37^{\circ}C$. Ten DNA fragments from P. eryngii were able to rescue yeast temperature-sensitive strains, and their DNA sequences were determined.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.119-123
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• 2008

Pyrimidine antagonists including 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) have been used in chemotherapy for cancer patients for over 40 years. 5-FU, especially, is a mainstay treatment for colorectal cancer. It is a pro-drug that is converted to the active drug via the nucleic acid biosynthetic pathway. The metabolites of 5-FU inhibit normal RNA and DNA function, and induce apoptosis of cancer cells. One of the major obstacles to successful chemotherapy is the resistance of cancer cells to anti-cancer drugs. Therefore, it is important to elucidate resistance mechanisms to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy. We have used C. elegans as a model system to investigate the mechanism of resistance to 5-FU, which induces germ cell death and inhibits larval development in C. elegans. We screened 5-FU resistant mutants no longer arrested as larvae by 5-FU. We obtained 18 mutants out of 72,000 F1 individuals screened, and mapped them into three complementation groups. We propose that C. elegans could be a useful model system for studying mechanisms of resistance to anti-cancer drugs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.854-866
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• 2016

The production cost of biodiesel from microalgae is still not competitive, compared with that of petroleum fuels. The genetic improvement of microalgal strains to increase triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation is one way to reduce production costs. One of the most promising approaches is the isolation of starch-deficient mutants, which have been reported to successfully increase TAG yields. To date, such a stable mutant is not available in an oleaginous marine microalga, despite several advantages of using marine species for biodiesel production. Algae in the genus Dunaliella are known to tolerate high salt concentration and other environmental stresses. In addition, the cultivation processes for large-scale outdoor commercialization have been well established for this genus. In this study, Dunaliella tertiolecta was used to screen for starch-deficient mutants, using an iodine vapor-staining method. Four out of 20,016 UV-mutagenized strains showed a substantial reduction of starch content. A significantly higher TAG content, up to 3-fold of the wild-type level, was observed in three of the mutants upon induction by nitrogen depletion. The carotenoid production and growth characteristics of these mutants, under both normal and oxidative stress conditions, were not compromised, suggesting that these processes are not necessarily affected by starch deficiency. The results from this work open up new possibilities for exploring Dunaliella for biodiesel production.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.35-43
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was performed to screen target-specific inhibitors of ${\beta}$-catenin/TCF signaling whose functional activation plays an important role in early events in carcinogenesis. Methods: To investigate the activation or suppression of ${\beta}$-catenin/TCF transcription, we established a transiently transfected cell line with a constitutively active ${\beta}$-catenin mutant gene whose product is not degraded. This cell line was also co-transfected with luciferase reporter gene constructs containing either an optimized (TOPflash) or mutant (FOPflash) TCF-binding element. We investigated cytotoxic effects using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium salt (MTS) assay. To find effective inhibitors of ${\beta}$-catenin/TCF signaling from medicinal herbs, the crude extracts of 99 types of medicinal herbs were screened using a luciferase assay system in HEK-293 and SH-SY5y cells. Results: At a concentration of $50{\mu}g$/ml, extracts of Angelica koreanae radix, Cannabis sativa semen, Ephedrae intermedia Schrenk radix, and Vitis rotundifolia fruit showed the following inhibitory effects on ${\beta}$-catenin/TCF signaling: $40{\pm}5.6%$, $23{\pm}6.1%$, $8{\pm}5.1%$, and $22{\pm}9.8%$ in ${\beta}$-catenin-activated HEK-293 cells and $9{\pm}4.7%$, $39{\pm}8.1%$, $39{\pm}6.4%$, and $42{\pm}10.1%$ in ${\beta}$-catenin-activated SH-SY5y cells, respectively. Crude extracts of E. radix were isolated by silica gel column chromatography, and two non-polar fractions of these extracts showed inhibitory effects on ${\beta}$-catenin/TCF signaling. Conclusions: In this study, we established a transiently transfected cell line as a screening system and found that various medicinal herb extracts had inhibitory effects on ${\beta}$signaling.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

Understanding salt tolerance mechanisms is important for the increase of crop yields, and so, several screening approaches were developed to identify plant genes which are involved in salt tolerance of plants. Here, we transformed the Arabidopsis cDNA library into a salt-sensitive calcineurin (CaN)-deficient ($cnb{\Delta}$) yeast mutant and isolated the colonies which can suppress salt-sensitive phenotype of $cnb{\Delta}$ mutant. Through this functional complementation screen, a total of 34 colonies functionally suppressed the salt-sensitive phenotype of $cnb{\Delta}$ yeast cells, and sequencing analysis revealed that these are 9 genes, including CaS, AtSUMO1 and AtHB-12. Among these genes, the ectopic expression of CaS gene increased salt tolerance in yeast, and CaS transcript was up-regulated under high salinity conditions. CaS-antisense transgenic plants showed reduced root elongation under 100 mM NaCl treatment compared to the wild type plant, which survived under 150 mM NaCl treatment, whereas CaS-antisense transgenic plant leaves turned yellow under 150 mM NaCl treatment. These results indicate that the expression of CaS gene is important for stress tolerance in yeast and plants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.816-820
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• 2018

The stringent response (SR), which is activated by accumulation of (p)ppGpp under conditions of growth-inhibiting stresses, plays an important role on growth and virulence in Vibrio cholerae. Herein, we carried out a genome-wide screen using transposon random mutagenesis to identify genes controlled by SR in a (p)ppGpp-overproducing mutant strain. One of the identified SR target genes was flaC encoding flagellin. Genetic studies using flaC and SR mutants demonstrated that FlaC was involved in bacterial growth, toxin production, and normal flagellum function under conditions of high (p)ppGpp levels, suggesting FlaC plays an important role in SR-induced pathogenicity in V. cholerae.