• KSBB Journal
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.575-581
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• 1995

A plasmid pTTY2, containing the lipase-producing gene, was used to transform an E. coli phage lysogen, P90c/$\phi$434, into the lipase-producing lysogen, P90c/$\phi$434/pTTY2. After the overproduction of lipase by the isopropylthio-${\beta}$-D-galactoside induction, the prophage $\phi$434 in the chromosome of the host cell was induced by the milomycin C addition or ultraviolet irradiation to lyse the host cell. The optimum operating conditions, such as the isopropylthio-${\beta}$-D-galactoside induction period and the phage induction timing, were sought for the efficient cell lysis in the same fermenter. Effective cell lysis occurred at the earlier exponential growth phase with the isopropylthio-${\beta}$-D-galactoside induction period of 1 hour. The amount of the lipase production was qualitatively measured by the halo size in Luria-Bertani agar medium containing tributyrin and Rhodamine B plate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.964-972
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• 2023

Bacteriophage endolysins are peptidoglycan hydrolases composed of cell binding domain (CBD) and an enzymatically active domain. A phage endolysin CBD can be used for detecting bacteria owing to its high specificity and sensitivity toward the bacterial cell wall. We aimed to develop a method for detection of Enterococcus faecalis using an endolysin CBD. The gene encoding the CBD of ECP3 phage endolysin was cloned into the Escherichia coli expression vector pET21a. A recombinant protein with a C-terminal 6-His-tag (CBD) was expressed and purified using a His-trap column. CBD was adsorbed onto epoxy magnetic beads (eMBs). The bacterial species specificity and sensitivity of bacterial binding to CBD-eMB complexes were determined using the bacterial colony counting from the magnetic separations after the binding reaction between bacteria and CBD-eMB complexes. E. faecalis could bind to CBD-eMB complexes, but other bacteria (such as Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Streptococcus mutans, and Porphyromonas gingivalis) could not. E. faecalis cells were fixed onto CBD-eMB complexes within 1 h, and >78% of viable E. faecalis cells were recovered. The E. faecalis recovery ratio was not affected by the other bacterial species. The detection limit of the CBD-eMB complex for E. faecalis was >17 CFU/ml. We developed a simple method for the specific detection of E. faecalis using bacteriophage endolysin CBD and MBs. This is the first study to determine that the C-terminal region of ECP3 phage endolysin is a highly specific binding site for E. faecalis among other bacterial species.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.897-904
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• 2023

This study was done to develope genetic markers with the unique characteristics of genes according to the genomic information of Bacillus velezensis K10. B. velezensis K10 maintained a total of 4,159,835 bps, which was found to encode 5,136 open reading frames (orfs). B. velezensis K10 was found to have much more gene migration due to external factors overall compared to standard strain B. velezensis JS25R. In order to discover genetic selection markers, orfs on the genome to be easily induced to gene mutation were surveyed such as recombinase, integrase, transposase, and phage-related genes. As a result of the investigation, 9 candidate markers were isolated with high possibility as genetic selection markers. Although a part in the various origin's areas showed specificities in comparison with homology, the selected markers were all existed in phage-related areas because they were relatively lower homologies in phage-related genes. PCR analysis was done on B. licheniformis K12, B. velezensis K10, B. subtilis, and B. cereus to establish them as inter-species candidate selection markers. As a result, it was confirmed that B. velezensis K10-specific PCR products were formed in a total of 6 primer sets such as BV3 and BV5 to 9. On the other hand, analysis at the subspecies level observed the formation of B. velezensis K10-specific PCR products in 4 primer sets such as BV3, 5, 8, and 9. Among them, since BV5 and BV8 were detected by very specific results, we suggest that BV5 and 8 can be used as B. velezensis K10 gene selection markers at the species and sub-species level.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 1998

We examined mRNAs, isolated from the rat brain, to ascertain if there is any polymorphism for S-100 beta protein gene. As templates for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the reverse-transcribed cDNA from the rat brain or phage DNAs isolated from the rat brain cDNA libraries were used. Although PCR products turned out to be exactly same as the expected size based on the previously reported mRNA sequence a single base substitution (CAT to CAC) was identified at nucleotide level. This change was considered as polymorphism since it did not cause any change of the primary structure for S-100 beta protein. This result should facilitate the understanding of the overall structure of the gene for S-100 beta protein.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.821-827
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• 2010

Gene delivery that provides targeted delivery of therapeutic genes to the cells of a lesion enhances therapeutic efficacy and reduces toxic side effects. This process is especially important in cancer therapy when it is advantageous to avoid unwanted damage to healthy normal cells. Incorporating cancer-specific ligands that recognize receptors overexpressed on cancer cells can increase selective binding and uptake and, as a result, increase targeted transgene expression. In this study, we investigated whether a peptide capable of homing to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) could facilitate targeted gene delivery by cationic liposomes. This homing peptide (HBP) exhibited selective binding to a human hepatocarcinoma cell line, HepG2, at a concentration ranging from 5 to 5,000 nM. When conjugated to a cationic liposome, HBP substantially increased cellular internalization of plasmid DNA to increase the transgene expression in HepG2 cells. In addition, there was no significant enhancement in gene transfer detected for other human cell lines tested, including THLE-3, AD293, and MCF-7 cells. Therefore, we demonstrate that HBP provides targeted gene delivery to HCC by cationic liposomes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 2005

Under the condition of expression of $\lambda$ P protein at lethal level, the oriC DNA-binding activity is significantly affected in wild-type E. coli but not in the rpl mutant. In purified system, the $\lambda$ P protein inhibits the binding of both oriC DNA and ATP to the wild-type DnaA protein but not to the rpl DnaA protein. We conclude that the $\lambda$ P protein inhibits the binding of oriC DNA and ATP to the wild-type DnaA protein, which causes the inhibition of host DNA synthesis initiation that ultimately leads to bacterial death. A possible beneficial effect of this interaction of $\lambda$ P protein with E. coli DNA initiator protein DnaA for phage DNA replication has been proposed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.541-547
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• 1993

A phage clone containing the partial ${\alpha}_{S1}$-casein gene was isolated from a bovine genomic library by using mixed probes of ovine ${\alpha}_{S1}$-, ${\beta}$- and ${\kappa}$-casein cDNAs. Restriction enzyme mapping analysis for 14.6 kb revealed that the map was in conflict with the report of Meade et al. (1990), especially in the 3'-end fragment. Sequence analysis of 12.6 kb revealed a high AT/GC ratio (1.64); we have identified eight exon sequences according to the bovine ${\alpha}_{S1}$-casein cDNA sequence. The same exon/intron splice junction sequence was observed between these exons. We suggest that the bovine ${\alpha}_{S1}$-casein gene night contain a minimum of 18 exons and the full length is approximately 18-19 kb.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.4.1-4.3
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• 2013

A history of discoveries of a gene and DNA was viewed with respect to people, time and places. It started with G. Mendel and J. Meisher, who discovered a gene in a plant species in 1866 and DNA in animals in 1869, respectively. With recognition that DNA was a chemical substance, A. Kossel identified the four chemical components of DNA without knowing their biological function around the turn of the 19th century. On the other hand F. Griffith found a peculiar activity in a bacterial species in 1928, but victimized by the war before understanding what it was. Those discoveries were made in Europe, but they were still fragmentary. Then, in USA, O. T. Avery, A. Hershey, M. Nirenberg and other scientists organized the European discoveries and elucidated their coordinated biological functions in 1950's and 1960'.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.376-380
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• 2006

Gene expression is regulated in large part at the level of transcription under the control of sequence-specific transcriptional regulatory proteins. Therefore, the ability to affect gene expression at will using sequencespecific artificial transcription factors would provide researchers with a powerful tool for biotechnology research and drug discovery. Previously, we isolated 56 novel sequence-specific DNA-binding domains from the human genome by in vivo selection. We hypothesized that these domains might be more useful for regulating gene expression in higher eukaryotic cells than those selected in vitro using phage display. However, an unpredictable factor, termed the "context effect", is associated with the construction of novel zinc finger transcription factors--- DNA-binding proteins that bind specifically to 9-base pair target sequences. In this study, we directly selected active artificial zinc finger proteins from a zinc finger protein library. Direct in vivo selection of constituents of a zinc finger protein library may be an efficient method for isolating multi-finger DNA binding proteins while avoiding the context effect.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 1992

In order to overexpress bacteriophage PRD1 DNA polymerase in E. coli cells, the 2 kb HaeII fragment was isolated from phage genomic DNA. This fragment was then cloned into pEMBL/sup ex/ 3-expression vector. A specific 57bp deletion was performed by using uracil containing ss DNA and oligonucleotide spanning each region to remove an unwanted non-coding region. After this deletion, the PRD1 DNA polymerase gene is totally under the control of the vector promoter and SD sequence. Upon heat induction, a protein with an apparent size of 68 kdal was overexpressed as an active PRD1 DNA polymerase. The expression of PRD1 DNA polymerase was about 1% of total E. coli protein.