• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1119-1128
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• 2015

1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase, which is encoded by some bacteria, can reduce the amount of ethylene, a root elongation inhibitor, and stimulate the growth of plants under various environmental stresses. The presence of ACC deaminase activity and the regulation of ACC in several rhizospheric bacteria have been reported. The nitrogen-fixing Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501 is capable of endophytic association with rice plants and promotes the growth of rice. However, the functional identification of ACC deaminase has not been performed. In this study, the proposed effect of ACC deaminase in P. stutzeri A1501 was investigated. Genome mining showed that P. stutzeri A1501 carries a single gene encoding ACC deaminase, designated acdS. The acdS mutant was devoid of ACC deaminase activity and was less resistant to NaCl and NiCl₂ compared with the wild-type. Furthermore, inactivation of acdS greatly impaired its nitrogenase activity under salt stress conditions. It was also observed that mutation of the acdS gene led to loss of the ability to promote the growth of rice under salt or heavy metal stress. Taken together, this study illustrates the essential role of ACC deaminase, not only in enhancing the salt or heavy metal tolerance of bacteria but also in improving the growth of plants, and provides a theoretical basis for studying the interaction between plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and plants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.238-244
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• 2010

Rhizobia are well-known for their ability to infect and nodulate legume roots, forming a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis of agricultural importance. In addition, recent studies have shown that rhizobia can colonize roots and aerial plant tissues of rice as a model plant of the Graminaceae family. Here we show that rhizobia can invade tobacco, a model plant belonging to the Solanaceae family. Inoculation of seedling. roots with five GFP-tagged rhizobial species followed by microscopy and viable plating analyses indicated their colonization of the surface and interior of the whole vegetative plant. Blockage of ascending epiphytic migration by coating the hypocotyls with Vaseline showed that the endophytic rhizobia can exit the leaf interior through stomata and colonize the external phyllosphere habitat. These studies indicate rhizobia can colonize both below- and above-ground tissues of tobacco using a dynamic invasion process that involves both epiphytic and endophytic lifestyles.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1586-1597
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• 2013

Energy-efficient metabolic responses were often noted in high-productive cultures. To better understand these metabolic responses, an investigation into the relationship between metabolic responses and energy regulation was conducted via a comparative analysis among cultures with different energy source supplies. Both glycolysis and glutaminolysis were studied through the kinetic analyses of major extracellular metabolites concerning the fast and slow cell growth stages, respectively, as well as the time-course profiles of intracellular metabolites. In three cultures showing distinct antibody productivities, the amino acid metabolism and energy state were further examined. Both the transition of lactate from production to consumption and steady intracellular pools of pyruvate and lactate were observed to be correlated with efficient energy regulation. In addition, an efficient utilization of amino acids as the replenishment for the TCA cycle was also found in the cultures with upregulated energy metabolism. It was further revealed that the inefficient energy regulation would cause low cell productivity based on the comparative analysis of cell growth and productivity in cultures having distinct energy regulation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.965-974
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• 2017

The single-chain variable fragment (scFv) against lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) is a promising molecule for its potential use in the diagnosis and immunotherapy of atherosclerosis. Producing this scFv in several milligram amounts could be the starting point for further engineering and application of the scFv. In this study, the abundant expression of the anti-LOX-1 scFv was attempted using Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Brevibacillus choshinensis (B. choshinensis). The scFv had limited soluble yield in E. coli, but it was efficiently secreted by B. choshinensis. The optimized fermentation was determined using the Plackett-Burman screening design and response surface methodology, under which the yield reached up to 1.5 g/l in a 5-L fermentor. Moreover, the properties of the scFvs obtained from the two expression systems were different. The antigen affinity, transition temperature, and particle diameter size were 1.01E-07 M, $55.2{\pm}0.3^{\circ}C$, and 9.388 nm for the scFv expressed by B. choshinensis, and 4.53E-07 M, $52.5{\pm}0.3^{\circ}C$, and 13.54 nm for the scFv expressed by E. coli. This study established an efficient scale-up production methodology for the anti-LOX-1 scFv, which will boost its use in LOX-1-based therapy.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2013

We present the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) analysis on the quasi-periodic modulation of SMC X-1. SMC X-1, consisting of a neutron star and a massive companion, exhibits superorbital modulation with a period varying between ~40 d and ~65 d. We applied the HHT on the light curve observed by the All-Sky Monitor onboard Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) to obtain the instantaneous frequency of the superorbital modulation of SMC X-1. The resultant Hilbert spectrum is consistent with the dynamic power spectrum while it shows more detailed information in both the time and frequency domains. According to the instantaneous frequency, we found a correlation between the superorbital period and the modulation amplitude. Combining the spectral observation made by the Proportional Counter Array onboard RXTE and the superorbital phase derived in the HHT, we performed a superorbital phase-resolved spectral analysis of SMC X-1. An analysis of the spectral parameters versus the orbital phase for different superorbital states revealed that the diversity of $n_H$ has an orbital dependence. Furthermore, we obtained the variation in the eclipse profiles by folding the All Sky Monitor light curve with orbital period for different superorbital states. A dip feature, similar to the pre-eclipse dip of Her X-1, can be observed only in the superorbital ascending and descending states, while the width is anti-correlated with the X-ray flux.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 2008

We studied both the wavelength and intensity dependent photo-responses (photofield-effect) in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). During the a-IGZO TFT illumination with the wavelength range from $460\sim660$ nm (visible range), the off-state drain current $(I_{DS_off})$ only slightly increased while a large increase was observed for the wavelength below 400 nm. The observed results are consistent with the optical gap of $\sim$3.05eV extracted from the absorption measurement. The a-IGZO TFT properties under monochromatic illumination ($\lambda$=420nm) with different intensity was also investigated and $I_{DS_off}$ was found to increase with the light intensity. Throughout the study, the field-effect mobility $(\mu_{eff})$ is almost unchanged. But due to photo-generated charge trapping, a negative threshold voltage $(V_{th})$ shift is observed. The mathematical analysis of the photofield-effect suggests that a highly efficient UV photocurrent conversion process in TFT off-region takes place. Finally, a-IGZO mid-gap density-of-states (DOS) was extracted and is more than an order of magnitude lower than reported value for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), which can explain a good switching properties observed for a-IGZO TFTs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.624-627
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• 2001

Two kinds of Nd$_{1+x}$Ba$_{2-x}$Cu$_3$O$_{7-{\delta}}$, the sintering samples and zone melting samples, were heat treated under pure Ar at 95$0^{\circ}C$. The substitution of Nd ion for Ba ion in the Nd$_{1+x}$Ba$_{2-x}$Cu$_3$O$_{7-{\delta}}$ before and after the heat treatment were investigated by XRD. In order to know the effects of the heat treatment, the T$_{c}$ and J$_{c}$ of samples with the heat treatment and those without the heat treatment by Ar were comparatively studied. The results show that the substitution of Nd for Ba decreased, T$_{c}$, and J$_{c}$ increased after the treatment under Ar at 95$0^{\circ}C$. The Nd$_{1+x}$Ba$_{2-x}$Cu$_3$O$_{7-{\delta}}$ samples were oxygenated under pure oxygen at 30$0^{\circ}C$. From the XRD pattern it was found that the sample with x< 0.4 could transfer from tetragonal phase to orthorhombic phase after the oxygenation, but the sample with x>0.4 could not make the phase transition even after a long time oxygenation.ion even after a long time oxygenation.ation.n.ation.ation.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.469-477
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• 2014

As a kind of intelligent materials, conductive asphalt concrete has a broad application prospect including melting ice and snow on the pavement, closing cracks in asphalt concrete, sensing pavement damage, and so on. Conductive pavement will be suffered from fatigue failure as conventional pavement in the process of service, and this fatigue damage of internal structure can be induced by electrical signal output. The characteristics of electrical signal variation of conductive asphalt concrete in the process of fatigue cracking were researched in this paper. The whole process was clearly divided into three stages according to resistance changes, and the development of fatigue damage wasn't obvious in stage I and stage II, while in stage III, the synchronicity between the resistance and damage began to appear. Thus, fatigue damage variable D and initial damage value $D_0$ represented by the functions of resistance were introduced in stage III. After calculating the initial damage value $D_0$ under different stress levels, it was concluded that the initial damage value $D_0$ had no noticeable change, just ranged between 0.24 and 0.25. This value represented a critical point which could be used to inform the repair time of early fatigue damage in the conductive asphalt pavement.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9439-9444
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• 2014

Purpose: To identify prostate cancer lncRNAs using a pipeline proposed in this study, which is applicable for the identification of lncRNAs that are differentially expressed in prostate cancer tissues but have a negligible potential to encode proteins. Materials and Methods: We used two publicly available RNA-Seq datasets from normal prostate tissue and prostate cancer. Putative lncRNAs were predicted using the biological technology, then specific lncRNAs of prostate cancer were found by differential expression analysis and co-expression network was constructed by the weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Results: A total of 1,080 lncRNA transcripts were obtained in the RNA-Seq datasets. Three genes (PCA3, C20orf166-AS1 and RP11-267A15.1) showed a significant differential expression in the prostate cancer tissues, and were thus identified as prostate cancer specific lncRNAs. Brown and black modules had significant negative and positive correlations with prostate cancer, respectively. Conclusions: The pipeline proposed in this study is useful for the prediction of prostate cancer specific lncRNAs. Three genes (PCA3, C20orf166-AS1, and RP11-267A15.1) were identified to have a significant differential expression in prostate cancer tissues. However, there have been no published studies to demonstrate the specificity of RP11-267A15.1 in prostate cancer tissues. Thus, the results of this study can provide a new theoretic insight into the identification of prostate cancer specific genes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2693-2696
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• 2015

The diagnostic value of membrane glycolipid biochemistry index, the lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) and total sialic acid (TSA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was evaluated in 30 intracranial and 65 gastrointestinal tumors. The plasma LSA, TSA and red cell membrane sialic acid (R-SA) in were determined according to the method of Sevenmerhulm. Our results showed that the levels of LSA and TSA in CSF of intracranial tumor patients was higher than that of normal group(p<0.01). The concentration of TSA and LSA in patients with malignant glioma was higher than that of benign meningioma patients(P<0.01). No significance was found between intracranial halmatoma patients and normal control group for levels of membrane glycolipids (p>0.05). Results also found that the plasma LSA, TSA and R-SA of gastric carcinoma were significantly higher than those of control group (p<0.05); while no significant difference was found in the plasma LSA, TSA and R-SA levels between chronic gastritis, gastrohelcoma and normal control group (p>0.05). Plasma LSA, TSA and R-SA levels of gastric carcinoma patient were significantly higher than those of chronic gastritis patients and gastrohelcoma patients(p<0.05). It was also found that plasma LSA, TSA and R-SA contents were significantly higher in large intestine carcinoma patients than in benign in stestine tumor patients (p<0.05) while no significant difference was found between intestine benign tumor and normal control group (p>0.05). The levels of LSA, TSA and R-SA were obviously higher in the patients with metastasis than in the ones without (p<0.05.) The membrane glycolipid biochemistry index LSA and TSA in CSF are sensive markers for diagnosing intracranial tumors. For gastrointestinal malignant tumors the plasma LSA TSA and red blood cell membrane SA may be considered as auxiliary indicators for diagnosis. They can be used for distinguishing benign from malignant tumors.