• ALGAE
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.203-215
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• 2014

As global warming continues over the coming century, marine organisms will experience a warmer, more acidic ocean. Although these stressors may behave antagonistically or synergistically and will impact organisms both directly (i.e., physiologically) and indirectly (i.e., through altered species interactions), few studies have examined the complexities of these effects in combination. To address these uncertainties, we examined the independent and combined effects of elevated temperature and $pCO_2$ on the physiology of the adult sporophyte stage of giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, and the grazing of the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. While elevating $pCO_2$ alone had no effect on M. pyrifera growth or photosynthetic carbon uptake, elevating temperature alone resulted in a significant reduction in both. However, when M. pyrifera was grown under elevated temperature and $pCO_2$ together, growth and photosynthetic carbon uptake significantly increased relative to ambient conditions, suggesting an interaction of these factors on photosynthetic physiology. S. purpuratus held under future conditions generally exhibited reduced growth, and smaller gonads than urchins held under present-day conditions. However, urchins fed kelp grown under future conditions showed higher growth rates, partially ameliorating this effect. Feeding rates were variable over the course of the experiment, with only the first feeding rate experiment showing significantly lower rates for urchins held under future conditions. Together, these data suggest that M. pyrifera may benefit physiologically from a warmer, more acidic (i.e., higher $pCO_2$) ocean while S. purpuratus will likely be impacted negatively. Given that kelp-urchin interactions can be important to kelp forest structure, changes to either of these populations may have serious consequences for many coastal environments.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.474-480
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• 1996

We present a study of evolutionary changes in expression of actin genes among closely related sea urchin species that exhibit different modes of early development. For this purpose, polyclonal antisera raised against peptides from the carboxyl terminus of the HeCyI cytoskeletal actin of Heliocidaris erythrogramma were used. H. erythrogramma is a direct developing sea urchin that proceeds from embryonic to adult stages without an intervening feeding larval stage. Expression patterns of the CyI actin isoform were compared with those of Heliocidaris tuberculata and to a related sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, which both produce a feeding pluteus larval stage. The CyI actin of all three species is expressed in the same cell types. However, its expression patterns have been changed with reorganization of early cell lineage differentiation, which is apparent among the three species. Thus. evolutionary changes in CyI actin gene expression patterns are correlated with not only phylogenetic relationship, but developmental mode. The implication of this observation is that evolutionary changes in expression patterns of histospecific genes may underlie the emergence of novel developmental processes.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.249-256
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• 2009

The estrogen receptor-related receptors (ERRs) are a group of nuclear receptor superfamily of transcription factors. ERRs and estrogen receptors (ERs) have overlapping affinities for coactivators and DNA binding sites, but differ markedly in ligand binding and activation. The three mammalian ERR genes have been implicated in diverse physiological processes ranging from placental development to maintenance of bone density, whereas the molecular diversity, function, and regulation of ERRs in non-mammalian species are not well understood. In the present study, to investigate the involvement of ERR in transcription and embryogenesis in marine invertebrates, a cDNA encoding ERR (SnERR) was cloned from the gonad in Strongylocentrotus nudus, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amino acid sequence of SnERR showed high homology with that of S. purpuratus (91%). A phylogenetic tree clearly showed that SnERR is a member of the ERR family and clustered in echinodermata group as supported by a high bootstrap value. We examined gene expression of SnERR during embryonic development of S. nudus using real-time PCR. During the embryonic development, the mRNA of ERR was significantly high levels in early development stages (4~64 cell) and larval stages. The SnERR slightly activated transcription through the classical estrogen response elements (EREs) in the presence of genistein. In addition, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor $\gamma$ coactivator (PGC)-$1\alpha$ knwon as a coactivator of ERR enhanced the snERR-mediated transactivation, suggesting that the PGC-$1\alpha$ is a coactivator of SnERR.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.157-168
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• 2000

Sea urchin S. intermedius occurring in the Korean east coast is a cold water species that belongs to the family Strongylocentrotidae of Echinoidea. Although it is known that there are nine species in the family, species identification criteria, phylogenetic relationships, time and process of evolution of the family members have not been uncovered clearly. In the present study, I tried to find some clues to such problems for S. intermedius by means of DNA sequences. For this, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), one of the mitochondrial genes that evolve fast and follow maternal inheritance was analyzed. DNA was extracted from the female gonad of S. intermedius, a segment of COI gene amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and finally a total of 1077 base pair sequence of COI obtained by cloning and sequencing the PCR product. The sequence was compared with homologous genes of other sea urchins and echinoderm species. Phylogenetic trees of the COI gene segment revealed that S. intenedius is a sister species of S. purpuratus which lives along the east coast of the Paciflc. With reference to the fossil records of sea urchins and genetic distances in the molecular phylogenies, it is estimated that the two species were separated about 0.89 million years ago when the earth temperature fluctuated significantly. The current disjunct distribution patterns of the two species and the climate change of the earth at the time of separation suggest that speciation might have occurred by vicariance. The COI gene sequence obtained here now can be used as a molecular character which discerns S. intermedius from the other sea urchin species of Strongylocentrotidae.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2008.06c
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• pp.217-221
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• 2008

생명공학 기술의 발달로 지놈 프로젝트를 통해 인간 초파리 등 여러 종의 유전체 정보가 밝혀 졌다. 그러나 Post-Genome 연구에 있어서 매우 중요한 생물체인 멍게(Ciona intestinalis)와 성게(Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)의 유전체 서열은 현재 공개되어 있으나 염기서열의 연속성(continuity)에는 심각한 문제점이 존재하고 있다. 이들은 염기서열에 변이가 많은 다염기변이 유전체(polymorphic genomes)로 그 특성이 반영되지 않은 전통적인 Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing(WGSS)방법을 사용였기 때문이다. 이와 같은 다염기변이 유전체 서열 분석은 시스템 생물학이나 비교 유전체학 등의 후발 연구에 기초가 되므로 매우 중요하다. 본 논문에서는 다염기변이 유전체에 대해 알아보고 서열 조립 알고리즘의 기본이 되는 서열 정렬 툴들 중 가장 많이 사용되는 FASTA, BLAST, BLAT에 대해 분석하여 봄으로써 다염기변이 유전체에 적합한 서열 조립 전략 수립을 위해 고려해야 하는 사항들을 논의해 본다.