• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2003

Delftia acidovorans 51-A isolated from river water degrades aniline. In order to clone genes involved in aniline degradation, transposon Tn5-B20 was inserted into the strain 51-A to generate a mutant strain 10-4-2 that cannot utilize aniline as a carbon source. The mutant strain was not an auxotroph but could not degrade aniline. Southern hybridization analysis indicated that the transposon was inserted into the mutant bacterial DNA as a single copy. Flanking DNA fragment of Tn5-B2O insertion was cloned and sequenced. DNA sequence analysis revealed three ORFs encoding TdnQ, TdnT, and TdnA 1 that arc responsible for catechol formation from aniline through oxidative deamination. The analysis also confirmed that Tn5-B2O was inserted at the immediate downstream of tdnA1. The result suggests that the transposon insertion behind tdirA1 disrupted the pathway of the catechol formation from aniline, resulting in the mutant phenotype, which cannot degrade aniline. A large plasmid over 100-kb in size was detected from D. acidovorans 51-A and Southern hybridization analysis with Tn5-B2O probe showed that the transposon was inserted on the plasmid named pTDN51. Our results indicated that the tdn genes on pTDN51 of D. acidovorans 51-A are involved in aniline degradation.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.463-472
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• 2009

Although the possible cellular roles of several ubiquitin-specific proteases (UBPs) were identified in Arabidopsis, almost nothing is known about UBP homologs in rice, a monocot model plant. In this report, we searched the rice genome database (http://signal.salk.edu/cgi-bin/RiceGE) and identified 21 putative UBP family members (OsUBPs) in the rice genome. These OsUBP genes each contain a ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase (UCH) domain with highly conserved Cys and His boxes and were subdivided into 9 groups based on their sequence identities and domain structures. RT-PCR analysis indicated that rice OsUBP genes are expressed at varying degrees in different rice tissues. We isolated a full-length cDNA clone for OsUBP6, which possesses not only a UCH domain, but also an N-terminal ubiquitin motif. Bacterially expressed OsUBP6 was capable of dismantling K48-linked tetra-ubiquitin chains in vitro. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR indicated that OsUBP6 is constitutively expressed in different tissues of rice plants. An in vivo targeting experiment showed that OsUBP6 is predominantly localized to the nucleus in onion epidermal cells. We also examined how knock-out of OsUBP6 affects developmental growth of rice plants. Although homozygous T3 osubp6 T-DNA insertion mutant seedlings displayed slower growth relative to wild type seedlings, mature mutant plants appeared to be normal. These results raise the possibility that loss of OsUBP6 is functionally compensated for by an as-yet unknown OsUBP homolog during later stages of development in rice plants.

• Mycobiology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.491-497
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• 2021

An endolichenic fungus Xylaria grammica EL000614 produces grammicin, a potent nematicidal pyrone derivative that can serve as a new control option for root-knot nematodes. We optimized an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) protocol for X. grammica to support genetic studies. Transformants were successfully generated after co-cultivation of homogenized young mycelia of X. grammica with A. tumefaciens strain AGL-1 carrying a binary vector that contains the bacterial hygromycin B phosphotransferase (hph) gene and the eGFP gene in T-DNA. The resulting transformants were mitotically stable, and PCR analysis showed the integratin of both genes in the genome of transformants. Expression of eGFP was confirmed via fluorescence microscopy. Southern analysis showed that 131 (78.9%) out of 166 transformants contained a single T-DNA insertion. Crucial factors for producing predominantly single T-DNA transformants include 48 h of co-cultivation, pretreatment of A. tumefaciens cells with acetosyringone before co-cultivation, and using freshly prepared mycelia. The established ATMT protocol offers an efficient tool for random insertional mutagenesis and gene transfer in studying the biology and ecology of X. grammica.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.501-507
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• 2010

Formaldehyde responsive protein(FRP) 1 belongs to the family of universal stress protein(USP) and is known to respond to stress caused by fumigation of gaseous volatile organic compounds(VOCs) such as formaldehyde and toluene. However, the molecular function of this protein is not well understood at cellular and molecular level. In this study, loss of function mutant of FRP1 generated by T-DNA insertion(frp1-4) has been isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana and the function of FRP1 was characterized. The loss-of-function mutant of FRP1 appeared slight growth defects with shorter stem and rosette leaves compared to wild type. In addition, the damage caused by exogenous VOCs was more severe in frp1-4 than in control. Therefore, Arabidopsis FRP1 seems to be the protein involved not only in the growth and development of plant but also the stress resistance against toxic volatile organic compounds.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.246-251
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• 2006

A lot of mutants which cannot initiate sexual development were screened and several loci including nsdA, nsdB, nsdC, and nsdD were identified in homothallic ascomycetes Aspergillus nidulans. The NSD206, which has nsdC6 allele, showed typical phenotype of NSD (Never in sexual development) mutants. The nsdC gene was cloned by transforming NSDP697 ($nsdC^-$, $pryG^-$) with AMA1-NotI genomic library. The transforming library DNA recovered from several transformants showing wild phenotype carried about 10 kb genomic DNA insert. The DNA sequence of nsdC was analysed using GPS (Genome priming system). The nsdC gene has an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,929 bp encoding a putative polypeptide of 643 amino acids. The NsdC carries $C_2H_2C_2H_2C_2HC$ type zinc finger DNA binding domains in the middle of the polypeptide. A coiled-coil domain at its C terminus were also found. In nsdC6 allele, a single T insertion was occurred between 407-408 bp leading to the frameshift mutation and early termination of translation producing the truncated protein which has only 139 amino acids.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.937-946
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• 2004

Duroc is widely used to improve the meat quality and productivity. To elucidate the phylogenetic relation and the sequence specificity for the maternal property, the complete sequence of mitochondrial genome was determined and the population diversity of Duroc was investigated in this study. The length of mtDNA tested is 16,584-bp. There are several insertion/deletion mutations in the control region and coding regions for tRNA and rRNA, respectively, but not in peptide-coding regions. Four peptide-coding genes(COⅡ, COⅢ, ND3 and ND4) showed incomplete termination codon sequences such as T--, and two(ND2 and ND4L) did alternative initiation codons(AIC), respectively. Especially, the initiation codon sequences of ND2 gene were polymorphic in this population. Polymorphisms were detected in 11-bp duplication motif within control region as well as ND2 and CYTB. Variation patterns observed from the tests on three mtDNA regions were linked completely and then two haplotypes obtained from combining the data dividing this population. Duroc mtDNA is observed at the European pig cluster in the phylogenetic tree, however, the results from the population analyses supported previous opinions. This study suggests that the breed Duroc was mainly originated from the European pig lineage, and Asian lineage was also used to form the pig breed Duroc as maternal progenitors.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2011

We developed 14 transgenic lines of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa) harboring the T-DNA border sequences and CryIAc1 transgene of the binary vector 416 using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated DNA transfer. Six lines had single copy cryIAc1 gene and four of them contained no vector backbone DNA. Of the left border (LB) flanking sequences six nucleotides were deleted in transgenic lines 416-2 and 416-3, eleven nucleotides in line 416-9, and 65 nucleotides including the whole LB sequences in line 416-17, respectively. And we defined 499 bp of genomic DNA (gDNA) of transformed Chinese cabbage, and blast results showed 96% homology with Brassica oleracea sequences. PCR with specific primer for the right border (RB) franking sequence revealed 834 bp of PCR product sequence, and it was consisted of 3' end of cryIAc1, nosterminal region and 52 bp of Chinese cabbage genomic DNA near RB. RB sequences were not found and the 58 nucleotides including 21 bp of nos-terminator 3' end were deleted. Also, there were deletion of 10 bp of the known genomic sequences and insertion of 65 bp undefined genomic sequences of Chinese cabbage in the integration site. These results demonstrate that the integration of T-DNA can be accompanied by unusual deletions and insertions both in transgenic and genomic sequences.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2006

Salt stress is one of major environmental factors influencing plant growth and development. To identify salt tolerance determinants in higher plants, a large-scale screen was conducted with a bialaphos marker-based T-DNA insertional collection of Arabidopsis ecotype C24 mutants. One line for salt stress-sensitive mutant (referred to as ssm1) exhibited increased sensitivity to both ionic (NaCl) and nonionic (mannitol) osmotic stress in a root growth assay. This result suggests that ssm1 mutant is involved in ion homeostasis and osmotic compensation in plant. Molecular cloning of the genomic DNA flanking T-DNA insert of ssm1 mutant was achieved by mutant genomic DNA library screening. T-DNA insertion appeared in the first exon of an open reading frame on F3M18.7, which is the same as AtSYP61. SSM1 is SYP61/OSM1 that is a member of the SNARE superfamily of proteins required for vesicular/target membrane fusions and factor related to abiotic stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.95-105
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• 2005

Transposon-mediated insertional mutagenesis provides one of the most powerful tools for functional studies of genes in higher plants. This project has been performed to develop a large population of insertional mutations, and to construct databases of molecular information on Ds insertion sites in rice. Ultimate goals are to supply genetic materials and information to analyze gene function and to identify and utilize agronomically important genes for breeding purpose. Two strategies have been employed to generate the large scale of transposon population in a Japonica type rice, Dongjin Byeo; 1) genetic crosses between Ac and Ds lines and 2) plant regeneration from seeds carrying Ac and Ds. Our study showed that over 70% of regenerated plants generally carried independent Ds elements and high activity of transposition was detected only during regeneration period. Ds-flanking DNA amplified from leaf tissues of F2 and T1 (or T2) plants have been amplified via TAIL-PCR and directly sequenced. So far, over 65,000 Ds lines have been generated and over 9,500 Ds loci have been mapped on chromosomes by sequence analysis. Database of molecular information on Ds insertion sites has been constructed, and has been opened to the public and will be updated soon at http://www.niab.go.kr. Detailed functional analysis of more than 30 rice mutants has been performed. Several Ds-tagged rice genes that have been selected for functional analysis will be briefly introduced. We expect that a great deal of information and genetic resources of Ds lines would be obtained during the course of this project, which will be shared with domestic and international rice researchers. In addition to the Japonica rice, we have established the tagging system in an rice line of indica genetic background, MGRI079. MGRI079 (Indica/Japonica) was transformed with Agrobacteria carrying Ac and Ds T-DNA vectors. Among transgenic lines, we successfully identified single-copy Ds and Ac lines in MGR1079. These lines were served as ‘starter lines’ to mutagenize Indica genetic background. To achieve rapid, large scale generation of Ds transposant lines, MGR1079 transformants carrying homozygous Ac were crossed with ones with homozygous Ds, and $F_2$seeds were used for plant regeneration. In this year, over 2,000 regeneration plants were grown in the field. We are able to evaluate the tagging efficiency in the Indica genetic background in the fall.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.81-85
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• 2015

Molecular characterization technology in genetically modified organisms, in addition to how transgenic biotechnologies are developed now require full transparency to assess the risk to living modified and non-modified organisms. Next generation sequencing (NGS) methodology is suggested as an effective means in genome characterization and detection of transgenic insertion locations. In the present study, we applied NGS to insert transgenic loci, specifically the epidermal growth factor (EGF) in genetically modified rice cells. A total of 29.3 Gb (${\sim}72{\times}coverage$) was sequenced with a $2{\times}150bp$ paired end method by Illumina HiSeq2500, which was consecutively mapped to the rice genome and T-vector sequence. The compatible pairs of reads were successfully mapped to 10 loci on the rice chromosome and vector sequences were validated to the insertion location by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The EGF transgenic site was confirmed only on chromosome 4 by PCR. Results of this study demonstrated the success of NGS data to characterize the rice genome. Bioinformatics analyses must be developed in association with NGS data to identify highly accurate transgenic sites.