• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2006

"Determinate" and "indeterminate" inflorescences in plants are controlled by a single recessive gene, for example, SELF-PRUNING (SP) in Solanum lycopersicum, TERMINAL FLOWER1 in Arabidopsis, CENTRORADIALIS in Antirrhinum, and CENTRORADIALIS-like gene in tobacco. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an indeterminate species in which shoots grow indefinitely. In this study, we cloned and characterized the pepper SP-like gene (CaSP). RT-PCR revealed that the CaSP transcript accumulates to higher levels in floral buds than in other organs. Comparison of genomic DNA and cDNA sequences from indeterminate and determinate pepper plants revealed the insertion of a single base in the first exon of CaSP in the determinate pepper plants. CaSP is annotated in linkage group 8 (chromosome 6) of the SNU2 pepper genetic map and showed similar synteny to SP in tomato. Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing CaSP displayed late-flowering phenotypes similar to the phenotypes caused by overexpression of CaSP orthologs in other plants. Collectively, these results suggest that pepper CaSP is an ortholog of SP in tomato.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.99-103
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• 1994

The herbicide bialaphos is a potent inhibitor of glutamine synthetase in higher plants. A bialaphos resistance (bar) gene encoding for an acetyltransferase was isolated from genomic DNA of Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci. The bar gene was ligated to the binary vector pBI121. Pistils of tobacco plane were heated with the bar gene containing plasmid DNA at various times after pollination. When the treatment was applied at 30 and 40 h after pollination, a number of transgenic plants were obtained. Premary transformation (T$_{0}$ generation) and their progenies (T$_1$T$_2$) were resistant to both bialaphos and kanamycin at a dosage lathal to untransformed control plants. Stable integration of bar gene into chromosomal DNA was proven by Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA isolated from T$_1$progenies. These results show that the bialaphos resistant plane could be obtained by treatment to pistils with the exgenous bar gene through the fertilization cycle of tobacco.o.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 1999

Rapid accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their toxic reaction products with lipids and proteins significantly contributes to the damage of crop plants under biotic and abiotic stresses. We have identified several stress activated alfalfa genes, including the gene of the alfalfa ferritin and a novel NADPH-dependent aldose/aldehyde reductase enzyme. Transgenic tobacco plants that synthesize alfalfa ferritin in vegetative tissues-either in its processed form in chloroplast or in the cytoplasmic non-processed form-retained photosynthetic function upon free radical toxicity generated by paraquat treatment and exhibited tolerance to necrotic damage caused by viral and fungal infections. We propose that by sequestering intracellular iron involved in generation of the very reactive hydroxyl radicals through a Fenton reaction, ferritin protects plant cells from oxidative damage. Our preliminary results with the other stress-inducable alfalfa gene (a NADPH-dependent aldo-keto reductase) indicate, that the encoded enzyme may play role in the stress response of the plant cells. These studies reveal new pathways in plants that can contribute to the increased stress resistance with a potential use in crop improvement.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.17
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• pp.15-20
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• 1999

To investigate the function of the chloroplast small heat shock protein (small HSP), transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L., cv. SRI) that show constitutive expression of the chloroplast small HSP were generated. Effects of constitutive expression of the introduced gene on thermotolerance were first probed with the chlorophyll fluorescence. After a 5-min incubation of leaf discs at high temperatures, an increase in the Fo level and a decrease in the Fv level, indications of separation of LHCII from PSII and inactivation of electron transport reactions in PSII, were mitigated by constitutive expression of the small HSP. When tobacco plantlets grown in Petri dishes were incubated at $52^{\circ}C$ for 45 min and subsequently incubated at $25^{\circ}C$, leaf color of nontransformants was gradually became white and all plantlets finally were died. Under conditions in which all nontransformants were dying, more than 80% of the transformants remained green and survived. These results suggest that the chloroplast small HSP plays an important role in protecting photosynthetic machinery during heat stress.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2000

To investigate the function of chloroplast small HSP, transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Samsun) that constitutively overexpress the chloroplast small HSP (NtHSP21) from N. tabacum cv. Petit Havana SR1 were generated. Five homozygous lines of transformants showing different constitutive expression levels of the NtHSP21 were selected. To determine whether constitutive overexpression of NtHSP21 protein affects thermotolerance, wild-type and transformants were grown in Petri dishes, heat-stressed at 52$^{\circ}C$ for 45 min, and then incubated in normal growth condition. When heat-stressed wild-type plantlets were incubated at $25^{\circ}C$, leaf color gradually became white and all trio plantlets finally died within a week. As for the transformants, however, more than 70% of them remained green and survived under the conditions in which all the wild-type plants were dying. It was also found that the levels of NtHSP21 were correlated with the degree of thermotolerance. These results suggest that the NtHSP21 protein in transformants is responsible for the increase in thermotolerance.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.225-231
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• 1997

For genetic engineering to be commercially viable, an efficient transformation system is needed to produce transgenic plane from diverse genotypes ("generalized protocol"). Development of such a system requires optimization of a number of components such as gene transfer agent, plant tissues competent for both regeneration and transformation, and control of transgene expression. Although several novel gene transfer methods have been developed for plane, a majority of stably transformed plane express the introduced genes at low levels. Moreover, silencing of selectable marker genes shortly after their incorporation into plant chromosomes may result in low recovery of transgenic tissues from selection. Matrix attachment regions (MARs) are DNA sequences that bind to the cell's proteinaceous nuclear matrix to form DNA loop domains. MARs have been shown to increase transgene expression in tobacco cells, and reduce position in mature transgenic plants. Flanking an antibiotic resistance transgene with MARs should therefore lead to improved rates of transformation in a diversity of species, and may permit recalcitrant species and genotypes to be successfully transformed. Literature review and recent data from my laboratory suggest that MARs can serve as a transformation booster in recalcitrant plant species.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.96-105
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• 2002

To investigate expression of the artificial gene encoding a repeated tripeptide lysyl-glutamyl-tryptophan in tobacco plant, the plant binary vector, pART404 has been constructed, which contains the duplicated CaMV 35S promoter, an artificial gene coding for repetitive polymer (Lys-Glu-Trp)$_{64}$, and nopaline synthase (nos) terminator. The recombinant expression vector was introduced in Nicotiana tabacum (var. Xanthi) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated trans-formation. The transgenic calli selected by kanamycin containing medium were then regenerated to whole plants. Southern blot analysis indicated that five transgenic plants (No. 1, 7, 9, 43, 45) showed the hybridizing signals at 1.1 kb of the expected size on EcoRI digestion and each of the transgenic plants contained 1 or 3 copies of the artificial gene inserted into its genome. By northern blot analysis, the size of the hybridized total RNA was estimated to be approximately 1.2 kb and the RNA appeared generally to have the integrity. Western blot indicated that the protein was detected at the position of 33 kDa and the expression level of the polypeptide in the transgenic plant (No. 45) was measured to approximately 0.1% of the total protein.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 1997

Viral coat protein (CP) encoding cDNA with artificial start and stop codons was synthesized by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from the Korean isolate of potato virus Y-vein nectrosis strain (pVY-VN). To make PVY CP cDNA to untranslatable form, three stop codons were inserted near the start codon by "megaprimer-PCR" method. The untranslatable CP cDNA was subcloned to plant expression vector and transferred to N. tabacum cv. NC82 by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Highly resistant plants to PVY infection were screened, based on symptom development after mechanical virus inoculation. By genomic PCR and Southern blot analysis, one or more copies of the untranslatable CP gene were found in all transformants. From northern blot analysis, highly resistant transgenic lines had very low level of CP transcript but susceptible lines had high level, suggesting resistance to PVY infection should be related to RNA-mediated mechanism.mechanism.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.441-445
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• 2000

In order to improve phosphate use efficiency of rice using phosphate transporter (PT), transgenic rice plants containing a tobacco PT gene were developed. Calli from Dongjinbyeo (Oryza sativa L.) were cocultured with A. tumefaciens LBA 4404 harboring PT gene. Multiplied calli were transferred to MS medium supplemented with 50 mg/L hygromycin, 500 mg/L carbenicillin, 2 mg/L kinetin, 0.1 mg/L NAA. After 2 weeks, hygromycin resistant shoots were obtained from the calli on the selection medium. The putative transgenic shoots were transferred to rooting MS medium supplemented with 250 mg/L cabenicillin. Plant regeneration rate from the calli was about 52%. Stable incorporation of the tobacco PT gene into rice genomic DNA was confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analysis.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.575-584
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• 2015

Drought stress is a crucial environmental factor determining crop survival and productivity. The goal of this study was to clearly identify a new drought stress-tolerance gene in Brassica rapa. From KBGP-24K microarray data with the B. rapa ssp. pekinensis inbred line 'Chiifu' under drought stress treatment, a gene which was named BrDSR (B. rapa Drought Stress Resistance) was chosen among 738 drought-responsive unigenes. BrDSR function has yet to be determined, but its expression was induced over 6-fold by drought. To characterize BrDSR, the gene was isolated from B. rapa inbred line 'CT001' and found to contain a 438-bp open reading frame encoding a 145 amino acid protein. The full-length cDNA of BrDSR was used to construct an over-expression vector, 'pSL100'. Tobacco transformation was then conducted to analyze whether the BrDSR gene can increase drought tolerance in plants. The BrDSR expression level in T1 transgenic tobacco plants selected via PCR and DNA blot analyses was up to 2.6-fold higher than non-transgenic tobacco. Analysis of phenotype clearly showed that BrDSR-expressing tobacco plants exhibited more tolerance than wild type under 10 d drought stress. Taking all of these findings together, we expect that BrDSR functions effectively in plant growth and survival of drought stress conditions.