• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2008

Tocopherols are essential lipophilic antioxidant in human cells, while little is known about its function in plant tissues. To study the impact of composition and content of tocopherols on stress tolerance, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) was transformed with a construct containing a cDNA insert encoding $\gamma$-tocopherol methyltransferase ($\gamma$-TMT/VTE4) from perilla under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. The transgenic tobacco was confirmed by PCR and RT-PCR. The total content and composition of tocopherols in the transgenic lines were similar with wild type controls. However, chlorophyll-a and carotenoid content in the transgenic lines were increased by up to 45% (P<0.01) and 39% (P<0.02), respectively. Also, the over-expression of $\gamma$-TMT increased the salt stress tolerance in tobacco plants. These results demonstrate that over-expression of $\gamma$-TMT gene in tocopherol bio-synthetic pathway can increase salt stress tolerance and contents of chlorophyll-a and carotenoid in transgenic tobacco plants.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2011

Antisense construct of cDNA for senescencerelated ACC oxidase (CAO) cDNA isolated from carnation flowers were introduced into tobacco by Agrobacteriummediated transformation. The decreasing expression of NtACO and the reduction of ethylene production were observed in these transgenic lines. In contrast, the SAMDC transcripts and spermidine content were increased. The findings that higher content of spermidine in the ethylene suppressed transgenic plants compared with wild-type should be directly resulted in the enhancement of SAMDC activity followed by the increased accumulation of SAMDC transcript. To investigate the pathogenic response in these transgenic plants, wild-type and transgenic plants were inoculated with Phytophthora parasitica pv. nicotianae. Transgenic plants suppressing ethylene production showed the increased resistance against fungal pathogen, comparing with wild-type plant. PR-protein genes expression in CAO-AS-2 and CAOAS-4 were also higher at the normal growth condition and pathogenic response than in wild-type plants. The results of higher spermidine content and SAMDC activity in transgenic plants, CAO-AS-2 and CAO-AS-4, support the possibility that an increase in spermidine content might induce the higher transcripts of PR-protein genes. This results agreed with the phenomena that spermidine promoted the expression of PR1a and a SAMDC inhibitor, MGBG, decreased the expression of PR1a in leaf discs. These results suggest that the resistance against fungal pathogen in transgenic tobacco impaired in ethylene production might be caused by increasing in polyamine, especially spermidine, biosynthesis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.258-264
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• 2008

A rice diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) gene, OsBIDK1, which encodes a 499-amino acid protein, was cloned and characterized. OsBIDK1 contains a conserved DGK domain, consisting of a diacylglycerol kinase catalytic subdomain and a diacylglycerol kinase accessory subdomain. Expression of OsBIDK1 in rice seedlings was induced by treatment with benzothiadiazole (BTH), a chemical activator of the plant defense response, and by infection with Magnaporthe grisea, causal agent of blast disease. In BTH-treated rice seedlings, expression of OsBIDK1 was induced earlier and at a higher level than in water-treated control seedlings after inoculation with M. grisea. Transgenic tobacco plants that constitutively express the OsBIDK1 gene were generated and disease resistance assays showed that overexpression of OsBIDK1 in transgenic tobacco plants resulted in enhanced resistance against infection by tobacco mosaic virus and Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae. These results suggest that OsBIDK1 may play a role in disease resistance responses.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.355-360
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• 1996

In vitro-tested ribozyme against synthesized cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) RNA (Agric. Chem. & Biotech. 37:56-63(1994)) was expressed in tobacco plant to develop virus resistant plants. The ribozyme sequence was linked to cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and nopaline synthase(nos) terminator and this chimeric 35S-ribozyme-nos gene was sequenced. The sequenced chimeric gene was transferred to Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404 using tri-parental mating system. The E. coli HB101 containing chimeric gene was incubated with E. coli HB101(pRK2073) as a helper and Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404. Then Agrobacterium cells containing the ribozyme construct was cocultivated with tobacco leaf pieces. Ten different plants were regenerated from kanamycin containing MS medium. The presence of the ribozyme construct in the transgenic tobacco plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Seven different transgenic plants in ten different kanamycin resistant plants showed the expected size (570 base pairs) of 35S-ribozyme-nos gene fragment. Total RNAs were isolated from four different transgenic plants and separated on a 1% agarose gel containing formamide. Northern hybridization with 35S-ribozyme-nos gene fragment as a probe indicated that ribozyme transcripts may be degraded tv nuclease. Therefore, nuclease-resistant ribozymes are needed for the development of virus-resistant transgenic plants using ribozymes.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.305-311
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• 1997

Bacillus thuringiensis, a gram-positive soil bacterium, is characterized by its ability to produce crystalline inclusions during sporulation. The crystal proteins exhibit a highly specific insecticidal activity. An insecticidal crystal protein (ICP), Cry II A, is specifically toxic to both lepidopteran and dipteran insects. In this study, tobacco plants transformed by the cry II A gene have been generated. The Cry II A crystal protein was purified from E. coli JM103 harboring cry II A gene by differential solubility. The activated Cry II A was prepared by tryptic digestion. The purified protoxin (70 kDa) and the activated toxin (50 kDa) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. To generate the transgenic tobacco having cry II A gene, the cry II A gene was subcloned to a plant expression vector, pSRL2, having two CaMV 35S promoters. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into tobacco (N. tabacum var. Petit Havana SR1) by Agrobacterium-mediated leaf disc transformation. Through the regeneration, six putative transgenic tobacco plants were obtained and three transformants were confirmed by Southern blot analysis. It has been found that one plant had single copy of cry II A gene, another had two copies of the gene, and the third had a truncated gene. After the immunochemical confirmation of cry II A expression in plants, the transgenic tobacco plants will be used to study the genetics of future generation with the insecticidal crystal protein gene cry II A.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.265-269
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• 1999

Transgenic tobacco plants expressing either a sweet potato anionic peroxidase (POD) (swpal) or neutral POD (swpnl) were irradiated by gamma radiation, and the gamma radiation-induced biochemical changes in antioxidant enzymes and plant growth inhibition were investigated at 30 days after treatment. Gamma radiation significantly inhibited the growth of all plants regardless of transgenic or nontransformed plants, showing a dose-dependent inhibition. In high dosage of 50 and 70 Gy, plant heights were severely retarded and new leaves does not emerged. No significant changes in antioxidant enzymes such as POD, superoxide dismutase and catalase were observed in all plants regardless of irradiation dosages ranging from 10 to 50 Gy. These results suggest that sweet potato PODs may be not involved in the protection against the oxidative stress induced by gamma radiation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.292-297
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• 2010

Anthocyanin, a phenolic compound, is a pigment that shows blue or red color in the fruit, petal and other tissues. It is an important factor in grape berry skin pigment and accumulates only in the skin. This skin-specific accumulation of anthocyanin has been reported to be regulated by the ufgt gene which encodes UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase that participates in the biosynthesis of anthocyanin. The ufgt gene is expressed only in berry skin, while the other genes involved in the biosynthetic pathway are expressed in both skin and flesh tissues. In order to determine whether anthocyanin accumulation is primarily regulated by compartment of UFGT, a ufgt cDNA clone was isolated from grape berry, its open reading frame was ligated in pBI121 vector in either a sense or an antisense orientation under the control of the CaMV35S promoter and the recombinant constructs were incorporated into tobacco plants. Several transgenic lines were selected and characterized to determine the level of expression of the grapevine ufgt transcript and endogenous homologs of tobacco. Compared to the wild-type, the amount of anthocyanins in sense transgenic plants increased by 44%, while the amount of anthocyanins in antisense transgenic plants decreased by 88%. In addition, the color of flowers became intense in the sense transgenic plants. These results suggest that over-expression or repression of the ufgt gene affected the accumulation of anthocyanin in flowers of tobacco.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.248-254
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• 1994

Bromoxynil is an antidicot herbicide widely used on cereal crops and has a short half life in the soil. A bxn gene, encoding a specific nitrilase that converts bromoxynil to its primary metabolite 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzoic acid, was inserted in plant binary vector pGA482, and then introduced into tobacco and lettuce plants via Agrobacterium mediated leaf-disc transformation method. Transgenic plants with the bxn gene were selected by kanamycin and regenerated to whole plants. The regenerated transgenic plants were determined level of expression of bxn gene by Northern blot analysis. Leaf-disc analysis and pot-assay confirmed that the transgenic tobacco and lettuce plants were resistant to high doses of bromoxynil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2002.04b
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• pp.49-58
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• 2002

Oxidative stress derived from reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the major damaging factors in plants exposed to environmental stress. In order to develop the platform technology to solve the global food and environmental problems in the 21st century, we focus on the understanding of the antioxidative mechanism in plant cells, the development of oxidative stress-inducible antioxidant genes, and the development of transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to stress. In this report, we describe our recent results on industrial transgenic plants by the gene manipulation of antioxidant enzymes. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing both superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in chloroplasts were developed and were evaluated their protection effects against stresses, suggesting that simultaneous overexpression of both SOD and APX in chloroplasts has synergistic effects to overcome the oxidative stress under unfavorable environments. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing a human dehydroascorbate reductase gene in chloroplasts were showed the protection against the oxidative stress in plants. Transgenic cucumber plants expressing high level of SOD in fruits were successfully generated to use the functional cosmetic purpose as a plant bioreactor. In addition, we developed a strong oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase promoter, SWPA2 from sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas). We anticipate that SWPA2 promoter will be biotechnologically useful for the development of transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to environmental stress and particularly transgenic cell lines engineered to produce key pharmaceutical proteins.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2002

Oxidative stress derived from reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the major damaging factors in plants exposed to environmental stress. In order to develop the platform technology to solve the global food and environmental problems in the 21st century, we focus on the understanding of the antioxidative mechanism in plant cells, the development of oxidative stress-inducible antioxidant genes, and the development of transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to stress. In this report, we describe our recent results on industrial transgenic plants by the gene manipulation of antioxidant enzymes. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing both superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in chloroplasts were developed and were evaluated their protection effects against stresses, suggesting that simultaneous overexpression of both SOD and APX in chloroplasts has synergistic effects to overcome the oxidative stress under unfavorable environments. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing a human dehydroascorbate reductase gene in chloroplasts were showed the protection against the oxidative stress in plants. Transgenic cucumber plants expressing high level of SOD in fruits were successfully generated to use the functional cosmetic purpose as a plant bioreactor. In addition, we developed a strong oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase promoter, SWPA2 from sweetpotato (lpomoea batatas). We anticipate that SWPA2 promoter will be biotechnologically useful for the development of transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to environmental stress and particularly transgenic cell lines engineered to produce key pharmaceutical proteins.