• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.60-60
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• 2001

Human thrombopoietin (hTPO) is a cytokine that plays a central role in megakaryopoiesis by influencing on the development and maturation of megakaryocyte and platelet production. To induce hTPO production in the mammary gland, expression vector was constructed by combining the promoter of bovine beta-casein gene, cDNA of hTPO and neomycine resistance gene for transfection into fibroblasts. Bovine fibroblast cells derived from female ear skin were transfercted with the expression vector using Lipofectamine (Life Technology, NY). Transected cells resistant to G4l8 treatment (600 $\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$) were recovered and colony formation was initiated at 13 days. The colonies with about 1 cm diameter were picked and analysed by PCR. Single transfected cells were individually transferred to enucleated oocytes. After electrofusion, the reconstructed embryos were exposed to calcium ionophore (5uM) for 5 min followed by treatment with 6-DMAP (2.5 mM) for 4h. The nuclear transfer embryos were cultured in CRlaa medium at 38.5C, 5% $CO_2$ for 7 days. Twenty three of 29 (79.3%) colonies were proved to be hTPO transfectants by PCR. The colonies were further passaged and used to produce transgenic embryos using nuclear transfer. Cleavage and developmental rates of reconstructed embryos to the blastocyst stage were 65.1% and 39.4%, respectively Of 22 blastocysts that developed from reconstructed embryos with the transfected cell, 20 embryos (90.9%) were positive for hTPO by using PCR analysis. The results suggest that somatic cell nuclear transfer is efficient for production of transgenic embryos.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1975-1983
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• 2008

The neuropeptide ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (${\alpha}$-MSH) has anti-inflammatory property by down regulating the expressions of proinflammatory cytokines. Because ${\alpha}$-MSH elicits the anti-inflammatory effect in various inflammatory disease models, we examined the therapeutic effect of oral administration of recombinant Lactobacillus casei, which secretes ${\alpha}$-MSH (L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH), on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in Balb/c mice. Thus, we constructed the ${\alpha}$-MSH-secreting Lactobacillus casei by the basic plasmid, pLUAT-ss, which was composed of a PldhUTLS promoter and ${\alpha}$-amylase signal sequence from Streptococcus bovis strain. Acute colitis was induced by oral administration of 5% DSS in drinking water for 7 days. To investigate the effect of L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH on the colitis, L. casei or L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH was orally administered for 7 days and their effects on body weight, mortality rate, cytokine production, and tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were observed. Administration of L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH reduced the symptom of acute colitis as assessed by body weight loss (DSS alone: $14.45{\pm}0.2\;g$; L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH: $18.2{\pm}0.12\;g$), colitis score (DSS alone: $3.6{\pm}0.4$; L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH: $1.4{\pm}0.6$), MPO activity (DSS alone: $42.7{\pm}4.5\;U/g$; L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH: $10.25{\pm}0.5\;U/g$), survival rate, and histological damage compared with the DSS alone mice. L. casei-${\alpha}$-MSH-administered entire colon showed reduced in vitro production of proinflammatory cytokines and $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation. The ${\alpha}$-MSH-secreting recombinant L. casei showed significant anti-inflammatory effects in the murine model of acute colitis and suggests a potential therapeutic role for this agent in clinical inflammatory bowel diseases.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.220-230
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: Excessive metals in the soil have become one of the most significant environmental problems. Phytoremediation has received considerable attention as a method for restoring the contaminated soils. The microbes having remarkable metal tolerance and plant growth-promoting abilities could also play a significant role in remediation of metal-contaminated soils, because bioaugmentation with such microbes could promote phytoextraction of metals. Therefore, the present study was focused on evaluating the phytoextraction of heavy metals (Co, Pb and Zn) in Helianthus annuus (sunflower) induced by bioaugmentation of a phosphate solubilizing bacterium. METHODS AND RESULTS: A phosphate solubilizing bacterium was isolated from metal-contaminated soils based on the greater halo size (>3 mm) with solid NBRIP agar medium containing 10 g glucose, 5 g $Ca_3(PO_4)_2$, 5 g $MgCl_2{\cdot}6H_2O$, 0.25 g $MgSO_4.7H_2O$, 0.2 g KCl, 0.1 g $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ in 1 L distilled water. Isolated bacterial strain was assessed for their resistance to heavy metals; $CoCl_2.6H_2O$, $2PbCO_3.Pb(OH)_2$, and $ZnCl_2$ at various concentrations ranging from $100-400{\mu}g/mL$ (Co, Pb and Zn) using the agar dilution method. A pot experiment was conducted with aqueous solutions of different heavy metals (Co, Pb and Zn) to assess the effect of bacterial strain on growth and metal uptake by Helianthus annuus (sunflower). The impact of bacterial inoculation on the mobility of metals in soil was investigated under laboratory conditions with 50 mL scaled polypropylene centrifuge tubes. The metal contents in the filtrate of plant extracts were determined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkinelmer, Aanalyst 800, USA). CONCLUSION: Inoculation with Enterobacter ludwigii PSB 28 resulted in increased shoot and root biomass and enhanced accumulation of Co, Pb and Zn in Helianthus annuus plants. The strain was found to be capable of promoting metal translocation from the roots to the shoots of H. annuus. Therefore, Enterobacter ludwigii PSB 28 could be identified as an effective promoter of phytoextraction of Co, Pb and Zn from metal-contaminated soils.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.557-562
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• 1999

The reaction properties of Pd. Pd-Ce and Pd-La catalysts supported on ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ were investigated in the oxidation reaction of methane($CH_4$) exhausted from the compressed natural gas vehicle in a U-tube flow reactor with gas hourly space velocity of $72,000h^{-1}$. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), BET surface area and hydrogen chemisorption. Pd catalyst prepared by $Pd(NO_3)_2$ as a palladium precursor and calcined at $600^{\circ}C$ showed the highest activity for a methane oxidation. Catalytic activity of calcined $Pd/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ in which most of palladium was converted into palladium oxide species was higher than that of reduced $Pd/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ in which most of palladium existed in palladium metal by XRD. As increasing the number of reaction cycles in the wide range of redox, the catalytic activity of $Pd/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ was decreased and the highly active window became narrower. Lanthanum oxide promoted Pd catalyst, $Pd/La/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ showed enhanced thermal stability compared with $Pd/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ even after aging at $1000^{\circ}C$, which was ascribed to the role of La as a promoter to suppress the sintering of palladium metal and ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ support. Almost all of methane was removed by the reaction with NO at the redox ratio of 1.2 in case of oxygen excluded steam, but that activity was significantly decreased in the steam containing oxygen.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.153-158
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• 2008

Tissue-specific and temporal regulation of milk protein gene expression is advantageous when creating transgenic animal that produces foreign protein into milk. Gene expression, i.e. protein production, is regulated not only by promoter strength but also mRNA stability. Especially, poly A tail length by polyadenylation affects in vivo and in vitro mRNA stability and translation efficiency of the target gene. In the present study, nucleotide sequence of 3'-UTR was analyzed to evaluate the effects of mRNA stability on the target gene expression. Based on the poly A signal of 3' -untranslated region (UTR), nucleotide sequences of putative cytoplasmic polyadenylation elements (CPEs) and downstream elements (DSEs: U-rich, G-rich, GU-rich) were analyzed and used to construct 15 luciferase reporter vectors. Each vector was transfected to HC11 and porcine mammary gland cell (PMGC) and measured for dual luciferase expression levels after 48 hours of incubation. Luciferase expression was significantly higher in construct #6 (with CPE 2, 3 and DSE 1 of exon 9) and #11 (with CPE 2, 3 and DSE 1, 2 and 3 of exon 9) than construct #1 in the PMGC. These results suggest that expression of target genes in PMGC may be effectively expressed by using the construct #6 and #11 on production of transgenic pig.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.740-746
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• 2004

In order to identify the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of natural herbal extracts, widely used in the Korean traditional medicine, an in vitro screening system was designed using pGL3, a luciferase reporter vector, and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and cyclooxygenase (COX)-II as target genes. The promoter regions of each gene was generated by PCR using the human chromosome as template DNA, and inserted into pGL3 vector with Kpnl and Hindlll. The final construct was transfected into human myleomonocytic leukemia cells (U937) that could be differentiated and activated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Using this system, we tested the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of several herbal extracts being regarded to have the medicinal effects of diminishing the body heat and complementing Qi. The well-known chemicals of PD98059 and berberine chloride were used as controls of the transcriptional inhibitors of TNF-α and COX-II, respectively. Among them, Salvia miltiorrhiza (Dan-Sam) was found to exhibit the significant medicinal properties of anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.126-133
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• 2016

A gene from Actinomyces sp. Korean native goat (KNG) 40 that encodes an endo-${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase, EG1, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) $DH5{\alpha}$. Recombinant plasmid DNA from a positive clone with a 3.2 kb insert hydrolyzing carboxyl methyl-cellulose (CMC) was designated as pDS3. The entire nucleotide sequence was determined, and an open-reading frame (ORF) was deduced. The ORF encodes a polypeptide of 684 amino acids. The recombinant EG1 produced in E. coli $DH5{\alpha}$ harboring pDS3 was purified in one step using affinity chromatography on crystalline cellulose and characterized. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis/zymogram analysis of the purified enzyme revealed two protein bands of 57.1 and 54.1 kDa. The amino terminal sequences of these two bands matched those of the deduced ones, starting from residue 166 and 208, respectively. Putative signal sequences, a Shine.Dalgarno-type ribosomal binding site, and promoter sequences related to the consensus sequences were deduced. EG1 has a typical tripartite structure of cellulase, a catalytic domain, a serine-rich linker region, and a cellulose-binding domain. The optimal temperature for the activity of the purified enzyme was $55^{\circ}C$, but it retained over 90% of maximum activity in a broad temperature range ($40^{\circ}C$ to $60^{\circ}C$). The optimal pH for the enzyme activity was 6.0. Kinetic parameters, $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ of rEG1 were 0.39% CMC and 143 U/mg, respectively.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.1 s.81
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• pp.110-115
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• 2007

It has been previously described that transcription factor early growth response gene product 1 (EGR-1) functions as a tumor suppressor gene. This study was conducted to demonstrate that EGR-1 induction by phytochemical apigenin and its derivative isovitexin can mediate the growth suppression of the intestinal epithelial tumor cells. Apigenin and isovitexin induced EGR-1 gene expression both in the dose and time-dependent manners. Moreover the induction was relatively late around 9-12 hr after treatment of HCT-116 cells, while several anti-inflammatory agent such as NSAIDS and catechins elicit the ECR-1 gene expression at much earlier time about 1-3 hr after treatment. In terms of signal transduction, ERK1/2 was critical for apigenin-induced EGR-1 gene expression and its promoter activation. When EGR-1 gene expression was blocked with EGR-1 small interference RNA, the cytotoxicity of apigenin in the human epithelial cells was attenuated, suggesting the involvement of EGR-1 in the anti-tumoric activity of apigenin. To link the EGR-1 induction to EGR-1-regulated gene products in colon cancer, NSAID-Activated Gene 1 (NAG-1) was demonstrated to be elevated by apigenin and isovitexin at 24-48 hr after treatment. Taken together, apigenin-activated ERK1/2 mediated EGR-1 gene induction, which was associated with suppression of the cellular viability by apigenin compound.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2006

In recent years the number of patients waiting for organ transplantation has greatly outpaced the supply of human organs available, which leads to a renewed interest in pig-to-human xenotransplantation as an alternative. However, one of the biggest barriers in the xenotransplantation is presence of porcine endogenous retroviruses(PERV) that can infect human cells. In this study, to present a possible solution for this problem we tried to inhibit expression of PERVs using shRNAs(short hairpin RNA) at the level of RNA synthesis and virus release. The shRNA targeting the sequence of PERV A, B type was cloned into pSIREN-RetroQ vector under the control of polymerase-III U6-RNA gene promoter. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to detect my alterations in mRNA production of PERV A, B targeted by the shRNA in each done. Depending on the target sequence of the shRNA, the transcription of PERV was decreased to as much as 4% and the number of progeny viruses was reduced to less than 1/200,000. Transgenic pigs producing such shRNAs may result in a highly reduced PERV expression in cells and organs, which is a prerequisite for safe xenotransplantations.