• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.429-439
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• 2018

To develop a convenient promoter analysis system for fungi, a null-pigment mutant (NPG) of Aspergillus nidulans was used with the 4'-phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase) gene, npgA, which restores the normal pigmentation in A. nidulans, as a new reporter gene. The functional organization of serially deleted promoter regions of the A. nidulans trpC gene and the Cryphonectria parasitica crp gene in filamentous fungi was representatively investigated to establish a novel fungal promoter assay system that depends on color complementation of the NPG mutant with the PPTase npgA gene. Several promoter regions of the trpC and crp genes were fused to the npgA gene containing the 1,034-bp open reading frame and the 966-bp 3' downstream region from the TAA, and the constructed fusions were introduced into the NPG mutant in A. nidulans to evaluate color recovery due to the transcriptional activity of the sequence elements. Serial deletion of the trpC and crp promoter regions in this PPTase reporter assay system reaffirmed results in previous reports by using the fungal transformation step without a laborious verification process. This approach suggests a more rapid and convenient system than conventional analyses for fungal gene expression studies.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2008

Validation of viral safety is essential in ensuring the safety of mammalian cell culture-derived biopharmaceuticals, because numerous adventitious viruses have been contaminated during the manufacture of the products. Mammalian cells are highly susceptible to minute virus of mice(MVM), and there are several reports of MVM contamination during the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. In order to establish the validation system for the MVM safety, a real-time PCR method was developed for quantitative detection of MVM in cell lines, raw materials, manufacturing processes, and final products as well as MVM clearance validation. Specific primers for amplification of MVM DNA was selected, and MVM DNA was quantified by use of SYBR Green I. The sensitivity of the assay was calculated to be $6{\times}10^{-2}TCID_{50}/mL$. The real-time PCR method was proven to be reproducible and very specific to MVM. The established real-time PCR assay was successfully applied to the validation of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell artificially infected with MVM. MVM DNA could be Quantified in CHO cell as well as culture supernatant. When the real-time PCR assay was applied to the validation of virus removal during a virus filtration process, the result was similar to that of virus infectivity assay. Therefore, it was concluded that this rapid, specific, sensitive, and robust assay could replace infectivity assay for detection and clearance validation of MVM.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.213-217
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• 1998

An assay for cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activity by determination of the products of organophosphate oxidation via inhibition of acetylcholinesterase was described. Extracts from strains of Oryzaephilus surinamensis selected for resistance to chlorpyrifos-methyl (QVOS 102), fenitrothion (VOS F) and malathion (VOS 3), and a standard susceptible strain VOS 48, were incubated with an organophosphate in the presence of a NADPH-generating system and acetylcholinesterase. The degree of inhibition of the acetylchoinesterase activity was converted to manooxygenase activity using standard curves for the inhibition of acetylcholiesterase by chlorpyrifos-methyl-oxon, fenitrooxon and malaoxan. Activity was detectable in VOS 48 and was present at different increased levels with the different organophosphates in the three resistant strains, suggesting that different forms of P450 might be involved in organophosphate oxidation in these insects. The assays were carried out using crude insect homogenates and much smaller samples of insect material than the standard aldrin to dieldrin assay. It should be possible to use the method for determination of monooxygenase activity in single insert.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2010

The pollution of antibiotics is a major cause of spreading antibiotics resistant bacteria in the environment. Applications of ozonation, UV, and ${\gamma}-ray$ irradiations have been introduced to remove antibiotics in the effluents from wastewater treatment system. In this study, we compared the chemical (HPLC) and biological (antimicrobial susceptibility test, AMS) assays in measuring of the concentrations of residual antibiotics after ${\gamma}-ray$ and UV irradiation. Most samples were degraded by ${\gamma}-ray$ irradiation (1~2 kGy). However, lincomycin and tetracycline were not degraded by UV irradiation. The concentration of residual antibiotics, that was treated with ${\gamma}-ray$ and UV irradiation, measuring by bioassay was similar to HPLC. The concentrations of ${\gamma}-ray$ irradiated cephradine measured by AMS test were 2 times higher than that of HPLC assay, indicating AMS test is more sensitive than HPLC assay. These results indicate that ${\gamma}-ray$ irradiation technique is more useful than UV irradiation, and biological assay is more useful to detect the antibiotics and toxic intermediates in antibiotics degradation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2008

Bovine blood, cell, tissue, and organ are used as raw materials for manufacturing biologics such as biopharmaceuticals, tissue-engineered products, and cell therapy. Manufacturing processes for the biologics have the risk of viral contamination. Therefore viral validation is essential in ensuring the safety of the products. Bovine parvovirus (BPV) is one of the common bovine pathogens and has widely been known as a possible contaminant of biologics. In order to establish the validation system for the BPV safety of biologics, a real-time PCR method was developed for quantitative detection of BPV contamination in raw materials, manufacturing processes, and final products. Specific primers for amplification of BPV DNA were selected, and BPV DNA was quantified by use of SYBR Green 1. The sensitivity of the assay was calculated to be $1.3{\times}10^{-1}\;TCID_{50}/mL$. The real-time PCR method was validated to be reproducible and very specific to BPV. The established real-time PCR assay was successfully applied to the validation of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell artificially infected with BPV. BPV DNA could be quantified in CHO cell as well as culture supernatant. Also the real-time PCR assay could detect $1.3{\times}10^0\;TCID_{50}/mL$ of BPV artificially contaminated in bovine collagen. The overall results indicated that this rapid, specific, sensitive, and robust assay can be reliably used for quantitative detection of BPV contamination during manufacture of biologics.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

Among semi-quantitative or fully quantitative lateral flow assay readers, an image sensor-based instrument has been widely used because of its simple setup, cheap sensor price, and compact equipment size. For all previous approaches, monochrome CCD or CMOS cameras were used for lateral flow assay imaging in which the overall intensities of all colors were taken into consideration to estimate the analyte content, although the analyte related color information is only limited to a narrow wavelength range. In the present work, we introduced a color CCD camera as a sensor and a color decomposition method to improve the sensitivity of the quantitative biosensor system which utilizes the lateral flow assay successfully. The proposed setup and image processing method were applied to achieve the quantification of imitatively dispensed particles on the surface of a porous membrane first, and the measurement result was then compared with that using a monochrome CCD. The compensation method was proposed in different illumination conditions. Eventually, the color decomposition method was introduced to the commercially available lateral flow immunochromatographic assay for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. The measurement sensitivity utilizing the color image sensor is significantly improved since the slopes of the linear curve fit are enhanced from 0.0026 to 0.0040 and from 0.0802 to 0.1141 for myoglobin and creatine kinase (CK)-MB detection, respectively.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.410-415
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• 2005

To investigate biological activity of noni extracts treated with HCl and trypsin, we measured the antioxidant activity through vitro assay and cellular system. Both water and lipid soluble fraction of noni extracts dose-dependently scav­enged DPPH radical. Superoxide scavenging activity of lipid soluble fraction after treating HCl and trypsin was significantly more potent than those of other fractions in NBT/xanthine oxidase assay, which suggests that antioxidant activity of noni extracts was increased by the treatment with HCl and trypsin. In antioxidant assay using RBL 2H3 cells, water soluble frac­tion of noni extracts had little effect on silica-induced reactive oxygen species generation, whereas lipid soluble fraction inhibited in a dose dependent manner. In non-treated noni extracts, effect of water soluble fraction on silica/$CuSO_4$-induced lipid peroxidation was more potent than that of lipid soluble fraction. However, the effects of noni extracts were reversed in noni extracts treated with HCl and trypsin. These data suggest that water soluble substances may be converted into lipid soluble substances by the treatment with HCl and trypsin. From the above results, it is suggested that lipid soluble fraction of noni extracts contain antioxidant used in vitro assay and RBL 2H3 cellular system. Such an effect of noni extracts may be increased by the treatment with HCl and trypsin.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.14 no.1_2
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• pp.1-12
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• 1999

Recently, several new methods for the detection of genetic damages in vitro and in vivo based on molecular biological techniques were introduced according to the rapid progress in toxicology combined with cellular and molecular biology. Among these methods, mouse lymphoma thymidine kanase (tk) gene forward mutation assay, single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) and transgenic animal and cell line model as a target gene of lac I (Big Blue) and lac Z (Muta Mouse) gene mutation are newly introduced based on molecular toxicological approaches. The mouse lymphoma tk$\^$+/-/ gene assay (MOLY) using L5178Y tk$\^$+/-/ mouse lymphoma cell line is one of the mammalian forward mutation assays, and has many advantages and more sensitive than hprt assay. The target gene of MOLY is a heterozygous tk$\^$+/-/ gene located in 11 chromosome, so it is able to detect the wide range of genetic changes like point mutation, deletion, rearrangement, and mitotic recombination within tk gene or deletion of entire chromosome 11. The comet assay is a rapid, simple, visual and sensitive technique for measuring and analysing DNA breakages in mammalian cells, Also, transgenic animal and cell line models, which have exogenous DNA incorporated into their genome, carry recoverable shuttle vector containing reporter genes to assess endogenous effects or alteration in specific genes related to disease process, are powerful tools to study the mechanism of mutation in vivo and in vitro, respectively. Also in vivo acridine orange supravital staining micronucleus assay by using mouse peripheral reticulocytes was introduced as an alternative of bone marrow micronucleus assay. In this respect, there was an International workshop on genotoxicity procedure (IWGTP) supported by OECD and EMS (Environmental Mutagen Society) at Washington D. C. in March 25-26, 1999. The objective of IWGTP is to harmonize the testing procedures internationally, and to extend to finalization of OECD guideline, and to the agreement of new guidelines under the International Conference of Harmonization (ICH) for these methods mentioned above. Therefore, we introduce and review the principle, detailed procedure, and application of MOLY, comet assay, transgenic mutagenesis assay and supravital staining micronucleus assay.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.903-909
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• 2002

Research in the cytokine field has grown exponentially in recent years, and the validity of such studies relies heavily on the appropriate measurement of levels of cytokines in various biological samples. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-$\beta$, a hormonally active polypeptide found in normal and transformed tissue, is a potent regulator of cell growth and differentiation. The most widely used bioassay for TGF-$\beta$ is the inhibition of the proliferation of mink lung epithelial cells. Though detection of [$^3$H]thymidine incorporation is more sensitive than the MTT assay, it presents some disadvantages due to the safety and disposal problems associated with radioisotopes. In this study, we attempted to ascertain the experimental conditions which could be used for measuring the in vitro biological activity of TGF-$\beta$ in a safer and more sensitive way compared with the currently available methods. We compared the commonly used method, the MTT assay, to the XTT assay using different parameters including cell number, incubation time and the wave length used for detecting the product. We examined the anti-proliferative activities of TGF-$\beta$ in three different cell lines: Mv-1-Lu mink lung epithelial cells, MCF10A human breast epithelial cells and H-ras-transformed MCF10A cells. Herein, we present an experimental protocol which provides the most sensitive method of quantifying the biological activity of TGF-$\beta$, with a detection limit of as low as 10 pg/ml: Mv-1-Lu or H-ras MCF10A cells ($1{\times}10^5/well$) were incubated with TGF-$\beta$ at $37^{\circ}C$ in a humidified $CO_2$ incubator for 24 hr followed by XTT treatment and determination of absorbance at 450 or 490 nm. Our results may contribute to the establishment of an in vitro bioassay system, which could be used for the satisfactory quantitation of TGF-$\beta$.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.936-943
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• 2007

Previously it was reported that promoter of groES-groEL operon of Staphylococcus aureus is induced by various cellwall active antibiotics. In order to exploit the above promoter for identifying novel antistaphylococcal drugs, we have cloned the promoter containing region ($P_g$) of groES-groEL operon of S. aureus Newman and found that the above promoter is induced by sublethal concentrations of many antibiotics including cell-wall active antibiotics. A reporter S. aureus RN4220 strain (designated SAU006) was constructed by inserting the $P_g$-lacZ transcriptional fusion into its chromosome. Agarose-based assay developed with SAU006 shows that $P_g$ in single-copy is also induced distinctly by different classes of antibiotics. Data indicate that ciprofloxacin, rifampicin, ampicillin, and cephalothin are strong inducers, whereas, tetracycline, streptomycin and vancomycin induce the above promoter weakly. Sublethal concentrations of ciprofloxacin and ampicilin even have induced $P_g$ efficiently in microtiter plate grown SAU006. Additional studies show for the first time that above promoter is also induced weakly by arsenate salt and hydrogen peroxide. Taken together, we suggest that our simple and sensitive assay systems with SAU006 could be utilized for screening and detecting not only novel antistaphylococcal compounds but also different toxic chemicals.