• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.341-347
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• 1991

It was reported that protein carboxymethylation is involved in amylase secretion of parotid gland by isoproterenot. It was also suggested that a small part of the total cellular protein carboxymethylation is directly involved in pancreatic enzyme secretion. On the contrary, other authors reported that there is no relationship between protein carboxymethylation and secretion in pancreas and parotid gland. In recent study, it was proposed that a methyl acceptor protein plays a limited modulatory role in the coupling of cytosolic $Ca^{++}$ accumulation and exocytosis. In this study, the effects of cholinergic and adrenergic agents on the activities of protein methylase II in pancreatic tissues were examined to test the relationship between protein methylation and pancreatic secretion. The results are as follows. The activity of amylase was slightly increased at the concentration of $10^{-5}$ M of isoproterenol and norepinephrine. The activities of protein methylase I and II were decreased by isoproterenol and norepinephrine, but the activities of protein methylase III were hardly changed. The cholinergic stimulants acetylcholine and carbachol at a concentration of $10^{-5}$ M increased the activities of protein methylase I and decreased the activitiy of protein methylase III compared with control.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.198-204
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• 2005

Human foamy virus (HFV) integrase mediates integration of viral c-DNA into cellular DNA. In this process, HFV integrase recognizes its own viral DNA specifically and catalyzes insertion of viral c-DNA. In order to study catalytic domains and residues, three deletion mutants and two point mutants of HFV integrase were constructed and analyzed with respect to enzymatic activities. The C-terminal deletion mutant showed decreased enzymatic activities while the N-terminal deletion mutant lost the activities completely, indicating that the N-terminal domain is more important than the C-terminal domain in enzymatic reaction. The point mutants, in which an aspartic acid at the 164th position or a glutamic acid at the 200th position of the HFV integrase protein was changed to an alanine, lost the enzymatic activities completely. However, they were well complemented with other defective deletion mutants to recover enzymatic activities partially. Therefore, these results suggest that the aspartic acid and glutamic acid at the respective 164th and 200th positions are catalytic residues for enzymatic reaction.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.891-900
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• 2004

UDP-N-Acetylglucosamine(GlcNAc):$\beta$1,4-D-mannoside$\beta$-l ,4N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-III (GnT-III) and UDP-N-GlcNAc:$\alpha$-6-D-mannosid$\beta$-1,6N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-V(GnT - V) activities were determined in human hepatoma cell lines and metastatic colon cancer cells, and their activities were compared with those of normal liver cells and fetal hepatocytes. GnT-III activities were higher than those of GnT-V in hepatic carcinoma cells. When the two enzyme activities were assayed in highly metastatic colon cancer cells, GnT - V activities were much higher than those of GnT-III. When GlcN, GlcN-biant-PA and UDP-GlcNAc were used as substrates, the enzymes displayed different kinetic properties between hepatic and colon cancer cells, depending on their metastatic potentials. Normal cells of two origins had characteristically very low levels of GnT-III and -V activities, whereas hepatoma and colon cancer cells contained high levels of activities. These data were supported by RT-PCR and Northern blot analyses, showing that the expression of GnT-III and -V mRNAs were increased in proportion to the enzymatic activities. The increased GnT-III, md -V activities were also correlated with increased glycosylation of the cellular glycoproteins in hepatoma and colon cancer cells, as examined by lectin blotting analysis by using wheat germ glutinin (WGA), erythroagglutinating phytohemagglutinin (E-PHA), leukoagglutinating phytohemagglutinin (L-PHA), and concanavalin A (Con A). Treatment with retinoic acid, a differentiation agent, resulted in decreases of both GnT-III and -V activities of HepG2 and HepG3 cells. In colon carcinoma cells, however, treatment with retinoic acid resulted in a reduction of GnT-V activity, but not with GnT-III activity. Although the mechanism underlying the induction of these mzymes is unclear, oligosaccharides in many glycoproteins have been observed of cancer cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.307-315
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• 2007

Gene regulation is a fundamental process in biological systems, where transcription factors (TFs) play crucial roles. Inferring transcriptional interactions between TFs and their target genes has utmost importance for understanding the complex regulatory mechanisms in cellular systems. On one hand, with the rapid progress of various high-throughput experiment techniques, more and more biological data become available, which makes it possible to quantitatively study gene regulation in a systematic manner. On the other hand, transcription regulation is a complex biological process mediated by many events such as post-translational modifications, degradation, and competitive binding of multiple TFs. In this review, with a particular emphasis on computational methods, we report the recent advances of the research topics related to transcriptional regulatory networks, including how to infer transcriptional interactions, reveal combinatorial regulation mechanisms, and reconstruct TF activity profiles.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.119-124
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• 1994

Experiments were performed to determine age-associated changes in ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) gene and Ha-ras cellular oncogene expression in tissues of female rats. In the kidney, ODC mRNA levels did not show age-associated changes, while ODC enzyme activities were decreased with advancing age from 3 to 10 months. These results suggest that post-transcriptional mechanism (s) are involved in the age-dependent decrease in renal ODC enzyme activity. In addition, we found no correlation between testosterone-induced renal ODC expression and DNA methylation pattern. Ha-ras mRNA levels in brain decreased as animals aged from 3 to 6 months, while renal Ha-ras mRNA levels were not influenced by age. Results demonstrate the age-dependent expression of Ha-ras in a tissue-specific manner.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.170-176
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• 2008

The quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) of a set of 35 flavonoid compounds presenting antioxidant activity was established by means of Genetic Algorithm-Multiple Linear Regression (GA-MLR) technique. Four-parametric models for two sets of data, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity $(R^2=0.788,\;Q^2_{cv}=0.699\;and\;Q^2_{ext}=0.577)$ and scavenging activity of reactive oxgen species (ROS) induced by $H_2O_2 (R^=0.829,\;Q^2_{cv}=0.754\;and\;Q^2_{ext}=0.573)$ were obtained with low external predictive ability on a mass basis, respectively. Each model gave some different mechanistic aspects of the flavonoid compounds tested in terms of the radical scavenging activity. Topological charge, H-bonding complex and deprotonation processes were likely to be involved in the radical scavenging activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.477-481
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• 2003

The community escape response of Rhodobacter sphaeroides is exerted through the action of CerR and CerI, which code for a LuxR-type regulatory protein and acylhomoserine lactone synthase, respectively. Deletion of chromosomal DNA including cerR and cerI (mutant RI) or insertional interruption of cert (mutant AP3) resulted in two-fold increase in the cellular poly-${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) content In comparison with the wild-type under aerobic growth conditions. The PHB synthase (PhbC) activities of the cer mutants were doubled, and the enzyme expression was regulated at the level of phbC transcription. Thus, CerR, possibly in response to autoinducer (AI), appears to modulate the PHB content of aerobically grown cells by downregulating phbC transcription.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.721-728
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• 1996

The level of oxidative tissue damage caused by free radicals generated from ethanol oxidation was determined in the myocardium of chronic ethanol fed-rats and the protective action of various radical scavenging enzymes was monitored, also. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given ethanol in an amount of 36% of total calories via Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet for 6 weeks. Control group was pair-fed with the diet containing isocaloric amount of dextrin-maltose instead of ethanol. Chronic ethanol administration resulted in the increased amount of myocardial thiobarbituric acid reactive substance(TBARS), th parameter of lipid peroxidation, under our experimental condition. Chronic ethanol ingestion did not cause any change in activities of either glutathione peroxidase or glutathione reductase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were decreased after ethanol treatment. Therefore, chronic ethanol administration seemed to cause considerble changes in cellular defense function against oxidative tissue damage in rat myocardium through glutathione utilizing system and radical generation system. However the ultimate net result of chronic ethanol inestion on the myocardium of rat was the oxidative tissue damage revealed by increased TBARS content.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2009

Schisandra chinensis have been traditionally used in Asia for the treatment of dyspnea, cough, mouth dryness, spontaneous diaphoresis, nocturnal diaphoresis, nocturnal emission, dysentery, insomnia and amnesia. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the protective effects of Schisandra chinensis on oxidative DNA damage and lipid peroxidation induced by ROS in non cellular and cellular system. DPPH radical, hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay were used to measure the antioxidant activities. Phi X-174RF I plasmid DNA cleavage assay and intracellular DNA migration assay were used to evaluate the protective effect on oxidative DNA damage. MTT assay and lipid peroxidation assay were used for evaluating the protective effect on oxidative cell damage. It was found to scavenge DPPH radical, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical and it inhibited oxidative DNA damage, lipid peroxidation and cell death induced by hydroxyl radical. These data indicate that Schisandra chinensis possesses a spectrum of antioxidant and DNA-protective properties

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.300-306
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• 2008

We investigated high light-induced alterations in antioxidant enzymes by exposing green vegetative cells of the alga Haematococcus pluvialis to excess irradiance to induce the production of astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment. Total activity of catalase decreased approximately 70% after high light exposure, whereas glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity was slightly enhanced. Total activity of superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) also slightly decreased. Overall, we did not observe dramatically elevated levels of antioxidant isozymes, although APXn, GPX2, and GPX3 isozyme increased slightly. ${H_2}{O_2}$ content increased about sixfold after high light exposure, demonstrating severe cellular oxidative stress, whereas lipid peroxidation was notably reduced. Concomitantly, astaxanthin accumulation increased about sevenfold. This result suggests that probably massively accumulated astaxanthin may be one of the antioxidant protector against high light stress.