• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.196-203
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• 2005

Gunggui-tang has been used for the therapy of blood disorders in Hangbang medicine for long time. Also, Glycyrrhiza uralensis has been used for deficientblood patterns with an irregular pulse or palpitations, coughing and wheezing, and heat or cold in the lungs. Melanogenesis is a physiological process resulting in the synthesis of melanin pigments. We investigated whether the water extract of Gunggui-tang plus G. uralensis inhibited melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells. Because the molecular events connecting the regulation in tyrosinase activity remain to be elucidated, we also aimed to determine whether Gunggui-tang gamibang(GTG) affects tyrosinase at the gene activation level in the cells. First, we showed that GTG inhibited the tyrosinase promoter activity and further, down-regulated the tyrosinase protein activity in ${\alpha}-melanocyte-stimulating$ hormone $({\alpha}-MSH)-treated$ B16 melanoma cells. GTG also resulted in a decrease of melanin content in MSH-induced melanogenesis, indicating that GTG may be a useful drug in studying the regulation of melanogenesis. The pretreatment of GTG significantly prevented phosphotransferase activity of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK1) and transcriptional activation of activating protein-1 (AP-1) in MSH-treated B16 melanoma cells. These findings indicate that GTG inhibits melanogenesis of B16 melanoma cells via suppression of phosphotransferase activity of JNK1 and transcriptional activation of AP-1.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.232-238
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• 2013

Water temperature is key factor influencing growth and reproduction of fish and its increase give rise to various physiological changes including gene expression. Heat shock protein (Hsp), one of the molecular chaperones, is highly conserved throughout evolution and its expression is induced by various stressors such as temperature, oxidative, physical and chemical stresses. Here, we isolated partial cDNA clones encoding 70-kDa Hsp (Hsp70) and $\beta$-actin using reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) from gut of Rhynchocypris kumgangensis, a Korean indigenous species and cold-water fish, and investigated expression profiles of Hsp70 under an increase of water temperature using $\beta$-actin as an internal control for RT-PCR. Cloned Hsp70 cDNA of R. kumgangensis showed homology to Ctenopharyngodon idella (96%), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (96%), Danio rerio (93%) and Oncorhynchus mykiss (81%) Hsp70. Cloned $\beta$-actin cDNA of R. kumgangensis showed homology to D. rerio (98%), H. molitrix (97%), C. idella (97%) and O. mykiss (90%) $\beta$-actin. Both mRNA of Hsp70 and $\beta$-actin were expressed in gut, brain, and liver in R. kumgangensis. Futhermore, expression of Hsp70, in brain, was highly augmented by an increase of water temperature. These results suggest that Hsp70 mRNA expression level in brain can be used as a biological molecular marker to represent physiological stress against an increase of water temperature.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.296-302
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• 2001

Winter cereals are acclimated during wintering, and thereafter their freezing resistance is increased. In order to analyze inheritance and heritabilities for photoinhibition of photosynthesis by high light intensity under low temperature, and to evaluate the relationship between low temperature-induced photoinhibition and winter survival, 4 parental half diallel crosses were used. The detached leaves of 7-8cm long from plants grown for 35 and 55 days were placed on wet filter paper and placed in trays at 5$^{\circ}C$ cold room with 1,200 $\mu$mol $m^{-2}$ $s^{-1}$ PPFD. Chlorophyll fluorescence was measured with a chlorophyll fluorescence system after dark adaptation for 30 min. The Fv/Fm of 35day old plants was reduced from 0.714 in the control leaves to 0.409 and 0.368 following photoinhibitory treatment of 6h and 8h and the CVs were increased from 0.8% to 22.2-22.3%. The Fv/Fm of 55-day old plants was reduced from 0.775 in the control leaves to 0.485 and 0.439 following photoinhibitory treatment of 10h and 12h, respectively. According to half diallel cross analysis, Reno and Dongbori 1 (highly resistant to photoinhibition) was dominant, but Oweolbori (susceptible to photoinhibition) was recessive, and photoinhibition showed partial dominance with highly additive gene action. Dongbori 1 showed the greatest GCA effects for photoinhibition, and GCA/SCA ratios (8.7-22.3 times) indicated that the additive variance for the character was more important. Winter survival in barley crosses was positively correlated with resistance to photoinhibition and significantly fitted by linear regression ($R^2$=0.751$^{**}$-0.779$^{**}$). The chlorophyll fluorescence measured by Fv/Fm has been found to be highly inheritable and very useful in evaluating relative levels of freezing resistance in barley.ley.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.158-166
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• 2006

In many organisms, trehalose acts as protective metabolite against harsh environmental stresses, such as freezing, drought, nutrient starvation, heat and salt. Herein a cDNA (designated as GbTPS, GenBank Accession Number AY884150) encoding a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase homologue was isolated and characterized from the living fossil plant, Ginkgo biloba, which is highly tolerant to drought and cold. GbTPS encoded an 868-amino-acid polypeptide with a predicted isoelectric point of 5.83 and molecular mass of 97.9 kD. Amino acid sequence alignment revealed that GbTPS shared high identity with class II trehalose-6-phosphate synthase homologues (67% identical to AtTPS7), but had only 17% and 23% of identity with OstA from Escherichia coli and ScTPS1 from S. cerevisiae, respectively. DNA gel blot analysis indicated that GbTPS belonged to a small multi-gene family. The expression analysis by RT-PCR showed that GbTPS expressed in a tissue-specific manner in G biloba and might involve in leaf development. GbTPS was also found to be induced by a variety of stresses including cold, salt, drought and mannitol.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2008

Ac/Ds mutant lines of this study were transgenic rice plants, each of which harbored the maize transposable element Ds together with a GUS coding sequence under the control of a promoterless(Ds-GUS). We selected the mutants that were GUS expressed lines, because the GUS positive lines will be useful for identifying gene function in rice. One of these mutants was identified knock-out at Oszinc626(NP_001049991) gene, encoding a RING-H2 zinc-finger protein, by Ds insertion. In this mutant, while primary root development is normal, secondary root development from lateral root was very poor and seed development was incomplete compare with normal plant. RING zinc-finger proteins play important roles in the regulation of development in a variety of organisms. In the plant kingdom, a few genes encoding RING zinc-finger proteins have been documented with visible effects on plant growth and development. The consensus of the RING-H2(C3-H2-C3 type) domain for this group of protein is $Cys-X_2-Cys-X_{28}-Cys-X-His-X_2-His-X_2-Cys-X_{14}-Cys-X_2-Cys$. Oszinc626 encodes a predicted protein product of 445 amino acids residues with a molecular mass of 49 kDa, with a RING-zinc-finger motif located at the extreme end of the C-terminus. RT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of Oszinc626 gene was induced by IAA, cold, dehydration, high-salinity and abscisic acid, but not by 2,4-D, and the transcription of Oszinc626 gene accumulated primarily in rice immature seeds, root meristem and shoots. The gene accumulation patterns were corresponded with GUS expression.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2008

In plant, Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) are protein family, though its function is not yet understood, consisted of a predicted signal sequence, single transmembrane region, and cytoplasmic kinase domain. RLKs are involved in hormonal response pathways, cell differentiation, plant growth and development, self-incompatibility, and symbiont and pathogen recognition. In this study, expression levels of RLG1, RLG5, RLG6, RLG#6, RLG8, RLG10, RLG17, RLG18 and RLG20 were analyzed by Real-time PCR, when rice (Oryzae sativa) was treated abiotic stress. The expression levels of all RLGs were compared each other by analyzed value of threshold cycles ($C_T$). Consequently, RLGs were suppressed by NaCl as salinity stress, and expression of each RLK genes were showed difference treated salicylic acid and wound, respectively. However, All RLGs were induced under low temperature condition. Therefore, our results indicate protection-function of RLK genes to be an early response of rice against cold weather.