• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2000

The genome of Hantaan virus, the prototype of the hantavirus genus, is composed of three segmented, single stranded negative sense RNA genome. The 5' and 3' termini of the Hantaan virus RNA genome contain noncoding regions (NCRs) that are highly conserved and complementary to form panhandle structures. There are some reports that these NCRs seems to control gene expression and viral replication in influenza virus and vesicular stomatitis virus. In this study, we examined whether NCRs in Hantaan virus playa role in expression of the viral nucleocapsid protein (Np) and foreign (luciferase) gene. The 5' and/or 3' NCR-deleted mutants were constructed and analysed. The Np expression of 5' NCR-deleted clone was similar to that of the clone containing full S genome. In the case of 3' NCR-deleted clone, it showed 40% reduction. To investigate the role of NCR in foreign gene expression, the clones which are replaced ORF of Hantaan viral Np gene with that of luciferase gene were constructed. The results were similar to those of the experiments using Np gene. These results suggest that 3' NCR is more important than 5' NCR in protein expression. To find out a critical region of 3' NCR in protein expression, several clones with a deleted part of 3' NCR were constructed and analyzed. The deletion of the conserved region in 3' NCR showed $20{\sim}30%$ decrease in Np expression. However there were no change in luciferase activities between clones with or without non-conserved region of 3' NCR. These results suggest that the 3' NCR of Hantaan virus S genome, especially conserved region in 3' NCR, plays an important role in the expression of Hantaan viral Np and foreign genes.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2014

Fusarium graminearum (teleomorph Gibberella zeae) is an important plant pathogen that causes head blight of major cereal crops such as wheat, barley, and rice, as well as causing ear and stalk rot on maize worldwide. Plant diseases caused by this fungus lead to severe yield losses and accumulation of harmful mycotoxins in infected cereals [1]. Fungi utilize spore production as a mean to rapidly avoid unfavorable environmental conditions and to amplify their population. Spores are produced sexually and asexually and their production is precisely controlled. Upstream developmental activators consist of fluffy genes have been known to orchestrate early induction of condiogenesis in a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying conidiogenesis in F. graminearum, we characterized functions of the F. graminearum fluffy gene homologs [2]. We found that FlbD is conserved regulatory function for conidiogenesis in both A. nidulans and F. graminearum among five fluffy gene homologs. flbD deletion abolished conidia and perithecia production, suggesting that FlbD have global roles in hyphal differentiation processes in F. graminearum. We further identified and functionally characterized the ortholog of AbaA, which is involved in differentiation from vegetative hyphae to conidia and known to be absent in F. graminearum [3]. Deletion of abaA did not affect vegetative growth, sexual development, or virulence, but conidium production was completely abolished and thin hyphae grew from abnormally shaped phialides in abaA deletion mutants. Overexpression of abaA resulted in pleiotropic defects such as impaired sexual and asexual development, retarded conidium germination, and reduced trichothecene production. AbaA localized to the nuclei of phialides and terminal cells of mature conidia. Successful interspecies complementation using A. nidulans AbaA and the conserved AbaA-WetA pathway demonstrated that the molecular mechanisms responsible for AbaA activity are conserved in F. graminearum as they are in A. nidulans. F. graminearum ortholog of Aspergillus nidulans wetA has been shown to be involved in conidiogenesis and conidium maturation [4]. Deletion of F. graminearum wetA did not alter mycelial growth, sexual development, or virulence, but the wetA deletion mutants produced longer conidia with fewer septa, and the conidia were sensitive to acute stresses, such as oxidative stress and heat stress. Furthermore, the survival rate of aged conidia from the F. graminearum wetA deletion mutants was reduced. The wetA deletion resulted in vigorous generation of single-celled conidia through autophagy-dependent microcycle conidiation, indicating that WetA functions to maintain conidia dormancy by suppressing microcycle conidiation in F. graminearum. In A. nidulans, FlbB physically interacts with FlbD and FlbE, and the resulting FlbB/FlbE and FlbB/FlbD complexes induce the expression of flbD and brlA, respectively. BrlA is an activator of the AbaA-WetA pathway. AbaA and WetA are required for phialide formation and conidia maturation, respectively [5]. In F. graminearum, the AbaA-WetA pathway is similar to that of A. nidulans, except a brlA ortholog does not exist. Amongst the fluffy genes, only fgflbD has a conserved role for regulation of the AbaA-WetA pathway.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2017

Alignment of 967 reference sequences of the typical 2-Cys peroxiredoxin family of proteins revealed that 10 amino acids were conserved, with over 99% identity. To investigate whether the conserved aspartic acid residues and serine residue affect the peroxidase and chaperone activity of the protein, we prepared yeast TSA1 mutant proteins in which aspartic acids at positions 75 and 103 were replaced by valine or asparagine, and serine at position 73 was replaced by alanine. By non-reducing SDS-PAGE, TSA1 and the S73A, D75V and D75N mutants were detected in dimeric form, whereas the D103V and D103N mutants were detected in various forms, ranging from high molecular-weight to monomeric. Compared with wild type TSA1, the D75N mutant exhibited 50% thioredoxin peroxidase activity, and the S73A and D75V mutants showed 25% activity. However, the D103V and D103N mutants showed no peroxidase activity. All proteins, except for the D103V and D103N mutants, exhibited chaperone activity at $43^{\circ}C$. Our results suggest that the two conserved aspartic acid residues and serine residue of TSA1 play important roles in its thioredoxin peroxidase activity, and D103 plays a critical role in its chaperone activity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.123-128
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• 2019

The use of 16S rDNA is commonplace in the determination of prokaryotic species. However, it has limitations, and there are few studies at the genus level. We investigated conserved genes and metabolic pathways at the genus level in 28 strains of 13 genera of prokaryotes using the COG database (conserved genes) and MetaCyc database (metabolic pathways). Conserved genes compared to total genes (core genome) at the genus level ranged from 27.62%(Nostoc genus) to 71.76%(Spiribacter genus), with an average of 46.72%. The lower ratio of core genome meant the higher ratio of peculiar genes of a prokaryote, namely specific biological activities or the habitat may be varied. The ratio of common metabolic pathways at the genus level was higher than the ratio of core genomes, from 58.79% (Clostridium genus) to 96.31%(Mycoplasma genus), with an average of 75.86%. When compared among other genera, members of the same genus were positioned in the closest nodes to each other. Interestingly, Bacillus and Clostridium genera were positioned in closer nodes than those of the other genera. Archaebacterial genera were grouped together in the ortholog and metabolic pathway nodes in a phylogenetic tree. The genera Granulicella, Nostoc, and Bradyrhizobium of the Acidobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Proteobacteria phyla, respectively, were grouped in an ortholog content tree. The results of this study can be used for (i) the identification of common genes and metabolic pathways at each phylogenetic level and (ii) the improvement of strains through horizontal gene transfer or site-directed mutagenesis.

• KCID journal
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.116-132
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• 1999

The agricultural water and filmland are two essential resources that should be conserved to ensure the sustainable agriculture and the sound rural society. The natural and socio-economic environments in Korea urgently require the conservation of agricultu

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.198.4-198
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.102-102
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• 2003

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.3471-3473
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• 2013

• Proceedings of the Korean Biophysical Society Conference
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• 2002.06b
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• pp.15-15
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• 2002

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) regulate physiological processes by degrading ubiquitous intracellular second messengers, cAMP or cGMP. The first crystal structure of PDE4D catalytic domain and a bound inhibitor, zardaverine, was determined. Zardaverine binds to a highly conserved pocket that includes the catalytic metal binding site.(omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.166-166
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• 2020