• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.137-145
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• 2017

This paper describes numerical modeling of transcritical and supercritical fluid flows within a liquid propellant rocket engine. In the present paper, turbulence is modeled by standard $k-{\varepsilon}$ model. A conserved scalar approach in conjunction with multi-environment probability density function model is used to account for the turbulent mixing of real-fluids in the transcritical and supercritical region. The two real-fluid equations of state and dense-fluid correction schemes for mixtures are used to construct thermodynamic data library based on the conserved scalar. In this study, calculations are made on two cryogenic nitrogen jets under different chamber pressures. Sensitivity analysis for two different real-fluid equations of sate is particularly emphasized. Based on numerical results, precise structures of cryogenic nitrogen jets are discussed in detail. Numerical results show that the current real-fluid model can predict the essential features of the cryogenic liquid nitrogen jets.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.210-216
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• 2003

This study examined the existence of genetically diverse population of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), known as quasispecies, from lily, Nicotiana benthamiana and from purified virions. Based on the conserved sequences of CMV lily isolates in intergenic region (IR) on RNA3, the genetic variation of IR from three different sources was investigated by a specific restriction endonuclease hydrolysis of amplified reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) products using virus-specific primers, and was compared with IR sequences. The IR nucleotide sequences of CMV lily isolates were highly conserved, however, quasispecies was detected from all three sources in low level, containing sub-populations of RNA3. These subpopulations of RNA3 were inoculated onto zucchini squash by in vitro transcripts from corresponding full-length cDNA clones together with Eny RNA1 and 2 transcripts. The systemic symptom of zucchini plants infected by these quasispecies was chlorotic spotting, which was milder than severe mosaic and stunt symptom caused by Eny-CMV. The severity of symptom was correlated with RNA accumulation of viruses. These results suggest that the genome of CMV lily isolates consists of quasispecies populations.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.72-76
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• 2008

Hypoxia-inducible factor $1{\alpha}\;(HIF1{\alpha})$ is a transcription factor that plays a key role in the adaptation of cells to low oxygen stress and oxygen homeostasis. The oxygen-dependent degradation (ODD) domain of $HIF1{\alpha}$ is responsible for the negative regulation of $HIF1{\alpha}$ in normoxia. The interactions of the $HIF1{\alpha}$ ODD domain with partner proteins such as von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (pVHL) and p53 are mediated by two sequence motifs, the N- and C-terminal ODD(NODD and CODD). Multiple sequence alignment with $HIF1{\alpha}$ homologs from human, monkey, pig, rat, mouse, chicken, frog, and zebrafish has demonstrated that the NODD and CODD motifs have noticeably high conservation of the primary sequence across different species and isoforms. In this study, we carried out molecular dynamics simulation of the structure of the $HIF1{\alpha}$ CODD motif in complex with the p53 DNA-binding domain (DBD). The structure reveals specific functional roles of highly conserved residues in the CODD sequence motif of $HIF1{\alpha}$ for the recognition of p53.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.597-602
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• 2004

N-terminal His-tagged recombinant $\beta$-1,4-galactosyltransferase from Neisseria meningitidis was expressed and purified to homogeneity by column chromatography using Ni-NTA resin. Mutations were introduced to investigate the roles of, Ser68, His69, Glu88, Asp90, and Tyr156, which are components of a highly conserved region in recombinant $\beta$-1,4 galactosyltransferase. Also, the functions of three other cysteine residues, Cys65, Cys139, and Cys205, were investigated using site-directed mutagenesis to determine the location of the disulfide bond and the role of the sulfhydryl groups. Purified mutant galactosyltransferases, His69Phe, Glu88Gln and Asp90Asn completely shut down wild-type galactosyltransferase activity (1-3%). Also, Ser68Ala showed much lower activity than wild-type galactosyltransferase (19%). However, only the substitution of Tyr156Phe resulted in a slight reduction in galactosyltransferase activity (90%). The enzyme was found to remain active when the cysteine residues at positions 139 and 205 were replaced separately with serine. However, enzyme reactivity was found to be markedly reduced when Cys65 was replaced with serine (27%). These results indicate that conserved amino acids such as Cys65, Ser68, His69, Glu88, and Asp90 may be involved in the binding of substrates or in the catalysis of the galactosyltransferase reaction.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2007

Myostatin (MSTN; also known as GDF8) is a member of the transforming growth factor ${\beta}-superfamily$ of proteins. MSTN negatively regulates mammalian skeletal muscle growth and development by inhibiting myoblast proliferation. Mice and cattle possessing mutant MSTN alleles display a 'double muscling' phenotype characterized by extreme skeletal muscle hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia. We isolated the full-length cDNA of a novel MSTN gene from S. schlegeli muscle tissue and examined its expression pattern in various tissues. The full-length gene (GenBank DQ423474) consists of 1941bp with an open reading frame of 1134 bp, encoding 377 amino acids that show 62-92% amino acid similarity to other vertebrate MSTNs. The predicted protein contains a conserved proteolytic cleavage site (RXRR) and nine conserved cysteine residues at the C terminus. RT-PCR revealed that the unprocessed and prodomain myostatin mRNAs were predominantly present in muscle, with limited expression in other tissues. However, the mature myostatin mRNA was highly expressed in brain and muscle, intermediately expressed in the gills, intestine, heart, and kidney, and weakly expressed in the liver and spleen.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.394-399
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• 2008

Multiple sequence alignments of the Bombyx mori fibroin light chain gene (fib-L) from hybrids and from Chinese and Japanese strains demonstrated that 51.6% of the fib-L third intron is conserved. One of these conserved segments, 41 bp long, contains the sequence CGTTATTATACATATT, which is duplicated in the B. mori Nd-$s^D$ mutant. In the present work, electrophoretic mobility assays and computational analyses revealed a major peak of intrinsic bent DNA within the segment that undergoes breakage in the previously-described Nd-$s^D$ mutation. This result suggested that this intrinsically-curved region might mediate DNA cleavage and enhance recombination events in the third intron of the Bombyx mori fib-L gene.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.116-124
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• 2003

Isolation and cloning of seven-band grouper (Epinephelus septemfasciatus) growth hormone cDNA from pituitary gland revealed an open reading frame of 612 bp coding for a pre-growth hormone of 204 amino acids with a 17 amino acid putative signal peptide. Deduced amino acid sequence showed that there was one possible N-glycosylation site at $Asn^{l84}$ and four cysteine residues $(Cys^{52},\;Cys^{160},\;Cys^{177},\;Cys^{185})$ on t e same positions as in some other species where they were involved in the stabilization of the tertiary structure. The seven-band grouper growth hormone (sbgGH) presented a $99.5\%$ amino acid sequence identity with the growth hormone of Epinephelus coioides and contained the conserved hormone domain region. Comparison of growth hormone sequences from evolutionarily diverse species revealed 25 amino acid residues conserved in jawless fishes to modern mammals. It also revealed an evolutionary trend to retain the same polypeptide sequence even in the distantly related animals while allowing alterations to occur in polypeptides of the closely related species. In order to create a recombinant system to produce high levels of the growth hormone, it was expressed in Escherichia coli (BL21) cells. The gel analysis revealed theoretically expected molecular weights for both mature and pre-sbgGHs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.74-80
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• 2004

Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most common fungi in the human environment, both in-doors and out-doors. It is the main causative agent of invasive aspergillosis, a life-threatening mycosis among immunocompromised patients. The genome has been sequenced by an international consortium, including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (U.K.) and The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR, U.S.A.), and a ten times whole genome shotgun sequence assembly has been made publicly available. In this study, we identified tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes of A. fumigatus by comparative analysis with four other fungal species. The open reading frames showed high amino acid sequence similarity with the other fungal citric acid enzymes and well-conserved functional domains. All genes present in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Candida albicans, and Neurospora crassa were also found in A. fumigatus. In addition, we identified four A. fumigatus genes coding for enzymes in the glyoxylate shunt, which may be required for fungal virulence. The architecture of multi-gene encoded enzymes, such as isocitrate dehydrogenase, 2-ketoglutarate, succinyl-CoA synthetase, and succinate dehydrogenase was well conserved in A. fumigatus. Furthermore, our results show that genes of A. fumigatus can be detected reliably using GlimmerM.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 2005

This work described some essential factors necessary for micro-propagation of banana for mass production of synthetic seeds for germ plasm conservation, and how peroxides activity of conserved tissue was influenced. Shoot tips of field grown plants were used to obtain shoot clusters on shoot proliferation medium (MS medium supplemented with 5 mg/l BAP). Using longitudinally-split shoot tip technique, 18720, 8640, 7488, 2016 plantlets were obtained from one shoot tip of Maghraby, Grand Naine, Balady, and Williams, respectively, in six subculture, one month each, on solid medium. Shoot tips excised from in vitro grown plantlets were encapsulated in calcium-alginate beads and stored at $4^{\circ}C$ for one month on half-strength MS basal medium without growth regulators or sugars. After one month all the viable-conserved synseeds formed shoots when they were transferred to MS basal medium, some of them showed synchronous formation of shoot and root systems in one week. Plants retrieved from encapsulated shoot tips were hardened off and transferred to soil.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2009

Members of the NAM-ATAF-CUC (NAC) protein family are plant-specific transcription factors that contain a highly conserved N-terminal NAC-domain and diverse C-terminal regions. They have been implicated in plant development and abiotic stress responses. To identify interacters of rice NAC-domain proteins (OsNACs), we performed yeast two-hybrid screening of rice cDNA library using OsNAC5 as a bait, and the results showed that OsNAC5 interacts with other OsNACs including itself. To delineate an interacting domain, a series of deletion constructs of four OsNACs were made and transformed into yeast in various combinations. The results revealed that the conserved NAC domain of OsNACs plays a primary role in homodimer and heterodimer formation, and a part of C-terminal sequence is also necessary for the interaction. In vitro pull-down assays using recombinant OsNAC proteins verified the dimer formations, together suggesting that OsNACs may act by forming homodimers and/or heterodimers in plants.