• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.569-574
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• 2014

As a scaffold, SLX4/FANCP interacts with multiple proteins involved in genome integrity. Although not having recognizable catalytic domains, SLX4 participates in diverse genome maintenance pathways by delivering nucleases where they are needed, and promoting their cooperative execution to prevent genomic instabilities. Physiological importance of SLX4 is emphasized by the identification of causative mutations of SLX4 genes in patients diagnosed with Fanconi anemia (FA), a rare recessive genetic disorder characterized by genomic instability and predisposition to cancers. Recent progress in understanding functional roles of SLX4 has greatly expanded our knowledge in the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs), Holliday junction (HJ) resolution, telomere homeostasis and regulation of DNA damage response induced by replication stress. Here, these diverse functions of SLX4 are reviewed in detail.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.509-516
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• 2020

To perceive fluctuations in light quality, quantity, and timing, higher plants have evolved diverse photoreceptors including UVR8 (a UV-B photoreceptor), cryptochromes, phototropins, and phytochromes (Phys). In contrast to plants, prokaryotic oxygen-evolving photosynthetic organisms, cyanobacteria, rely mostly on bilin-based photoreceptors, namely, cyanobacterial phytochromes (Cphs) and cyanobacteriochromes (CBCRs), which exhibit structural and functional differences compared with plant Phys. CBCRs comprise varying numbers of light sensing domains with diverse color-tuning mechanisms and signal transmission pathways, allowing cyanobacteria to respond to UV-A, visible, and far-red lights. Recent genomic surveys of filamentous cyanobacteria revealed novel CBCRs with broader chromophore-binding specificity and photocycle protochromicity. Furthermore, a novel Cph lineage has been identified that absorbs blue-violet/yellow-orange light. In this minireview, we briefly discuss the diversity in color sensing and signal transmission mechanisms of Cphs and CBCRs, along with their potential utility in the field of optogenetics.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.51-59
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• 2019

All Deficiency section (諸虛門) in Euibangyoochui (醫方類聚), fills volumes 143-154 of Euibangyoochui's 266 volumes. In it, diverse and meaningful concepts such as Consumptive Disease (虛勞) and Fatigue Due to Overexertion (勞倦) are introduced to describe deficiency-oriented diseases. Before the 10th century, there are classified into six categories: muscle exhaustion, pulse exhaustion, flush exhaustion, Qi exhaustion, essence exhaustion, bone exhaustion, and prescribing treatments for treating diseases corresponding to each exhaustion. As medical knowledge was integrated through the medical books compiled by the government, awareness of Consumptive Disease was advanced to clarify the concept of pathways. The Confucian doctors have led to changes in recognition of the cause of the Consumptive Disease from damage of human factors to an internal problem. It can be seen that the classification of hurdles has become more diverse just before the outbreak of Euibangyoochui and that they include various diseases.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.191-194
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• 2004

Exponentially increasing biopathway data in recent years provide us with means to elucidate the large-scale modular organization of the cell. Given the existing information on metabolic and regulatory networks, inferring biopathway information through scientific reasoning or data mining of large scale array data or proteomics data get great attention. Naturally, there is a need for a user-friendly system allowing the user to combine large and diverse pathway data sets from different resources. We built a data warehouse - BIOWAY - for analyzing and visualizing biological pathways, by integrating and customizing resources. We have collected many different types of data in regards to pathway information, including metabolic pathway data from KEGG/LIGAND, signaling pathway data from BIND, and protein information data from SWISS-PROT. In addition to providing general data retrieval mechanism, a successful user interface should provide convenient visualization mechanism since biological pathway data is difficult to conceptualize without graphical representations. Still, the visual interface in the previous systems, at best, uses static images only for the specific categorized pathways. Thus, it is difficult to cope with more complex pathways. In the BIOWAY system, all the pathway data can be displayed in computer generated graphical networks, rather than manually drawn image data. Furthermore, it is designed in such a way that all the pathway maps can be expanded or shrinked, by introducing the concept of super node. A subtle graphic layout algorithm has been applied to best display the pathway data.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.278-283
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• 2021

Our understanding of the differential effects between specific omega-3 fatty acids is incomplete. Here, we aimed to evaluate the effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on T-helper type 1 (Th1) cell responses and identify the pathways associated with these responses. Naïve CD4⁺ T cells were co-cultured with bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) in the presence or absence of palmitate (PA), DHA, or EPA. DHA or EPA treatment lowered the number of differentiated IFN-γ-positive cells and inhibited the secretion of IFN-γ, whereas only DHA increased IL-2 and reduced TNF-α secretion. There was reduced expression of MHC II on DCs after DHA or EPA treatment. In the DC-independent model, DHA and EPA reduced Th1 cell differentiation and lowered the cell number. DHA and EPA markedly inhibited IFN-γ secretion, while only EPA reduced TNF-α secretion. Microarray analysis identified pathways involved in inflammation, immunity, metabolism, and cell proliferation. Moreover, DHA and EPA inhibited Th1 cells through the regulation of diverse pathways and genes, including Igf1 and Cpt1a. Our results showed that DHA and EPA had largely comparable inhibitory effects on Th1 cell differentiation. However, each of the fatty acids also had distinct effects on specific cytokine secretion, particularly according to the presence of DCs.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.467-475
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• 2014

With the development of genomics, wearable device and IT/NT, a vast amount of bio-medical data are generated recently. Also, healthcare industries based on big-data are booming and big-data technology based on bio-medical data is rising rapidly as a core technology for improving the national health and aged society. A pathway is the biological deep knowledge that represents the relations of dynamics and interaction among proteins, genes and cells by a network. A pathway is wildly being used as an important part of a bio-medical big-data analysis. However, a pathway analysis requires a lot of time and effort because a pathway is very diverse and high volume. Also, multidimensional analysis systems for various pathways are nonexistent even now. In this paper, we proposed a pathway analysis system that collects user interest pathways from KEGG pathway database that supports the most widely used pathways, constructs a network based on a hierarchy structure of pathways and analyzes the relations of dynamics and interaction among pathways by clustering and selecting core pathways from the network. Finally, to verify the superiority of our pathway analysis system, we evaluate the performance of our system in various experiments.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.777-782
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• 2016

The innate immune system has evolved to detect and destroy invading pathogens before they can establish systemic infection. To successfully eradicate pathogens, including viruses, host innate immunity is activated through diverse pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) which detect conserved viral signatures and trigger the production of type I interferon (IFN) and pro-inflammatory cytokines to mediate viral clearance. Viral persistence requires that viruses co-opt cellular pathways and activities for their benefit. In particular, due to the potent antiviral activities of IFN and cytokines, viruses have developed various strategies to meticulously modulate intracellular innate immune sensing mechanisms to facilitate efficient viral replication and persistence. In this review, we highlight recent advances in the study of viral immune evasion strategies with a specific focus on how Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) effectively targets host PRR signaling pathways.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.421-427
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• 2001

Osteoclasts, cells primarily involved in bone resorption, originate from the hematopoietic precursor cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage and differentiate into multinucleated mature forms. We developed an in vitro osteoclast culture system using embryonic chicken bone marrow cells. This culture system can be utilized in studies on the differentiation and function of osteoclasts. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) have been implicated in diverse cellular functions including proliferation, migration, and survival. Using the developed avian osteoclast culture system, we examined the involvement of these kinases in osteoclast differentiation by employing specific inhibitors of the kinases. We Found that the inhibition of the PI 3-kinase, p38, or ERK interfered with osteoclast formation, suggesting that the signaling pathways that involve these molecules participate in the process of chicken osteoclast differentiation.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.53-61
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• 2000

Hydroxybenzoic acids are the most important intermediates in the degradative pathways of various aromatic compounds. Microorganisms catabolize aromatic compounds by converting them to hydroxylated intermediates and then cleave the benzene nucleus with ring dioxygenases. Hydroxylation of the benzene nucleus of an aromatic compound is an essential step for the initiation and subsequent disintegration of the benzene ring. The incorporation of two hydroxyl groups is essential for the labilization of the benzene nucleus. Monohydroxybenzoic acids such as 2-hydroxybenzoic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, and 4-hydrosybenzoic acid, opr pyrocattechuic acid that are susceptible for subsequent oxygenative cleavage of the benzene ring. These terminal aromatic intermediates are further degraded to cellular components through ortho-and/or meta-cleavage pathways and finally lead to the formation of constituents of the TCA cycle. Many groups of microorganisms have been isolated as degraders of hydroxybenzoic acids with diverse drgradative routes and specific enzymes involved in their metabolic pahtway. Various microorganisms carry out unusual non-oxidative decarboxylation of aromatic acids and convert them to respective phenols which have been documented. Futher, Pseudomonas and Bacillus spp. are the most ubiquitous microorganisms, being the principal components of microflora of most soil and water enviroments.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.46-52
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• 2016

Diverse somatic mutations have been reported to serve as cancer drivers. Recently, it has also been reported that epigenetic regulation is closely related to cancer development. However, the effect of epigenetic changes on cancer is still elusive. In this study, we analyzed DNA methylation data on colon cancer taken from The Caner Genome Atlas. We found that several promoters were significantly hypermethylated in colon cancer patients. Through clustering analysis of differentially methylated DNA regions, we were able to define subgroups of patients and observed clinical features associated with each subgroup. In addition, we analyzed the functional ontology of aberrantly methylated genes and identified the G-protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway as one of the major pathways affected epigenetically. In conclusion, our analysis shows the possibility of characterizing the clinical features of colon cancer subgroups based on DNA methylation patterns and provides lists of important genes and pathways possibly involved in colon cancer development.