• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

On the basis of the explicit time-domain method, an investigation is performed on the influence of the rotational stiffness and rotational damping of the vehicle body and front-rear bogies on the dynamic responses of the vehicle-bridge coupled systems. The equation of motion for the vehicle subsystem is derived employing rigid dynamical theories without considering the rotational stiffness and rotational damping of the vehicle body, as well as the front-rear bogies. The explicit expressions for the dynamic responses of the vehicle and bridge subsystems to contact forces are generated utilizing the explicit time-domain method. Due to the compact wheel-rail model, which reflects the compatibility requirement of the two subsystems, the explicit expression of the evolutionary statistical moment for the contact forces may be performed with relative ease. Then, the evolutionary statistical moments for the respective responses of the two subsystems can be determined. The numerical results indicate that the simplification of vehicle model has little effect on the responses of the bridge subsystem and the vehicle body, except for the responses of the rotational degrees of freedom for the vehicle subsystem, regardless of whether deterministic or random analyses are performed.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.201-208
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• 2015

Purpose: The AT-rich interactive domain 1A (ARID1A ) gene encodes BRG1-associated factor 250a, a component of the SWItch/Sucrose NonFermentable chromatin remodeling complex, which is considered a tumor suppressor in many tumors. We aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of ARID1A expression in gastric cancers and explore its relationship with clinicopathologic parameters such as mismatch repair protein expression. Materials and Methods: Four tissue microarrays were constructed from 191 resected specimens obtained at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital from 2006 to 2008. Nuclear expression of ARID1A was semiquantitatively assessed and binarized into retained and lost expression. Results: Loss of ARID1A expression was observed in 62 cases (32.5%). This was associated with more frequent vascular invasion (P=0.019) and location in the upper third of the stomach (P=0.001), and trended toward more poorly differentiated subtypes (P=0.054). ARID1A loss was significantly associated with the mismatch repair-deficient phenotype (P=0.003). ARID1A loss showed a statistically significant correlation with loss of MLH1 (P=0.001) but not MSH2 expression (P=1.000). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed no statistically significant difference in overall survival; however, patients with retained ARID1A expression tended to have better overall survival than those with loss of ARID1A expression (P=0.053). In both mismatch repair-deficient and mismatch repair-proficient groups, survival analysis showed no differences related to ARID1A expression status. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that loss of ARID1A expression is closely associated with the mismatch repair-deficient phenotype, especially in sporadic microsatellite instability-high gastric cancers.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.149-154
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• 2007

임신의 성립 및 유지에 중요한 역할을 하는 자궁내막세포에 $K_{2P}$ 통로의 존재를 확인하기 위하여 본 연구를 수행하였다. $K_{2P}$ 통로는 일반적으로 중추신경계에 풍부하게 존재하면서 세포의 안정막 전압을 유지시킨다. 역전사 중합 효소 중합 반응과 면역 세포 화학 염색 방법을 이용하여 자궁내막세포에 존재하는 $K_{2P}$ 통로를 조사한 결과, TASK-1, TASK-3, TREK-1, TREK-2 및 TRAAK의 발현이 확인되었다. TASK-3와 TREK-1은 핵을 포함한 세포 전역에 발현하였고, TREK-2와 TRAAK은 핵을 제외한 세포 전역에 발현하였다. 그러나 자궁내막염이 있는 자궁내막세포와 정상 자궁내막세포에서 $K_{2P}$ 통로의 발현 변화를 비교한 결과, 두 군간의 mRNA 발현 수준이 변화하지 않았다. 본 연구는 한우의 자궁내막세포에서 $K_{2P}$ 통로의 존재를 처음으로 보고하는데, 이를 통하여 한우의 자궁내막세포에서 확인된 $K_{2P}$ 통로들은 자궁의 생리 작용과 자궁암 등과 같은 여러 자궁 관련 질병에 관여할 가능성이 높을 것으로 생각된다.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제20권5호
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• pp.547-556
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• 2016

Myometrial relaxation of mouse via expression of two-pore domain acid sensitive (TASK) channels was studied. In our previous report, we suggested that two-pore domain acid-sensing $K^+$ channels (TASK-2) might be one of the candidates for the regulation of uterine circular smooth muscles in mice. In this study, we tried to show the mechanisms of relaxation via TASK-2 channels in marine myometrium. Isometric contraction measurements and patch clamp technique were used to verify TASK conductance in murine myometrium. Western blot and immunehistochemical study under confocal microscopy were used to investigate molecular identity of TASK channel. In this study, we showed that TEA and 4-AP insensitive non-inactivating outward $K^+$ current (NIOK) may be responsible for the quiescence of murine pregnant longitudinal myometrium. The characteristics of NIOK coincided with two-pore domain acid-sensing $K^+$ channels (TASK-2). NIOK in the presence of $K^+$ channel blockers was inhibited further by TASK inhibitors such as quinidine, bupivacaine, lidocaine, and extracellular acidosis. Furthermore, oxytocin and estrogen inhibited NIOK in pregnant myometrium. When compared to non-pregnant myometrium, pregnant myometrium showed stronger inhibition of NIOK by quinidine and increased immunohistochemical expression of TASK-2. Finally, TASK-2 inhibitors induced strong myometrial contraction even in the presence of L-methionine, a known inhibitor of stretch-activated channels in the longitudinal myometrium of mouse. Activation of TASK-2 channels seems to play an essential role for relaxing uterus during pregnancy and it might be one of the alternatives for preventing preterm delivery.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.64-75
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• 2018

CCN3 (also known as NOV, Nephroblastoma overexpressed) proteins are involved in various pathologies during different developmental stages. We have previously shown that intracellular levels and normal extracellular secretion of CCN3 are important for neuronal differentiation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that a single amino acid in the CCN3 TSP-1 domain is important for extracellular secretion and that palmitoylation of CCN3 is required in this process. However, the effect of abnormal CCN3 accumulation on cells remains to be studied. Here, we found mutations in the TSP-1 domain of CCN3 that led to intracellular accumulation and abnormal aggregation of CCN3. It was observed that this mutation resulted in a phenomenon similar to neurodegeneration when overexpressed in the developing mouse cortex. This mutation also confirmed the activation of apoptotic gene expression in Neuro2a cells. In addition, we confirmed the in vivo transcriptional changes induced by this mutation using microarray analysis. We observed a significant increase in the expression of Anp32a, an apoptosis-related gene. Collectively, these results indicate that a single mutation in CCN3 can lead to abnormal cell death if it shows intracellular accumulation and abnormal aggregation.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.24-31
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• 2020

Five genes (mxbDM, mxcQE and mxaB) are responsible for the transcription of methanol oxidation genes in Methylobacterium strains. Among these, MxbDM and MxcQE constitute the two-component system (TCS) regulating methanol metabolism. In this study, we integrated the methanol-sensing domain of MxbD and MxcQ with the EnvZ/OmpR from Escherichia coli. The domain-swapping strategy resulted in chimeric histidine kinases (HK's) MxbDZ and MxcQZ AM1 containing recombinant E. coli. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to monitor OmpC expression mediated by the chimeric HK and response regulator (RR) OmpR. Further, an ompC promoter based fluorescent biosensor for sensing methanol was developed. GFP fluorescence was studied both qualitatively and quantitatively in response to environmental methanol. GFP measurement also confirmed ompC expression. Maximum fluorescence was observed at 0.05% methanol and 0.01% methanol using MxbDZ and MxcQZ AM1, respectively. Thus the chimeric HK containing E. coli were found to be highly sensitive to methanol, resulting in a rapid response making them an ideal sensor.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.1022-1030
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• 2004

The gene encoding Aquifex pyrophilus (Apy) DNA polymerase was cloned and sequenced. The Apy DNA polymerase gene consists of 1,725 bp coding for a protein with 574 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of Apy DNA. polymerase showed a high sequence homology to Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I-like DNA polymerases. It was deduced by amino acid sequence alignment that Apy DNA polymerase, like the Klenow fragment, has only the two domains, the $3'{\rightarrow}5'$ exonuclease domain and the $5'{\rightarrow}3'$ polymerase domain, containing the characteristic motifs. The Apy DNA polymerase gene was expressed under the control of T7lac promoter on the expression vector pET-22b(+) in E. coli. The expressed enzyme was purified by heat treatment, and Cibacron blue 3GA and $UNO^{TM}$ Q column chromatographies. The optimum pH of the purified enzyme was 7.5, and the optimal concentrations of KCl and $Mg^{2+}$ were 20 mM and 3 mM, respectively. Apy DNA polymerase contained a double strand-dependent $3'{\rightarrow}5'$ proofreading exonuclease activity, but lacked any detectable $5'{\rightarrow}3'$ exonuclease activity, which is consistent with its amino acid sequence. The somewhat lower thermostability of Apy DNA polymerase than the growth temperature of A. pyrophilus was analyzed by the comparison of amino acid composition and pressure effect.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.823-827
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• 2003

Streptomyces venezuelae ATCC 15439 is notable in its ability to produce two distinct groups of macrolactones. It has been reported that the generation of two macrolactone structures results from alternative expression of pikromycin (Pik) polyketide synthase (PKS). It was previously reported that the hybrid pikromycin-tylosin PKS can also produce two different macrolactones but its mechanistic basis remains unclear. In order to address this question, a series of site-directed mutagenesis of tentative alternative ribosome binding site and translation start codons in tylGV were performed. The results suggest that macrolactone ring size is not determined by the alternative expression of TylGV but through other mechanism(s) involving direct interaction between the PikAIII and TE domain or skipping of the final chain elongation step. This provides new insight into the mechanism of macrolactone ring size determination in hybrid PKS as well as an opportunity to develop novel termination activities for combinatorial biosynthesis.

• BMB Reports
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• 제39권5호
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• pp.578-585
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• 2006

The cDNA of a firefly luciferase from lantern mRNA of Lampyroidea maculata has been cloned, sequenced and functionally expressed. The cDNA has an open reading frame of 1647 bp and codes for a 548-residue-long polypeptide. Noteworthy, sequence comparison as well as homology modeling showed the highest degree of similarity with H. unmunsana and L. mingrelica luciferases, suggesting a close phylogenetic relationship despite the geographical distance separation. The deduced amino acid sequence of the luciferase gene of firefly L. maculata showed 93% identity to H. unmunsana. Superposition of the three-dimensional model of L. maculata luciferase (generated by homology modeling) and three dimensional structure of Photinus pyralis luciferase revealed that the spatial arrangements of Luciferin and ATP-binding residues are very similar. Putative signature of AMP-binding domain among the various firefly species and Lampyroidea maculata was compared and a striking similarity was found. Different motifs and sites have been identified in Lampyroidea maculata by sequence analysis. Expression and purification of luciferase from Lampyroidea maculata was carried out using Ni-NTA Sepharose. Bioluminescence emission spectrum was similar to Photinus pyralis luciferase.

• 미생물학회지
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.313-318
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• 2006

가정에서 제조된 된장으로부터 cellulase 생산균으로 분리된 고온성 WL-12는 형태적 특성, 생화학적 성질 및 16S rRNA의 염기서열에 근거하여 Bacillus licheniformis로 동정되었다. B. licheniformis WL-12의 cellulase 유전자를 클로닝하여 그 염기서열을 결정한 결과 cellulase 유전자(celA)는 517 아미노산으로 구성된 단백질을 코드하며 1,551 뉴클레오티드로 이루어졌다. 아미노산 잔기배열을 분석한 결과 WL-12의 cellulase는 활성영역과 cellulose 결합영역으로 구성되어 있었으며, glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 5에 속하는 B. licheniformis, B. subtilis와 B. amyloliquefaciens의 cellulase와 높은 상동성을 보였다. 클론된 celA를 발현용 vector에 도입하여 B. subtilis에서 발현시켜 cellulase 최대생산성이 7.0 units/ml에 이르렀다.