• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.183-189
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• 2014

The genus Echinochloa (L.) P. Beauv. comprised of approximately 30-40 species in the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world, including numerous interspecific and intraspecific types which make the genus difficult to identify. As an attempt to identify the species within the genus easier, the taxonomy of the genus Echinochloa, Poaceae in Korea was reviewed on the basis of sequencing data derived from nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and external transcribe spacer and chloroplast DNA trnL intron, trnL-F intergenic spacer and matK regions using a total of 46 accessions representing all the species in Korea. The results of maximum parsimony found separate lineage comprised of E. colona and E. frumentaceae which are not Korean species, but no resolution within Korean Echinochloa species, supporting the suggestion of Yamaguchi group that E. crus-galli, E. oryzoides, and E. esculenta should be considered to belong to the same species. However, the relationship between these three species and the other species, i.e. E. oryzicola should be better understood with more detail studies.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.179-183
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• 2006

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterised neuropathologically by the accumulation of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles as well as by cerebrovascular amyloid deposition and neuronal cell loss. Current advances have shown the apolipoproteinE-epsilon 4 (ApoE4) allele to be highly associated with late-onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Western populations. The association of ApoE allele frequencies and dementia remains unknown in populations from many countries. We recently initiated a project to examine ApoE frequencies in non-demented healthy Koreans. Genomic DNA in hair root from a thousand persons was collected and ApoE gene type was investigated with the methods of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism. A group of a thousand non-demented Koreans over the age of 40 years were found to be positive in 15.7% of the cases for ApoE4. AD and ApoE4 were closely related. ApoE epsilon 4 was a dangerous factor of AD and ApoE 4 allele made a contribution to the heterogenicity of AD.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.351-355
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• 2004

Separate protocols are commonly used to prepare plasmid DNA, chromosomal DNA, or total RNA from E. coli cells. Various methods for the rapid preparation of plasmid DNA have been developed previously, but the preparation of the chromosomal DNA and total RNA are usually laborious. We report here a simple, fast, reliable, and cost-effective method to extract total nucleic acids from E. coli by direct lysis of the cells with phenol. Five distinct and sharp bands, which correspond to chromosomal DNA, plasmid DNA, 23S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and a mixture of small RNA, were observed when analyzing the prepared total nucleic acids on a regular 1-2% agarose gel. The simple and high-quality preparation of the total nucleic acids in a singe tube allowed us to rapidly screen the recombinant plasmid, as well as to simultaneously monitor the change of the plasmid copy number and rRNA levels during the growth of E. coli in the liquid medium.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2009

Escherichia coli K-12 (E. coli K-12) is a representative indicator globally used for distinguishing and monitoring dynamic fates of pathogenic microorganisms in the environment. This study investigated how to most critically quantify lacZ ($\beta$-galactosidase) gene in E. coli K-12 by two different real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) in association with three different DNA extraction practices. Three DNA extractions, i.e., sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/proteinase K, magnetic beads and guanidium thiocyanate (GTC)/silica matrix were each compared for extracting total genomic DNA from E. coli K-12. Among them, GTC/silica matrix and magnetic beads beating similarly worked out to have the highest (22-23 ng/${\mu}L$) concentration of DNA extracted, but employing SDS/proteinase K had the lowest (10 ng/${\mu}L$) concentration of DNA retrieved. There were no significant differences in the quantification of the copy numbers of lacZ gene between SYBR Green I qPCR and QProbe-qPCR. However, SYBR Green I qPCR obtained somewhat higher copy number as $1{\times}10^8$ copies. It was decided that GTC/silica matrix extraction or magnetic beads beating in combination with SYBR Green I qPCR can be preferably applied for more effectively quantifying specific gene from a pure culture of microorganism.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 2008

Three Acanthamoeba isolates (KA/E9, KA/E17, and KA/E23) from patients with keratitis were identified as Acanthamoeba triangularis by analysis of their molecular characteristics, a species not previously recognized to be a corneal pathogen. Epidemiologic significance of A. triangularis as a keratopathogen in Korea has been discussed. Morphologic features of Acanthamoeba cysts were examined under a microscope with differential interference contrast (DIC) optics. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the ocular isolates KA/E9, KA/E17, and KA/E23 were digested with restriction enzymes, and the restriction patterns were compared with those of reference strains. Complete nuclear 188 and mitochondrial (mt) 16S rDNA sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis and species identification. mtDNA RFLP of 3 isolates showed very similar patterns to those of SH621, the type strain of A. triangularis. 16S and 18S rDNA sequence analysis confirmed 3 isolates to be A. triangularis. 18S rDNA sequence differences of the isolates were 1.3% to 1.6% and those of 16S rDNA, 0.4% to 0.9% from A. triangularis SH621. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report, confirmed by 18S and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, of keratitis caused by A. triangularis of which the type strain was isolated from human feces. Six isolates of A. triangularis had been reported from contaminated contact lens cases in southeastern Korea.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.283-287
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• 2001

Differential display based on PCR was employed to identify genes expressed during tuber-developing stage of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Irish Cobbler). An eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A) clone isolated from a cDNA library constructed with developing micro-tuber using a probe of PCR fragment. We isolated three positive clones and ore of them contained open reading frame. This clone revealed high sequence similarity to tomato eIF 5A cDNA. At the DNA level, there is 94.8% identity with the tomato eIF-5A4, whereas at the protein level there is a high identity with 97.5%. The potato eIF 5A clone is 716 bp in length and contains a single open reading frame from 57 to 539 bp, a 56 bp 5'-untranslated region and a 177 bp 3'-untranslated region. The deduced protein composed of 160 amino acid residues, with a predicted molecular mass of 17.4 kD and an estimated pl of 5.5. The sequence of 12 (STSKTGKHGHAK) amino acids among eIF-5A proteins is perfectly conserved from yeast to human. That sequence in potato eIF-5A protein is also conserved at position 46 to 57 amino acid. This region embeds the post-translational modification site of the lysine residue (at the seventh K) to hypusine that is crucial to eIF-5A activity. The northern blot analysis of eIF5A has shown abundant expression, mainly in flower organs (stamen, ovary, petal, sepal), fruit and stolen.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.280-288
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• 1992

Molecular cloning of metalloprotease gene from Serratia marcescens ATCC 21074 into Escherichia coli JM109 was carried out. Chromosomal DNA of S. marcescens was completely digested with Hind111 and southern hybridization with a synthetic oligonucleotide probe revealed that a 50 KD metalloprotease gene was contained in 4.0 Kb chromosomal DNA fragment, 4.0 Kb chromosomal DNA fragments eluted from agarose gel were ligated with pUC19 and transformed into E. coli JM109. Nine positive clones were obtained from about $1\times 10^3$ transformants by colony hybridization. Their recombinant plasmids, pSPl and pSP2 have same chromosomal DNA fragments in pUC19 in opposite-orientations. When cloned metalloprotease gene was expressed in E. coli, about 52 KD precursor protein of metalloprotease was detected by western blot analysis from E. coli harboring a recombinant plasmid pSP2. Plasmid pSP2 showed no protease activities in E. coli but overproduced the active metalloprotease in S. rnarcescens ATCC 27117.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.301-309
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• 2002

This study was carried out to develop the breed-specific DNA markers for breed identification of Korean native goat meat using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)-PCR techniques. The genomic DNAs of Korean native goat, imported black goat and four dairy goat breeds(Saanen, Alpine, Nubian and Toggenburg) were extracted from muscle tissues or blood. Genomic DNA was digested with a particular combination of two restriction enzymes with 4 base(Mse I and Taq I) and 6 base(EcoR I and Hind III) recognition sites, ligated to restriction specific adapters and amplified using the selective primer combinations. In AFLP profiles of polyacrylamide gels, the number of scorable bands produced per primer combination varied from 36 to 74, with an average of 55.5. A total of 555 bands were produced, 149(26.8%) bands of which were polymorphic. Among the ten primer combinations, two bands with 2.01 and 1.26 kb in M13/H13 primer and one band with 1.65 kb in E35/H14 primer were found to be breed-specific AFLP markers in Korean native goat when DNA bands were compared among the goat breeds. In the E35/H14 primer combination, 2.19, 2.03, 0.96 and 0.87 kb bands detected in imported black goat, 2.13 kb band in Saanen breed and 2.08 kb band in Nubian breed were observed as breed-specific bands showing differences between goat breeds, respectively. The E35/H14 primer combination produced four DNA bands distinguished between Korean native goat and Saanen breed. The is study suggested that the breed specific AFLP bands could be used as DNA markers for the identification of Korean native goat meat from imported black goat and dairy goat meats.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.575-582
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• 1991

To increase the production of glutathione by the expression of recombinant gsh plasmids, two genes responsible for the biosynthesis of glutathione were isolated and cloned. To clone a gshI gene, the GS903 mutant strain, which is deficient in $\gamma$-glutamylcysteine synthetase activity, has been raised. A gshI gene was cloned using pBR322 plasmid as a 3.6 Kb PstI DNA fragment isolated from E. coli K-12 chromosomal DNA. Also a gshIl gene was cloned using pUC13 plasmid as a 2.2 Kb PstI-BamHI DNA fragment. To study the effects of plasmid copy number and passenger DNA size on the expression levels of the gsh genes, various recombinant plasmids containing different sets of genes were constructed. The expression levels of the gsh genes were increased approximately twice higher in pUC series plasmids than that in pBR322 plasmid. But the sizes of the passenger DNA containing the gsh genes in the vector plasmid did not affect on the expression levels of the gsh genes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.802-805
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• 2001

The dapD gene of Brevibacterium lactofermentum encoding tetrahydrodipicolinate N-succinyl transferase, one of the enzymes involved in lysine biosynthesis, was cloned by complementation of Escherichia coli dapD mutnat. The recombinant plasmid pLS1 was found to contain a 3.6 kb DNA fragment. Southern hybridization analysis confirmed that the cloned DNA fragment originated from B. lactofermentum. The data of L-lysine production showed that the B. lactofermentum dapD gene was expressed in E. coli.