• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.173-180
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• 2006

Autotrophic nitrogen removal and its microbial community from a laboratory scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor were characterized with dynamic behavior of nitrogen removal and sequencing result of molecular technique (DNA extraction, PCR and amplification of 16S rDNA), respectively. In the experiment treating inorganic wastewater, the anaerobic granular sludge from a full-scale UASB reactor treating industrial wastewater was inoculated as seed biomass. The operating results revealed that an addition of hydroxylamine would result in lithoautotrophic ammonium oxidation to nitrite/nitrate, and also hydrazine would play an important role for the success of sustainable nitrogen removal process. Total N and ammonium removal of 48% and 92% was observed, corresponding to nitrogen conversion of 0.023 g N/L-d. The reddish brown-colored granular sludge with a diameter of $1{\sim}2\;mm$ was observed at the lower part of sludge bed. The microbial characterization suggests that an anoxic ammonium oxidizer and an anoxic denitrifying autotrophic nitrifier contribute mainly to the nitrogen removal in the reactor. The results revealed the feasibility on development of high performance lithoautotrophic nitrogen removal process with its microbial granulation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.159-164
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• 2011

Microbial whole-cell biosensors can be excellent analytical tools for monitoring environmental pollutants. They are constructed by fusing reporter genes (e.g., lux, gfp or lacZ) to inducible regulatory genes which are responsive to the relevant pollutants, such as aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals. A large spectrum of microbial biosensors has been developed using recombinant DNA technology and applied in fields as diverse as environmental monitoring, medicine, food processing, agriculture, and defense. Furthermore, their sensitivity and target range could be improved by modification of regulatory genes. Recently, microbial biosensor cells have been immobilized on chips, optic fibers, and other platforms of high-throughput cell arrays. This paper reviews recent advances and future trends of genetically modified microbial biosensors used for monitoring of specific environmental pollutants.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.31-41
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• 2000

The major issue in the post genome sequencing era is determination of gene expression patterns in variety of biological systems. A microarray system is a powerful technology for analyzing the expression profile of thousands of genes at one experiment. In this study, we constructed cDNA microarray which carries 2,304 cDNAS derived from oligo-capped mouse cDNA library. Using this hand-made microarray we determined gene expression in various biological systems. To determine tissue specific genes, we compared Nine genes were highly-expressed in adult mouse brain compared to kidney, liver, and skeletal muscle. Tissue distribution analysis using DNA microarray extracted 9 genes that were predominantly expressed in the brain. A database search showed that five of the 9 genes, MBP, SC1, HiAT3, S100 protein-beta, and SNAP25, were previously known to be expressed at high level in the brain and in the nervous system. One gene was highly sequence similar to rat S-Rex-s/human NSP-C, suggesting that the gene is a mouse homologue. The remaining three genes did not match to known genes in the GenBank/EMBL database, indicating that these are novel genes highly-expressed in the brain. Our DNA microarray was also used to detect differentiation specific genes, hormone dependent genes, and transcription-factor-induced genes. We conclude that DNA microarray is an excellent tool for identifying differentially expressed genes.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2007

To evaluate the protective effect of Houttuynia cordata on hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative DNA damage in HepG2 cell line, we used an alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE; comet assay). The DNA damage was analyzed by tail moment (TM) and tail length (TL), which used markers of DNA strand breaks in SCGE. The $100{\mu}g/ml$ of methanolic extract of Houttuynia cordata root showed significant protective effects (p < 0.01) against hydrogen peroxide-induced DNA damage in HepG2 cells and increased cell viability against hydrogen peroxide. The results of this study indicate that Houttuynia cordata root methanol extract acts as a potential antioxidant, and exhibits potential anticancer properties, which may provide a clue to find applications in new pharmaceuticals for oxidative stability.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2009

Ficus deltoidea Jack is an important and popular medicinal plant species found in the Malaysia. Plants are being collected and used based on morphology and authentication to prevent adulteration is not in practice. In this study, twenty-six accessions of F. deltoidea Jack were collected from Kelantan and Terengganu states of Peninsular Malaysia to examine their genetic similarities and differences using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Out of 20 arbitrary primers, two primers (D-10 and D-11) were selected which produced reliable DNA polymorphism. D-10 and D-11 primers generated 138 RAPD bands ranging from 250 bp to 3000 bp. Ninety-nine of them were polymorphic loci (72%) and thirty-nine were nonpolymorphic loci (28%). A total of 56 bands with polymorphic loci were amplified with primer D-10 and analyzed by cluster analysis and UPGMA to present a dendrogram depicting the degree of genetic relationship among 26 accessions. Eight RAPD markers were sequenced to determine their identity. RAPD analysis showed the genetic diversity among 26 accessions of F. deltoidea Jack. The RAPD profile and RAPD marker sequences reported in this paper could be used in plant and/or plant material authentication. This study also suggested that RAPD can be a useful technique to study DNA polymorphism in F. deltoidea Jack.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.614-619
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• 2004

This study was undertaken to investigate the different responses of cultured plant cells to paraquat treatment and nucleus-DNA damage in relation to enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD). Furthermore, this study was also carried out to understand the antioxidative mechanism of plant cells to environmental stress. We selected two different species of plant cultured cells, Ipomoea batatas as high-SOD species and Lonicera japonica as low-SOD species. The total activity and specific activity of SOD in a chlorophyllous cell of I. batatas were 3,736 unit/gㆍfresh weight and 547 unit/mgㆍprotein, respectively, and those in L. japonica were 23 unit/gㆍfresh weight and 13 unit/mgㆍprotein, respectively SOD activity in chlorophyllous I. batatas cells reached its maximum level at 10 to 15 days after subculture, whereas that in L. japonica remained at a very low SOD level during the whole period of subculture. In comparison to L. japonica, I. batatas, a high-SOD species, showed high tolerance to paraquat 10 and 50 mg/l treatment in terms of cell viability and electrolyte leakage. Based on the result of comet assay, the nucleus-DNA damage of two species by paraquat 50 mg/l treatment was not significantly different. However, I. batatas cells repaired their damaged DNA more effectively than the cells of the low-SOD species, L. japonica.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.413-426
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• 2020

The Euphorbiaceae family features some of the most economically important plants that are sources of foods, oils, waxes, and medicines. The accurate identification of Euphorbiaceae species is critical in sustainable utilization of plant resources. We examined 234 sequences of nrDNA ITS, cpDNA rbcL and matK loci from 20 species in Euphorbiaceae in Korea and three outgroup taxa to develop efficient DNA barcodes. The three barcode loci were successfully amplified and sequenced for all Euphorbiaceae species. nrDNA ITS locus showed the highest mean interspecific K2P distance (0.3034), followed by cpDNA matK (0.0830), and rbcL (0.0352) locus. The degree of species resolution for individual barcode loci ranged from 75% (rbcL and matK) to 80% (ITS). The degree of species resolution was not enhanced with the different combinations of three barcode loci. The combined data set of the three loci(ITS+rbcL+matK) provided 80% of species resolution. These results confirm that ITS locus, as a single barcode, is the best option for barcoding of the Euphorbiaceae in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.403-412
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• 2020

Colonies of three independent gametophytes (one that is filamentous and two that are ribbon-like) without sporophytes occur in Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Jeju-do, Korea. They have a moss-like appearance at first sight, with tiny plantlets and gemmae, and grow in cool, shaded, relatively deep dint places of large rocks, such as the small caves in high mountains, close to valleys. The gametophytes were identified based on morphological and molecular data by chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequence data (rbcL, rps4 gene and rps4-trnS intergenic spacer). Here, rbcL, rps4 gene and rps4-trnS intergenic spacer data of one independent gametophyte distributed in Korea have the same morphology, DNA sequence and monophyletic group as Crepidomanes intricatum from the eastern United States. They also share the same cpDNA data with Crepidomanes schmidtianum recently reported from Korea. The other independent gametophyte should be Hymenophyllum wrightii based on cpDNA data. The last one was presumed to be Pleurosoriopsis makinoi based on molecular data. The taxonomic status was confirmed to be the forma of Hymenophyllum wrightii through a revision of Hymenophyllum wrightii f. serratum based on molecular data.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.126-135
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• 2022

Background: Pollinators are important ecological elements due to their role in the maintenance of ecosystem health, wild plant reproduction, crop production and food security. The pollinator-plant interaction supports the preservation of plant and animal populations and it also improves the yield in pollination dependent crops. Having knowledge about the plant-pollinator interaction is necessary for development of pesticide risk assessment of pollinators and conservation of endangering species. Results: Traditional methods to discover the relatedness of insects and plants are based on tracing the visiting pollinators by field observations as well as palynology. These methods are time-consuming and needs expert taxonomists to identify different groups of pollinators such as insects or identify flowering plants through palynology. With pace of technology, using molecular methods become popular in identification and classification of organisms. DNA metabarcoding, which is the combination of DNA barcoding and high throughput sequencing, can be applied as an alternative method in identification of mixed origin environmental samples such as pollen loads attached to the body of insects and has been used in DNA-based discovery of plant-pollinator relationship. Conclusions: DNA metabarcoding is practical for plant-pollinator studies, however, lack of reference sequence in online databases, taxonomic resolution, universality of primers are the most crucial limitations. Using multiple molecular markers is preferable due to the limitations of developed universal primers, which improves taxa richness and taxonomic resolution of the studied community.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.229-236
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• 1999

The recA gene plays a central role in genetic recombination and SOS DNA repair in Escherichia coli (E. coli). We have previously identified a 42 kDa RecA-like protein inducible by a variety of DNA damages from a fluorescent Pseudomonas strain sp. and characterized its inducible kinetics. In the present study, we cloned and characterized the gene encoding the RecA-like protein by immunological screening of Pseudomonas genomic expression library using polyclonal E. coli anti-RecA antibodies as a probe. From 10$^{5}$ plaques screened, five putative clones were finally isolated. Southern blot analysis indicated that four clones had the same DNA inserts and the recA-like gene was located within the 3.2 kb EcoRI fragment of Pseudomonas chromosomal DNA. In addition, the cloned recA-like gene was transcribed into an RNA transcript approximately 1.1 kb in size, as judged by Northern blot analysis. The cellular level of RNA transcript of the cloned recA-like gene was increased to an average of 5.15- fold upon treatment with DNA damaging agents such as ultraviolet (UV)- light, nalidixic acid (NA), methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), and mitomycin-C (MMC). These results suggest that the cloned gene is inducible by DNA damage similarly to the recA gene in E. coli. However, the cloned gene did not restore the DNA damage sensitivity of the E. coli recA-mutant.