• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.227-249
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• 2003

Prediction of corporate failure using past financial data is a well-documented topic. Early studies of bankruptcy prediction used statistical techniques such as multiple discriminant analysis, logit and probit. Recently, however, numerous studies have demonstrated that artificial intelligence such as neural networks can be an alternative methodology for classification problems to which traditional statistical methods have long been applied. In building neural network model, the selection of independent and dependent variables should be approached with great care and should be treated as model construction process. Irrespective of the efficiency of a teaming procedure in terms of convergence, generalization and stability, the ultimate performance of the estimator will depend on the relevance of the selected input variables and the quality of the data used. Approaches developed in statistical methods such as correlation analysis and stepwise selection method are often very useful. These methods, however, may not be the optimal ones for the development of neural network model. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithms approach to find an optimal or near optimal input variables fur neural network modeling. The proposed approach is demonstrated by applications to bankruptcy prediction modeling. Our experimental results show that this approach increases overall classification accuracy rate significantly.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2005

The coat protein gene (AF296280) of the Korean isolate Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) was cloned and the open reading frame (627 bp) was transformed into potato (Solanum tuberosum cv. Superior). Out of seventeen individual transgenic lines, five lines were identified to confer resistance to PLRV through the five generation's selection program in the greenhouse as well as isolated trial field. Successful introduction and genetic stability of coat protein gene in the genome of potato were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Southern blot hybridization and northern blot hybridization. Some of the transgenic lines were highly resistant to PLRV but did not show any resistance to less homologous Potato virus Y (PVY). Our results suggest that the resistance to PLRV is due to homology dependent gene silencing by sense strand coat protein gene. In addition, the results of field test through five generations showed that there were no significant differences comparing to nontransgenic potatoes in the morphological aspect of shoot as well as tuber, Ho remarkable differences were also observed in the major agronomic characters and yields except for the resistance to PLRV.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2009

Seven isolates showing strong proteolytic activity, KYC 1028, 1100, 1134, 1139, 1151, 1159, and 1182, were collected. Out of them, the broth of KYC 1134 and KYC 1139 showed the high proteolytic activity measured by azocazein. To determine 16S rDNA sequences for identification, 16S rDNA of seven isolates were amplified and compared with the 16S rDNA sequences of other myxobacteria at NCBI. It is evident from the phylo-genetic tree that the isolates belong to the genus Myxococcus. Sharing high percentage similarity values with myxobacteria, the 16S rDNA sequences were involved in two species, Myxococcus macrospores and M. Fulvus. Biochemical characteristics of KYC 1134 broth, which showed the highest proteolytic activity, showed increased activity 8 times to seven days after culture, and protein production were increased gradually and stopped at five days. The broth had optimal temperature at $60^{\circ}C$ for proteolytic activity, and stability of pH was ranged from pH 5 to 10, at $50^{\circ}C$ and 60, respectively. To classify proteases being in the broth, ten inhibitors were determined and only bestatin showed 27% inhibition effect. The inhibition result demonstrates that the broth contains kinds of amino peptidases and other exopeptidases.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.158-164
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• 2008

The fusants which contain starch utilizing ability and alcohol fermenting ability were developed by protoplast fusion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae KOY-1 and Saccharomyces diastaticus KCTC 1804. Sacharomyces cerevisiae KH-12 was obtained by haploid induction from Saccharomyces cerevisiae KOY-1. The auxotropic mutants of yeast were obtained by using an ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS). The frequency of protoplast formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae KOY-1 $(Met^-)$ and Saccharomyces diastaticus KCTC 1804 $(Trp^-)$ were 90.5% and 97.7%, respectively. The frequency of fusant formation was $1.79{\times}10^{-4 }$ for the regenerated protoplast and the 1,000 fusants were obtained. Fusant FA 776 was selected as a potential yeast which contain an alcohol fermenting ability in the starch medium. The genetic stability was 4.64% for 10 passages of generation. Fusant FA 776 produced 13mg/ml of alcohol in 24% starch medium and showed 1.86-fold higher alcohol fermenting ability than Saccharomyces diastaticus KCTC 1804.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.123-135
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• 2001

Several growth factors and polypeptides were studied for the regeneration of periodontal supporting tissues which had been lost due to periodontal disease. But these are not commonly used for regenerators of bone tissue or alveolar bone, because of the insufficiency of studies on their side effects, genetic engineering for mass production and stability for clinical application. Recently, many natural products, which have advantage of less side effects and possibility of long-term use, have been studied for their capacity and effects of anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and regenerative potential or periodontal tissues. Cnidii Rhizoma, Rhinocerotis Cornu and Drynariae Rhizoma have been traditionally used as a drug for treatment of bone disease in oriental medicine. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of alkaline phosphatase synthesis of MC3T3-E1 cells when above medicines were supplimented. MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured with ${\alpha}-MEM(negative control)$, dexamethasone(positive control), and each natural products for 3 and 5 days. And then ALP synthesis was measured by spectrophotometer for enzyme activity and by naphthol AS-BI staining for morphometry. Except Cnidii Rhizoma, all of the natural products of this study induced higher activity of ALP synthesis than controls. Among them Drynariae Rhizoma induced the highest activity. In the aspects of culturing time, all medicines did not showed the difference between 3 and 5 days, but $10^{-7}g/ml$ group of Rhinocerotis Corun showed significant increase at 3 days than at 5 days. These results indicate that several natural products have a inducing ability of ALP synthesis on osteoblasts.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.584-588
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• 2006

This study was carried out to optimize the conditions for the extraction of antioxidative materials from licorice root, Glycyrrhiz glabra. Chipped licorice roots were extracted with several solvents and their antioxidative activities were tested to determine the optimal extraction solvent. Among the solvents tested, 95% ethanol gave the highest free radical scavenging activity, and was therefore chosen as the optimal extracting solvent. The optimum extraction temperature and time were $20^{\circ}C$ and 12 hr, respectively. Next, the free radical scavenging activity of the ethanol extract was compared with that of other known antioxidants such as ${\alpha}-tocopherol$, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). Ethanol extract of licorice root had greater antioxidative activity than ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ and a similar level to that of the two synthetic antioxidants (BHA and BHT). Moreover, the antioxidative activity of the ethanol extract was inhibited neither by heat treatment at $180^{\circ}C$ for 30 min nor by treatment at extreme pH. These findings suggest that ethanol extract of G. glabra may be useful as a natural antioxidant.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2017

Plant genomes include heterochromatic loci that consist of repetitive sequences and transposable elements. LTR retrotransposon is the major class of transposons in advanced plants in terms of proportion in plant genome. The elements contribute not only to genome size but also to genome stability and gene expression. A number of cases have been reported transposon insertions near genic regions affect crop traits such as fruit pigments, stress tolerance, and yields. Functional LTR retrotransposons produce extrachromosomal DNA from genomic RNA by reverse transcription that takes place within virus-like-particles (VLPs). DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) plays important roles in maintaining DNA methylation of heterochromatin affecting all sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH. Previous studies showed that ddm1 mutant exhibits massive transcription of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis, but only few of them were able to create new insertions into the genome. RNA-dependent RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) is known to function in restricting accumulation of transposon RNA by processing the transcripts into 21-22 nt epigenetically activated small interfering RNA (easiRNA). We purified VLPs and sequence cDNA to identify functional LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 plants. Over 20 LTR copia and gypsy families were detected in ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 sequencing libraries and most of them were not reported for mobility. In ddm1rdr6, short fragments of ATHILA gypsy elements were detected. It suggests easiRNAs might regulate reverse transcription steps. The highest enriched element among transposon loci was previously characterized EVADE element. It has been reported that active EVADE element is more efficiently silenced through female germline than male germline. By genetic analyses, we found ddm1 and rdr6 mutation affect maternal silencing of active EVADE elements. DDM1-GFP protein accumulated in megaspore mother cell but was not found in mature egg cell. The fusion protein was also found in early embryo and maternal DDM1-GFP allele was more dominantly expressed in the embryo. We observed localization of DDM1-GFP in Arabidopsis and DDM1-YFP in maize and found the proteins accumulated in dividing zone of root tips. Currently we are looking at cell cycle dependency of DDM1 expression using maize system. Among 10 AGO proteins in Arabidopsis, AGO9 is specifically expressed in egg cell and shoot meristematic cells. In addition, mutation of AGO9 and RDR6 caused failure in maternal silencing, implying 21-22 nt easiRNA pathway is important for retrotransposon silencing in female gametophyte or/and early embryo. On the other hand, canonical 24 nt sRNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathways did not contribute to maternal silencing as confirmed by this study. Heat-activated LTR retrotransposon, ONSEN, was not silenced by DDM1 but the silencing mechanisms require RdDM pathways in somatic cells. We will propose distinct mechanisms of LTR retrotransposons in germline and somatic stages.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2017

Plant genomes include heterochromatic loci that consist of repetitive sequences and transposable elements. LTR retrotransposon is the major class of transposons in advanced plants in terms of proportion in plant genome. The elements contribute not only to genome size but also to genome stability and gene expression. A number of cases have been reported transposon insertions near genic regions affect crop traits such as fruit pigments, stress tolerance, and yields. Functional LTR retrotransposons produce extrachromosomal DNA from genomic RNA by reverse transcription that takes place within virus-like-particles (VLPs). DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) plays important roles in maintaining DNA methylation of heterochromatin affecting all sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH. Previous studies showed that ddm1 mutant exhibits massive transcription of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis, but only few of them were able to create new insertions into the genome. RNA-dependent RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) is known to function in restricting accumulation of transposon RNA by processing the transcripts into 21-22 nt epigenetically activated small interfering RNA (easiRNA). We purified VLPs and sequence cDNA to identify functional LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 plants. Over 20 LTR copia and gypsy families were detected in ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 sequencing libraries and most of them were not reported for mobility. In ddm1rdr6, short fragments of ATHILA gypsy elements were detected. It suggests easiRNAs might regulate reverse transcription steps. The highest enriched element among transposon loci was previously characterized EVADE element. It has been reported that active EVADE element is more efficiently silenced through female germline than male germline. By genetic analyses, we found ddm1 and rdr6 mutation affect maternal silencing of active EVADE elements. DDM1-GFP protein accumulated in megaspore mother cell but was not found in mature egg cell. The fusion protein was also found in early embryo and maternal DDM1-GFP allele was more dominantly expressed in the embryo. We observed localization of DDM1-GFP in Arabidopsis and DDM1-YFP in maize and found the proteins accumulated in dividing zone of root tips. Currently we are looking at cell cycle dependency of DDM1 expression using maize system. Among 10 AGO proteins in Arabidopsis, AGO9 is specifically expressed in egg cell and shoot meristematic cells. In addition, mutation of AGO9 and RDR6 caused failure in maternal silencing, implying 21-22 nt easiRNA pathway is important for retrotransposon silencing in female gametophyte or/and early embryo. On the other hand, canonical 24 nt sRNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathways did not contribute to maternal silencing as confirmed by this study. Heat-activated LTR retrotransposon, ONSEN, was not silenced by DDM1 but the silencing mechanisms require RdDM pathways in somatic cells. We will propose distinct mechanisms of LTR retrotransposons in germline and somatic stages.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.293-299
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible impact of Bt Chinese cabbage on the soil microbial community. Microbial communities were isolated from the rhizosphere of one Bt Chinese cabbage variety and four varieties of conventional ones and were subjected to be analyzed using both culture-dependent and molecular methods. The total counts of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes in the rhizosphere of transgenic and conventional Chinese cabbages were observed to have an insignificant difference. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that the bacterial community structures were very similar to each other and this genetic stability of microbial communities was maintained throughout the culture periods. Analysis of dominant isolates in the rhizosphere of transgenic and conventional Chinese cabbages showed that the dominant isolates from the soil of transgenic Chinese cabbage belonged to the Bacilli and Alphaproteobacteria, while the dominant isolates from the soil of conventional cabbage belonged to the Holophagae and Planctomycetacia, respectively. These results indicate that the Bt transgenic cabbage has no significant impact on the soil microbial communities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.6103-6108
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• 2013

Objective: Excision repair cross-complementing group 6 (ERCC6) is a major component of the nucleotide excision repair pathway that plays an important role in maintaining genomic stability and integrity. Several recent studies suggested a link of ERCC6 polymorphisms with susceptibility to various cancers. However, the relation of ERCC6 polymorphism with gastric cancer (GC) risk remains elusive. In this sex- and age-matched case-control study including 402 GC cases and 804 cancer-free controls, we aimed to investigate the association between a potentially functional polymorphism (rs1917799 T>G) in the ERCC6 regulatory region and GC risk. Methods: The genotypes of rs1917799 were determined by Sequenom MassARRAY platform and the status of Helicobacter pylori infection was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidential interval (CI) were calculated by logistic regression analysis. Results: Compared with the common TT genotype, the ERCC6 rs1917799 GG genotype was associated with increased GC risk (adjusted OR=1.46, 95%CI: 1.03-2.08, P=0.035). When compared with (GT+TT) genotypes, the GG genotype also demonstrated a statistical association with increased GC risk (adjusted OR=1.38, 95%CI: 1.01-1.89, P=0.044). This was also observed for the male subpopulation (GG vs. TT: adjusted OR=1.71, 95%CI: 1.12-2.62, P=0.013; G allele vs. T allele: adjusted OR=1.32, 95%CI: 1.07-1.62, P=0.009). Genetic effects on increased GC risk tended to be enhanced by H. pylori infection, smoking and drinking, but their interaction effects on GC risk did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: ERCC6 rs1917799 GG genotype might be associated with increased GC risk in Chinese, especially in males.