• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 2008

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are multifunctional proteins encoded by a large gene family divided into Phi, Tau, Theta, Zeta, Lambda and DHAR classes on the basis of sequence identity. The Phi(F) and Tau(U) classes are plant-specific and ubiquitous. Their roles have been defined as herbicide detoxification and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Fifty-two members of the GST super-family were identified in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, 13 members of which belong to the Phi class of GSTs (AtGSTFs). Based on the sequence similarities of AtGSTFs, 11 BAC clones were identified from Brassica rapa. Seven unique sequences of ORFs designated the Phi class candidates of GST derived from B. rapa (BrGSTFs) were detected from these 11 BAC clones by blast search and sequence alignment. Some of BrGSTFs were present in the same BAC clones indicating that BrGSTFs could also be clustered as usual in plant. They were mapped on B. rapa linkage group 2, 3, 9 and 10 and their nucleotide and amino acid sequences were highly similar to those of AtGSTFs. In addition, in silico analysis of BrGSTFs using Korea Brassica Genome Project 24K oligochip and microarray database for cold, salt and drought stresses revealed 15 unigenes to be highly similar to AtGSTFs and six of these were identical to one of BrGSTFs identified in the BAC clones indicating their expression. The sequences of BrGSTFs and unigenes identified in this study will facilitate further studies to apply GST genes to medical and agriculture purposes.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.15-21
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• 2011

Objectives : The application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the discrimination of the herbal medicine Leonuri Herba (Leonurus japonicus) was evaluated by the comparison of the DNA sequence with Lamiaceae herbal medicine. Method : Genetic analysis showed that phylogenetic tree and comparing sequences through the DNA analysis of rbcL (ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphatecarboxylase) region and trnL-F (tRNA-Leu, trnL-trnF intergeni cspacer, and tRNA-Phe) region of chloroplast DNA from six Lamiaceae sold in market. And we developed IMCF and IMCR primers in order to distinction Leonuri Herba in six Lamiaceae using rbcL and trnL-F sequences. Results : Genetic analysis showed that six Lamiaceae showed individual group on phylogenetic tree. PCR amplification product of Leonuri Herba and another five Lamiaceae were developed for amplification of a 281 bp sequence and the specific PCR amplification of a 460 bp sequence that was exclusive to Leonuri Herba was designed using IMCF and IMCR primers. Conclusion : PCR analysis based on the chloroplast DNA sequences allows the discrimination of Leonuri Herba-based medicine.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1743-1749
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• 2010

A research group demonstrated that the 37 kDA protein of Edwardsiella tarda, a causing causative agent of edwardsiellosis in fish, exhibited high antigenicity in Japanese flounder. The research group also showed that the N-terminus amino acid sequences of the 37 kDa protein were mapped to the N-terminus of GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase). Using degenerated primer sets based on the known N-terminus sequence, the corresponding E. tarda DNA was amplified and cloned. The nucleotide sequences of the cloned gene revealed high homology with a bacterial gene for GAPDH, as we was expected. The amino acid sequence of E. tarda GAPDH (etGAPDH) revealed a <70% similarity with GAPDH proteins in other Enterobacteriaceae. With the application of artificial protein overexpression system in Escherichia coli, the recombinant etGAPDH (rGAPDH) was produced and purified. In this study, Using the purified rGAPDH, the etGAPDH specific polyclonal antibody has been was generated using the purified rGAPDHin this study. The immunoblotting analyses demonstrated that the location of the GAPDH protein is located with the association of is associated with the envelops of E. tarda. The rGAPDH was administrated into Japanese flounder via IP route for evaluation of the protective ability. Although the specific antibody titer against etGAPDH was increased about 3-fold after 4 weeks post-vaccination, the survival rates of vaccinated Japanese flounder and the control group with wild type E. tarda was were 12.5% and 0%, respectively. Our results indicated that rGAPDH is immunoreactive antigen but that it will not generate protective immunity in Japanese flounder.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2003

Two lymphoid-specific proteins, RAG1 and RAG2, are required for the initiation of the V(D)J recombination in vitro. The V(D)J cleavage that is mediated by RAG proteins at the border between the coding and signal sequences results in the production of a hairpin at the coding end and a double-stranded break at the signal end. Two hairpin coding ends are re-opened, modified, and sealed; whereas, the signal ends are directly ligated. Here I report that only RAG1 can carry out a distinct endonucleolytic activity in vitro using an oligonucleotide substrate that is tethered by a short single-stranded DNA. The purified RAG1 protein alone formed a nick at the near position to the recombination signal sequence. This endonucleolytic activity was eliminated by immunoprecipitation using the RAG1-specific antibody, and required the 3'-hydroxy group. All of the RAG1 mutants that were incapable of the nick and hairpin formation in the V(D)J cleavage analysis also showed this new endonucleolytic activity. This suggests that the nicking activity that was observed might be functionally different from the nick formation in the V(D)J cleavage.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2005

The nonstructural protein 4 (NSP4) of rotavirus encoded by gene 10, plays an important role in rotavirus pathogenicity. In this study, NSP4 gene of avian rotavirus (AvRV-1, AvRV-2) was analyzed and expressed using baculovirus expression system. The sequence data indicated that the NSP4 gene of AvRV-1 and AvRV-2 were 727 bases in length, encoded one open reading frame of 169 amino acids beginning at base 41 and terminating at base 550, and had two glycosylation sites. Nucleotide sequences of NSP4 gene of AvRV-1 and AvRV-2 exhibited a high degree of homology ($88.1{\pm}7.6%$) with avian rotaviruses, namely Ty1, Ty3 and PO-13. Phylogenetic analysis showed that AvRV-1 and AvRV-2 belonged to genotype NSP4[E], which is widely found in group A avian rotaviruses. The baculovirus-expressed NSP4 migrated at 20-28 kDa and reacted with NSP4-specific antiserum by FA and Western blot. Furthermore, it was found to be a glycoprotein by using tunicamycin, which is a specific inhibitor of N-linked glycosylation.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2001

Long terminal repeats (LTRs) of the human endogenous retrovirus K family (HERV-K) have been found to be coexpressed with sequences of genes closely located nearby. We examined transcribed HERV-K LTR elements in human brain tissue. Using cDNA synthesized from mRNA of the human brain, we performed PCR amplification and identified ten HERV-K LTR elements. These LTR elements showed a high degree of sequence similarity (92.4-99.7%) with the human-specific LTR elements. A phylogenetic tree obtained by the neighbor-joining method revealed that HERV-K LTR elements could be divided into two groups through evolutionary divergence. Some HERV-K LTR elements (HKL-B7, HKL-B8, HKL-B10) belonging to the group II from human brain cDNA were closely related to the human-specific HERV-K LTR elements. Our data suggest that HERV-K LTR element are active in the human brain; they could conceivably play a pathogenic role in human diseases such as psychosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.299-304
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• 1997

Expression in the periplasm of Escherichia coli of cloned heavy and light chain cDNAs for Fab fragment of a murine monoclonal antibody MabB9 (${\gamma}2b$, K), specific for human plasma apolipoprotein B-100 of LDL, was studied. For the purpose, a vector for two-cistronic expression of the heavy chain cDNA, at the 5' terminus, and light chain cDNA, at the 3' terminus, was constructed using the signal sequences, pelB (for heavy chain) and ompA (for light chain) in a pET vector system. The constructed vector was transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3). The expressed heavy chain (25 kDa) and light chain (23 kDa) of the antibody molecule were detected in total cell extracts as well as in the periplasmic extracts of E. coli.

• ALGAE
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2012

A novel lectin specific to N-acetyl-D-galactosamine as well as N-acetyl-D-glucosamine was isolated from Bryopsis plumosa and named as BPL-4. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophorese (SDS-PAGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption / ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry data showed that this lectin was a monomeric protein with molecular weight 12.9 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the lectin were determined by Edman degradation and the full cDNA sequence encoding this lectin was obtained using the degenerate primers designed from the amino acid sequence. The size of the cDNA was 414 bp containing single open reading frame (ORF) encoding the lectin precursor. The homology analysis showed that this lectin might belong to H lectin group. BPL-4 showed high sequence similarity (60.6%) to BPL-3, which is a previously reported lectin from the same species. The comparative analysis on the lectin's primary structure showed two conserved domains including one possible active domain of H lectin group.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.167-170
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• 2002

The long terminal repeats (LTRs) of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) have been found to be coexpressed with sequences of closely located genes. It has been suggested that the LTR elements have contributed to the structural change or genetic variation of human genome connected to various diseases and evolution. We examined the HERV-W LTR elements in various cancer cells (2F7, A43l , A549, HepG2, MIA-PaCa-2, PC-3, RT4, SiHa, U-937, and UO-31). Using genomic DNA from the cancer cells, we performed PCR amplification and identified twelve new HERV-W LTR elements. Those LTR elements showed a high degree of sequence similarity (88-99％) with HERV-W LTR (AF072500). A phylogenetic tree obtained by the neighbor-joining method revealed that HERV-W LTR elements could be mainly divided into two groups through evolutionary divergence. Three HERV-W LTR elements (RT4-2, A43l-1, and UO3l-2) belonged to Group 1, whereas nine LTR elements (2F7-2, A549-1, A549-3, HepG2-3, MP2-2, PC3-1, SiHa-8, SiHa-10, and U937-1) belonged to Group 11. Taken together, our new sequence data of the HERV-W LTR elements may contribute to an understanding of tissue-specific cancer by genomic instability of LTR integration.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2019

Both Plasmodium spp. and Toxoplasma gondii are important apicomplexan parasites, which infect humans worldwide. Genetic analyses have revealed that 33% of amino acid sequences of inner membrane complex from the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei is similar to that of Toxoplasma gondii. Inner membrane complex is known to be involved in cell invasion and replication. In this study, we investigated the resistance against T. gondii (ME49) infection induced by previously infected P. berghei (ANKA) in mice. Levels of T. gondii-specific IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG2b antibody responses, $CD4^+$ and $CD8^+$ T cell populations were found higher in the mice infected with P. berghei (ANKA) and challenged with T. gondii (ME49) compared to that in control mice infected with T. gondii alone (ME49). P. berghei (ANKA) + T. gondii (ME49) group showed significantly reduced the number and size of T. gondii (ME49) cysts in the brains of mice, resulting in lower body weight loss compared to ME49 control group. These results indicate that previous exposure to P. berghei (ANKA) induce resistance to subsequent T. gondii (ME49) infection.