• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.163-168
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• 2003

The reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to be an important mediator in pancreatic ${\beta}$ cell destruction, thereby triggering the development of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. In the present study, HIV-1 Tat-mediated transduction of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) was investigated to evaluate its protective potential against streptozotocin (STZ)-induced cytotoxicity in insulin-producing MIN6N cells. Tat-SOD fusion protein was successfully delivered into MIN6N cells in a dose-dependent manner and the transduced fusion protein was enzymatically active for 48 h. The STZ induced-cell destruction, superoxide anion radical production, and DNA fragmentation of MIN6N cells were significantly decreased in the cells pretreated with Tat-SOD for 1 h. Furthermore, the transduction of Tat-SOD increased Bcl-2 and heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) expressions in cells exposed to STZ, which might be partly responsible for the effect of Tat-SOD. These results suggest that an increased of free radical scavenging activity by transduction of Tat-SOD enhanced the tolerance of the cell against oxidative stress in STZ-treated MIN6N cells. Therefore, this Tat-SOD transduction technique may provide a new strategy to protect the pancreatic ${\beta}$ cell destruction in ROS-mediated diabetes.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.951-956
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• 2005

Selection of oxygen-tolerant strains and elucidation of their oxygen tolerance mechanism were crucial for effective use of bifidobacteria. Oxygen-tolerant bifidobacteria were able to significantly remove environmental oxygen (oxygen removal activity) as compared to oxygen-sensitive strains. Most oxygen removal activity was inhibited by heat treatment and exposure to extreme pH (2.0) of bifidobacterial cell. NADH oxidase was major enzyme related to oxygen removal activity. Oxygen-tolerant bifidobacteria possessed high NADH peroxidase activity level to detoxify $H_2O_2$ formed from reaction of NADH oxidase. Addition of oxygen to anaerobic culture broth significantly increased activities of HADH oxidase and NADH peroxidase within 1hr and rapid increment of oxygen concentration was prevented. Results showed NADH oxidase and NADH peroxidase of oxygen-tolerant bifidobacteria played important roles in elimination of oxygen and oxygen metabolite $(H_2O_2)$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.871-879
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• 2024

Our group had isolated Bifidobacterium breve strain BS2-PB3 from human breast milk. In this study, we sequenced the whole genome of B. breve BS2-PB3, and with a focus on its safety profile, various probiotic characteristics (presence of antibiotic resistance genes, virulence factors, and mobile elements) were then determined through bioinformatic analyses. The antibiotic resistance profile of B. breve BS2-PB3 was also evaluated. The whole genome of B. breve BS2-PB3 consisted of 2,268,931 base pairs with a G-C content of 58.89% and 2,108 coding regions. The average nucleotide identity and whole-genome phylogenetic analyses supported the classification of B. breve BS2-PB3. According to our in silico assessment, B. breve BS2-PB3 possesses antioxidant and immunomodulation properties in addition to various genes related to the probiotic properties of heat, cold, and acid stress, bile tolerance, and adhesion. Antibiotic susceptibility was evaluated using the Kirby-Bauer disk-diffusion test, in which the minimum inhibitory concentrations for selected antibiotics were subsequently tested using the Epsilometer test. B. breve BS2-PB3 only exhibited selected resistance phenotypes, i.e., to mupirocin (minimum inhibitory concentration/MIC >1,024 ㎍/ml), sulfamethoxazole (MIC>1,024 ㎍/ml), and oxacillin (MIC >3 ㎍/ml). The resistance genes against those antibiotics, i.e., ileS, mupB, sul4, mecC and ramA, were detected within its genome as well. While no virulence factor was detected, four insertion sequences were identified within the genome but were located away from the identified antibiotic resistance genes. In conclusion, B. breve BS2-PB3 demonstrated a sufficient safety profile, making it a promising candidate for further development as a potential functional food.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.931-938
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• 2020

Translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) is one of the most abundant proteins in various eukaryotic organisms. TCTPs play important roles in cell physiological processes in cancer, cell proliferation, gene regulation, and heat shock response. TCTP is also considered an important factor in the resistance to oxidative stress induced by dithiothreitol or hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Arctic calanoid copepods have a variety of antioxidant defense systems to regulate the levels of potentially harmful reactive oxygen species generated by ultraviolet radiation in the Arctic marine ecosystem. However, information on the antioxidant activity of TCTP in the Arctic Calanus glacialis is still scarce. To understand the putative antioxidant function of the Arctic copepod C. glacialis TCTP (Cg-TCTP), its gene was cloned and sequenced. The Cg-TCTP comprised 522 bp and encoded a 174-amino acid putative protein with a calculated molecular weight of ~23 kDa. The recombinant Cg-TCTP (Cg-r TCTP) gene was overexpressed in Escherichia coli (BL21), and Cg-rTCTP-transformed cells were grown in the presence or absence of H₂O₂. Cg-rTCTP-transformed E. coli showed increased tolerance to high H₂O₂ concentrations. Therefore, TCTP may be an important antioxidant protein related to tolerance of the Arctic copepod C. glacialis to oxidative stress in the harsh environment of the Arctic Ocean.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2003

This study was carried out to estimate the effects of environmental factors on the activities and rectal temperatures(heat tolerance) of Holstein dairy cows in a summer season. An activity-meter(Alpro system$^{\circledR}$) was used to record activities of 77 cows for 24 hours. The feeding standards for milking and dry cow were formulated with concentrates and corn silages based on the NRC(1998). Cows to check temperature were kept in stanchions and temperature was checked in rectum. Ambient temperature was $29.0^{\circ}C$ between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. of the day. The rectal temperatures were affected by parities and status of milking or dry(p<0.01). The activities recorded between 9 a.m. and 12 a.m., and between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. were not effected by the status of lactating and dry. The rectal temperature of lactating cow was 39.0${\pm}0.03^{\circ}C$, it was higher than dry cow(38.6${\pm}0.04^{\circ}C$). A higher activity of cow under third parity at 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. was observed comparing with fourth and above. The activities were tended to decrease with an increase of parity. Rectal temperature was negatively correlated with milk compositions, which were fat, protein, solid-not-fat and total solid except lactose.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2020

Global climatic change and increasing climatic instability threaten crop productivity. Due to climatic change, drought stress is occurring more frequently in crop fields. In this study, we investigated the effect of treatment with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) before leaf development on the growth and yield of sorghum for minimizing the damage of crops to drought. To assess the effect of H₂O₂ on the growth of sorghum plant, 10 mM H₂O₂ was used to treat sorghum leaves at the 3-leaf stage during growth in field conditions. Plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, and leaf width were increased by 7.6%, 9.6%, 8.3% and 11.5%, respectively. SPAD value, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate were increased by 3.0%, 4.9%, 26.0%, 23.4% and 12.7%, respectively. The amount of H₂O₂ in the leaf tissue of sorghum plant treated with 10 mM H₂O₂ was 0.7% of the applied amount after 1 hour. The level increased to approximately 1.0% after 6 hours. The highest antioxidant activity measured by the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity assay was 847.3 µmol·g^-1 at 6 hour after treatment. However, in the well-watered condition, the concentration of H₂O₂ in the plant treated by the foliar application of H₂O₂ was 227.8 µmol·g^-1 higher than that of the untreated control. H₂O₂ treatment improved all the yield components and yield-related factors. Panicle length, plant dry weight, panicle weight, seed weight per plant, seed weight per unit area, and thousand seed weight were increased by 8.8%, 18.0%, 24.4%, 24.7%, 29.9% and 7.1%, respectively. Proteomic analysis showed that H₂O₂ treatment in sorghum increased the tolerance to drought stress and maintained growth and yield by ameliorating oxidative stress.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 2002

To compare the Carbon metabolic response to high temperature stress in Zoysiagrass [Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr.] and Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds) with respect to heat tolerance, C metabolites were determined from April to September. Sampling was carried out on an established golf course (Muan Country Club, Chonnam, Korea). Shoot mass(g Dry weight per hole cup) of creeping bentgrass started to decrease from June and recovered from August whereas that of zoysiagrass was less varied. Chlorophyll content in creeping bentgrass was significantly higher than zoysiagrass until July, and then decreased by 43% from July to August. Zoysiagrass contained higher soluble sugar than creeping bentgrass throughout experimental period. Soluble sugar in zoysiagrass increased about 58% from April to May, and less varied until August. Soluble sugar in creeping bentgrass slightly increased until July and sharply decreased at August. Starch concentration in zoysiagrass continuously decreased to September after a significant increase from April to May. A remarkable fluctuation in both starch and fluctuation concentration was observed between June and August showing high accumulation for June to July and high degradation for July to August. These results suggest that through creeping bentgrass suffers much severely from high temperature stress than zoysiagrass especially June to August. An active accumulation and degradation in nonstructural carbohydrate in creeping bentgrass during this period might be associated with heat stress.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.331-344
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• 2009

Buffalograss is an important turfgrass species with excellent cold, heat, and drought tolerance. Understanding the physiological integration of buffalograss under heterogeneous conditions helps to develop cultural practices that better use limited resources for uniform turf quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate physiological integration of buffalograss under water deficit stress and the involvement of lipid peroxidation and antioxidants in the process. In one experiment, buffalograss was planted in the center of a four-compartment growth unit. Watering frequencies, once a week(+) and once in two weeks(-), were combined with the sand(S) or peat(P) in each unit to generate five total treatments(P+S-P-S+, P+P+P+P+, S-S-S-S-, P-P-P-P-, and S+S+S+S+). The average number of shoot established from the heterogeneous root-zone medium was higher than the average of four possible homogeneous media. In second experiment, single ramet in Hoagland solution($S_0$) or single ramet in Hoagland solution with 20% PEG-6000($S_s$) were compared with two connectedramets under different treatments. Treatments for connected ramets were young ramet in Hoagland solution($Y_{os}$) and old ramet in Hoagland solution with 20% PEG-6000($O_{os}$), and old ramet in Hoagland solution($O_{ys}$) and young ramet in Hoagland solution with 20% PEG-6000($Y_{ys}$). Lipid peroxidation, antioxidants, and proline showedphysiological integration between ramets subjected to different levels of water stress. Superoxide dismutase(SOD), Guaiacol peroxidase(G-POD), malondialdehyde(MDA), and free proline also showed different time courses and relative activities during the physiological integration.

• 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.