• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.67-70
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• 2001

Medicago truncatula is a diploid legume plant related to the forage crop alfalfa. Recently, it has been chosen as a model species for genomic studies due to its small genome, self-fertility, short generation time, and high transformation efficiency. M. truncatula engages in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium Rhizobium meliloti. M. truncatula mutants that are defective in nodulation and developmental processes have been generated. Some of these mutants exhibited altered phenotypes in symbiotic responses such as root hair deformation, expression of nodulin genes, and calcium spiking. Thus, the genes controlling these traits are likely to encode functions that are required for Nod-factor signal transduction pathways. To facilitate genome analysis and map-based cloning of symbiotic genes, a bacterial artificial chromosome library was constructed. An efficient polymerase chain reaction-based screening of the library was devised to fasten physical mapping of specific genomic regions. As a genomics approach, comparative mapping revealed high levels of macro- and microsynteny between M. truncatula and other legume genomes. Expressed sequence tags and microarray profiles reflecting the genetic and biochemical events associated with the development and environmental interactions of M. truncatula are assembled in the databases. Together, these genomics programs will help enrich our understanding of the legume biology.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.175-184
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• 2019

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) has a intrinsic function of inducing growth and proliferation of cells through interacting with cell membrane receptors in human epidermis and dermis layer. These functions of EGF are used as a main ingredient for wound healing medicines and anti-aging cosmetics. As a cosmetic ingredient, the EGF has a problem in exhibiting its natural efficacy due to the lack of the ability to penetrate through the stratum corneum, which is known as the skin barrier. In this study, a recombinant human epidermal growth factor ($MTD_{151}-EGF$) fused with the macromolecule transduction domain $(MTD)_{151}$ with the skin penetration ability was developed to improve the skin penetration efficiency of the EGF. Expression of $MTD_{151}-EGF$ was performed in E. coli transformed with a vector encoding the $MTD_{151}-EGF$ gene and then purified. The purified $MTD_{151}-EGF$ was evaluated using cell proliferation assay, cytotoxicity test and skin penetration test by franz diffusion cell assay and artificial skin. Cell proliferation activity of $MTD_{151}-EGF$ purified to high purity of 99% or above was equivalent to the EGF or better, and cytotoxicity was not observed. In addition, the $MTD_{151}-EGF$ showed an excellent penetration efficiency compared to the EGF in the skin penetration test with EGF and $MTD_{151}-EGF$ labeled by FITC in an artificial skin penetration model. Based on the quantitative analysis of the penetrating substance using franz diffusion cell assay, the amount of penetration was about 16 times more than that of EGF. These results can be regarded as an effective alternative to improve the existing physical transdermal penetration method related to the use of various active ingredients for cosmetics.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2009

Human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), with comprehensive homology to glandular kallikrein, are representative serum biomarkers of prostate cancer. Dendritic cell (DC), which is the potent antigen-presenting cells(APC) in the immune system, can induce strong T cell responses against viruses, microbial pathogens, and tumors. Therefore, the immunization using DC loaded with tumor-associated antigens is a powerful method for inducing anti-tumor immunity. The CTP (Cytoplasmic Transduction Peptide) technology developed by Creagene which can transport attached bio-polymers like nucleic acids or proteins into the cell with high permeation efficiency. As the active forms of PAP can mediate apoptotic processing, we used multimer forms of PAP as an inactive form for antigen pulsing of DCs. In this study, multimeric forms of CTP-rhPAP was obtained according to the advanced purification process and subsequently confirmed by gel filtration chromatography, western blot and Dynamic Light Scattering. Therefore, CTP-conjugated PA multimers transduced into the cytoplasm were efficiently presented on the cell surface without any harm effect on cells via MHC class I molecules and result in induction of a large number of effector cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.533-536
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• 2019

Recombinant baculoviruses are widely used to express heterologous genes in cultured insect cells. Recombinant baculoviruses can serve as gene-transfer vectors for expression of recombinant proteins in a wide range of mammalian cell types. Baculovirus system has significant benefits in view of safety, large-scale, and high level of gene expression. In this study, baculoviral vectors which were reconstructed from pOPINEneo-3C-GFP vector, were recombined with cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter, green fluorescent protein (GFP), and p53 with NcoI and XhoI. These recombinant vectors were infected with various cells and cell lines. The baculovirus vector thus developed was analyzed by comparing the metastasis and expression of the recombinant genes with conventional vectors. These results suggest that the baculovirus vector has higher efficiency in metastasis and expression than the control vector. This work was supported by a grant from Mid-Career Researcher Program(NRF-2016R1A2B4016552) through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning(MSIP).

• Resources Recycling
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.36-44
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• 2000

Fly ash was composed of the unburned carbon and mineral particles. The former was able to attach on the bubbles, while the latter was not. Therefore, it was possible to separate the unburned carbon and the mineral from fly ash using the froth flotation process. This study was carried out to evaluate the separation efficiency as a function of the ny ash particle properties in the column flotation. Separation efficiency was analyzed for various size fraction of -38 fm,38~125 fm and 1125 W, and for various fly ash samples containing 7, 11, and 20 wt% unburned carbon. For the size fractions of -38 fm containing 7 wt% unburned carbon, separation efficiency was 86ft, whereas separation efficiency was found to be 74% for the size fraction of +125$\mu\textrm{m}$ containing 20 wt% unburned carbon. The results indicated that separation efficiency increased with the decrease in the particle size and the unburned carbon content of the fly ash.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.120-122
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• 2007

All living organisms use numerous signal-transduction pathways to sense and respond to their environments and thereby survive and proliferate in a range of biological niches. Molecular dissection of these signalling networks has increased our understanding of these communication processes and provides a platform for therapeutic intervention when these pathways malfunction in disease states, including infection. Owing to the expanding availability of sequenced genomes, a wealth of genetic and molecular tools and the conservation of signalling networks, members of the fungal kingdom serve as excellent model systems for more complex, multicellular organisms. Here, we employed Cryptococcus neoformans as a model system to understand how fungal-signalling circuits operate at the molecular level to sense and respond to a plethora of environmental stresses, including osmoticshock, UV, high temperature, oxidative stress and toxic drugs/metabolites. The stress-activated p38/Hog1 MAPK pathway is structurally conserved in many organisms as diverse as yeast and mammals, but its regulation is uniquely specialized in a majority of clinical Cryptococcus neoformans serotype A and D strains to control differentiation and virulence factor regulation. C. neoformans Hog1 MAPK is controlled by Pbs2 MAPK kinase (MAPKK). The Pbs2-Hog1 MAPK cascade is controlled by the fungal "two-component" system that is composed of a response regulator, Ssk1, and multiple sensor kinases, including two-component.like (Tco) 1 and Tco2. Tco1 and Tco2 play shared and distinct roles in stress responses and drug sensitivity through the Hog1 MAPK system. Furthermore, each sensor kinase mediates unique cellular functions for virulence and morphological differentiation. We also identified and characterized the Ssk2 MAPKKK upstream of the MAPKK Pbs2 and the MAPK Hog1 in C. neoformans. The SSK2 gene was identified as a potential component responsible for differential Hog1 regulation between the serotype D sibling f1 strains B3501 and B3502 through comparative analysis of their meiotic map with the meiotic segregation of Hog1-dependent sensitivity to the fungicide fludioxonil. Ssk2 is the only polymorphic component in the Hog1 MAPK module, including two coding sequence changes between the SSK2 alleles in B3501 and B3502 strains. To further support this finding, the SSK2 allele exchange completely swapped Hog1-related phenotypes between B3501 and B3502 strains. In the serotype A strain H99, disruption of the SSK2 gene dramatically enhanced capsule biosynthesis and mating efficiency, similar to pbs2 and hog1 mutations. Furthermore, ssk2, pbs2, and hog1 mutants are all hypersensitive to a variety of stresses and completely resistant to fludioxonil. Taken together, these findings indicate that Ssk2 is the critical interface protein connecting the two-component system and the Pbs2-Hog1 pathway in C. neoformans.