• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2000

Experiments related to the field of sericulture started in the years 1900, in Korea. The sericultural experimental station in Korea was first organized among agricultural fields in Korea, indicating that sericulture in Korea was regarded as an important field of agriculture. Sericulture has been devoted to a great deal for the improvement of Korean economy during the past 100 years even under the coarse social circumstances caused particularly by the Korean War, However, the traditional Korean sericulture, aimed to produce silk yarn, was weakened, because of several reasons such as diminishment in silk consumption, increased labor charge in Korea, and so on. After this difficulty time, the Korean sericulture was revolutionized by shifting into functional sericulture from 1995, and the Korean sericulture now plays an important role for the improvement of human health. Mulberry tree, silkworm, and silk have a boundless potential to be developed as resources. We expect the know-how obtained through silkworm research would expand to the other insect research too. Thus, an area of entomological industry is hoped to prosper owing to insect research as well as sericulture. Mulberry tree is known to possess many bio-active substances, so it can be utilized as a resource for substitute medicine and a raw material for the functional food. In addition, an invention of genetically engineered mulberry variety, which will produce more bioactive substances, is expected. Silkworm is one of the most extensively studied insect organisms on the genome so far, Thus, silkworm is expected to be an "insect bio-factory", enabling mass-production of useful proteins by transformation, in which useful foreign genes are assimilated into silkworm. Silk can be transformed into several phases, because it possesses useful functional groups, which are sensitive to chemical reaction. Also, because silk fibrin itself is protein, it has a superior applicability as tissue membrane. Due to this usefulness, many researchers are now working on the silk as food, cosmetic, medical resource, and bioengineering resource, and even an expanded application is expected using silk in the future. Until now, the researches on insects were largely focused on the prevention of the damage caused by pest, instead of a beneficial aspect. However, insects are thought to be the fourth natural resource in the world, possessing unlimited potential as world resources in the near future. Therefore, our entomological research effort should be focused on the subject with potential for industrialization. Such subject includes selecting the insect species useful for environmental evaluation, construction of environment-friendly agricultural ecosystem, pollen mediation, pet, and advanced bio-resources.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.27-37
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• 2003

Although the idea that obese people consume higher calorie diets is widely accepted, many dietary surveys have shown that obese people do NOT consume larger amounts of energy. We had an opportunity to study the relationship between calorie intake and obesity in Korea from the data contained in the '98 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of Korea. The survey was executed nationwide for two months - from Nov. 1 to Dec.30 in 1998. The survey included 10,876 (aged >10 years) subjects of whom 9,771 underwent health examinations. Surveyors visited each household and checked health status, measured anthropometry and blood pressures, collected blood and urine samples, and interviewed from the health questionnaires. Well-trained dietitians evaluated the food consumption of 11,525 subjects over the age of 1 year with the 24-hour recall method. The number of subjects from whom a complete health examination and food consumption information was obtained was 8,004. Subjects were classified by BMI (< 20, 20-22, 22-24, 24-26, 26-28, 28 $\leq$) and into newly diagnosed patients with DM (FBS $\geq$ 126 mg/㎗), hypertension (SBP $\geq$ 140 mmHg or DBP $\geq$ 90 mmHg) and hyperlipidemia (Total cholesterol $\geq$ 220 mg/㎗ or TG $\geq$ 200 mg/㎗). Our main results were as following：1) their average energy intake was 2,029.6 $\pm$ 908.5 ㎉ and BMI is 22.6 $\pm$ 3.4 kg/$m^2$；2) a comparison of nutrient intakes by BMI level did not show a significant difference of energy intake even though BMI increased (BMI, < 20： 1,999 ㎉ ∼ 28 $\leq$： 2,028 ㎉)；and 3) Even in newly diagnosed patients with diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidemia, their energy consumption was not significantly increased as BMI increased (from BMI 20). There are several possible explanations for these results：1) Reduced physical activity caused the weight of obese people to increase even with the same energy intake；2) people underreported their energy consumption；or, people intentionally reduced their energy consumption due to self-image regarding their obesity. We might also hypothesize that there is a metabolic problem conceiving obese people, because calorie intake was not higher in obese people than in non-obese people in Korea. Further research is necessary for re-evaluating these current conclusions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1644-1651
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• 2014

Transgenic animals have become important tools for the production of therapeutic proteins in the domestic animal. Production efficiencies of transgenic animals by conventional methods as microinjection and retrovirus vector methods are low, and the foreign gene expression levels are also low because of their random integration in the host genome. In this study, we investigated the homologous recombination on the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene locus using a knock-in vector for the ${\beta}$-casein gene locus. We developed the knock-in vector on the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene locus and isolated knock-in fibroblast for nuclear transfer. The knock-in vector consisted of the neomycin resistance gene (neo) as a positive selectable marker gene, diphtheria toxin-A gene as negative selection marker, and 5' arm and 3' arm from the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene. The secretion of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was more easily detected in the cell culture media than it was by western blot analysis of cell extract of the HC11 mouse mammary epithelial cells transfected with EGFP knock-in vector. These results indicated that a knock-in system using ${\beta}$-casein gene induced high expression of transgene by the gene regulatory sequence of endogenous ${\beta}$-casein gene. These fibroblasts may be used to produce transgenic pigs for the production of therapeutic proteins via the mammary glands.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2001

Background: Hepatitis C virus(HCV), a family of Flaviviridae, has a host cell-derived envelope containing a positive-stranded RNA genome, and has been known as the maj or etiological agent for chronic hepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. There remains a need to dissect a molecular mechanism of pathogenesis for the development of therapeutic and effective preventive measure for HCV. Identification of cellular receptor is of central importance not only to understand the viral pathogenesis, but also to exploit strategies for prevention of HCV. This study was aimed at identifying peptide mimotopes inhibiting the binding of E2 protein of HCV to MOLT-4 cell. Methods: In this study, phage peptide library displaying a random peptides consisting of 7 or 12 random peptides was employed in order to pan against E2 protein. Free HCV particles were separated from the immune complex forms by immunoprecipitation using anti-human IgG antibody, and used for HCV-capture ELISA. To identify the peptides inhibiting E2-binding to MOLT-4 cells, E2 protein was subj ect to bind to MOLT-4 cells under the competition with phage peptides. Results: Several phage peptides were selected for their specific binding to E2 protein, which showed the conserved sequence of SHFWRAP from 3 different peptide sequences. They were also able to recognize the HCV particles in the sera of HCV patients captured by monoclonal antibody against E2 protein. Two of them, showing peptide sequence of HLGPWMSHWFQR and WAPPLERSSLFY respectively, were revealed to inhibit the binding of E2 protein to MOLT-4 cell efficiently in dose dependent mode. However, few membrane-associated receptor candidates were seen using Fasta3 programe for homology search with these peptides. Conclusion: Phage peptides containing HLGPWMSHWFQR and WAPPLERSSLFY respectively, showed the inhibition of E2-binding to MOLT-4 cells. However, they did not reveal any homologues to cellular receptors from GenBank database. In further study, cellular receptor could be identified through the screening of cDNA library from MOLT-4 or hepatocytes using antibodies against these peptide mimotopes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.369-375
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• 2018

Mycoplasma genitalium has 367 conserved genes and the smallest genome among mono-culturable prokaryotes. Conservative metabolic pathways were examined among M. genitalium and 14 prokaryotes, one hyperthermophilic exosymbiotic archaeon Nanoarchaeum equitans and 13 intracellular eubacteria of plants or insects, with fewer conserved genes than M. genitalium. They have 11 to 71 metabolic pathways, however complete metabolic pathways ranged from 1 to 24. Totally, metabolic pathway hole is very high due to the lack of 45.8% of the enzymes required for the whole metabolic pathways and it could be suggested that the shared metabolic pathway with the host's enzyme would work or the essential substances are host dependent. The number of genes necessary for mass transfer through the cell membrane is also very low, and it may be considered that the simple diffusion or the protein of the host will function in the cell membrane of these prokaryotes. Although the tRNA charging pathway was distributed in all 15 prokaryotes, each has 5-20 tRNA charging genes. This study would give clues to the understanding of the metabolic pathways of intracellular parasitic bacteria of plant and endosymbiotic bacteria of insects, and could provide basic data for prevention of crop damage, development of insect pests and human medicines.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2015

In filamentous fungi, velvet complex associated with the veA gene plays pivotal roles in development and secondary metabolism. In a model fungus Aspergillus nidulans, many proteins that can interact with VeA, including two methyltransferases VipB and VipC, have been isolated and characterized. In this study, we isolated homologs of the vipB and vipC genes in the human opportunistic pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus and named AfuvipB and AfuvipC. The AfuvipB gene, annotated as Afu3g14920 in the Aspergillus Genome Database (AspGD) database, consists of 1,510 bp interrupted with 10 introns yielding 336 amino acid-long putative methyltransferase protein. Similarly, AfuvipC, which is Afu8g01930, has 10 introns and encodes a polypeptide with 339 amino acids having a methyltransferase domain in the middle of the protein. To characterize the function of the genes in A. fumigatus, knock-out mutants were generated and the phenotypes were observed. Deletion of AfuvipB gene caused no obvious phenotypic change on point inoculation but showed smaller colony than wild-type when the mutant was subjected to culture on single spore-driven culture condition. However, AfuvipC deletion mutant demonstrated no phenotypic difference from wild type both in point inoculation and streaking cultures. These results indicate that the two methyltransfereases might have a redundant role and could be dispensable in normal culture conditions.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.177-190
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• 2006

Objectives : It has long been known about the anticancer effect of GRR-HAS, however, it has not been systemically determined the differentially regulated genes by GRR-HAS in cancer cells. The purpose of this study is to screen the GRR-HAS mediated differentially expressed genes in cancer cells such as HepG2 hepatoma cell lines. Oligonucleotide microarray and proteomic approaches were employed to screen the differential expression genes. Methods : GRR~HAS was prepared by boiling and stored at $-70^{\circ}C$ until use. Cells were treated with various concentrations of GRR-HAS (0.1, 0.5, 1.5, 10, $20mg/m{\ell}$) for 24 h. Cell toxicity was tested by MTT assay. To screen the differentially expressed genes in cancer cells, cells were treated with $1.5mg/m{\ell}$ of GRR-HAS. For oligonucleotide microarray assay, total RNA was used for gene expression analysis using oligonucleotide genechip (Human genome Ul33 Plus 2.0., Affimatrix Co.). For proteomic analysis, total protein was analyzed by 2D gel electrophoresis and Q-TOF mass spectrometer. Results : It has no cytotoxic effects on both HepG2 cells in all concentrations(0.1, 0.5, 1.5, 10,$20mg/m{\ell}$). In oligonucleotide microarray assay, the number of more than twofold differentially regulated known genes was 320 with 6 up-regulated and 314 down-regulated genes in HepG2 cells. In proteomic analysis, three spots were identified by 2D-gel electrophoresis and Q-TOF analysis. One down -regulated protein was protein disulfide isomerase and up-regulated proteins were fatty acid binding protein 1 and 14-3-3 gan1lTIa protein by $1.5mg/m{\ell}$ of CRR-HAS. Discussion : This study showed the comprehensive gene expression analysis using oligonucleotide microarray for the screening of GRR-HAS mediated differentially regulated genes. These results will provide a better application of GRR-HAS in cancer field and drug target development.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.335-347
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• 2016

Multiple interferon tau (IFNT) genes exist in bovine. An antiluteolytic substance secreted by the bovine conceptus and primarily responsible for maternal recognition of pregnancy is bovine trophoblast protein 1 (bIFNT1), a new type I interferon tau (IFNT) genes. The objectives of this research were to investigate whether multiple, distinct gene encode bIFNT1 and other type I bIFNT gene in the bovine genome and to examine expression of bIFNT1 and other bIFNTc1 mRNAs during conceptus development. These transcrips could be regulated through caudal-related homeobox-2 (CDX2) and ETS2 and/or AP1 (JUN) expression, a transcription factor implicated in the control of cell differentiation in the trophectoderm. The presence of mRNAs encoded by bIFNT1 and type I bIFNTc1 genes were examined quantitatively via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of total cellular RNA (tcRNA) extracted from on day 17, 20 and 22 bovine conceptuses. The expression level of bIFNT1 was higher on day 17 transcripts were gradually weakly detectable on day 20 and 22. However, the other bIFNTc1 gene examined transcripts was highly expressed on day 20 and transcripts were weakly detectable on day 17 and 22 bovine conceptuses. Furthermore, human choriocarcinoma JEG3 was co-transfected with an -1kb-bIFNT1/c1-Luc constructs and several transcription factor expression plasmids. Compared to each -1kb-bIFNT1/c1-Luc increased when this constructs were co-transfected with, ETS2, AP1(JUN), CREBBP and/or CDX2. Also, bIFNTc1 gene was had very effect on activity by alone ETS2, and AP1 (JUN) expression factors in choriocarcinoma JEG3 cell. However, bIFNT1 gene expression of the upstream region was not identified. We demonstrated that the activities of bIFN genes are regulated by differential, tissue-specific and developmental competence during pregnancy.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1345-1354
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• 2014

Copy number variations (CNVs), important genetic factors for study of human diseases, may have as large of an effect on phenotype as do single nucleotide polymorphisms. Indeed, it is widely accepted that CNVs are associated with differential disease susceptibility. However, the relationships between CNVs and gene expression have not been characterized in the horse. In this study, we investigated the effects of copy number deletion in the blood and muscle transcriptomes of Thoroughbred racing horses. We identified a total of 1,246 CNVs of deletion polymorphisms using DNA re-sequencing data from 18 Thoroughbred racing horses. To discover the tendencies between CNV status and gene expression levels, we extracted CNVs of four Thoroughbred racing horses of which RNA sequencing was available. We found that 252 pairs of CNVs and genes were associated in the four horse samples. We did not observe a clear and consistent relationship between the deletion status of CNVs and gene expression levels before and after exercise in blood and muscle. However, we found some pairs of CNVs and associated genes that indicated relationships with gene expression levels: a positive relationship with genes responsible for membrane structure or cytoskeleton and a negative relationship with genes involved in disease. This study will lead to conceptual advances in understanding the relationship between CNVs and global gene expression in the horse.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2747-2751
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• 2014

Background: DNA repair pathways play a crucial role in maintaining the human genome. Previous studies associated DNA repair gene polymorphisms (XPD Lys751Gln, XRCC1 Arg280His and XRCC1 Arg399Gln) with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. These non-synonymous polymorphisms may alter DNA repair capacity and thus increase or decrease susceptibility. The present study aimed to determine the genotype distribution of XPD codon 751, XRCC1 codon 280 and codon 399 polymorphisms and haplotype associations among NPC cases and controls in the Malaysian population. Materials and Methods: We selected 157 NPC cases and 136 controls from two hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for this study. The polymorphisms studied were genotyped by PCR-RFLP assay and allele and genotype frequenci es, haplotype and linkage disequilibrium were determined using SNPstat software. Results: For the XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism, the frequency of the Lys allele was higher in cases than in controls (94.5% versus 85.0%). For the XRCC1 Arg280His polymorphism, the frequency of Arg allele was 90.0% and 89.0% in cases and controls, respectively and for XRCC1 Arg399Gln the frequency of the Arg allele was 72.0% and 72.8% in cases and controls respectively. All three polymorphisms were in linkage disequilibrium. The odds ratio from haplotype analysis for these three polymorphisms and their association with NPC was 1.93 (95%CI: 0.90-4.16) for haplotype CGC vs AGC allele combinations. The global haplotypte association with NPC gave a p-value of 0.054. Conclusions: Our study provides an estimate of allele and genotype frequencies of XRCC1Arg280His, XRCC1 Arg399Gln and XPD Lys751Gln polymorphisms in the Malaysian population and showed no association with nasopharyngeal cancer.