• Molecules and Cells
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.119-123
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• 2009

Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) gamma1 in the pig genome have the potential to act as harmful factors in xenotransplantation (pig-to-human). Long terminal repeats (LTRs) are known to be strong promoter elements that could control the transcription activity of PERV elements and the adjacent functional genes. To investigate the transcribed PERV gamma1 LTR elements in pig tissues, bioinformatic and experimental approaches were conducted. Using RT-PCR amplification and sequencing approaches, 69 different transcribed LTR elements were identified. And 69 LTR elements could be divided into six groups (15 subgroups) by internal variation including tandem repeated sequences, insertion and deletion (INDEL). Remarkably, all internal variations were indentified in U3 region of LTR elements. Taken together, the identification and characterization of various PERV LTR transcripts allow us to extend our knowledge of PERV and its transcriptional study.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제21권11호
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• pp.1572-1575
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• 2008

The xenotransplantation of pig organs and cells can be related with a risk of transmission of infectious diseases to human. Previous findings indicate that the regulatory region of PERV for retroviral transcription, replication and integration into the cellular DNA is located on the 5' Long Terminal Repeat (LTR). The objective of this study is the investigation of methylation and deletion status of the PERV 5' LTR region which can be used for regulating PERV expression. We compared the sequences of genomic DNA and bisulfite-treated genomic DNA from PK-15 cells expressing PERV to observe the methylation status of the 5' LTR. Our results showed that the CpG sites of U3 were methylated and methylation was inconsistent in the R and U5 regions. Also, variable numbers of 18 bp repeats and 21 bp repeats were detected on 5' LTR by sequencing analysis. The consistent U3 methylation might be indicative of host suppression of expression of the retroviruses.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제43권7호
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• pp.607-618
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• 2020

microRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules involved in the regulation of gene expression. miRNAs inhibit gene expression by binding to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of their target gene. miRNAs can originate from transposable elements (TEs), which comprise approximately half of the eukaryotic genome and one type of TE, called the long terminal repeat (LTR) is found in class of retrotransposons. Amongst the miRNAs derived from LTR, hsa-miR-3681 was chosen and analyzed using bioinformatics tools and experimental analysis. Studies on hsa-miR-3681 have been scarce and this study provides the relative expression analysis of hsa-miR-3681-5p from humans, chimpanzees, crab-eating monkeys, and mice. Luciferase assay for hsa-miR-3681-5p and its target gene SHISA7 supports our hypothesis that the number of miRNA binding sites affects target gene expression. Especially, the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) and hsa-miR-3681-5p share the binding sites in the 3' UTR of SHISA7, which leads the enhancer function of hsamiR-3681-5p to inhibit the activity of VNTR. In conclusion, hsa-miR-3681-5p acts as a super-enhancer and the enhancer function of hsa-miR-3681-5p acts as a repressor of VNTR activity in the 3' UTR of SHISA7.

• Animal cells and systems
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• 제5권2호
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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.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제45권8호
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• pp.522-530
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• 2022

Transposable elements (TEs) account for approximately 45% of the human genome. TEs have proliferated randomly and integrated into functional genes during hominoid radiation. They appear as right-handed B-DNA double helices and slightly elongated left-handed Z-DNAs. Human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) families are widely distributed in human chromosomes at a ratio of 8%. They contain a 5'-long terminal repeat (LTR)-gag-pol-env-3'-LTR structure. LTRs contain the U3 enhancer and promoter region, transcribed R region, and U5 region. LTRs can influence host gene expression by acting as regulatory elements. In this review, we describe the alternative promoters derived from LTR elements that overlap Z-DNA by comparing Z-hunt and DeepZ data for human functional genes. We also present evidence showing the regulatory activity of LTR elements containing Z-DNA in GSDML. Taken together, the regulatory activity of LTR elements with Z-DNA allows us to understand gene function in relation to various human diseases.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.148-151
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• 2007

Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) in the pig genome represent a potential risk of infection in pig-to-human transplantation and are transmitted vertically. The solitary long terminal repeat (LTR) elements of the PERVs affect the replication properties of the individual viruses via their repeat sequences and by encoding a set of specific transcription factors. We examined the promoter activities of solitary LTR elements belonging to the PERV-A and -B families of the Korean domestic pig (KDP) using luciferase reporters. Three of the LTR structures (of PERV-A5-KDP, PERV-A7-KDP, PERV-A8-KDP) had different promoter activities in human HCT116 cells and monkey Cos7 cells, and potential negatively and positively acting regions affecting transcription were identified by deletion analysis. These data suggest that specific sequences in the U3 region of a given LTR element can affect the activities of promoter or enhancer elements in the PERV.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.11-15
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to identify hRad21-binding sites in human chromosome, the core component of cohesin complex that held sister chromatids together. After chromatin immunoprecipitation with an hRad21 antibody, it was cloned the recovered DNA and sequenced 30 independent clones. Among them, 20 clones (67%) contained repetitive elements including short interspersed transposable elements (SINE or Alu elements), long terminal repeat (LTR) and long interspersed transposable elements (LINE), fourteen of these twenty (70%) repeats clones had Alu elements, which could be categorized as the old and the young Alu Subfamily, eleven of the fourteen (73%) Alu elements belonged to the old Alu Subfamily, and only three Alu elements were categorized as young Alu subfamily. There is no CpG island within these selected clones. Association of hRad21 with Alu was confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation-PCR using conserved Alu primers. The primers were designed in the flanking region of Alu, and the specific Alu element was shown in the selected clone. From these experiments, it was demonstrated that hRad21 could bind to SINE, LTRs, and LINE as well as Alu.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.893-899
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• 2009

Few studies have reported the existence of imprinted genes in cattle compared to the human and mouse. Genomic imprinting is expressed in monoallelic form and it depends on a single parent-specific form of the allele. Comparative analysis of mammals other than the human is a valuable tool for explaining the genomic basis of imprinted genes. In this study, we investigated 34 common imprinted genes in the human and mouse as well as 35 known non-imprinted genes in the human. We found short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs), long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs), and long terminal repeats (LTRs) in imprinted (human and mouse) and control (cattle) genes. Pair-wise comparisons for the three species were conducted using SINEs, LINEs, and LTRs. We also calculated 95% confidence intervals of frequencies of repetitive sequences for the three species. As a result, most genes had a similar interval between species. We found 11 genes with conserved SINEs, LINEs, and LTRs in the human, mouse, and cattle. In conclusion, eleven genes (CALCR, Grb10, HTR2A, KCNK9, Kcnq1, MEST, OSBPL5, PPP1R9A, Sgce, SLC22A18, and UBE3A) were identified as candidate imprinted genes in cattle.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제27권10호
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• pp.1215-1224
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• 2017

현재까지 다양한 암의 발병 원인이 밝혀졌는데, 그 중 하나로써 DNA에 돌연변이가 축적되어 유전체가 불안정 해짐에 따라 암이 발생될 수 있는 기작들이 주목받고 있다. 생물정보학과 유전체학의 발달에 따라 질병 연구에 있어서 보다 더 정확하고 신뢰성 있는 바이오마커를 찾는 것이 가능해졌다. 따라서, 생물정보학과 유전체학의 연구 기반을 바탕으로 한 암의 바이오마커는 암의 조기진단뿐만 아니라, 더 나아가 암 발생 예측과 암환자의 예후 진단에 적용될 수 있다. 최근 들어 인간 유전체에서 약 45%를 차지하는 이동성 유전인자(transposable elements, TEs)가 유전자의 발현 조절과 DNA의 돌연변이를 유도함으로써 다양한 질병에 영향을 미친다는 사실이 밝혀짐에 따라, 이러한 이동성 유전인자들이 암의 발생과 어떤 연관이 있는지에 대한 연구 또한 활발히 진행되고 있다. 따라서 우리는 이동성 유전인자가 대장암과 어떤 연관성이 있는지에 대해 조사를 하였으며, 이를 어떻게 바이오마커로 활용할 수 있는지 알아보았다. 우선, 이동성 유전인자 중 인간 유전체에 많이 존재하면서 유전체에 많은 영향을 미치는 LINE-1 (long interspersed nuclear element-1, L1)과 Alu, LTR (long terminal repeat) 위주로 확인하였다. 흥미롭게도, 대장암 세포에서 LINE-1의 저메틸화, APC 유전자 내에 LINE-1 삽입, Alu의 저메틸화와 과메틸화, LTR 삽입에 따른 isoform 발생 등이 특징적으로 나타나는 것을 알 수 있었다. 또한 원발암유전자에서의 L1 저메틸화가 대장암 전이의 바이오마커로 쓰일 수 있다는 것과 Alu에 의한 MLH1 돌연변이가 가족성 및 유전성 대장암에서 흔히 발견된다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 이 때 이동성 유전인자에 의하여 영향 받는 유전자들의 발현을 in silico 발현 분석을 통하여 분석하였으며, 조직별, 성별 특이적 발현 양상을 제시하였다. 이들을 토대로 대장암 바이오마커를 개발하여 유전성 대장암의 예측 및 대장암 진단 또는 대장암 예후 예측을 통한 개인 맞춤형 치료에 활용할 수 있을 것으로 예상된다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.508-513
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• 2002

Human endogenous retroviral long terminal repeats (LTRs) have been found to be coexpressed with sequences of genes located nearby. It has been suggested that the LTR elements have contributed to the structural change or genetic variation of human genome connected to various diseases. The HERV-W family has been identified in the cerebrospinal fluids and brains of individuals with schizophrenia. Using a cDNA library derived from a human brain, the HERV-W LTR elements were examined and five new LTR elements were identified. These elements were examined using a YAC clone panel from the Xq21.3 region linked to psychosis that was replicated on the Y chromosome after the separation of the chimpanzee and human lineages. Fourteen elements of the HERV-W LTR were identified in that region. Those LTR elements showed a high degree of sequence similarity ($91.8-99.5\%$) with previously reported HERV-W LTR. A phylogenetic tree obtained from the neighbor-joining method revealed that new HERV-W LTR elements were closely related to the AXt000960, AF072504, and AF072506 from the GenBank database. The data indicates that several copy numbers of the HERV-W LTR elements exist on the Xq21.3 region and are also expressed in the human brain. These LTR elements need to be further investigated as potential leads to neuropsychiatric diseases.