• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
• /
• 2002.05a
• /
• pp.127-127
• /
• 2002

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
• /
• 2002.05a
• /
• pp.127-127
• /
• 2002

Methallothioneins(MTs) are low-molecular-mass cysteine-rich metal-binding proteins with high affinity for heavy metal ions, found in a large variety of organisms. Although the biological functions of MTS have not been fully elucidated, they are thought to play an important role in detoxification of toxic elements such as cadmium and mercury.(omitted)

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 1993

Contamination of heavy metals in water and sediments along Mangyeong Gang(river) has reached up to critical level The object of the study is to elucidate somed molluscs which inhabit along the river on respect to the modulatory role in reducing the pollution. For the purpose, molluscs which are common in numbers and biomass in the area were collected, and Cadmim(Cd) was subjected as a reference metal in the experiment. The corresponding species were; Cipango;aludina chinensis (muddy snail) and Scapharca subcrenata (seashell). As methods, sample species were kept in laboratory under the natural condition as possible. Soil were brought from the site of the collection, dried autoclaved and wetted with ordinary water. It wad utilized as media to maintain the collected species in vitro all the way of the experiment. CdCI$^{2}$ was mixe in the medium according to experimental design. On the result obtained in the study, it is summarized that molluscs which inhabit along Mangyeong Gang(river)consume heavy mital-containing matters, so far Cd is concerned in the study. The amout of Cd concentration in tissues of the benthic natured invertebrates were dose and time related, and MT-Cd was also similar trend. Thus, Cd may eventually combine with low molecular protein forming metalloprotein, then reduce the toxicity of the heavy metal.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.1240-1249
• /
• 2005

Saccharomyces cerevisiae KNU5377 has potential as an industrial strain that can ferment wasted paper for fuel ethanol at $40^{\circ}C$ [15, 16]. To understand the characteristics of the strain, genome-wide expression was performed using DNA microarray technology. We compared the homology of the DNA microarray between genomic DNAs of S. cerevisiae KNU5377 and a control strain, S. cerevisiae S288C. Approximately $97\%$ of the genes in S. cerevisiae KNU5377 were identified with those of the reference strain. YHR053c (CUP1), YLR155c (ASP3), and YDR038c (ENA5) showed lower homology than those of S. cerevisiae S288C. In particular, the differences in the regions of YHR053c and YLR155c were confirmed by Southern hybridization, but did not with that of the region of YDR038c. The expression level of mRNA in S. cerevisiae KNU5377 and S288C was also compared: the 550 ORFs of S. cerevisiae KNU5377 showed more than two-fold higher intensity than those of S. cerevisiae S288C. Among the 550 ORFs, 59 ORFs belonged to the groups of ribosomal proteins and mitochondrial ribosomal proteins, and 200 ORFs belonged to the group of cellular organization. DIP5 and GAP1 were the most highly expressed genes. These results suggest that upregulated DIP5 and GAP 1 might take the place of ASP3 and, additionally, the sensitivity against copper might be contributable to the lowest expression level of copper-binding metallothioneins encoded by CUP 1a (YHR053c) and CUP1b (YHR055c) in S. cerevisiae KNU5377.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.384-392
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of green tea catechin on the cadmium accumulation in body, cadmium excretion and detoxification functions in chronic cadmium poisoned rats. Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 100$\pm$10g were randomly assigned to one normal group and three cadmium poisoned groups. Cadmium groups were classified to catechin free diet (Cd-0C group), 0.25% catechin diet(Cd-0.25C group) and 0.5% catechin diet(Cd-0.5C group) according to the levels of catechin supplement. Animals were maintained on 0, 0.25 and 0.5% catechin diets for 20 weeks and simultaneously administered 50ppm Cd(sup)2+ dissolved in the drinking water. Body weight, food intakes and food efficiency ratio in Cd-0C group was lower than the normal group. The accumulation of cadmium in rat liver, kidney, and blood was reduced by catechin supplementation. The excretion of cadmium in urine and feces was increased by catechin supplementation. The metallothionein(MT) contents in liver and kidney were increased in all cadmium groups compared with that of normal group. The ratios of cadmium absorption and retention ratios were significantly decreased in catechin supplementation groups. Accordingly, catechin supplementation resulted to an excretion of cadmium in urine and feces and a lowered accumulation of cadmium in liver and kidney by increasing methallothionein synthesis that led to the significant decrease in cadmium absorption and retention ratios.(Korean J Nutrition 34(4) : 384~392, 2001)

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.502-513
• /
• 2016

In this study, heavy metal distributions in the tissues of feral pigeon (Columba livia) were characterized using samples collected from bio-monitoring sites (Hangang Park and Hampyeong Park) of the NESB (National Environmental Specimen Bank), Korea, in order to evaluate the feasibility of feral pigeons as an indicator for the environmental monitoring. Cadmium (Cd) was analyzed to be accumulated in kidneys at higher concentration than in the other tissues. Such trend can also be found in the reviews on the Cd accumulations of the 34 cases including 17 avian species which showed that 31 cases had the highest Cd concentrations in the kidney among tissues. However, lead (Pb) was found to be richest in the bones in this study. 17 cases out of 30 reviewed cases had the highest Pb concentration in bones, whereas other 10 cases showed the highest concentration in kidneys, and 3 cases in livers. Therefore, kidneys together with bones can be a main target organ to test cadmium exposure to different habitat environments depending on physiological traits of birds. Zinc (Zn) was found to be the highest concentration in the pigeon livers of Hangang Park, but not in the bones. In contrast, the 13 cases of 16 reviewed cases had the highest Zn concentration in bones, and the 3 cases in livers. In addition, the heavy metal distribution patterns in relations to the metal accumulation mechanisms (a competition between Pb and Ca, a function of methallothionein protein, and etc.) were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.419-424
• /
• 1998

The present study was carried out to examine the efficiency of cloning of transgenic embryos by nuclear transfer(NT) using gene-injected rabbit embryos. The rabbit embryos at pronuclear stage were microinjected with methallothionein-human growth hormone(MT-hGH) gene and cultured to 8- and 16-cell in TCM-199 containing 10% FCS with a monolayer of rabbit oviductal epithelial cells in a 5% $CO_2$incubator. The recipient oocytes were collected from the oviducts 14~16 h after hCG injection. The oocytes were enucleated and activated with 5$\mu$M ionomycin and 2mM 6-dimethylaminopurine. Blastomeres form gene-injected embryos were transferred into the enucleated oocytes by micromanipulation. The nuclear transplant oocytes were electrofused and co-cultured with rabbit oviductal cells. Following 120 h of culture, blastocysts were prepared for gene analysis by polymerase chain reaction(PCR). In previous experiment, the rate of gene-positive embryos detected by the nested PCR analysis was significantly decreased while developing to blastocyst(25%)(Kang et al., 1998). The fusion rate of gene-injected blastomeres was significantly(P＜0.05) lower than non-injected blastomeres(66% vs 80%). However, the NT embryos that were derived from gene-injected donor embryos did not differ from control embryos in development to the blastocyst stage(39% vs 31%). Of the 43 NT blastocysts developed from the gene-injected donor embryos, twelve(28%) were positive for the injected DNA. The results indicate that NT with gene-injected embryos can be successfully used for cloning and multiplication of transgenic embryos, furthermore applicable to improvement of transgenic animal production.