• KSBB Journal
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.155-160
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• 1992

To improve the nutritional quality of plant proteins, a synthetic gene, called HEAAE (high essential amino acid encoding)-DNA, was introduced and expressed in tobacco plants. The synthetic gene, which is 292 basepair-long, codes for a protein composed of about 80% essential amino acids. To improve its expression level in plants, Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV) 355 and CaMV duplicate 35S promoters which are known as strong promoters were used with Nopaline Synthase promoter as a control. Transformed and regenerated tobacco plants were subject to analysis for introduction and expression of this gene. Integration of the gene into the plant genome and its expression into mRNAs and its proteins have been demonstrated using Southern, northern blot analysis and amino acid analysis. The differences of expression levels among CaMV duplicate 35S, CaMV 35S and Nopaline Synthase promoters are significant in term of mRNAs, but not in terms of proteins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.341-344
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• 1997

Batch cultures of Anacystis nidulans BD-1 resistant to azaleucine and fluorotyrosine produced and liberated a wide range of amino acids, notably glutamic acid, alanine, phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine, cysteine and methionine. Sustained liberation for prolonged periods was achieved after immobilization on calcium alginate and the net concentration in the medium was 0.18-0.2 g $I^{-1}$. While acetohydroxy acid synthase in azaleucine-resistant mutant lost leucine- and isoleucine-sensitivity, fluorotyrosine-resistant strain turned phenylalanine activating. The activities of nitrate assimilating enzymes were also higher in the mutants and were relaxed from ammonium-repression. The metabolic adjustments involved in amino acid overproduction are discussed.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2008

Purpose: Aneuploidy is the cause of diseases such as Down syndrome or Edward syndrome and, more generally, is a major cause of mental retardation and fetal loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between MTHFR (C677T) or MTRR (A66G) polymorphisms and fetal aneuploidy. Materials and Methods: Data was collected from 37 women who had a fetus with aneuploidy (cases) and 78 women who had previously delivered at least two healthy children without aneuploidy and did not have a history of miscarriage or abnormal pregnancy (controls). The MTHFR (C677T) or MTRR (A66G) polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Results: The frequencies of the MTHFR 677 CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 30.7%, 48.7%, and 20.6% in the control group and 37.8%, 48.6%, and 13.5% in the case group, respectively. There were no significant differences in genotype frequencies between the two groups. For the MTRR A66G polymorphism, the frequencies of the AA, AG and GG genotypes were 50%, 46.1%, and 3.9% in the control group and 13.5%, 81.1%, and 5.4% in case group, respectively. The frequency of the MTRR AG mutant was significantly increased in the case group, with an odds ratio of 6.5 (95% CI: 2.3-18.6, P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that mother carriers with the MTRR G allele have an increased risk of fetal aneuploidy, while the MTHFR T allele is not associated with increased risk of fetal aneuploidy. The MTRR A66G polymorphism may be a risk factor for producing a child with chromosomal aneuploidy.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2006

Plastichouse cultivation for crops and vegetables in the winter has been widely popularized in Korea. In the vinylhouse Ultraviolet B penetration is lower than in the field, and so some problems, as plant overgrowth and outbreak of disease, occurred frequently. The effect of artificial supplement ultraviolet B $(UV-B:280{\sim}320nm)$ radiation on the physiological responses and yield of perilla (perilla frutescens) was investigated UV-B ray was radiated on perilla with the 10th leaf stage at the distance of 90, 120 and 150 cm from the plant canopy for 30 days after planting in the vinylhouse. The production of fresh perilla leaves was high in the order of plastic house, ambient+50% of supplemental UV-B, ambient ambient+100% of supplemental UV-B. Enhanced UV-B radiation affected the intensity of thirty-three proteins in 2-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of proteins and ten proteins out of them seemed to be responsive to UV-B : a protein was, ATP synthase CF1 alpha chain, down regulated and nine proteins (Chlorophyll a/b bindng protein type I, Chlorophyll a/b binding protein type II precursor, Photosystem I P700 chlorophyll a apoprotein A2, DNA recombination and repair protein recF, Galactinol synthase, S-adenosyl-L-methionine, Heat shock protein 21, Calcium-dependent protein kinase(CDPK)-like, Catalase) were up-regulated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5333-5338
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• 2012

Vitamin B6 functions as a coenzyme in >140 enzymatic reactions involved in the metabolism of amino acids, carbohydrates, neurotransmitters, and lipids. It comprises a group of three related 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-pyrimidine derivatives: pyridoxine (PN), pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxamine (PM) and their phosphorylated derivatives [pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) and pyridoxamine 5'-phosphate (PMP)], In the folate metabolism pathway, PLP is a cofactor for the mitochondrial and cytoplasmic isozymes of serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT2 and SHMT1), the P-protein of the glycine cleavage system, cystathionine ${\beta}$-synthase (CBS) and ${\gamma}$-cystathionase, and betaine hydroxymethyltransferase (BHMT), all of which contribute to homocysteine metabolism either through folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism or the transsulfuration pathway. Folate cofactors carry and chemically activate single carbons for the synthesis of purines, thymidylate and methionine. So the evidence indicates that vitamin B6 plays an important role in maintenance of the genome, epigenetic stability and homocysteine metabolism. This article focuses on studies of strand breaks, micronuclei, or chromosomal aberrations regarding protective effects of vitamin B6, and probes whether it is folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism or the transsulfuration pathway for vitamin B6 which plays critical roles in prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.2104-2111
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• 2017

A new series comprising phenylacetyl-homoserine lactones (HSLs), caffeoyl-HSL and feruloyl-HSL, was biologically synthesized using an artificial de novo biosynthetic pathway. We developed an Escherichia coli system containing artificial biosynthetic pathways that yield phenylacetyl-HSLs from simple carbon sources. These artificial biosynthetic pathways contained the LuxI-type synthase gene (rpaI) in addition to caffeoyl-CoA and feruloyl-CoA biosynthetic genes, respectively. Finally, the yields for caffeoyl-HSL and feruloyl-HSL were $97.1{\pm}10.3$ and $65.2{\pm}5.7mg/l$, respectively, by tyrosine-overproducing E. coli with a $\text\tiny{L}$-methionine feeding strategy. In a quorum sensing (QS) competition assay, feruloyl-HSL and p-coumaroyl-HSL antagonized the QS receptor TraR in Agrobacterium tumefaciens NT1, whereas caffeoyl-HSL did not.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.69-73
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• 2009

Acute betaine treatment induces time-dependent changes in the hepatic glutathione (GSH), cysteine and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) levels. Our previous study demonstrated that betaine administered $1{\sim}4$ hours prior to sacrifice decreased hepatic GSH levels, but these levels were increased when measured 24 hours following the treatment. The present study was aimed to determine dose-dependent effects of betaine on hepatic metabolism of sulfur amino acid in mice. Mice were sacrificed 2.5 or 24 hours after intraperitoneal treatment with betaine at different dose levels ranging from 50 to 1000 mg/kg. The concentrations of methionine and SAM were increased by a betaine dose of 100 mg/kg, and the concentrations of GSH and cysteine were decreased by a betaine dose of 200 mg/kg at 2.5 hours. These changes were augmented with increasing doses of betaine. At 24 hours following betaine treatment, increased GSH and decreased taurine levels were observed from dose levels of 400 mg/kg. Changes in hepatic activities of cystathionine beta-synthase, gammaglutamylcysteine ligase and cysteine dioxygenase were observed from dose levels of $200{\sim}400$ mg/kg of betaine administered 24 hours prior to sacrifice.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 1994

The methylation response as well as the level of methyl donor substance, 5-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) has been suggested to be related to hepatotoxicity including hepatocarcinogenesis. But direct correlation between protein methylation and hepatotoxicity has not been established to the present. To observe relationship between protein methylation and short-term hepatotoxicity induced by chemical substances, the activities of protein methylase I and II (PM I, PM II) were examined in cytosolic fraction of SD rat treated orally with acetaminophen(AA), $\alpha$-naphtyl-isothiocyanate (ANIT) and tetracycline (TC) that was known to produce necrosis, cholestasis and steatosis respectively. To evaluate the degree of hepatotoxicity induced by each chemicals, we observed the serum levels of indicative parameters and histopathological alteration. In AA treated group, the activities of PM I were increased at 6, 12 hours after administration, prior to the appearance of the hepatotoxicity by clinical parameters. It was suggested that the levels of PM I were related with the initial stage of hepatotoxic mechanism induced by AA. In ANIT treated group, though most of clinical parameters were significantly increased at 24, 48 hours after administration, the activity of PM I was not changed, indicating that ANIT induced hepatotoxicity was not coupled to protein methylation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2005

Homocystinuria is a metabolic disorder caused by a deficiency of cystathionine ${\beta}$-synthase (CBS). Patients with homocystinuria show clinical symptoms such as mental retardation, lens dislocation, vascular disease with life-threatening thromboembolisms and skeletal deformities. Generally, the major treatments for CBS deficiency include pharmacologic doses of pyridoxine or dietary restriction of methionine. However, there is no effective treatment for this disease up till today and gene therapy can be an attractive novel approach to treatment of the disease. We investigated whether a recombinant adeno-associated virus could be used as a CBS gene transfer vector to reduce the excessive homocysteine level in the homocystinuria mouse model. Recombinant adeno-associated virus vector encoding the human CBS gene (rAAV-hCBS), driven by EF1-a promoter, was infused into CBS-deficient mice ($CBS^{-/-}$) via intramuscular (IM) and intraperitoneal (IP) injection. IP injection was more efficient than IM injection for prolongation of lives and reduction of plasma homocysteine levels. After 2 weeks of gene transfer by IP injection, serum homocysteine level was significantly decreased in treated mice compared with the age-matched controls and the life span was extended about 1.5 times. Also, increased expression of CBS gene was observed by immunohistochemical staining in livers of treated $CBS^{-/-}$ mice and microvesicular lipid droplets was decreased in cytoplasm of liver. These results demonstrate the possibility and efficacy of gene therapy by AAV gene transfer in homocystinuria mice.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1996.06a
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• pp.50-63
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• 1996

Nitrogen (N) is an important regulator of the expression of genes involved in carbon and N assimilation pathways in plants by selectively altering the levels of proteins and/or mRNAs. These in C4 plants include genes for such as phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, carbonic anhydrase, and pyruvate-Pi dikinase. The C4 genes are regulated in mesophyll cells by N availability both transcriptionally and posttranscriptionally through cytokinins and glutamine as signals. The level of both the signals is up-regulated by N availability: cytokinins in roots and glutamine in leaves. The level of glutamine is controlled by the differential expression by N of glutamine synthetase and ferrdoxin-dependent glutamate synthase genes which locate in the mesophyll cells of C4 plants. The results is discussed as molecular mechanism for the greater N use efficiency of the plants as well as N partitioning is the photosynthetic cells.