• Mycobiology
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.155-161
• /
• 2016

The most economically important species used in a wide range of fermentation industries throughout Asia belong to Aspergillus section Flavi, which are morphologically and phylogenetically indistinguishable, with a few being toxigenic and therefore a major concern. They are frequently isolated from Korean fermentation starters, such as nuruk and meju. The growing popularity of traditional Korean alcoholic beverages has led to a demand for their quality enhancement, therefore requiring selection of efficient non-toxigenic strains to assist effective fermentation. This study was performed to classify the most efficient strains of Aspergillus section Flavi isolated from various types of traditional wheat nuruk, based on a polyphasic approach involving molecular and biochemical evaluation. A total of 69 strains were isolated based on colony morphology and identified as Aspergillus oryzae/flavus based on internal transcribed spacer and calmodulin gene sequencing. Interestingly, none were toxigenic based on PCR amplification of intergenic regions of the aflatoxin cluster genes norB-cypA and the absence of aflatoxin in the culture supernatants by thin-layer chromatography analysis. Saccharification capability of the isolates, assessed through ${\alpha}-amylase$ and glucoamylase activities, revealed that two isolates, TNA24 and TNA15, showed the highest levels of activity. Although the degrees of variation in ${\alpha}-amylase$ and glucoamylase activities among the isolates were higher, there were only slight differences in acid protease activity among the isolates with two, TNA28 and TNA36, showing the highest activities. Furthermore, statistical analyses showed that ${\alpha}-amylase$ activity was positively correlated with glucoamylase activity (p < 0.001), and therefore screening for either was sufficient to predict the saccharifying capacity of the Aspergillus strain.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.2
• /
• pp.509-521
• /
• 2021

In this paper, from a review of the size distribution of the bubbles during pool scrubbing obtained from experiments by EPRI, we apply the bubble size distributions to analyses on the decontamination factors of pool scrubbing via I-COSTA (In-Containment Source Term Analysis). We perform sensitivity studies of the bubble size on the various mechanisms of deposition of aerosol particles in pool scrubbing. We also perform sensitivity studies on the size distributions of the bubbles depending on the diameters at the nozzle exit, the molecular weights of non-condensable gases in the carrier gases, and the steam fractions of the carrier gases. We then perform analyses of LACE-ESPANA experiments and compare the numerical ~ results to those from SPARC-90 and experimental results in order to show the effect of the bubble size distributions.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.424-429
• /
• 2014

YAG:$Ce^{3+}$ phosphor powders were synthesized using $Al(OH)_3$ seeds by means of a PVA-polymer-solution route. Various types of PVA with different molecular weights (different polymerization) were used. All dried precursor gels were calcined at $500^{\circ}C$ and then heated at $1500^{\circ}C$ in a mix of nitrogen and hydrogen gases. The final powders were characterized via XRD, SEM, PSA, PL, and PKG analyses. The phosphor properties and morphologies of the synthesized powders were dependent on the PVA type. As the molecular weight of the PVA was increased, the particle size gradually decreased with agglomeration, and the luminous intensity of the phosphor increased. However, the phosphor powder prepared from the PVA exhibiting very high molecular weight, showed a 531 nm (blue) shift from the 541 nm (yellow) wavelength of the YAG:$Ce^{3+}$ phosphor. Finally, the synthesized YAG:$Ce^{3+}$ phosphor powder prepared from the PVA with 89,000 - 98,000 molecular weight showed phosphor properties similar to those of a commercial phosphor powder, but without a post-treatment process.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.44 no.10
• /
• pp.669-673
• /
• 2011

Human methionine sulfoxide reductase B3A (hMsrB3A) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) reductase that catalyzes the stereospecific reduction of methionine-R-sulfoxide to methionine in proteins. In this work, we identified an antimicrobial peptide from hMsrB3A protein. The N-terminal ER-targeting signal peptide (amino acids 1-31) conferred an antimicrobial effect in Escherichia coli cells. Sequence and structural analyses showed that the overall positively charged ER signal peptide had an Argand Pro-rich region and a potential hydrophobic ${\alpha}$-helical segment that contains 4 cysteine residues. The potential ${\alpha}$-helical region was essential for the antimicrobial activity within E. coli cells. A synthetic peptide, comprised of 2-26 amino acids of the signal peptide, was effective at killing Gram-negative E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Salmonella paratyphi, but had no bactericidal activity against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.425-431
• /
• 2014

Leaf scald caused by the infection of Rhynchosporium secalis, is a worldwide crop disease resulting in significant loss of barley yield. In this study, a systematic sequencing of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) was chosen to obtain a global picture of the assembly of genes involved in pathogenesis. To identify a large number of plant ESTs, which are induced at different time points, an amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) display of complementary DNA (cDNA) was utilized. Transcriptional changes of 140 ESTs were observed, of which 19 have no previously described function. Functional annotation of the transcripts revealed a variety of infection-induced host genes encoding classical pathogenesis-related (PR) or genes that play a role in the signal transduction pathway. The expression analyses by a semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed that Rar1 and Rpg4 are defense inducible genes, and were consistent with the cDNA-AFLP data in their expression patterns. Hence, the here presented transcriptomic approach provides novel global catalogue of genes not currently represented in the EST databases.

• ALGAE
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.37-48
• /
• 2018

Alaria is the second largest genus of the Laminariales, which is distributed far into the northern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Due to its high morphological plasticity, over 100 specific and sub-specific names have been used in Alaria, this has been tailored down to the present 17 species through morphological revision and molecular phylogenetic analysis. Endemic species of Alaria from Russian Far East have not been thoroughly revised since their original description, and few of them were confirmed using molecular data until recently. We carried out morphological and molecular studies on A. paradisea which is an endemic species distributed on the Kurile Islands, first described by Miyabe and Nagai in 1932 as Pleuropterum paradiseum. The range of morphological variability and its distribution was re-evaluated using the type specimen as well as other specimens. Analyses of partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and nuclear-encoded internal transcribed spacer sequences showed that A. paradisea nested within the genus Alaria, but differs morphologically from any other Alaria species in having additional sporophylls with a central midrib (${\beta}-sporophylls$). Our results showed that A. paradisea clearly belongs to the genus Alaria based on DNA data, although the key morphological character that was used to include this species to the genus Pleuropterum, ${\beta}-sporophylls$, is stable and distinguishes it from other Alaria species.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.17
• /
• pp.7065-7068
• /
• 2014

To investigate the anti-proliferative mechanism of mangiferin in a human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line, CNE2 cells were incubated with different concentrations of mangiferin (12.5, 25, 50, 100, 150 and $200{\mu}M$) or with PBS as a control for 72 hours. Analyses were made of the cell cycle and apoptosis with measurement of mRNA and protein levels of two apoptosis-related genes, Bcl-2 and Bax. Flow cytometry assays showed mangiferin could inhibit CNE2 cell proliferation via G2/M arrest and induction of early apoptosis. Real time PCR and Western blotting showed the mRNA and protein level of Bcl-2 to be down-regulated, while those of Bax were upregulated, when CNE2 cells were treated with mangiferin. This investigation indicated anti-proliferation effects of mangiferin through induction of cell apoptosis regulated by Bcl-2 and Bax expression.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.33.1-33.1
• /
• 2017

Molecular clouds are the sites of stellar birth, and conditions within the clouds control the mode and tempo of star formation. In particular, turbulence largely determines the density and velocity fields, and can affect the gas kinetic temperature as it decays via shocks. However, despite its central role in star formation and many years of study, the properties of turbulence remain poorly understood. As a part of the TRAO key science program, "Mapping turbulent properties of star-forming molecular clouds down to the sonic scale (PI: Jeong-Eun Lee)", we mapped the northern region of the Orion A molecular cloud and the L1688 region of the ${\rho}$ Ophiuchus molecular cloud in 2 sets of lines (13CO 1-0/C18O 1-0 and HCN 1-0/and HCO+ 1-0) using the Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) 14-m telescope. We analyze these maps using a python package 'Turbustat', a toolkit which contains 16 different turbulent statistics. We will present the preliminary results of our TRAO observations and various turbulence statistical analyses.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.54-58
• /
• 2000

Recent research results regarding the very long chain transmembrane ${\alpha},{\omega}-dicarboxylic$ components in the membrane of extremophilic eubacteria, such as Sarcina ventriculi, Thennotoga maritima, and Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus have raised interesting questions concerning the physical and biochemical function on these components in the membrane. In order to understand the dynamic characteristics of these acids which reside in the bilayer membrane, 580 ps molecular dynamic simulations at 300 K were performed for two model systems. These systems were the bilayer with regular chain (C16:0 or C18:1) fatty acid methyl esters and the fatty acid bilayer containing very long chain transmembrane dicarboxylic acid methyl esters (${\alpha},{\omega}-15,16-dimethyltriacotane-dioate$ dimethyl ester; C32:0). Our analyses indicate that very long chain transmembrane dicarboxylic acids have a noticeable influence on the bilayer dynamics at a sub-nanosecond time scale. The center-ofmass mean-squared-displacement (MSD) of regular chain fatty acids adjacent to the very long chain transmembrane dicarboxylic acids decreased, the long-axis order parameter increased, and the reorientational motions of methylene groups were slowed along the hydrocarbon chains. These results indicate that the very long chain transmembrane dicarboxylic acids reduce the molecular order of the whole bilayer membrane.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.41 no.9
• /
• pp.670-677
• /
• 2008

A cDNA microarray composed of 2,028 different ESTs from two shrimp species, Penaeus monodon and Masupenaeus japonicus, was employed to identify yellow head virus (YHV)-responsive genes in hemocytes of P. monodon. A total of 105 differentially expressed genes were identified and grouped into five different clusters according to their expression patterns. One of these clusters, which comprised five genes including cathepsin L-like cysteine peptidase, hypothetical proteins and unknown genes, was of particular interest because the transcripts increased rapidly ($\leq$ 0.25 hours) and reached high expression levels in response to YHV injection. Microarray data were validated by realtime RT-PCR analyses of selected differentially expressed transcripts. In addition, comparative analysis of the hemocyte transcription levels of three of these genes between surviving and non-surviving shrimp revealed significantly higher expression levels in surviving shrimp.