• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.387-393
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• 2014

We propose Cryptonemia asiatica sp. nov. from Korea and Japan. We used molecular analyses of plastid-encoded rbcL and morphological observations to resolve the taxonomic identities of C. lactuca from Korea, C. luxurians from Japan, and C. seminervis from Spain. Specimens of C. lactuca and C. luxurians fell within the same molecular phylogenetic clade (with 100% bootstrap support) and were clearly separated from specimens of C. luxurians collected from the type locality in Brazil. Our analyses demonstrated identical molecular sequences between C. seminervis specimens from Spain and C. lomation specimens from France. Morphological characteristics of the new species, C. asiatica include prominent midribs through the mid thallus, a cortex 4-6 cells thick, and a blade with undulate margins. Molecular evidence indicates that specimens from Korea and Japan previously assigned to C. lactuca and C. luxurians, respectively, should be reassigned to Cryptonemia asiatica. Binomial C. luxurians from Brazil should be resurrected as the independent species of Cryptonemia.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.311-318
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• 2010

This review explored the mechanism of breast carcinoma progression by focusing on integrins and receptor tyrosine kinases (or growth factor receptors). While the primary role of integrins was previously thought to be solely as mediators of adhesive interactions between cells and extracellular matrices, it is now believed that integrins also regulate signaling pathways that control cancer cell growth, survival, and invasion. A large body of evidence suggests that the cooperation between integrin and receptor tyrosine kinase signaling regulates certain signaling functions that are important for cancer progression. Recent developments on the crosstalk between integrins and receptor tyrosine kinases, and its implication in mammary tumor progression, are discussed.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.604-611
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• 2012

Recent advances in genome and transcriptome analysis have enabled identification of numerous members of a new class of noncoding RNA, long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). lncRNAs are broadly defined as RNA molecules greater than 200 nt in length and lacking an open reading frame. Recent studies provide evidence that lncRNAs play central roles in a wide range of cellular processes through interaction with key component proteins in the gene regulatory system, and that alteration of their cell- or tissue-specific expression and/or their primary or secondary structures is thought to promote cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis. The biological and molecular characteristics of the large majority of lncRNAs remains unknown, and it is anticipated that improved understanding of the roles played by lncRNAs in cancer will lead to the development of novel biomarkers and effective therapeutic strategies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.70.1-70.1
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• 2016

NGC 4402 is a spiral galaxy located in the Virgo cluster. It is undergoing active HI gas stripping due to the strong ICM pressure, showing evidence for recent quenching of star formation. Its CO disk is also highly disturbed as HI, yet unlike HI disk, no sign of significant molecular gas stripping is found. Aiming to better understand how atomic gas stripping and disturbed molecular gas result in star formation quenching, we probe properties of molecular gas in the densest forms. As a pilot study, we observed HCN (1-0) and HCO+ (1-0) in the center of NGC 4402 using one of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) antennas located at Yonsei site. In this work, we present the result from the KVN single-dish observations and discuss its implications.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2018

Hypoxic culture is widely recognized as a method to efficiently expand human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) without loss of stem cell properties. However, the molecular basis of how hypoxia priming benefits MSC expansion remains unclear. In this report, our systemic quantitative proteomic and RT-PCR analyses revealed the involvement of hypoxic conditioning activated genes in the signaling process of the mitotic cell cycle. Introduction of screened two mitotic cyclins, CCNA2 and CCNB1, significantly extended the proliferation lifespan of MSCs in normoxic condition. Our results provide important molecular evidence that multipotency of human MSCs by hypoxic conditioning is determined by the mitotic cell cycle duration. Thus, the activation of mitotic cyclins could be a potential strategy to the application of stem cell therapy.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.77.2-77.2
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• 2015

Galaxies are known to evolve passively in the cluster environment. Indeed, much evidence for HI stripping has been found in cluster galaxies to date, which is likely to be connected to their low star formation rate. What is still puzzling however, is that the molecular gas, which is believed to be more directly related to star formation, shows no significant difference in its fraction between the cluster population and the field galaxies. Therefore, HI stripping alone does not seem to be enough to fully understand how galaxies become passive in galaxy clusters. Intriguingly, our recent high resolution CO study of a subsample of Virgo spirals which are undergoing strong ICM pressure has revealed a highly disturbed molecular gas morphology and kinematics. The morphological and kinematical peculiarities in their CO data have many properties in common with those of HI gas in the sample, indicating that strong ICM pressure in fact can have impacts on dense gas deep inside of a galaxy. This implies that it is the molecular gas conditions rather than the molecular gas stripping which is more responsible for quenching of star formation in cluster galaxies. In this study, using multi transitions of 12CO and 13CO, we investigate the density and temperature distributions of CO gas of a Virgo spiral galaxy, NGC 4402 to probe the physical and chemical properties of molecular gas and their relations to star formation activities.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.301-305
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to investigate whether addition of porcine epididymal fluid (pEF) into culture medium during in vitro maturation influences the nuclear maturation of porcine germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes. Porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) from follicles were cultured in tissue culture medium 199 (TCM 199) containing pEF. After 48hr of culture, oocytes were examined for evidence of GV breakdown, metaphase I, anaphase-telophase I, and metaphase II. The proportion of oocytes reaching at metaphase II (M II) stage was significantly (p<0.05) increased in oocytes cultured in the media supplemented with 10% pEF during in vitro maturation than in those without pEF regardless of cumulus presence or absence (54.6% vs 22.5%, 51.7% vs 24.2%). The supplementation of pEF during maturation of oocyte enhanced oocytes maturation in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. Also significant differences (p<0.05) in the percentage of MII oocytes were observed according to exposure period in pEF. Present study suggests that pEF contains a enhancing component(s) for nuclear maturation of porcine immature oocytes in vitro.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.9
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• pp.663-668
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• 2016

The oncogene nuclear receptor coactivator amplified in breast cancer 1 (AIB1) is a transcriptional coactivator, which is overexpressed in various types of human cancers, including breast cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating AIB1 function remain largely unknown. In this study, we present evidence demonstrating that AIB1 is acetylated by MOF in human breast cancer cells. Moreover, we also found that the acetylation of AIB1 enhances its function in promoting breast cancer cell proliferation. We further showed that the acetylation of AIB1 is required for its recruitment to E2F1 target genes by E2F1. More importantly, we found that the acetylation levels of AIB1 are greatly elevated in human breast cancer cells compared with that in non-cancerous cells. Collectively, our results shed light on the molecular mechanisms that regulate AIB1 function in breast cancer.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.82-87
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• 2007

Our heterologous expression system of the human ferritin H-chain gene (hfH) allowed us to characterize the cellular effects of ferritin in yeasts. The recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae (YGH2) evidenced impaired growth as compared to the control, which was correlated with ferritin expression and with the formation of core minerals. Growth was recovered via the administration of iron supplements. The modification of cellular iron metabolism, which involved the increased expression of high-affinity iron transport genes (FET3 and FTR1), was detected via Northern blot analysis. The findings may provide some evidence of cytosolic iron deficiency, as the genes were expressed transcriptionally under iron-deficient conditions. According to our results examining reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation via the fluorescence method, the ROS levels in YGH2 were decreased compared to the control. It suggests that the expression of active H-ferritins reduced the content of free iron in yeast. Therefore, present results may provide new insights into the regulatory network and pathways inherent to iron depletion conditions.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.269-274
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• 2017

The biological activities of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) might be mediated through a classical receptor-mediated or non-classical endocytic pathway. JAB1 (C-Jun activation domain-binding protein-1) promotes the degradation of the tumor suppressor, p53, and the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p27. When MIF and JAB1 are bound to each other in various intracellular sites, MIF inhibits the positive regulatory effects of JAB1 on the activity of AP-1. The intestinal parasite, Anisakis simplex, has an immunomodulatory effect. The molecular mechanism of action of As-MIF and human JAB1 are poorly understood. In this study, As-MIF and hJAB1 were expressed and purified with high solubility. The structure of As-MIF and hJAB1 interaction was modeled by homology modeling based on the structure of Ace-MIF. This study provides evidence indicating that the MIF domain of As-MIF interacts directly with the MPN domain of hJAB1, and four structure-based mutants of As-MIF and hJAB1 disrupt the As-MIF-hJAB1 interaction.