• Title/Summary/Keyword: molecular processes

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Protein Phosphatases Involved in Regulating Mitosis: Facts and Hypotheses

  • Kim, Hyun-Soo;Fernandes, Gary;Lee, Chang-Woo
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.39 no.9
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    • pp.654-662
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    • 2016
  • Almost all eukaryotic proteins are subject to post-translational modifications during mitosis and cell cycle, and in particular, reversible phosphorylation being a key event. The recent use of high-throughput experimental analyses has revealed that more than 70% of all eukaryotic proteins are regulated by phosphorylation; however, the mechanism of dephosphorylation, counteracting phosphorylation, is relatively unknown. Recent discoveries have shown that many of the protein phosphatases are involved in the temporal and spatial control of mitotic events, such as mitotic entry, mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome architecture changes and cohesion, and mitotic exit. This implies that certain phosphatases are tightly regulated for timely dephosphorylation of key mitotic phosphoproteins and are essential for control of various mitotic processes. This review describes the physiological and pathological roles of mitotic phosphatases, as well as the versatile role of various protein phosphatases in several mitotic events.

Clinical features and molecular mechanism of muscle wasting in end stage renal disease

  • Sang Hyeon Ju;Hyon-Seung Yi
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.56 no.8
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    • pp.426-438
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    • 2023
  • Muscle wasting in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is an escalating issue due to the increasing global prevalence of ESRD and its significant clinical impact, including a close association with elevated mortality risk. The phenomenon of muscle wasting in ESRD, which exceeds the rate of muscle loss observed in the normal aging process, arises from multifactorial processes. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of muscle wasting in ESRD, covering its epidemiology, underlying molecular mechanisms, and current and emerging therapeutic interventions. It delves into the assessment techniques for muscle mass and function, before exploring the intricate metabolic and molecular pathways that lead to muscle atrophy in ESRD patients. We further discuss various strategies to mitigate muscle wasting, including nutritional, pharmacological, exercise, and physical modalities intervention. This review seeks to provide a solid foundation for future research in this area, fostering a deeper understanding of muscle wasting in ESRD, and paving the way for the development of novel strategies to improve patient outcomes.

Drinking Water Treatment of Surface Water Using Microfiltration-Nanofiltration Processes (정밀여과 및 나노여과 공정을 이용한 지표수의 상수처리)

  • Lee, Sung-Woo;Kim, Chung-Han;Kwak, Dong-Heui
    • Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.224-230
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    • 2000
  • Membrane processes are capable of removing much materials from water. The removal or rejection characteristics of a membrane is usually depend upon the nominal pore size or MWCO(molecular weight cut off). A membrane with a smaller nominal pore size or MWCO should be capable of removing smaller contaminants from water. A series of experiments was performed to investigate the separation characteristics of membrane processes which consisted of microfiltration(MF) and nanofiltration(NF). To evaluate removal efficiencies of some pollutants such as the consumption of $KMnO_4$, THMFP, NH3-N, Fe, Mn, and pesticides, source water sampled from the Kum river was treated by the those membrane processes. Also, the results of experiments were compared with those of conventional water treatment processes. By two types of the membrane process, total removal efficiency of $KMnO_4$ consumed, THMEP, and $NH_3-N$ were 91.0%, 84.3%, and 85.5%, respectively and those processes were efficient in pesticides removal as well. Most of the effluents satisfied the Korean standard of drinking water quality continuously in the experimental periods. However, NF was needed for producing the safe drinking water in case of treating the raw water contaminated with Mn since removal efficiency of MF was not high enough. On the basis of the experimental results, it was suggested that NF could be applied to remove not only $NH_3-N$ but THMFP even without pre-chlorination.

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'Drawing' a Molecular Portrait of CIN and Cervical Cancer: a Review of Genome-Wide Molecular Profiling Data

  • Kurmyshkina, Olga V;Kovchur, Pavel I;Volkova, Tatyana O
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.11
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    • pp.4477-4487
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    • 2015
  • In this review we summarize the results of studies employing high-throughput methods of profiling of HPV-associated cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and squamous cell cervical cancers at key intracellular regulatory levels to demonstrate the unique identity of the landscape of molecular changes underlying this oncopathology, and to show how these changes are related to the 'natural history' of cervical cancer progression and the formation of clinically significant properties of tumors. A step-wise character of cervical cancer progression is a morphologically well-described fact and, as evidenced by genome-wide screenings, it is indeed the consistent change of the molecular profiles of HPV-infected epithelial cells through which they progressively acquire the phenotypic hallmarks of cancerous cells. In this sense, CIN/cervical cancer is a unique model for studying the driving forces and mechanisms of carcinogenesis. Recent research has allowed definition of the whole-genome spectrum of both random and regular molecular alterations, as well as changes either common to processes of carcinogenesis or specific for cervical cancer. Despite the existence of questions that are still to be investigated, these findings are of great value for the future development of approaches for the diagnostics and treatment of cervical neoplasms.

Molecular Dynamics and Quantum Chemical Molecular Dynamics Simulations for the Design of MgO Protecting Layer in Plasma Display Panel

  • Kubo, Momoji;Serizawa, Kazumi;Kikuchi, Hiromi;Suzuki, Ai;Koyama, Michihisa;Tsuboi, Hideyuki;Hatakeyama, Nozomu;Endou, Akira;Takaba, Hiromitsu;Kajiyama, Hiroshi;Shinoda, Tsutae;Miyamoto, Akira
    • 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2008.10a
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    • pp.1049-1052
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    • 2008
  • We developed novel molecular dynamics and quantum chemical molecular dynamics simulators for the design of MgO protecting layer in plasma display panel. These simulators were applied to the investigations on the destruction processes of the MgO protecting layer as well as the evaluation of its second electron emission ability. From the simulation results, we successfully proposed new guidelines for MgO protecting layer with high durability and high second electron emission ability.

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Telomerase: Key to Mortal or Immortal Road

  • Yang, Eun-Young;Sung, Young Hoon;Lee, Han-Woong
    • IMMUNE NETWORK
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    • v.2 no.4
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    • pp.183-188
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    • 2002
  • Gradual attrition of telomere to a critical short length elicits successive cellular response of cellular senescence and crisis. Cancer cells evade this process by maintaining functional telomeres via one of two known mechanisms of telomere maintenance. The first and most frequent mechanism involves reactivation of enzyme activity of telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein complex mainly via transcriptional up-regulation of TERT, a catalytic subunit of telomerase complex. The second mechanism utilizes telomerase-independent way termed ALT (for Alternative Lengthening of Telomere), which possibly involves recombination pathways. Thus master key for cellular immortalization is supposed to possess adequate telomere reserves. Indeed, telomerase can alone induce the immortalization under culture on feeder cell layers without generally known inactivation mechanism of tumor suppressor genes. Including this phenomena, this review will focus on telomerase and telomere-associated proteins, thereby implication of these proteins for cellular immortalization processes.

Synaptotagmin 5 Controls SYP132-VAMP721/722 Interaction for Arabidopsis Immunity to Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000

  • Kim, Soohong;Kim, Hyeran;Park, Keunchun;Cho, Da Jeong;Kim, Mi Kyung;Kwon, Chian;Yun, Hye Sup
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.44 no.9
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    • pp.670-679
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    • 2021
  • Vesicle-associated membrane proteins 721 and 722 (VAMP721/722) are secretory vesicle-localized arginine-conserved soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (R-SNAREs) to drive exocytosis in plants. They are involved in diverse physiological processes in plants by interacting with distinct plasma membrane (PM) syntaxins. Here, we show that synaptotagmin 5 (SYT5) is involved in plant defense against Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pst) DC3000 by regulating SYP132-VAMP721/722 interactions. Calcium-dependent stimulation of in vitro SYP132-VAMP722 interaction by SYT5 and reduced in vivo SYP132-VAMP721/722 interaction in syt5 plants suggest that SYT5 regulates the interaction between SYP132 and VAMP721/722. We interestingly found that disease resistance to Pst DC3000 bacterium but not to Erysiphe pisi fungus is compromised in syt5 plants. Since SYP132 plays an immune function to bacteria, elevated growth of surface-inoculated Pst DC3000 in VAMP721/722-deficient plants suggests that SYT5 contributes to plant immunity to Pst DC3000 by promoting the SYP132-VAMP721/722 immune secretory pathway.

Lineage Tracing: Computational Reconstruction Goes Beyond the Limit of Imaging

  • Wu, Szu-Hsien (Sam);Lee, Ji-Hyun;Koo, Bon-Kyoung
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.104-112
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    • 2019
  • Tracking the fate of individual cells and their progeny through lineage tracing has been widely used to investigate various biological processes including embryonic development, homeostatic tissue turnover, and stem cell function in regeneration and disease. Conventional lineage tracing involves the marking of cells either with dyes or nucleoside analogues or genetic marking with fluorescent and/or colorimetric protein reporters. Both are imaging-based approaches that have played a crucial role in the field of developmental biology as well as adult stem cell biology. However, imaging-based lineage tracing approaches are limited by their scalability and the lack of molecular information underlying fate transitions. Recently, computational biology approaches have been combined with diverse tracing methods to overcome these limitations and so provide high-order scalability and a wealth of molecular information. In this review, we will introduce such novel computational methods, starting from single-cell RNA sequencing-based lineage analysis to DNA barcoding or genetic scar analysis. These novel approaches are complementary to conventional imaging-based approaches and enable us to study the lineage relationships of numerous cell types during vertebrate, and in particular human, development and disease.

First-principles molecular dynamics study of NO adsorption on Si(001) (Si(001)에 흡착되는 NO에 대한 제일원리 분자동역학 연구)

  • Jeong Sukmin
    • Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.97-102
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    • 2005
  • NO adsorption can be used in synthesizing oxynitride thin films which have potential application in nanodevices. However, it is very difficult to understand the oxynitridation Process since too many factors are involved in it. In this paper, we present our first-principles molecular dynamics calculation of the NO molecule adsorption on the Si(001) surface as the initial stage of the oxynitridation process. The previous first-principles calculation has argued the NO molecule is dissociated with a very small activation barrier, 0.07eV, which acutally corresponds to 1.60eV considering thermodynamics. This is in clear contrast to the observation that NO is dissociated at temperatures as low as 20K From extensive searches of NO on the Si(001) surface, we have found the new dissociation processes that have the much lower activation energies, less than 0.01 eV. We also present the dissociation and penetration processes with the corresponding activation energies and discuss their experimental implications.

Increasing the Triacylglycerol Content in Dunaliella tertiolecta through Isolation of Starch-Deficient Mutants

  • Sirikhachornkit, Anchalee;Vuttipongchaikij, Supachai;Suttangkakul, Anongpat;Yokthongwattana, Kittisak;Juntawong, Piyada;Pokethitiyook, Prayad;Kangvansaichol, Kunn;Meetam, Metha
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.26 no.5
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    • pp.854-866
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    • 2016
  • The production cost of biodiesel from microalgae is still not competitive, compared with that of petroleum fuels. The genetic improvement of microalgal strains to increase triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation is one way to reduce production costs. One of the most promising approaches is the isolation of starch-deficient mutants, which have been reported to successfully increase TAG yields. To date, such a stable mutant is not available in an oleaginous marine microalga, despite several advantages of using marine species for biodiesel production. Algae in the genus Dunaliella are known to tolerate high salt concentration and other environmental stresses. In addition, the cultivation processes for large-scale outdoor commercialization have been well established for this genus. In this study, Dunaliella tertiolecta was used to screen for starch-deficient mutants, using an iodine vapor-staining method. Four out of 20,016 UV-mutagenized strains showed a substantial reduction of starch content. A significantly higher TAG content, up to 3-fold of the wild-type level, was observed in three of the mutants upon induction by nitrogen depletion. The carotenoid production and growth characteristics of these mutants, under both normal and oxidative stress conditions, were not compromised, suggesting that these processes are not necessarily affected by starch deficiency. The results from this work open up new possibilities for exploring Dunaliella for biodiesel production.