• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.145-156
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• 2018

Most eukaryotic peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are readily inactivated by a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) during catalysis owing to their "GGLG" and "YF" motifs. However, such oxidative stress sensitive motifs were not found in the previously identified filamentous fungal Prxs. Additionally, the information on filamentous fungal Prxs is limited and fragmentary. Herein, we cloned and gained insight into Aspergillus nidulans Prx (An.PrxA) in the aspects of protein properties, catalysis characteristics, and especially $H_2O_2$ tolerability. Our results indicated that An.PrxA belongs to the newly defined family of typical 2-Cys Prxs with a marked characteristic that the "resolving" cysteine ($C_R$) is invertedly located preceding the "peroxidatic" cysteine ($C_P$) in amino acid sequences. The inverted arrangement of $C_R$ and $C_P$ can only be found among some yeast, bacterial, and filamentous fungal deduced Prxs. The most surprising characteristic of An.PrxA is its extraordinary ability to resist inactivation by extremely high concentrations of $H_2O_2$, even that approaching 600 mM. By screening the $H_2O_2$-inactivation effects on the components of Prx systems, including Trx, Trx reductase (TrxR), and Prx, we ultimately determined that it is the robust filamentous fungal TrxR rather than Trx and Prx that is responsible for the extreme $H_2O_2$ tolerence of the An.PrxA system. This is the first investigation on the effect of the electron donor partner in the $H_2O_2$ tolerability of the Prx system.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.70-81
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• 2015

Helicases are known to be a proteins that use the chemical energy of NTP binding and hydrolyze to separate the complementary strands of double-stranded nucleic acids to single-stranded nucleic acids. They participate in various cellular metabolism in many organisms. DEAD-box proteins are ATP-dependent RNA helicase that participate in all biochemical steps involving RNA. DEAD-box3 (DDX3) gene is belonging to the DEAD-box family and plays an important role in germ cell development in many organisms including not only vertebrate, but also invertebrate during asexual and sexual reproduction and participates in stem cell differentiation during regeneration. In this study, in order to identify and characterize DDX3 gene in the earthworm, Perionyx excavatus having a powerful regeneration capacity, total RNA was isolated from adult head containing clitellum. Full length of DDX3 gene from P. excavatus, Pe-DDX3, was identified by RT-PCR using the total RNA from head as a template. Pe-DDX3 encoded a putative protein of 607 amino acids and it also has the nine conserved motifs of DEAD-box family, which is characteristic of DEAD-box protein family. It was confirmed that Pe-DDX3 has the nine conserved motifs by the comparison of entire amino acids sequence of Pe-DDX3 with other species of different taxa. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Pe-DDX3 belongs to a DDX3 (PL10) subgroup of DEAD-box protein family. And it displayed a high homology with PL10a, b from P. dumerilii.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.247-260
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• 2007

Cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H) is a key enzyme of phenylpropanoid pathway, which synthesizes numerous secondary metabolites to participate in development and adaption. Two C4H isoforms, the 2192-bp BnC4H-1 and 2108-bp BnC4H-2, were cloned from oilseed rape (Brassica napus). They both have two introns and a 1518-bp open reading frame encoding a 505-amino-acid polypeptide. BnC4H-1 is 57.73 kDa with an isoelectric point of 9.11, while 57.75 kDa and 9.13 for BnC4H-2. They share only 80.6% identities on nucleotide level but 96.6% identities and 98.4% positives on protein level. Showing highest homologies to Arabidopsis thaliana C4H, they possess a conserved p450 domain and all P450-featured motifs, and are identical to typical C4Hs at substrate-recognition sites and active site residues. They are most probably associated with endoplasmic reticulum by one or both of the N- and C-terminal transmembrane helices. Phosphorylation may be a necessary post-translational modification. Their secondary structures are dominated by alpha helices and random coils. Most helices locate in the central region, while extended strands mainly distribute before and after this region. Southern blot indicated about 9 or more C4H paralogs in B. napus. In hypocotyl, cotyledon, stem, flower, bud, young- and middle-stage seed, they are co-dominantly expressed. In root and old seed, BnC4H-2 is dominant over BnC4H-1, with a reverse trend in leaf and pericarp. Paralogous C4H numbers in Brassicaceae genomes and possible roles of conserved motifs in 5' UTR and the 2nd intron are discussed.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.51
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• pp.83-105
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• 2018

In the actantial model of Algirdas Julius Greimas, a story makes 3 kinds of relationships with 6 actants, and, in these relationships, the desires of subjects and objects are operated. And, when the subject performs its desire, there are both assistance of helper and disturbance of opponent. And, the object of desire wanted by the subject is provided by sender and receiver. Using this actantial model, this study analyzed the narrative structure of the animation 'Dalbitgungjeon', and, by rearranging the subject of capacity, examined general stream of communication. Korean animations have tried to approach using archetypes of Korean culture as motifs with various perspectives. But, it is true that, compared with foreign animations dramatized using cultural archetypes, Korean animations still have something to be desired. Thus, this study analyzed the narrative structure of 'Dalbitgungjeon' which was recently producted using archetypes of Korean culture as its motif, and, rearranging the subject of capacity, examined general stream of communication. By doing this, this study tried to search for the method of producing an animation equipped with more advanced narrative structure. Of course, narrative structure of Greimas has been studied in various aspects. However, there are still not enough animation researches using cultural archetypes of Greimas. Considering such aspects, this study focused on searching for a method of using the formation of cultural archetypes based on the analysis of fables of Greimas.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.40
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• pp.497-519
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• 2015

Kwon Kisoo is one of the most promising artist in Korea. His paintings portray a lot of metaphors and philosophies in oriental art. As an artist, he adapts both oriental and contemporary ideas to make his paintings. His main motifs are Plum blossoms, Chrysanthemum, Orchid and Bamboos. These plants are known as 'Sa-gonja' in Korean but translated as the 'Four Gracious plants' or the 'Four Gentle Plants in english'. These noble plants represent the four seasons. They grow in different weather conditions. In oriental art, these plants are considered very important for their qualities. These qualities are important attributes for gentlemen in literati painting. The drawing of the 'Four Gracious Plants' in Kwon Kisoo's paintings is simplified. He uses lines, shapes and colour to create contours of the motifs. In his paintings, there is another icon he calls 'Dongguri'. Dongguri is the main character in Kwon Kisoo's paintings. It was developed in 2002 by fast brush strokes. Dongguri is an admired character because it looks like very cute in Kwon Kisoo's paintings. Dongguri is always seen living in the midst of the 'Four Gracious Plants'. The 'Four Gracious Plants' with other landscape features like rocks and mountains are places 'Dongguri' lives. Dongguri is also often found performing a lot of actions like climbing, running, sitting etc. All these actions depict metaphors which have been unraveled in this study.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.362-365
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• 2007

Cyanobacteria have been identified as one of the most promising group producing novel biochemically active natural products. Cyanobacteria are a very old group of prokaryotic organisms that produce very diverse secondary metabolites, especially non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Large multienzyme complexes which are responsible for the non-ribosomal biosynthesis of peptides are modular for the addition of a single amino acid. An activation of amino acid substrates results in an amino adenylate occuring via an adenylation domain (A-domain). A-domains are responsible for the recognition of amino acids as substrates within NP synthesis. The A-domain contains ten conserved motifs, A1 to A10. In this study, ten conserved motifs from A1 to A10 were checked regarding their amino acid sequence of the NRPS-module of Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806. The part of the amino acid sequence chosen was that which contained as many conserved motives as possible, and then these amino sequence were compared between other cyanobacteria to design a new degenerate primer. A new degenerate primer (A3/A7 primer) was designed to detect any putative NP synthetase region in unkwon cyanobacteria by a reverse translation of the conserved amino acid sequence and a search for cyanobacterial DNA bank.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.954-965
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• 2017

Mammalian genomes are well established, and highly conserved regions within odorant receptors that are unique from other G-protein coupled receptors have been identified. Numerous functional studies have focused on specific conserved amino acids motifs; however, not all conserved motifs have been sufficiently characterized. Here, we identified a highly conserved 18 amino acid sequence motif within transmembrane domain seven (CAS-TM7) which was identified by aligning odorant receptor sequences. Next, we investigated the expression pattern and distribution of this conserved amino acid motif among a broad range of odorant receptors. To examine the localization of odorant receptor proteins, we used a sequence-specific peptide antibody against CAS-TM7 which is specific to odorant receptors across species. The specificity of this peptide antibody in recognizing odorant receptors has been confirmed in a heterologous in vitro system and a rat-based in vivo system. The CAS-TM7 odorant receptors localized with distinct patterns at each region of the olfactory epithelium; septum, endoturbinate and ectoturbinate. To our great interests, we found that the CAS-TM7 odorant receptors are primarily localized to the dorsal region of the olfactory bulb, coinciding with olfactory epithelium-based patterns. Also, these odorant receptors were ectopically expressed in the various non-olfactory tissues in an evolutionary constrained manner between human and rats. This study has characterized the expression patterns of odorant receptors containing particular amino acid motif in transmembrane domain 7, and which led to an intriguing possibility that the conserved motif of odorant receptors can play critical roles in other physiological functions as well as olfaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.107-122
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes and developments that occurred as a result of the exchanges of gyeong-geum(經錦), a warp-faced compound weave of East Asia, and wie-geum(緯錦), a weft-faced compound weave of West Asia. In order to maximize the efficiency of this research, topics were narrowed down to the weaving skills and patterns, and the period was limited to the Tang dynasty. The systematic characteristics and differences of gyeong-geum and wie-geum were compared and contrasted through different works of literature. Then the excavated remains of geum-textiles were analyzed and the characteristics of the geum-textiles were defined in chronological order. The origin of wie-geum is traced back to the time when West Asia started to imitate the weaving style of the East Asian gyeong-geum. When combined with the weaving skills of the West Asian, gyeong-geum, which broke through the West and developed into the weft-faced compound twill silk, or samite. The exchange of geum-textiles took place as the techniques of gastric filament woven geum-textiles returned to the East. Along with the pearl roundel motifs of Sassanian Persia, mythical animals and western motifs of hunter patterns were used for the patterns of wie-geumin during the early Tang dynasty. This tendency is related to pa-sa-geum(波斯錦), ho-geum(胡錦), beon-geum(番錦) according to the recorded literature. The 8th and 9th century are periods when the West Asian Persian style was abandoned and the East Asian style, samite, was established. Not only did S twist silk threads replace Z twists, but also the repetition of patterns unfolded along with the weft and the warp. As this tendency was strengthened after the 9th century, the expression of patterns became more vividly colorful and showed both elements of naturalism and realism. The characteristics of the Bosangwha(寶相花) pattern in the Tang period were established with the rampantly repeated rosettes with birds often holding auspicious branches, that fly amid floral compositions.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.355-362
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• 2017

The Nongso tomb of Sunchang was built in a relatively deep place; hence there was little damage from grave robbers. The tomb was completely filled with a large amount of charcoal, and therefore the wooden coffin was excavated in relatively good condition. On the basis of the structure of the tombs, excavated artifacts, and radiocarbon dating results, the tomb is estimated to be from between the late Goryeo and the early Joseon period. The wooden coffin excavated is double-layered structures consisting of an outer coffin and an inner coffin. The outside of the wooden coffin is thickly lacquered and decorated with yellow letters and white motifs. An analysis of the pigments' components revealed that the major component of the letters was gold (Au) and the major component of the motifs was silver (Ag). The coffin lacquer had three layers: a pigment layer, a yellowish-brown layer, and a black layer. The wooden bases of the coffins were painted with a black substance, such as soot, as mineral elements were not detected in the black layer. The yellowish-brown layer is presumed to be refined lacquer. From the analysis of the structure of the layers and pigments, we can estimate the method was adopted for making lacquer for wooden coffin. It is assumed that the method used gold leaf and gold powder. The form of the pigment and the internal structure are likely to be gold leaf, but the shape of the surface letters appears to have been formed using gold powder. This study will serve as important information for understanding lacquer making techniques at the time of the tombs' construction by confirming the making method through reproduction experiments using gold leaf and gold powder.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1366-1372
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• 2018

Objective: A disintegrin and metallopeptidase with thrombospondin motifs type 8 (ADAMTS8) is crucial for diverse physiological processes, such as inflammation, tissue morphogenesis, and tumorigenesis. The chicken ADAMTS8 (chADAMTS8) gene was differentially expressed in the kidney following exposure to different calcium concentrations, suggesting a pathological role of this protein in metabolic diseases. We aimed to examine the molecular characteristics of chADAMTS8 and analyze the gene-expression differences in response to toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) stimulation. Methods: The ADAMTS8 mRNA and amino acid sequences of various species (chicken, duck, cow, mouse, rat, human, chimpanzee, pig, and horse) were retrieved from the Ensembl database and subjected to bioinformatics analyses. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) experiments were performed with various chicken tissues and the chicken fibroblast DF-1 cell line, which was stimulated with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly[I:C]; a TLR3 ligand). Results: The chADAMTS8 gene was predicted to contain three thrombospondin type 1 (TSP1) domains, whose amino acid sequences shared homology among the different species, whereas sequences outside the TSP1 domains (especially the amino-terminal region) were very dif­ferent. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that chADAMTS8 is evolutionarily clustered in the same clade with that of the duck. chADAMTS8 mRNA was broadly expressed in chicken tissues, and the expression was significantly up-regulated in the DF-1 cells in response to poly(I:C) stimulation (p<0.05). These results showed that chADAMTS8 may be a target gene for TLR3 signaling. Conclusion: In this report, the genetic information of chADAMTS8 gene, its expression in chicken tissues, and chicken DF-1 cells under the stimulation of TLR3 were shown. The result suggests that chADAMTS8 expression may be induced by viral infection and correlated with TLR3-mediated signaling pathway. Further study of the function of chADAMTS8 during TLR3-dependent inflammation (which represents RNA viral infection) is needed and it will also be important to examine the molecular mechanisms during different regulation, depending on innate immune receptor activation.