• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.201-209
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• 2007

The CFDA (6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate) direct viable count method and plate count (PC) method using conventional nutrient broth (NB) medium and $10^{-2}$ diluted NB (DNB) medium were applied to samples collected from Mt. Yongdoo In Andong, in an effect to determine the number of living bacteria pine mushroom forest soil. The number of living bacteria determined via plate count in NB medium comprised $5{\sim}8%$ of the CFDA direct viable count, and the bacteria in the DNB medium comprised $40{\sim}47%$. This result indicated that viable but nonculturable (VBNC) bacteria existed in the pine mushroom forest soil at a high percentage. The phylogenetic characteristics of the VBNC bacterial populations in the samples of pine mushroom (Tricholoma matsutake) forest soil were analyzed via the direct extraction of DNA and 16S rDNA-ARDRA. The 115 clones from pine mushroom forest soil were clustered into 31 different RFLP phylotypes by ARDRA. Based on the 16S rDNA sequences, the 31 ARDRA clusters were classified into 6 phylogenetic groups: ${\alpha}-,\;{\beta}-,\;{\gamma}-Proteobacteria$, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Among these bacterial populations, approximately 85% were classified as members of phylum Acidobacteria. The Acidobacteria phylum was shown to exist abundantly in the pine mushroom forest soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.104-104
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• 2003

As an effort to direct differentiation of human embryonic stem (hES, MB03) cells to dopamine-producing neuronal cells, Nurr1 was transfected using conventional transfection protocol into MB03 and examined the expression of tyrosine hydroylase (TH) after differentiation induced by retinoic acid (RA) and ascorbic acid (AA). Experimentally, cells were transfected with linearized Nurr1 cDNA in pcDNA3.1 (+)-hygovernight followed by selection in medium containing hygromycin-B (150 $\mu$/ml). Expression of Nurr1 mRNA was confirmed by RT-PCR and protein by immunocytochemistry in the drug resistant clones. In order to study the effect of Nurr1 protein on the differentiation pattern of ES cells, one of the positive clones (MBNr24) was allowed to form embryoid body (EB) for 2 days and were induced to differentiate for another 4 days using RA (1 $\mu M$) and AA (50 mM) (2-/4+ protocol) followed by selection in N2 medium for 10 or 20 days. After 10 days in N2 medium, cells immunoreactive to anti-GFAP, anti-TH, or anti-NF200 antibodies were 38.8%, 11%, and 20.5%, respectively. After 20 days in N2 medium, cells expressing GFAP, TH, or NF200 were 28%, 15% and 44.8%, respectively but approximately 9% of MB03 expressed TH protein when the cells were induced to differentiate using a similar prorocol, These results suggest that ectopic expression of Nurr1 enhances generation of TH+ cells as well as neuronal cells when hES cells were differentiated by 2-/4+ protocol.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.101-101
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• 2003

Main strategy for a treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD), due to a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, is a pharmaceutical supplement of dopamine derivatives or ceil replacement therapy. Both of these protocols have pros and cons; former exhibiting a dramatic relief but causing a severe side effects on long-term prescription and latter also having a proven effectiveness but having availability and ethical problems Embryonic stem (ES) cells have several characteristics suitable for this purpose. To investigate a possibility of using ES cells as a carrier of therapeutic gene(s), human ES (hES, MB03) cells were transfected with cDNAs coding for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in pcDNA3.1 (+) and the transfectants were selected using neomycin (250 $\mu /ml$). Expression of TH being confirmed, two of the positive clone (MBTH2 & 8) were second transfected with GTP cyclohydrolase 1 (GTPCH 1) in pcDNA3.1 (+)-hyg followed by selection with hygromycin-B (150 $\mu /ml$) and RT-PCR confirmation. By immune-cytochemistry, these genetically modified but undifferentiated dual drug-resistant cells were found to express few of the neuronal markers, such as NF200, $\beta$-tubulin, and MAP2 as well as astroglial marker GFAP. This results suggest that over-production of BH4 by ectopically expressed GTPCH I may be involved in the induction of those markers. Transplantation of the cells into striatum of 6-OHDA- denervated PD animal model relieved symptomatic rotational behaviors of the animals. Immunohistochemical analyses showed the presence of human cells within the striatum of the recipients. These results suggest a possibility of using hES cells as a carrier of therapeutic gene(s).

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.352-354
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• 1999

Randomly and specifically amplified polymorphic DNA band patterns based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis were used to assess genetic variation of somaclonal variants obtained from tissue culture of lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum). Five different types of variant were classified by morphological characters such as leaflet number, leaf shape, caulicle length, plant height, and leaf area. Five primers out of 20 primers (10 mer) resulted in 34 random amplified DNA fragments with polymorphisms (64.7%) in all tested plants. The dissimilarity coefficient was from 0.71 to 0.91 by UPGMA cluster analysis. Based on the presence of polymorphic bands, normal plant and five somaclonal variants were divided into two groups at the similarity coefficient value of 0.79.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.113-118
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• 2006

Thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), a component of the redox control system involving thioredoxin (Trx), is implicated in defense against oxidative stress, control of cell growth and proliferation, and regulation of apoptosis. In the present study a stable transfectant was made by introducing the vector pcDNA3.0 harboring the fission yeast TrxR gene into COS-7 African green monkey kidney fibroblast cells. The exogenous TrxR gene led to an increase in TrxR activity of up to 3.2-fold but did not affect glutathione (GSH) content, or glutaredoxin and caspase-3 activities. Levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), but not those of nitric oxide (NO), were reduced. Conversely, 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobezene (CDNB), an irreversible inhibitor of mammalian TrxR, enhanced ROS levels in the COS-7 cells. After treatment with hydrogen peroxide, the level of intracellular ROS was lower in the transfectants than in the vector control cells. These results confirm that TrxR is a crucial determinant of the level of cellular ROS during oxidative stress as well as in the normal state.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2006

It was previously found that melittin inhibited $NF-{\kappa}B$ activity by reacting with signal molecules of $NF-{\kappa}B$ which is critical contributor in cancer cell growth by induction of apoptotic cell death. We here investigated whether melittin inhibits cell growth of human prostate cancer cells through induction of apoptotic cell death, and the possible signal pathways. Melittin ($0{\sim}1\;{\mu}g/ml$) inhibited prostate cancer cell growth in a dose dependent manner. Conversely related to the growth inhibitory effect, melittin increased the induction of apoptotic cell death in a dose dependent manner. Melittin also inhibited DNA binding activity of $NF-{\kappa}B$, an anti-apoptotic transcriptional factor. Consistent with the induction of apoptotic cell death and inhibition of $NF-{\kappa}B$, melittin increased the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins caspase-3, and Bax but down-regulated anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. These findings suggest that melittin could inhibit prostate cancer cell growth, and this effect may be related with the induction of apoptotic cell death via inactivation of $NF-{\kappa}B$.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.202-213
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• 2004

Object : Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the anti-cancer effects of Mylabris phalerata (반모) in some kinds of cancer cells. Materials and Methods: Some kinds of cancer cells lines were treated. We used nine kinds of cancer cell lines, such as stomach cancer cells (Kato), lung cancer cells (Calu-1, NCI-H 1395), urinary bladder cancer cells (HS789T), bone cancer cells (Saos-2), brain cancer cells (SK-N-MC), liver cancer cells (Hep-G2), skin cancer cells (Mo-1) and prostate cancer cells (PC-3) with the water decoction of Mylabris phalerata. The histological changes of all cell lines in the media (RPMI-1640) containing the decoction of Mylabris phalerata were observed and we examined cell death assay by trypan blue exclusion testing was examined. Finally, the change of mitochondrial membrane potential was measurd and the inhibitory effect of Mylabris phalerata on cell increase was examined by analyzing the cell cycle. Results: In histologic change all cancer cell lines showed withdrawn and floating appearance that is typical in cellular impairment. Most of the cell lines showed over 50% death rate after 24 hours in trypan blue exclusion tests. Especially the stomach, urinary bladder. brain and liver cell lines showed over 30% death rate after 12 hours. All cell lines treated with Mylabris phalerata were less stained than the control group and the mitochondrial membrane potential in the Mylabris phalerata treated cell lines was markedly lower than that in the control group. The measurement of DNA quantity in all cell lines showed the disappearance of the peak and the thickened left axis, which suggests that all cellular DNA degraded. Conclusion: Mylabris phalerata had cytotoxicity on various kinds of cancer cell lines and the mechanism of that was the impairment of mitochondria by the breakdown of the mitochondrial cell membrane. We propose that this is in part attributable to the destruction of DNA in cancer cells.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.299-307
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• 2003

The effects of additions/deletions in glycosylated residues of recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) produced in CHO-K1 on their secretion were examined. hEPO cDNA was amplified from human liver mRNA and cloned into the pCR2.1 TOPO. Using overlapping-extension site-directed mutagenesis method, glycosylation sites at 24th, 38th, 83rd, and 126th were respectively or accumulatively removed by substituting its asparagine (or serine) with glutamine. To add novel glycosylation sites, 69 and 105th leucine was mutated to asparagine. Mutant and wild type rhEPO constructs were cloned into the pcDNA3 expression vector with CMV promoter and transfected into CHO cell line, CHO-K1, to produce mutant rhEPO mutant rhEPO proteins. Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and Western analysis with monoclonal anti-EPO antibody were performed using supernatants of the cultures showing transient and stable expressions respectively. Addition of novel glycosylation reduced rhEPO secretion dramatically while deletion mutants had little effect except some double deletion mutants ($\Delta$24/83 and $\Delta$38/83) and triple mutant ($\Delta$24/38/83). This fact suggests that not single but combination of changes in glycosyl groups affect secretion of rhEPO in cell culture, possibly via changes in their conformations.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.287-294
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• 2014

The transcription factor E2F1 is active during G1 to S transition and is involved in the cell cycle and progression. A recent study reported that increased E2F1 is associated with DNA damage and tumor development in several tissues using transgenic models. Here, we show that E2F1 expression is regulated by tristetraprolin (TTP) in prostate cancer. Overexpression of TTP decreased the stability of E2F1 mRNA and the expression level of E2F1. In contrast, inhibition of TTP using siRNA increased the E2F1 expression. E2F1 mRNA contains three AREs within the 3'UTR, and TTP destabilized a luciferase mRNA that contained the E2F1 mRNA 3'UTR. Analyses of point mutants of the E2F1 mRNA 3'UTR demonstrated that ARE2 was mostly responsible for the TTP-mediated destabilization of E2F1 mRNA. RNA EMSA revealed that TTP binds directly to the E2F1 mRNA 3'UTR of ARE2. Moreover, treatment with siRNA against TTP increased the proliferation of PC3 human prostate cancer cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate that E2F1 mRNA is a physiological target of TTP and suggests that TTP controls proliferation as well as migration and invasion through the regulation of E2F1 mRNA stability.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1997

Unreduced (2n) gametes are meiotic products (pollen or egg) having a sporophytic (somatic) chromosome number, resulting from abnormalities during either microsporogenesis or megasporogenesis. They occur naturally at a low frequency in many plant species. Unreduced (2n) gametes in plants can be identified for four possible ways as follow i) pollen size and/or shape differences between haploid (n) and diploid (2n) pollen, ii) ploidy analysis (chromosome number) of progeny or meiotic analysis (presence of dyads andlor triads at the microspore stage), iii) progeny performance and fertility and iv) dosage of isozyme and DNA markers. Unreduced (2n) gametes can be an effective breeding tool in synthesizing new cultivars, providing a unique method to maximizing heterozygosity, i.e., transferring a large proportion of the non-additive genetic effects (intra- and inter- locus interactions) h m parent to offspring and can also be used to overcome infertility of interploidy crosses. Sexual polyploidization through 2n gametes has been a major route to the formation of naturally occurring polyploids. The three mechanisms of 2n pollen formation in potato have been discovered as follow: i) parallel spindles (ps) or tripolar spindles (ts), ii) premature cytokinesis (pc-I, pc-2) and iii) synaptic mutants (sy-2, sy-3, sy-4). Genetic analysis indicated that the mechanisms of 2n gamete formation were controlled by single recessive gene in potato, alfalfa, red clover, etc., and by two recessive genes in wheat. The use of 2n gametes which can efficiently transfer germplasm fiom wild relatives to cultivated species, especially fiom diploid to tetraploid could make a contribution to the improvement of germplasm base in breeding programs.