• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.536-547
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• 2008

Anthocyanidin synthase (ANS, leucoanthocyanidin oxygenase), a 2-oxoglutarate iron-dependent oxygenase, catalyzed the penultimate step in the biosynthesis of the anthocyanin class of flavonoids, from the colorless leucoanthocyanidins to the colored anthocyanidins. The full-length cDNA and genomic DNA sequences of ANS gene (designated as GbANS) were isolated from Ginkgo biloba for the first time. The full-length cDNA of GbANS contained a 1062-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 354-amino-acid protein. The genomic DNA analysis showed that GbANS gene had three exons and two introns. The deduced GbANS protein showed high identities to other plant ANSs. The conserved amino acids (H-X-D) ligating ferrous iron and residues (R-X-S) participating in 2-oxoglutarate binding were found in GbANS at the similar positions like other ANSs. Southern blot analysis indicated that GbANS belonged to a multi-gene family. The expression analysis by real-time PCR showed that GbANS expressed in a tissue-specific manner in G. biloba. GbANS was also found to be up-regulated by all of the six tested abiotic stresses, UV-B, abscisic acid, sucrose, salicylic acid, cold and ethylene, consistent with the promoter region analysis of GbANS. The recombinant protein was successfully expressed in E. coli strain with pET-28a vector. The in vitro enzyme activity assay by HPLC indicated that recombinant GbANS protein could catalyze the formation the cyanidin from leucocyanidin and conversion of dihydroquercetin to quercetin, suggesting GbANS is a bifunctional enzyme within the anthocyanidin and flavonol biosynthetic pathway.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.1 s.68
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• pp.61-65
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• 2005

Using two japonica rice cultivars (Ilpumbyeo and Sanghaehyanghyella), which are distinguishable by the brown planthopper (BHP) resistance maker (R208), a relationship between the BPH resistance gene (Os-Bil) and salt-tolerance was investigated. To do this, changes in the expression level of Os-Bil by the salt stress were quantified by the real-time PCR in the two cultivars, and compared with those in other two indica rice cultivars (Pokkali and IR29). In Ilpumbyeo, the expression level of Os-Bil decreased by the treatments of 50 and 200 mM NaCl in a concentration-dependent manner, and in Sanghaehyanghyella it rather increased slightly at 50 mM but decreased drastically at 200 mM. Comparably, IR29, a salt-sensitive cultivar, showed a reduction of the Os-Bil gene expression after the treatment of 100 mM NaCl, but Pokkali, a salt-tolerance cultivar, rather increased about two times in the level of Os-Bil transcripts. These results suggest that the BPH resistance gene may involve in the difference in the salt-tolerance at least between the two indica rice cultivars.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2012

We previously reported that the novel isoflavone-free peptide mixture (black soybean peptide, BSP) had several beneficial effects like antiobesity and hypotriglyceridemic effect. However, there are no reports for BSP on anti-hypertensive activity. BSP induced heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in HUVECs, thus investigated the HO-1-induced activity in HUVECs and the anti-hypertensive effects in SHR animal model. BSP significantly induced HO-1 expression both at transcriptional and protein levels in a time- and dose-dependent manner as measured by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. These inductions were abolished by pretreatment of N-acetyl-cystein (NAC, 1~10 mM), but not by employing Tempol, a superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic (1~5 mM). As expected, enzymatic activity (~2 fold) determined by bilirubin formation assay and cGMP concentration (~6 fold) were significantly increased in BSP-treated cells. Based on the numerous evidences on the beneficial effects of HO-1 and our results, we investigated in vivo effects of BSP on the antihypertensive activity. The administration of BSP (1% in drinking water) significantly decreased mean blood pressure (BP) (from $218.6{\pm}6.99$ to $190.0{\pm}3.42$ mm Hg, p<0.01). This result indicates that BSP is strong inducer of HO-1 expression, which may be triggered by oxidative stress, and has anti-hypertensive activity.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.265-272
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• 2020

The body odor as well as the skin changes has become an important issue. Humans leave respective specific odors dependent on sex and age; The odor has been known to affect social relationship of human. In this study, we wanted to confirm the possibility as parameters to evaluate body odor into existing odor evaluation methods by experts. The 15 subjects, aged from 50 to 61 years wore cotton t-shirts for 72 hours and collected body odor. The cotton t-shirts containing body odor were used for sensory evaluation and EEG measurement by the odor experts. In order to evaluate body odors of each subject, an odor sensory evaluation and electroencephalogram (EEG) were conducted by odor exports and the correlation in between two assessments was analyzed. Pearson correlation analysis shows negative correlation of the sensory evaluation versus 'Excitement' in EEG parameter (r = - 0.649, p = 0.009) and positive correlation of the sensory evaluation versus 'Stress' in EEG parameter (r = 0.704, p = 0.003). In conclusion, it is considered that the evaluation of body odor through EEG measurement can be used as a method to complement the odor evaluation by experts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2017

Plant genomes include heterochromatic loci that consist of repetitive sequences and transposable elements. LTR retrotransposon is the major class of transposons in advanced plants in terms of proportion in plant genome. The elements contribute not only to genome size but also to genome stability and gene expression. A number of cases have been reported transposon insertions near genic regions affect crop traits such as fruit pigments, stress tolerance, and yields. Functional LTR retrotransposons produce extrachromosomal DNA from genomic RNA by reverse transcription that takes place within virus-like-particles (VLPs). DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) plays important roles in maintaining DNA methylation of heterochromatin affecting all sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH. Previous studies showed that ddm1 mutant exhibits massive transcription of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis, but only few of them were able to create new insertions into the genome. RNA-dependent RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) is known to function in restricting accumulation of transposon RNA by processing the transcripts into 21-22 nt epigenetically activated small interfering RNA (easiRNA). We purified VLPs and sequence cDNA to identify functional LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 plants. Over 20 LTR copia and gypsy families were detected in ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 sequencing libraries and most of them were not reported for mobility. In ddm1rdr6, short fragments of ATHILA gypsy elements were detected. It suggests easiRNAs might regulate reverse transcription steps. The highest enriched element among transposon loci was previously characterized EVADE element. It has been reported that active EVADE element is more efficiently silenced through female germline than male germline. By genetic analyses, we found ddm1 and rdr6 mutation affect maternal silencing of active EVADE elements. DDM1-GFP protein accumulated in megaspore mother cell but was not found in mature egg cell. The fusion protein was also found in early embryo and maternal DDM1-GFP allele was more dominantly expressed in the embryo. We observed localization of DDM1-GFP in Arabidopsis and DDM1-YFP in maize and found the proteins accumulated in dividing zone of root tips. Currently we are looking at cell cycle dependency of DDM1 expression using maize system. Among 10 AGO proteins in Arabidopsis, AGO9 is specifically expressed in egg cell and shoot meristematic cells. In addition, mutation of AGO9 and RDR6 caused failure in maternal silencing, implying 21-22 nt easiRNA pathway is important for retrotransposon silencing in female gametophyte or/and early embryo. On the other hand, canonical 24 nt sRNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathways did not contribute to maternal silencing as confirmed by this study. Heat-activated LTR retrotransposon, ONSEN, was not silenced by DDM1 but the silencing mechanisms require RdDM pathways in somatic cells. We will propose distinct mechanisms of LTR retrotransposons in germline and somatic stages.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2017

Plant genomes include heterochromatic loci that consist of repetitive sequences and transposable elements. LTR retrotransposon is the major class of transposons in advanced plants in terms of proportion in plant genome. The elements contribute not only to genome size but also to genome stability and gene expression. A number of cases have been reported transposon insertions near genic regions affect crop traits such as fruit pigments, stress tolerance, and yields. Functional LTR retrotransposons produce extrachromosomal DNA from genomic RNA by reverse transcription that takes place within virus-like-particles (VLPs). DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) plays important roles in maintaining DNA methylation of heterochromatin affecting all sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH. Previous studies showed that ddm1 mutant exhibits massive transcription of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis, but only few of them were able to create new insertions into the genome. RNA-dependent RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) is known to function in restricting accumulation of transposon RNA by processing the transcripts into 21-22 nt epigenetically activated small interfering RNA (easiRNA). We purified VLPs and sequence cDNA to identify functional LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 plants. Over 20 LTR copia and gypsy families were detected in ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 sequencing libraries and most of them were not reported for mobility. In ddm1rdr6, short fragments of ATHILA gypsy elements were detected. It suggests easiRNAs might regulate reverse transcription steps. The highest enriched element among transposon loci was previously characterized EVADE element. It has been reported that active EVADE element is more efficiently silenced through female germline than male germline. By genetic analyses, we found ddm1 and rdr6 mutation affect maternal silencing of active EVADE elements. DDM1-GFP protein accumulated in megaspore mother cell but was not found in mature egg cell. The fusion protein was also found in early embryo and maternal DDM1-GFP allele was more dominantly expressed in the embryo. We observed localization of DDM1-GFP in Arabidopsis and DDM1-YFP in maize and found the proteins accumulated in dividing zone of root tips. Currently we are looking at cell cycle dependency of DDM1 expression using maize system. Among 10 AGO proteins in Arabidopsis, AGO9 is specifically expressed in egg cell and shoot meristematic cells. In addition, mutation of AGO9 and RDR6 caused failure in maternal silencing, implying 21-22 nt easiRNA pathway is important for retrotransposon silencing in female gametophyte or/and early embryo. On the other hand, canonical 24 nt sRNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathways did not contribute to maternal silencing as confirmed by this study. Heat-activated LTR retrotransposon, ONSEN, was not silenced by DDM1 but the silencing mechanisms require RdDM pathways in somatic cells. We will propose distinct mechanisms of LTR retrotransposons in germline and somatic stages.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.141-141
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• 2017

The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway is the major regulatory mechanism in a number of cellular processes for selective degradation of proteins and involves three steps: (1) ATP dependent activation of ubiquitin by E1 enzyme, (2) transfer of activated ubiquitin to E2 and (3) transfer of ubiquitin to the protein to be degraded by E3 complex. F-box proteins are subunit of SCF complex and involved in specificity for a target substrate to be degraded. F-box proteins regulate many important biological processes such as embryogenesis, floral development, plant growth and development, biotic and abiotic stress, hormonal responses and senescence. However, little is known about the F-box genes in wheat. The draft genome sequence of wheat (IWGSC Reference Sequence v1.0 assembly) used to analysis a genome-wide survey of the F-box gene family in wheat. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) profiles of F-box (PF00646), F-box-like (PF12937), F-box-like 2 (PF13013), FBA (PF04300), FBA_1 (PF07734), FBA_2 (PF07735), FBA_3 (PF08268) and FBD (PF08387) domains were downloaded from Pfam database were searched against IWGSC Reference Sequence v1.0 assembly. RNA-seq paired-end libraries from different stages of wheat, such as stages of seedling, tillering, booting, day after flowering (DAF) 1, DAF 10, DAF 20, and DAF 30 were conducted and sequenced by Illumina HiSeq2000 for expression analysis of F-box protein genes. Basic analysis including Hisat, HTseq, DEseq, gene ontology analysis and KEGG mapping were conducted for differentially expressed gene analysis and their annotation mappings of DEGs from various stages. About 950 F-box domain proteins identified by Pfam were mapped to wheat reference genome sequence by blastX (e-value < 0.05). Among them, more than 140 putative F-box protein genes were selected by fold changes cut-offs of > 2, significance p-value < 0.01, and FDR<0.01. Expression profiling of selected F-box protein genes were shown by heatmap analysis, and average linkage and squared Euclidean distance of putative 144 F-box protein genes by expression patterns were calculated for clustering analysis. This work may provide valuable and basic information for further investigation of protein degradation mechanism by ubiquitin proteasome system using F-box proteins during wheat development stages.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.275-285
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• 2001

The pulmonary alveolar macrophage is thought to play an important role in the mediation of acute inflammatory lung injury by secretory products including degraded enzymes, cytokines, and reactive oxygen metabolites . This study was conceived to understand the role of alveolar macrophage in oxidative stress induced acute lung injury. To examine the alveolar macrophages and xanthine oxidase (XO) activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), time-dependent changes of numbers of alveolar macrophages, monocytes and neutrophils in alveolar cavity were counted in association with ultrastructural and cytochemical observations of lung tissue and alveolar cells. The number of monocytes was increased (p<0.001) at 1h after IL-1 treatment compared with that of sham. At 2h after instillation of IL-1, the number of alveolar macrophages was the highest, XO activity in BALF was elevated at 2h after IL-1 instillation and the activity was markedly elevated(p<0.05) at 3h after IL-1 treatment. On the basis of these experimental results, it is suggested that, during early phase of acute lung injury induced by IL-1, alveolar macrophage-derived XO contributes to lung injury earlier than the neutrophilic respiratory burst.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.528-535
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• 2004

Ultrasonic Vibrator is designed to achieve the maximum vibration amplitude at 30 kHz by in-cluding a horn (diameter, 40 mm), mechanical vibration amplifier at the top of the ultrasonic vibrator in the system and making the complete system resonate. In addition, it is experimentally visualized by particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) that the acoustic streaming velocity in the gap is at maximum when the gap between the ultrasonic vibrator and stationary plate agrees with the multiples of half-wavelength of the ultrasonic wave. This fact results from the resonance of the sound wave and the theoretical analysis of that is also accomplished and verified by experiment. It is observed that the magnitude of the acoustic streaming dependent upon the gap between the ultrasonic vibrator and stationary plate possibly changes due to the measurement of the average velocity fields of the acoustic streaming induced by the ultrasonic vibration at resonance and non-resonance. There exists extremely small average velocity at non-resonant gaps while the relatively large average velocity exists at resonant gaps compared with non-resonant gaps. It also reveals that there should be larger axial turbulent intensity at the hub region of the vibrator and at the edge of it in the resonant gap where the air streaming velocity is maximized and the flow phenomena is conspicuous than that at the other region. Because the variation of the acoustic streaming velocity at resonant gap is more distinctive than that at non-resonant gap, shear stress increases more in the resonant gap and is also maximized at the center region of the vibrator except the local position of center (r〓0). At the non-resonant gap there should be low values of vorticity distribution, but in contrast to the non-resonant gap, high and negative values of it exist at the center region of the vibrator with respect to the radial direction and in the vicinity of the middle region with respect to the axial direction. Acoustic streaming is noise-free due to the ultrasonic vibration and maintenance-free because of the absence of moving parts. Moreover, the proposed method by acoustic streaming can be utilized to the nano and micro-electro mechanical systems as a driving mechanism in addition to the augmentation of the streaming velocity.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2006

Among poly aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxin and PCBs are the most controversial environmental pollutants in our modern life. These pollutants are known as human carcinogens, and liver is the most sensitive target in animal cancer models. Specific aims of the study were focused on the mechanism of carcinogenesis in hepatocytes and the structure-activity relation among these diverse environmental chemicals. Because key mechanisms of dioxin-induced carcinogenesis in human epithelial cell model are the alteration of signal transduction pathway and PKC isoforms, the alteration of the signal transduction pathways and other factors associated with carcinogenesis were studied. Rat hepatocytes cultured under the sandwich protocols were exposed with the various concentration of dioxins and PCBs, and signal transduction pathway, protein kinase C isoforms, oxidant stress, and apoptotic nuclei were evaluated. Since it is important to understand the structure-activity relation among these chemicals to properly assess the carcinogenic potentials, the study analyzed the parameters associated with carcinogenic processes, based on their structural characteristics. In addition, signal transduction pathways and PKC isoforms involved in inhibition of UV-induced apoptosis were also analyzed to elaborate the tumor promotion mechanism of these chemicals. Induction of apoptosis by UV irradiation was optimal at $60\;J/m^2$ in primary hepatocyte in culture. Compared to non coplanar PCBs such as PCB 114 and PCB 153, coplanar PCBs such as PCB 77 and PCB126 showed a stronger inhibition of apoptosis induced by UV irradiation. Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was more stimulated by non-coplanar PCBs than coplanar PCBs with the most potent induction of ROS by chlorinated non-coplanar PCB. As compared to the level of induction by PCB126, non-coplanar PCB153 showed a higher increase of intracellular concentrations. Besides the alteration of intracellular calcium concentration, translocation of PKC from cytosolic fraction to membrane fraction was clearly observed upon the exposure of non-coplanar PCB. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that there is a potent structure-activity relationship among PCB congeners and the mechanism of PAH-induced carcinogenesis is structure-specific. The study suggested that more diverse pathways of PAH-induced carcinogenesis should be taken into account beyond the boundary of Ah receptor dogma to assess the health impact of PAH with more accuracy.