• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5343-5348
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• 2015

Promoter hypermethylation of the runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) gene is associated with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Oxidative stress plays a vital role in both carcinogenesis and progression of HCC. However, whether oxidative stress and RUNX3 hypermethylation in HCC have a cause-and-effect relationship is not known. In this study, plasma protein carbonyl and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated HCC (n=60) and age-matched healthy subjects (n=80) was determined. RUNX3 methylation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of subjects was measured by methylation-specific PCR. Effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on induction of RUNX3 hypermethylation in HCC cells was investigated. Plasma protein carbonyl content was significantly higher, whereas plasma TAC was significantly lower, in HCC patients than healthy controls. Based on logistic regression, increased plasma protein carbonyl and decreased plasma TAC were independently associated with increased risk for HCC. PBMC RUNX3 methylation in the patient group was significantly greater than in the healthy group. RUNX3 methylation in hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-treated HepG2 cells was significantly higher than in untreated control cells. In conclusion, increase in oxidative stress in Thai patients with HBV-associated HCC was demonstrated. This oxidative increment was independently associated with an increased risk for HCC development. RUNX3 in PBMC was found to be hypermethylated in the HCC patients. In vitro, RUNX3 hypermethylation was experimentally induced by $H_2O_2$. Our findings suggest that oxidative stress is a cause of RUNX3 promoter hypermethylation in HCC cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.70-79
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• 2014

In an attempt to develop a variety of expression vector systems for Corynebacterium glutamicum, six types of promoters, including $P_{tac}$, $P_{sod}$, $P_{sod}$ with a conserved Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence from C. glutamicum, $P_{ilvC}$, $P_{ilvC}$ with a conserved SD-1 ($P_{ilvC-M1}$), and $P_{ilvC}$ with a conserved SD-2 ($P_{ilvC-M2}$), were cloned into a modified shuttle vector, pCXM48. According to analysis of promoter strength by quantitative reverse transcription PCR, $P_{sod}$ and $P_{sod-M}$ were superior to tac and ilvC promoters in terms of transcription activity in C. glutamicum. All of the promoters have promoter activities in Escherichia coli, and $P_{sod-M}$ displayed the highest level of transcriptional activity. The protein expression in constructed vectors was evaluated by measuring the fluorescence of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and SDS-PAGE. C. glutamicum harboring plasmids showed GFP fluorescence with an order of activity of $P_{ilvC}$ > $P_{ilvC-M1}$ > $P_{sod}$ > $P_{ilvC-M2}$ > $P_{sod-M}$, whereas all plasmids except pCSP30 with $P_{sod}$ displayed fluorescence activities in E. coli. Of them, the strongest level of GFP was observed in E. coli with $P_{sod-M}$, and this seems to be due to the introduction of the conserved SD sequence in the translational initiation region. These results demonstrate that the expression vectors work well in both C. glutamicum and E. coli for the expression of target proteins. In addition, the vector systems harboring various promoters with different strengths, conserved SD sequences, and multiple cloning sites will provide a comfortable method for cloning and gene expression, and consequently contribute to the metabolic engineering of C. glutamicum.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 1991

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) causes a deadly infectious disease, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (ADIS). As a first step to develop a reliable and fast diagnostic procedure for HIV-1 infection, we cloned various immunodominant epitopes of HIV-1 in bacterial expression vectors containing tac or trp promoter. While the protein level of direct expression of gp160 was low, trp E fused gp120, gp41 and p17-p24 were produced at high levels (15-30% of total bacterial proteins) in E. coli. Since gp120 and gp41 contain relatively conserved regions which can react with antibodies in the plasma from most of HIV-1 infected individuals, these expression clones were used for large preparations of HIV-1 antigens.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 1989

To reduce the size of 5.0kb HindIII fragment containing $\beta$-xylosidase gene, the 5.0kb insert of pAX278 which was previously cloned was reduced by various deletions and thus 1.4kb EcoRI-Xbal fragment was subcloned into pUC19, and the recombinant plasmid was named pAK208. The $\beta$-xylosidase acnivity of E. coli harboring pAK208 was higher about 1.3times than that of pAX278. For the improvement of $\beta$-xylosidase activity, we cloned and expressed the $\beta$-xylosidase gene in E. coli using vector pKK223-3 containing a potent tac-promoter, and enzyme activity of the transformant harboring pKHR212 was increased about 3.3 and 1.8 times than that of E. coli(pAX278) and Bacillus sp. K-17, respectively. To obtain better expression of $\beta$-xylosidase gene, the whole 5.0kb HineIII fragment was recloned into pC194, and the Bacillus sp. K-17 transformant harbor-ing the recombinant plasmid pCX174 showed higher activity than that of the E. coli (pAX278) and Bacillus sp. K-17, respectively. The characteristics of enzyme purified from transformants were consistent with those front alkalophilic Bacillus sp, K-17.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.233-238
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• 2009

The expression of Corynebacterium ammoniagenes purF was analyzed by utilizing a plasmid carrying a cat gene fused to the purF promoter region. Adenine and guanine repressed the expression of the purF gene by 20~30% but hypoxanthine did not exert such repressive effect. The expression purF was maximal at the late log phase and remained constant throughout the stationary phase. Promoter $P_{180}$ which was developed in C. glutamicum was also functional in C. ammoniagenes, achieving maximal activity at the late log phase. The promoter outperformed Escherichia coli $P_{tac}$ promoter by 40~50% level. DNA-affinity purification identified a protein which could bind to the promoter region of the purF gene. The protein showed high similarity to the CRP-family transcriptional regulator encoded by NCgl0120 in C. glutamicum. The size of the screened protein agreed with the expected protein size from the ORF NCgl0120. The corresponding gene in C. ammoniagenes encoded a 42 kDa polypeptide composed of 400 amino acids with expected pI of 4.9. The encoded protein showed 14.1% and 15.8% identity with E. coli and Bacillus subtilis PurR, respectively, suggesting that the isolated protein might be a novel type of regulatory protein involved in the regulation of purine metabolism.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.396-401
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• 1987

Protein productivities of a cloned gene ($\beta$-galactosidase) and the cultural performances of two recombinant Escherichia coli strains, which use different host-vector systems, were studied. E. coli JM109/pTBG10 strain which carries Tac promoter had higher protein productivity than E. coli MH3000 (pRKc1857)/pASI(lacZ) strain which carries pL promoter. Induction of protein syn-thesis was optimum at the initial-and mid-logarithmic growth phases for both strains. Oxygen demand was observed to be very high during the cloned gene expression, and could be alleviated to some extent through pH control. The ratio of specific growth rates of plasmid-harboring to plasmidfree cell, $\mu$+ /$\mu$-, of the high productivity strain was observed to be lower than that of the low productivity one. Plasmid stability was analyzed for 20-30 generations, and it was found that the traction of plasmid-harboring cells dropped to l0% level in about 25 generations for both strains when the cloned gene expression was induced.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 1995

We have previously reported that SPP2 gene product of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is involved in the pre-mRNA splicing. To investigate the rol ein the splicing pathway of the Spp2p protein, the SPP2 gene was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and polyclonal antibodies to Spp2p were generated from rabbits. First, a DNA fragment containing the SPP2 GENE without its promoter was subcloned into an E. coli expression vector, pKK233-3. The resulting recombinant plasmid pBQ14 contained an IPTG inducible tac promoter and the SPP2 structural gene. Overexpression of the SPP2 gene was achieved by additionof 0.1 to 1.0 mM IPTG to a logarithmic culture of E. coli JM103(pBQ14) for 90 min at 37.deg.C. Sequence of N-terminal 15 amino acids of the overproduced protein was well matched to the deduced one from the SPP2 reading frame. Then, polyclonal antibodies were generated from rabbits immunized with gel-purified SppSp protein. These antibodies reacted specifically with the Spp2p protein extracted from yeast cells expressing the SPP2 gene to a great extent. The antibodies could also block the activity of yeast splicing extracts.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 1999

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was crosslinked in the melt state to enhance wear resistance, Dicumyl peroxide (DCP) and triallyl cyanurate (TAC) was used as a crosslinking agent and a promoter, respectively. With increasing amount of DCP and TAC used, gel content of crosslinked UHMWPE (XUMPE) increased, while the melting temperature, crystallizaiton temperature, crystallinity, and tensile properties decreased. The results of pin-on-disk wear test and ball-on-disk test with small applied load showed reduced wear volumes of XUMPE from that of the unmodified UHMWPE. As the wear mechanism effected in the experimental condition of this study was thought to be deformation rather than adhesion or fatigue, a new parameter, the ratio of maximum contact stress to yield stress, was proposed to correlate well with observed wear resistance. In ball-on-disk wear test with larger applied load, XUMPE showed higher wear volumes than that of the unmodified UHMWPE which were accompanied with increased friction coefficients and surface roughness of the wear tracks. When contact stress was well above yield stress, the failure of XUMPE, as well as deformation, was thought to be much accelerated.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.165-170
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• 1995

The 356 amino acid long lambda integrase protein of bacteriophage .lambda. constains two autonomous DNA binding domains with distinct sequence specificities. The amino terminal domain of integrase is implicated to bind to the arm-type sequences and the carboxyl domain interacts with the coretype sequencess. As a first step to understand the molecular mechanism of the integrase-DNA interaction at the arm-type site, the int(am)94 gene carrying an amber mutation at the 94th codon of the int was cloned under the control of the P$\_$tac/ promoter and the lacI$\_$q/ gene. The Int(am)94 mutant protein of amino terminal 93 amino acid residues can be produced at high level from a suppressor free strain harboring the plasmid pInt(am)94. The arm-type binding activity of Int(am)94 were measured in vivo and in vitro. A comparison of the arm-type binding properties of the wild-type integrase and the truncated Int(am)94 mutant indicated that the truncated fragment containing 93 amino acid residues carry all the determinants for DNA binding at the arm-type sites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.266-266
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• 1994

$B^{30}$ 위치에 homoserine이 치환된 사람 insulin 유사체 ($B^{30}$ -homoserine) insulin을 생산하기 위해, insulin의 B 사슬 유전자에 A 사슬 유전자를 직접 연결한 insulin 유전자를 설계하였다. 이 유전자는 10개의 oligonucleotide로 나누어 합성하여 T4 DNA ligase로 결합시킨 후, pUC19 plasmi의 polylinker 영역에 삽입하였다. 이 유전자의 발현을 높이기 위해 이 유전자는 다시 tac promoter의 지배를 받는 lacZ 유전자의 Cia I 또는 Hpa I 제한부위에 도입하여 융합시켰다. 이렇게 구축된 운반체 pTBA나 pKBA를 Escherichia coli JM103 균주에 형질도입시킨 후, 이를 4시간 배양한 후 0.05mM이상의 isopropyl-$\beta$-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)를 배지에 공급해 주고 2시간 더 배양하였을 때 유전자 발현이 잘 유도되어짐을 알 수 있었다. 이 때 생산된 insulin 전구체들은 세포내 불온성인 inclusion body로 축적되어지는 것을 관찰하였으며, 그 생산량은 세포내 전체 단백질량의 30%에 달하였다.