• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.477-483
• /
• 2016

Heat shock factors (Hsfs) are central regulators of abiotic stress responses, especially heat stress responses, in plants. In the current study, we characterized the activity of the Hsf gene HsfA3 in Arabidopsis under oxidative stress conditions. HsfA3 transcription in seedlings was induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS), exogenous hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$), and an endogenous $H_2O_2$ propagator, 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone (DBMIB). HsfA3-overexpressing transgenic plants exhibited increased oxidative stress tolerance compared to untransformed wild-type plants (WT), as revealed by changes in fresh weight, chlorophyll fluorescence, and ion leakage under light conditions. The expression of several genes encoding galactinol synthase (GolS), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs), which function as antioxidants in plant cells, was induced in HsfA3 overexpressors. In addition, galactinol levels were higher in HsfA3 overexpressors than in WT under unstressed conditions. In transient transactivation assays using Arabidopsis leaf protoplasts, HsfA3 activated the transcription of a reporter gene driven by the GolS1 or GolS2 promoter. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that GolS1 and GolS2 are directly regulated by HsfA3. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that GolS1 and GolS2 are directly regulated by HsfA3 and that GolS enzymes play an important role in improving oxidative stress tolerance by increasing galactinol biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.4827-4834
• /
• 2012

Tumor suppressor genes have received much attention for their roles in the development of human malignancies. Gelsolin has been found to be down-regulated in several types of human cancers, including leukemias. It is, however, expressed in macrophages, which are the final differentiation derivatives for the monocytic myeloid lineage, implicating this protein in the differentiation process of such cells. In order to investigate the role of gelsolin in leukaemic cell differentiation, stable clones over-expressing ectopic gelsolin, and a control clone were established from U937 leukaemia cells. Unlike the control cells, both gelsolin-overexpressing clones displayed retarded growth, improved monocytic morphology, increased NADPH and NSE activities, and enhanced surface expression of the ${\beta}$-integrin receptor, CD11b, when compared with the parental U937 cells. Interestingly, RT-PCR and western blot analysis also revealed that gelsolin enhanced p21CIP1 mRNA and protein expression in the overexpressing clones. Moreover, transient transfection with siRNA silencing P21CIP1, but not the control siRNA, resulted in a reduction in monocytic differentiation, accompanied by an increase in proliferation. In conclusion, our work demonstrates that gelsolin, by itself, is capable of inducing monocytic differentiation in U937 leukaemia cells, most probably through p21CIP1 activation.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.129-136
• /
• 2016

This study was performed to investigate whether an intra-articular injection of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) receptor agonist, resiniferatoxin (RTX) would alleviate behavioral signs of arthritic pain in a rat model of osteoarthritis (OA). We also sought to determine the effect of RTX treatment on calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) expression in the spinal cord. Knee joint inflammation was induced by intra-articular injection of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA, $8mg/50{\mu}l$) and weight bearing percentage on right and left hindpaws during walking, paw withdrawal threshold to mechanical stimulation, and paw withdrawal latency to heat were measured to evaluate pain behavior. Intra-articular administration of RTX (0.03, 0.003 and 0.0003%) at 2 weeks after the induction of knee joint inflammation significantly improved reduction of weight bearing on the ipsilateral hindlimb and increased paw withdrawal sensitivity to mechanical and heat stimuli. The reduction of pain behavior persisted for 3~10 days according to each behavioral test. The MIA-induced increase in CGRP immunoreactivity in the spinal cord was decreased by RTX treatment in a dose-dependent manner. The present study demonstrated that a single intra-articular administration of RTX reduced pain behaviors for a relatively long time in an experimental model of OA and could normalize OA-associated changes in peptide expression in the spinal cord.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.1405-1410
• /
• 2005

Asthma is recognized today as an inflammatory disease of the lung characterized by acute non-specific airway hypersensitiveness in association with chronic pulmonary inflammation. Gamijihwang-tang(GJT), a fortified prescription of YMJHT, is applied for the treatments of chronic coughing and asthma, and post-delivery coughing and asthma in the gynecology. Also in the clinical practice, GJT is known to be very effective for controlling coughing and asthma as a cold sequoia. In this study, we investigated the effects of GJT on the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) production, and on the level of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and Cyclooxygenase-2 expression in murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. We found that GJT inhibited LPS-induced NO and $PGE_2$ production in a dose dependent manner. Furthermore, GJT inhibited the expression of LPS-induced iNOS and COX-2 protein and mRNA expression in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Treatment with GJT of RAW 264.7 cells transfected with a reporter construct indicated a reduced level of LPS-induced nuclear factor-KB (NF-kB) activity and effectively lowered NF-kB binding as measured by transient transfection assay. These results suggest that the main inhibitory mechanism of the GJT may be the reduction of iNOS and COX-2 gene expression through blocking of NF-kB activation.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.17 no.2 s.82
• /
• pp.167-173
• /
• 2007

To study the transcriptional mechanisms by which expression of the murine glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor inducible transcription factor (mGIF) gene is regulated, a murine genomic clone was iso-lated using a mGIF cDNA as probe. A 13-kb genomic fragment, which comprises 4-kb upstream of the transcription initiation site was sequenced. The promoter region lacks a TATA box and CAAT box, is rich in G+C content, and has multiple putative binding sites for the transcription factor Spl. The mGIF gene also has consensus sequences for AP2 binding sites. The transcriptional activity of five deletion mutants of a 2.1-kb fragment was analyzed by modulating transcription of the heterologous luciferase gene in the promoterless plasmid pGL2-Basic. All mutants showed significant transcriptional activity in the murine neuroblastoma cell line NB41A3. Transient expression assays suggested the presence of a positive regulator between -213 and -129 while a negative regulator was found in the region between -806 and -214. Relatively strong transcriptional activity was observed in neuronal NB41A3, glial C6 cells and hepatic HepG2, but very weak activity in skeletal muscle C2C12 cells. These findings confirm the tissue-specific activity of the mGIF promoter and suggest that this gene shares structural and functional similarities with the dopamine receptor genes that it regulates.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.267-274
• /
• 1998

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has the ability to activate the expression of many viral and cellular genes. Among various viral proteins, the immediate early proteins (IE1-72kDa, IE2-86kDa) have been known to be potent transactivators. The product of c-jun proto-oncogene is important in cell activation and differentiation. Here, we tried to find out if the IE could activate the c-jun promoter and also tried to identify the responsible sequence elements in the c-jun activation by IE1-72kDa. We found HCMV IE expression transactivated the c-jun promoter in human embryonal lung fibroblasts (HEL). The activation fold by IE1-72kDa, IE2-86kDa and IE2-55kDa was 23, 35, and 5, respectively. When the expression of each IE was combined, it showed synergism. Expression of (IE1-72kDa + IE2-86kDa) and (IE1-72kDa + IE2-86kDa + IE2-55kDa) resulted in 131 and 162 fold increase, respectively. The c-jun promoter region between -117 and -59 contains binding sites for the transcription factors Spl, CAAT, AP-l like (ATF/CREB), and MEF2. Transient expression assays were performed using various reporter plasmids containing the c-jun promoter-regulatory region linked to the luciferase gene and a plasmid expressing HCMV IE1 gene. Deletional and point mutational analysis showed that the sequence between -225 to -160 and the CTF binding site were involved in the up-regulation of c-jun promoter.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.309-314
• /
• 1994

To develop simple and efficient transformation methods of monocotyledonous plane, electroporation-mediated delivery of DNA into intact embryogenic cell clumps was investigated in zoysiagrass and rice. Calli of zoysiagrass, induced from 3-week-old immature embryos, were suspension-cultured in MS basic medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/t 2.4-D and used for elechuporation. Calli, derived from immature inflorescences of 20 mm lenth of rice, were also suspension-cultured on N6 basic medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L 2.4-D. Suspension-cultured embryogenic cell clumps were electroporated in liqid MS medium added with a Plasmid DNA (30 $\mu\textrm{m}$/ml), pGA1074, encoding ${\beta}$-glucuronidiase (GUS). DNA delivery into the cells through cell walls and cell membrane was confirmed by the transient expression of the GUS gene. Cell clumps of zoysiagrass and rice, electroporated with 400 volt at 800 pF capacitance, expressed GUS gene activity at a mean frequency of 25 units (one unit = one clony of blue cells) per 200 ${\mu}\ell$ of packed cell volume. Untreated cells and healed non-embryogenic cells did not exhibit GUS activity These results indicate that electroporation-mediated transformation can use intact embryogenic cells (thus avoiding the use protoplasts) in zoysiagrass and rice.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.163-168
• /
• 2003

A routine system based on particle bombardment of embryogenic callus for recovery of fertile transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants was developed. Embryogenic callus was established within 2-3 months from calli derived from mature seeds of Korean rice cultivar, Nagdongbyeo. The callus was bombarded with the plasmid pRQ6 containing the $\beta$-glucuronidase gene (gusA) and hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hph, conferring resistance to hygromycin B), both driven by CaMV 35S promoter. Placement of cells on an osmoticum-containing medium (0.2 M sorbitol and 0.2 M mannitol) 4 hrs prior to and 16 hrs after bombardment resulted in a statistically significant increase with 3.2-fold in transient expression frequency gusA. In five independent experiments, the average frequency of transformation showing GUS activities was $8.86\%$. A large number of morphologically normal, fertile transgenic rice plants were obtained. Integration of foreign gene into the genome of $R_0$ transgenic plants was confirmed by Southern blot analysis. GUS and HPT were detected in $R_1$ progeny and Mendelian segregation of these genes was observed in $R_1$ progeny.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.267-271
• /
• 2004

Transformed sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. cv. Yulmi) plants were developed from embryogenic calli following Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. A. tumefaciens strain EHA105/pCAMBIA2301 harboring genes for intron $\beta$-glucuronidase (GUS) and kanamycin resistance. Transient expression of GUS gene was found to be higher when embryogenic calli were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium for 2 days. The co-cultured embryogenic calli transferred to selective MS medium containing 1mg/L 2,4-D, 100mg/L kanamycin, and 400mg/L claforan. These embryogenic calli were subcultured to the same selection medium at 4 weeks interval. Kanamycin-resistant calli transferred to hormone-free MS medium with kanamycin gave rise to somatic embryos and then converted into plantlets in the same medium. Southern blot analysis confirmed that the GUS gene was inserted into the genome of the sweetpotato plants. A histochemical assay revealed that the GUS gene was preferentially expressed in the leaf, petiole, and vascular tissue and tip of root.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.260-264
• /
• 1996

Process of particle bombardment for efficient transformation of Cymbidium virescence rhizome microcross sections was investigated using Biolistic particle delivery system with pBI121 harboring the ${\beta}-glucuronidase$(GUS) and the neomycin phosphotransferaseII(nptII). The best result was obtained from the combination of $1.11{\;}{\mu}m$ tungsten particles coated with pBl121, $77.33kg/cm^2$ helium pressure, 6.35 mm gap distance, and 7.0 cm target distance. Transient expression of the reporter gene, GUS, bombarded into the rhizome microsections was observed by the histochemical assay. The marker gene, nptII, delivered by bombarding the tungsten particles coated with the plasmid DNA was identified in the transformed rhizome by polymerase chain reaction.