• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2002.05b
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• pp.209-212
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• 2002

The heavy use of petroleum products in modern livings has brought ubiquitous environmental contaminants of aromatic compounds, which persist in aquatic and geo-environment without the substantial degradation. The persistence and accumulation of the aromatic compounds, which include xylene, phenol, toluene, phthalate, and so on are known to cause serious problems in our environments. Some of soil and aquatic microorganisms facilitate their growth by degrading aromatic compounds and utilizing degrading products as growth substrates, the biodegradation helps the reentry of carbons of aromatic compounds, preventing their accumulation in our environments. The metabolic studies on the degradation of aromatic compounds by microoganlsms were extensively carried out along with their genetic studies. A Rhodococcus sp. isolated in activated sludges has shown the excellent ability to grow on phenol as a sole carbon source. In the present study investigated a gene encoding phenol-degrading enzymes from a Rhodococcus sp.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-34
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• 1998

The N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG), a ubiquitous DNA repair enzyme, removes N-methylpurine and other damaged purines induced in DNA. Tissue-specific mRNA levels of the N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG) were investigated in Balb/c mice of four different growing stages; newborn, 1, 4 and 8-weeks postpartum. MPG expressions in the newborn and the 8-week-old mice were the highest in thymus and testis, respectively. The tested tissues of the newborn mice had consistently higher MPG mRNA level than 8-week-old adults except in testis and thymus. The MPG mRNA level in testis was the lowest in the newborn mice, but it attained the highest in the 8-week-old mice. The levels of MPG mRNA among the different tissues in the newborn and the 8-week-old mice were more than 9.0 and 19.0-fold respectively. These results suggest that the of MPG expression was dependent on the growing stage and had tissue-specificity.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.343-348
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• 2007

Starch contents play important roles in determining the fruit quality. Stawberry accumulates starch in the early stages and then mobilized into soluble sugars during fruit ripening. To date the molecular studies on the ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), a key enzyme of starch biosynthesis, were not reported. cDNAs encoding small (FagpS) and large (FagpL1 and FaspL2) AGPase subunits were isolated from strawberry (Fragaria ${\times}$ ananassa Duch. cv. Niyobou). Both FagpS and FagpL1 cDNAs have open reading frames deriving 55-58 kDa polypeptides, where FagpL2 contains a partial fragment. Sequence analyses showed that FagpS has a glutamate-threonine-cysteine-leucine (ETCL) instead of a glutamine-threonine-cysteine-leucine (QTCL) motif found in all the dicot plants except for Citrus. In fruits, FagpS and FagpL1 were expressed in all stages with a little change in the amounts of transcripts. In the case of FagpL2, we were not able to detect any signal from all stages of fruit development and all tissues except for very a weak signal from the leaf. The results indicate that FagpL1 and FagpL2 show ubiquitous and leaf-specific expression patterns, respectively. The studies suggest that the starch contents in strawberry might be controlled by the expression of AGPase gene at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels during fruit development.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.11
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• pp.609-617
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• 2015

NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1), an obligatory two-electron reductase, is a ubiquitous cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of quinone substrates. The NQO1- mediated two-electron reduction of quinones can be either chemoprotection/detoxification or a chemotherapeutic response, depending on the target quinones. When toxic quinones are reduced by NQO1, they are conjugated with glutathione or glucuronic acid and excreted from the cells. Based on this protective effect of NQO1, the use of dietary compounds to induce the expression of NQO1 has emerged as a promising strategy for cancer prevention. On the other hand, NQO1-mediated two-electron reduction converts certain quinone compounds (such as mitomycin C, E09, RH1 and β-lapachone) to cytotoxic agents, leading to cell death. It has been known that NQO1 is expressed at high levels in numerous human cancers, including breast, colon, cervix, lung, and pancreas, as compared with normal tissues. This implies that tumors can be preferentially damaged relative to normal tissue by cytotoxic quinone drugs. Importantly, NQO1 has been shown to stabilize many proteins, including p53 and p33ING1b, by inhibiting their proteasomal degradation. This review will summarize the biological roles of NQO1 in cancer, with emphasis on recent findings and the potential of NQO1 as a therapeutic target for the cancer therapy.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.561-566
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• 2007

Adenosine kinase (AK) is a ubiquitous intracellular enzyme, which catalyzes the phosphorylation of adenosine (ADO) to adenosine monophosphate (AMP). AK inhibitors have therapeutic potential as analgesic and antiinflammatory agents. A chemical feature based pharmacophore model has been generated from known AK inhibitors (26 training set compounds) by HypoGen module implemented in CATALYST software. The top ranked hypothesis (Hypo1) contained four features of two hydrogen-bond acceptors (HBA) and two hydrophobic aromatics (Z). Hypo1 was validated by 124 test set molecules with a correlation coefficient of 0.905 between experimental and estimated activity. It was also validated by CatScramble method. Thus, the Hypo1 was exploited for searching new lead compounds over 238,819 chemical compounds in NCI database and then the selected compounds were screened based on restriction estimated activity and Lipinski's rules to evaluate their drug-like properties. Finally we could obtain 72 new lead candidates and the two best compound structures from them were posted.

• Plant Resources
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.174-180
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• 2004

Calmodulin, a $Ca^{2+}$-binding protein, has no enzyme activity. It combines with $Ca^{2+}$ and makes variable proteins to an active form. Calmodulin 2 is a ubiquitous protein in plants. To investigate the defense mechanism against various stresses, a clone encoding a calmodulin 2 protein was isolated from a cDNA library prepared from taproot mRNAs of Codonopsis lanceolata. The cDNA, designated CICAM2, is 719 nucleotides long and has an open reading frame of 450 bp with a deduced amino acid sequence of 149 residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of CICAM2 showed a high similarity with calmodulins of P. x hybrida (P27163) 97%, N. tabacum (BAB61908) 97%, S. tuberosum (AAA74405) 96%, Z. mays (CAA74307) 92%, C. richardii (AF510075) 93%, M. truncatula (AAM81203) 91%, and G. max (P62163) 91%. The transcriptional expression of the CICAM2 gene, was gradually increased by the CaCl$_2$ treatment. Whereas its expression And it was gradually decreased in the cold stress treatment.ent.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2008

Malate dehydrogenase is a ubiquitous enzyme in plants, involving in a range of metabolic processes depending on its subcellular location. A malate dehydrogenase (PgMDH) cDNA was isolated and characterized from the root of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer. The deduced amino acid sequence of PgMDH showed high similarity with the NAD-dependent mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase from Glycinemax (P17783), Eucalyptus gunnii (P46487), and Lycopersicon esculentum (AAU29198). And the segment of a malate dehydrogenase gene was amplified through RT-PCR. The expression of PgMDH was increased after treatments of chilling, salt, UV, cadmium or copper treatment.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.869-876
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• 2022

Methylglyoxal (MG) is a dicarbonyl compound formed in cells mainly by the spontaneous degradation of the triose phosphate intermediates of glycolysis. MG is a powerful precursor of advanced glycation end products, which lead to strong dicarbonyl and oxidative stress. Although divergent functions of MG have been observed depending on its concentration, MG is considered to be a potential antitumor factor due to its cytotoxic effects within the oncologic domain. MG detoxification is carried out by the glyoxalase system. Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1), the ubiquitous glutathionedependent enzyme responsible for MG degradation, is considered to be a tumor promoting factor due to it catalyzing the removal of cytotoxic MG. Indeed, various cancer types exhibit increased expression and activity of Glo1 that closely correlate with tumor cell growth and metastasis. Furthermore, mounting evidence suggests that Glo1 contributes to cancer stem cell survival. In this review, we discuss the role of Glo1 in the malignant progression of cancer and its possible use as a promising therapeutic target for tumor therapy. We also summarize therapeutic outcomes of Glo1 inhibitors as prospective treatments for the prevention of cancer.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.3-13
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• 2020

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous gram-negative bacterium causing serious infections. The P. aeruginosa T3SS is a syringe-like apparatus on the bacterial surface, with 4 effector toxins: ExoS, ExoT, ExoY, and ExoU. Here, we investigated the effect of ExoS and ExoT of the T3SS of P. aeruginosa K strain (PAK). The type three secretion system (T3SS) is a major virulence system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). The effector protein Exotoxin S (ExoS) produced by P. aeruginosa is secreted into the host cells via the T3SS. For the purpose of screening the inhibitors with regard to ExoS secretion, we developed the sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. PAK clinical strains induce proinflammatory cytokine production through the T3SS, and this involves NF-κB activation in pneumonia mouse models. We tried to confirm the role of the NF-κB transcription factor in ExoS- and ExoT-induced pneumonia mouse models. pro-inflammatory cytokines induction in response to ExoS and ExoT infection relied on NF-κB activation. Our findings highlight the roles of natural poduct in inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine expression during ExoS and ExoT exposure in PAK infections, paving the way for a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of pulmonary infections.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.52-52
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• 2001

Many nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) kinases are ubiquitous enzymes responsible for the exchange of ${\gamma}$-phosphates between tri- and diphosphonucleosides. The catalytic Many nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) kinases are ubiquitous enzymes responsible for the exchange of ${\gamma}$-phosphates between tri- and diphosphonucleosides. The catalytic reaction follows a ping-pong mechanism in which the enzyme is transiently phosphorylated on a histidine residue conserved in all nucleoside diphosphate kinases. Beside their role in nucleotide synthesis, these enzymes present additional functions, possibly independent of catalysis, in processes such as differentiation, cell growth, tumor progression, metastasis and development. To clone murine nm23-M5, several expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of the GenBank data base, selected according to their homology to nm23-H5 cDNA, reconstituted a complete open reading frame (GenBank AF222750). To test whether murine NDPKs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) can inhibit Bax-mediated toxicity in yeast, co-transformation was performed respectively. The yeast S.cerevisiae was transformed with a copy expression plasmid containing the histidine selection marker and expressing murine Bax under the control of a galactose-inducible promoter. Several clones were selected and found to be growth inhibited when Bax expression was induced with galactose. A representative clone was transformed again with a copy expression plasmid containing the tryptophane selection marker and expressing either murine Bcl-xL or NDPK under the control of a galactose-inducible promoter. Several subclones of the double-transformants were selected and characterized. The ability of Bcl-xL and NDPKs to suppress Bax-mediated toxicity was determined by growing yeast cells overnight in galactose media and spot-testing on galactose plates starting with an equal number of yeast cells as determined by taking the OD$_{600}$. Ten-fold serial dilutions were used in the spot-test. Plates were grown at 3$0^{\circ}C$ for 2-3 days. All murine NDPKs suppressed Bax dependent apoptosis. Futher study will be peformed whether Bax-toxicity inhibition was caused by NDP kinase activity or additional function.n.