• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.84.2-85
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• 2003

Magnaporthee grisea causes the devastating blast disease of rice. Entensive research has been conducted on infection mechanisms, particularly on appressorium formation and penetration, of this fungus during the last decade. However, the role(s) of cell-wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) on pathogenesis is not clearly demonstrated at molecular level. Many CWDES in plant pathogenic fungi including M. grisea are redundant; that is, there are multiple genes encoding enzymes with a similar or overlapping spectrum of activities. It is laborious to isolate all of the genes encoding related enzymes and to construct mutants lacking all 9f them. Thus, we considered alternative strategies to address the role of CWDEs in pathogenesis. Since expression of CWDE genes Is repressed by a simple sugar, as the first step, we cloned a Snfl (sucrose non-fermenting) gene (MgSnf1) from M. grisea. The predicted amino acid sequence showed a high identity with other Snf1 genes from various fungi. To elucidate molecular function of MgSnf1, a transformant lacking MgSnf1 was created by targeted gene replacement. En glucose, sucrose, and xylan the MgSnf1 mutant grew normally but in pectin and complex media, it grew slower than wild type. Expression of various CWDEs in MgSnf1 mutant was investigated and found that expression of some CWDEs is repressed. However, no significant difference was observed in conidial germination, appressorium formation, and pathogenicity in MgSnf1 mutant. However, MgSnf1 functionally complemented a yeast MgSnf1 mutant. These results suggest that MgSnf1 is involved in regulation of CWDEs and MgSnf1 is dispensable in pathogenicity of M. grisea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1977-1988
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• 2015

β-1,3-glucanosyltransferases play essential roles in cell wall biosynthesis in yeast. Kluyveromyces lactis has six putative β-1,3-glucanosyltransferase genes. KlGAS1-1 and KlGAS1-2 are homologs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene GAS1. RT-qPCR indicated the transcription level of KlGAS1-1 was significantly reduced while heterologous protein (thermostable xylanase B) secretion was enhanced during medium optimization. To evaluate if these two events were related, and to improve xylanase B secretion in K. lactis, we constructed KlGAS1-1 and KlGAS1-2 single deletion strains and double deletion strain, respectively. KlGAS1-1 gene deletion resulted in the highest xylanase B activity among the three mutants. Only the double deletion strain showed morphology similar to that of the GAS1 deletion mutant in S. cerevisiae. The two single deletion strains differed in terms of cell wall thickness and xylanase B secretion. Transcription levels of β-1,3-glucanosyltransferase genes and genes related to protein secretion and transport were assayed. The β-1,3-glucanosyltransferase genes displayed transcription complementation in the cell wall synthesis process. KlGAS1-1 and KlGAS1-2 affected transcription levels of secretion- and transport-related genes. Differences in protein secretion ratio among the three deletion strains were associated with changes of transcription levels of secretion- and transport-related genes. Our findings indicate that KlGAS1-1 deletion is an effective tool for enhancing industrial-scale heterologous protein secretion in K. lactis.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2010

Cisplatin(cis-diamminedichloroplatium) is one of the most effective anti-cancer drugs being clinically used in the treatment of solid tumors. Despite its therapeutic benefits, its use in clinical practice is often limited because of dose related toxicity. It is known that yeast cell wall beta-glucans possess immuno-modulating properties, which allows for their application in antitumor therapy. IS2 is a kind of beta-glucan derived from the cell wall of mutated Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which exhibits anti-cancer activity in vitro and in vivo. The present study explored the possibility of combination therapy of IS2 with cisplatin. In experimental metastasis of colon26-M3.1 cells, prophylactic intravenous administration of IS-2 in combination with cisplatin effectively inhibited tumor metastasis compared with cisplatin alone or IS-2 treatment in vivo. IS-2 effectively enhanced Th1 type cytokines including IFN-$\gamma$, IL-2, IL-12 and GM-CSF. Simultaneously, this combined treatment inhibited production of Th2 type cytokines compared with control. These results suggested that IS-2 can be applied in combination therapy with anti-cancer drugs to minimize their side effects.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.23 no.2 s.73
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• pp.129-138
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• 1995

DNA fragment being able to restore in vitro activity of ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase was cloned by transformation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae LP353 mutant strain with genomic library constructed in the YCp50. For the selection of transformants which showed no detectable phenotype linked to recovery of the defect in ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase activity, the colony autoradiography was succesfully applied. The restriction map of the cloned DNA fragment, which is 8.5-kb in length, was constructed. Both the YEplac195 and the YCp50 carrying the 8.5-kb fragment increased ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase activity of LP353 by two fold. Neither the YEplac195 nor the YCp50 carrying the 8.5-kb DNA fragment, however, complemented the temperature-dependent osmotic sensitivity which is another distinctive phenotype of LP353. Subcloning experiments indicated that a functional region was located in 4.8-kb BglII-KpnI fragment. The 4.8-kb fragment was also able to increase the level of ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ content in cell wall as well as the resistance of cells to cell wall lytic enzyme, ${\beta}-1,3-glucanase$. The growth rate of the LP353 with 4.8-kb fragment was almost same as that of wild type strain in liquid medium with 1.2 M sorbitol at nonpermissive temperature. Taken these results together, the 4.8-kb fragment seemed to contain the BGS2 gene for ${\beta}-1,3-glucan$ synthase activity in yeast S. cerevisiae.