• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.562-567
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• 2002

In order to find the cellular interaction factors of the Heliothis armigera nuclear polyhedrosis virus capsid protein VP39, a Heliothis armigera cell cDNA library was constructed. Then VP39 was used as bait. The host actin gene was isolated from the cDNA library with the yeast two-hybrid system. This demonstrated that VP39 could interact with its host actin in yeast. In order to corroborate this interaction in vivo, the vp39 gene was fused with the green fluorescent protein gene in plasmid pEGFP39. The fusion protein was expressed in the Hz-AM1 cells under the control of the Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus immediate early gene promoter. The host actin was labeled specifically by the red fluorescence substance, tetramethy rhodamine isothicyanete-phalloidin. Observation under a fluorescence microscopy showed that VP39, which was indicated by green fluorescence, began to appear in the cells 6 h after being transfected with pEGFP39. Red actin cables were also formed in the cytoplasm at the same time. Actin was aggregated in the nucleus 9 h after the transfection. The green and red fluorescence always appeared in the same location of the cells, which demonstrated that VP39 could combine with the host actin. Such a combination would result in the actin skeleton rearrangement.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.9-19
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• 2023

Objectives : Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by reduced bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures. Bisphosphonates and selective estrogen receptors, which are bone resorption inhibitors that are currently widely used as osteoporosis treatments, show serious side effects when administered for a long time. Research on bone resorption inhibitors that complement the problems of existing treatments is needed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of inhibiting osteoclast differentiation and activity on the tuberous root of Ampelopsis japonica (Thunb.) Makino (AM). Methods : After extracting AM using distilled water and ethanol, the inhibitory effects of the two solvents on osteoclast differentiation were compared using the RANKL-induced in vitro experimental model and the TRAP assay kit. The impact of AM on bone resorption was investigated through the pit formation assay, and its effect on F-actin formation was assessed through fluorescent staining. Additionally, protein and mRNA expression levels of osteoclast differentiation markers (NFATc1, c-Fos, TRAP and ATP6v0d2) and resorption markers (MMP-9, CTK, and CA2) were analyzed via western blot and RT-PCR. Results : AM treatment significantly decreased the number of TRAP-positive cells and pit formation area. Furthermore, AM suppressed both the protein and mRNA expression of NFATc1 and c-Fos, key transcription factors involved in osteoclast differentiation and it downregulated the expression of osteoclast-associated genes such as TRAP, CTK, MMP-9, CA2, and ATP6v0d2. Conclusions : These results suggest that AM can inhibit bone resorption and osteoclast differentiation, indicating its potential for use in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1386-1392
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• 2008

A gene (sll0158) putatively encoding a glycogen branching enzyme (GBE, E.C. 2.4.1.18) was cloned from Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, and the recombinant protein expressed and characterized. The PCR-amplified putative GBE gene was ligated into a pET-21a plasmid vector harboring a T7 promoter, and the recombinant DNA transformed into a host cell, E. coli BL21(DE3). The IPTG-induced enzymes were then extracted and purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The putative GBE gene was found to be composed of 2,310 nucleotides and encoded 770 amino acids, corresponding to approx. 90.7 kDa, as confirmed by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF-MS analyses. The optimal conditions for GBE activity were investigated by measuring the absorbance change in iodine affinity, and shown to be pH 8.0 and $30^{\circ}C$ in a 50 mM glycine-NaOH buffer. The action pattern of the GBE on amylose, an $\alpha$-(1,4)-linked linear glucan, was analyzed using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) after isoamylolysis. As a result, the GBE displayed $\alpha$-glucosyl transferring activity by cleaving the $\alpha$-(1,4)-linkages and transferring the cleaved maltoglycosyl moiety to form new $\alpha$-(1,6)-branch linkages. A time-course study of the GBE reaction was carried out with biosynthetic amylose (BSAM; $M_p{\cong}$8,000), and the changes in the branch-chain length distribution were evaluated. When increasing the reaction time up to 48 h, the weight- and number-average DP ($DP_w$ and $DP_n$) decreased from 19.6 to 8.7 and from 17.6 to 7.8, respectively. The molecular size ($M_p$, peak $M_w{\cong}2.45-2.75{\times}10^5$) of the GBE-reacted product from BSAM reached the size of amylose (AM) in botanical starch, yet the product was highly soluble and stable in water, unlike AM molecules. Thus, GBE-generated products can provide new food and non-food applications, owing to their unique physical properties.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.385-394
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• 2015

Leishmaniasis is a worldwide uncontrolled parasitic disease due to the lack of effective drug and vaccine. To speed up effective drug development, we need powerful methods to rapidly assess drug effectiveness against the intracellular form of Leishmania in high throughput assays. Reporter gene technology has proven to be an excellent tool for drug screening in vitro. The effects of reporter proteins on parasite infectivity should be identified both in vitro and in vivo. In this research, we initially compared the infectivity rate of recombinant Leishmania major expressing stably enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) alone or EGFP-luciferase (EGFP-LUC) with the wild-type strain. Next, we evaluated the sensitivity of these parasites to amphotericin B (AmB) as a standard drug in 2 parasitic phases, promastigote and amastigote. This comparison was made by MTT and nitric oxide (NO) assay and by quantifying the specific signals derived from reporter genes like EGFP intensity and luciferase activity. To study the amastigote form, both B10R and THP-1 macrophage cell lines were infected in the stationary phase and were exposed to AmB at different time points. Our results clearly revealed that the 3 parasite lines had similar in vitro infectivity rates with comparable parasite-induced levels of NO following interferon-${\gamma}$/lipopolysaccharide induction. Based on our results we proposed the more reporter gene, the faster and more sensitive evaluation of the drug efficiency.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1032-1041
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• 2006

Extracellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) affects the function of many tissues and cells. To confirm the biological activity of ATP on human myeloid leukemic cells, F-36P and HL-60, cells were treated with a variety of concentrations of ATP. The stimulation with extracellular ATP induced the arrest of cell proliferation and cell death. from the analysis of Annexin-V staining and caspase activity by flow cytometry. The Annexin-V positive cells in both cell lines were dramatically increased following ATP stimulation. The expression of P2 purinergic receptor genes was confirmed, such as P2X1, P2X4, P2X5, P2X7 and P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, P2Y5, P2Y6, P2Y11 in both leukemic cell lines. Interestingly, ATP induced intracellular calcium flux in HL-60 cells but not in F-36P cells, as determined by Fluo-3 AM staining. Cell cycle analysis revealed that ATP treatment arrested both F-36P and HL-60 cells at G1/G0. Taken together, these data showed that extracellular ATP via P2 receptor genes was involved in the cell proliferation and survival in human myeloid leukemic cells, HL-60 and F-36P cells by the induction of apoptosis and control of cell cycle. Our data suggest that treatment with extracellular nucleotides may be a novel and powerful therapeutic avenue for myeloid leukemic disease.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.311-317
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• 2006

Using PCR amplification, we cloned a cellulase gene (ce/H) from the Bacillus subtilis AH18 which has plant growth-promoting activity and antagonistic ability against pepper blight caused by Phytophthora capsici. The 1.6 kb PCR fragment contained the full sequence of the cellulase gene and the 1,582 bp gene deduced a 508 amino acid sequence. Similarity search in protein database revealed that the cellulase of B. subtilis AH18 was more than 98% homologous in the amino acid sequence to those of several major Bacillus spp. The ce/H was expressed in E. coli under an IPTG inducible lac promoter on the vector, had apparent molecular weight of about 55 kDa upon CMC-SDS-PAGE analysis. Partially purified cellulase had not only cellulolytic activity toward carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC) but also insoluble cellulose, such as Avicel and filter paper (Whatman No. 1). In addition, the cellulase could degrade a fungal cell wall of Phytophthora capsici. The optimum pH and temperature of the ce/H coded cellulase were determined to be pH 5.0 and $50^{\circ}C$. The enzyme activity was activated by $AgNO_3$ or $CoCl_2$. However its activity was Inhibited by $HgC1_2$. The enzyme activity was activated by hydroxy urea or sodium azide and inhibited by CDTA or EDTA. The results indicate that the cellulase gene, ce/H is an antifungal mechanism of B. subtilis AH18 against phytophthora blight disease in red-pepper.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.730-735
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• 2012

p13 gene was first described in Leucania separata multinuclear polyhedrosis virus (Ls-p13) several years ago, but the function of P13 protein has not been experimentally investigated to date. In this article, we indicated that the expression of p13 from Heliothis armigera single nucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (Ha-p13) was regulated by both early and late promoter. Luciferase assay demonstrated that the activity of Ha-p13 promoter with hr4 enhancer was more than 100 times in heterologous Sf9 cells than that in nature host Hz-AM1 cells. Both Ls-P13 and Ha-P13 are transmembrane proteins. Confocal microscopic analysis showed that both mainly located in the cytoplasm membrane at 48 h. Results of RNA interference indicated that Ha-p13 was a killing-associated gene for host insects H. armigera. The AcMNPV acquired the mentioned killing activity and markedly accelerate the killing rate when expressing Ls-p13. In conclusion, p13 is a killing associated gene in both homologous and heterologous nucleopolyhedrovirus.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.177-182
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• 1993

From 84 clinical isolates of Staphylococcus species, ten strains showing inducible resistance to MLS antibiotics were selected by disk agar diffusion method. Colony hybridization was executed using two MLS inducible resistance genes, ermA and ermC, previously identified from S. aureus as probes. S. hemolyticus 401 and S. epidermidis 542 whose genes were not homologous to those probes were finally selected. It was determined that the resistance genes of S. hemolyticus 401 and S. epidermidis 542 were not homologous to ermA, ermC and ermAM by Southern hybridization. S. epidermidis 542 had a plasmid DNA. To know if the plasmid may have genes related to inducible resistance, it was attempted to transform B. subtilis BR151 and S. aureus RN4220 with the plasmid prepared from S. epidermidis 542. It was shown that the gene related to inducible resistance to MLS antibiotics did not exist in this plasmid. These results indicate that two clinical isolates of S. hemolyticus 401 and S. epidermidis 542 had novel genes which were not homologous to MLS resistance genes identified previously. It was assumed that these genes may exist in chromosomal DNA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.323-333
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• 2016

Background: Ovarian cancer remains a major worldwide health care issue due to the lack of satisfactory diagnostic methods for early detection of the disease. Prior studies on the role of serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in detecting ovarian cancer presented conflicting results. New tools to improve the accuracy of identifying malignancy are urgently needed. We here aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of tissue CA125 and HE4 gene expression in comparison to serum CA125 and HE4 in discriminating benign from malignant pelvic masses. Materials and Methods: One-hundred Egyptian women were enrolled in this study, including 60 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients and 20 benign ovarian tumor patients, as well as 20 apparently healthy women. Preoperative serum levels of CA125 and HE4 were measured by immunoassays. Tissue expression levels of genes encoding CA125 and HE4 were determined by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The diagnostic performance of CA125 and HE4, measured either as mRNA or protein levels, was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The serum CA125+HE4 combination and serum HE4, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.935 and 0.932, respectively, performed significantly better than serum CA125 (AUC=0.592; P<0.001). Tissue CA125 and HE4 (AUC=1) performed significantly better than serum CA125 (P<0.001), serum HE4 (P=0.016) and the serum CA125+HE4 combination (P=0.018). Conclusions: Measurement of tissue CA125 and HE4 gene expression not only improves discriminatory performance, but also broadens the range of differential diagnostic possibilities in distinguishing EOC from benign ovarian tumors.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2005

A cluster of genes for ribostamycin (Rbm) biosynthesis was isolated from Streptomyces ribosidificus ATCC 21294. Sequencing of 31.892 kb of the genomic DNA of S. ribosidificus revealed 26 open reading frames (ORFs) encoding putative Rbm biosynthetic genes as well as resistance and other genes. One of ten putative Rbm biosynthetic genes, rbmA, was expressed in S. lividans TK24, and shown to encode 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosose (DOI) synthase. Acetylation of various aminoglycoside-aminocyclitol (AmAcs) by RbmI confirmed it to be an aminoglycoside 3-N-acetyltransferase. Comparison of the genetic control of ribostamycin and butirosin biosynthesis pointed to a common biosynthetic route for these compounds, despite the considerable differences between them in genetic organization.