• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.2
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• pp.131-137
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• 2007

The first evidence has been provided about the variation within trnL-trnV and trnF-trnT spacer regions of cpDNAs in Korean fir and Manchurian fir, revealed by PCR-RFLP analysis. Four cpDNA haplotypes have accordingly been recognized by being analyzed using the trnL-trnV/Tru11 primer-enzyme combination and 3 haplotypes using the trnF-trnT/TagI combination, which exhibited inter and intraspecific variation. A total of 6 cpDNA haplotypes were recognized by pooling the PCR-RFLP variants observed in both combinations. Haplotypes 2 and 3 were common for both species investigated, whereas haplotypes 1, 4, and 5 were detected only in Korean fir and haplotype 6 was detected only in Manchurian fir. Although haplotypes 2 and 3 were common in both species, haplotype 2 was major haplotype for Korean fir and haplotype 3 was one of the 2 major haplotypes for Manchurian fir. Restricted occurrence of haplotype 4 in Mt. Halla and haplotype 5 in Mt. Jiri of the Korean fir may represent the existence of geographic isolation by the sea between them. Diagnostic potential of individual haplotypes in discriminating between the two species as well as between their populations is discussed.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.489-499
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• 2015

Background : Plants belonging to 5 species of the genus Eleutherococcus are currently distributed in the Korean peninsula. The traditional medicine 'Ogapi', derived from Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus and other related species, and 'Gasiogapi', derived from Eleutherococcus senticosus, are frequently mixed up and marketed. Therefore, accurated identification of their origins in urgently required. Methods and Results : Candidate genes from nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) of Eleutherococcus plants were analyzed. Whereas the nrDNA-internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were useful in elucidating the phylogenetic relationships among the plants, the cpDNA regions were not as effective. Therefore, a combined analysis with nrDNA-ITS was performed. Various combinations of nrDNA and matK were effective for discriminating among the plants. However, the matK and rpoC1 combination was ineffective for discriminating among some species. Based on these results, it was found that OG1, OG4, OG5, OG7, GS1, GS2, and GS3 were derived from E. sessiliflorus. In particular, it was confirmed that GS1, GS2, and GS3 were not derived from E. senticosus. However, more samples need to be analyzed because identification of the origins of OG2, OG3, OG6 and GS4 was not possible. Conclusion : The ITS2, ITS5a, and matK combination was the most effective in identifying the phylogenetic relationship among Eleutherococcus plants and traditional medicines based on Eleutherococcus.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2020

Allium L. is one of the largest genera of the Amaryllidaceae family, with more than 920 species including many economically important species used as vegetables, spices, medicines, or ornamental plants. Currently, DNA barcoding tools are being successfully used for the molecular taxonomy of Allium. A total of 46 Allium species were collected from their native areas, and DNA was extracted using the IBRC DNA extraction kit. We used specific primers to PCR amplify matK. DNA sequences were edited and aligned for homology, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed using the neighbor-joining method. The results show thymine (38.5%) was the most frequent and guanine (13.9%) the least frequent nucleotide. The matK regions of the populations were quite highly conserved, and the amount of C and CT was calculated at 0.162 and 0.26, respectively. Analysis of the nucleotide substitution showed C-T (26.22%) and A-G (8.08%) to have the highest and lowest percent, respectively. The natural selection process dN/dS was 1.16, and the naturality test results were -1.5 for Tajima's D and -1.19 for Fu's Fs. The NJ dendrogram generated three distinct clades: the first contained Allium austroiranicum and A. ampeloprasum; the second contained A. iranshahrii, A. bisotunense, and A. cf assadi; and the third contained A. rubellum and other species. In this study, we tested the utility of the matK region as a DNA barcode for discriminating Allium. species.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.232-241
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• 2013

Purpose: Gastrokine 1 plays an important role in gastric mucosal defense. Additionally, the Gastrokine 1-miR-185-DNMT1 axis has been shown to suppress gastric carcinogenesis through regulation of epigenetic alteration. Here, we investigated the effects of Gastrokine 1 on DNA methylation and gastritis. Materials and Methods: Expression of Gastrokine 1, DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc proteins, and the presence of Helicobacter pylori CagA protein were determined in 55 non-neoplastic gastric mucosal tissue samples by western blot analysis. The CpG island methylation phenotype was also examined using six markers (p16, hMLH1, CDH1, MINT1, MINT2 and MINT31) by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Histological gastritis was assessed according to the updated Sydney classification system. Results: Reduced Gastrokine 1 expression was found in 20 of the 55 (36.4%) gastric mucosal tissue samples and was closely associated with miR-185 expression. The Gastrokine 1 expression level was inversely correlated with that of DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc, and closely associated with the degree of gastritis. The H. pylori CagA protein was detected in 26 of the 55 (47.3%) gastric mucosal tissues and was positively associated with the expression of DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc. In addition, 30 (54.5%) and 23 (41.9%) of the gastric mucosal tissues could be classified as CpG island methylation phenotype-low and CpG island methylation phenotype-high, respectively. Reduced expression of Gastrokine 1 and miR-185, and increased expression of DNMT1, EZH2, and c-Myc were detected in the CpG island methylation phenotype-high gastric mucosa. Conclusions: Gastrokine 1 has a crucial role in gastric inflammation and DNA methylation in gastric mucosa.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1132-1139
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• 2008

A CpG island is a short stretch of DNA in which the frequency of the CG dinucleotide is higher than other regions. CpG islands are present in the promoters and exonic regions of approximately $30{\sim}60$% of mammalian genes so they are useful markers for genes in organisms containing 5-methylcytosine in their genomes. Recent evidence supports the notion that the hypermethylation of CpG island, by silencing tumor suppressor genes, plays a major causal role in cancer, which has been described in almost every tumor types. In this respect, CpG island search by computational methods is very helpful for cancer research and computational promoter and gene predictions. I therefore developed a window program (called CpGi) on the basis of CpG island criteria defined by D. Takai and P. A. Jones. The program 'CpGi' was implemented in Visual C++ 6.0 and can determine the locations of CpG islands using diverse parameters (%GC, Obs (CpG)/Exp (CpG), window size, step size, gap value, # of CpG, length) specified by user. The analysis result of CpGi provides a graphical map of CpG islands and G+C% plot, where more detailed information on CpG island can be obtained through pop-up window. Two human contigs, i.e. AP00524 (from chromosome 22) and NT_029490.3 (from chromosome 21), were used to compare the performance of CpGi and two other public programs for the accuracy of search results. The two other programs used in the performance comparison are Emboss-CpGPlot and CpG Island Searcher that are web-based public CpG island search programs. The comparison result showed that CpGi is on a level with or outperforms Emboss-CpGPlot and CpG Island Searcher. Having a simple and easy-to-use user interface, CpGi would be a very useful tool for genome analysis and CpG island research. To obtain a copy of CpGi for academic use only, contact corresponding author.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2004

The ethanol extracts of mixed vegetables (Bioactive Vegetables, BV), mixed fruits (Bioactive Fruits, BF) and their liquid formulation (Chungpae Plus , CP) were evaluated for their antioxidative and antigenotoxic activities. They were shown to possess the significant free radical scavenging effect against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazine (DPPH) radical generation and were revealed to show the inhibitory effect of lipid peroxidation as measured by malondialdehyde (MDA) formation although the potencies were not higher than those of vitamin C. They did not possess any pro-oxidant effect on bleomycin-Fe(III) dependent DNA degradation, whereas vitamin C showed strong pro-oxidant effect. Furthermore, oral administration of BV and BF inhibited micronucleated reticulocyte (MNRET) formation of mouse peripheral blood induced by KBrO3 treatment in vivo. CP also showed significant inhibition under same experimental condition. Therefore, the liquid formulation (CP) containing BV and BF may be a useful natural antioxidative and antigenotoxic agent by scavenging free radicals, inhibition of lipid peroxidation and protecting chromosomal damage.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.393-398
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• 2011

Polydnaviruses are a group of double-stranded DNA viruses and are symbiotically associated with some ichneumonoid wasps. As proviruses, the replication of polydnaviruses occurs in the female reproductive organ at the pupal stage. This study analyzed the effects of two developmental hormones, juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysteroid, on the viral replication of Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV). All 23 CpBV segments identified contained a conserved excision/rejoining site ('AGCTTT') from their proviral segments. Using quantitative real-time PCR based on this excision/rejoining site marker, initiation of CpBV replication was determined to have occurred on day 4 on the pupal stage. Pyriproxyfen, a JH agonist, significantly inhibited adult emergence of C. plutellae, whereas RH5992, an ecdysteroid agonist, had no inhibitory effect. Although RH5992 had no effect dose on adult development, it significantly accelerated viral replication. The results of immunoblotting assays against viral coat proteins support the effects of the hormone agonists on viral replication.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.149-151
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• 2018

Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium, which belongs to the Clostridiaceae family. C. perfringens causes diseases including food poisoning in vertebrates and intestinal tract of humans. Bacteriophages that can kill target bacteria specifically have been considered as one of control methods for bacterial pathogens. Here, we report a draft genome sequence of the bacteriophage CP3 effective to C. perfringens. The phage genome comprises 52,068 bp with a G + C content of 34.0%. The draft genome has 74 protein-coding genes, 29 of which have predicted functions from BLASTp analysis. Others are conserved proteins with unknown functions. No RNAs were found in the genome.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2015

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) causes a major upper respiratory tract infection often leading to severe illness and death in the elderly. Thus, it is important to induce safe and effective mucosal immunity against this pathogen in order to prevent pnuemocaccal infection. However, this is a very difficult task to elicit protective mucosal IgA antibody responses in older individuals. A combind nasal adjuvant consisting of a plasmid encoding the Flt3 ligand cDNA (pFL) and CpG oligonucleotide (CpG ODN) successfully enhanced S. pneumoniae-specific mucosal immunity in aged mice. In particular, a pneumococcal surface protein A-based nasal vaccine given with pFL and CpG ODN induced complete protection from S. pneumoniae infection. These results show that nasal delivery of a combined DNA adjuvant offers an attractive potential for protection against the pneumococcus in the elderly.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.272-280
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• 2007

Isolates of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) collected in Korea, were compared with their pathological features in tobacco and zucchini squash. Full-length cDNA clone of RNA3 was generated by using long-distance RT-PCR. Transcript RNA3 from the cDNA clone was inoculated onto host plants with transcripts RNA1 and RNA2 of Fny strain, generating RNA3-pseudorecombinant CMV. Timing and severity of systemic symptom was not significantly different among the pseudorecombinant CMVs in tobacco, compared with strains Fny-CMV and Pf-CMV. However, the pseudorecombinant CMVs induced two different systemic symptoms (mosaic vs. chlorotic spot) in zucchini squash. Based on symptom induction, the pseudorecombinant CMVs were categorized into two classes. The severity and timing of symptoms were correlated with viral RNA accumulations in systemic leaves of zucchini squash, suggesting that different kinetics of virus movement associated with CMV proteins are crucial for systemic infection and symptom development in zucchini squash. The analysis of movement proteins (MP) of CMV strains showed high sequence homology, but the differences of several amino acids were found in the C-terminal region between Class-I-CMV and Class-II-CMV. The analysis of coat proteins (CP) showed that the CMV isolates tested belonged to CMV subgroup I and the viruses shared overall 87-99% sequence identity in their genomes. Phylogenetic analysis of MP and CP suggested that biological properties of Korean CMV isolates have relationships associated with host species.