• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2001

A CAB cDNA vector(pKGCAB), encoding the light harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein in Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer), was constructed with the CaMV35S promoter of plant expression vector. The chimeric vector was transformed into tobacco(Nicotiana tabacum cv. NC 82) using Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA 4404 strain, and the transgenic tobacco plant CAB-TP2 was selected. Photosynthetic rates of the CAB-TP2 plant at before-flowering stage were increased about 20% under low irradiance conditions of quantum 100 and 500 $\mu$mol.m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ , however, the rates were similar to those of NC 82 under quantum 1000 and 2000 $\mu$mol.m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ conditions. The plants were germinating under low- or normal irradiance condition and the quantum yield of photosystem III were measured. The differences of the Fv/Em values between conditions were 0.07 and 0.01 in NC 82 and CAB-TP2, respectively. The mature leaves in the position 8-10 of the CAB-TP2 at before-flowering stage revealed l0% higher Fv/Fm values in range of 0.759 to 0.781 and 40% more chlorophyll contents of 70-93mg/$m\ell$ than those of normal NC 82. These data suggest the possibility that the increase in photosynthetic activity of leaves under low light intensity in the canopy of CAB-TP2 transgenic tobacco might lead to increase the quality of lower tobacco leaves.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.213-223
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• 2009

Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, but their functions remain elusive. The proteins AlLTP2-4 were isolated from three related Allium plants: garlic (A. sativum L.), Welsh onion (A. fistulosum L.), and Nanking shallot (A. ascalonicum L.). These novel proteins comprise a new class of LTPs associated with the Ace-AMP1 from onion (A. cepa L.). The AlLTP genes encode proteins harboring 132 common amino acids and also share a high level of sequence identity. Protein characteristics and phylogenetic analysis suggest that LTPs could be classified into five distinct groups. The AlLTPs were clustered into the most distantly related plant LTP subfamily and appeared to be restricted to the Allium species. In particular, the number of amino acids existing between the fourth and fifth Cys residue was suggested as a conserved motif facilitating the categorization of all the LTP-related proteins in the family. Unlike other LTPs, AlLTPs harboring both the putative C-terminal propeptide and N-terminal signal peptide were predicted to be localized to cytoplasmic vacuoles. When a chimeric GFP protein fused with both N-terminal and C-terminal AlLTP2 signal peptides was expressed in rice cells, the fluorescence signal was detected in the endomembrane compartments, thereby confirming that AlLTPs are an unprecedented intracellular type of LTP. Collectively, our present data demonstrate that AlLTPs are a novel type of LTP associated with the Allium species.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.330-336
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• 2010

5-Aminolevulinate (ALA) is well-known as an essential biosynthetic precursor of all tetrapyrrole compounds, which has been suggested to improve plant salt tolerance by exogenous application. In this work, the gene encoding aminolevulinate synthase (ALA-S) in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hem1) was introduced into the genome of Arabidopsis controlled by the Arabidopsis thaliana HemA1 gene promoter. All transgenic lines were able to transcribe the YHem1 gene, especially under light condition. The chimeric protein (YHem1-EGFP) was found co-localizing with the mitochondria in onion epidermal cells. The transgenic Arabidopsis plants could synthesize more endogenous ALA with higher levels of metabolites including chlorophyll and heme. When the $T_2$ homozygous seeds were cultured under NaCl stress, their germination and seedling growth were much better than the wild type. Therefore, introduction of ALA-S gene led to higher level of ALA metabolism with more salt tolerance in higher plants.

• BMB Reports
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 1995

Thioredoxin is a small redox protein with an active-site disulfide/dithiol, and is ubiquitous in bacteria, plants, and animals. To investigate the structure-function relationship of thioredoxin, the genes encoding Escherichia coli thioredoxin and Corynebacterium nephridii thioredoxin C3 were fused via a common restriction site in the nucleotide sequence coding for the active site of the proteins to generate two chimeric thioredoxins, designated E-C3(N to C-terminal) and C3-E. The hybrid thioredoxin genes were put under the T7 promoter and their productions were confirmed. The two hybrid thioredoxins complemented phenotypes of a thioredoxin-deficient E. coli strain. A strain containing the C3-E hybrid thioredoxin supported growth of the T7 phage, whereas a strain expressing the E-C3 hybrid thioredoxin did not. However, both hybrids supported growth of M13 phages. The two hybrid thioredoxins were also characterized in other aspects. Differences in activity between the hybrid thioredoxins were attributed to altered interactions of the N- and C-terminal domains of the molecule, which produced changes in the three-dimensional structure of the active site region.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.375-379
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• 2001

Transgenic plants from hypocotyl segments of buckwheat were produced with the Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 harboring the binary vector pBI121 containing chimeric genes of neomycin phosphotransferase II (npt II) and $\beta$-glucuronidase (gus). Two weeks after co-cultivation with Agrobacterium, most of the hypocotyl segments gradually became brown and died on the selection medium containing 100mg/$\ell$ of kanamycin. Plants regenerated from the hypocotyl explants grown on selection medium were GUS-positive in the leaf, stem and vascular tissues by histochemical assay, and varied in gus activity (440-2568 pmol, 4-MU/mg protein) by fluorimetry. The plants showing GUS activity were confirmed of containing GUS and NPT-II genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Within 3 months, transgenic buckwheat plants were able to obtained from the hypocotyl segments.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 1998

A chimeric gene comprising murine whey acidic protein(mWAP) and human growth hormone(hGH) was used to produce transgenic rats express hGH and secrete it into the blood. Two lines of transgenic rats carrying the mWAP/hGH construct were established; High line was characterized by relatively high levels of serum hGH, and low line had relatively low levels. The secretory profiles of rat GH(rGH) as well as hGH, the transgene product, were obtained in transgenic males and females of low line; both hGH and rGH serum levels were flattened with no episodic fluctuations, and the overall mean concentration of rGH was significantly lower than in normal littermates. Although the animals of High line showed an acceles, as assessed by vaginal opening and occurrence of first ovulation, advanced by 7∼8 days in both lines of animals. Accordingly, the body weight at puberty of low line transgenic females was much lower than that of normal littermates, indicating that continuous hGH expression could induce precocious puberty without enhancing the growth rate.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.131-136
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• 2005

The ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion, first identified in the chromosomal translocation in congenital fibrosarcoma, encodes a chimeric protein tyrosine kinase with potent transforming activity. ETV6-NTRK3-dependent transformation involves the joint action of NTRK3 signaling pathways, and aberrant cell cycle progression resulting from activation of Mek1 and Akt. The level of glutathione (GSH) was found to be markedly increased in ETV6-NTRK3-transformed NIH3T3 cells. The activities of the two GSH biosynthetic enzymes as well as of glutathione peroxidase, together with their mRNAs, were also higher in the transformed cells. The transformed cells were able to grow in the presence of GSH-depleting agents, whereas the control cells were not. L-Buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO) inhibited activation of Mek1 and Akt in the transformed NIH3T3 cells. These observations imply that up-regulation of GSH biosynthesis plays a central role in ETV6-NTRK3-induced transformation.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.320-325
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• 2012

Rotavirus and hepatitis A virus (HAV) spread by the fecal-oral route and infections are important in public health, especially in developing countries. Here, two antigenic epitopes of the HAV polyprotein, domain 2 (D2) and domain 3 (D3), were recombined with rotavirus VP7, generating D2/VP7 and D3/VP7, cloned in a baculovirus expression system, and expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda 9 (Sf9) insect cells. All were highly expressed, with peak expression 2 days post-infection. Western blotting and ELISA revealed that two chimeric proteins were antigenic, but only D2/VP7 was immunogenic and elicited neutralizing antibody responses against rotavirus and HAV by neutralization assay, implicating D2/VP7 as a multivalent subunit-vaccine Candidate for preventing both rotavirus and HAV infections.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.157-164
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• 1997

Ly-6E.1 antigen was proposed as a regulatory molecule of T lymphocyte activation, a hematopoietic stem cell marker, a memory cell marker, and an adhesion molecule. Though there were several reports suggesting the presence of Ly-6 ligand, the characterization of the ligand was not yet performed, As an attempt to screen the expression of Ly-6E.1 ligand, we prepared a probe for detecting Ly-6E.1 ligand by producing a fusion protein between Ly-6E.1 and $hlgC_{r1}$, A mammalian cell expression vector with Ly-6E.$1/hlgC_{r1}$ chimeric cDNA was transfected in SP2/0-Ag14 myeloma cells, and stable transfectants were selected. The fusion protein was produced as a dimer and maintained the epitopes for monoclonal antibodies specific for Ly-6E.1 and for anti-human lgG antibody. The purified fusion protein through Gammabind G column was used for FACS analyses for the expression of Ly-6E.1 ligand. The fusion protein interacted with several cell lines originating from B cells, T cells, or monocytes. The fusion Protein also strongly stained bone marrow, lymph node, and spleen cells, but thymic cells weakly, if any. The staining was more obvious in C57BL/6 $(Ly-6^b)$ than Balb/c $(Ly-6^a)$ mice. These results suggest that the interaction of Ly-6E.1 with Ly-6E.1 ligand may function both in the stem cell environment and in the activation of mature lymphocytes. The fusion protein may be a valuable tool in characterization of biochemical properties of the Ly-6E.1 ligand and, further, in isolating its cDNA.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.212-219
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• 2004

Three isolates of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) from lily plants showing mosaic and distortion symptoms were detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using primers specific to Cucumovirus genus namely, LK-CMV, LK4-CMV, and LKS-CMV. Restriction enzymes patterns of the RT-PCR products revealed that the lily isolates belonged to subgroup IA of CMV. In terms of biological properties, the lily isolates have highly similar but distinct pathogenicity as reported in other lily strains and ordinary strains of CMV. To characterize the molecular properties, cDNAs containing coat protein (CP) gene and 3' non-coding region (NCR) of RNA3 for the isolates were cloned and their nucleotide sequences were determined. The CP similarity (218 amino acids) was highly homologous (>97％) with that of subgroup I CMV strains. However, an additional 20-nulcleotide long segment was only present in 3' NCR of lily isolates, which form an additional stem-loop RNA structure. By using chimeric construct exchange cDNA containing 3'NCR of LK-CMV into the full-length cDNA clone of RNA3 of Fny-CMV, this additional segment may prove to be significant in the identification and fitness of the virus in lily plants. The pathology of zucchini squash infected by F1F2L3-CMV, a pseudorecombinant virus was showed to change drastically the severe mosaic and stunting symptom into a mild chlorotic spot on systemic leave, compared with Fny-CMV. To delimit the sequence of RNA3 affected the pathology, various RNA3 chimeras were constructed between two strains of CMV. The symptom determinants of F1F2L3-CMV were mapped to the positions amino acid 234, 239, and 250 in 3a movement protein (MP). RNA3 chimeras changed the sequences encoding three amino acids were resulted in alteration of systemic symptom.