• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.222-227
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• 2009

Human topoisomerase I (Topo I) plays a pivotal role in cell replication, transcription and repair and, therefore, is an important anti-cancer target. 20S-camptothecin (CPT) is a representative Topo I inhibitor. Compounds belonging to CPT family inhibit the religation step of Topo I-DNA by binding to the DNA cleavage site. Computational docking studies with Surflex-Dock were carried out to investigate the binding modes between Topo I-DNA binary complex structure and the ligand such as 20S-CPT and 9,10-substituted 20S-CPT analogues. The docking results demonstrated that most of the compounds with $IC_{50}$ value under $0.5{\mu}M$ intercalated exactly between the -1 and +1 DNA bases, deeply toward the cleavage site. The complex was stabilized by hydrogen-bonding and hydrophobic interactions with both the enzyme and the DNA. The compounds with $IC_{50}$ value above $0.5{\mu}M$ were poorly docked and did not intercalate. In addition, the docking results confirmed the overall correlation between the $IC_{50}$ values and docking scores, indicating the possible use of the modeling for the prediction of biological activity and design of potential inhibitors.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.34-45
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• 2013

The Polygonum amphibium complex (Poygonaceae) is a highly polymorphic taxon that can grow in aquatic environments as well as in moist terrestrial habitats. Aquatic and terrestrial plants of the P. amphibium complex vary significantly in morphology and exhibit very complicated patterns of morphological variation, resulting in the description of numerous infra-specific taxa. Principal components analysis of 107 individuals of the P. amphibium complex from Asia and North America using 11 morphological characters showed that the aquatic plants can be discerned from the terrestrial plants by leaf size, shape, and petiole length. In contrast, both aquatic and terrestrial plants collected from the same population or locality shared identical sequences in the matK, psbA-trnH IGS, rbcL-accD IGS and trnL-trnF regions of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), suggesting that aquatic and terrestrial forms of the P. amphibium complex are not genetically diverged; morphological differences between the two forms are probably due to the differences in environmental conditions of the habitats. In addition, results from the morphological analysis and the maximum parsimony analysis of the cpDNA data set revealed that the plants from Asia including Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia and Russia Far East are diverged from those in North America and Europe, suggesting that the Asian populations should be recognized as a distinct variety, P. amphibium var. amurense Korsh.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.163-167
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• 2012

UV spectrophotometer was used to detect protein-DNA complex from DNA melting profile under constant temperature increase. Melting temperature (Tm) was $43^{\circ}C$ in copA duplex DNA alone. In the presence of Proteus mirabilis transcription regulator protein (PMTR) protein at 0.2 and 0.4 ${\mu}M$, Tm's were $45{\pm}0.5$ and $47.6{\pm}0.6^{\circ}C$, respectively. According to fluorescence polarization and gel shift assay. PMTR:copA complex was detected by the retarded migration on gel and the dissociation constant ($K_d$) was $(9.2{\pm}2.8){\times}10^{-9}M$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.3597-3600
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• 2012

Thrombin binding aptamter (TBA-15) is a 15-mer guanine-rich oligonucleotide. This DNA apamer specifically binds to the thrombin protein involved in blood coagulation. Using extensive umbrella sampling molecular dynamics simulation method at all atom level, we investigated the potential of mean force (PMF) upon pulling the DNA aptamer from the binding mode of aptamer/thrombin complex. From this calculation, the free energy cost for a full dissociation of this aptamer/protein complex is 17 kcal/mol, indicating a substantial binding affinity of TBA-15. Interestingly, this PMF reveals noticeable plateau regions along the pulling coordinate. Possible structural changes of this complex in the plateau were investigated in details.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1290-1296
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• 2012

Fenton reaction and iron autoxidation have been debated for the major process in ROS mediated DNA cleavage. We compared both processes on iron oxidation, DNA cleavage, and cyclic voltammetric experiment at different pHs. Both oxidation reactions were preferred at basic pH condition, unlike DNA cleavage. This indicates that iron oxidation and the following steps probably occur separately. The ROS generated from autoxidation seems to be superoxide radical since sod exerted the best inhibition on DNA cleavage when $H_2O_2$ was absent. In comparison of cyclic voltammograms of $Fe^{2+}$ in NaCl solution and phosphate buffer, DNA addition to phosphate buffer induced significant change in the redox cycle of iron, indicating that iron may bind DNA as a complex with phosphate. Different pulse voltammogram in the presence of ctDNA suggest that iron ions are recyclable at acidic pH, whereas they may form an electrically stable complex with DNA at high pH condition.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.287-294
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• 1999

A technique based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the specific detection of genus Phytophthora and Phytophthora cryptogea-P. drechsleri complex group was developed using nucleotide sequence information of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) regions. The internal transcribed spacers (ITS) including 5.8S were sequenced for P. cryptogea-P. drechsleri complex group and its related species. Two pairs of oligonucleotide primers were designed. Primer pair ITS1/Phy amplified ca. 240 bp fragment in 12 out of 13 specie of Phytophthora, but not in Pythium spp., Fusarium spp.and Rhizoctonia solani. Primer pair rPhy/Pcd amplified 549 bp fragment only in P. cryptogea-P. drechsleri complex group, but not in other Phytophthora spp.and other genera. Specific PCR amplification using the primers was successful in detecting Phytophthora and P. cryptogea-P. drechsleri complex group in diseased plants.

• ALGAE
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.281-291
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• 2022

Quantifying the abundance of Chattonella species is necessary to effectively manage the threats from ichthyotoxic raphidophytes, which can cause large-scale mortality of aquacultured fish in temperate waters. The identification and cell counting of Chattonella species have been conducted primarily on living cells without fixation by light microscopy because routine fixatives do not retain their morphological features. Species belonging to the Chattonella marina complex, including C. marina and C. marina var. ovata, had high genetic similarities and the lack of clear morphological delimitations between the species. To estimate the abundance of C. marina complex in marine plankton samples, we developed a protocol based on the droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) assay, with C. marina complex-specific primers targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA. Cell abundance of the C. marina complex can be determined using the ITS copy number per cell, ranging from 25 ± 1 for C. marina to 112 ± 7 for C. marina var. ovata. There were no significant differences in ITS copies estimated by the ddPCR assay between environmental DNA samples from various localities spiked with the same number of cells of culture strains. This approach can be employed to improve the monitoring efficiency of various marine protists and to support the implementation of management for harmful algal blooms, which are difficult to analyze using microscopy alone.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.86-89
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• 2006

The novel tetranuclear nickel (II) complex is a high rate accelerator in promoting hydrolysis of phosphate diesters. Nickel-bound bis-nitrophenyl phosphate (BNPP) can be $10^4$ times more reactive than the unbound BNPP. The large rate of enhancements by the complex slightly under basic condition has shown high catalytic activity in phosphate diester cleavage. The bell-shaped pH-rate profile indicated that the nickel-oxide form of the tetranuclear complex or its kinetic equivalent was the active species for cleaving BNPP. The catalytic hydrolysis between tetranuclear nickel (II) complex and phosphate diester proceeds via the formation of bidentate coordination of the anionic phosphate to the Ni (II) atom. This reveals that the complex has the possibility as artificial nuclease.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.253-258
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• 2004

DNA double-strand break (DSB) is a serious treat for the cells including mutations, chromosome rearrangements, and even cell death if not repaired or misrepaired. Ku heterodimer regulatory DNA binding subunits (Ku70/Ku80) bound to double strand DNA breaks are able to interact with 470-kDa DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), and the interaction is essential for DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) activity. The Ku80 mutants were designed to bind Ku70 but not DNA end binding activity and the peptides were treated in breast cancer cells for co-therapy strategy to see whether the targeted inhibition of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) activity sensitized breast cancer cells to ionizing irradiation or chemotherapy drug to develop a treatment of breast tumors by targeting proteins involved in damage-signaling pathway and/or DNA repair. We designed domains of Ku80 mutants, 26 residues of amino acids (HN-26) as a control peptide or 38 (HNI-38) residues of amino acids which contain domains of the membrane-translocation hydrophobic signal sequence and the nuclear localization sequence, but HNI-38 has additional twelve residues of peptide inhibitor region. We observed that the synthesized peptide (HNI-38) prevented DNA-PKcs from binding to Ku70/Ku80, resulting in inactivation of DNA-PK complex activity in breast cancer cells (MDA-465 and MDA-468). Consequently, the peptide treated cells exhibited poor to no DNA repair, and became highly sensitive to irradiation or chemotherapy drugs. The growth of breast cancer cells was also inhibited. These results demonstrate the possibility of synthetic peptide to apply breast cancer therapy to induce apoptosis of cancer cells.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.428-436
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• 2005

DNA topoisomerase I(TOP1) helps the control of DNA replication, transcription and recombination by assist­ing breaking and rejoining of DNA double strand. Camptothecin (CPT) and its derivative, topotecan, are known to inhibit TOP1 by intercalating into TOP1-DNA complex. Recently various non-CPT intercalators are synthesized for a new class of TOP1 inhibitors. In this study, six compounds isolated from Poria cocos were investigated for their interaction with TOP1­DNA complex using the flexible docking program, FlexiDock. The binding modes were analyzed and compared with the TOP1 inhibition activities. The compounds that showed potent activity were intercalated between the + 1/-1 base pairs of DNA, located near the active site phosphotyrosine723 and formed hydrogen bonds with active site residues. On the other hand, compounds with no activity were not docked at all. The binding modes were well correlated with the inhibition activity, suggesting the possibility that potent inhibitors can be designed from the information presented by the docking study.