• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.517-524
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• 2007

There were many different families of zinc finger proteins that contained multiple cysteine and/or histidine residues and used zinc to stabilize their folds. The classical C2H2 zinc finger proteins were the founding members of this superfamily and were among the most abundant proteins in eukaryotic genomes. C2H2 proteins typically contained several C2H2 fingers that made tandem contacts along the DNA. Here we reported a novel C2H2 type zinc finger gene, ZNF438, which encoded 828 amino acids that formed five zinc finger domains. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the ZNF438 was mapped to human chromosome 10p11.2 and shared 62% identity with rat and mouse homologues. RT-PCR analysis indicated that it was ubiquitously expressed in 18 human adult tissues. With immunofluorescence assay, it was shown that the exogenous Flag-tagged ZNF438 was located in nucleus of COS-7 cells. To further explore the function of ZNF438, we examined the transcriptional activity of ZNF438 protein by transfecting recombinant pM-ZNF438 into mammalian cells. The subsequent analysis based on the duel luciferase assay system showed that ZNF438 was a transcriptional repressor.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2006

Yam has been recognized as healthy food due to its various biological activities, such as anti-obesity, antimicrobial, anticancer and immuno-stimulation activities, and its consumption has been increased during last decades. In this study, to investigate low-temperature, long-term storage of yam and to develop processed yam products, yam-putrefactive psychrotrophic bacteria were isolated from rotted yam and identified based on BBL identification system, fatty acid analysis in cell membrane and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The putrefaction activity of isolated thirteen bacteria was evaluated using yam-slices (NaOCl-treated, autoclaved yam and without treatment), and YAM-10 and YAM-12 were identified as major psychrotrophic putrefactive bacteria. Both YAM-10 (Pseudomonas cepacia) and YAM-12 (Pseudomonas rhodesiae) bacteria grew well at 4$\sim$12$^{\circ}C$ and showed strong activity of polymer degrading enzymes, especially amylase, carboxy methyl cellulase and xylanase, at 20$^{\circ}C$. But they failed to grow at acidic pH (<5) or alkaline pH (>10). Our results suggested that the control of psychrotrophic Pseudomonas sp. by pH change and inhibition of polymer degrading enzymes, such as amy-lase, are necessary to long-term storage of yam.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the frequence of 4 periodontal pathogens in the supra- and subgingival plaque in periodontally healthy subjects. Twenty adult individuals aged 22 to 28 years (mean age 23.65 years) participated in this study. All subjects had no pocket sites more than 3 mm deep, and the sites selected for sampling were all negative for bleeding. After drying and isolation of the sites with cotton rolls, supragingival plaque was sampled using sterile periodontal curette. Each plaque sample was placed in individual tubes containing 500 ml of 1X PBS. After removal of the supragingival sample and any remaining supragingival plaque, subgingival plaque samples were taken from the same sites using sterile curette and placed in similar individual tubes. Identification of 4 putative periodontal pathogens from the samples was performed by polymerase chain reaction based on 16S rDNA. Chi-square test was employed to identify significant explanatory variables for the presence of the 4 periodontal pathogens. The data show that Actinobacillus actinmycetemcomitans, Porphyromonanas gingivalis, Bacteroides forsythus, and Fusobacterium nucleatum occurred in 16.9%, 14.4%, 52.5%, and 80.6%, respectively. No significant differences were noted in the periodontal pathogens between supra- and subgingival plaques according to the kind of teeth. However, the incisors were at higher risk for harboring F. nucleatum (p <0.05). Conclusion: These results reveal that anaerobic periodontal pathogens can be detected in supragingival plaques. Supragingival plaque may function as a reservoir of peri-odotopathogens.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.396-401
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• 2009

Microorganisms or their toxins can be transferred to eggs and cause food poisoning in humans. Therefore, this study was conducted to detect microbial contamination of eggs and to identify microorganisms in any contaminated eggs. Four different brands of eggs were collected from hypermarkets in the northern Gyeonggi area. The total bacterial counts on the shells of the eggs varied greatly between brands. In addition, various bacterial species including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas mendocina, Alcaligenes xylosoxidans, Alcaligenes faecalis, and Enterobacter cloacae were identified on eggshells. Furthermore, mean of total bacterial counts of four brands was $3.4{\times}10^4 cfu/m{\ell}$ and E. coli was detected on the eggshell of one brand egg. However, Salmonella was not identified on all brands of collected eggs. We also demonstrated that the E. coli isolated from the eggshell was not pathogenic based on the absence of pathogen-specific gene expression patterns. Taken together, the result of this study indicate that strict quality control and improved distribution controls are required to decrease microbial contamination and improve human health.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.355-362
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• 2008

This study was carried out to assess the fermentation properties of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from bovine colostrum and effects of feeding fermented colostrum feed on the growth to piglet. A total of 427 colonies were isolated from bovine colostrum on the BCP plate count agar. These LAB isolated were subcultured in 10% reconstituted skim milk, and seven strain thereof were selected for their highest acid productions, and two strain thereof were finally selected for their excellent sugar utilization. These strains were identified as Streptococcus thermophilus and Streptococcus macedonicus based on l6S rDNA sequencing data, named S. thermophilus CNB-11 and S. macedonicus CNB-11 respectively. For fermentation profiles, sugar utilization, acid production and viable cell counts were excellent in S. thermophilus CNB-11 as compared with S. macedoniclts CNB-11 after 48 hour. The effect of feeding fermented colostrum feed 0.5% using S. thermophilus CNB-11 was investigated for growth rate, analysis of blood and incidence of diarrhea. 24 heads of piglets were divided into two groups: the experimental and the control of 12 animals each. The average growth rate in the pigs fed fermented colostrum feed was higher 16.73% compared with control diet (p<0.05). There were no differences in the concentrations of blood glucose, cholesterol, albumin and globulin in pigs fed fermented colostrum feed as compared with control piglets. Incidence of diarrhea was no in pigs fed fermented colostrum feed as compared with control piglets.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.741-748
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• 2004

The hepatitis C virus is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinomas. Among the 10 polyproteins produced by the virus, no function has been clearly assigned to the non-structural 5A (NS5A) protein. This study was designed to identify the hepatocellular proteins that interact with NS5A of the HCV. Yeast two-hybrid experiments were performed with a human liver cDNA prey-library, using five different NS5A derivatives as baits, the full-length NS5A (NS5A-F, amino acid (aa) 1~447) and its four different derivatives, denoted as NS5A-A (aa 1~150), -B (aa 1~300), -C (aa 300~447) and D (aa 150~447). NS5A-F, NS5A-B and NS5A-C gave two, two and 10 candidate clones, respectively, including an AHNAK-related protein, the secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4), the N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 (NDRG1), the cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (CRABP-1), ferritin heavy chain (FTH1), translokin, tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (TACSTD2), phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI4K) and $centaurin{\delta}$ 2 ($CENT{\delta}2$). However, NS5A-A produced no candidates and NS5A-D was not suitable as bait due to transcriptional activity. Based on an in vitro binding assay, CRABP-1, PI4K, $CENT{\delta}2$ and two unknown fusion proteins with maltose binding protein (MBP), were confirmed to interact with the glutathione S-transferase (GST)/NS5A fusion protein. Furthermore, the interactions of CRABP-1, PI4K and $CENT{\delta}2$ were not related to the PXXP motif (class II), as judged by a domain analysis. While their biological relevance is under investigation, the results contribute to a better understanding of the possible role of NS5A in hepatocellular signaling pathways.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 2001

This studies were conducted to provide the basic information on safflower collections and to identify the variations which could be utilized in safflower breeding programs, The RAPDs was used to clarify the genetic relationships among safflower collections and to classify them into distint genetic groups. Among 30 of 10 mer primers in RAPD analysis, twenty were selected as the appropriate primers for identification of the genetic characters in safflower collections. Amplified PCR showed the highly reproducible bands at $3.0{\sim}0.2kb$. The number of bands amplified with the each primer showed the variations ranged from 2 to 11, with the average of 5.6. Total of 111 bands were identified among 20 selected primers used in PCR reaction and 84 bands (75.7%) showed polymorphism. Based on the similarity value of 0.14 in dendrogram derived from the cluster analysis using RAPD-PCR, the 30 safflower collections were classified into 11 groups. The two main groups, VII and VIII included 7 collections (23%) and 8 collections (27%), respectively. Most of the collections in group VII were the Korean collections (85%).

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.317-331
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• 2016

Development of disease resistant plant is one of the important objectives in rice breeding programs because biotic stresses can adversely affect rice growth and yield losses. This study was conducted to identify lines with multiple-resistance genes to biotic stress among 173 hybrid rice breeding lines and germplasms using DNA-based markers. Our results showed that one hybrid rice line [IR98161-2-1-1-k1-3 (IR86409-3-1-1-1-1-1/IRBB66)] possessed 5 bacterial blight resistance genes (Xa4, xa5, Xa7, Xa13 and Xa21) while two hybrid rice lines [IR98161-2-1-1-k1-2 (IR86409-3-1-1-1-1-1/IRBB66) and 7292s (IR75589-31-27-8-33S(S1)/IR102758B)] possessed 3 bacterial blight resistance genes (Xa4, Xa7 and Xa21, and Xa3, Xa4 and xa5). Molecular survey on rice blast disease revealed that most of these lines had two different resistant genes. Only 11 lines possessed Pib, Pi-5, and Pi-ta. In addition, we further surveyed the distribution of insect resistant genes, such as Bph1, Bph18(t), and Wbph. Three hybrid breeding lines [IR98161-2-1-1-k1-3 (IR86409-3-1-1-1-1-1/IRBB66), IR98161-2-1-1-k1-2 (IR86409-3-1-1-1-1-1/IRBB66), and 7292s (IR75589-31-27-8-33S(S1) /IR102758B)] contained all three resistance genes. Finally, we obtained four hybrid rice breeding lines and germplasms [IR98161-2-1-1-k1-2 (IR86409-3-1-1-1-1-1/IRBB66), Damm-Noeub Khmau, 7290s, and 7292s (IR75589-31-27-8-33S(S1)/IR102758B)] possessing six-gene combination. They are expected to provide higher level of multiple resistance to biotic stress. This study is important for genotyping hybrid rice with resistance to diverse diseases and pests. Results obtained in this study suggest that identification of pyramided resistance genes is very important for screening hybrid rice breeding lines and germplasms accurately for disease and pest resistance. We will expand their cultivation safely through bioassays against diseases, pests, and disaster in its main export countries.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.152-157
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• 2005

In a course of searching for biofungicide to control crisphead lettuce bottom rot caused by Rhizoctonia solani, we have isolated an antagonistic bacterium from lettuce rhisophere soil. A total of 702 bacterial isolates were isolated and tested for in vitro growth inhibition of R. solani. Seven strains appeared to have strong antagonistic effect against R. solani in in vitro growth inhibition assay. In the pot experiments, a strain BW-13 showed the most potent disease control effect on the both lettuce seedlings and adults plants. Therefore, the BW-13 was selected as a biocotrol candidate against crisphead lettuce bottom rot. Based on its morphology, physiological characteristics, and 165 rRNA gene analysis, the BW-13 was finally identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. This study indicated that S. maltophilia BW-13 could be used as a biocontrol agent to control crisphead lettuce bottom rot.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.460-464
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• 1999

Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA) has been known to be resistant to many kinds of antibiotics and causes a problem of nosnocomial infection since the third generation of cephalosporines has been introduced in the 1980s. As antibiotic sensitivity tests which have been routinely used to detect MRSA in the laboratory depend on the culture conditions such as, pH, temperature, and time, etc., it is difficult to decide in the case of borderline- or low-level of MRSA. Therefore it would be necessary to develope a new method based on the molecular biological technique to overcome these problems. In this study, we extracted DNA from S. aureus and performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify mec A gene, encoding penicillin-binding protein 2' (PBP-2'), which is known to confer bacteria resistance to the bacteriostatic action of methicillin. The results were compares with those of minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) test. When MIC test with oxacillin was performed on the 120 isolates of S. aureus from each patient's specimens, 64 of them were MRSA and 56 of them were methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). In pus specimen, more precisely, 61.9% (26/42) of MRSA was detected, and 44.2% (19/43), 60% (9/15) and 50% (10/20) of MRSA were detected in sputum, body fluid, and other specimen respectively. When 40 isolates of MRSA and MSSA were tested by PCR method and compares with the results of MIC method, different results were obtained from 1 isolate of MRSA (2.5%) and in 2 isolates of MSSA (5%) suggesting that PCR method should be performed at the same time for more accurate clinical test of MRSA.