• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.183-189
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• 2018

The plant hormone auxin regulates the overall metabolic processes essential for plant growth and development. Auxin signaling is mediated by early auxin response genes, which are classified into three major families: AUXIN/INDOLE ACETIC ACID (AUX/IAA), GRETCHEN HAGEN3 (GH3) and SMALL AUIN UP RNA (SAUR). The SAUR gene family is the largest family among early auxin response genes and encodes the small and highly unstable gene products. The functional roles of SAUR genes have remained unclear for many years. The traditional genetic and molecular studies on the SAUR functions have been hampered by their likely genetic redundancy and tandem arrays of highly related genes in the plant genome, together with the molecular characteristics of SAUR. However, recent studies have suggested possible roles of SAUR in a variety of tissues and developmental stages in accordance with the novel approaches such as gain-of-function and RNA silencing techniques. In this review, the recent research progress on the functional roles and regulatory mechanisms of SAUR and a set of possible future works are discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2010

To protect information resources, many organizations including private corporate and government employ integrated information security systems which provide the functions of intrusion detection, firewall, and virus vaccine. So, in order to develop a reliable integrated information security system during the development life cycle, the managers in charge of the development of the system must effectively distribute the development resources to the quality factors of an integrated information security system. This study suggests a distribution methodology that minimizes the total cost with satisfying the minimum quality level of an integrated information security system by appropriately assigning development resources to quality factors considered. To achieve this goal, we identify quality factors of an integrated information system and then measure the relative weights among the quality factors using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The suggested distribution methodology makes it possible to search an optimal solution which minimizes the total cost with satisfying the required quality levels of processes by assigning development resources to quality factors during the development life cycle.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.288-292
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• 2005

Pathogenesis-related protein-1a (PR-1a) is strongly induced in tobacco plants by pathogen attack, exogenous salicylic acid (SA) application and by other developmental processes. In order to develop a rapid screening system for the selection of plant defense-inducing compounds originated from various sources, we have transformed tobacco Samsun NN plants with a chimeric construct consisting of GUS $(\beta-glucuronidase)$. In the $T_1$ generation, three transgenic lines having stable GUS expression were selected for further promoter analysis. Using GUS histochemical assay, we observed strong GUS induction driven by PR-1a promoter in PR1a-GUS transgenic tobacco leaves in response to the exogenous application of SA or benzol (1,2,3) thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH), a SA­derivative compound. In addition, GUS expression was maintained locally or systemically in PR1a-GUS transgenic line $\#5\;T_2$ generation) until after 3 days when they were treated with same chemicals. Our results suggested that the PR1a-GUS reporter gene system in tobacco plants may be applicable for the large-scale screening of defense-inducing substances.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.45-57
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• 2001

Trees have the ability to undergo secondary growth and produce a woody body. This tree-specific growth is affected by the secondary vascular system and the developmental continuum of secondary phloem and xylem. Secondary growth is one of the most important biological processes on earth. Considering its economic and environmental significance, our knowledge of tree growth and development is surprisingly limited. Trees have received little attention as model species in plant science, as most Plant biology questions can be best addressed by using herbaceous model species, such as Arabidopsis. Furthermore, tree biology is difficult to study mainly due to the inherent problems of tree species, including large size, long generation time, large genome size, and recalcitrance to biotechnological manipulations. Despite all of this, one must rely on trees as models to study tree-specific questions, such as secondary growth, which cannot be studied effectively in non-woody model species. Recent advances in genomics technology provide a unique opportunity to overcome these inherent tree-related problems. Several groups, including our own, have been successful in studying the biology of wood formation with a variety of hardwood and softwood species. In this article, 1 first review the current understanding of tree growth and then discuss the recent attempts to fully explore and realize the potential of molecular biology as a tool for enhanced understanding of secondary growth.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.187-192
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• 2011

TGF-$\beta$ activated kinase-1 (TAK1) plays a pivotal role in developmental processes in many species. Previous research has mainly focused on the function of TAK1 in model organisms, and little is known about the function of TAK1 in hymenoptera insects. Here, we isolated and characterized the TAK1 gene from Apis cerana cerana. Promoter analysis of AccTAK1 revealed the presence of transcription factor binding sites related to early development. Real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry experiments revealed that AccTAK1 was expressed at high levels in fourth instar larvae, primarily in the abdomen, in the intestinal wall cells of the midgut and in the secretory cells of the salivary glands. In addition, AccTAK1 expression in fourth instar larvae could be dramatically induced by treatment with pesticides and organic solvents. These observations suggest that AccTAK1 may be involved in the regulation of early development in the larval salivary gland and midgut.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.1659-1664
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• 2001

Several studies have been done regarding carcass traits and growth in pigs. Recently, these have progressed to examine increases in economic traits, including meat quality and meat quantity, by using candidate genes. One of them is the pituitary-specific protein PIT-1, a member of the POU (Pit-Oct-Unc) family of transcription factors playing an important regulatory role in developmental processes. In addition, muscle development is known to be regulated in part by growth factors and cytokines locally produced. Therefore, studies were performed to analyze PIT-1 genotypes and serum cytokines (IGF-I, IGF-II, TGF-${\beta}1$, EGF, cortisol, DHEA-S, IL-2, and IL-6) in castrated male pigs for their possible involvement in the development of carcass traits. The genotypes of PIT-1 gene were analyzed by PCR-RFLP with MspI restriction enzyme. But, only CD and DD genotypes, not CC genotype, have been detected. Based on PIT-1 genotyping, a significant difference in EGF expression beween CD type (78.8 ng/ml) and DD type (46.0 ng/ml) was detected (p<0.05), whereas other cytokines did not show any statistical significance depending on PIT-1 genotypes. Collectively, these results suggest the possibility that EGF could affect the formation of carcass traits.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.314-320
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• 1996

The effects of non-cytotoxic concentrations of tamoxifen, verapamil, and trifluoperazine on doxorubicin cytotoxicity in five human breast cancer cell lines were studied. A non-cytotoxic concentration of tamoxifen resulted in enhanced doxorubicin cytotoxicity in HTB-123, HTB-26, and MCF-7. In these three cell lines, a combination of tamoxifen with verapamil resulted in even more increased doxorubicin cytotoxicity. Addition of verapamil or trifluoperazine alone did not influence the doxorubicin cytotoxicity significantly. Only in HTB-19 did coincubation with verapamil increase the doxorubicin cytotoxicity. In HTB-123, combination of tamoxifen with trifluoperazine increased the doxorubicin cytotoxicity significantly. In the cell lines where co-incubation with tamoxifen increased doxorubicin sensitivity, high estrogen receptor expression was detected. However, HTB-20, where tamoxifen did not enhance doxorubicin action, was also estrogen receptor positive. None of the cell lines had multidrug resistance related drug efflux and drug retention was not increased by the treatment with tamoxifen and verapamil. Cell cycle traverses were not altered by incubation with tamoxifen, verapamil or combinations thereof. These observatlons suggest mechanism of non-cytotoxic concentrations of tamoxifen and verapamil on doxorubicin cytotoxicity may involve one or more other cellular processes besides those of interference of estrogen binding to its receptor, cell cycle perturbation, or drug efflux blocking.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.371-372
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• 2015

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can regulate the expression of genes that are involved in multiple cellular pathways. However, their targets and mechanism of action associated with the autophagy pathway are not fully investigated yet. EWSR1 (EWS RNA-Binding Protein 1/Ewing Sarcoma Break Point Region 1) gene encodes a RNA/DNA binding protein that is ubiquitously expressed and plays roles in numerous cellular processes. Recently, our group has shown that EWSR1 deficiency leads to developmental failure and accelerated senescence via processing of miRNAs, but its role in the regulation of autophagy remains elusive. In this context, we further investigated and found that EWSR1 deficiency triggers the activation of the DROSHA-mediated microprocessor complex and increases the levels of miR125a and miR351, which directly target Uvrag. Interestingly, the miR125a- and miR351-targeted reduction of Uvrag led to the inhibition of autophagy in both ewsr1 knockout (KO) MEFs and ewsr1 KO mice. In summary, our study demonstrates that EWSR1 is associated with the posttranscriptional regulation of Uvrag via miRNA processing. The regulation of autophagy pathway in miRNAs-Uvrag-dependent manner provides a novel mechanism of EWSR1 deficiency-related cellular dysfunction. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(7): 371-372]

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.519-525
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• 2011

Growth hormone (GH) is obligatory for growth and development. But, there is controversy on the GH effect about reproductive processes of sexual differentiation, pubertal maturation, gonadal steroidogenesis, gametogenesis and ovulation. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of GH on estrus, ovulation and embryo implantation. The results obtained were as follows. GH stimulated to increase estrus rate (p<0.05), pregnancy rate (p<0.05), and total fetus number in mice treated for superovulation. Also, the correlation between GH and steroids, E2 and P4, at peri-estrus stage/ peri-ovulation stage/ peri-implantation stage of the superovulation-induced mice was examined. Consequently, GH co-injected with PMSG especially increased P4 level (p<0.05) at peri-estrus stage of superovulationinduced mice. In conclusion, GH co-treatment in superovulation system boosted the rate of estrus, pregnancy and total fetus by increasing progesterone level at peri-estrus stage of superovulation-induced mice.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.41-50
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• 2017

Until today, success in germline cells and tissue cryopreservation is limited mainly due to the poor understanding of the complex physiological processes can lead to cell damage during cryopreservation. Germline cells, from both male and female, have unique ability to differentiate into one or more cell lines and thus it becomes a crucial point to store them in subzero temperature with the minimal damage of their functional properties and maximum recovery of unchanged and viable cells when thawed. In the past three decades, a vast research has been performed using various different animal models which in fact have led to development of new methodologies and optimization of older one. However, successful use of animal model has provided the opportunity in research with human germline cells and tissues preservation, but not in all the cases. Therefore, the use of new cryo-protective chemicals and modified protocols have been often found in different groups of researchers based on the types, physical structures, utility and animal species of the specimens to be cryopreserved. This review discusses about the basics of different types of cryopreservation methodologies and commonly used optimized protocols and cryoprotectants for germline cells and tissues preservation.