• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1599-1608
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• 2024

Yersinia enterocolitica is a globally distributed food-borne gastrointestinal pathogen. The O-antigen variation-determined serotype is an important characteristic of Y. enterocolitica, allowing intraspecies classification for diagnosis and epidemiology purposes. Among the 11 serotypes associated with human yersiniosis, O:3, O:5,27, O:8, and O:9 are the most prevalent, and their O-antigen gene clusters have been well defined. In addition to the O-antigen, several virulence factors are involved in infection and pathogenesis of Y. enterocolitica strains, and these are closely related to their biotypes, reflecting pathogenic properties. In this study, we identified the O-AGC of a Y. enterocolitica strain WL-21 of serotype O:10, and confirmed its functionality in O-antigen synthesis. Furthermore, we analyzed in silico the putative O-AGCs of uncommon serotypes, and found that the O-AGCs of Y. enterocolitica were divided into two genetic patterns: (1) O-AGC within the hemH-gsk locus, possibly synthesizing the O-antigen via the Wzx/Wzy dependent pathway, and (2) O-AGC within the dcuC-galU-galF locus, very likely assembling the O-antigen via the ABC transporter dependent pathway. By screening the virulence genes against genomes from GenBank, we discovered that strains representing different serotypes were grouped according to different virulence gene profiles, indicating strong links between serotypes and virulence markers and implying an interaction between them and the synergistic effect in pathogenicity. Our study provides a framework for further research on the origin and evolution of O-AGCs from Y. enterocolitica, as well as on differences in virulent mechanisms among distinct serotypes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.134.2-135
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• 2003

The plant-pathogenic species S. scabies, S. acidiscabies, and S. turgidiscabies cause the scab disease of potato and produce the phytotoxins, thaxtomins. necl, a gene conferring a necrogenic phenotype, is involved in pathogenicity and physically linked to the thaxtomin A biosynthetic genes. Identification of the pathogenic strains of Streptomyces from soil was performed through the polymerase chain reaction by using specific pathogenicity primer sets derived from the necl gene sequences of Streptomyces smbies. The DNA was extracted from soil using a bead-beating machine and modifications of the FastPrep system. The DNA was suitable for direct use in the PCR. The PCR products showed the bands of approximately 460 bp. This methods can be very usuful in identifying species responsible for scab diseases and studying on the ecology of plant-pathogenic Streptomyces spp.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.122-130
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• 2009

A systems biology approach for the identification of perturbed molecular functions is required to understand the complex progressive disease such as breast cancer. In this study, we analyze the microarray data with Gene Ontology terms of molecular functions to select perturbed molecular functional modules in breast cancer tissues based on the definition of Gene ontology Functional Code. The Gene Ontology is three structured vocabularies describing genes and its products in terms of their associated biological processes, cellular components and molecular functions. The Gene Ontology is hierarchically classified as a directed acyclic graph. However, it is difficult to visualize Gene Ontology as a directed tree since a Gene Ontology term may have more than one parent by providing multiple paths from the root. Therefore, we applied the definition of Gene Ontology codes by defining one or more GO code(s) to each GO term to visualize the hierarchical classification of GO terms as a network. The selected molecular functions could be considered as perturbed molecular functional modules that putatively contributes to the progression of disease. We evaluated the method by analyzing microarray dataset of breast cancer tissues; i.e., normal and invasive breast cancer tissues. Based on the integration approach, we selected several interesting perturbed molecular functions that are implicated in the progression of breast cancers. Moreover, these selected molecular functions include several known breast cancer-related genes. It is concluded from this study that the present strategy is capable of selecting perturbed molecular functions that putatively play roles in the progression of diseases and provides an improved interpretability of GO terms based on the definition of Gene Ontology codes.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2009

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a persistent environmental contaminant and is present in tobacco smoke. BaP is considered a major contributor of cardiovascular disease. While the activation of endothelial cells by stimuli including tobacco smoke and air pollution contributes importantly to cardiovascular disease, the nature of BaP's mechanism is unclear. In this study, gene expression profiles were investigated in BaPtreated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Various atherosclerosis related genes could be up- and down-regulated more than 2-fold by BaP, and mRNA levels of atherosclerosis related genes encoding apolipoproteinC III, TLR 2, ICAM 1 and exportin 4 were significantly increased by BaP. Our data suggest that BaP-mediated changes in gene expression contribute to the progression of cardiovascular disease.

• 한국인삼전략화협의회:학술대회논문집
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• v.2003 no.09
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• pp.54-63
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• 2003

"Korea ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A Meyer) is an important medicinal plant. Its root has been used as an herbal medicine that provides resistance to stress and disease, and prevents exhaustion since the ancient time. Ginsenosides, glycosylated triterpene (saponin), are considered to be the main active compounds of the ginseng root. Despite of considerable commercial interests of ginsenosides, very little is known about the genes and their biochemical pathways for ginsenoside biosynthesis. This work will focus on the identification of genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis and the dissection of ginsenoside biosynthetic pathway using a functional genomics tool. Expression sequence tags (ESTs) provide a valuable tool to discovery the genes in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. We generated over 21,155 ginseng ESTs that is now sufficient to facilitate discovering the genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis such as oxidosqualene cyclase(OSC), cytochrome P450 and glycosyltransferase. With ESTs information, microarray technology will be used for the analysis of gene expression, and the identification of genes including transcription factors expressed in tissues under given experimental condition. Heterogous system such as yeast and plants will allow us to do the functional analysis. And selected ginseng hairy root which show variation in ginsenoside production will be used as a material for functional analysis of candidate gene. Functional genomics approach will successfully accelerate gene discovery, and also provide promises of metabolic engineering for the ginsenoside production."

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2000

The development of molecular biology has brought many changes in psychiatry. Molecular biology makes us possible to know the cause of mental disorders that provide the way to prevent the disorders, and to develop various accurate diagnostic and treatment methods for mental disorders. The author discusses the concept, cause, and treatment of mental disorders in the aspect of molecular biology. Importing the methods of molecular biology into psychiatry, we can anticipate to get a number of the goals of psychiatric genetics, including identification of specific susceptibility genes, clarification of the pathophysiological processes whereby these genes lead to symptoms, establishment of epigenetic factors that interact with these genes to produce disease, validation of nosological boundaries that more closely reflect the actions of these genes, and development of effective preventive and therapeutic interventions based on genetic counseling, gene therapy, and modification of permissive or protective environmental influences. In addition to their capacity to accelerate the discovery of new molecules participating in the nervous system's response to disease or to self-administered drugs, molecular biological strategies can also be used to determine how critical a particular gene product may be in mediating a cellular event with behavioral importance. Molecular biology probably enables us discover the environmental factors of mental disorders and allow rational drug design and gene therapies for mental disorders, by isolation of gene products that facilitate a basic understanding of the pathogenesis of these disorders. A specific genetic linkage may suggest a novel class of drugs that has not yet been tried. With respect to gene therapy, the hypothetical method would use a gene delivery system, most likely a modified virus, to insert a functional copy of a mutant gene into those brain cells that require the gene for normal function.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.765-776
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• 2020

The retinal degenerative disease, progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is a major reason of vision impairment in canine population. Canine PRA signifies an inherently dissimilar category of retinal dystrophies which has solid resemblances to human retinis pigmentosa. Even though much is known about the biology of PRA, the knowledge about the intricate connection among genetic loci, genes and pathways associated to this disease in dogs are still remain unknown. Therefore, we have performed a genome wide association study (GWAS) to identify susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PRA. The GWAS was performed using a case-control based association analysis method on PRA dataset of 129 dogs and 135,553 markers. Further, the gene-set and pathway analysis were conducted in this study. A total of 1,114 markers associations with PRA trait at p < 0.01 were extracted and mapped to 640 unique genes, and then selected significant (p < 0.05) enriched 35 gene ontology (GO) terms and 5 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways contain these genes. In particular, apoptosis process, homophilic cell adhesion, calcium ion binding, and endoplasmic reticulum GO terms as well as pathways related to focal adhesion, cyclic guanosine monophosphate)-protein kinase G signaling, and axon guidance were more likely associated to the PRA disease in dogs. These data could provide new insight for further research on identification of potential genes and causative pathways for PRA in dogs.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.74 no.5
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• pp.215-221
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• 2013

Background: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are considered opportunistic pathogens, and several species of NTM are associated with human diseases that typically involve the pulmonary, skin/soft tissue, or lymphatic systems; such infection may also cause disseminated diseases. Recent studies have reported increasing rates of NTM-induced disease worldwide. Methods: Respiratory samples are being analyzed for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) culture and NTM identification at Dankook University Hospital in Cheonan, Korea, from September 2005 to September 2011. Identification is performed by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis targeting a novel region of the rpoB gene. Results: A total of 25,133 specimens were received for AFB culture, of which 1,014 (4.0%) were NTM-positive. A total of 267 samples from 186 patients were tested for NTM identifications, and 232 samples from 157 patients were positive for NTM species. Among the patients who tested positive for NTM, 65.6% were men and the average age was 63.3 years. Mycobacterium avium complex, the most commonly detected NTM pathogen, was found in 65.9% of the 232 samples. The annual average percentage of NTM isolates from AFB culture-positive specimens was 31.3%: the highest rate was seen in 2011 (44.3%), followed by 2009 (37.4%) and 2010 (37.2%). An upward trend in NTM incidence was found during the study period. Conclusion: The prevalence of pulmonary NTM isolates continues to increase in Cheonan, suggesting that pulmonary NTM disease is becoming increasingly common.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.190-196
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• 2013

The sea squirt, Halocynthia roretzi, has experienced mass mortality due to softness syndrome. The identification of disease-induced genes can provide insights into the development of this syndrome. To identify the genes, we performed differentially expressed gene (DEG) analysis. The expression of the phosphoglycerate kinase (HrPGK) gene was significantly decreased in diseased sea squirts compared to normal ones. We confirmed the result of the DEG analysis through RT-PCR and real-time PCR. In addition, we detected single nucleotide polymorphisms at position -106 (A/T) and -254 (G/T) in the HrPGK gene promoter by genotyping analysis. At the -106 site of the HrPGK gene, the frequency of the AA allele in disease-resistant sea squirts was about two-fold higher than that of sensitive ones, and the frequency of the TT allele in the disease-resistant sea squirts was about six-fold lower. At the -254 site of the HrPGK gene, the frequency of the GT and the GG allele was approximately two-fold higher and two-fold lower, respectively, in the disease-resistant sea squirts compared to the disease-sensitive ones. Analysis of the relationship between the genotypic variation at the -106/-254 promoter and the expression of HrPGK mRNA showed that HrPGK mRNA expression was higher in the -106/-254 AA/GT genotype samples than in the -106/254 TT/GG genotype ones. These results show that sea squirts harboring the AA/GT genotype may have more resistance to mortality than the sea squirts with other genotypes.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.195-203
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• 2012

In reared populations of Allomyrina dichotoma, commercial insects, the skin of last instar larvae was changed softer with opaque white, and infested grubs eventually died. To clarify the cause of the symptom, we collected the larvae of A. dichotoma from five farms and examined their intestinal bacterial florae using pyrosequencing technique. From those results, a member of Paenibacillus was found only in the larvae showing the symptom of disease. Through PCR analysis using a Paenibacillus specific primer set, we obtained the partial 16S rRNA gene sequence and confirmed the microbe as Paenibacillus sp. For clear identification, a whole guts was extracted from each larva showing the sign of the disease and incubated at $70^{\circ}C$ for 15 min to isolate spore forming bacteria. After then, each content of guts was cultured on $MYPGP_{NAL}$ agar medium($12.5{\mu}g/ml$ of nalidixic acid) at $30^{\circ}C$. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis for the isolated bacteria showed that they were closely related to P. rigui(97.9% similarity), to P. chinjuensis(96.1% similarity), and to P. soli(95.3% similarity). Additional tests including API test and cellular fatty acid composition analysis were performed, but the strain couldn't be identified at species level, suggesting it may represent novel species of the genus Paenibacillus.