• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.289-296
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• 2008

BPES (Blepharophimosis/Ptosis/Epicanthus inversus Syndrome) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in FOXL2. Affected individuals have premature ovarian failure (POF) in addition to small palpebral fissures, drooping eyelids, and broad nasal bridge. FOXL2 is a member of the forkhead family transcription factors. In FOXL2-deficient ovaries, granulosa cell differentiation dose not progress, leading to arrest of folliculogenesis and oocytes atresia. Using yeast two-hybrid screening of rat ovarian cDNA library with FOXL2 as bait, we found that small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)-conjugating E2 enzyme UBE2I protein interacted with FOXL2 protein. UBE2I also known as UBC9 is an essential protein for processing SUMO modification. Sumoylation is a form of post-translational modification involved in diverse signaling pathways including the regulation of transcriptional activities of many transcriptional factors. In the present study, we confirmed the protein-protein interaction between FOXL2 and UBE2I in human cells, 293T, by in vivo immunoprecipitation. In addition, we generated truncated FOXL2 mutants and identified the region of FOXL2 required for its association with UBE2I using yeast-two hybrid system. Therefore, the identification of UBE2I as an interacting protein of FOXL2 further suggests a presence of novel regulatory mechanism of FOXL2 by sumoylation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.271-278
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• 2024

Redox factor (Ref)-1, a ubiquitously expressed protein, acts as a modulator of redox-sensitive tran- scription factors and as an endonuclease in the repair pathway of damaged DNA. However, the function of Ref-1 in the differentiation of monocytes into macrophages has not been defined. In this study, we investigated the effects of Ref-1 on the monocyte differentiation process using the human monocytic cell line THP-1. The differentiation agent PMA increased cell adhesion over time and showed a sig- nificant increase in phagocytic function but decreased the intracellular amount of Ref-1. Ref-1 inhibitor E3330 and Ref-1 knockdown using the siRNA technique reduced cell adhesion and the expression of differentiation markers, such as CD14, ICAM-1, and CD11b, by PMA stimulation. This means that the role of Ref-1 is absolutely necessary in the initial process of differentiating THP-1 cells stimulated by PMA. Next, the distribution of Ref-1 was examined in the cytoplasm and nucleus of THP-1 cells stimulated with PMA. Surprisingly, PMA stimulation resulted in the rapid translocation of Ref-1 to the nucleus. To prove that movement of Ref-1 to the nucleus is required for monocyte differentiation, a Ref-1 vector with the nuclear localization sequence (NLS) deleted was used. As a result, overexpression of ∆NLS Ref-1, which restricted movement to the nucleus, suppressed the expression of differentiation markers and notably reduced phagocytic function in PMA-stimulated THP-1 cells. In conclusion, these data suggest that the differentiation of monocytic THP-1 cells requires Ref-1 nuclear translocation during the initial process of biochemical events following stimulation from PMA.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2007

Tooth loss in elderly is mainly caused by alveolar bone loss via severe periodontitis. Although the severity of periodontitis is known to be affected by age, the aging process or the genetic changes during the aging of periodontal tissue cells are not well characterized. In this study, we investigated the effect of in vitro aging on the change of gene expression pattern in periodontal fibroblasts. Gingival fibroblasts (GF) and periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDL) were obtained from two young patients and replicative senescence was induced by sequential subcultivation. When more than 90% cells were positively stained with senescence-associated ${\beta},-galactosidase$, those cells were regarded as aged cells. In aged GF and PDL, the level of phosphorylated retinoblastoma (RB) and $p16^{INK4A}$ protein was significantly decreased and increased, respectively. However, the protein level of p53 and p21, well known senescence-inducing genes, did not increase in aged GF and PDL. Although $p27^{Kip1}$ and $p15^{INK4B}$, another cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, were reported to be involved in replicative senescence of human cells, they were decreased in aged GF and PDL. Because senescent cells showed flattened and enlarged cell shape and are known to have increased focal adhesion, we examined the protein level of several integrins. Aged GF and PDL showed increased protein level of integrin ${\alpha}2$, ${\alpha}v$, and ${\beta}1$. When the gene expression profiles of actively proliferating young cells and aged cells were compared by cDNA microarray of 3,063 genes and were confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, 7 genes and 15 genes were significantly and commonly increased and decreased, respectively, in aged GF and PDL. Among them, included are the genes that were known to be involved in the regulation of cell cycle, gene transcription, or integrin signaling. The change of gene expression pattern in GF and PDL was minimally similar to that of oral keratinocyte. These results suggest that $p16^{INK4A}/RB$ might be involved in replicative senescence of periodontal fibroblasts and the change of gene expression profile during aging process is cell type specific.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.28-35
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• 1998

An antimicrobial peptide producing bacterium, Bacillus subtilis A405, was screened and identified among 700 of antagonistic bacteria. The heat-resistant antimicrobial peptide, AMP-405, was purified from the broth culture of B. subtilis A405 through $20{\sim}40%$ ammonium sulfate precipitation and ultrafiltration. The AMP-405 exhibited strong antimicrobial activities against Botrytis cinerea, Cercospora sp., Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium digitatum, Celletotrichum gloeosporioides, Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, Pyricularia oryzae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp. and Candida albicans. The molecular weight of the peptide was about 3.0 kDa determined by SDS-PAGE, Native-PAGE and Tris-Tricine gradient electrophoresis, and composed of 9 kinds of amino acid such as aspartic acid, glycine, serine, glutamine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, proline, tyrocine. To determine the efficiency of AMP-405 as a potential maintenance of fruits freshness, cherry tomato was srored at $25^{\circ}C$ for 2 weeks after treatment with $50{\mu}g/ml$ of AMP-405 and $10^{5}$ spores/ml of Botrytis cinerea simultaneously. Treatment with AMP-405 resulted in significantly less infection by Botrytis cinerea, than the treatment with tap water as a control.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2012

Miniature pig sperm cryopreservation is continually researched in biotechnology for breed conservation and reproduction. It is important to control the temperature at each stage of cryopreservation and cryoprotectant. It is also necessary to find the optimal cryoprotectant concentration and chemical elements of the extender. Recently, many studies have used various cryoprotectant materials, such as dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), ethylene glycol (EG), antifreeze protein (AFP), amides, and glycerol. Glycerol is a commonly used cryoprotectant. However, glycerol has critical cytotoxic properties, including osmotic pressure and it can cause irreversible damage to live cells. Therefore, We focused on membrane fluidity modifications can reduce cell damage from freezing and thawing procedures and evaluated on the positive effects of trehalose to the viability, chromatin integrity, and motility of boar sperm. Miniature pig sperm was separated from semen by washing with modified- Modena B (mMB) extender. After centrifugation, the pellet was diluted with the prepared first extender. This experiment was designed to compare the effects that sperm cryopreservation using two different extenders has on sperm chromatin. The control group used the glycerol only and it was compared with the glycerol and glycerol plus trehalose extender. Sperm viability and motility were evaluated using WST1 assays and computer-assisted semen assays (CASA). Chromatin structure was examined using acridine orange staining. For the motility descriptors, trehalose caused a significant (p<0.01) increase in total motility ($57.80{\pm}4.60%$ in glycerol vs. $75.50{\pm}6.14%$ in glycerol + trehalose) and progressive ($51.20{\pm}5.45%$ in glycerol vs. $70.74{\pm}8.06%$ in glycerol + trehalose). A significant (p<0.05) increase in VAP ($42.70{\pm}5.73{\mu}m/s$ vs. $59.65{\pm}9.47{\mu}m/s$), VSL ($23.06{\pm}3.27{\mu}m/s$ vs. $34.60{\pm}6.58{\mu}m/s$), VCL ($75.36{\pm}11.36{\mu}m/s$ vs. $99.55{\pm}12.91{\mu}m/s$), STR ($54.4{\pm}2.19%$ vs. $58.0{\pm}1.63%$), and LIN ($32.2{\pm}2.05%$ vs. $36.0{\pm}2.45%$) were also detected, respectively. The sperm DNA fragmentation index was 48.8% to glycerol only and 30.6% to glycerol plus trehalose. Trehalose added group showed higher percentages of sperm motility, stability of chromatin structure than glycerol only. In this study, we suggest that trehalose is effective in reducing freezing damage to miniature pig sperm and can reduce chromatin damage during cryopreservation.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2012

The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is one of the most important pest species devastating many horticultural and ornamental crops and fruit trees. Difficulty in managing this mite is largely attributed to its ability to develop resistance to many important acaricides. Development of 3,700-folds resistance to etoxazole was found in the population of T. urticae collected from rose greenhouses in Buyeo, Chungnam Province in August 2000. This population has been selected for eleven years with etoxazole (over 500 times), and increased over 5,000,000-folds in resistance as compared with susceptible strain. Also, etoxazole-resistant strain was shown to be maternally inherited. The objective of this study was to determine whether resistance of T. urticae to etoxazole was linked with point mutations in the mitochondrial gene. DNA sequencing of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1), COX2, COX3, cytochrome b (CYTB), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1), ND2, ND3, ND4, ND5, and ND6 were analyzed by comparing two etoxazole-susceptible and etoxazole-resistant strains. As a result, differences were not detected between the nucleotide sequences of two strains within a mitochondrial gene.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.41-41
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• 2015

BSA-seq technologies, combined Bulked Segregant Analysis (BSA) and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), are making it faster and more efficient to establish the association of agronomic traits with molecular markers or candidate genes, which is the requirement for marker-assisted selection in molecular breeding. Clubroot disease, caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae, is a serious threat to Brassica crops. Even we have breed new clubroot resistant varieties of Chinese cabbage (B. rapa ssp. pekinesis), the underlying genetic mechanism is unclear. In this study, an $F_2$ population of 340 plants were inoculated with P. brassicae from Xinye (Pathotype 2 on the differentials of Williams). Resistance phenotype segregation ratio for the populations fit a 3:1 (R:S) segregation model, consistent with a single dominant gene model. Super-BSA, using re-sequencing the parents, extremely R and S DNA pools with each 50 plants, revealed 3 potential candidate regions on the chromosome A03, with the most significant region falling between 24.30 Mb and 24.75 Mb. A linkage map with 31 markers in this region was constructed with several closely linked markers identified. A Major QTL for clubroot resistance, CRq, which was identified with the peak LOD score at 169.3, explaining 89.9% of the phenotypic variation. And we developed a new co-segregated InDel marker BrQ-2. Joint BSA-seq and traditional QTL analysis delimited CRq to an 250 kb genomic region, where four TIR-NBS-LRR genes (Bra019409, Bra019410, Bra019412 and Bra019413) clustered. The CR gene CRq and closely linked markers will be highly useful for breeding new resistant Chinese cabbage cultivars.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.479-484
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• 2013

Given the CYP3A4 and CYP3A5's impact on the efficacy of drugs, the genetic backgrounds of individuals and populations are regarded as an important factor to be considered in the prescription of personalized medicine. However, genetic studies with Korean population are relatively scarce compared to those with other populations. In this study, we aimed to identify CYP3A4/5 polymorphisms and compare the genotype distributions among five ethnicities. To identify CYP3A4/5 SNPs, we first performed direct sequencing with 288 DNA samples which consisted of 96 Koreans, 48 European-Americans, 48 African-Americans, 48 Han Chinese, and 48 Japanese. The direct sequencing identified 15 novel SNPs, as well as 42 known polymorphisms. We defined the genotype distributions, and compared the allele frequencies among five ethnicities. The results showed that minor allele frequencies of Korean population were similar with those of the Japanese and Han Chinese populations, whereas there were distinct differences from European-Americans or African-Americans. Among the pharmacogenetic markers, frequencies of $CYP3A4^*1B$ (rs2740574) and $CYP3A5^*3C$ (rs776742) in Asian groups were different from those in other populations. In addition, minor allele frequency of $CYP3A4^*18$ (rs28371759) was the highest in Korean population. Additional in silico analysis predicted that two novel non-synonymous SNPs in CYP3A5 (+27256C>T, P389S and +31546T>G, I488S) could alter protein structure. The frequency distributions of the identified polymorphisms in the present study may contribute to the expansion of pharmacogenetic knowledge.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.635-647
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• 2014

Unfertilized oocytes age inevitably after ovulation, which limits their fertilizable life span and embryonic development. Rapamycin affects mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) expression and cytoskeleton reorganization during oocyte meiotic maturation. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of rapamycin treatment on aged porcine oocytes and their in vitro development. Rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes for 24 h (68 h in vitro maturation [IVM]; $44h+10{\mu}M$ rapamycin/24 h, $47.52{\pm}5.68$) or control oocytes (44 h IVM; $42.14{\pm}4.40$) significantly increased the development rate and total cell number compared with untreated aged oocytes (68 h IVM, $22.04{\pm}5.68$) (p<0.05). Rapamycin treatment of aged IVM oocytes for 24 h also rescued aberrant spindle organization and chromosomal misalignment, blocked the decrease in the level of phosphorylated-p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and increased the mRNA expression of cytoplasmic maturation factor genes (MOS, BMP15, GDF9, and CCNB1) compared with untreated, 24 h-aged IVM oocytes (p<0.05). Furthermore, rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity and DNA fragmentation (p<0.05), and downregulated the mRNA expression of mTOR compared with control or untreated aged oocytes. By contrast, rapamycin treatment of aged oocytes increased mitochondrial localization (p<0.05) and upregulated the mRNA expression of autophagy (BECN1, ATG7, MAP1LC3B, ATG12, GABARAP, and GABARAPL1), anti-apoptosis (BCL2L1 and BIRC5; p<0.05), and development (NANOG and SOX2; p<0.05) genes, but it did not affect the mRNA expression of pro-apoptosis genes (FAS and CASP3) compared with the control. This study demonstrates that rapamycin treatment can rescue the poor developmental capacity of aged porcine oocytes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.835-841
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• 2018

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the reversibility and safety of KISS1 metastasis suppressor (KISS1) gene vaccine in immunocastration. Methods: Six eight-week old ram lambs were randomly divided into vaccinated and control groups. The vaccine (1 mg/ram lamb) was injected at weeks 0, 3, and 6 of the study. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein before primary immunization and at weeks 2, 4, 6, 10, 14, 22, and 30 after primary immunization. All ram lambs were slaughtered at 38 weeks of age, and samples were collected. Results: The specific anti-KISS1 antibody titers in vaccinated animals were significantly higher and the serum testosterone level was significantly lower than those in the control groups from week 4 to 14 after primary immunization (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed at weeks 22 and 30 after the primary immunization. Similar results were also found for scrotal circumference, testicular weight, length, breadth, and spermatogenesis in seminiferous tubules in week 30 after primary immunization. KS (KISS1-hepatitis B surface antigen S) fusion fragment of KISS1 gene vaccine was not detected in host cell genomic DNA of 9 tissues of the vaccinated ram lambs by polymerase chain reaction. Conclusion: The effects of KISS1 gene vaccine in immunocastration were reversible and no integration events were recorded.