• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.880-886
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• 2005

Using carotenoid genes of Erwinia herbicola, metabolic engineering was carried out for lycopene production with the pAC-LYCO4 plasmid, which was composed of a chromosomal DNA fragment of E. herbicola containing the crtE, crtB, and crtI genes under the control of the tetracycline promoter and the ipi gene of Haematococcus pluvialis with the trc promoter. Plasmid pAC-LYCm4 was constructed for efficient expression of the four exogenous genes using a strong RBS sequence and the same tetracycline promoter. The optimized expression construct of pAC-LYCm4 increased Iycopene production three times as compared with pAC-LYCO4. pAC-LYCm5 containing ispA behind the four exogenous genes was constructed. There was no significant difference in Iycopene production and cell growth between pAC-LYCm4 and pAC-LYCm5. FPP synthase encoded by ispA was not rate-limiting for Iycopene production. Each gene of crtE, crtB, crtI, and ipi was overexpressed, using pBAD-crtE, pBAD-crtIB, and pBAD-ipiHPI, in addition to their expression from pAC-LYCm4. However, there was no increase oflycopene production with the additional overexpression of each exogenous gene. The four exogenous genes appeared to be not rate-limiting in cells harboring pAC-LYCm4. When pDdxs, pBAD24 containing dxs, was introduced into cells harboring lycopene synthetic plasmids, lycopene production of pAC-LYCO4, pAC-LYCm4, and pAC-LYCm5 was increased by 4.7-, 2.2-, and 2.2-fold, respectively. Lycopene production of pBAD-DXm4 containing crtE, crtB, crtI, ipi, and dxs was 5.2 mg/g dry cell weight with $0.2\%$ arabinose, which was 8.7-fold higher than that of the initial strain with pAC-LYC04. Therefore, the present study showed that proper regulation of a metabolically engineered pathway is important for Iycopene production.

• BMB Reports
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.279-287
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• 1999

The aromatic hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a cytosolic protein that binds the environmental pollutant, dioxin. The liganded AhR translocates into the nucleus where it heterimerizes with a constitutive nuclear protein, AhR nuclear translocator (Arnt). The N-terminal regions of both AhR and Arnt contain basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) and Per-AhR-Arnt-Sim (PAS) motifs that are required for DNA binding, dimerization, and ligand binding whereas the C-terminal regions of both AhR and Arnt contain transactivation domains. Here, results from the mammalian two-hybrid system indicate that Arnt can make a homodimer but AhR cannot. In the presence of dioxin, the interaction between AhR and Arnt is stronger than that of the Arnt homodimer, suggesting that Arnt prefers to make a heterodimer with the liganded AhR rather than a homodimer. Transfection analyses using the GAL4-driven reporter system suggest that AhR's N-terminal region represses its own transactivation domain, as well as exogenous transactivation domains such as Sp 1 and VP16. Interestingly, the repressed transactivation domains of AhR are activated by ligand-dependent heterodimerization with Arnt. These observations suggest that heterodimerzation with Arnt is necessary not only for DNA binding but also for activation of the repressed transactivation capability of AhR.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.115-121
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• 2007

Root nodule formation is controlled by plant hormones such as auxin. Auxin-repressed protein (ARP) genes have been identified in various plant species but their functions are not clear. We have isolated a full-length cDNA clone (EuNOD-ARP1) showing high sequence homology to previously identified ARP genes from root nodules of Elaeagnus umbellata. Genomic Southern hybridization showed that there are at least four ARP-related genes in the genome of E. umbellata. The cDNA clone encodes a polypeptide of 120 amino acid residues with no signal peptide or organelle-targeting signals, indicating that it is a cytosolic protein. Its cytosolic location was confirmed using Arabidopsis protoplasts expressing a EuNOD-ARP1:smGFP fusion protein. Northern hybridization showed that EuNOD-ARP1 expression was higher in root nodules than in leaves or uninoculated roots. Unlike the ARP genes of strawberry and black locust, which are negatively regulated by exogenous auxin, EuNOD-ARP1 expression is induced by auxin in leaf tissue of E. umbellata. In situ hybridization revealed that EuNOD-ARP1 is mainly expressed in the fixation zone of root nodules.

• 한국동물번식학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국동물번식학회 2003년도 학술발표대회 발표논문초록집
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• pp.94-94
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• 2003

Endocrine disrupters (EDs) are exogenous chemicals that interfere with the production, releasing, metabolism, excretion, binding of natural hormones, and whole endocrine systems. EDs are very dangerous since they are extremely stable, not easily degraded, and accumulated in fat and tissue. 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is known as the most toxic EDs. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of TCDD on proliferation of human breast cancer (MCF-7) and endometrial adenocarcinoma (Hec-1B) cells. 10, 100, and 1000 nM of TCDD were treated with steroid free condition. Viable cell counting, MTT, and BrdU assay was performed to investigate cell proliferation. Apoptosis was investigated using DNA laddering. Although, DNA fragmentation as the evidence of apoptosis was not detected, all of these cell lines showed restricted proliferation at 48 hrs after 100 and 1000 nM TCDD treatments. Recently, it has been reported that the expression of transforming growth factor $\beta$s (TGF-$\beta$s) are increased in TCDD treatment and also involved in regulation of cell cycle. Therefore, these results were considered that the decreased cell prolifcration by TCDD is related to the expression of TGF-$\beta$s.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.9-14
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• 1964

The sensitivities of Chlorella ellipsoidea to ${\gamma}$-ray from Cobalt-60 were determined by measuring the photosynthetic and respiratory activities and the changes in phosphate contents in various fractions of the irradited cells, which were further grown in a standard medium after irradiation, were compared to those of non-irradiated normal cells. The photosynthetic and repiratory activities of the cells were almost inversely proportional to the dose of ${\gamma}$-ray irradiated and the photosynthetic activity was more sensitive than the respiratory activity of the cells. The most sensitive to ${\gamma}$-ray was growth activity, followed by photosynthesis, exogenous and endogenous respirations of the cells in decreasing order. Chlorella cells were so resistant to ${\gamma}$-ray comapred with other organisms that about 280,000 r dose of ${\gamma}$-ray irradiaton was necessary to reduce as much as half the subsequent photosynthetic activity. When the irradiated algae were further cultured in a standard medium, the phosphate contents in the fraction of DNA, RNA and phosphoprotein decreased considerably compared with those of non-irradiated normal cells, while the phosphate contents in the fraction of polyphosphates increased than those of control. Therefore, it was deduced that ${\gamma}$-ray inhibited the synthesis of DNA from polyphosphates, that the growth of Chlorella cells were consequently retarded.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.241-245
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• 2007

This study was conducted to determine the optimal conditions for introduction of exogenous DNA into Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Of the three transformation techniques studied, electroporation, ultrasonic transformation and natural transformation, natural transformation showed the highest efficiency. Additionally, this study demonstrated that the higher plasmid concentration and longer homologous recombining fragments resulted in a greater number of transformants. For successful transformation, the lowest concentration of plasmid was $0.02\;{\mu}g/ml$, and the shortest homologous recombining fragment was 0.2 kb. Use of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 in the logarithmic growth phase resulted in two-fold higher transformation rate than that of the same organism when cells in the latent phase or the plateau phase were used for transformation. Pretreatment of the host strain, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, with EDTA (2 mM) for two days prior to transformation increased the transformation efficiency by 23%. Additionally, incubation of the cells and DNA for 5 h under light conditions increased the transformation efficiency by two orders of magnitude. Moreover, recovery treatment of the cells before they were plated onto antibiotic medium also increased the transformation efficiency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제21권11호
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• pp.1123-1126
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• 2011

The IncP plasmid R995 has been a useful self-transmissible, broad-host-range vector for a number of applications including the recombinase/conjugation-based cloning of large genomic DNA segments. However, R995 derivatives (or related plasmids) expressing a wide range of different resistance markers and Flp recombinase target sites do not exist in the literature. In addition, documented strategies for applying such plasmids in cloning applications that take advantage of conjugation for the convenient isolation and recovery of constructs are extremely limited. Here, we report a new series of R995 plasmids with alternative markers to increase options for applications in backgrounds already expressing resistance to a particular antibiotic(s). These R995 plasmids have been engineered to contain FRT sites that can be used for recombinase-based cloning. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by cloning 20 kb regions from the Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli genomes and by cloning DNA from an exogenous plasmid source. To our knowledge, this represents the first systematic engineering of an intact, self-transmissible IncP plasmid with a series of alternative antibiotic markers and FRT sites.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.127-133
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• 2006

스테로이드 합성효소 중 $17\;{\alpha}-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase(P450_{C17})$는 progesterone을 $17\;{\alpha}-hydroxyprogesterone$을 거쳐 androstenedione으로 변환을 담당하는 효소이다. 양서류 난소에서 스테로이드 합성의 분자적 조절과정의 연구에 사용할 목적으로 북방산 개구리(Rana dybowskii) 난소에서 $P450_{C17}$ cDNA를 클로닝 하였다. 북방산 개구리 난포세포의 cDNA library 검색을 통해 분리된 약 2.5kb의 cDNA는 529개의 아미노산을 가진 단일 번역틀을 가지고 있었다. 개구리 $P450_{C17}$의 아미노산 서열은 Xenopus와는 76%, 닭과는 63%, 그리고 사람과는 약 45%의 동일성을 보여 주였고, 동시에 진화적으로 척추동물에서 매우 잘 보존된 아미노산 서열을 가지고 있었다. 노던 분석에서 개구리의 $P450_{C17}$ 전사체는 난소에서만 2.5kb와 3.6kb 크기의 두 종류가 발견되었다. 그리고 개구리 Rana $P450_{C17}$ cDNA는 비스테로이드 합성 세포인 COS-1세포에서 분명한 $17\;{\alpha}-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase$ 활성을 주었다. 따라서 클로닝된 개구리 $P450_{C17}$ 유전자는 양서류의 난소에서 스테로이드 합성의 분자적 기작을 연구하는데 매우 유용할 것으로 사료된다.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.133-139
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• 2000

This study was designed to evaluate the mechanism by which reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI) induced the cytotoxicity of human doparminergic neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. 3-Morpholino-sydnonimine (SIN-l), a donor of peroxynitrite (ONOO) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a donor of nitric oxide (NO) induced cell detachment and apoptotic death, as characterized by chromatin condensation, the ladder pattern fragmentation of genomic DNA and morphological nuclear changes. SIN-l also induced the activation of caspase 3-like protease in a time-dependent manner. Exogenous antioxidants, such as reduced glutathione (GSH), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and selenium protected the cells from apoptotic death and reduced the activation of caspase 3-like protease by SIN-1. Furthermore, SIN-l directly reduced the intracellular levels of glutathione. Taken together, these data suggested that RNI including NO and peroxynitrite decrease the concentration of intracellular antioxidant such as GSH, which lead to the apoptotic death of human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.7-12
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• 1994

A yeast strain secreting glucoamylase was transformed with an expression vector (pMS12) containing the promoter of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase I gene ADC1, mouse salivary $\alpha$-amylase cDNA, and a segment of yeast $21\mu m$ plasmid. The transformed strain could produce ethanol from starch (4%, w/v) through a direct one-step process with the conversion efficiency of 93.2%, during 5 days of fermentation, while the original, untransformed strain exhibited a conversion efficiency of 38.1% under the same condition. When the regulatory site of the ADC1 promoter region was removed, the production of ethanol increased to 29~37% in the presence of exogenous 3%(v/v) ethanol in the fermentation medium.