• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.265-273
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• 2022

Resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs is a significant problem in the treatment of colorectal cancer, resulting in low response rates and decreased survival. Recent studies have shown that shikonin, a naphthoquinone derivative, promotes apoptosis in colon cancer cells and cisplatin-resistant ovarian cells, raising the possibility that this compound may be effective in drug-resistant colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to characterize the molecular mechanisms underpinning shikonin-induced apoptosis, with a focus on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, in a 5-fluorouracil-resistant colorectal cancer cell line, SNU-C5/5-FUR. Our results showed that shikonin significantly increased the proportion of sub-G₁ cells and DNA fragmentation and that shikonin-induced apoptosis is mediated by mitochondrial Ca²⁺ accumulation. Shikonin treatment also increased the expression of ER-related proteins, such as glucose regulatory protein 78 (GRP78), phospho-protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK), phospho-eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2α), phospho-phosphoinositol-requiring protein-1 (IRE1), spliced X-box-binding protein-1 (XBP-1), cleaved caspase-12, and C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP). In addition, siRNA-mediated knockdown of CHOP attenuated shikonin-induced apoptosis, as did the ER stress inhibitor TUDCA. These data suggest that ER stress is a key factor mediating the cytotoxic effect of shikonin in SNU-C5/5-FUR cells. Our findings provide an evidence for a mechanism in which ER stress leads to apoptosis in shikonin-treated SNU-C5/5-FUR cells. Our study provides evidence to support further investigations on shikonin as a therapeutic option for 5-fluorouracil-resistant colorectal cancer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2022

Seed production of italian ryegrass has a problem of lodging during ripening and a decrease in quality due to difficulty in drying seeds during harvest. Therefore, in order to produce high-quality Italian ryegrass in paddy fields, it was carried out to reduce the density and solve the lodging problem through transplanting. In this experiment, Lolium multiflorum cv. Kowinearly was transplanted in autumn from a paddy field in Sindong-ri, Gwansan-eup, Jangheung-gun, Jeollanam-do. var. Kowinearly was made into a bed at 90 g/box and stacked in boxes. It was transplanted on October 27th after 2 days of germination at 30℃ and 15 days of seedling and greening. When transplanting, they were transplanted at intervals of 30×14cm. The existing cultivation method, drill seedling, was sowed at a level of 50 kg/ha, and both transplanting and drilling were carried out at a nitrogen fertilization rate of 45 kg/ha. The number of ears during transplant cultivation was 1,016/m² and the drilling tended to be higher at 2,278/m², but this was probably due to the difference in seeding amount. The seed number of an ear tended to be 56% higher in transplantation, which had a significant impact on yield. The seed yield was 2,096 ka/ha in transplantation, which was 21% higher than that of drilling. When looking at the relationship with weed occurrence, there were areas where all the weeds, such as amul foxtail, occurred due to the low density. Even in the same transplanting area, the seed yield was about 1,000kg/ha less in the area where the weeds were abundant. It seems that weed management is important in paddy cultivation. Therefore, it seems necessary to develop an exclusive herbicide for Italian ryegrass cultivation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.427-434
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• 2024

This study took six individuals (three females and three males) from October 2017 to October 2018 to analyze the home range of Pteromys volans. A 3.5-g GPS tag was used to track the ranges, and a nest box was used to capture them. The home range was analyzed using MCP and KDE with the home range tool ArcGIS 10.3 (ESRI). As a result, it was found that the mean home ranges were MCP 100% 6.63±7.96 ha, MCP 95% 5.47±6.44 ha, and KDE 50% 4.43±5.87 ha. It was also found that the males (11.16±9.69 ha, MCP 100%) had wider home ranges than the females (2.11±1.76 ha, MCP 100%). In addition, during the non-winter season, males had a wider home range, including the home ranges of several females, and other overlapping home ranges were observed. In the winter season, the home ranges (0.15±0.47 ha, MCP 100%) became much smaller than in the non-winter season (9.88±6.90 ha, MCP 100%), and no overlap of the home ranges was observed.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.100004.1-100004.11
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• 2024

Insulin is essential for maintaining normoglycemia and is predominantly secreted in response to glucose stimulation by β-cells. Incretin hormones, such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, also stimulate insulin secretion. However, as obesity and type 2 diabetes worsen, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide loses its insulinotropic efficacy, whereas GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists continue to be effective owing to its signaling switch from Gs to Gq. Herein, we demonstrated that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induced a transition from Gs to Gq in GLP-1R signaling in mouse islets. Intriguingly, chemical chaperones known to alleviate ER stress, such as 4-PBA and TUDCA, enforced GLP-1R's Gq utilization rather than reversing GLP-1R's signaling switch induced by ER stress or obese and diabetic conditions. In addition, the activation of X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) or activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), 2 key ER stress-associated signaling (unfolded protein response) factors, promoted Gs utilization in GLP-1R signaling, whereas Gq employment by ER stress was unaffected by XBP1 or ATF6 activation. Our study revealed that ER stress and its associated signaling events alter GLP-1R's signaling, which can be used in type 2 diabetes treatment.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 2010

A high sugar rice cultivar 'Danmi' which has been recently developed and released in the Functional Crop Resource Development Division, Department of Functional Crop, National Institute of Crop Science, has high glucose and sucrose contents but has a poor seed development. This defect poses some problem in ensuring stable seedling establishment in the nursery bed. We examined the germination and seedling emergence characteristics of 'Danmi' and determined an optimum seeding rate for seedling establishment. 'Danmi' seeds has a light 1,000-grain weight of 18.2g compared with Ilmibyeo's 26.7g. The 97.4% of 'Danmi' seeds has specific gravity below 1.0 while only 2.0% of seeds was fully developed with specific gravity above 1.12. However, the reverse is true in the Ilmibyeo seed used as a control cultivar. Although the seed germination of Danmi was 89-91% regardless of seed specific gravity but at a slower rate than Ilmibyeo regardless of water soaking temperatures of $20-30^{\circ}C$ because of high seed amount of specific gravity below 1.0 in 'Danmi'. It took 2～4 days longer of seed soaking in the Danmi seeds than Ilmibyeo before germination. 'Danmi' has low normal seedling emergence rate than Ilmibyeo in the seedbed soil due to high percentage of abnormal seedlings like stunting and incomplete growth. Normal seedling emergence rate of 'Danmi' in the seedbed was 62.6～64.9% for 10-day old seedling and 83.5～86.7% for 30-day old seedling which is lower by 29.6～30.0% and 11.3～12%, respectively than Ilmibyeo. Although 'Danmi' has low normal seedling emergence rate, but it has greater seed number per weight basis. Therefore, based on the normal seedling number per unit area of Ilmibyeo(control cultivar) for seedling rate of 10-day and 30-day old seedlings, the recommended seeding rate of 'Danmi' for transplanting rice is 220g seeds for 10-day old seedling and 130g for 30-day old seedling per nursery box, which is equivalent to 1.5 times seed volumes of Ilmibyeo.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.555-562
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• 2022

We raised the white-spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis, from the larvae stage using a fermented mulberry sawdust-base diet at 25℃ and 16:8 h light:dark photoperiod. First, we determined the optimal density of the neonate larvae to be introduced into a rearing box (543 × 363 × 188 mm). The survival rates of the larvae were higher than 80% at 90 days after rearing at 100-175 larval densities but reduced by more than 10% at 200 larval density. The larval weights at 100 to 150 larval densities were similar; however, the weights at 175 and 200 larval densities were lower than those at 100 larval densities, indicating that the rate of weight gain increased under lower density. Based on these results, we inferred that 100-150 larvae was the optimal density. Second, we investigated the storage conditions of the last instar larvae under low temperatures. Four weight groups (1.8-2.0, 2.0-2.3, 2.3-2.5, and 2.5 g) of larvae were stored at 4, 8, and 10℃, respectively. All the larvae at 4℃ died 70 days after storage, whereas 80% of the larvae survived at 8℃ 70 days after storage, indicating that high larval weight was associated with high survival rates. The adults that emerged from larvae with more than 2.3 g and stored for up to 50 days at 4℃ laid few eggs. However, the adults that emerged from all larval weight groups stored for 70 days at 8℃ and 10℃ laid several eggs successfully. Based on these results, we inferred that the last instar larvae with more than 2.3 g could be stored for 30-50 days at 8℃.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.6_2
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• pp.1509-1521
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• 2020

Experiments for validation of surface reflectance produced by Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite (KOMPSAT-3A) were conducted using Chinese Baotou (BTCN) data among four sites of the Radical Calibration Network (RadCalNet), a portal that provides spectrophotometric reflectance measurements. The atmosphere reflectance and surface reflectance products were generated using an extension program of an open-source Orfeo ToolBox (OTB), which was redesigned and implemented to extract those reflectance products in batches. Three image data sets of 2016, 2017, and 2018 were taken into account of the two sensor model variability, ver. 1.4 released in 2017 and ver. 1.5 in 2019, such as gain and offset applied to the absolute atmospheric correction. The results of applying these sensor model variables showed that the reflectance products by ver. 1.4 were relatively well-matched with RadCalNet BTCN data, compared to ones by ver. 1.5. On the other hand, the reflectance products obtained from the Landsat-8 by the USGS LaSRC algorithm and Sentinel-2B images using the SNAP Sen2Cor program were used to quantitatively verify the differences in those of KOMPSAT-3A. Based on the RadCalNet BTCN data, the differences between the surface reflectance of KOMPSAT-3A image were shown to be highly consistent with B band as -0.031 to 0.034, G band as -0.001 to 0.055, R band as -0.072 to 0.037, and NIR band as -0.060 to 0.022. The surface reflectance of KOMPSAT-3A also indicated the accuracy level for further applications, compared to those of Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2B images. The results of this study are meaningful in confirming the applicability of Analysis Ready Data (ARD) to the surface reflectance on high-resolution satellites.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.312-320
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• 2000

Abstract The full sequence of the plasmid pKJ36, which was derived from Bifidobacterium longum KJ, was determined and analyzed to construct shuttle vectors between E. coli and Bifidobacterium. The plasmid pKJ36 was composed of 3,625 base pairs with a 65.1% G+C content. The structural organization of pKJ36 was highly similar to that of pKJ50, and the three major ORFs on pKJ36 showed high amino acid sequence homologies with those of pKJ50. The putative proteins coded by these three ORFs were designated as RepB (32.0 kDa, pI=9.25), MembB (29.0 kDa, pI=12.25), and MobB (39.0 kDa, pI=IO.66), respectively. The amino acid sequence of RepB showed a 57% identity and 70% similarity with that of the RepA protein of pKJ50. Upstream of the repB gene, the so-called iteron sequence was directly repeated four-and-ahalf times and a conserved dnaA box was identified. An amino acid sequence comparison between the MobB and MobA of pKJ50 revealed a 48% identity and 61 % similarity. A conserved oriT sequence with an inverted repeat identical to that of pKJ50 was also found upstream of the mobB gene. A hydropathy analysis of MembB revealed four possible transmembrane regions. The expressions of the repB and membB genes were confirmed by RT-PCR. The in vitro translation reaction of pKJ36 showed protein bands with anticipated sizes with respect to each putative gene product. S 1 endonuclease treatment and Southern hybridization suggested that pKJ36 replicates by a rolling circle mechanism via a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) intermediate. A shuttle vector between E. coli and Bifidobacterium sp. was constructed using the pKJ36, pBR322, and staphylococcal chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene. The successful transformation of the Bifidobacterium strains was shown by Southern hybridization and PCR. The transformation efficiency differed from strain to strain and, depending on the electroporation conditions, with a range between $1.2{\times}10^1-2.6{\times}10^2{\;}cfu/\mu\textrm{g}$ DNA.X> DNA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1715-1719
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• 2004

In order to help the preservation of the unshiu orange and pear, antimicrobial paper incorporating grapefruit seed extract and zeolite was applied to pack fruits. Unshiu orange was packed in a box (24${\times}$24${\times}$22 cm) attached with antimicrobial paper and then stored respectively at l$0^{\circ}C$. Pears were wrapped individually before storage at l$0^{\circ}C$. During the storage, weight loss, pH, total acidity, soluble solid content, microbial load and decay were measured as quality indices. Steady pH increase in unshiu orange was observed to slightly decrease total acidity during the storage with little difference between the packaging treatments. The microbial loads of total aerobic bacteria, and yeast/mold counts were suppressed during storage by the antimicrobial paper packaging, which also contributed to reducing the decayed unshiu orange. Limited reduction of total aerobic bacteria and yeast/mold counts was observed only for initial storage period for the pears wrapped with 9 and 12% antimicrobial agent-added papers. Antimicrobial paper was useful for the reduction of microbial load in unshiu orange and pear without other quality deterioration.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.561-568
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• 2020

We examined the anticancer effects of a novel sirtuin inhibitor, MHY2256, on HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells to investigate its underlying molecular mechanisms. MHY2256 significantly suppressed the activity of sirtuin 1 and expression levels of sirtuin 1/2 and stimulated acetylation of forkhead box O1, which is a target protein of sirtuin 1. Treatment with MHY2256 inhibited the growth of the HCT116 (TP53 wild-type), HT-29 (TP53 mutant), and DLD-1 (TP53 mutant) human colorectal cancer cell lines. In addition, MHY2256 induced G0/G1 phase arrest of the cell cycle progression, which was accompanied by the reduction of cyclin D1 and cyclin E and the decrease of cyclin-dependent kinase 2, cyclin-dependent kinase 4, cyclin-dependent kinase 6, phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein, and E2F transcription factor 1. Apoptosis induction was shown by DNA fragmentation and increase in late apoptosis, which were detected using flow cytometric analysis. MHY2256 downregulated expression levels of procaspase-8, -9, and -3 and led to subsequent poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. MHY2256-induced apoptosis was involved in the activation of caspase-8, -9, and -3 and was prevented by pretreatment with Z-VAD-FMK, a pan-caspase inhibitor. Furthermore, the autophagic effects of MHY2256 were observed as cytoplasmic vacuolation, green fluorescent protein-light-chain 3 punctate dots, accumulation of acidic vesicular organelles, and upregulated expression level of light-chain 3-II. Taken together, these results suggest that MHY2256 could be a potential novel sirtuin inhibitor for the chemoprevention or treatment of colorectal cancer or both.