• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2020

The number of commercially approved gene-edited crops is gradually increasing, and in South Korea, it has led to intense investment in gene-edited crop development to increase international competitiveness. However, as with genetically modified crops, the safety of gene-edited crops regarding unexpected risks for humans and the environment is subject to an ongoing debate. In particular, unintentional "off-target effects" have become the center of controversy. In this review, we discuss typical plant characteristics (including somatic variation and ploidy), the extent of various off-target effects in genetically modified crops generated via horizontal transfer in nature, and the off-target effects in commercial genetically modified crops. We conclude that most off-target effects possibly occurring in gene-edited crops are not expected to be critically harmful to humans or the environment. Therefore, existing regulation for genetically modified crops should be enough for the risk assessment of gene-edited crops.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.351-359
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• 2023

Deamination of adenine or cytosine in RNA, called RNA editing, is a constitutively active and common modification. The primary role of RNA editing is tagging RNA right after its synthesis so that the endogenous RNA is recognized as self and distinguished from exogenous RNA, such as viral RNA. In addition to this primary function, the direct or indirect effects on gene expression can be utilized in cancer where a high level of RNA editing activity persists. This report identified actin-related protein 2/3 complex inhibitor (ARPIN) as a target of ADAR1 in breast cancer cells. Our comparative RNA sequencing analysis in MCF7 cells revealed that the expression of ARPIN was decreased upon ADAR1 depletion with altered editing on its 3'UTR. However, the expression changes of ARPIN were not dependent on 3'UTR editing but relied on three microRNAs acting on ARPIN. As a result, we found that the migration and invasion of cancer cells were profoundly increased by ADAR1 depletion, and this cellular phenotype was reversed by the exogenous ARPIN expression. Altogether, our data suggest that ADAR1 suppresses breast cancer cell mobility via the upregulation of ARPIN.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.53.1-53
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• 1996

No Abstract, See Full Text

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.125-125
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• 2023

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.129-129
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• 2023

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.943-952
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• 2018

The discovery and mechanistic understanding of target-specific genome engineering technologies has led to extremely effective and specific genome editing in higher organisms. Target-specific genetic modification technology is expected to have a leading position in future gene therapy development, and has a ripple effect on various basic and applied studies. However, several problems remain and hinder efficient and specific editing of target genomic loci. The issues are particularly critical in precise targeted insertion of external DNA sequences into genomes. Here, we discuss some recent efforts to overcome such problems and present a perspective of future genome editing technologies.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.30-32
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• 2019

The brachyuran crab Bythograeidae Williams, 1980 is common in hydrothermal vent fields worldwide and has recorded to sixteen species of six genera. In this study, we firstly determined the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) DNA barcodes for the fifth species of Austinograea, A. hourdezi, from hydrothermal vent regions of the North Fiji Basin in southwestern Pacific Ocean. All CO1 DNA barcodes of A. hourdezi were identical. The interspecies variations of three bythograeid genera were 10.9-13.3% for Austinograea, 6.6-15.7% for Bythograea, and 9.7% for Gandalfus. These results would be helpful to understand taxonomy of brachyuran crabs living in hydrothermal vent fields using CO1 DNA barcodes.

• Laboraroty Animal Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2018

Cell cycle dysfunction can cause severe diseases, including neurodegenerative disease and cancer. Mutations in cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors controlling the G1 phase of the cell cycle are prevalent in various cancers. Mice lacking the tumor suppressors $p16^{Ink4a}$ (Cdkn2a, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2a), $p19^{Arf}$ (an alternative reading frame product of Cdkn2a,), and $p27^{Kip1}$ (Cdkn1b, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1b) result in malignant progression of epithelial cancers, sarcomas, and melanomas, respectively. Here, we generated knockout mouse models for each of these three cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors using engineered nucleases. The $p16^{Ink4a}$ and $p19^{Arf}$ knockout mice were generated via transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and $p27^{Kip1}$ knockout mice via clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (CRISPR/Cas9). These gene editing technologies were targeted to the first exon of each gene, to induce frameshifts producing premature termination codons. Unlike preexisting embryonic stem cell-based knockout mice, our mouse models are free from selectable markers or other external gene insertions, permitting more precise study of cell cycle-related diseases without confounding influences of foreign DNA.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.237-244
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• 2019

Understanding the mechanisms of cancer drug resistance is a critical challenge in cancer therapy. For many cancer drugs, various resistance mechanisms have been identified such as target alteration, alternative signaling pathways, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and epigenetic modulation. Resistance may arise via multiple mechanisms even for a single drug, making it necessary to investigate multiple independent models for comprehensive understanding and therapeutic application. In particular, we hypothesize that different resistance processes result in distinct gene expression changes. Here, we present a web-based database, CDRgator (Cancer Drug Resistance navigator) for comparative analysis of gene expression signatures of cancer drug resistance. Resistance signatures were extracted from two different types of datasets. First, resistance signatures were extracted from transcriptomic profiles of cancer cells or patient samples and their resistance-induced counterparts for >30 cancer drugs. Second, drug resistance group signatures were also extracted from two large-scale drug sensitivity datasets representing ~1,000 cancer cell lines. All the datasets are available for download, and are conveniently accessible based on drug class and cancer type, along with analytic features such as clustering analysis, multidimensional scaling, and pathway analysis. CDRgator allows meta-analysis of independent resistance models for more comprehensive understanding of drug-resistance mechanisms that is difficult to accomplish with individual datasets alone (database URL: http://cdrgator.ewha.ac.kr).

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.155-170
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• 2018

In this paper, mechanisms of gene editing technologies including ZFN, TALENS and CRISPR were briefly discussed with mutual advantages and disadvantages. Classification criteria of gene edited, site-directed mutagenesis (SDN) crops for regulatory purpose were also discussed. The number of studies using CRISPR technology was high and studies conducted on Arabidopsis thaliana and rice were highest, followed by tobacco, tomato, wheat, and corn. It has been applied to a variety of plants such as other grain crops, flower crops, vegetable crops, and fruit trees. The number of studies focused on practical application or commercialization in the future were also increasing yearly, and the scope of studies also expanded to include research on metabolic engineering for mass production of useful proteins or substances, development of disease resistant crops against viruses, bacteria, and fungi, abiotic environmental stressresistant crops, and increased yields. In addition to this, it was revealed that application range is becoming more diversified, including the development of parthenocarpic tomatoes, hybrid rice lines using male sterility and increased shattering resistance Brassica napus. It was also revealed that the number of CRISPR gene edited crops permitted by the USDA(APHIS) increases yearly, to be released in the international seed market soon.