• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.143-153
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• 2001

Using bioinformatic tools for searching the massive genome databases, it is possible to Identify new genes in few minutes for initial discoveries based on evolutionary conservation, domain homology, and tissue expression patterns, followed by further verification and characterization using the bench-top works. The development of high-density two-dimensional arrays has allowed the analysis of the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously in the humans, mice, rats, yeast, and bacteria to elucidate the genes and pathways involved in physiological processes. In addition, rapid and automated protein identification is being achieved by searching protein and nucleotide sequence databases directly with data generated from mass spectrometry. Recently, analysis at the bio-chemical level such as biochemical screening and metabolic profiling (Biochemical genomics) has been introduced as an additional approach for categorical assignment of gene function. To make advantage of recent achievements in computational approaches for facilitated gene discoveries in the avian model, chicken expression sequence tags (ESTs) have been reported and deposited in the international databases. By searching EST databases, a chicken heparanase gene was identified and functionally confirmed by subsequent experiments. Using combination of sub-tractive hybridization assay and Genbank database searches, a chicken heme -binding protein family (cSOUL/HBP) was isolated in the retina and pineal gland of domestic chicken and verified by Northern blot analysis. Microarrays have identified several host genes whose expression levels are elevated following infection of chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) with Marek's disease virus (MDV). The ongoing process of chicken genome projects and new discoveries and breakthroughs in genomics and proteomics will no doubt reveal new and exciting information and advances in the avian research.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2015

Aspergillus fumigatus is a major cause of invasive aspergillosis (IA), a significant health issue worldwide with high mortality rates up to 95%. Our lab is interested in how A. fumigatus adapts to low oxygen conditions 'hypoxia', which is one of the important host microenvironments. A. fumigatus SrbA is a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcriptional regulator and belongs to sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) family members. Loss of SrbA completely blocks growth in hypoxia and results in avirulence in murine models of IA suggesting an essential role of SrbA in hypoxia adaptation and virulence in A. fumigatus. We conducted chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) with A. fumigatus wild type using a SrbA specific antibody, and 97 genes were revealed as SrbA direct targets. One of the 'SrbA regulons' (AFUB_099590) was a putative bHLH transcriptional regulator whose sequence contained a characteristic tyrosine substitution in the basic portion of the bHLH domain of SREBPs. Therefore, we designated AFUB_099590 SrbB. Further characterization of SrbB demonstrated that SrbB is important for radial growth, biomass production, and biosynthesis of heme intermediates in hypoxia and virulence in A. fumigatus. A series of quantitative real time PCR showed that transcription of several SrbA regulons is coordinately regulated by two SREBPs, SrbA and SrbB in hypoxia. This suggests that SrbA and SrbB have both dependent and independent functions in regulation of genes responsible for hypoxia adaptation in A. fumigatus. Together, our data provide new insights into complicated roles of SREBPs in adaptation of host environments and virulence in pathogenic fungi.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2004

Two genes, SinIFS1 and SinIFS2 from Korean soybean cultivar, Sinpaldalkong known as one of isoflavonerich cultivars, were cloned with PCR and degenerate primers. The sequences of two genes were analyzed with previously reported IFS genes of leguminous plants and their expression pattern in various environmental conditions was surveyed. The genomic clone of SinIFS1 contained 1,828bp nucleotides and encoded a polypeptide of 521 amino acids, and 1912bp nucleotides and a polypeptide of 521 amino acids for SinIFS2. Both genes included several conserved motifs, oxygen binding and activation (A/G-G-X-E/D-T-T/S), ERR triad (E...R....R), and heme binding (F-X-X-G-X-R-X-C-X-G) domain, which are typical in any member of cytochrome P45O superfamily. Very high sequence homology (>98%) was observed in the comparison with other IFSs of legumes. In the northern blot analysis to check the expression and increase of SinIFS1 to various environmental renditions (low temperature, light, dark, UV, and fungal elicitor), the most significant induction, more than 6 times of transcript level compared to the dark treatment as a control, was observed from the fungal elicitor treatment. The next up-regulated expression was from UV treatment (4${\times}$), low temperature and light conditions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.116-121
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• 2010

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) promote the development of brain and vision of the fetus, relieve inflammation, inhibit oral dysplasia of rumor cell, decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease and regulate arrhythmia. ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase is the rate-limited enzyme in the desaturation process. This study reports the cloning, characterization and tissue expression of a ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase gene in the chicken. PCR primers were designed based on the predicted sequence of chicken ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase (accession number: XM421053) and used to isolate a cDNA fragment of 1,323 bp from chicken liver. Based on the 1,323 bp fragment an EST (BI390105) was obtained by BLAST. The EST and 5'nd of the 1,323 bp fragment were partially overlapped. Gene specific primers derived from the EST were used for amplification of the 5'nd. Another gene-specific primer derived from the 1,323 bp fragment was used for amplification of the 3'nd by 3'ACE. Then the three overlapping cDNA sequences obtained were assembled with DNAMAN software and a full-length ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase of 2,153 bp was obtained. The full-length cDNA contained an ORF of 1,335 bp with a 5'ntranslated region of 147 nucleotides followed by an ATG initiation codon. Stop codon TGA was at position 1,481-1,483 bp. The deduced amino acids shared an homology above 77% with bovine, mice, orangutan, rat and human. The protein sequence had three histidine-rich regions HDFGH (HisI region), HFQHH (HisII region) and HH (HisIII region), a cytochrome $b_{5}$-like domain containing a heme-binding motif and two transmembrane domains. Sequence analysis of the chicken genomic DNA revealed that the coding sequence of chicken ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase included 12 exons and 11 introns. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed that the ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase expression levels were in turn liver, spleen, pancreas, lung, breast muscle, heart, and abdominal fat. The expression of ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase in liver was significantly higher than that in breast muscle (p<0.01). The expression of ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase in lung was significantly higher than that in abdominal fat (p<0.01). This is the first clone of chicken ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2006

In higher plants, P450s participate in the biosynthesis of many important secondary metabolites. Here we reported for the first time the isolation of a new cytochrome P450 cDNA that expressed in a stem-specific manner from Camptotheca acuminata (designated as CaSS), a native medicinal plant species in China, using RACE-PCR. The full-length cDNA of CaSS was 1735 bp long containing a 1530 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 509 amino acids. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that CASS contained a heme-binding domain PFGXGRRXCX and showed homology to other plant cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and hydroxylases. Southern blotting analysis revealed that there was only one copy of the CaSS present in the genome of Camptotheca acuminata. Northern blotting analysis revealed that CaSS expressed, in a tissue-specific manner, highly in stem and lowly in root, leaf and flower. Our study suggests that CaSS is likely to be involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway.