• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.21-35
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• 1999

We have previously isolated OsMADS4 gene that is a member of the class B MADS box genes from rice. In this study, another member of the class B MADS box genes was isolated from rice flower by the yeast two-hybrid screening method using OsMADS4 as bait. RNA blot analyses revealed that the clone, OsMADS16, was expressed in the second and third whorls, whereas the OsMADS4 transcripts were present in the second, third, and fourth whorls. These expression patterns of the OsMADS16 and OsMADS4 genes are very similar with those of AP3 and PI, the class B genes of Arabidopsis, respectively. In the yeast two-hybrid system, OsMADS4 interacted only with OsMADS16 among several rice MADS genes investigated, suggesting that OsMADS4 and OsMADS16 function as a heterodimer in specifying sepal and petal identities. We have also isolated OsMADS6 gene using OsMADS1 as a probe. Both are members of the AGL2 MADS family. Various MADS genes that encode for protein-protein interaction partners of the OsMADS6 protein were isolated by the yeast two-hybrid screening method. A majority of these genes belong to the AGL2 family. Sequence Homology, expression pattern, and ectopic expression phenotypes indicated that one of the interaction partners, OsMADS14, appears to be homologous to API, the class A MADS gene of Arabidopsis.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.447-453
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• 2012

TLR6 forms a heterodimer with TLR2 and TLR4. While proinflammatory roles of TLR2 and TLR4 are well documented, the role of TLR6 in inflammation is poorly understood. In order to understand mechanisms of action of TLR6 in inflammatory responses, we investigated the effects of FSL-1, the TLR6 ligand, on expression of chemokine CCL2 and cytokine IL-$1{\beta}$ and determined cellular factors involved in FSL-1-mediated expression of CCL2 and IL-$1{\beta}$ in mononuclear cells. Exposure of human monocytic leukemia THP-1 cells to FSL-1 resulted not only in enhanced secretion of CCL2 and IL-$1{\beta}$, but also profound induction of their gene transcripts. Expression of CCL2 was abrogated by treatment with OxPAPC, a TLR-2/4 inhibitor, while treatment with OxPAPC resulted in partially inhibited expression of IL-$1{\beta}$. Treatment with FSL-1 resulted in enhanced phosphorylation of Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinases and activation of protein kinase C. Treatment with pharmacological inhibitors, including SB202190, SP6001250, U0126, Akt inhibitor IV, LY294002, GF109203X, and RO318220 resulted in significantly attenuated FSL-1-mediated upregulation of CCL2 and IL-$1{\beta}$. Our results indicate that activation of TLR6 will trigger inflammatory responses by upregulating expression of CCL2 and IL-$1{\beta}$ via TLR-2/4, protein kinase C, PI3K-Akt, and mitogen-activated protein kinases.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2002

The envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1 forms an oligomeric complex resulting in playing a role to induce neutralizing antibody and cell-mediate immune responses. The oligomer exists as a trimer of gp120-gp41 heterodimer which mediates HIV-1 attachment and fusion. We made a cDNA clone of gp140 consisting of gp120 and ectodomain of gp41 from the primary African isolate. To express the oligomeric gp140 in mammalian cells, we adopted the Semliki Forest virus (SFV) based expression system. The oligomeric gp140 in the secretory form was expressed and purified from the cell culture supernatant and characterized. The antibody inducing activity of the purified gp140 was also examined in mice inoculation.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.168-175
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• 2020

Runx2 is an essential transcription factor for skeletal development. It is expressed in multipotent mesenchymal cells, osteoblast-lineage cells, and chondrocytes. Runx2 plays a major role in chondrocyte maturation, and Runx3 is partly involved. Runx2 regulates chondrocyte proliferation by directly regulating Ihh expression. It also determines whether chondrocytes become those that form transient cartilage or permanent cartilage, and functions in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Runx2 is essential for osteoblast differentiation and is required for the proliferation of osteoprogenitors. Ihh is required for Runx2 expression in osteoprogenitors, and hedgehog signaling and Runx2 induce the differentiation of osteoprogenitors to preosteoblasts in endochondral bone. Runx2 induces Sp7 expression, and Runx2, Sp7, and canonical Wnt signaling are required for the differentiation of preosteoblasts to immature osteoblasts. It also induces the proliferation of osteoprogenitors by directly regulating the expression of Fgfr2 and Fgfr3. Furthermore, Runx2 induces the proliferation of mesenchymal cells and their commitment into osteoblast-lineage cells through the induction of hedgehog (Gli1, Ptch1, Ihh), Fgf (Fgfr2, Fgfr3), Wnt (Tcf7, Wnt10b), and Pthlh (Pth1r) signaling pathway gene expression in calvaria, and more than a half-dosage of Runx2 is required for their expression. This is a major cause of cleidocranial dysplasia, which is caused by heterozygous mutation of RUNX2. Cbfb, which is a co-transcription factor that forms a heterodimer with Runx2, enhances DNA binding of Runx2 and stabilizes Runx2 protein by inhibiting its ubiquitination. Thus, Runx2/Cbfb regulates the proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes and osteoblast-lineage cells by activating multiple signaling pathways and via their reciprocal regulation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.6 s.73
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• pp.928-934
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• 2005

ATF2 is a cellular transcription factor which belongs to the CREB/ATF class and it is leucine zipper protein which generally binds to DNA as dimers. This paper presents the procedure for subcloning the ATF2 gene and the results of experiment used the expressed ATF2. The pET expression vector was used since it produced 6xHis fusion protein for easy purification using affinity column. The Nickel chelating chromatography was used for Purifying the expressed ATE2 from E- codi BL2l. Subsequen시y In vitro binding pull-down assay showed the binding specificity of ATF2 with AP-1 family factors such as BATF, c-Fos, c-Jun and ATF2 itselgf. ATF2 forms homodimer as well as strong heterodimer with BATF. It also forms stable dimer with c-Jun but barely binds with c-Fos.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.484-488
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• 1994

Background : The antigen-specific receptor on the surface of most peripheral T lymphocytes is a disulfide-linked heterodimer composed of $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ subunits, noncovalently associated with CD3 polypeptides. Recently, a novel type of CD3-associated heterodimer was described on a T cell subset that does not express CD4 or CD8 molecules. This second type of TCR dimer is composed of chains encoded for by the $\gamma$- and $\delta$-TCR genes. These cells may exert both cytotoxic and lymphokine producing functions. Although it was reported that some ${\gamma}{\delta}$-TCR might recognize an MHC-linked determinant, the funεtion or physiologic ligand for this new receptor is not yet clear. It was found that ${\gamma}{\delta}$-TCR can react with 65 kD heat shock protein of M. tuberculosis, which suggests the possible protective role of ${\gamma}{\delta}$ T lymphocytes against tuberculosis. In our previous study, there was neither the increase in number nor the functional activation of ${\gamma}{\delta}$ T cells in the peripheral blood from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Now we report the distribution of ${\gamma}{\delta}$ T cells in the regional sites of M. tuberculosis infection, especial1y tuberculous lymphadenitis. Methods : Lymph nodes from patients with pathologically-proven tuberculous lymphadenopathy (n=5) and reactive hyperplasia (n=3) were used. Tissues were frozen in liquid nitrogen immediately after removal and stored below $-70^{\circ}C$. The cryostat sections of these frozen specimens were stained with anti-Leu-4 Ab, Identi-T TCR ${\delta}1$, and Identi-T ${\beta}F1$. The number of positively stained cells were counted at high power field. Results : The infiltration of ${\gamma}{\delta}$ T cells was significantly higher in the lymph nodes from patients with tuberculous lymphadenopathy than that with reactive hyperplasia ($16.3{\pm}10.3%$ vs. $1.7{\pm}1.5%$). Conclusion : These results suggest that ${\gamma}{\delta}$) T cells may play a role in the defense against M. tuberculosis infection, especially in the regional sites of infection.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.891-900
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• 2003

Cellular FOS(c-fos) protein is a transcription factor that forms heterodimers mostly with c-jun family and stimulates the transcription of genes containing AP-1 regulatory elements. This c-fos expression can control growth and differentiation of various precursor cells including myoblasts. The controls by c-fos gene have been identified for affecting skeletal muscle fiber traits which are the key determinants of meat quality in pigs. As a first step for identifying the relationship between c-fos gene and meat quality traits in cattle, we fully sequenced 1,443 bp of Hanwoo c-fos mRNA and analyzed expression patterns from various organs and muscle tissues. The sequence identities of Hanwoo c-fos with that of human, pig and mouse showed 89.8%, 93.3% and 87%, respectively. Analyses of the northern blot showed high c-fos expressions were obtained in spleen and rib muscle from 7 organs and 9 different parts of muscles investigated. These results presented here can be used as a valuable marker for meat quality related traits in cattle with further verification.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.456-465
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• 2012

Heterodimeric recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins (rhBMPs) are powerful tools for bone tissue engineering. However, BMPs have several important limitations in their application to bone regeneration. BMPs have a short half-life and must be used in high concentrations, which may be cost-inefficient. To overcome these problems, we established a stable cell line that expressed the fusion protein comprised of recombinant human BMP2/7 heterodimer protein and PTD (rhBMP2/7-PTD). This stable cell line enabled high process yields by continuously expressing rhBMP2/7-PTD products at high levels throughout cultivation. This synthesized BMP7 was fused to a BMP2 protein with four glycine residues (to allow free bond rotation of the domains) and PTD. To demonstrate that the rhBMP2/7-PTD protein that was secreted from an rhBMP2/7-PTD-expressing stable cell line exhibited biological activity consistent with its role as an osteogenic differentiation induction growth factor, we evaluated BMP-induced ALP activity. Our results suggest that this cell line may be a powerful and efficient tool for applications such as bone tissue regeneration.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 2016

Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) has been applied to control insect pests by its suppressive activity against specific target genes. Integrin is a heterodimer (${\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$) transmembrane protein and plays a critical role in cell-to-cell or cell-to-extracellular matrix interactions in eukaryotes. Suppression of ${\beta}$ subunit integrin gene expression by its specific dsRNA (= dsINT) induces significant mortality against target insects. Furthermore, a recombinant bacterium expressing dsINT is potent to kill target insects. However, it is necessary to develop a formulation technique of the dsRNA-expressing bacteria to apply the bacterial insecticide against field populations. This study formulated the recombinant bacteria by freeze-drying and tested its control efficacy against target insects. The formulation maintained significant insecticidal activity against last instar larvae of Spodoptera exigua. While a commercial Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticide exhibited only about 60% insecticidal activity against S. exigua last instar, an addition of the dsINT-expressing bacterial formulation significantly enhanced the Bt insecticidal activity. The dsINT-expressing bacterial formulation exhibited relative selectivity to target insects depending on sequence similarity. These results indicate that a freeze-dried form of dsRNA-expressing bacteria keeps its insecticidal activity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.218-225
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• 2007

In Arabidopsis thaliana, the microtubule-associated protein AtMAP65-1 shows various functions on microtubule dynamics and organizations. However, it is still an open question about whether AtMAP65-1 binds to tubulin dimers and how it regulates microtubule dynamics. In present study, the tubulin-binding activity of AtMAP65-1 was investigated. Pull-down and co-sedimentation exp eriments demonstrated that AtMAP65-1 bound to tubulin dimers,at a molar ratio of 1 : 1. Cross-linking experiments showed that AtMAP65-1 bound to tubulin dimers by interacting with $\alpha$-tubulin of the tubulin heterodimer. Interfering the bundling effect of AtMAP65-1 by addition of salt and monitoring the tubulin assembly, the experiment results indicated that AtMAP65-1 promoted tubulin assembly by interacting with tubulin dimers. In addition, five truncated versions of AtMAP65-1, namely AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$N339 (amino acids 340-587); AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$N494 (amino acids 495-587); AtMAP65-1 340-494 (amino acids 340-494); AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$C495 (amino acids 1-494) and AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$C340 (amino acids 1-339), were tested for their binding activities and roles in tubulin polymerization in vitro. Four (AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$N339, $\Delta$N494, AtMAP65-1 340-494 and $\Delta$C495) from the five truncated proteins were able to co-sediment with microtubules, and three (AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$N339, $\Delta$N494 and AtMAP65-1 340-494) of them could bind to tubulin dimers in vitro. Among the three truncated proteins, AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$N339 showed the greatest activity to promote tubulin polymerization, AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$N494 exhibited almost the same activity as the full length protein in promoting tubulin assembly, and AtMAP65-1 340-494 had minor activity to promote tubulin assembly. On the contrast, AtMAP65-1 $\Delta$C495, which bound to microtubules but not to tubulin dimers, did not affect tubulin assembly. Our study suggested that AtMAP65-1 might promote tubulin assembly by binding to tubulin dimers in vivo.