• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제24권7호
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• pp.1019-1025
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• 2011

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an important role in the recognition of invading pathogens and the modulation of innate immune responses in mammals. The TLR4 and TLR7 are well known to recognize the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and single stranded (ssRNA) ligands, respectively and play important role in host defense against Gram-negative bacteria and ssRNA viruses. In the present study, coding exon fragments of these two TLRs were identified, cloned, sequenced and analyzed in terms of insertion-deletion polymorphism, within bovine TLRs 4 and 7, thereby facilitating future TLR signaling and association studies relevant to bovine innate immunity. Comparative sequence analysis of TLR 4 exons revealed that this gene is more variable, particularly the coding frame (E3P1), while other parts showed percent identity of 95.7% to 100% at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectivley with other Bos indicus and Bos taurus breeds from different parts of the world. In comparison to TLR4, sequence analysis of TLR7 showed more conservation among different B. indicus and B. taurus breeds, except single point mutation at 324 nucleotide position (AAA to AAM) altering a single amino acid at 108 position (K to X). Percent identity of TLR7 sequences (all 3 exons) was between 99.2% to 100% at nucleotide and amino acid level, when compared with available sequence database of B. indicus and B. taurus. Simple Modular Architecture Research Tool (SMART) analysis showed variations in the exon fragments located in the Leucine Rich Repeat (LRR) region, which is responsible for binding with the microbial associated molecular patterns and further, downstream signaling to initiate anti-microbial response. Considering importance of TLR polymorphism in terms of innate immunity, further research is warranted.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.51-56
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• 2007

A plant pathogenic fungus, Gibberella zeae (anamorph: Fusarium graminearum), not only generates economic losses by causing disease on cereal grains, but also leads to severe toxicosis in human and animals through the production of mycotoxins in infected plants. Here, we characterized a histidine auxotrophic mutant of G. zeae, designated Z43R1092, which was generated using a restriction enzyme-mediated integration (REMI) procedure. The mutant exhibited pleiotropic phenotypic changes, including a reduction in mycelial growth and virulence and loss of sexual reproduction. Outcrossing analysis confirmed that the histidine auxotrophy is linked to the insertional vector in Z43R1092. Molecular analysis showed that the histidine requirement of Z43R1092 is caused by a disruption of an open reading frame, designated GzHIS7. The deduced product of GzHIS7 encodes a putative enzyme with an N-terminal glutamine amidotransferase and a C-terminal cyclase domain, similar to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae HIS7 required for histidine biosynthesis. The subsequent gene deletion and complementation analyses confirmed the functions of GzHIS7 in G. zeae. This is the first report of the molecular characterization of histidine auxotrophy in G. zeae, and our results demonstrate that correct histidine biosynthesis is essential for virulence, as well as sexual development, in G. zeae. In addition, our results could provide a G. zeae histidine auxotroph as a recipient strain for genetic transformation using this new selectable marker.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.255-260
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• 2012

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have activating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations derive clinical benefit from treatment with EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors ((EGFR-TKIs)-namely gefitinib and erlotinib. However, these patients eventually develop resistance to EGFR-TKIs. Despite the fact that this acquired resistance may be the result of a secondary mutation in the EGFR gene, such as T790M or amplification of the MET proto-oncogene, there are other mechanisms which need to be explored. MicroRNAs (miRs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that play pivotal roles in tumorigenesis, tumor progression and chemo-resistance. In this study, we firstly successfully established a gefitinib resistant cell line-HCC827/GR, by exposing normal HCC827 cells (an NSCLC cell line with a 746E-750A in-frame deletion of EGFR gene) to increasing concentrations of gefitinib. Then, we found that miR-214 was significantly up-regulated in HCC827/GR. We also showed that miR-214 and PTEN were inversely expressed in HCC827/GR. Knockdown of miR-214 altered the expression of PTEN and p-AKT and re-sensitized HCC827/GR to gefitinib. Taken together, miR-214 may regulate the acquired resistance to gefitinib in HCC827 via PTEN/AKT signaling pathway. Suppression of miR-214 may thus reverse the acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.45-53
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• 2010

We have developed an efficient and precise method for genome manipulations in Bacillus subtilis that allows rapid alteration of a gene sequence or multiple gene sequences without altering the chromosome in any other way. In our approach, the Escherichia coli toxin gene mazF, which was used as a counter-selectable marker, was placed under the control of a xylose-inducible expression system and associated with an antibiotic resistance gene to create a "mazF-cassette". A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-generated fragment, consisting of two homology regions joined to the mazF-cassette, was integrated into the chromosome at the target locus by homologous recombination, using positive selection for antibiotic resistance. Then, the excision of the mazF-cassette from the chromosome by a single-crossover event between two short directly repeated (DR) sequences, included in the design of the PCR products, was achieved by counter-selection of mazF. We used this method efficiently and precisely to deliver a point mutation, to inactivate a specific gene, to delete a large genomic region, and to generate the in-frame deletion with minimal polar effects in the same background.

• 한국미생물생명공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국미생물생명공학회 2002년도 학술발표대회
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• pp.18-25
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• 2002

The pikromycin biosynthetic system in Streptomyces venezuleae is unique for its ability to produce two groups of antibiotics that include the 12-membered ring macrolides methymycin and neomethymycin, and the 14-membered ring macrolides narbomycin and pikromycin. The metabolic pathway also contains two post polyketide-modification enzymes, a glycosyltransferase and P450 hydroxylase that have unusually broad substrate specificities. In order to explore further the substrate flexibility of these enzymes a series of hybrid polyketide synthases were constructed and their metabolic products characterized. The plasmid-based replacement of the multifunctional protein subunits of the pikromycin PKS in S. venezuelae by the corresponding subunits from heterologous modular PKSs resulted in recombinant strains that produce both 12- and 14-membered ring macrolactones with predicted structural alterations. In all cases, novel macrolactones were produced and further modified by the DesVII glycosyltransferase and PikC hydroxylase leading to biologically active macrolide structures. These results demonstrate that hybrid PKSs in S. venezuelae can produce a multiplicity of new macrolactones that are modified further by the highly flexible DesVII glycosyltransferase and PikC hydroxylase tailoring enzymes. This work demonstrates the unique capacity of the S. venezuelae pikromycin pathway to expand the toolbox of combinatorial biosynthesis and to accelerate the creation of novel biologically active natural products. The polyketide backbone of rifamycin B is assembled through successive condensation and ${\beta}$-carbonyl processing of the extender units by the modular rifamycin PKS. The eighth module, in the RifD protein, contains nonfunctional DH domain and functional KR domain, which specify the reduction of the ${\beta}$-carbonyl group resulting in the C-21 bydroxyl of rifamycin B. A four amino acid substitution and one amino acid deletion were introduced in the putative NADPH binding motif in the proposed KR domain encoded by rifD. This strategy of mutation was based on the amino acid sequences of the corresponding motif of the KR domain of module 3 in the RifA protein, which is believed dysfunctional, so as to introduce a minimum alteration and retain the reading frame intact, yet ensure loss of function. The resulting strain produces linear polyketides, from tetraketide to octaketide, which are also produced by a rifD disrupted mutant as a consequence of premature termination of polyketide assembly. Much of the structural diversity within the polyketide superfamily of natural products is due to the ability of PKSs to vary the reduction level of every other alternate carbon atom in the backbone. Thus, the ability to introduce heterologous reductive segments such as ketoreductase (KR), dehydratase (DH), and enoylreductase (ER) into modules that naturally lack these activities would increase the power of the combinatorial biosynthetic toolbox. The dehydratase domain of module 7 of the rifamycin PKS, which is predicted to be nonfunctional in view of the sequence of the apparent active site, was replaced with its functional homolog from module 7 of rapamycin-producing polyketide synthase. The resulting mutant strain behaved like a rifC disrupted mutant, i.e., it accumulated the heptaketide intermediate and its precursors. This result points out a major difficulty we have encountered with all the Amycolatopsis mediterranei strain containing hybrid polyketide synthases: all the engineered strains prepared so far accumulate a plethora of products derived from the polyketide chain assembly intermediates as major products instead of just analogs of rifamycin B or its ansamycin precursors.

• 한국균학회지
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.189-195
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• 2008

Aspergillus nidulans는 빛이 없는 조건에서는 유성분화가 주로 일어나고 빛이 있는 조건에서는 유성분화가 억제되고 대신 무성분화가 유도된다. 빛에 의해서 유성분화가 억제되는 것은 빛에 반응하여 유성 또는 무성분화를 조절하는 유전자가 있다는 것을 시사한다. 따라서 빛에 의해서 조절되는 유전자를 연구하기 위하여 광 조건하에서 유성분화를 하는 silA98 돌연변이를 분리하였으며, 이를 보완하는 유전자를 분리 및 분석하고자 A. nidulans의 AMA-NotI genomic library로부터 silA98 돌연변이를 상보하는 유전자 silA를 분리하였다. silA 유전자의 예상 ORF는 2,388 bp의 염기로 구성되어지고 795개의 아미노산을 암호화하고 있었다. 이 유전자는 Saccharomyces cerevisiae의 ARO80 유전자와 상동성을 보이며 SilA 단백질의 N 말단에는 약 51.9%의 상동성을 가지는 ${Zn_2}{Cys_6}$ motif를 지니고 있었다. silA 유전자 결손돌연변이주는 광 존재 하에서뿐만 아니라 고농도의 sorbitol에서도 유성분화가 유도되었다. 이는 silA 유전자가 빛과 고삼투 조건에서 유성분화를 억제하는 조절과정에 관여하고 있음을 의미한다. silA 유전자를 niiA promoter로 과다 발현시켰을 때의 형질은 야생형과 큰 차이를 보이지 않았다.