• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.295-302
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• 2007

Leptin, the product of the obese(ob) gene, is an adipocyte-derived hormone for the regulation of whole- body energy storage and energy usage. It has been reported that the homozygous mutations in the gene for leptin(LEP) induce obesity and reduce energy expenditure. In cattle, LEP has significant roles directly or indirectly related with phenotypes such as body weight and fat deposits, therefore SNPs of LEP have been considered important genetic marker to estimate carcass fat content in cattle. In this study, SNPs were screened in LEP(2,222 bp) between intron 1 to 3'-UTR from 24 independent Hanwoo(Korean cattle) by PCR and DNA sequencing. Total 25 SNPs were found and two nonsynonymous SNPs including T1163A(V19E) and G3256A(G132D) were newly detected only from Hanwoo. Among 20 SNPs previously reported in cattle, 16 SNPs were found in Hanwoo; however, the frequencies of some SNPs were significantly different between Hanwoo and western cattle breeds. The other 4 SNPs were not detected from Hanwoo. These Hanwoo specific SNP patterns in LEP will be used in development of molecular marker and application to genetic improvement of Hanwoo.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1075-1081
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• 2014

CRBP1 (cellular retinol binding protein 1) and CRBP3 (cellular retinol binding protein 3), are important components of the retinoid signaling pathway and take part in vitamin A absorption, transport and metabolism. Based on the role of vitamin A in chicken laying performance, we investigated the polymorphism of CRBP1 and CRBP3 genes in 349 chickens using single strand conformation polymorphism and DNA sequencing methods. Only one polymorphism was identified in the third intron of CRBP1, two polymorphisms were detected in CRBP3; they were located in the second intron and the third intron respectively. The association studies between these three SNPs and laying performance traits were performed in Erlang mountainous chicken. Notably, the SNP g.14604G>T of CRBP1 was shown to be significantly associated with body weight at first egg (BWFE), age at first egg (AFE), weight at first egg (WFE) and total number of eggs with 300 age (EN). The CRBP3 polymorphism g.934C>G was associated with AFE, and the g.1324A>G was associated with AFE and BWFE, but none of these polymorphisms were associated with egg quality traits. Haplotype combinations constructed on these two SNPs of CRBP3 gene were associated with BWFE and AFE. In particular, diplotype H2H2 had positive effect on AFE, BWFE, EN, and average egg-laying interval. We herein describe for the first time basic research on the polymorphism of chicken CRBP1 and CRBP3 genes that is predictive of genetic potential for laying performance in chicken.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.609-615
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• 2014

Appetite-related neuropeptides proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and Neuropeptide Y (NPY) are essential for regulating feeding behavior and energy homeostasis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of variants in POMC and NPY genes on growth, carcass and meat quality traits in rabbits. A total of six SNPs were identified for POMC (n = 2) and NPY (n = 4) genes by direct sequencing. Three SNPs were subsequently genotyped by using MassArray system (Sequenom iPLEXassay) in 235 individuals, which belong to three meat rabbit breeds, including 93 Ira rabbits; 81 Champagne rabbits and 61 Tianfu black rabbits. The SNP c.112-12G>T was in intron-exon boundaries (intron 1) of POMC gene, and the association analysis showed that individuals with TT genotype had a greater 84 d body weight (BW84), eviscerated weight and semi-eviscerated weight than those with GT genotype (p<0.05); the TT individuals were also higher than those GG in the ripe meat ratio (RMR) (p<0.05). The g.1778G>C SNP, which was in complete linkage with other three SNPs (g.1491G>A, g.1525G>T and g.1530C>T) in intron 1 of NPY gene, was significantly correlated with eviscerated slaughter percentage and semi-eviscerated slaughter percentage in rabbits, and the individuals with CC genotype had a better performance than CG genotype (p<0.05). These findings would provide primary clues for the biological roles of POMC and NPY underlying the rabbit growth-related traits.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.898-904
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• 2011

The PCR- restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in and around TM4 of SLC11A1 gene and its association with the incidences of brucellosis in Hariana breed (Bos indicus) and Holstein Friesian crossbred (Bos indicus${\times}$Bos taurus) cattle was examined. A fragment of 954 bp encoding the TM4 was amplified, and RFLP was identified by digestion of the amplicon independently with AluI and TaqI. The amplicon (GenBank Acc. No. AY338470 and AY338471) comprised of a part of exon V (<59 bp) and VII (62>), and entire intron 5 (423 bp), exon VI (71 bp) and intron 6 (339 bp). Digestion with AluI revealed the presence of two alleles viz, A (281, 255, 79 and 51 bp) and B (541, 255, 79 and 51 bp). The frequency of A allele was estimated as 0.80 and 0.73 in Hariana and crossbred cattle, respectively. Due to presence of a polymorphic TaqI site at intron 5, two alleles: T (552 and 402 bp) and Q (231, 321 and 402 bp) were identified. The frequency of T allele was estimated as 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. For association study, on the basis of serological tests and history of abortion, the animals were grouped into "affected" and "non-affected". However, no association could be established with the observed RFLPs.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2015

The Asian cavity-nesting honeybee, Apis cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae), has been extensively studied for its biogeography and genetic diversity, but the molecules utilized in past studies were mainly ~90 bp long mitochondrial non-coding sequences, located between $tRNA^{Leu}$ and COII. Thus, additional molecular markers may enrich our understanding of the biogeography and genetic diversity of this valuable bee species. In this study, we reviewed the public genome database to find introns of cDNA sequences, with the assumption that these introns may have less evolutionary constraints. The six introns selected were subjected to preliminary tests. Thereafter, two introns, titled White gene and MRJP9 gene, were selected. Sequencing of 552 clones from 184 individual bees showed a total of 222 and 141 sequence types in the White gene and MRJP9 gene introns, respectively. The sequence divergence ranged from 0.6% to 7.9% and from 0.26% to 17.6% in the White gene and the MRJP9 introns, respectively, indicating higher sequence divergence in both introns. Analysis of population genetic diversity for 16 populations originating from Korea, China, Vietnam, and Thailand shows that nucleotide diversity (π) ranges from 0.003117 to 0.025837 and from 0.016541 to 0.052468 in the White gene and MRJP9 introns, respectively. The highest π was found in a Vietnamese population for both intron sequences, whereas the nine Korean populations showed moderate to low sequence divergence. Considering the variability and diversity, these intron sequences can be useful as non-mitochondrial DNA-based molecular markers for future studies of population genetics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1070-1076
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• 2009

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), which prolongs the replicative life span of cells, is highly upregulated in 85-90% of human cancers, whereas most normal somatic tissues in humans express limited levels of the telomerase activity. Therefore, TERT has been a potential target for anticancer therapy. Recently, we described a new approach to human cancer gene therapy, which is based on the group I intron of Tetrahymena thermophila. This ribozyme can specifically mediate RNA replacement of human TERT (hTERT) transcript with a new transcript harboring anticancer activity through a trans-splicing reaction, resulting in selective regression of hTERT-positive cancer cells. However, to validate the therapeutic potential of the ribozyme in animal models, ribozymes targeting inherent transcripts of the animal should be developed. In this study, we developed a Tetrahymena-based trans-splicing ribozyme that can specifically target and replace the mouse TERT (mTERT) RNA. This ribozyme can trigger transgene activity not only also in mTERT-expressing cells but hTERT-positive cancer cells. Importantly, the ribozyme could selectively induce activity of the suicide gene, a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene, in cancer cells expressing the TERT RNA and thereby specifically hamper the survival of these cells when treated with ganciclovir. The mTERT-targeting ribozyme will be useful for evaluation of the RNA replacement approach as a cancer gene therapeutic tool in the mouse model with syngeneic tumors.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.723-727
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• 2005

Ghrelin is a novel growth-hormone-releasing acylated peptide, which has been purified and identified in rat stomach. In the present study, the full-length sequence of bovine ghrelin cDNA was cloned by RT-PCR. The bovine ghrelin cDNA sequence derived in the present study included a 348 bp open reading frame and a 137 bp 3'UTR. The putative amino acid sequence of bovine prepro-ghrelin consisted of 116 amino acids, which contained the 27-amino acid ghrelin. The sequence analysis of the bovine ghrelin gene revealed that an intron existed between Gln$^{13}$ and Arg$^{14}$ of ghrelin. This exon-intron boundary matched the GT-AG rule of the splicing mechanism. Compared with rats, which have two tandem CAG sequences in the 3'end of intron, bovine ghrelin genome has only one CAG sequence. Therefore, although rats can produce 28 amino acid-ghrelin and 27 amino acid-des-Gln$^{14}$-ghrelin by alternative splicing, ruminant species, including bovines, might be able to produce only one type of ghrelin peptide, des-Gln$^{14}$-ghrelin. The influence of aging on plasma ghrelin concentration was also examined. Plasma ghrelin concentration increased after birth to approximately 600 days of age, and then remained constant.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.458-462
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• 2005

The study was aimed at detecting polymorphism of the fifth intron in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene and analyzing association between the polymorphism and productive traits. A pair of primers was designed for amplifying the fifth intron. Sequence analysis indicated that a G1171C substitution existed in Large White breed. The mutation was detected by PCR-AfaI-RFLP. Polymorphism analysis in a pig resource family showed that there existed significant effects on carcass and meat quality traits. Thoraxwaist fat thickness of BB genotype was significantly higher (14.2%, p<0.05) than that of AA on carcass traits, while BB genotype was significantly lower (3.6% p<0.01, 4.1% p<0.01; 2.3% p<0.01, 1.9% p<0.01; 1.8% p<0.01, 1.4% p<0.05) than AA and AB genotype in pH of m. Longissimus Dorsi (LD), m. Biceps Femoris (BF), m. Semipinali Capitis (SC). The allelic frequencies were also significantly different between indigenous Chinese breeds and exotic breeds. Data analyzed revealed that the mutation locus affected production traits mostly by additive effects. Based on these results, it is necessary to do more studies on LPL gene before making the LPL locus into the application of marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2001

Lactofenicin is an antibacterial peptide fragment (about 5 kD) derived from lactoferrin (80 kD) that displays the various biological functions. The production of a human lactoferricin (Lactoferricin H) in mouse HC11 mammary epithelial cells was achieved by placing its cDNA under the control of the bovine ${\beta}$-casein gene. To express lactoferricin H in this cell culture system, constructed a hybride-splice signal consisting of bovine ${\beta}$-casein intron I and rabbit ${\beta}$-globin intron II, and a DNA fragment spanning intron 8 of the bovine ${\beta}$-casein gene. Expression of lactofenicin H from this expression vector was identified by RT-PCR, northern and dot blot analysis. RT-PCR using total RNA of HC11 cells transfected with pBL1-cin expression vector yielded a product identified as having a size of the 150bp. Northern blot analysis was identified about 2.3 kb. In dot blot analysis, recombinant lactofenicin H was recognized with anti-human lactofrrnin polyclonal antibody.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.326-329
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• 2017

Background: Cultivated ginseng is often introduced as a substitute and adulterant of Russian wild ginseng due to its lower cost or misidentification caused by similarity in appearance with wild ginseng. The aim of this study is to develop a simple and reliable method to differentiate Russian wild ginseng from cultivated ginseng. Methods: The mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 7 (nad7) intron 3 regions of Russian wild ginseng and Chinese cultivated ginseng were analyzed. Based on the multiple sequence alignment result, a specific primer for Russian wild ginseng was designed by introducing additional mismatch and allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed for identification of wild ginseng. Real-time allele-specific PCR with endpoint analysis was used for validation of the developed Russian wild ginseng single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker. Results: An SNP site specific to Russian wild ginseng was exploited by multiple alignments of mitochondrial nad7 intron 3 regions of different ginseng samples. With the SNP-based specific primer, Russian wild ginseng was successfully discriminated from Chinese and Korean cultivated ginseng samples by allele-specific PCR. The reliability and specificity of the SNP marker was validated by checking 20 individuals of Russian wild ginseng samples with real-time allele-specific PCR assay. Conclusion: An effective DNA method for molecular discrimination of Russian wild ginseng from Chinese and Korean cultivated ginseng was developed. The established real-time allele-specific PCR was simple and reliable, and the present method should be a crucial complement of chemical analysis for authentication of Russian wild ginseng.