• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.93-98
• /
• 2009

A plant-specific gene was cloned from melon fruit. This gene was named downward leaf curling (CmDLC) based on the phenotype of transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the gene. This expression level of this gene was especially upregulated during melon fruit enlargement. Overexpression of CmDLC in Arabidopsis resulted in dwarfism and narrow, epinastically curled leaves. These phenotypes were found to be caused by a reduction in cell number and cell size on the adaxial and abaxial sides of the epidermis, with a greater reduction on the abaxial side of the leaves. These phenotypic characteristics, combined with the more wavy morphology of epidermal cells in overexpression lines, indicate that CmDLC overexpression affects cell elongation and cell morphology. To investigate intracellular protein localization, a CmDLC-GFP fusion protein was made and expressed in onion epidermal cells. This protein was observed to be preferentially localized close to the cell membrane. Thus, we report here a new plant-specific gene that is localized to the cell membrane and that controls leaf cell number, size and morphology.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.388-394
• /
• 2018

Carbon nanotube (CNT) based membranes are promising candidates for separation membranes by showing high water transport rate and ion rejection rate according to their radii. The ion selectivity is an important factor to discover the full potential of CNT membranes, and it is affected by the functionalization of CNTs. With multivalent/size ion mixtures, the ion selectivity is affected by not only ion-functional groups interaction but also ion-ion interactions and ion size exclusion in a complex manner. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the ion selectivity of functionalized carbon nanotubes when multivalent/size ions are contained. The permeation energy barriers are calculated by plotting potential of mean force profiles, and various factors, such as CNT size and partial charges, affecting ion selectivity are investigated. The results presented here will be useful for designing CNT membranes for ion separation, biomimetic ion channels, etc.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.471-481
• /
• 2017

As the molecular weight (MW) of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins had a great impact on their properties, this work was conducted to study effect of analytical parameters of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) on the MW measurement of UF resins. GPC parameters such as flow rate, column, detector temperature, and sample injection temperature were selected to compare number-average molecular weight (Mn), weight-average molecular weight (Mw), molecular weight distribution (MWD) and polydispersity index (PDI) of two UF resins with different viscosities. As expected, UF resin with higher viscosity resulted in greater Mn and Mw than those of low viscosity UF resin. When the flow rate increased, both Mn and Mw of UF resins decreased and MWD became narrower. By contrast, both Mn and Mw increased and MWD became wide when the column, detector, and sample injection temperature increased. The column, detector, and sample injection temperature of $50^{\circ}C$ at a flow rate of $0.5m{\ell}/min$ resulted in the highest MW and broadest MWD for the GPC analysis. These results suggest that the apparent molecular size or a hydrodynamic radius of UF resin molecules dissolved in the mobile phase affect to Mn, Mw and MWD.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 1991.10a
• /
• pp.1-4
• /
• 1991

Relationship between againg and characteristic change of asphalt is not well known through asphalt rheolopy. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate characteristic change of asphalt cement due to againg based on experimental results of chromatogram and selected physical properties. Currently, three virgin asphalt cements were tested for physical properties and chromatograms before and after artificially conditioning for againg. Results in the current study showed that againg caused significant changes of physical properties and increase of larger size molecules and approximately corresponding reduction of smaller size molecule in asphalt cement molecular size distribution.

• Advances in Computational Design
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.147-163
• /
• 2018

Cementitious composites are multiphase heterogeneous materials with distinct dissimilarity in strength under compression and tension (high under compression and very low under tension). At macro scale, the phenomenon can be well-explained as the material contains physical heterogeneity and pores. But, it is interesting to note that this dissimilarity initiates at molecular level where there is no heterogeneity. In this regard, molecular dynamics based computational investigations are carried out on cement clinkers and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) under tension and compression to trace out the origin of dissimilarity. In the study, effect of strain rate, size of computational volume and presence of un-structured atoms on the obtained response is also investigated. It is identified that certain type of molecular interactions and the molecular structural parameters are responsible for causing the dissimilarity in behavior. Hence, the judiciously modified or tailored molecular structure would not only be able to reduce the extent of dissimilarity, it would also be capable of incorporating the desired properties in heterogeneous composites. The findings of this study would facilitate to take step to scientifically alter the structure of cementitious composites to attain the desired mechanical properties.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.656-661
• /
• 2023

The aims of this study were to optimize the preparation of low-molecular-weight collagen using a proteolytic enzyme (alcalase) derived from the feet of Korean native chickens, and to characterize the process of collagen hydrolysis. Foreign bodies from chicken feet were removed using ultrasonication at 28 kHz with 1.36 kW for more than 25 min. The hydrolytic pattern and molecular weight distribution of enzyme-treated collagen from chicken feet were analyzed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. Ideally, chicken feet should be treated at 100℃ for 8 h to obtain a high collagen content using hot water extraction. The collagen content of the chicken foot extract was 13.9 g/100 g, and the proportion of low-molecular-weight collagen increased with increasing proteolytic enzyme concentration and reaction time. When treated with 1% alcalase, the average molecular weight of collagen decreased rapidly to 4,929 Da within 5 h and thereafter decreased at a slower rate, reaching 4,916 Da after 7 h. Size exclusion chromatography revealed that low-molecular-weight collagen peptides of approximately 1,000-5,000 Da were obtained after hydrolysis with 1% alcalase for 1 h.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.1869-1872
• /
• 2012

Background: To assess the diagnostic potential of tumor-associated high molecular weight DNA in stool samples of 32 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients compared to 32 healthy Malaysian volunteers by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Methods: Stool DNA was isolated and tumor-associated high molecular weight DNA (1.476 kb fragment including exons 6-9 of the p53 gene) was amplified using PCR and visualized on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels. Results: Out of 32 CRC patients, 18 were positive for the presence of high molecular weight DNA as compared to none of the healthy individuals, resulting in an overall sensitivity of 56.3% with 100% specificity. Out of 32 patients, 23 had tumor on the left side and 9 on the right side, 16 and 2 being respectively positive. This showed that high molecular weight DNA was significantly (p = 0.022) more detectable in patients with left side tumor (69.6% vs 22.2%). Out of 32 patients, 22 had tumors larger than 1.0 cm, 18 of these (81.8%) being positive for long DNA as compared to not a single patient with tumor size smaller than 1.0 cm (p <0.001). Conclusion: We detected CRC-related high molecular weight p53 DNA in stool samples of CRC patients with an overall sensitivity of 56.3% with 100% specificity, with a strong tumor size dependence.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.372-378
• /
• 2023

Lkh1, a LAMMER kinase homolog in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, acts as a negative regulator of filamentous growth and flocculation. It is also involved in the response to oxidative stress. The lkh1-deletion mutant displays slower cell growth, shorter cell size, and abnormal DNA content compared to the wild type. These phenotypes suggest that Lkh1 controls cell size and cell cycle progression. When we performed microarray analysis using the lkh1-deletion mutant, we found that only four of the up-regulated genes in the lkh1-deletion were associated with the cell cycle. Interestingly, all of these genes are regulated by the Mlu1 cell cycle box binding factor (MBF), which is a transcription complex responsible for regulating the expression of cell cycle genes during the G1/S phase. Transcription analyses of the MBF-dependent cell-cycle genes, including negative feedback regulators, confirmed the up-regulation of these genes by the deletion of lkh1. Pull-down assay confirmed the interaction between Lkh1 and Yox1, which is a negative feedback regulator of MBF. This result supports the involvement of LAMMER kinase in cell cycle regulation by modulating MBF activity. In vitro kinase assay and NetPhosK 2.0 analysis with the Yox1T40,41A mutant allele revealed that T40 and T41 residues are the phosphorylation sites mediated by Lkh1. These sites affect the G1/S cell cycle progression of fission yeast by modulating the activity of the MBF complex.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.106-109
• /
• 2002

Gel electrophoresis of DNA is a well known technique in molecular biology. This technique is simple, rapid to perform, and capable of adequately separating fragments of DNA. A number of mixtures of DNA fragments ("DNA size markers") are frequently employed in a purpose of extrapolating the sizes or the amount of DNA molecules during gel electrophoresis. DNA size markers are constructed by digesting plasmid DNA, bacteriophage DNA, or recombinant DNA molecules with one or more restriction enzymes. However, liquid suspension containing DNA size marker needs to be kept at a low temperature during storage and shipping. In an attempt to maintain the DNA samples at room temperature for extended period of time, lyophilization of DNA with addition of nuclease inhibitor was studied. Gel loading buffer was also added to the lyophilized DNA to provide additional convenience such that DNA size marker was the "ready-to-use" followed by simply reconstituting with distilled water.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.2
• /
• pp.509-521
• /
• 2021

In this paper, from a review of the size distribution of the bubbles during pool scrubbing obtained from experiments by EPRI, we apply the bubble size distributions to analyses on the decontamination factors of pool scrubbing via I-COSTA (In-Containment Source Term Analysis). We perform sensitivity studies of the bubble size on the various mechanisms of deposition of aerosol particles in pool scrubbing. We also perform sensitivity studies on the size distributions of the bubbles depending on the diameters at the nozzle exit, the molecular weights of non-condensable gases in the carrier gases, and the steam fractions of the carrier gases. We then perform analyses of LACE-ESPANA experiments and compare the numerical ~ results to those from SPARC-90 and experimental results in order to show the effect of the bubble size distributions.