• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.20-24
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• 2004

Cloned myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase (INOS) of Drosophila melanogaster was expressed in Escherichia coli, and purified using a His-affinity column. The purified INOS required NAD$\^$+/ for the conversion of glucose-6-phosphate to inositol-1-phosphate. The optimum pH for myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase is 7.5, and the maximum activity was measured at 40$^{\circ}C$. The molecular weight of the native enzyme, as determined by gel filtration, was approximately M$\_$r/ 271,000${\pm}$15,000. A single subunit of approximately M$\_$r/ 62,000${\pm}$5,000 was detected upon SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The Michaelis ($K_{m}$) and dissociation constants for glucose-6-phosphate were 3.5 and 3.7 mM, whereas for the cofactor NAD$\^$+/ these were 0.42 and 0.4 mM, respectively.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2003

A cDNA (SeMIPS) encoding myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase has been isolated from developing sesame (Sesamum indicum L. cv. Dan-Baek) seeds and its structure and function analyzed. The SeMIPS protein was highly homologous with those from plant species (88-94%), while a much lower degree of sequence homology (60%) was found with that of human. The functional domains commonly found in MIPS protein were identified and their amino acid residues were compared with each other. Northern blot indicated that the expression of the SeMIPS gene might be organ-specifically regulated. A complementation assay based on a yeast mutant system confirmed that the SeMIPS gene encodes a myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase (MIPS) of sesame by showing functional expression of the SeMIPS cDNA in the yeast mutants containing the disrupted INO1 gene.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.307-313
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• 2003

Fluorescent differential display (FDD) is a method for identifying differentially expressed genes in eukaryotic cells. The mRNA FDD technology works by systematic amplification of the 3' terminal regions of mRNAs. This method involve the reverse transcription using anchored primers designed to bind 5'boundary of the poly A tails, followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification with additional upstream primers of arbitrary sequences. The amplified cDNA subpopulations are separated by denaturing polyacrylamide electrophoresis. To identify the genes involved in the development of first trap leaf, we applied a FDD method using mRNAs from leaf base, first trap leaf and flower tissue, respectively. We screened several genes that expressed specifically in first trap leaf. Nucleotide sequence analysis of these genes revealed that these were protease inhibitor (PI), myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase and lipocalin-type prostaglandin D synthase. Northern blot analysis showed that these genes were expressed specifically in first trap leaf (in vivo and in vitro). FDD could prove to be useful for simultaneous scanning of transcripts from multiple cDNA samples and faster selection of differentially expressed transcripts of interest.

• Proceedings of the EASDL Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.13-30
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• 2004

There are two groups of significant functional constituents in sesame seeds on the whole; one is the vegetable oils and another is the anti-oxidative compounds. However, although high amounts of major fatty acids are synthesized in sesame seeds, their composition is unfavorable because the contents of alpha- and gamma-linolenic acid, the essential fatty acids, are very low or do not produced in sesame seeds. So, to increase these fatty acids in sesame seeds, one strategy is to overexpress their genes, ${\omega}$-3 fatty acid desaturase for alpha-linolenic acid and delta-6 fatty acid desaturase for gamma-linolenid acid, in them. Another molecular target is to enhance alpha-tocopherol, vitamin E, because its content is very low in sesame seeds. The enzyme, gamma-tocopherol methyltransferase, catalyzes the conversion of gamma-tocophero to alpha-tocopherol. Overexpression of this enzyme in sesame seeds could be also a good molecular breeding target. Reduction of phytic acid is also another molecular target in sesame seeds because phosphorus pollution may be caused by its high content in sesame seeds. Accordingly, to do so, one of target enzymes could be myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase which is a key regulatory enzyme in the pathway of phytic aicd biosyntheses. In this lecture, a molecular strategy for development of value-added sesame crop is described in association with some results of our experiments involved in the molecular characterizations of the genes mentioned above.