• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 2006

Prolactin (PRL) is a pituitary hormone involved in various physiological processes, including lactation, mammary development, and immune function. To further investigate the in vivo and comparative endocrine roles of PRL, mouse PRL cDNA fused to the cytomegalovirus promoter, was introduced into muscle by direct injection. Previously we studied the function of rat PRL using the same protocol. PRL mRNA was detected in the muscle following injection by RT-PCR and subsequent Southern blot analysis. PRL was also detected and Western blot analysis revealed a relatively high level of serum PRL. In the pCMV-mPRL-injected female mice, the estrous cycle was extended, especially in diestrus stage and the uterus thickening that was shown in normal estrous stage was not observed. In the pCMV-mPRL-injected male mice, new blood vessels were first found at 5 weeks of age and fully developed blood vessels were found after 8 weeks in the testis. The number of Leydig cells increased within the testis and the testosterone level in serum was observed high. Finally, the number of white blood cells (WBCs) increased in the pCMV-mPRL-injected mice. The augmentation of WBCs persisted for at least 20 days after injection. When injection was combined with adrenalectomy, there was an even greater increase in number of WBCs, especially lymphocytes. This increase was returned normal by treatment with dexamethansone. Taken together, our data reveal that intramuscularly expressed mouse PRL influences reproductive functions in female, induces formation of new blood vessels in the testis, and augments WBC numbers. Of notice is that the Leydig cell proliferation with increased testosterone was conspicuously observed in the pCMV-mPRL-injected mice. These results also suggest subtle difference in function of PRL between mouse and rat species.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2006

Molecular co-suppression phenomena are important to consider in transgene experiments. Embryogenic cells were obtained from immature cotyledons and engineered with two different gene constructs (pHV and pHVS) through particle bombardment. Both constructs contain a gene conferring resistance to hygromycin (hpt) as a selective marker and a modified glycinin (11S globulin) gene (V3-1) as a target. sGFP(S65T) as a reporter gene was, however, inserted into the flanking region of the V3-1 gene (pHVS). Fluorescence microscopic screening after the selection of hygromycin, identified clearly the expression of sGFP(S65T) in the transformed soybean embryos bombarded with the pHVS construct. Stable integration of the transgenes was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot analysis. Seeds of transgenic plants obtained from the pHV construct frequently lacked an accumulation of endogenous glycinin, which is encoded by homologous genes to the target gene V3-1. Most of the transgenic plants expressing sGFP(S65T) showed highly accumulation of glycinin. The expression of sGFP(S65T) and V3-1 inherits into the next generations. sGFP(S65T) as a reporter gene may be useful to increase the transformation efficiency of transgenic soybean with avoiding gene co-suppression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.457-462
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• 2003

The complete nucleotide sequence of a plasmid, pMG1, isolated from Bifidobacterium longum MG1 has been determined. This plasmid, composed of 3,862 base pairs with 65.1% of G+C content. harbors two major open reading frames (ORF) encoding putative proteins of 29 kDa (ORF I) and 71 kDa (ORF II). ORF I showed relatively high amino acid sequence homology with replication proteins of other plasmids from Gr Im-positive and -negative bacteria. Upstream of ORF I, four sets of tandem repeat sequences resembling the iteron structure of related plasmids were found. S1 endonuclease treatment and Southern blot analysis revealed that pMG1 accumulates single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) intermediate, which indicate i the rolling circle replication (RCR) mechanism of this plasmid. Homology search indicated that ORF II encodes plasmid mobilization protein, and the presence of highly conserved oriT sequence in the upstream of this gene supported this assumption. RT-PCR showed that only ORF I is expressed in vivo. Based on these results, pMG 1 was exploited to construct a shuttle vector, pBES2. It was successfully transformed into Bifidobacterium and maintained stably.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.404-411
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• 2007

Transformation of cantaloupes with the coat protein (cp) gene of papaya ringspot virus type W (PRSV-W), Thai isolate, was used to introduce virus resistance. Binary vectors containing either the full length coat protein coding region under control of the 35S CaMV promoter(pSA1175), or the inverted-repeat of a coat protein coding region (pSA1304), were constructed and used for Agrobacteriummediated transformation of cotyledonary explants of the cantaloupe cultivar Sun Lady. Four independent transgenic lines were obtained using pSA1304 and one using pSA1175. Integration of the PRSV-W cp gene into the genome of these transgenic lines was verified by PCR amplification, GUS assays and Southern blot hybridization. In vitro inoculation of these lines with PRSV-W revealed that whereas the line containing pSA1175 remained sensitive, the four lines containing pSA1304 were resistant. The presence of small RNA species, presumably siRNA, corresponding to regions of the viral cp gene in transgenic lines resistant to PRSV-W supports the involvement of post-transcriptional gene silencing in the establishment of resistance.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.217-222
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• 2004

As Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which has long been used to transform plants, is known to transfer T-DNA to budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a variety of fungi were subjected to the A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation to improve their transformation frequency and feasibility. The A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation of chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, is performed in this study as the first example of transformation of a hardwood fungal pathogen. The transfer of the binary vector pBIN9-Hg, containing the bacterial hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene under the control of the Aspergillus nidulans trpC promoter and terminator, as a selectable marker, led to the selection of more than 1,000 stable, hygromycin B-resistant transformants per 1${\times}$10$\^$6/ conidia of C. parasitica. The putative transformants appeared to be mitotically stable. The transformation efficiency appears to depend on the bacterial strain, age of the bacteria cell culture and ratio of fungal spores to bacterial cells. PCR and Southern blot analysis indicated that the marker gene was inserted at different chromosomal sites. Moreover, three transformants out of ten showed more than two hybridizing bands, suggesting more than two copies of the inserted marker gene are not uncommon.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.365-372
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• 2023

Ipomoea aquatic is a leafy vegetable of the Convolvulaceae family, and is a tropical plant widely inhabiting southern China and Southeast Asia, and is widely known as Morning Glory in the West. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of ethyl acetate extract from Ipomoea aquatic extracts (IAE) were tested against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced activation microglia BV2 cells. The production of nitric oxide (NO) and cell viability were measured using the Griess reagent and MTT assay, respectively. Inflammatory cytokine [interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β)] were detected qPCR in LPS induced BV-2 cells. Subsequently, nuclear factor (NF)-κB, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) were analyzed through western blot analyses and immunofluorescence. Ipomoea aquatic down-regulated of inflammatory markers and up-regulated anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidants in BV2 cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.618-625
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• 2014

Rice flour is used in many food products. However, dough made from rice lacks extensibility and elasticity, making it less suitable than wheat for many food products such as bread and noodles. The high-molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) of wheat play a crucial role in determining the processing properties of the wheat grain. This paper describes the development of marker-free transgenic rice plants expressing a wheat Glu-Dy10 gene encoding the HMG-GS from the Korean wheat cultivar 'Jokyeong' using Agrobacterium-mediated co-transformation. Two expression cassettes, consisting of separate DNA fragments containing Glu-1Dy10 and hygromycin phosphotransferase II (HPTII) resistance genes, were introduced separately into Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 for co-infection. Each EHA105 strain harboring Glu-1Dy10 or HPTII was infected into rice calli at a 3: 1 ratio of Glu-1Bx7 and HPTII. Among 290 hygromycin-resistant $T_0$ plants, we obtained 29 transgenic lines with both the Glu-1Dy10 and HPTII genes inserted into the rice genome. We reconfirmed the integration of the Glu-1Dy10 gene into the rice genome by Southern blot analysis. Transcripts and proteins of the Glu-1Dy10 in transgenic rice seeds were examined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. The marker-free plants containing only the Glu-1Dy10 gene were successfully screened in the $T_1$ generation.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.384-391
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• 2009

Previously, two events (H15 and B20) of transgenic pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) that enhanced resistance to Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) by the introduction of CMV coat protein (CP) gene were constructed. Presently, a single copy number of the CP gene was revealed in H15 and B20 by Southern blot. To predict possible unintended effects due to transgene insertion in an endogenous gene, we carried out sequencing of the 5'-flanking region of the CP gene and a Blastbased search. The results revealed that insertion of the transgene into genes encoding putative proteins may occur in the H15 and B20 transgenic event. Mutiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for simultaneous detection and identification of transgenic pepper was conducted with a set of nine primers. Both transgenic event were differentiated from non-transgenic event by the presence of 267 bp and 430 bp PCR products indicative of CP gene specific primer pairs and primer pairs targeting the CP gene and 35S promoter. H15 and B20 uniquely possessed a 390 bp and 596 bp PCR product, respectively. The presence of a 1115 bp product corresponding to intrinsic pepper actin gene confirmed the use of pepper DNA as the PCR template. The primer set and PCR conditions used presently may allow the accurate and simple identification of CMV resistant transgenic pepper.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.176-182
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• 2010

Magnaporthe oryzae is destructive plant-pathogenic fungus and causes rice blast. The pathogen uses several mechanisms to circumvent the inhibitory actions of fungicides. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are known to provide protection against toxic compounds in the environment. PC facilitated bioinformatic analysis, particularly with respect to accessing and extracting database information and domain identification. We predicted ABC transporter genes from the M. oryzae genome sequence with computation and bioinformatics tools. A total of thirty three genes were predicted to encode ABC transporters. Three of thirty three putative genes corresponded to three known ABC transporter genes (ABC1, ABC2 and ABC3). Copy numbers of the ABC transporter genes were proven by Southern blot analysis, which revealed that twenty genes tested exist as a single copy. We amplified the DNA complementary to RNA corresponding to eleven of these by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2011

The overexpression of Phosphoprotein Enriched in Astrocytes (PEA15) gene is commonly found in human diabetic patients. The overexpression of this gene in skeletal muscle and fat tissues have been reported to cause insulin resistance, thereby impairing insulin stimulated glucose uptake. We introduced a gene of mouse PEA15 (mPEA15) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) into fertilized one cell pig zygotes using microinjection, and produced a piglet that showed overexpression of mPEA15 in the muscle tissues and expression of EGFP in the ear tissues and hooves. RT-PCR RFLP, southern blot and FISH analysis showed that the tissues carried the transgene. Real-time RT-PCR and western blots demonstrated that PEA15 gene was overexpressed in the various tissues and muscle tissues, respectively. These fads suggest that expression vector system is normally expressed in the transgenic (TG) pigs. To use as animal diseases model for type 2 diabetes, further study is necessary to confirm whether diabetes occur in these TG pigs, especially insulin resistance.