• Molecules and Cells
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.119-123
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• 2009

Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) gamma1 in the pig genome have the potential to act as harmful factors in xenotransplantation (pig-to-human). Long terminal repeats (LTRs) are known to be strong promoter elements that could control the transcription activity of PERV elements and the adjacent functional genes. To investigate the transcribed PERV gamma1 LTR elements in pig tissues, bioinformatic and experimental approaches were conducted. Using RT-PCR amplification and sequencing approaches, 69 different transcribed LTR elements were identified. And 69 LTR elements could be divided into six groups (15 subgroups) by internal variation including tandem repeated sequences, insertion and deletion (INDEL). Remarkably, all internal variations were indentified in U3 region of LTR elements. Taken together, the identification and characterization of various PERV LTR transcripts allow us to extend our knowledge of PERV and its transcriptional study.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제5권4호
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• pp.179-187
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• 2007

An increasing number of primate genomes are being sequenced. A direct comparison of repeat elements in human genes and their corresponding chimpanzee orthologs will not only give information on their evolution, but also shed light on the major evolutionary events that shaped our species. We have developed REPEATOME to enable visualization and subsequent comparisons of human and chimpanzee repeat elements. REPEATOME (http://www.repeatome.org/) provides easy access to a complete repeat element map of the human genome, as well as repeat element-associated information. It provides a convenient and effective way to access the repeat elements within or spanning the functional regions in human and chimpanzee genome sequences. REPEATOME includes information to compare repeat elements and gene structures of human genes and their counterparts in chimpanzee. This database can be accessed using comparative search options such as intersection, union, and difference to find lineage-specific or common repeat elements. REPEATOME allows researchers to perform visualization and comparative analysis of repeat elements in human and chimpanzee.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국응용약물학회 1998년도 Proceedings of UNESCO-internetwork Cooperative Regional Seminar and Workshop on Bioassay Guided Isolation of Bioactive Substances from Natural Products and Microbial Products
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• pp.22-26
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• 1998

The medicinal plants have been used as drugs for thousands of years and many of them are used in traditional medicines. How long are these medicinal plants used as drugs\ulcorner Ebers papyrus (BC 1550) is one of the oldest documents which described more than 700 kinds of herbal drugs. Some of herbal medicines described in the papyrus are familiar and ‘Opium’ is a good example. Some of the drugs described in the papyrus are hardly recognized as drugs by the standard of present day. We can trace back the history of medicinal plants from quite different approach. The investigations on group behavior of chimpanzees in Africa by ‘The Primate Institute of Kyoto University’ has revealed that chimpanzees suffered illness take specific plants which are not taken as daily food stuff. The chemical analysis clarified that the plants contain very bitter constituents and suggested that chimpanzees take medicinal plants to cure their illness. It is worth to note that young chimpanzees just learn what elder ones take when they suffer illness, but elders never teach to their children! It is no doubt that the chimpanzee's medicinal plants were found by random, and try and error screening. The medicinal plants found in this study have been used as herbal medicines by the peoples in the region.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.187-192
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• 2017

In this report, fifteen monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against an avian influenza virus (H9N2 subtype) were newly produced and characterized. These MAbs proved to react to the epitopes of nucleocapsid protein (NP), hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) and non-structural protein 1 (NS1) of Korean H9N2 strain, respectively. Two HA-specific MAbs showed the ability to inhibit the hemagglutination activity of H9N2 subtype avian influenza virus when tested by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay. All MAbs did not cross-react with other avian-origin viruses (Newcastle disease virus, infectious bursal disease virus, infectious bronchitis virus and avian rotavirus) by immunofluorescence test or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The MAbs produced in this study could be useful as the materials for diagnostics and therapeutics against Korean-lineage H9N2 virus infections.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.537-543
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• 2005

Subtilisin (EC 3.4.21.14) is the major extracellular alkaline serine protease of Bacillus species. Previously, we found that subtilisins did not migrate in the electrophoretic field in the Laemmili buffer system due to their high pI values (over 8.8); however, it formed a 'binding mode' at the top of the separating gel [5]. Utilizing this characteristic, four subtilisins from Bacillus sp. strains (e.g., B. subtilis 168, B. subtilis KCTC 1021, B. amyloliquefaciens KCTC 3002, and Bacillus sp. DJ-1 and DJ-4) were easily and quickly identified by an over-running electrophoretic technique with a miniscale culture supernatant (less than 20 ml) without any column chromatographic steps. Two subtilisins (DJ-l and a recombinant version) from Bacillus sp. DJ-l were characterized, and the enzymatic properties were determined by SDS-fibrin zymography and densitometric analysis. Based on this observation, the recombinant pro-subtilisin DJ-l showed the same 'binding mode,' similar to native subtilisin DJ-l. On the other hand, mature subtilisin DJ -1 without pro-peptide showed no enzymatic activity.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.217-225
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• 2006

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) RTA transcription factor is recruited to its responsive elements through interaction with RBP-Jk that is a downstream transcription factor of the Notch signaling pathway that is important in development and cell fate determination. This suggests that KSHV RTA mimics cellular Notch signal transduction to activate viral lytic gene expression. Here, I demonstrated that unlike other B lymphoma cells, KSHV -infected primary effusion lymphoma BCBL1 cells displayed the constitutive activation of ligand-mediated Notch signal transduction, evidenced by the Jagged ligand expression and the complete proteolytic process of Notch receptor I. In order to investigate the effect of Notch signal transduction on KSHV gene expression, human Notch intracellular (hNIC) domain that constitutively activates RBP-Jk transcription factor activity was expressed in BCBL1 cells, TRExBCBL1-hNIC, in a tetracycline inducible manner. Gene expression profiling showed that like RTA, hNIC robustly induced expression of a number of viral genes including KS immune modulatory gene resulting in downregulation of MHC I and CD54 surface expression. Finally, the genetic analysis of KSHV genome demonstrated that the hNIC-mediated expression of KS during viral latency consequently conferred the downregulation of MHC I and CD54 surface expression. These results indicate that cellular. Notch signal transduction provides a novel expression profiling of KSHV immune deregulatory gene that consequently confers the escape of host immune surveillance during viral latency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.402-407
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• 2016

Lactic acid bacteria have been identified to be effective in reducing cholesterol levels. Most of the mechanistic studies were focused on the bile salt deconjugation ability of bile salt hydrolase in lactic acid bacteria. However, the mechanism by which Lactobacillus decreases cholesterol levels has not been thoroughly studied in intact primate cells. 3-Hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) is the vital enzyme in cholesterol synthesis. To confirm the effect of probiotic Lactobacillus strains on HMGCR level, in the present study, human hepatoma HepG2 cells were treated with Lactobacillus strains, and then the HMGCR level was illustrated by luciferase reporter assay and RT-PCR. The results showed that the level of HMGCR was suppressed after being treated with the live Lactobacillus strains. These works might set a foundation for the following study of the antihyperlipidemic effects of L. acidophilus, and contribute to the development of functional foods or drugs that benefit patients suffering from hyperlipidemia diseases.

• 대한가정학회지
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• 제40권7호
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• pp.211-227
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• 2002

The issue of children′s education is the most important issue for all households in Korea. It is certain that the issue of private education for children is the first issue among household′s issues. This study is to recognize the current pictures of household primate education of Korean households. Also, whether the expenditure of private education effect the economic will-being of household. The data for this study was"the 3th Korean Labor Panal", conducted by Lobor in Korea. The sample was 1950 households from the panel data. The results of this study was as following: 1. The mean of monthly private education expenditure was 149273won for all households and 217,100won for households with high school students. 2. Almost 70% households had economic burden for private education expenditure. 0% households had no economic burden. 3. The factors of influencing the level of economic burden for private education were mother′s education level, mother′s job, the number of children, living location, monthly income, total asset of household′s. The factors of influencing the amount of monthly private education expenditure positively were living in 4. The economic well-being of household was analyzed by socio-economic variables, household′s financial variables, monthly private education expenditure, the level of economic burden of private education. The economic well-being were sub-categorized 4 divisions; the level of economic problem, the level of satisfaction for household′s income, the level of satisfaction for general living, the level of subject economic condition)

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.360-363
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• 2006

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) contribute to various kinds of genomic instability via rearrangement and retrotransposition events. In the present study the formation of a new human-specific solo-LTR belonging to the HERV-H family (AP001667; chromosome 21q21) was detected by a comparative analysis of human chromosome 21 and chimpanzee chromosome 22. The solo-LTR was formed as a result of an equal homologous recombination excision event. Several evolutionary processes have occurred at this locus during primate evolution, indicating that mammalian-wide interspersed repeat (MIR) and full-length HERV-H elements integrated into hominoid genomes after the divergence of Old World monkeys and hominoids, and that the solo-LTR element was created by recombination excision of the HERV-H only in the human genome.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.201-207
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• 2007

Researchers have used a variety of methods to measure patterns of animal movement, including the use of spatial data (mapping the position of a moving animal at specified intervals) and direct estimation of travel path length by pacing under a moving animal or group. I collected movement data from five groups of siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) using two different methods concurrently to estimate the effects of the method of data collection on estimates of daily path length (DPL). Estimates of DPL produced from spatial data collected at 15-minute intervals were 12% lower than estimates of DPL produced by pacing under the traveling animal. The actual magnitude of the difference was correlated with the travel distance, but there was no correlation between the proportional difference and the travel distance. While the collection of spatial data is generally preferable, as spatial data permit additional analyses of patterns of movements in two or three dimensions, the relatively small difference between the DPL's produced using different methods suggests that pacing is an acceptable substitute where the collection of spatial data is impractical. I also subsampled the spatial data at increasing time intervals to assess the effect of sampling interval on the calculation of daily path lengths. Longer sampling intervals produced significantly shorter estimates of travel paths than shorter sampling intervals. These results suggest that spatial data should be collected at short time intervals wherever possible, and that sampling intervals should not exceed 30 minutes. Researchers should be cautious when comparing data generated using different methods.