• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.111-115
• /
• 2010

Erythropoietin (EPO), a glycoprotein hormone produced from primarily cells of the peritubular capillary endothelium of the kidney, is responsible for the regulation of red blood cell production. We have been investigating the roles of glycosylation site added in the biosynthesis and function of recombinant protein. In this study, we analyzed by immunohistochemical methods adaptive mechanisms to excessive erythrocytosis in transgenic (tg) mice expressing dimeric human erythropoietin (dHuEPO) gene. Splenomegaly was observed over 11~21 times in the tg mice. The 2,672 candidate spleen-derived genes were identified through the microarray analysis method, and decreased genes were higher than increased genes in the spleen. The specific proteins in the increased and decreased genes were analyzed by immunohistochemical methods. Our results demonstrate that problems of abnormal splenomegaly would solve in tg mice overexpressing dHuEPO gene.

• Journal of Apiculture
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.141-147
• /
• 2019

Pollinators play important roles for crop production as well as maintenance of wild plants' reproduction. Pollinator dependency in Korean agriculture have increased, but the degradation of habitat quality pose significant threats to pollination in agroecosystem. Provisioning flower habitat is one of the major activities to increase pollinator abundance and richness. We tested the effect of flower habitat supplementation on the pollinator, pest and natural enemy abundance in pepper field. Results showed that Hymenopteran pollinators were more abundant in the pepper plots close to the flower habitat. Among natural enemies, the similar pattern from pollinators was observed to parasitoids in the family of Eulophidae, but not to those of Ichneumonidae. There were no statistically significant differences of insect pests like aphids and thrips, as well as pepper production among plots in the pepper field. Even limited spatial scale, this study showed supplementing the flowering plant habitat to the agricultural landscape could conserve and boost pollinators and natural enemies, and possibly resulting better fruit production by pollination service.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
• /
• 2002.06a
• /
• pp.82-82
• /
• 2002

The Wnt signaling pathway plays pivotal roles in embryonic development and oncogenesis through various signaling molecules inculding Frizzled receptor, recently characterized LRP5/6 and Dickkopf protein. Although Wnt signaling has been characterized in both developmental and oncogenic processes, little is known about its function in the normal adult. The ability of LRP5 to bind apolipoprotein E(apoE) and the abundant expression of LRP5 transcripts in hepatocytes, raise the possibility that LRP5 plays a role in the hepatic clearance of ApoE-containing chylomicron remonants, a major plasma lipoprotein carrying diet-derived cholesterol. (omitted)

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
• /
• 2002.06a
• /
• pp.49-49
• /
• 2002

γ - tubulin is an essential, invariant constitutive centrosomal protein, which plays key roles in microtubule patterning and defining the microtubule intrinsic polarity. Although γ-tubulin was also present in cattle oocytes and zygotes, no details have been provided on its recruitment and localization to date. In this study, we determined γ-tubulin distribution chronologically in conjunction with microtubule dynamics during fertilization and parthenogenesis, with a view to understanding the molecular basis of zygotic centrosome reconstitution in cattle. (omitted)

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2001

Sperm competent for fertilization can become capacitated, bind to the zona pellucida (ZP) of an egg in a specific manner, and complete acrosomal exocytosis. Failure to carry out these functions results in infertility. Although the interactions between the ZP and the plasma mem-brane overlying the sperm acrosome have been considered important for sperm-egg recognition and signalling, recent results have prompted a reassessment of current paradigms concerning these interactions. In this review, we're going to discuss about the roles of the acrosomal matrix, the particulate component of the acrosomal contents, in fertilization. The general hypothesis is that acrosomal exocytosis leads to the exposure of acrosomal matrix proteins that become de-facto extracellular matrix (ECM) on the surface of the sperm head, and that the dynamic interactions of this newly-exposed sperm ECM with the egg ECM (the ZP) govern sperm-egg recognition and sperm penetration of the ZP Informations from these experiments may provide new ways to address the poor ZP binding of sperm from some human infertility patients and may offer new avenues for contraception through the disruption of purposeful sperm-ZP binding.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.33-38
• /
• 2023

The follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) is a glycoprotein hormone, that belongs to the GPCR superfamily. FSHR plays a major role in reproduction. The aberrant activation of FHS receptor leads to infertility and several reproductive disorders. The recently recognized roles of the FSHR in diverse extragonadal tissues is also closely related to Alzheimer's disease and cancers. Analysing the structural characteristics of the receptor is important in understanding the pathophysiology of diseases associated with the receptor. In this present study, homology modelling of FSHR-TM domain was developed using four different templates. Totally 20 models were developed using single template-based approach and selected three based on the validation of RC plot, RMSD, ProSA, QMEAN and ERRAT values. The developed models would be useful for further research on the structural characteristics and binding characteristics of the FSHR-TM domain.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.32-42
• /
• 2023

Fish reproduction is regulated by various neurohormones secreted from the brain and gonadotropic hormones secreted from the pituitary. Reproduction of eel (Anguilla japonica) is also regulated by these hormones. However, how the neurohormones regulate the secretion of pituitary hormones during sexual maturation is not completely understood. Previous studies have shown that neurohormones such as progesterone (P4), melatonin and serotonin (5-HT) are involved in the regulation of reproductive processes in some fish. In this study, the eel pituitary was primary cultured, and stabilized pituitary cells were treated with P4, 17β-estradiol (E2), melatonin, or 5-HT. The effect of these treatments on the expression of FSHβ, LHβ, GH and SL mRNA was, then, investigated. P4 increased the expression of FSHβ and LHβ in pituitary cells, and melatonin increased the expression of GH and SL as well as FSHβ and LHβ. However, 5-HT did not significantly affect the expression of these mRNA. These results suggest that P4 and melatonin may play some important roles in the early sexual maturation of eels.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
• /
• 2002.06a
• /
• pp.10-10
• /
• 2002

The low efficiency of animal production by nuclear transfer technique is considered to be result of an incomplete reprogramming of the donor cell nucleus, which leads to a lack of, or abnormal expression of developmentally important genes. There are a lot of genes related to embryo development and some of these genes are regulated by imprinting. IGF2 (insulin like growth factor 2) and IGF2R (IGF2 receptor) that play important roles in preimplantation development are included in imprinted genes also. (omitted)

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2021.04a
• /
• pp.10-10
• /
• 2021

Natural products have been used as drugs and cosmetics due to their bioactivity and their biochemical diversity. Natural products usually refer to secondary metabolites produced by various living organisms including marine animals, insects, microbes, amphibians, and plants. These secondary metabolites, which usually have molecular weights less than 2,000 amu, are unnecessary for survival, development, growth, and reproduction but play major roles in plant defense systems against other species. These secondary metabolites such as lignans, flavonoids, monoterpenes, and phenylethanoid glycosides showed various biological activities like anti-oxidant behavior, anti-cancer properties, neuroprotective properties, and so forth. Thus, isolation and elucidation of secondary metabolites from living organisms is of great significance to human life.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.190-196
• /
• 2019

Tight junctions are constituents of the blood-epididymis barrier that play roles in regulating the unidirectional transcellular transport of ions, water, and solutes to maintain optimal conditions for sperm maturation and storage. Claudin 1 (Cldn1) and 4 (Cldn4) are known as tight junction proteins and are expressed in the basolateral membranes as well as tight junctions in the epididymis of rodents. Here, we examined the expression and localization of Cldn1 and 4 to determine the function of these proteins in the pig epididymis. Cldn1 was highly expressed in the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells in the caput and corpus regions of the epididymis. In the cauda region, however, Cldn1 labeling was significantly decreased in the basolateral membrane of epithelial cells. In contrast, labeling indicated that Cldn4 was expressed in the basolateral membrane in the cauda region of the epididymis and was present at punctate reactive sites in the caput and corpus regions. However, in no region of the epididymis did we detect colocalization of Cldn1 and 4 with labeled ZO-1, the distribution of which is restricted to the tight junctions. Our results indicate that Cldn1 and 4 were region-specifically expressed in the pig epididymis but not present in the tight junctions of epididymal epithelium. In addition, reciprocal regulation in specific regions of the epididymis between Cldn1 and 4 may play an important role in generating an optimal luminal environment for sperm maturation and storage in the pig epididymis.