• 생태와환경
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.86-94
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• 2015

Chironomous is aquatic insect belonging to order Diptera, family Chironomidae. Their larval stage can be found mainly in aquatic benthic environment, hence good model organism to study environmental toxicology assessments and consider as useful bio indicators of contamination of the aquatic environment. In this study, Chironomus Heat Shock Proteins, Cytochrome 450, Glutathione S-transferase, Serine-type endopeptidase gene expressions were compared between polluted field areas (Chironomus plumosus) and under laboratory conditions (Chironomus riparious) to investigate molecular indicators for environmental contaminant stress assessment. Heavy metal (Al, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cr, Zn, Se, Pb, As, Cd) concentrations in sediments collected from three study areas exceeded the reference values. Moreover, HSPs, CYP450 and GST gene expression except SP for C. plumosus showed higher expression than C. riparious gene expression. Similar gene expression pattern was observed in C. riparious that exposed environment waters up to 96 h when compared to C. plumosus exposed to waters that grown in lab conditions. In summary, this comparative gene expression analysis in Chironomous between field and laboratory condition gave useful information to select candidate molecular indicators in heavy metal contaminations in the environment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제9권6호
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• pp.798-803
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• 1999

Prolyl endopeptidase [PEP; EC 3.4.21.26], a serine protease which is known to cleave peptide bonds on the carboxy side of a proline residue, plays an important role in the degradation of proline-containing neuropeptides that have been suggested to participate in learning and memory processes. An abnormal increase in the level of PEP, which can lead to generation of $A{\beta}$, is also suggested to be involved in Alzheimer's type senile dementia. In the course of screening PEP inhibitors from Basidiomycetes, the mushroom Polyozellus multiplex exhibited a high inhibitory activity against PEP. Two active compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate soluble fraction by consecutive purification, using silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and Lobar RP-18 chromatography. The chemical structures of these compounds were identified as thelephoric acid and 12-acety1-2,3,7,8-tetrahydroxy-[12H]-12-hydroxymethylbenzobis[I.2b,3.4b'] benzofuran-11-one (kynapcin-9) by spectral data including UV, IR, MS, HR-MS, $^1H-,{\;}^{13}C-$, and 2D-NMR. The $IC_{50}$ values of the thelephoric acid and kynapcin-9 were 0.157 ppm (446nM) and 0.087 ppm (212nM) and their inhibitor constants ($K_i$) were 0.73ppm ($2.09{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$) and 0.060 ppm (146 nM), respectively. Furthermore, they were non-competitive with a substrate in Dixon plots.

• 생태와환경
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• 제53권2호
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• pp.165-172
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• 2020

중금속은 다양한 경로를 통해 환경 중 배출되어 서식 생물에 노출되며 체내 다양한 생리학적 불균형을 유도한다. 본 연구에서는 수서생물지표종으로 이용되는 깔따구(Chironomus riparius)를 이용하여 야외 중금속(Al, Aluminum; Cr, Chromium; Cu, copper; Mn, Manganese; Zn, Zinc) 농도 노출에 따른 다양한 분자발현 반응과 상관성을 분석하였다. 생물 체내 분자 반응을 관찰하기 위해 heat shock protein 40, 70, 90 (HSP40, 70, 90), cytochrome 450(CYP450), Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and Serine-type endopeptidase (SP)를 이용하였다. 그 결과, 스트레스 분자마커로 이용되는 HSPs 유전자들은 중금속 노출된 개체들에서 대조군보다 높은 경향을 보였으며 Cu 노출 시 가장 높은 발현을 나타냈다. 해독에 관여하는 CYP450과 GST 유전자 발현 결과, Cr과 Cu에서는 다른 노출군에 비해 높은 발현 경향을 나타냈다. SP 유전자 발현 결과 Al을 제외한 모든 노출군이 대조군과 유사한 발현 패턴을 보였다. 이와 같은 연구 결과는 실내에서 환경 중 존재하는 실제 농도를 반영한 독성실험을 통해 노출물질과 농도에 따라 특이적으로 발현하는 분자마커 패턴을 보고하였다. 또한, 수생태계로 유입되는 중금속이 하천에 서식하는 생물에 주는 유해 영향에 대한 정보와 분자 지표 유전자들의 현장 적용 가능성을 보여준다.

• 치위생과학회지
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.227-232
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• 2021

Background: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are abundant in tumor microenvironments and interact with cancer cells to promote tumor proliferation in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Cathepsin D (CTSD) is a soluble lysosomal aspartic endopeptidase involved in tumor proliferation and angiogenesis. In this preliminary study, we observed CTSD expression in OSCC and CAFs, postulating that CTSD might act as a bridge between OSCC and CAFs. Methods: Human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs), OSCC, and immortalized human normal oral fibroblasts (hTERT-hNOFs) were used in this study. Additionally, we used hTERT-hNOFs transfected with an empty vector, WT (wild-type)-YAP (Yes-associated protein), and YAPS127A (YAP serine 127 to alanine). YAP127A hTERT-hNOFs activated fibroblasts similar to CAFs. To identify CTSD expression between OSCC and CAFs, conditioned medium (CM) was collected from each cell. Protein expression of CTSD was identified by western blotting. Results: To identify the expression of CTSD in fibroblasts stimulated by OSCC, we treated fibroblasts with CM from HEK and OSCC. Results indicated that hTERT-hNOFs with OSCC CM showed a weakly increased expression of CTSD compared to stimulation by HEK CM. This indicates that CAFs, YAPS127 hTRET-hNOFs, overexpress CTSD protein. HEK cells showed no CTSD expression, regardless of treatment with fibroblast CM, whereas OSCC highly expressed CTSD proteins compared with the CTSD expression in HEK cells. We also found that CTSD expression was unaffected by changes in transforming growth factor-β levels. Conclusion: This study proposes that CTSD might have potential as an interacting executor between OSCC and CAFs. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of CTSD in tumor and stromal cells.