• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.1 s.137
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• pp.15-20
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• 2006

Free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are causative agents of granulomatous amebic encephalitis and amebic keratitis. Because the virulence of Acanthamoeba culbertsoni cultured in the laboratory is restored by consecutive brain passages, we examined the genes induced in mouse brain-passaged A. culbertsoni by differential display reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR). Enhanced A. culbertsoni virulence was observed during the second mouse brain passage, i.e., infected mouse mortality increased from $5\%\;to\;70\%.$ Ten cDNAs induced during mouse brain passage were identified by DDRT-PCR and this was confirmed by northern blot analysis. BlastX searches of these cDNAs indicated the upregulations of genes encoding predictive NADH-dehydrogenase, proteasomal ATPase, and GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase B, which have previously been reported to be associated with A. culbertsoni virulence factors.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2009

Influeza type A virus have been worldwide problematic in animals as well as in humans. In this study, the use of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was described for detecting influenza virus type A. The primer of RT-PCR was designed from an nonstructural (NS) gene of Influenza A virus. By RT-PCR, a product with the size of 189 bp was detected only when influenza virus type A was used as template. No products could be detected with Influenza virus type B as well as other respiratory pathogens. The detection limit of the RT-PCR was up to $10^{0.3}TCID_{50}$ which is comparable to the sensitivity of cell culture method. The RT-PCR could detect the influenza A virus from nasal turbinates of the ferrets infected with influenza virus type A not type B.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.104-110
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• 1999

Field infectious bursal disease viruses (IBDVs) were isolated from IBDV-suspected commercial chickens. The variable region in VP2 gene of six Korean IBDV isolates (K-IBDVs) and IBD vaccines was examined using the reverse transcriptase / polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RT/PCR-RFLP) assay. With all K-IBDVs and vaccine IBDVs, a 474-bp fragment of the VP2 gene was amplified and tested with various restriction enzymes. Restriction enzymes BstNI and StyI differentiated K-IBDV isolates and IBD vaccines into four groups. Restriction enzyme profiles of K-IBDV isolates were different from them of IBD vaccines. K-IBDV isolates except for 310 isolate had specific SspI and TaqI recognition sites, which were recognized in highly virulent IBDVs, but IBD vaccines had no those sites. This study showed that RT/PCR-RFLP assay was thought to be valuable tool for differentiation of IBDVs and identification of highly virulent IBDV.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1173-1179
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• 2009

Trypsin inhibitors and lectins are defense proteins produced by many organisms. From Chinese 'Large Black Soybeans', a 60 kDa lectin and a 20 Da trypsin inhibitor (TI) were isolated using chromatography on Q-Sepharose, Mono Q, and Superdex 75. The TI inhibited trypsin and chymotrypsin with an $IC_{50}$ of 5.7 and $5{\mu}M$, respectively. Trypsin inhibitory activity of the TI was stable from pH 3 to 13 and from 0 to $65^{\circ}C$. Hemagglutinating activity of the lectin was stable from pH 2 to 13 and from 0 to $65^{\circ}C$. The TI was inhibited by dithiothreitol, signifying the importance of disulfide bond. The TI and the lectin inhibited HIV-1 reverse transcriptase ($IC_{50}$=44 and $26{\mu}M$), and proliferation of breast cancer cells ($IC_{50}$=42 and $13.5{\mu}M$) and hepatoma cells ($IC_{50}$=96 and $175{\mu}M$). The hemagglutinating activity of the lectin was inhibited most potently by L-arabinose. Neither the lectin nor the TI displayed antifungal activity.

• Mycobiology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2013

Laccases (EC 1.10.3.2) are copper-containing polyphenol oxidases found in white-rot fungi. Here, we report the cloning and analysis of the nucleotide sequence of a new laccase gene, fvlac7, based on the genomic sequence of Flammulina velutipes. A primer set was designed from the putative mRNA that was aligned to the genomic DNA of F. velutipes. A cDNA fragment approximately 1.6-kb long was then amplified by reverse transcriptase-PCR using total RNA, which was subsequently cloned and sequenced. The cDNA sequence of fvlac7 was then compared to that of the genomic DNA, and 16 introns were found in the genomic DNA sequence. The fvlac7 protein, which consists of 538 amino acids, showed only 42~51% identity with 12 different mushroom species containing two laccases of F. velutipes, suggesting the fvlac7 is a novel laccase gene. The first 25 amino acids of Fvlac7 correspond to a predicted signal sequence, four copper-binding sites, and four N-glycosylation sites. Fvlac7 cDNA was heterologously overexpressed in an Escherichia coli system with an approximate expected molecular weight of 60 kDa.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.349-355
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• 1994

Viral RNA was extracted from a purified orchid strain of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV-O) from Cymbidium "Grace Kelly". Polyadenylated viral RNAs were primed with Not I-oligo (dT) primer-adapter. First-strand cDNAs were reversely transcribed by Moloney murine leukaemia virus reverse transcriptase (RNAse H-), and then second-strand cDNAs were synthesized by RNase H and DNA polymerase I. The resulting double-stranded cDNAs were ligated into pSPORT1 vector and transformed into competent E. coli strain JM109 cells. The size of cDNAs within the recombinant plasmids was ranging from 0.9 to 3.9 kb. Among the selected clones, pTMO-0205 and -0210 covered the 3' half and the 5' half of the viral genomic RNA, respectively, which were covering more than 99% of the viral genemo size based on sequencing analysis. Two cDNA fragments which were 3.1 kb BamHI and NotI fragement released from pTMO-0.205 and 3.3 kb SalI and BamHI fragment released from pTMO-0210 were ligated with T4 DNA ligase. The clone was almost entire length, lacking only 31 nucleotides from the 5' terminus based on the sequencing result. This method was shown to be efficiently applicable to other plant viral gnomic RNA for the construction of cDNA.n of cDNA.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.456-461
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• 2011

The aim of the present study is to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of a Rice Bran Ethanol Extract (RBE). Inflammation, such as a bacterial infection in vivo metabolites, such as external stimuli or internal stimuli to the defense mechanisms of the biological tissue a variety of intracellular regulatory factors deulin inflammatory TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, IL-8, such as proinflammatory cytokines, prostagrandin, lysosomal enzyme, free radicals are involved in a variety of mediators. The present study was designed to determine the effect of the RBE on pro-inflammatory factors such as NO, iNOS expression and TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) - stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages cells. The cell toxicity was determined by MTS assay. To evaluate of anti-inflammatory effect of RBE, amount of NO was measured using the NO detection kit and the iNOS expression was measured by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). And proinflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA kit. As a result, the RBE reduced NO, iNOS expression and TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6 production without cytotoxicity. Our results suggest that the RBE may have an anti-inflammatory property through suppressing inflammatory mediator productions and appears to be useful as an anti-inflammatory material.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.303-309
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• 2005

The end of eukaryotic genomic DNA is capped by a specialized structure called as "telomere" which consists of the repetitive array of nucleotide sequence, TTAGGG, in humans and mice, and a variety of binding proteins. Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex responsible for the elongation of telomeres to maintain the genomic integrity, and is composed of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), telomerase RNA component (TERC), and their associated factors regulating the catalytic activity of telomerase. Although it is now apparent that telomerase protects cells from apoptosis via the maintenance of genomic integrity by stabilizing telomeres, our understanding for the physiological role of telomerase is yet far from completion, and emerging evidence suggests that telomerase has additional extratelomeric roles in mediating cell survival and anti-apoptotic functions against various cytotoxic stresses. Here we summarize and discuss how telomerase and telomeres are involved in mediating cellular protection against apoptosis.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.129-133
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• 2002

Suppression of nitrate accumulation in spinach and lettuce through foliar application of chitosan formula containing micronutrients is related with the increase of the nitrate reductase (NR) activity. If NR in spinach were highly expressed to increase the assimilatory activity, nitrate content could be reduced. For this, NR cDNA was cloned from the isolated mRNAs of spinach using reverse transcriptase-PCR. Nucleotide sequence of cloned spinach NR cDNA showed highly deduced amino acid sequence identity ($71{\sim}82%$) with other known plant NR genes. Only two nucleotide-base differences were observed in the cloned NR cDNA compared with that of the published spinach NR cDNA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.431-435
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• 2012

In this study, we describe a novel approach to achieve replicative selectivity of conditionally replicative adenovirus that is based upon trans-splicing ribozyme-mediated replacement of cancer-specific RNAs. We developed a specific ribozyme that can reprogram human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) RNA to induce adenoviral E1A gene expression selectively in cancer cells that express the RNA. Western blot analysis showed that the ribozyme highly selectively triggered E1A expression in hTERT-expressing cancer cells. RT-PCR and sequencing analysis indicated that the ribozyme-mediated E1A induction was caused via a high fidelity trans-splicing reaction with the targeted residue in the hTERT-expressing cells. Moreover, reporter activity under the control of an E1A-dependent E3 promoter was highly transactivated in hTERT-expressing cancer cells. Therefore, adenovirus containing the hTERT RNA-targeting trans-splicing ribozyme would be a promising anticancer agent through selective replication in cancer cells and thus specific destruction of the infected cells.