• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.453-459
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• 1999

Astrovirus is frequently associated with diarrhea in children. It can not be readily isolated by cell culture, and an electronmicroscope is usually used for detection of this agent. Recently in 1995 a combined method of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was designed for easier detection of astrovirus, which is based on the conserved sequence in 3'-end of genomes of the 7 known serotypes of human astrovirus. As of yet there has not been any report of astrovirus data in Korea using the RT-PCR methods. The purpose of this study was to detect astrovirus incidence, severity of symptoms, seasonal variation and co infection rate with rotavirus in Korean children inpatients with diarrhea. Fecal specimens from 61 young children hospitalized with gasteroenteritis Korea from Jan. 1996 through Mar. 1997. They were examined for astroviurs infection by RT-PCR method. Results are as follows:1. Astrovirus was detected at 9.8% (6/61) from fecal specimens of children with severe diarrhea by EIA using monoclonal antibody coated plates. 2. Astorvirus was detected at 29.5% (18/61) from fecal specimens of children with severe diarrhea by RT-PCR. 3. The age of the 18 children affected by astrovirus ranged from 2 monthes to 7 years with mean of 3.0 years. 4. Mean hospital stay of the 18 children was 6.1 days. 5. Five (27.8%) astrovirus RT-PCR positive strains were confirmed in November and in December, respectively out of 18 specimens in total. 6. Astrovirus coinfection with rotavirus type G1 was confirmed in 15/16 specimens (93.8%), and with type G2 was in 1/16 specimens (6.3%).

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.541-552
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• 2017

All excavated "buried cultural properties" are supervised by the Cultural Heritage Administration that decides whether to conserve them or not, depending on the necessity for conservation. Currently, there is no legal regulation concerning the administration of relics (including artifacts) and remains (including archaeological sites) that are relocated and restored based on such conservation decisions. Thus, administration of these cultural properties is inadequate. Under these circumstances, this paper recommends the current state of conservation and conservation methods for buried cultural properties excavated at Chungcheongnam-do thus far. Conservation of buried cultural properties excavated at Chungcheongnam-do primarily employ the "relocating and restoration" method; 23 relics and 46 remains employed relocation after dismantling and soil layer transcription method. Moreover, 27 remains were relocated after dismantling and 14 remains employed the transcription method. In terms of area, Buyeo-gun and Gongju-si had 12 relics accounting for about 50%, while according to the period, Baekjae period had 16 relics, accounting for about 70%. In terms of conservation facility, open-air facility had 33 relics, accounting for about 72%. Results of investigating the state of relics' management indicated that public institutions like a museum with a recognizable management system had their own work force and consequently ensured excellent conservation, whereas if there were no apparent responsible bodies, remains were subjected to considerable damage due to mismanagement. Therefore, this problem can be resolved by identifying a recognizable management body as well as ensuring periodical management and supervision. The excavated buried cultural properties are utilized not only for academic purposes, but also for PR or as exhibition material. Hence, this study confirms that meticulous management of buried cultural properties is currently required.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2013

Recently, the number of people with diabetes is rapidly increasing, coupled with the fact that the insulin market is remarkably increasing. Therefore, molecular farming for plant-derived pharmaceutical protein production is reported as becoming more attractive than ever. In this study, we carried out experiments step by step for development of recombinant insulin constructs, which were transformed into E. coli system, in vitro transcription and translation system, and tobacco cells. At first, recombinant proinsulin protein was successfully produced in in vitro transcription and translation system with wheat germ extract. After which, recombinant construct of prominiinsulin encoded a fusion protein of 7.8 kDa with trypsin cleavage sites at N terminus and C terminus of minimized C-peptide was tried to in vitro expression using E.coli culture. After purification with His-tag column, the resulting recombinant prominiinsulin protein was processed with trypsin, and then checked insulin biosynthesis by SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis with anti-insulin monoclonal antibody. The immunoreactive product of trypsin-treated miniinsulin was identical to the predicted insulin hexamer. The construct of 35S promoter-driven preprominiinsulin recombinant gene with signal peptide region for ER-targeting and red fluorescence protein gene [N terminus ${\rightarrow}$ tobacco E2 signal peptide ${\rightarrow}$ B-peptide (1-29 AA) ${\rightarrow}$ AAK ${\rightarrow}$ A-peptide (1-21 AA) ${\rightarrow}$ RR ${\rightarrow}$ His6 ${\rightarrow}$ KDEL ${\rightarrow}$ C terminus] was transformed into BY-2 tobacco cells. A polypeptide corresponding to the 38-kDa molecular mass predicted for fusion protein was detected in total protein profiles from transgenic BY-2 cells by western analysis. Therefore, this recombinant preprominiinsulin construct can be used for generation of transgenic tobacco plants producing therapeutic recombinant insulin.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.552-561
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate glucose uptake mechanisms and metabolic mechanisms for absorbed glucose in HepG2 cells treated with Acanthopanax senticosus water extract (ASW). A colorimetric assay kit was used to measure polyphenol content, glucokinase (GK) activity, glucose uptake, glucose consumption in cell culture medium, and glycogen content. RT-PCR and western blotting were performed to examine changes in the expression levels of glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2), hepatocyte nuclear factor $1{\alpha}$ ($HNF-1{\alpha}$), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3k), protein kinase B (Akt), phospho-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, GK, and glycogen synthase kinase $3{\beta}$ ($GSK3{\beta}$). Increased glucose uptake upon ASW treatment was confirmed to result from increased expression of $HNF-1{\alpha}$, which is one of the transcription factors acting on the GLUT2 promoter. From the measurements of GK activity, we observed that ASW had an effect on glucose phosphorylation, and we also confirmed that increased AMPK phosphorylation promoted glycolysis and suppressed gluconeogenesis. We confirmed that the increase in glycogen upon ASW treatment was induced by activation of Akt by PI3k, followed by phosphorylation of $GSK3{\beta}$. This study demonstrates that ASW activates glucose metabolic mechanisms in liver cells and is therefore a potential candidate to alleviate diabetes.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.160-166
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• 2010

A homothallic filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has been used as the a model organism for studying growth and development for eukaryotic system. Various studies about specific transcription factors have been performed for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of growth, asexual and sexual developmental processes. Among them, the fkhE gene (AN2025.3) is located in chromosome VII and contains an ORF encoding 718 amino acid polypeptide intervening with two short introns. The cDNA sequencing revealed that at least four types of alternative splicing events were occurred when the fkhE gene was transcribed. The putative FkhE polypeptide contains a conserved forkhead domain and a bipartite nuclear localization signal at it's N-terminus and C-terminus, respectively. Deletion of fkhE resulted in impaired conidiophore formation in a solid medium. However, the sexual developmental process or cleistothecia formation was normal. Furthermore, fkhE deletion mutant produced conidiophores and conidia under the submerged culture, indicating that the fkhE gene is involved in asexual developmental process similar to the fkhF gene.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.8
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• pp.463-468
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• 2014

Osteoblasts are specialized mesenchymal cells that are responsible for bone formation. In this study, we examine the role of GATA4 in osteoblast differentiation. GATA4 was abundantly expressed in preosteoblast cells and gradually down-regulated during osteoblast differentiation. Overexpression of GATA4 in osteoblastic cells inhibited alkaline phosphatase activity and nodule formation in osteogenic conditioned cell culture system. In addition, overexpression of GATA4 attenuated expression of osteogenic marker genes, including Runx2, alkaline phosphatase, bone sialoprotein, and osteocalcin, all of which are important for osteoblast differentiation and function. Overexpression of GATA4 attenuated Runx2 promoter activity, whereas silencing of GATA4 increased Runx2 induction. We found that GATA4 interacted with Dlx5 and subsequently decreased Dlx5 binding activity to Runx2 promoter region. Our data suggest that GATA4 acts as a negative regulator in osteoblast differentiation by downregulation of Runx2.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.418-425
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• 2016

Resveratrol (RES) plays a critical role in the fate of cells and longevity of animals via activation of the sirtuins1 (SIRT1) gene. In the present study, we intend to investigate whether RES could promote the self-renewal and neural-lineage differentiation in human umbilical cord derived MSCs (hUC-MSCs) in vitro at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to $10{\mu}M$, and whether it exerts the effects by modulating the SIRT1 signaling. Herein, we demonstrated that RES at the concentrations of 0.1, 1 and $2.5{\mu}M$ could promote cell viability and proliferation, mitigate senescence and induce expression of SIRT1 and Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) while inhibit the expression of p53 and p16. However, the effects were reversed by 5 and $10{\mu}M$ of RES. Furthermore, RES could promote neural differentiation in a dose-dependent manner as evidenced by morphological changes and expression of neural markers (Nestin, ${\beta}III-tubulin$ and NSE), as well as pro-neural transcription factors Neurogenin (Ngn)1, Ngn2 and Mash1. Taken together, RES exerts a dosage-dependent effect on the self-renewal and neural differentiation of hUC-MSCs via SIRT1 signaling. The current study provides a new strategy to regulate the fate of hUC-MSCs and suggests a more favorable in vitro cell culture conditions for hUCMSCs-based therapies for some intractable neurological disorders.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 2002

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are the chemicals that affect endocrine systems through activation or inhibition of steroid hormone response. It is necessary to have a good system to evaluate rapidly and accurately endocrine-disrupting activities of suspected chemicals and their degradation products. The key targets of EDs are nuclear hormone receptors, which bind to steroid hormones and regulate their gene transcription. We constructed a co-expression system of Gal4p DNA binding domain (DBD)- ligand binding domain of human estrogen receptor $\alpha$ or $\beta$, and Gal4p transactivation domain (TAD)-co-activator AIB-1, SRC-1 or TIF-2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a chromosome-integrated lacZ reporter gene under the control of CYC1 promoter and Gal4p binding site (GAL4 upstream activating sequence, GAL4$_{UAS}$). Expression of this reporter gene was dependent on the presence of estrogen or EDs in the culture medium. We found that the two-hybrid system with combination of the hER$\beta$ LBD and co-activator SRC-1 was most effective in the xenoestrogen-dependent induction of reporter activity. The extent of transcriptional activation by those chemicals correlated with their estrogenic activities measured by other assay systems, indicating that this assay system is efficient and reliable for measuring estrogenic activity. The data in this research demonstrated that the yeast detection system using steroid hormone receptor and co-activator is a useful tool for identifying chemicals that interact with steroid receptors.s.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2007

We hypothesized that plaque-associated bacteria may have a role in maintenance of alveolar bone. To test it, immortalized gingival epithelial HOK-16B cells were co-cultured with live or lysed eight plaque bacterial species and the expression levels of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 and -4 were examined by real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Un-stimulated HOK-16B cells expressed both BMP-2 and -4. Co-culture with plaque bacterial lysates had significant effects on the level of BMP-2 but not on that of BMP-4. Five species including Streptococcus sanguinis, S. gordonii, Veillonella atypica, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponema denticola substantially up-regulated the level of BMP-2. In contrary to the upregulatory effect of lysate, live T. denticola suppressed the expression of BMP-2. In addition, in vitro osteoblastic differentiation assay using C2C12 cells and the conditioned medium of HOK-16B cells confirmed the production of BMPs by gingival epithelial cells and the modulation of BMP expression by the lysates of S. sanguinis and T. denticola. In conclusion, we have shown that plaque bacteria can regulate the expression of BMP-2 by gingival epithelial cells, the physiologic meaning of which needs further investigation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1062-1071
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• 2018

The misuse of anabolic hormones or illegal drugs is a ubiquitous problem in animal husbandry and in food safety. The ban on growth promotants in food producing animals in the European Union is well controlled. However, application regimens that are difficult to detect persist, including newly designed anabolic drugs and complex hormone cocktails. Therefore identification of molecular endogenous biomarkers which are based on the physiological response after the illicit treatment has become a focus of detection methods. The analysis of the 'transcriptome' has been shown to have promise to discover the misuse of anabolic drugs, by indirect detection of their pharmacological action in organs or selected tissues. Various studies have measured gene expression changes after illegal drug or hormone application. So-called transcriptomic biomarkers were quantified at the mRNA and/or microRNA level by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) technology or by more modern 'omics' and high throughput technologies including RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq). With the addition of advanced bioinformatical approaches such as hierarchical clustering analysis or dynamic principal components analysis, a valid 'biomarker signature' can be established to discriminate between treated and untreated individuals. It has been shown in numerous animal and cell culture studies, that identification of treated animals is possible via our transcriptional biomarker approach. The high throughput sequencing approach is also capable of discovering new biomarker candidates and, in combination with quantitative RT-qPCR, validation and confirmation of biomarkers has been possible. These results from animal production and food safety studies demonstrate that analysis of the transcriptome has high potential as a new screening method using transcriptional 'biomarker signatures' based on the physiological response triggered by illegal substances.