• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1451-1457
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• 2010

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is an important mediator of cell-cell signaling in neuronal systems. The serotonin transporter (SERT) on the plasma membrane controls the extracellular 5-HT level by reuptake of released 5-HT from the synaptic cleft, but the underlying regulation mechanism is unclear. Here, we used the yeast two-hybrid system to identify the specific binding protein(s) that interacts with the carboxyl (C)-terminal region of SERT and found a specific interaction with protein kinase C-$\varepsilon$ (PKC-$\varepsilon$), a PKC isotype that is characterized as a calcium-independent and phorbol ester/diacylglycerol-sensitive serine/threonine kinase. PKC-$\varepsilon$ bound to the tail region of SERT but not to other members of the $Na^+/Cl^-$ dependent SLC6 gene family in the yeast two-hybrid assay. The C-terminal region of PKC-$\varepsilon$ is essential for interaction with SERT. In addition, these proteins showed specific interactions in the glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down assay. PKC-$\varepsilon$ phosphorylated the peptide of the SERT amino (N)-terminus in vitro. These results suggest that the phosphorylation of SERT by PKC-$\varepsilon$ may regulate SERT activity in plasma membrane.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.66-73
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• 2001

This study was carried out to know whether $\beta$-galactosidase is directly important or not on fruit softening during the development of peach fruits compared to those in the stage stage. It was investigated that the flesh firmness, cell wall components, and the glycosidase activities of the peach fruits with a fast softening cultivar, 'Mibeakdo', a slow softening cultivar,'Yumyung'and a middle softening cultivar, 'Okubo$\beta$, at different developmental stages, on 13 May, 16 June, 16 July, and 5 August and on 28 August which harvested only 'Yumyung' fruits. In order to investigate the amounts of total sugar and non-cellulosic neutral sugar, the cell wall materials of each fruit were solubilized in distilled water, 0.05M CDTA, 0.05M Na$_2$CO$_3$, 4% KOH, and 24% KOH sequentially. During the fruit development, the fruit firmness of three cultivars decreased and the fruit firmness of 'Yumyung' was higher than that fo 'Mibeakdo' and 'Okubo' in the overall period. During the fruit development, the changes of total sugar amounts of each measured fractions were similar among peach cultivars. Arabinose and galactose were the predominant non-cellulosic neutral sugars in all the fractions including cell wall material of the three cultivars. There was an active relationship between the changes of flesh firmness in three cultivars and the mol % changes of rhamnose on 5 August which was the harvest date of 'Mibeakdo' and 'Okubo' fruits. The activity of soluble $\beta$-galactosidase was high at the early developmental stage and then dropped to a very low activity level in all cultivars. The activity of cell wall-bound $\beta$-galactosidase was high at the early developmental stage and then decreased continuously through the harvest date. In addition the changes of other glycosidase activities were similar among cultivars.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.406-413
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• 2014

to valproic acid (VPA) during pregnancy produces ASD-like core behavioral phenotypes as well as hyperactivity in offspring both in human and experimental animals, which makes it a plausible model to study ASD-related neurobiological processes. In this study, we examined the effects of two of currently available attention defecit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications, methylphenidate (MPH) and atomoxetine (ATX) targeting dopamine and norepinephrine transporters (DAT and NET), respectively, on hyperactive behavior of prenatally VPA-exposed rat offspring. In the prefrontal cortex of VPA exposed rat offspring, both mRNA and protein expression of DAT was increased as compared with control. VPA function as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments demonstrated that the acetylation of histone bound to DAT gene promoter was increased in VPA-exposed rat offspring suggesting epigenetic mechanism of DAT regulation. Similarly, the expression of NET was increased, possibly via increased histone acetylation in prefrontal cortex of VPA-exposed rat offspring. When we treated the VPA-exposed rat offspring with ATX, a NET selective inhibitor, hyperactivity was reversed to control level. In contrast, MPH that inhibits both DAT and NET, did not produce inhibitory effects against hyperactivity. The results suggest that NET abnormalities may underlie the hyperactive phenotype in VPA animal model of ASD. Profiling the pharmacological responsiveness as well as investigating underlying mechanism in multiple models of ASD and ADHD may provide more insights into the neurobiological correlates regulating the behavioral abnormalities.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.101-104
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• 2011

Cellobiose dehydrogenase(CDH) as a hemoflavoenzyme is secreted out of cell in the cellulose degradation. As CDH strongly bound to amorphous cellulose, it helps cellulose hydrolysis by cellulase. CDH may have an important role of saccharification process for bioethanol production. In this study, Phanerochaete chrysosporium ATCC 32629 was selected for the production of CDH among other strains tested. The optimal temperature and pH of CDH produced by P. chrysosporium ATCC 32629 were ${55^{\circ}C}$ and 4, respectively. To improve the activity of CDH, the mutation of P. chrysosporium was performed using proton beam that has high energy level partially. As a result, P. chrysosporium mutant with the high activity was selected at 1.2 kGy in a range of 99.9% lethal rate. The CDH and $\beta$-glucosidase activities of mutant were 1.4 fold and 20 fold higher than those of wild strain. Therefore, P. chrysosporium mutant with the high activities of CDH and $\beta$-glucosidase was obtained from mutation by proton beam irradiation.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 2011

Calmodulin (CaM), a $Ca^{2+}$ binding protein in eukaryotes, mediates cellular $Ca^{2+}$ signals in response to a variety of biotic and abiotic external stimuli. The $Ca^{2+}$-bound CaM transduces signals by modulating the activities of numerous CaM-binding proteins. As a CaM binding protein, AtCBP63 ($\b{A}$rabidopsis thaliana $\b{C}$aM-binding protein $\underline{63}$ kD) has been known to be positively involved in plant defense signaling pathway. To investigate the pathogen resistance function of AtCBP63 in potato, we constructed transgenic potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants constitutively overexpressing AtCBP63 under the control of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. The overexpression of the AtCBP63 in potato plants resulted in the high level induction of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes such as PR-2, PR-3 and PR-5. In addition, the AtCBP63 transgenic potato showed significantly enhanced resistance against a pathogen causing bacterial soft rot, Erwinia carotovora ssp. Carotovora (ECC). These results suggest that a CaM binding protein from Arabidopsis, AtCBP63, plays a positive role in pathogen resistance in potato.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.645-654
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• 2015

This paper attempts to quantitatively assess the conservation value of Ellobium chinense (EC), which belongs to the endangered marine species designated by Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. To this end, we apply the contingent valuation (CV) method, an economic technique of valuing a non-market goods such as EC. A national survey of randomly selected 1,000 households was administered in order to derive the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for conserving EC. One-and-one-half-bound model was adopted to elicit the WTP responses and a spike model was employed to deal with the zero WTP responses. The results show that the conservation value of EC is estimated to be 2,346 won per household per year that is statistically significant at the 1% level. Expanding the value to the national population gives us an annual value of 43.8 billion won. We can judge that the Korean people are willing to pay a significant amount to conserve EC.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.619-631
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• 2020

In this study, we describe a novel function of TNNC1 (Troponin C1, Slow Skeletal and Cardiac Type), a component of actin-bound troponin, as a tumor suppressor of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). First, the expression of TNNC1 was strongly down-regulated in cancer tissues compared to matched normal lung tissues, and down-regulation of TNNC1 was shown to be strongly correlated with increased mortality among LUAD patients. Interestingly, TNNC1 expression was enhanced by suppression of KRAS, and ectopic expression of TNNC1 in turn inhibited KRAS^G12D-mediated anchorage independent growth of NIH3T3 cells. Consistently, activation of KRAS pathway in LUAD patients was shown to be strongly correlated with down-regulation of TNNC1. In addition, ectopic expression of TNNC1 inhibited colony formation of multiple LUAD cell lines and induced DNA damage, cell cycle arrest and ultimately apoptosis. We further examined potential correlations between expression levels of TNNC1 and various clinical parameters and found that low-level expression is significantly associated with invasiveness of the tumor. Indeed, RNA interference-mediated down-regulation of TNNC1 led to significant enhancement of invasiveness in vitro. Collectively, our data indicate that TNNC1 has a novel function as a tumor suppressor and is targeted for down-regulation by KRAS pathway during the carcinogenesis of LUAD.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.581-585
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• 2005

Five lactic acid bacteria (LAB) including 2 Lactobacillus strains isolated from Kimchi were evaluated to determine the binding ability to Caco-2 cells and $AFB_1$. LAB were divided into three different groups ; viable, heat-treated, and acid-treated cells. In the radioactive-labeling assay for bound cell counting, viable Lactobacillus Plantarum KCTC 3099 showed the higher adhesion to Caco-2 cells with the binding capacity of $39.2\%$, which was $149\%$ higher than Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG as a positive control. Leuconostoc mesenteroids KCTC 3100 showed the similar binding ability to L. rhamnosus GG. After 1 hour incubation at $37^{\circ}C$ with $AFB_1$, viable L. Planterum KTCC 3099 removed the toxin by $49.8\%$, which was similar level to L. rhamnosus GG. Both heat- and acid-treated groups showed high binding effect but acid-treated group was more effective for both Caco-2 cell binding and $AFB_1$ removal than the other. These results indicate that components of bacterial cell wall might be involved in tile binding to intestinal cells and toxins.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2006

Background: Germanium compounds are increased to use in nutrient foods and medicines in terms of antibiotics to microbes, anticancer, modulation of immune system and neutralizing heavy metal toxins. Geranti Bio-Ge Yeast, containing stable organic germanium and bound to the yeast protein was developed by Geranti Pharm. LTD. and the modulation effect in the immune system was examined in vivo and in vitro. Methods: The compound, Geranti Bio-Ge Yeast, was fed to female Balb/c mice (each group has 10 mice) for 4 weeks and the yeast powder and steamed red ginseng powder were used as control during the same feeding time points. During 4 weeks there was no symptom to be considered, and after 4 weeks feeding all mice were sacrificed to check the changes of related immune cells and subsidiary responses (i.e. cell counting, FACS, MTT, LDH, PFC assay). Results: In pre-post comparison, B cell population was increased in the group of Geranti Bio-Ge Yeast in a dose dependent manner (100 to 800 mg/kg). However, the population of T cell, dendritic cell and macrophage was not comparably changed in all doses. The ability of cytokine production and proliferation was almost same level as shown in control group. In contrast, PFC assay informed that the compound increase the antibody production ability when fed over 200 mg/kg implying that the increase of PFC number might be due to the increase of B cells. Conclusion: Over the entire study, we concluded that the compound, Geranti Bio-Ge Yeast has better potential in immune response in terms of B cell proliferation than that of positive control, red ginseng, and the compound can be one of the future candidates for a new supplementary source improving immune system activity.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.327-334
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• 2020

Changam, Lee Samman(1770~1845), who created his own handwriiting to be referred to as the three great writers of the late Joseon Dynasty, the valued 'beobgo'. Based on the calligraphy of the Han-Wi era, Lee Kwangsa who completed DonggugJinche was regarded as the teacher of the heart. In his later years, he wrote 『ChangamSeogyeol』 to teach how to use the right brush, revealing the basic principles of universal calligraphy and his own calligraphy. The typeface of Changam is completed by choseo through the establishment of haeseo geungol. For this, I valued Han-Wi's haeseo training, OnhuGanwon Han-Wi geungol shows a state without natural law. This shows that nature is the core and ultimate goal of Changam calligraphy theory. This is a return to the state of 'No law' at the height of the law, where eum-yang is created and bizarreness occurs when form, power and energy are promoted. On the other hand, he emphasized that jangbeob and pochi form IlunMujeog DeugpilCheonyeon when expressing naturalness as it is, without being bound by the old law. His typeface constantly tried to combine the beauty of Joseon's own calligraphy while sublimating nature into art. Thus, he acquired IlunMujeog, a body rich in geungol and full of vitality and dynamism. And DeugpilCheonyeon achieved aesthetics with the highest level of excellence, embodied as the original 'Haengunyusu Typeface', and further developed handwriiting and Calligraphy spirit of DonggugJinche in Honam province.