• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.217-222
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• 2009

Controlled gene expression in specific cells is a valuable tool for gene therapy. We attempted to determine whether the lentivirus-mediated Tet-On inducible system could be applied to cancer gene therapy. In order to select the genes that induce cancer cell death, we compared the ability of the known pro-apoptotreic genes, Bax and tBid, and a cell cycle inhibitor, p21cip1/waf1, and determined that Bax was the most effective. For the cancer cell-specific expression of $rtTA2^S$-M2, we tested the matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) promoter and determined that it is highly expressed in cancer cell lines, including SNU475 cells. The co-transduction of two lentiviruses that contain sequences for TRE-Bax and $rtTA2^S$-M2, the expression of which is controlled by the MMP-2 promoter, resulted in the specific cell death of SNU475, whereas other cells with low MMP-2 expression did not evidence significant cell death. Our data indicate that the lentivirus-mediated Tet-On system using the cancer-specific promoter is applicable for cancer gene therapy.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.257-260
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• 2000

The tetracycline-controlled transactivator (tTA)-mediated gene activation system was examined in virus infected cells to determine its role in the control of gene expression. In the presence of tTA, the gene expression from the tetO-modified minimal promoter was efficiently activated in the uninfected cells, whereas essentially no activation was observed from the only minimal promoter without the seven direct repeats of 42 bp tetO sequences. However, essentially no activation was observed when only the minimal promoter was used, without the seven direct repetitions of the 42 bp tetO sequences. On the other hand, in the infected cells, a substantial background of $\beta$-glucuronidase expression was detected in the absence of tTA, even though tTA stimulated the gene expression by ~7-fold. This background expression indicates that the sequences within or nearby tetO are involved in the background stimulation of the gene expression by HCMV and HSV-1 . These results suggest that the application of the tTA-mediated gene activation system may not be extremely useful for studying the biological roles of HCMV and HSV genes In the viral replicative cycles, because of the basal activity of the gene expression.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 1999

Recombinant adenovirus vector systems with strong promoters have been used to achieve high level production of recombinant protein. However, this overexpression system cause some problems such as disturbance of cell physiology and increment of cellular toxicity. Here, we showed a tetracycline-regulated adenovirus expression vector system. Our results showed that the expression level of transgene(p-53) was high and easily regulated by tetracycline. In addition, the maximal gene expression level of the tetracycline-controlled gene expression system was higher than that of the wild type CMV promoter system. Therefore, tetracycline-regulated adenoviral vector system could be applicable for regulatory high-level expression of toxic gene. Also, this system will be useful for functional studies and gene therapy.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.108-110
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• 2001

The E. coli expression system to overproduce a harmful protein, carboxypeptidase Taq was developed. Since expression plasmid pCK305N containing the colicin promoter already has the initiation codon on the restriction site, the initiation codon of the CPase Taq gene was removed. Expression plasmid pCP4-col includes the entire CPase Taq gene, which is directed by the colicin promoter. E. coli cells harboring pCP-col produced a high amount of the enzyme when they were cultured in the present of mitomycin C (0.4 ${\mu}g$/ml). An amount of purified enzyme produced by pCP4-col directed by the colicin promoter was 10.5 mg. This result indicated that the novel E. coli expression system controlled by the colicin promoter could produce almost twice amounts of CPase Taq than the conventional system controlled by the tart promoter.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.789-793
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• 1999

The effect of acetic acid formation deficiency on recombinant E. coli fermentation was investigated using a mutant strain deficient in acetic acid formation. A mutant strain which does not grow under anaerobic conditions was isolated. The acetic acid production in this strain was negligible in aerobic batch fermentation. The cloned-gene expression in the mutant strain was higher than the wild-type strain. Fed-batch fermentations with controlled specific growth rates were carried out in order to compare the cloned-gene expression between the wild-type and the mutant strains. The expression decreased along with the specific growth rate in both strains. The cloned-gene expression in the mutant strain was 60% higher than in the wild-type strain at the same specific growth rate.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2002

In addition to the well-established use of positron emission tomography (PET) in clinical oncology, novel roles for PET are rapidly emerging in the field of gene therapy. Methods for controlled gene delivery to living bodies, made available through advances in molecular biology, are currently being employed in animals for research purposes and in humans to treat diseases such as cancer. Although gene therapy is still in its early developmental stage, it is perceived that many serious illnesses could be treated successfully by the use of therapeutic gene delivery. A major challenge for the widespread use of human gene therapy is to achieve a controlled and effective delivery of foreign genes to target cells and subsequently, adequate levels of expression. As such, the availability of noninvasive imaging methods to accurately assess the location, duration, and level of transgene expression is critical for optimizing gene therapy strategies. Current endeavors to achieve this goal include methods that utilize magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging, and nuclear imaging techniques. As for PET, reporter systems that utilize genes encoding enzymes that accumulate positron labeled substrates and those transcribing surface receptors that bind specific positron labeled ligands have been successfully developed. More recent advances in this area include improved reporter gene constructs and radiotracers, introduction of potential strategies to monitor endogenous gene expression, and human pilot studies evaluating the distribution and safety of reporter PET tracers. The remarkably rapid progress occurring in gene imaging technology indicates its importance and wide range of application. As such, gene imaging is likely to become a major and exciting new area for future application of PET technology.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.214-220
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• 1993

The mating type a of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant with hmla2-102 and sir3-8ts was changed to type alpha by changing the growth temperature from 25C to 35C. A temperature-sensitive expression vector system was constructed using mating factor alpha1 (Mfalpha1) gene encoding alpha factor which is expressed in the type alpha cells. Vectors with different copy numbers were constructed by joining the promoter and pre or prepro-secretion single sequence of Mfalpha1 to promoterless PHO5' gene as a reporter gene.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.107-113
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• 2002

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains of serotype O157:H7 have been shown to colonize the intestinal epithelial cell by the attaching and effacing (AE) mechanism. The AE lesion is mediated by an intimin, of which production and expression are controlled by a 3-Kb eaeA gene located EHEC chromosomal DNA. If the eaeA gene is mutated, EHEC O157:H7 strains lose capacity of adhesion to intestinal epithelial cells. In this study, a 891 bp of the 3'-end region of a gamma intimin was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR product was inserted into pSTBlue-1 cloning vector and transformed into DE3 (BL21) competent cell. After plasmid mini-preparation and restriction enzyme digestion of eaeA/891-pSTBlue-1 vector, target eaeA gene was re-inserted into pET-28a expression vector and was transformed. Then the expression of recombinant eaeA/891 (891 bp) gene was induced by isopropyl-$\beta$-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). The expression of the 40-KDa recombinant protein was identified in SDS-PAGE and confirmed by immunoblotting using the His.Tag$^{\circledR}$ and T$_{7}$.Tag$^{\circledR}$ monoclonal antibody. This recombinant protein expressed by eaeA gene could be applied in further studies on the mechanisms of E. coli O157:H7 infection and the development of recombinant vaccine.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 1998.07a
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• pp.59-60
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• 1998

A DNA construct containing rat T $\alpha$ 1 $\alpha$ -tuulin gene 5'-flanking sequence and GFP reporer gene was microinjected into 1-cell loach embryos. Neuron-specific FGP expression was observed in developing loach embryos and early stage fry. The results demonstrated that rat T $\alpha$ 1 $\alpha$ -tubulin gene promoter may be sufficient to specify gene expression to neurons in loach embryos. Thus, the use of GFP reporter controlled by T $\alpha$ 1 $\alpha$ -tubulin gene promoter may facilitate visualization of the dynamic processes of neural tissue development.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.349-353
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• 2011

The ascomycete fungus Fusarium graminearum is an important plant pathogen responsible for Fusarium head blight in small grains and ear rot on maize. This fungus also produces the estrogenic metabolite, zearalenone (ZEA) that causes estrogenic disorders in humans and animals. Previously, we developed a conditional gene expression system for this fungus using a ZEA-inducible promoter (Pzear). In the present study, four other estrogenic compounds, including ${\beta}$-estradiol, estriol, estrone, and secoisolariciresinol, were screened as possible substitutes for ZEA in this system. Among them, ${\beta}$-estradiol was able to successfully induce the expression of a gene controlled by Pzear, while estrone was only able to partially induce its expression but the other two compounds were not effective. In combination, these results demonstrate that ${\beta}$-estradiol can replace ZEA in this conditional gene expression system, thereby eliminating the need to use the more expensive reagent, ZEA, and facilitating high-throughput functional analyses of F. graminearum in future studies.