• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.219-227
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• 2008

The free-living photoheterotrophic Gram-negative bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides possesses a quorum-sensing (QS) regulatory system mediated by CerR-CerI, a member of the LuxR-LuxI family. To identify the genes affected by the regulatory system, random lacZ fusions were generated in the genome of R. sphaeroides strain 2.4.1 using a promoter-trapping vector, pSG2. About 20,000 clones were screened and 23 showed a significantly different level of ${\beta}$-gal activities upon the addition of synthetic 7,8-cis-N-tetradecenoyl-homoserine lactone (RAI). Among these 23 clones, the clone showing the highest level of induction was selected for further study, where about a ten-fold increase of ${\beta}$-gal activity was exhibited in the presence of RAI and induction was shown to be required for cerR. In this clone, the lacZ reporter was inserted in a putative gene that exhibited a low homology with catD. A genetic analysis showed that the expression of the catD homolog was initiated from a promoter of another gene present upstream of the catD. This upstream gene showed a strong homology with luxR and hence was named qsrR (quorum-sensing regulation regulator). A comparison of the total protein expression profiles for the wild-type cells and qsrR-null mutant cells using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and a MALDI-TOF analysis allowed the identification of sets of genes modulated by the luxR homolog.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.17-30
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• 2013

Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) induces massive actin filament thickening at the infection front of infected Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. To determine the mechanisms leading to actin remodeling, fluorescent protein fusions of the BSMV triple gene block (TGB) proteins were coexpressed in cells with the actin marker DsRed: Talin. TGB ectopic expression experiments revealed that TGB3 is a major elicitor of filament thickening, that TGB2 resulted in formation of intermediate DsRed:Talin filaments, and that TGB1 alone had no obvious effects on actin filament structure. Latrunculin B (LatB) treat-ments retarded BSMV cell-to-cell movement, disrupted actin filament organization, and dramatically decreased the proportion of paired TGB3 foci appearing at the cell wall (CW). BSMV infection of transgenic plants tagged with GFP-KDEL exhibited membrane proliferation and vesicle formation that were especially evident around the nucleus. Similar membrane proliferation occurred in plants expressing TGB2 and/or TGB3, and DsRed: Talin fluorescence in these plants colocalized with the ER vesicles. TGB3 also associated with the Golgi apparatus and overlapped with cortical vesicles appearing at the cell periphery. Brefeldin A treatments disrupted Golgi and also altered vesicles at the CW, but failed to interfere with TGB CW localization. Our results indicate that actin cytoskeleton interactions are important in BSMV cell-to-cell movement and for CW localization of TGB3.

• 미생물학회지
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• 제45권4호
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• pp.300-305
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• 2009

mRNA의 3' 말단형성 뿐만 아니라, 성숙한 mRNA의 핵에서 세포질로의 이동에 중요한 역할을 하는 출아효모 Saccharomyces cerevisiae의 폴리(A)-RNA 결합단백질인 Nab2와 유사한 분열효모 Schizosaccharomyces pombe의 단백질을 암호화하는 유전자(spNab2로 명명)의 결실돌연변이주(deletion mutant)를 제조하여 그 특성을 조사하였다. 이배체인 S. pombe 균주에 하나의 spNab2 유전자만을 결실시킨 후 4분체분석(tetrad analysis)을 수행한 결과, S. cerevisiae NAB2와는 다르게 이 유전자는 생장에 반드시 필요하지 않았다. 또한 spNab2 결실돌연변이는 mRNA의 핵에서 세포질로의 이동도 정상적으로 보였다. spNab2의 역할을 알아보기 위해, 티아민에 의해 발현이 조절되는 강력한 프러모터를 이용하여 spNab2를 과발현시켰다. spNab2 유전자가 과발현되면, 세포의 생장이 심하게 억제되었으며, 폴리(A)-RNA가 핵 안에 축적되고 세포질에서는 줄어들었다. 또한 GFP 융합단백질을 이용하여 spNab2 단백질의 세포 내 위치를 관찰한 결과, spNab2-GFP는 주로 핵 안에 존재하였지만 세포질에서도 관찰되었다. 이와 같은 결과들은 spNab2 유전자 역시 mRNA의 핵에서 세포질로의 이동에 관여하고 있음을 시사한다.

• 식물병연구
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.288-293
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• 2017

Chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroid (CChMVd) fused to the leader sequence of a reporter gene (mRFP) expressed transiently in agroinfiltrated Nicotiana benthamiana, was used to show that CChMVd can traffic into chloroplasts, thought to be the site of its replication. Fluorescence from mRFP was detected in chloroplasts, but only if the viroid transcription fusions were present, either from the full-length 400-nt CChMVd, or each of two partial fragments (nucleotides 125 to 2 and 231 to 372). The mRFP and its mRNA were detected by western blotting and RT-PCR, respectively, in tissue extracts of plants infiltrated by each fusion construct. Isolated chloroplasts were shown by RT-PCR to contain the RNA sequences of both CChMVd and mRFP, if both were present, but not the mRFP sequence in the absence of the viroid sequences. The results suggest that RNA trafficking was probably due to an RNA structure, and not a particular sequence, as discussed.

• BMB Reports
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.92-97
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• 1999

Cytokinesis and septation should be coordinated to nuclear division in the cell division cycle for precise transmission of the genome into daughter cells. byr4, an essential gene in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, regulates the timing of cytokinesis and septation in a dosage-dependent manner. We examined the intracellular localization of the Byr4 protein by expressing byr4 as a fusion of green fluorescence protein (GFP). The Byr4 protein localizes as a single dot on the nuclear periphery of interphase cells, duplicates before mitosis, and the duplicated dots segregate with the nuclei in anaphase. The behavior of Byr4p throughout the cell cycle strongly suggests that Byr4p is localized to the spindle pole body (SPB), a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in yeast. The presence of the Byr4 protein in the SPB is consistent with its function to coordinate mitosis and cytokinesis. We also mapped the domains of Byr4p for its proper localization to SPB by expressing various byr4 deletion mutants as GFP fusions. Analyses of the diverse byr4 deletion mutants suggest that the indirect repeats and the regions homologous to the open reading frame (ORF) YJR053W of S. cerevisiae in its C-terminus are essential for its localization to the SPB.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.637-645
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• 1999

Two putative regulator genes, mocR and mocS, of the moc (mannityl opine catabolism) operons in pTi15955 of the octopine-/mannityl opine-type Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain 15955, were tested for their possible roles as repressors in the moc operons. The regions upstream of macC and mocD, the first structural genes in the two divergently oriented moc operons, were transcriptionally fused into the promoterless lacZ reporter gene. Each of the lacZ-fusions was introduced into Agrobacterium strain UIA5, a Ti plasmid-cured derivative, harboring either a mocR or a mocS clone. The resulting strains were grown in media containing various sugar sources, and the $\beta$-galactosidase activities were quantitatively measured. The results suggested that MocR repressed the expression of macC and macD. The expression of the fused $\beta$-galactosidase was not induced by mannopine (MOP) or possible catabolic intermediates of the opine, e.g. santhopine (SOP), glucose, mannose, or glutamine. However, the repression was significantly relieved by the supplementation of MOP and the concomitant introduction of the agcA gene encoding MOP cyclase that catalyzes the lactonization of MOP to agropine (AGR). These results suggested that AGR, rather than MOP or the other catabolic intermediates, is the inducer for the expression of the operon. On the contrary to previous report showing that the induction levels of macC and macD were lowered by the supplementation of inorganic nitrogen in media, the expression of these genes was not affected by the level of nitrogen in our reporter system. MocS did not strongly repress the expressions of macC and mocD. It is possible that MocS may be involved in the regulation of the operons present downstream of the moc operon, which are responsible for the utilization of mannopinic acid and agropinic acid.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권11호
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• pp.1456-1463
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• 2009

Vibrio parahaemolyticus possessing urease-positive property is relatively rare, but such strains consistently exhibit the TDH-related hemolysin (TRH) gene. In this study, we examined the effects of incubation temperature on urease activity expression, using the TH3996 and AQ4673 strains where the enzyme activity is known to be temperature-dependent and -independent, respectively. In the TH3996 strain, $\beta$-galactosidase activity was 4.4-fold lower after $30^{\circ}C$ cultivation than after $37^{\circ}C$ in a ureR-lacZ fusion strain, but temperature dependency was not found in ureD- or nikA-lacZ fusion strains. However, ureR-, ureD-, and nikA-lacZ fusions of the AQ4673 strain was not influenced by incubation temperature. We compared the promoter sequences of ureR between the above two strains. Intriguingly, we detected mismatches of two nucleotides between the two strains located at positions -66 and -108 upstream of the methionine initiation codon for UreR. Additionally, urease activity was not affected by culture temperature at either $30^{\circ}C$ or $37^{\circ}C$ by allelic introduction of the AQ4673 ureR gene into the TH3996 ureR deletion mutant. Taken together, our study demonstrates that the transcriptional factor UreR is involved in the temperature dependency of urease activity, and two nucleotides within the ureR promoter region are of particular importance for the urease activity dependency of V. parahaemolyticus.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.26.1-26.12
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• 2019

Identification of fusion gene is of prominent importance in cancer research field because of their potential as carcinogenic drivers. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data have been the most useful source for identification of fusion transcripts. Although a number of algorithms have been developed thus far, most programs produce too many false-positives, thus making experimental confirmation almost impossible. We still lack a reliable program that achieves high precision with reasonable recall rate. Here, we present FusionScan, a highly optimized tool for predicting fusion transcripts from RNA-Seq data. We specifically search for split reads composed of intact exons at the fusion boundaries. Using 269 known fusion cases as the reference, we have implemented various mapping and filtering strategies to remove false-positives without discarding genuine fusions. In the performance test using three cell line datasets with validated fusion cases (NCI-H660, K562, and MCF-7), FusionScan outperformed other existing programs by a considerable margin, achieving the precision and recall rates of 60% and 79%, respectively. Simulation test also demonstrated that FusionScan recovered most of true positives without producing an overwhelming number of false-positives regardless of sequencing depth and read length. The computation time was comparable to other leading tools. We also provide several curative means to help users investigate the details of fusion candidates easily. We believe that FusionScan would be a reliable, efficient and convenient program for detecting fusion transcripts that meet the requirements in the clinical and experimental community. FusionScan is freely available at http://fusionscan.ewha.ac.kr/.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.229-235
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• 1992

담배 식물체에서 Arabidopsis thaliana에 존재하는 3가지 다른 엽록소 a/b 결합 단백질 (cab) 유전자 promoter들의 발현을 조사하였다. 이들 promoter의 활성은 이들 promoter에 결합된 reporter gene의 식물인 CAT (chloramphenicol acetyltransfer-ase)의 활성으로 측정하였다. 담배엽에서 cab promoter의 활성은 cab1, cab2, cab3의 순이었고, 이들 잎에서 유도한 callus나 shoot에서도 동일한 양상을 보였다. 이들 3가지 promoter의 발현은 상부엽에서 하부엽보다 높은 활성은 보였으며 개체간의 높은 변이폭은 뿌리내리기를 통하여 무성증식된 식물체를 사용하여 줄일 수 있었다. 이들은 또한 기관 특이성을 보여 줄기 보다 잎에서의 활성이 높았고 뿌리에서는 거의 발현되지 않았다. 그러나 cab1 promoter의 경우, 다른 두 cab promoter들과는 다르게, 잎에 대한 줄기에서의 상대적인 활성이 높았으며, CAT 활성을 단위 단백질당을 표시하는 대신 단위 엽록소당 활성으로 나타내었을 때 줄기와 잎에서 활성의 차이가 관찰되지 않았다. 즉 cab2와 cab3는 광합성 기관 특이성을 보이는 반면 cab1의 경우는 이러한 특이성을 나타내지 않았다. 이러한 현상은 잎에서 유도한 shoot가 줄기와 잎으로 분화되는 과정에서도 관찰되었다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.234-243
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• 2007

Vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic pathogen that causes septicemia in humans. To identify the genes associated with its pathogenicity, in vivo expression technology (IVET) was used to select genes specifically expressed in a host, yet not significantly in vitro. Random lacZ-fusions in the genome of V vulnificus strain MO6-24/O were constructed using an IVET vector, pSG3, which is a suicide vector containing promoterless-aph and -lacZ as reporter genes. A total of ${\sim}18,000$ resulting library clones were then intraperitoneally injected into BALB/c mice using a colony forming unit (CFU) of $1.6{\times}10^6$. Two hours after infection, kanamycin was administered at $200{mu}g$ per gram of mouse weight. After two selection cycles, 11 genes were eventually isolated, which were expressed only in the host. Among these genes, VV20781 and VV21007 exhibiting a homology to a hemagglutinin gene and tolC, respectively, were selected based on having the highest frequency. When compared to wild-type cells, mutants with lesions in these genes showed no difference in the rate of growth rate, yet a significant decrease in cytotoxicity and the capability to form a biofilm.