• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4897-4902
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• 2014

Purpose: To investigate the anticancer effects and underlying mechanisms of parthenolide on HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Materials and Methods: Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay and cell apoptosis through DAPI, TUNEL staining and Western blotting. Monodansylcadaverin(MDC) and AO staining were used to detect cell autophagy. Cell proliferation was assessed by Ki67 immunofluorescence staining. Results: Parthenolide induced growth inhibition in HepG2 cells. DAPI and TUNEL staining showed that parthenolide could increase the number of apoptotic nuclei, while reducing the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and elevating the expression of related proteins, like p53, Bax, cleaved caspase9 and cleaved caspase3. Parthenolide could induce autophagy in HepG2 cells and inhibited the expression of proliferation-related gene, Ki-67. Conclusions: Parthenolide can exert anti-cancer effects by inducing cell apoptosis, activating autophagy and inhibiting cell proliferation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.123-129
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• 2021

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase is a key enzyme for PHA production in microorganisms. The class IV PHA synthase is composed of two subunits: PhaC and PhaR. The PhaR subunit, which encodes the phaR gene, is only present in class IV PHA synthases. Therefore, the phaR gene is used as a biomarker for bacteria that contain a class IV PHA synthase, such as some Bacillus spp. The phaR gene was developed to screen phaR-containing Bacillus spp. The phaR screening method involved two steps: phaR gene amplification by PCR and phaR amplicon detection using a DNA lateral flow assay. The screening method has a high specificity for phaR-containing Bacillus spp. The lowest amount of genomic DNA of B. thuringiensis ATCC 10792 that the phaR screening method could detect was 10 pg. This novel screening method improves the specificity and sensitivity of phaR gene screening and reduces the time and cost of the screening process, which could enhance the opportunity to discover good candidate PHA producers. Nevertheless, the screening method can certainly be used as a tool to screen phaR-containing Bacillus spp. from environmental samples.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1362-1368
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• 2006

A new constitutive episomal expression vector, pGAPZ-E, was constructed and used for initial screening of eukaryotic target gene expression in Pichia pastoris. Two reporter genes such as beta-galactosidase gene and GFPuv gene were overexpressed in P. pastoris. The expression level of the episomal pGAPZ-E strain was higher than that of the integrated form when the beta-galactosidase gene was used as the reporter gene in P. pastoris X33. The avoiding of both the integration procedure and an induction step simplified the overall screening process for eukaryotic target gene expression in P. pastoris. Nine human protein targets from the Core 50, family of Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium (http://www.nesg.org), which were intractable when expressed in E. coli, were subjected to rapid screening for soluble expression in P. pastoris. HR547, HR919, and HR1697 human proteins, which had previously been found to express poorly or to be insoluble in E. coli, expressed in soluble form in P. pastoris. Therefore, the new episomal GAP promoter vector provides a convenient and alternative system for high-throughput screening of eukaryotic protein expression in P. pastoris.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.262-266
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• 2017

Objective: This study was conducted to screen scrotal hernia in domesticated swine from selected breeders in the Philippines. This defect is associated with a cytosine to thymine mutation in the BCL-2 associated X protein (BAX) gene of swine. Methods: Genetic screening was done by DNA extraction followed by amplification and digestion using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, amplifying the 416 bp region of the BAX gene that was subjected to digestion using the Ear I enzyme. Sequencing was also conducted to validate the results. Results: Results revealed that out of 538 samples tested, 411 (76.4%) of the samples were found to be normal whereas the remaining were carriers of the mutation in which 80 (14.9%) were heterozygous mutants and 47 (8.7%) were homozygous mutants. Pietrain breed was found to have the highest incidence. Conclusion: Having a scrotal hernia eliminates the chances of using the boar as a breeder stock because the following generations arising from it would most likely exhibit herniation. It is therefore advised to establish a genetic screening method for Scrotal Hernia in the Philippines to eliminate the negative gene from the herd.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.396-397
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• 2005

The polyene antibiotics are a family of most promising antifungal polyketide compounds, typically produced by actinomycetes species. Using the polyene CYP-specific PCR screening with served actinomycetes genomic DNAs, Pseudonocardia autotrophica strain was identified to contain a unique polyene-specific CYP gene. The genomic DNA library screening using the polyene-specific CYP gene probe revealed the positive cosmid clone containing an approximately 34.5 kb DNA fragment revealed a total of seven complete and two incomplete open reading frame (ORFs), which are highly homologous but unique to previously-known polyene biosynthetic genes. These results suggest that the polyene-specific screening approach should be an efficient way of isolating potectially-valuable cryptic polyene biosynthetic gene cluster from various rare actinomycetes.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.45.1-45.11
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• 2023

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common type of chronic liver disease, with severity levels ranging from nonalcoholic fatty liver to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The extent of liver fibrosis indicates the severity of NASH and the risk of liver cancer. However, the mechanism underlying NASH development, which is important for early screening and intervention, remains unclear. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) is a useful method for identifying hub genes and screening specific targets for diseases. In this study, we utilized an mRNA dataset of the liver tissues of patients with NASH and conducted WGCNA for various stages of liver fibrosis. Subsequently, we employed two additional mRNA datasets for validation purposes. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted to analyze gene function enrichment. Through WGCNA and subsequent analyses, complemented by validation using two additional datasets, we identified five genes (BICC1, C7, EFEMP1, LUM, and STMN2) as hub genes. GSEA analysis indicated that gene sets associated with liver metabolism and cholesterol homeostasis were uniformly downregulated. BICC1, C7, EFEMP1, LUM, and STMN2 were identified as hub genes of NASH, and were all related to liver metabolism, NAFLD, NASH, and related diseases. These hub genes might serve as potential targets for the early screening and treatment of NASH.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2000

The efficiency of transgenic livestock production could be improved by early screening of transgene-integration and sexing of embryos at preimplantational stages before trasferring them into recipients. We examined the effciency of multiplex PCR analysis for the simultaneous confirmation of the trasgene and sex during the preimplantational development of bovine embryos and the possibility of green fluorescent protein(GFP) gene as a non-invasive marker for the early screening of transgenic embryos. The GFP gene was microinjected into the male pronuclei of bovine zygotes produced in vitro. The injected zygotes were co-cultured in TCM-199 containing 10% FCS with boving oviductal epithelial cells in a 5% CO2 incubator. Seventeen(13.0%) out of 136 gene-injected bovine zygotes developed by multiplex PCR analysis and the expression of GFP was detected by observing green fluorescence in embryos under a fluorescent microscope. Eight(67%) of 12 embryos at 2-cell to blastocyst stage were positive in the PCR analysis, but only two(11.8%) of 17 blastocysts expressed the GFP gene. Their sex was determined as 7 female and 5 male embryos by the PCR analysis. The results indicate that the screening of GFP gene and sex in bovine embryos by PCR analysis and fluorescence detection could be a promisible method for the preselection of transgenic embryos.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.282-285
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• 2004

The polyene antibiotics including nystatin, pimaricin, amphotericin and candicidin are a family of most promising antifungal polyketide compounds, typically produced by rare actinomycetes species. The biosynthetic gene clusters for these polyenes have been previously investigated, revealing the presence of highly homologous biosynthetic genes among polyene-producers such as polyketide synthase (PKS) and cytochrome P450 hydroxylase (CYP) genes. Based on amino acid sequence alignment among actinomycetes CYP genes, the highly-conserved regions specific for only polyene CYP genes were identified and chosen for degenerate PCR primers, followed by the PCR-screening with various actinomycetes genomic DNAs. Among tested several polyene non-producing actinomycetes strains, Pseudonorcardia autotrophica strain was selected based on the presence of PCR product with polyene-specific CYP gene primers, and then confirmed to contain a cryptic novel polyene hydroxylase gene in the chromosome. These results suggest that the polyene-specific hydroxylase gene PCR should be an efficient way of screening and isolating potentially-valuable cryptic polyene antibiotic biosynthetic genes from various microorganisms including rare actinomycetes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.449-454
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• 1995

The present study was conducted to assess gene expression of bacterial lacZ driven by the SV40 promoter at early developmental stages of bovine embryos. The lacZ gene was linearized with BamHI digestion and introduced into the pronucleus by microinjection at 20 hrs after the commencement of in vitro fertilization. Intact bovine blastocysts were not stained with X-Gal, suggesting that there is no endogenous beta-galactosidase activity in these blastocysts. In contrast, the bovine blastocyst cells microinjected with the lacZ gene exerted a characteristic greenish-blue color originating from the bacterial beta-galactosidase activity, albeit at a low rate, i.e. 2.1% of the total fertilized oocytes injected. It was concluded, therefore, that the lacZ gene driven by the SV40 promoter could be used for an indirect screening method in which the presence of transgene is evaluated from the product of transgene expression.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 1999

An attractive target for anti-herpes chemotherapy is the herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) protease encoded by the UL26 gene. HSV-1 protease is essential for DNA packaging and virus maturation. To perform high throughput for potent inhibitors, the efficient production of larger amounts of highly purified enzyme and protease activity assay method must be established. In this report, expression in E. coli and purification of the protease gene of HSV-1 strain F was investigated. The protease gene was cloned pET28, and the nucleotide sequence of protease catalytic domain of HSV-1 compared strain F with other strains (KOS and CL101). In these results the F strain was different in base sequence. However, the amino acid sequence was identifical. The HSV-1 protease was purified with His-tagged affinity column. The analysis of HSV-1 protease activity was performed by high performance liquid chromatography.