• Toxicological Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.205-213
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• 1990

The regulation of neurotoxicants has usually been based upon setting reference doses by dividing a no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) by uncertainty factors that theoretically account for interspecies and intraspecies extraploation of experimental results in animals to humans. Recently, we have proposed a four-step alternative procedure which provides quantitative estimates of risk as a function of dose. The first step is to establish a mathematical relationship between a biological effect or biomarker and the dose of chemical administered. The second step is to determine the distribution (variability) of individual measurements of biological effects or their biomarkers about the dose response curve. The third step is to define an adverse or abnormal level of a biological effect or biomarker in an untreated population. The fourth and final step is to combine the information from the first three steps to estimate the risk (proportion of individuals exceeding on adverse or abnormal level of a biological effect or biomarker) as a function of dose. The primary purpose of this report is to enhance the certainty of the first step of this procedure by improving our understanding of the relationship between a biomarker and dose of administered chemical. Several factors which need to be considered include: 1) the pharmacokinetics of the parent chemical, 2) the target tissue concentrations of the parent chemical or its bioactivated proximate toxicant, 3) the uptake kinetics of the parent chemical or metabolite into the target cell(s) and/or membrane interactions, and 4) the interaction of the chemical or metabolite with presumed receptor site(s). Because these theoretical factors each contain a saturable step due to definitive amounts of required enzyme, reuptake or receptor site(s), a nonlinear, saturable dose-response curve would be predicted. In order to exemplify this process, effects of the neurotoxicant, methlenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), were reviewed and analyzed. Our results and those of others indicate that: 1) peak concentrations of MDMA and metabolites are ochieved in rat brain by 30 min and are negligible by 24 hr, 2) a metabolite of MDMA is probably responsible for its neurotoxic effects, and 3) pretreatment with monoamine uptake blockers prevents MDMA neurotoxicity. When data generated from rats administerde MDMA were plotted as bilolgical effect (decreases in hippocampal serotonin concentrations) versus dose, a saturation curve best described the observed relationship. These results support the hypothesis that at least one saturable step is involved in MDMA neurotoxicity. We conclude that the mathematical relationship between biological effect and dose of MDMA, the first step of our quantitative neurotoxicity risk assessment procedure, should reflect this biological model information generated from the whole of the dose-response curve.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2004

This study was carried out to confirm the phylogenetic relationships in Korean Rhus species. Sequences from internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA and rbcL gene of chloroplast DNA were determined. Cotinus coggygria was selected as outgroup because it is closest allied with Rhus in Anacardiaceae. Also, ingroup was limited as six Korean Rhus species. ITS 1 sequences in six species of Rhus and one species of Cotinus ranged from 246 to 253 bp and ITS 2 sequences from 234 to 244 bp. Concerning the G+C content of the studied taxa, ITS 1 sequences ranged from 58.0 to 68.13% and ITS 2 from 59.75 to 68.46%. On the other hand, rbcL sequences were same size in the all species examined by 1,428 bp. G+C contents of rbcL sequences were ranged from 43.56 to 43.77% which means there are nearly no different from interspecies each other. Phylogenetic tree strongly supports the colse relationships between R. succedanea and R. sylvestris. Rhus javanica and Cotinus coggygria were also closely allied with each other in ITS and rbcL trees. Therefore, R. javanica was regarded as most primitive species among the Korean Rhus species. ITS 1 region of nuclear ribosomal DNA was suggested as very useful taxonomical marker for genus Rhus.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.207-211
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• 2012

Autoinduction is mediated by signaling molecules known as autoinducers (AIs) that are produced, released and detected by bacterium itself. We recently reported that Corynebacterium glutamicum possesses an autoinduction system which secretes autoinducers during the stationary-phase of growth, triggering the expression of acyltransferase gene. However, it is still not clear what may act as autoinducers for the autoinduction in C. glutamicum. In this study, we compared the inducing effects of cell-free culture fluids obtained from a number of microbes including Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Vibrio harveyi, and Escherichia coli. Fluids from A. tumefaciens did not increase the expression of acyltransferase, whereas fluids from V. harveyi BB120 ($AI-1^+$, $AI-2^+$) did. Interestingly, the expression was increased by the fluids obtained from the early exponential-phase culture of BB120. Furthermore, this induction was not observed by the fluids from autoinducer mutants of V. harveyi MM77 ($AI-1^-$, $AI-2^-$) and BB152 ($AI-1^-$, $AI-2^+$). Unlike the effect shown by BB152, fluids from E. coli ($AI-1^-$, $AI-2^+$) still induced the acyltransferase expression. Taken together, these results suggest that C. glutamicum autoinducers seem to be unidentified molecules which do not belong to AI-1 or AI-2.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.707-712
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• 2014

We evaluated the phenetic relationships within six taxa of genus Oxalis L. in Korea with random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Ten primers produced 125 bands for six taxa, and the mean number of bands per primer was 12.5. Across the six taxa, 121 (96.8%) bands were polymorphic, and only four were monomorphic. The mean number of RAPD phenotypes across the six taxa varied from 3.6 (O. stricta and O. corymbosa) to 4.8 (O. corniculata for. rubrifolia). In a simple measure of intraspecies variability according to the percentage of polymorphic bands, O. stricta and O. corymbosa exhibited the lowest variation (28.8%), and O. corniculata for. rubrifolia showed the highest (38.4%). A mean of 32.7% of the loci was polymorphic within taxa. The total interspecies genetic diversity ($H_T$) and intraspecies genetic diversity ($H_S$) was 0.362 and 0.122, respectively. On a per-locus basis, the proportion of total genetic variation due to differences among species ($G_{ST}$) was 0.663. This indicates that about 66.3% of the total variation was among species. The node of O. stricta and O. corniculata for. rubrifolia was strongly supported, with a high bootstrap value in the NJ tree and sistered with O. corniculata. According to RAPD analysis, the number of chromosomes was not congruent with a phenetic relationship.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2014

Fusarium graminearum (teleomorph Gibberella zeae) is an important plant pathogen that causes head blight of major cereal crops such as wheat, barley, and rice, as well as causing ear and stalk rot on maize worldwide. Plant diseases caused by this fungus lead to severe yield losses and accumulation of harmful mycotoxins in infected cereals [1]. Fungi utilize spore production as a mean to rapidly avoid unfavorable environmental conditions and to amplify their population. Spores are produced sexually and asexually and their production is precisely controlled. Upstream developmental activators consist of fluffy genes have been known to orchestrate early induction of condiogenesis in a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying conidiogenesis in F. graminearum, we characterized functions of the F. graminearum fluffy gene homologs [2]. We found that FlbD is conserved regulatory function for conidiogenesis in both A. nidulans and F. graminearum among five fluffy gene homologs. flbD deletion abolished conidia and perithecia production, suggesting that FlbD have global roles in hyphal differentiation processes in F. graminearum. We further identified and functionally characterized the ortholog of AbaA, which is involved in differentiation from vegetative hyphae to conidia and known to be absent in F. graminearum [3]. Deletion of abaA did not affect vegetative growth, sexual development, or virulence, but conidium production was completely abolished and thin hyphae grew from abnormally shaped phialides in abaA deletion mutants. Overexpression of abaA resulted in pleiotropic defects such as impaired sexual and asexual development, retarded conidium germination, and reduced trichothecene production. AbaA localized to the nuclei of phialides and terminal cells of mature conidia. Successful interspecies complementation using A. nidulans AbaA and the conserved AbaA-WetA pathway demonstrated that the molecular mechanisms responsible for AbaA activity are conserved in F. graminearum as they are in A. nidulans. F. graminearum ortholog of Aspergillus nidulans wetA has been shown to be involved in conidiogenesis and conidium maturation [4]. Deletion of F. graminearum wetA did not alter mycelial growth, sexual development, or virulence, but the wetA deletion mutants produced longer conidia with fewer septa, and the conidia were sensitive to acute stresses, such as oxidative stress and heat stress. Furthermore, the survival rate of aged conidia from the F. graminearum wetA deletion mutants was reduced. The wetA deletion resulted in vigorous generation of single-celled conidia through autophagy-dependent microcycle conidiation, indicating that WetA functions to maintain conidia dormancy by suppressing microcycle conidiation in F. graminearum. In A. nidulans, FlbB physically interacts with FlbD and FlbE, and the resulting FlbB/FlbE and FlbB/FlbD complexes induce the expression of flbD and brlA, respectively. BrlA is an activator of the AbaA-WetA pathway. AbaA and WetA are required for phialide formation and conidia maturation, respectively [5]. In F. graminearum, the AbaA-WetA pathway is similar to that of A. nidulans, except a brlA ortholog does not exist. Amongst the fluffy genes, only fgflbD has a conserved role for regulation of the AbaA-WetA pathway.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.71 no.1
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• pp.82-89
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• 1985

Morphological characteristics of leaves of 10 natural populations of Quercus mongolica and 9 natural populations of Q. serrata were investigated to study inter-population and intra-population variability as well as interspecies variability. Five leaf form indices, blade length/max. blade width, blade length/petiole length, blade length/vein number, upper 1/3 blade width/max.blade width, upper 1/3 blade width/lower 1/3 blade width, as well as petiole length and vein number were included in the present study of Leaf variabilities of the Quercus population. All of the investigated leaf variabilities except for the case of blade length/petiole length, in Q. serrata indicated highly significant differences among the populations and among the individual trees within population. Both of Q. mongolica and Q. serrata represented different leaf forms between southern populations and northern populations in the indices of blade length/max. blade width, blade length/petiole length and blade length/vein number, and so the leaf forms of northern populations were more similar to the unique characters of Q. mongolica and those of southern populations were more similar to the unique characters of Q. serrata. The variability among individual trees within population was more notable in blade length/petiole length, and petiole length than in other leaf form indices, and also it was more obvious for Mt. Kyeryrong population located in middle part of the country than for other population.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1339-1348
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• 2015

Until now, considerable effort has been made to engineer novel nitrogen-fixing organisms through the transfer of nif genes from various diazotrophs to non-nitrogen fixers; however, regulatory coupling of the heterologous nif genes with the regulatory system of the new host is still not well understood. In this work, a 49 kb nitrogen fixation island from P. stutzeri A1501 was transferred into E. coli using a novel and efficient transformation strategy, and a series of recombinant nitrogen-fixing E. coli strains were obtained. We found that the nitrogenase activity of the recombinant E. coli strain EN-01, similar to the parent strain P. stutzeri A1501, was dependent on external ammonia concentration, oxygen tension, and temperature. We further found that there existed a regulatory coupling between the E. coli general nitrogen regulatory system and the heterologous P. stutzeri nif island in the recombinant E. coli strain. We also provided evidence that the E. coli general nitrogen regulator GlnG protein was involved in the activation of the nif-specific regulator NifA via a direct interaction with the NifA promoter. To the best of our knowledge, this work plays a groundbreaking role in increasing understanding of the regulatory coupling of the heterologous nitrogen fixation system with the regulatory system of the recipient host. Furthermore, it will shed light on the structure and functional integrity of the nif island and will be useful for the construction of novel and more robust nitrogen-fixing organisms through biosynthetic engineering.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2010

To investigate genetic relationships either interspecies or intraspecies of 14 Korean Phytophthora species, sequence analyses of nuclear DNA (ypt gene and rDNA-IGS region) and mitochondrial DNA (Cox gene, $\beta$-tubuline gene, and EF1A gene) were performed. All of 14 Korean Phytophthora species clearly clustered into foreign isolates of each species. These Korean isolates in Phytophthora species also showed no correlation between molecular classification and morphological classification like as in case of foreigners. P. palmivora KACC 40167 reported previously from genetic groups of Phytophthora species in Korea was not consistent with the classification system, and therefore was required re-examination for the genetic group analysis. Korean isolates of P. drechsleri KACC 40195 showed very close relationship with P. cryptogea KACC 40161 above 94% bootstrap value in P. cryptogea-P. drechsleri complex group. Identification of these isolates is still unclear, because P. cryptogea and P. drechsleri were not differentiated in this study. On the other hand, it was required to unify species for these two species, since P. parasitica and P. nicotianae were clustered into a group on the level of 99 to 100% sequence homology. Comparing to the sequences of foreigners, Korean isolates were newly divided to ten groups in the phylogenic system. These results could be prepared useful informations to understand genetic diversity of Phytophthora species in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.411-419
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• 2019

A comprehensive comparison of fatty acid and metabolite profiles in 8 species of perilla seeds harvested from Korea and China was carried out to understand the correlation between cultivation conditions and the quality of perilla seeds. Metabolomic studies revealed that the perilla seeds were distinct from each other, based on the partial least squares -discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots; 23 compounds including metabolites, fatty acids, and phytosterols that predominantly contributed to this interspecies difference were identified. Changes in the growth environment affected these compounds. In particular, phenolic compounds were affected by rainfall and temperature. Moreover, temperature and altitude showed negative and positive correlations, respectively, to oleic acid. Although more studies on the effect of various environmental factors on cultivation of perilla plants as well as their seeds are needed, the present results provide information that would be useful in identifying perilla seeds produced in specific regions and in the cultivation of good quality perilla.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2011

This study was conducted to compare the species composition of sessile organisms on the artificial substrates of PVC submerged at different time intervals and duration in Jangmok Bay, Geoje Island, southern coast of Korea. Three PVC plates were submerged at one month interval from March to October and retrieved in November, 2007. A mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis exclusively occupied the artificial substrates submerged from March to April and occurred as a dominant species to July. An ascidian, Styela plicata occurred as a dominant sessile species from May to August. Balanus amphtrite, Bugula sp., and hydrozoans occurred as dominant species on the plates submerged from July to September. There was a mis-match between the peak time of settlement and dominance of sessile organisms due to the interspecies competitions when the PVC plates were retrieved in November. There was no clear relationship between submerged duration and the abundance of sessile organisms due to the different settlement period. M. galloprovincialis seemed to be a strong competitor which could exclude the previous recruiters of macroalgae by overgrowth and occupy the substrate surface and maintain its high population density by preventing the settlement of other species until late autumn. These results suggested that the composition of sessile organisms in vacant hard substrates could be determined by the combined effects of supply-timing of larvae and post-settlement competitions.