• 한국식품영양학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.531-538
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• 2017

This study was performed to investigate the effects of garlic on uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) transcriptional regulation of UCP2-luciferase transgenic mice fed on a high fat diet to induce obesity. To examine the transcriptional regulation of UCP2, we generated transgenic mice with a UCP2 promoter (-1,830/+30 bp) containing luciferase as a reporter gene. UCP2-luciferase transgenic mice were fed a 45% high-fat diet for 8 weeks to induce obesity. Subsequently, mice were maintained on either a high-fat control diet (TG-CON), or high-fat diets supplemented with 2% (TG-GL2) or 5% (TG-GL5) garlic for a further 8 weeks. Dietary garlic reduced body weight and energy efficiency ratio in the TG-GL5 group, compared to the TG-CON group. Furthermore, garlic supplementation significantly decreased white adipose tissue fat mass and plasma levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and leptin in the TG-GL2 and TG-GL5 groups, compared to the TG-CON group. Specifically, UCP2 promoter activity in metabolic tissues such as liver, white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle was increased by garlic supplementation. These results suggest that dietary garlic was partially associated with an increase of UCP2 transcriptional activity in metabolic tissues for decreasing obesity.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.10-18
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• 2014

Baculoviruses base vectors come to be regarded as methods for in vivo gene delivery and transient expression to the silkworm. In the case of silkworm, B. mori, two types of baculoviruses, AcNPV (Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus) and BmNPV (Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus), are potentially applicable as vectors. Recently, AcNPV showed promising results with some silkworm strains despite different host-specificities. We searched for a highly-permissive silkworm strain in the B. mori stocks of Kyungpook National University that could produce high levels of recombinant protein. Seventy strains were screened using the recombinant AcNPV/BmA3-Luc virus. Based on the measured luciferase activity, the strains could be divided into three groups, high-, middle-, and low-permissive strains, according to their relative recombinant protein expression levels. At 48 hours post-injection, the luciferase activity in the high-permissive strains was 500-fold greater than that of the low-permissive strains. At 72 hours post-injection, a significant elevation in luciferase activity was observed in the hemocytes of all strains. Then, based on the above results, the High Permissive Strain (HPS) S10 and the Low Permissive Strain (LPS) S39 were pick up and was carried out Dot blotting, RT-PCR and Real time PCR.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제33권11호
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• pp.1506-1512
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• 2023

Quantitative analysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) has been widely used as a diagnostic tool in the food and medical industries. Particularly, the pathogenesis of a few diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is closely related to high ATP concentrations. A bioluminescent D-luciferin/luciferase system, which includes a luciferase (FLuc) from the firefly Photinus pyralis as a key component, is the most commonly used method for the detection and quantification of ATP. Here, instead of isolating FLuc produced in recombinant Escherichia coli, we aimed to develop a whole-cell biocatalyst system that does not require extraction and purification of FLuc. To this end, the gene coding for FLuc was introduced into the genome of probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii using the CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing system. The linear relationship (r² = 0.9561) between ATP levels and bioluminescence generated from the engineered S. boulardii expressing FLuc was observed in vitro. To explore the feasibility of using the engineered S. boulardii expressing FLuc as a whole-cell biosensor to detect inflammation biomarker (i.e., ATP) in the gut, a colitis mouse model was established using dextran sodium sulfate as a colitogenic compound. Our findings demonstrated that the whole-cell biosensor can detect elevated ATP levels during gut inflammation in mice. Therefore, the simple and powerful method developed herein could be applied for non-invasive IBD diagnosis.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.201-205
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• 2010

The H1 histone family, member N, testis-specific (H1FNT) is exclusively expressed in the testis, and had its possible role for sperm chromatin formation. The purpose of this study is to investigate any genetic association of H1FNT gene with male infertility, especially at the promoter region. We examined the promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of H1FNT gene which is located within transcription factor binding site for its association with male infertility. The statistical analysis showed that the -1129A>T polymorphism was present at a statistically significance in male infertility (p=0.0059 and 0.0349 for hetero and risk type, respectively). The dual-luciferase promoter assay was performed to examine the polymorphic effect of this promoter SNP by the cloning of promoter region (1700bp fragment) into pGL3-basic vector. In our plasmid based reporter system, there is no big difference between wild and risk type. In conclusion, H1FNT -1129A>T promoter SNP is statistically significant with male infertility, especially with subfertile (non-azoospermia) group. Further analysis of its functional polymorphic effect in vivo may provide the biological significance of testis-specific histone with spermatogenesis.

• BMB Reports
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• 제42권11호
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• pp.737-742
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• 2009

Hypoxia-inducible factor-$1{\alpha}/{\beta}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}/{\beta}$) is a heterodimeric transcriptional activator that mediates gene expression in response to hypoxia. HIF-$1{\alpha}$ has been noted as an effective therapeutic target for ischemic diseases such as myocardiac infarction, stroke and cancer. By using a yeast two-hybrid system and a random peptide library, we found a 16-mer peptide named F29 that directly interacts with the bHLH-PAS domain of HIF-$1{\alpha}$. We found that F29 facilitates the interaction of the HIF-$1{\alpha/\beta}$ heterodimer with its target DNA sequence, hypoxia-responsive element (HRE). The transient transfection of an F29-expressing plasmid increases the expression of both an HRE-driven luciferase gene and the endogenous HIF-1 target gene, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Taken together, we conclude that F29 increases the DNA-binding ability of HIF-$1{\alpha}$, leading to increased expression of its target gene VEGF. Our results suggest that F29 can be a lead compound that directly targets HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and increases its activity.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제38권3호
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• pp.183-186
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• 2000

Several types of bioluminescent reporter strains have been developed for the detection and monitoring of pollutant aromatics contaminating the environment. In this study, a bioluminescent reporter strain, E. coli SHP3, was constructed by fusing the luc gene of firefly luciferase with the promoter of pcbC responsible for the meta-cleavage of aromatic hydrocarbons. the bioluminescence expressed by the luc gene in the reporter was well triggered by the promoter when it was exposed to 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyI (2,3-DHBP) at 0.5 to 1 mM concentrations. The bioluminescent response was more extensive when the reporter strain was exposed to 5 mM catechol and 2 mM 4-chlorocatechol. These different types of bioluminescent responses by E. coli SHP3 appeared to be characterized by the nature of the aromatics to stress. Since E. coli SHP3 responded to 2,3-DHBP quite sensitively, this reporter strain could be applied for detecting some catecholic pollutants.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.265-272
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• 2009

Recently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) began to be utilized as a vehicle for ex vivo gene therapy based on their plasticity. Effective and safe transfection of therapeutic genes is a critical step for genetic modification of MSCs. Therefore, optimization of in vitro gene delivery into MSCs is essential to provide genetically modified stem cells. In this study, various cationic liposomes, O,O'-dimyristyl-N-lysyl aspartate (DMKD), DMKD/cholesterol, O,O'-dimyristyl-N-lysyl glutamate (DMKE), DMKE/cholesterol, and N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium propane methyl sulfate (DOTAP)/cholesterol, were mixed with plasmid DNA encoding luciferase (pAAV-CMV-Luc) at varied ratios, and then used for transfection to MSCs under varied conditions. The MSCs were also transfected by electroporation under varied conditions, such as voltage, pulse length, and pulse interval. According to the experimental results, electroporation-mediated transfection was more efficient than cationic liposome-mediated transfection. The best MSC transfection was induced by electroporation 3 times pulses for 2 ms at 200 V with 10 seconds of a pulse interval.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.111-114
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• 2012

In previous studies we have shown that a sw17255 gene was expressed in hemocyte-specific tissues of the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae). It was verified that the sw17255 core promoter region contains elements that regulate the expression of this gene in hemocyte tissue; the selected promoter region spans nucleotides -1 to -2,112 upstream of the start codon. Each of the luciferase reporter gene expression vectors under the control of 4 different kinds of promoter candidates, (-2,112/-1), (-1,640/-1), (-1,169/-1) and (-579/-1), and the control reporter plasmid DNA, were introduced into B. mori larval coelom by direct injection using a syringe. The promoter candidate [E] (-579/-1) showed more than 1.67 fold transcriptional activity compared to control promoter activity. Higher productivity of an expressed gene in the transgenic silkworm by this promoter combination could be achieved in the near future. The foreign recombinant protein could be easily harvested from the blood of the transgenic silkworm.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.421-427
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• 2012

The production of therapeutic proteins from transgenic animals is one of the most important successes of animal biotechnology. Milk is presently the most mature system for production of therapeutic proteins from a transgenic animal. Specifically, ${\beta}$-casein is a major component of cow, goat and sheep milk, and its promoter has been used to regulate the expression of transgenic genes in the mammary gland of transgenic animals. Here, we cloned the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene and analyzed the transcriptional activity of the promoter and intron 1 region of the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene. Sequence inspection of the 5'-flanking region revealed potential DNA elements including SRY, CdxA, AML-a, GATA-3, GATA-1 and C/EBP ${\beta}$. In addition, the first intron of the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene contained the transcriptional enhancers Oct-1, SRY, YY1, C/EBP ${\beta}$, and AP-1, as well as the retroviral TATA box. We estimated the transcriptional activity for the 5'-proximal region with or without intron 1 of the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene in HC11 cells stimulated with lactogenic hormones. High transcriptional activity was obtained for the 5'-proximal region with intron 1 of the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene. The ${\beta}$-casein gene containing the mutant TATA box (CATAAAA) was also cloned from another individual pig. Promoter activity of the luciferase vector containing the mutant TATA box was weaker than the same vector containing the normal TATA box. Taken together, these findings suggest that the transcription of porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene is regulated by lactogenic hormone via intron 1 and promoter containing a mutant TATA box (CATAAAA) has poor porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene activity.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.605-612
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• 2000

Green tea polyphenols (GTP) have been demonstrated to suppress tumorigenesis in several chemical-induced animal carcinogenesis models, and predicted as promising chemopreventive agents in human. Recent studies of GTP extracts showed the involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in the regulation of Phase II enzymes gene expression and induction of apoptosis. In the current work we compared the biological actions of five green tea catechins: (1) induction of ARE reporter gene, (2) activation of MAP kinases, (3) cytotoxicity in human hepatoma HepG2-C8 cells, and (4) caspase activation in human cervical squamous carcinoma HeLa cells. For the induction of phase IIgene assay, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and (-)-epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG) potently induced antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated luciferase activity, with induction observed at 25 $\mu\textrm{m}$with EGCG. The induction of ARE reporter gene appears to be structurally related to the 3-gallate group. Comparing the activation of MAPK by the five polyphenols, only EGCG showed potent activation of all three MAPKs (ERK, JNK and p38) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, whereas EGC activated ERK and p38. In the concentration range of 25 $\mu\textrm{m}$ to 1 mM, EGCG and ECG strongly suppressed HepG2-ARE-C8 cell-growth. To elucidate the mechanisms of green tea polyphenol-induced apoptosis, we measured the activation of an important cell death protein, caspase-3 induced by EGCG, and found that caspase-3 was activated in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Interestingly, the activation of caspase-3 was a relatively late event (peaked at 16 h), whereas activation of MAPKs was much earlier (peaked at 2 h). It is possible, that at low concentrations of EGCG, activation of MAPK leads to ARE-mediated gene expression including phase II detoxifying enzymes. Whereas at higher concentrations of EGCG, sustained activation of MAPKs such as JNK leads to apoptosis. These mechanisms are currently under investigation in our laboratory. As the most abundant catechin in GTP extract, we found that EGCG potently induced ARE-mediated gene expression, activated MAP kinase pathway, stimulated caspase-3 activity, and induced apoptosis. These mechanisms together with others, may contribute to the overall chemopreventive function of EGCG itself as well as the GTP.