• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.230-238
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• 2000

Class III chitin synthases in filamentous fungi are important for hyphal growth and differentiation of several filamentous fungi. A genomic clone containing the full gene encoding Chs4, a class III chitin synthase in Penicillium chrysogenum, was cloned by PCR screening and colony hybridization from the genomic library. Nucleotide sequence analysis and transcript mapping of chs4 revealed an open reading frame (ORF) that consisted of 5 exons and 4 introns and encoded a putative protein of 915 amino acids. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 5'flanking region of the ORF revealed a potential TATA box and several binding sites for transcription activators. The putative transcription initiation site at -716 position was identified by primer extension and the expression of the chs4 during the vegetative growth was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. Amino acid sequence analysis of the Chs4 revealed at least 5 transmembrane helices and several sites for past-transnational modifications. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of Chs4 with those of other fungi showed a close relationship between P chrysogenum and genus Aspergillus.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.67-70
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• 2001

Medicago truncatula is a diploid legume plant related to the forage crop alfalfa. Recently, it has been chosen as a model species for genomic studies due to its small genome, self-fertility, short generation time, and high transformation efficiency. M. truncatula engages in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium Rhizobium meliloti. M. truncatula mutants that are defective in nodulation and developmental processes have been generated. Some of these mutants exhibited altered phenotypes in symbiotic responses such as root hair deformation, expression of nodulin genes, and calcium spiking. Thus, the genes controlling these traits are likely to encode functions that are required for Nod-factor signal transduction pathways. To facilitate genome analysis and map-based cloning of symbiotic genes, a bacterial artificial chromosome library was constructed. An efficient polymerase chain reaction-based screening of the library was devised to fasten physical mapping of specific genomic regions. As a genomics approach, comparative mapping revealed high levels of macro- and microsynteny between M. truncatula and other legume genomes. Expressed sequence tags and microarray profiles reflecting the genetic and biochemical events associated with the development and environmental interactions of M. truncatula are assembled in the databases. Together, these genomics programs will help enrich our understanding of the legume biology.

• Language and Information
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.163-182
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• 2004

Since metaphor was proposed to be a matter of thought instead of language over two decades ago, the research in this area has made most of its progress by the cognitivists. For the cognitivists represented by Lakoff, metaphor is not a mere poetic or rhetoric device, but is central to our everyday language. Furthermore, according to them, we categorize the world and break it into concepts mainly through metaphors, and truth conditions simply cannot account for metaphor. However, this cognitivists' view has been severely counterattacked by the truth-conditional semanticists. Their main criticism is that the cognitivists do not provide a way to go from our internal representations to the outside world. It is also criticized that the cognitive theory of metaphor as cross-conceptual domain mappings is too broad and general, and that they do not explain why a particular metaphorical expression should be subsumed under one mapping rather than another mapping, i.e., their schemes and structural relations are not predictive. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to propose a model for metaphor interpretation that combines the virtues of the two opposite views of metaphor. Truth-conditional semantics cannot ignore cognitive aspects of language, so-called states of affairs or mental representations, while cognitive theories cannot neglect vigorous representation of meaning with objective reality. This paper will try to present a preliminary outline of this combining model.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.1199-1210
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• 2015

Automatic emotion recognition based on facial cues, such as facial action units (AUs), has received huge attention in the last decade due to its wide variety of applications. Current computer-based automated two-phase facial emotion recognition procedures first detect AUs from input images and then infer target emotions from the detected AUs. However, more robust AU detection and AU-to-emotion mapping methods are required to deal with the error accumulation problem inherent in the multiphase scheme. Motivated by our key observation that a single AU detector does not perform equally well for all AUs, we propose a novel two-phase facial emotion recognition framework, where the presence of AUs is detected by group decisions of multiple AU detectors and a target emotion is inferred from the combined AU detection decisions. Our emotion recognition framework consists of three major components - multiple AU detection, AU detection fusion, and AU-to-emotion mapping. The experimental results on two real-world face databases demonstrate an improved performance over the previous two-phase method using a single AU detector in terms of both AU detection accuracy and correct emotion recognition rate.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.361-364
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• 2004

Internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is known to be essential for HCV replication and most conserved among HCV variants. Hence, IRES RNA is a good therapeutic target for RNA-based inhibitors, such as ribozymes. We previously proposed a new anti-HCV modulation strategy based on trans-splicing ribozymes, which can selectively replace HCV transcripts with a new RNA that exerts anti-HCV activity. To explore this procedure, sites which are accessible to ribozymes in HCV IRES were previously determined by employing an RNA mapping method in vitro. In this study, we evaluate the intracellular accessibility of the ribozymes by comparing the trans-splicing activ­ities in cells of several ribozymes targeting different sites of the HCV IRES RNA. We assessed the intra­cellular activities of the ribozymes by monitoring their target-specific induction degree of both reporter gene activity and cytotoxin expression. The ribozyme capable of targeting the most accessible site iden­tified by the mapping studies then harbored the most active trans-splicing activity in cells. These results suggest that the target sites predicted to be accessible are truly the most accessible in the cells, and thus, could be applied to the development of various RNA-based anti-HCV therapies.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2004

Molecular genetic markers were genotyped used to detect chromosomal regions which contain economically important traits such as growth traits in pigs. Three generation resource population was constructed from a cross between the Korean native boars and Landrace sows. A total of 193 F2 animals from intercross of F1 were produced. Phenotypic data on 7 traits, birth weight, body weight at 3, 5, 12, 30 weeks of age, live empty weight were collected for F2 animals. Animals including grandparents (F0), parents (F1), offspring (F2) were genotyped for 194 microsatellite markers covering from chromosome 1 to 18. Quantitative trait locus analyses were performed using interval mapping by regression under line-cross model. To characterize presence of imprinting, genetic full model in which dominance, additive and imprinting effect were included was fitted in this analysis. Significance thresholds were determined by permutation test. Using imprinting full model, four QTL with expression of imprinted effect were detected at 5% chromosome-wide significance level for growth traits on chromosome 1, 5, 7, 13, 14, and 16.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.113-113
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• 2017

Downy mildew (DM), caused by several species in the Peronosclerospora and Scleropthora genera, is a major maize (Zea mays L.) disease in tropical or subtropical regions. DM is an obligate parasite species in the higher plants and spreads by oospores, wind, and mycelium in seed surface, soil, and living hosts. Owing to its geographical distribution and destructive yield reduction, DM is one of the most severe maize diseases among the maize pathogens. Positional cloning in combination with phenotyping is a general approach to identify disease resistant gene candidates in plants; however, it requires several time-consuming steps including population or fine mapping. Therefore, in the present study, we suggest a new combination strategy to improve the identification of disease resistant gene candidates. Downy mildew (DM) resistant maize was selected from five cultivars using the spreader row technique. Positional cloning and bioinformatics tools identified the DM resistant QTL marker (bnlg1702) and 47 protein coding genes annotations. Eventually, 5 DM resistant gene candidates, including bZIP34, Bak1, and Ppr, were identified by quantitative RT-PCR without fine mapping of the bnlg1702 locus. Specifically, we provided DM resistant gene candidates with our new strategy, including field selection by the spreader row technique without population preparation, the DM resistance region identification by positional cloning using bioinformatics tools, and expression level profiling by quantitative RT-PCR without fine mapping. As whole genome information is available for other crops, we propose applying our novel protocol to other crops or for other diseases with suitable adjustment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.286-286
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• 2022

The properties of starch play an important role in determining the palatability of rice. In addition, the gelatinization temperature (GT) of rice starch is an important factor in determining the quality of rice because it is related to the cooking time and texture of rice. For the development of high-quality rice, it is important to understand the genetic basis of palatability-related traits, and QTL analysis is an effective method to explain the genetic basis of variation in complex traits. QTL mapping related to alkali digestion value (ADV) of brown and milled rice was performed using the 120 Cheongcheong/Nagdong double haploid (CNDH) line. As a result, 12 QTLs related to ADV were detected, and 20 candidate genes were selected from the RM588-RM1163 region of chromosome 6 through screening by gene function analysis. The comparison of the relative expression level of candidate genes showed that OsSS1q6 is highly expressed in CNDH lines with high ADV in both brown rice and milled rice. In addition, OsSS1q6 has high homology with starch synthase 1 protein, and interact with various starch biosynthesis-related proteins, such as GBSSII, SBE, and APL. Therefore, we suggest that OsSS1q6 identified through QTL mapping could be one of the various genes involved in the GT of rice by regulating starch biosynthesis. This study can be used as basic data for breeding high-quality rice and provides a new genetic resource that can increase the palatability of rice.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.295-304
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• 2001

Characterization of quantitative trait loci (QTL) was investigated in the experimental crosses between Berkshire and Yorkshire breed. A total of 525 F$_2$ progenies from 65 matting of F$_1$ Parents were produced. Phenotypic measurements included average daily gain (ADG), average back fat thickness (ABF), and loin eye area (LEA). To identify the presence of QTL for reproductive performance, birth weight (BWT) and body weight at 16 days (16DAY) were included as indirect trait. QTL segregation was deduced using 8 markers assigned to chromosome 2 (SSC2). Quantitative trait locus analyses were performed using interval mapping by regression under line-cross model. Presence of imprinting was tested under the statistical model that separated the expression of paternally and maternally inherited alleles. To set the evidence of QTL presence, significance thresholds were derived by permutation following statistical tests, respectively. Genome scan revealed significant evidence for three quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting growth and body compositions, of which two were identified to be QTL with imprinting expression mode near the ICF II gene region. For average back fat thickness (ABF), a paternally expressed QTL was found on chromosome 2 (SSC2). A paternally expressed QTL affecting loin eye area (LEA) was found in the region of SSC2 where evidence of imprinted QTL was found for average back fat thickness (ABF). For average daily gain (ADG), QTL expressed with Mendelian mode was found on chromosome 2 (SS2). Also, QTL affecting average daily gain (ADC), was identified to be expressed with Mendelian express mode.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6475-6479
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• 2012

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated an association between insulin growth factor (IGF) and insulin growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-III) serum levels and increased risk for various cancers. However, little information is available on clinical implications of the IGF system in Indian patients with cervical cancer. This study explored associations by analyzing their expression profiles in cervical cancer cases. Materials and Methods: Totals of 50 patients with advanced cervical cancer and 40 healthy controls were enrolled. Human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical biopsy sample were obtained from all participating women. Circulatory levels were estimated by ELISA and the tissue expression was assessed using RT-PCR and Western blotting. Results: Levels of IGF-I and II showed significant increase whereas IGFBP-III showed significant decline in all patients as compared to controls. Spearman correlation analysis between IGFs and HPV status showed significant correlations. Conclusions: We demonstrated elevated circulating levels and tissue expression of IGF-I and IGF-II in advancer cancer cervix patients, as compared with controls, with a converse trend being apparent for IGFBP-III. In future, associations of the IGF system and clinical outcome of cervical cancer patients in post treatment samples might point to significance in disease mapping as a prognostic marker after validation with a larger patient series.