• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.9
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• pp.823-834
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• 2007

Interferon (IFN) alpha has been the first line therapy of chronic hepatitis B in children, but HBeAg seroconversion occurred in 26% of treated children compared to 11% of controls in multinational randomized controlled study. Recently, lamivudine was shown to be a potent inhibitor of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reproduction both in HBeAg positive and in HBeAg negative (the pre-core mutant form) chronic hepatitis in randomized studies worldwide. Lamivudine therapy led to considerable improvement in the seroconversion rate of HBeAg in children with chronic hepatitis B, though long-term therapy resulted in the expansion of lamivudine-resistant mutant viruses. Combination therapy with lamivudine plus alpha-IFN does not seem to improve HBe Ag seroconversion. Above all, the most effective way to prevent hepatitis B is universal HBV vaccination.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.195-198
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• 2001

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase, which possesses the activities of terminal binding, DNA polymerase, reverse transcriptase and RNaseH, has been shown to accomplish viral DNA replication through a pregenomic intermediate. Because the HBV polymerase has not been purified, the expression of HBV polymerase was examined in an E. coli expression system that is under the regulation of arabinose operon. The expressed individual domain containing terminal binding protein, polymerase, or RNaseH turned out to be insoluble. The activities of those domains were not able to be recovered by denaturation and renaturation using urea or guanidine-HCI. The expressed reverse transcriptase containing the polymerase and RNaseH domains became extensively degraded, whereas the proteolysis was reduced in a Ion- mutant. These results indicate that Lon protease proteolyzes the HBV reverse transcriptase expressed in E. coli.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2006

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.72-77
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• 1997

The baculovirus gp64 glycoprotein is a major component of the envelope protein of budded virus (BV). It has been shown that the gp64 glycoprotein plays an essential role in the infection process, especialy fusion between virus envelope and cellular endosomic membrane. Recently we reported optimal conditions required for gp64-mediated membrane fusion in pGP64 DNA transfected Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells (H. J. Kim and J. M. Yang, Jour, Microbiology, 34.7-14). In order to investigate the role of hydrophobicity within the fusion domain of the gp64 glycoprotein for membrane fusion, 13 mutants which have substitution mutation within hydrophobic region I were constructed by PCR-derived site-derected mutagenesis. Each mutated gp64 glycoproteins was transiently expressed by transfecting plasmid DNA into Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells. Oligomerization of the transisently expressed gp64 glycoproteins was a nalysed by running them on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under non-reducing condition followed by immunoblotting. All of the mutant gp64 glycoproteins expect cysteine-228 were able to form trimers. These results suggest that hydrophobic region I of the gp64 may not be responsible for the oligomerization of the gp64 glycoprotein.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2008

The long terminal repeat (LTR) of retroviral DNA genome plays an important role in the integration process by providing substrate recognition site for viral integrase (IN). The dinucleotide CA near the 3'-end of the LTR termini is completely conserved among retoviruses. In order to study specificity of interaction between prototype foamy virus (PFV) IN and its U5 LTR DNA, the effect of mutagenesis of the CA sequence was investigated by studying reactivity of PFV IN to the mutant LTR substrates. Replacement of only the C or the A allowed 60 to 100% of the reactivity of the wild type LTR substrate. In addition, replacement of the C and the A showed 50 to 80% of the reactivity of the wild type LTR substrate, indicating that PFV IN has less specificity on the conserved CA sequence when it is compared to the other retroviral INs. Therefore it is suggested that PFV IN is less dependent on the conserved sequence of LTR termini for its enzymatic reaction.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2019

Methylation of HBV cccDNA has been detected in vivo and in vitro; however, the mechanism and its effects on HBV replication remain unclear. HBx derived from a 1.2-mer HBV replicon upregulated protein levels and enzyme activities of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), 3a, and 3b, resulting in methylation of the negative regulatory region (NRE) in cccDNA, while none of these effects were observed with an HBx-null mutant. The HBx-positive HBV cccDNA expressed higher levels of HBc and produced about 4-fold higher levels of HBV particles than those from the HBx-null counterpart. For these effects, HBx interrupted the action of NRE binding protein via methylation of the C-1619 within NRE, resulting in activation of the core promoter. Treatment with 5-Aza-2′dC or DNMT1 knock-down drastically impaired the ability of HBx to activate the core promoter and stimulate HBV replication in 1.2-mer HBV replicon and in vitro infection systems, indicating the positive role of HBx-mediated cccDNA methylation in HBV replication.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2011

When plants undergo stress, Reactive oxygen species (ROS) which remove bad elements such as mildew and virus is activated in plant body. However, if ROS is excessively increased, plant will be harmed itself by destruction of cell and signal system and phenomenon of lipid peroxidation. In order to identify content of lipid peroxidation and activity of some enzymes scavenging ROS, phenotypical and physiological analysis was performed with two mutant lines, Till-II-877 and Till-II-894, comparing with cv. Dongan (WT). In phenotype analysis, two mutant lines give to well-conditioned growth better than WT in since 5 days after salt treatment. In enzyme activities, there was a modest difference in the content of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) between Till-II-877 and Till-II-894, two mutant lines showed high levels in CAT contents than WT. However, they express low levels in POD contents. In MDA analysis, the content of Till-II-877 was higher than that of WT, but Till-II-894 was lower. This result indicates that two mutants have different mechanism against salt stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.178-178
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• 1994

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a DNA virus with a 3.2kb partially double-stranded genome. The life cycle of the virus involves a reverse transcription of the greater than genome length 3.5kb mRNA. This pegenomic RNA contains all the genetic information encoded by the virus and functions as an intermediate in viral replication. Tumor suppressor p53 has previously been shown to interact with the X-gene product of the HBV, which led us to hypothesize that p53 may act as a negative regulator of HBV replication and the role of the X-gene product is to overcome the p53-mediated restriction. As a first step to prove the above hypothesis, we tested whether p53 represses the propagation of HBV in in vitro replication system. By transient cotransfection of the plasmid containing a complete copy of the HBV genome and/or the plasmid encoding p53, we found that the replication of HBV is specifically blocked by wild-type p53. The levels of HBV DNA, HBs Ag and HBc/e Ag secreted in cell culture media were dramatically reduced upon coexpresion of wild-type p53 but not by the coexpression of the mutants of p53 (G154V and R273L). Furthermore, levels of RNAs originated from HBV genome were repressed more than 10 fold by the cotransfection of the p53 encoding plasmid. These results clearly states that p53 is a nesative regulator of the HBV replication. Next, to addresss the mechanism by which p53 represses the HBV replication, we performed the transient transfection experiments employing the pregenomic/core promoter-CAT(Chloramphenicol Acetyl Transferase) construct as a reporter. Cotransfection of wild-type p53 but not the mutant p53 expression plasmids repressed the CAT activity more than 8 fold. Integrating the above results, we propose that p53 represses the replication of HBV specifically by the down-regulation of the pregenomic/core promoter, which results in the reduced DNA synthesis of HBV. Currently, the mechanism by which HBV overcomes the observed p53-mediated restriction of replication is tinder investigation.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.956-962
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• 2005

Leishmania virus (LRV)1-4 has been reported to produce a fusion of ORF2 and ORF3 via a programmed +1 frameshift in the region where ORF2 and ORF3 overlap (Lee et a/., 1996). However, the exact frameshift site has not been identified. In this study, we compared the frameshift efficiency of a 259bp (nt. 2565-2823), frameshift region of LRV1-4, and the 71 bp (nt. 2605-2678) sub-region where ORF2 and ORF3 overlap. We then predicted the frameshift site using a new computer program (Pseudoviewer), and finally identified the specific region associated with the mechanism of the LRV1-4's+1 frameshift by means of a mutational analysis based on the predicted structure of LRV1-4 RNA. The predicted structure was confirmed by biochemical analysis. In order to measure the frameshift efficiency, constructs that generate luciferase without a frameshift or with a+1 frameshift, were generated and in vitro transcription/translation analysis was performed. Measurements of the luciferase activity generated, showed that the frameshift efficiency was about $1\%$ for both the 259bp (LRV1-4 259FS) and 71 bp region (LRV1-4 71FS). Luciferase activity was strongly reduced in a mutant (LRV1-4 NH: nt. 2635-2670) with the entire hairpin deleted and in a mutant (LRV1-4 NUS: nt. 2644-2659) with the upper stem of the hairpin deleted. These results indicate that the frameshift site in LRV1-4's is in the 71 bp region where ORF2 and ORF3 overlap, and that nt. 2644-2659 (the upward hairpin stem) playa key role in generating the +1 frameshift.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.25 no.3 s.82
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• pp.191-201
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• 1997

A mutant (HSMl) of Cryphonectria parasitica created during transformation reproduced the hypovirulent symptoms in virus-free wild type. Its phenomena have been proved with morphological marker such as reduced sporulation, pigmentation, and laccase production. In addition to the changes in phenotypic characteristics, down-regulations of Lac1, Crp1, Vir1 and Vir2 were also observed. The integration of transforming vector was confirmed and located within genome by marker rescuing. Vector integration occurred between two genes, Cpg2 and Cpg3, which resulted in the disruption of neither Cpg2 nor Cpg3. Both Cpg2 and Cpg3 genes, sized at 1.8 kb and 1.9 kb respectively, were rarely transcribed genes in Cryphonectria parasitica. Cpg2 expression was significantly overexpressed from 4 to 5 day old culture of both UEP1 and HSM1 while no differences were observed in Cpg3 expression. It appears that an aberration from the normal expression of Cpg2, not Cpg3, results in the hypovirulent symptoms in virus-free wild type.