• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.328-333
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• 1987

The stabilities of plasmid vectors in Zymomonas mobilis were tested in batch and continuous cultures. It was found that the growth of the host Zymomonas strain was greatly affected by the size of plasmids as well as the composition of nutrient media： the host cells grew taster when harboring plasmids of smaller sizes and in n non-selective medium. All the Zymomonas plasmid vectors containing antibiotics selective markers and Zymomonas replication origins could be maintained in a stable manner over 30 generations without being integrated into host chromosomes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.319-327
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• 1987

In order to develop useful plasmid vectors for Zymomonas cells, attempts were made to isolate natural plasmids from Z. mobilis ATCC10988. Among a few plasmids isolated, a small plasmid of 3.9 Kb size was chosen and designated as pZM3. By introducing the replication origin of pZM3 into pBR325, a hybrid plasmid vector of 8.4 Kb size, pHZ22, was constructed. This vector contained chloramphenicol resistant gene as a selectable marker and proved to be conjugally transmissible and stably maintained in Z. mobilis. Tetracycline resistant gene was isolated from RP4 and introduced into pHZ22 to make a new vector called pHZT224 of 10.7 Kb size. Through n series of experiments, it was evident that these plasmid vectors containing selectable markers of chloramphenicol and tetracycline resistance were shuttle vectors functional in Z. mobilis as well as E. coli.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.582-586
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• 2003

There has been interest in developing gene therapy based on naked plasmid DNA for treating serum protein deficiencies and human erythropoietin (hEPO) is one of the candidate for gene therapy being Investigated most enthusiastically. We constructed novel plasmid DNA vectors pVAC-hEPOI/II/III which contain one, two, three hEPO gene(s) respectively for producing high level expression and secretion of hEPO in vitro and in vivo. NIH3T3 and COS7 cells were transfected transiently with these vectors and increase in hEPO expression in medium reached 2-5 fold in comparison with pSecTagB-hEPO. Intra muscular administrations of pVAC-hEPOI/II/III vectors into mice resulted in high level secretion of hEPO in the serum and corresponding increases in hematocrit level. In conclusion the transduction efficiency of naked plasmid vectors is one of the critical factors of a gene delivery system and these novel plasmid vectors will contribute to various gene therapy based on naked plasmid DNA.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.149-154
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• 1991

Escherichia coli/Corynebacterium glutamicum shuttle vectors, pECCG1 and pECCG2 were constructed by joining a 3.00 kb cryptic plasmid pCB 1 from C. glutamicum and a 3.94 kb plasmid pACYC 177 from E. coli. By trimming unessential parts and introducing mulitiple cloning site into the plasmid pECCG 1, a plasmid pECCG122(5.1kb) was constructed. All the shuttle vectors were stably maintained in C. glutamicum up to about 40 generations irrespective of kanamycin addition in the medium. Threonine operon (homoserine dehydrogenase/homoserine kinase) and dapA gene (dihydrodipicolinate synthetase) of C. glutamicum were cloned into the plasmid pECCG122, and the resultant plasmids were designated pTN31 and pDHDP19, respectively. They were used to study the effect of cloned foreign gene on the stability of the plasmid pECCG122. Plasmids pTN31 and pDHDP19 were segregated rapidly from C. glutamicum when cultured in the medium without kanamycin. In medium with $50\mu${\g/ml} of kanamycin, their segregation rates were much slower than those in medium without kanamycin, but the danamycin addition didn't guarantee the complete maintenance of the plasmids in C. glutamicum.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2001

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are widely used for various food fermentation. With the recent advances in modern biotechnology, a variety of bio-products with the high economic values have been produced using microorganisms. For molecular cloning and expression studies on the gene of interest, E. coli has been widely used mainly because vector systems are fully developed. Most plasmid vectors currently used for E, coli carry antibiotic-resistant markers. As it is generally believed that the antibiotic resistance markers are potentially transferred to other bacteria, application of the plasmid vectors carrying antibiotic resistance genes as selection markers should be avoided, especially for human consump-tion. By contrast, as LAB have some desirable traits such that the they are GRAS(generally recognized as safe), able to secrete gene products out of cell, and their low protease activities, they are regarded as an ideal organism for the genetic manipulation, including cloning and expression of homologous and heterologous genes. However, the vec-tor systems established for LAB are stil insufficient to over-produce gene products, stably, limiting the use of these organisms for industrial applications. For a past decade, the two popular plasmid vectors, pAM$\beta$1 of Streptococcus faecalis and pGK12 theB. subtilis-E. coli shuttle vector derived from pWV01 of Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris wg 2, were most widely used to construct efficient chimeric vectors to be stably maintained in many industrial strains of LAB. Currently, non-antibiotic markers such as nisin resistance($Nis^{r}$ ) are explored for selecting recombi-nant clone. In addition, a gene encoding S-layer protein, slp/A, on bacterial cell wall was successfully recombined with the proper LAB vectors LAB vectors for excretion of the heterologous gene product from LAB Many food-grade host vec-tor systems were successfully developed, which allowed stable integration of multiple plasmid copies in the vec-mosome of LAB. More recently, an integration vector system based on the site-specific integration apparatus of temperate lactococcal bacteriophage, containing the integrase gene(int) and phage attachment site(attP), was pub-lished. In conclusion, when various vector system, which are maintain stably and expressed strongly in LAB, are developed, lost of such food products as enzymes, pharmaceuticals, bioactive food ingredients for human consump-tion would be produced at a full scale in LAB.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 1989

The effect of E. coli plasmid DNA sequences contained by chimeric vectors on plasmid replication was investigated. We constructed YRp7- or 2.$\mu$m circle-based plasmids containing E. coli plasmid DNA sequences and those not containing it. By examining their maintenance in yeast, we showed that plasmid without E. coli plasmid DNA sdquences was nore stable and presented higher copy number, and espressed higher level of hepatitis B viral surface antigen as a foreign gene. This result suggested that E. coli plasmid DNA sequences within chimeric plasmid somehow inhibited plasmid replication in yeast.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2003

Viral and non-viral vectors have been used in the delivery of genetic materials into animal cells and tissues, with each approach having pros and cons. Non-viral vectors have many useful merits such as easy preparation, low immunity and size tolerance of a transgene when compared to those of viral vectors. Delivery specificity may be achieved by complex formation between receptor ligands and a non-viral vector. In the present study, non-viral vector systems are investigated in an effort to find a practical delivery means for gene therapy, Receptor-ligand interaction between transferrin-receptor and transferrin was utilized for efficient gene transfer into cancer cells. A plasmid vector, pcDNA3 (LacZ) was ligated with a small duplexed oligo fragment in which a Biotin- VN$^{TM}$ phosphoramidite was placed in the middle of the oligo. The plasmid vector labeled by biotin was then conjugated with biotin-labeled transferrin via streptavidin. This trimeric conjugates were delivered to a hepatoma cell line, HepG2. The delivery efficiency of the trimeric conjugate was 2-fold higher than that of cationic liposomes used for transfection of a plasmid vector. These results demonstrate that a plasmid vector can be efficiently transferred into cells by forming a trimeric complex of plasmid vector-linker-ligand.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.364-369
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• 1999

In order to obtain the suitable plasmids for constructing plasmid vectors of Bacillus species, endogeneous plasmid DNAs were screended from thermo-tolerant soil bacteria. Based on agarose gel electrophoresis patterns of the isolated plasmid DNAs, two strains harboring small-size plasmids were selected. The isolated were identified to belong to the genus Bacillus on the basis of their morphological and biochemical properties, and named Bacillus sp. 3-3 and 77-8, respectively. The restriction endonuclease maps were determined for four plasmids including two plasmids from each Bacillus isolates. It is interesting that Bacillus sp. 3-3 and 77-8 have an identical plasmid according to the restriction maps. The three kinds of hybrid plasmids constructed by introducing each plasmid of two isolates into a Escherichia coli plasmid vector. pUCCm18 containing chloramplenicol resistance gene active in Bacillus strains, could be replicated in B. subtilis and B. licheniformis. These plasmids are very stable in B. subtilis, suggesting that the Bacillus plasmids identified in this work would be useful for development of new cloning vectors for Bacillus strains.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.190-197
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• 2004

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by chronic synovial inflammation which leads to joint destruction. Gene therapy of RA targets the players of inflammation or articular destruction. However, viral vectors have safety problems and side effects, while non-viral vectors suffer from inefficient gene transfer and fast loss of gene expression. To overcome the limits of non-vial vectors, an EBV-based plasmid which is known to exert prolonged high level gene expression can be used. Methods: pEBVGFP, pEBVIL-10, and pEBVvIL-10 were constructed by cloning GFP, IL-10, and vIL-10 genes into an EBV-based plasmid, respectively. The pGFP was used as a control plasmid. Each constructs were lipofected into HIG-82 rabbit synoviocytes. The expression of GFP was monitored by FACS and confocal microscopy. IL-10 and vIL-10 expressions were measured by ELISA. Results: GFP expression 2 days after transfection was achieved in 33.2% of cells. GFP-expressing cells transfected with pGFP decreased rapidly from 4 days after transfection and disappeared completely by 11 days. Cells transfected with pEBVGFP began to decrease slowly from 4 days. But GFP expression was detected for over 35 days. In addition, HIG-82 cells transfected with pEBVIL-10 ($44.6{\pm}1.5ng/ml$) or pEBVvIL-10 ($51.0{\pm}5.7ng/ml$) secreted these cytokines at high levels. High level cytokine production by hygromycin selection was maintained at least for up to 26 days after transfection. Conclusion: These results suggest that the EBV-based plasmid has a potential to improve non-viral gene transfer system and may be applicable to treat RA without the drawbacks of viral vectors.

• BMB Reports
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.565-575
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• 2020

Gene therapy is emerging as a treatment option for inherited genetic diseases. The success of this treatment approach greatly depends upon gene delivery vectors. Researchers have attempted to harness the potential of viral vectors for gene therapy applications over many decades. Among the viral vectors available, gutless adenovirus (GLAd) has been recognized as one of the most promising vectors for in vivo gene delivery. GLAd is constructed by deleting all the viral genes from an adenovirus. Owing to this structural feature, the production of GLAd requires a helper that supplies viral proteins in trans. Conventionally, the helper is an adenovirus. Although the helper adenovirus efficiently provides helper functions, it remains as an unavoidable contaminant and also generates replication-competent adenovirus (RCA) during the production of GLAd. These two undesirable contaminants have raised safety concerns and hindered the clinical applications of GLAd. Recently, we developed helper virus-free gutless adenovirus (HF-GLAd), a new version of GLAd, which is produced by a helper plasmid instead of a helper adenovirus. Utilization of this helper plasmid eliminated the helper adenovirus and RCA contamination in the production of GLAd. HF-GLAd, devoid of helper adenovirus and RCA contaminants, will facilitate its clinical applications. In this review, we discuss the characteristics of adenoviruses, the evolution and production of adenoviral vectors, and the unique features of HF-GLAd as a new platform for gene therapy. Furthermore, we highlight the potential applications of HF-GLAd as a gene delivery vector for the treatment of various inherited genetic diseases.