• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

In the central nervous system, viral infection can induce inflammation by up-regulating pro-inflammatory mediators that contribute to enhanced infiltration of immune cells into the central nervous areas. Celastrol is known to exert various regulatory functions, including anti-microbial activities. In this study, we investigated the regulatory effects and the mechanisms of action of celastrol against astrocytes activated with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)), a synthetic dsRNA, as a model of pro-inflammatory mediated responses. Celastrol significantly inhibited poly(I:C)-induced expression of adhesion molecules, such as ICAM-1/VCAM-1, and chemokines, such as CCL2, CXCL8, and CXCL10, in CRT-MG human astroglioma cells. In addition, celastrol significantly suppressed poly(I:C)-induced activation of JNK MAPK and STAT1 signaling pathways. Furthermore, celastrol significantly suppressed poly(I:C)-induced activation of the $NF-{\kappa}B$ signaling pathway. These results suggest that celastrol may exert its regulatory activity by inhibiting poly(I:C)-induced expression of pro-inflammatory mediators by suppressing activation of JNK MAPK-STAT1/$NF-{\kappa}B$ in astrocytes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.389-397
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• 2018

The structure of glycan residues attached to glycoproteins can influence the biological activity, stability, and safety of pharmaceutical proteins delivered from transgenic pig milk. The production of therapeutic glycoprotein in transgenic livestock animals is limited, as the glycosylation of mammary gland cells and the production of glycoproteins with the desired homogeneous glycoform remain a challenge. The ${\beta}$-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminylatransferase1 (B3GNT1) gene is an important enzyme that attaches N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) to galactose (Gal) residues for protein glycosylation; however, there is limited information about pig glycosyltransferases. Therefore, we cloned the pig B3GNT1 (pB3GNT1) and investigated its functional properties that could attach N-acetylglucosamine to galactose residue. Using several different primers, a partial pB3GNT1 mRNA sequence containing the full open reading frame (ORF) was isolated from liver tissue. The ORF of pB3GNT1 contained 1,248 nucleotides and encoded 415 amino acid residues. Organ-dependent expression of the pB3GNT1 gene was confirmed in various organs from adult and juvenile pigs. The pB3GNT1 mRNA expression level was high in the muscles of the heart and small intestine but was lower in the lungs. For functional characterization of pB3GNT1, we established a stable expression of the pB3GNT1 gene in the porcine kidney cell line (PK-15). As a result, it was suggested that the glycosylation pattern of pB3GNT1 expression in PK-15 cells did not affect the total sialic acid level but increased the poly N-acetyllactosamine level. The results of this study can be used to produce glycoproteins with improved properties and therapeutic potential for the generation of desired glycosylation using transgenic pigs as bioreactors.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1985.08b
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• pp.7-18
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• 1985

Light-regulated translation of chloroplast mRNAs requires nuclear-encoded trans-acting factors that interact with the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of these mRNAs. A set of four proteins (60, 55, 47, and 38 kDa) that bind to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA had been identified in C. reinhardtii. 47 kDa protein (RB47) was found to encode a chloroplast poly (A)-binding protein (cPABP) that specifically binds to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA, and essential for translation of this mRNA, cDNA encoding 60 kDa protein (RB60) was isolated, and the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein was highly homologous to plants and mammalian protein disulfide isomerases (PDI), normally found in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Immunoblot analysis of C. reinhardtii proteins showed that anti-PDI recognized a distinct protein of 56 kDa in whole cell extract, whereas anti-rRB60 detected a 60 kDa protein. The ER-PDI was not retained on heparin-agarose resin whereas RB60 was retained. In vitro translation products of the RB60 cDNA can be transported into C. reinhardtii chloroplast in vitro. Immunoblot analysis of isolated pea chloroplasts indicated that higher plant also possess a RB60 homolog. In vitro RNA-binding studies showed that RB60 modulates the binding of cPABP to the 5'-UTR of the psbA mRNA by reversibly changing the redox status of cPABP using redox potential or ADP-dependent phosphorylation. Site-directed mutagenesis of -CGHC- catalytic site in thioredoxin-like domain of RB60 is an unique PDI located in the chloroplast of C. reinhardtii, and suggest that the chloroplast PDI may have evolved to utilize the redox-regulated thioredoxin like domain as a mechanism for regulating the light-activated translation of the psbA mRNA.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.6 s.73
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• pp.909-915
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• 2005

We investigated microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) which is the first virus shown to produce viral miRNAs. As expected, expression of all the reported EBV miRNAs were detected by Northen blot in an EBV-infected B cell line, B95-8; BHRF1-1, BHIU1-2, BHRF1-3, BART1, and BART2. The putative EBV pri-miRWAs and pre-miRNAs predicted from the known mature EBV miRNA sequences were detected by RT-PCR in B95-8 cells. Many animal miRNA genes exist as clusters of 2-7 genes and they are expressed polycistronically. As the EBV miRNAs are clustered in two regions of the EBV genome, we examined whether these clustered EBV miRNA genes are also expressed polycistronically. A long polycistronic transcript with the expected size (1602 bp) corresponding to the BHRF1-1~BHRF1-2~BHRF1-3 was amplified. However, any polycistronic transcript containing both BART1 and BART2 was detectable in B95-8. These results suggest that EBV miRNAs may be processed in a similar way with animal miRNAs and that some of the clustered EBV miRNAs can be transcribed polycistronically.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.419-428
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• 2000

Leptin, the product of obese (ob) gene, is an adipocyte-derived satiety factor that plays a major role in the regulation of food intake, energy homeostasis, body weight, reproductive physiology and neuropeptide secretion. The present study was designed to generate transgenic mice expressing antisense mouse ob (mob) gene. Total RNA was extracted from the adipose tissues of mouse, then reverse transcription was performed. The 303 and 635 bp fragments of anti I and II cDNAs were amplified from mob cDNAs by PCR. The two mob cDNAs were reversely ligated into between adipose tissue specific aP2 promote and SV40 poly(A) site. Transgenic mice carrying two different kinds of antisense mob transgenes were generated by DNA microinjection into pronucleus. Total 14 transgenic mice were born, and the 4 and 5 founder lines of the transgenic mice with anti I and II transgenes were respectively established. Antisense mRNA expression was detected in transgenic F$_1$ mice by RT-PCR analysis. This result suggests that the transgenic mice expressing antisense mob mRNA may be useful as an animal disease model to be obesity caused by decreased amount of leptin secretion.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.413-415
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• 1999

Our previous report demonstrated that the rhp51$^＋$, a recA and RAD51 homolog of the fission yeast, encodes three transcripts of 1.9, 1.6 and 1.3 kb which have at least six polyadenylation sites. The 3'-end of the gene alone can direct the formation of multiple, discrete 3'ends of the transcripts. To identify the regulatory element required for the 3'-end formation of -rhp51$^＋$ deletion mapping analysis was performed. Northern blot analysis revealed that the 254-bp DNA fragment including 4 distinct poly (A) sites downstream from the Hindlll site, is crucial for normal 3'-end formation. Deletion of the 3'-terminal AU rich region caused appearance of read-through RNA, leading to enhancement of survival rate of the rhp51 deletion mutant in response to DNA damaging agent, methylmethane sulfonate (MMS). The results imply that the rhp51$^＋$ system may be useful for molecular analysis of the 3'-end formation of RNA in the fission yeast.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.143-148
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• 2008

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein E1(hnRNP E1) is one of the primary pre-mRNA binding proteins in human cells. It consists of 356 amino acid residues and harbors three hnRNP K homology(KH) domains that mediate RNA-binding. The hnRNP E1 protein was shown to play important roles in mRNA stabilization and translational control. In order to enhance our understanding of the cellular functions of hnRNP E1, we searched for interacting proteins through a yeast two-hybrid screening while using HeLa cDNA library as target. One of the cDNA clones was found to be human ribosomal protein L18a cDNA(GenBank accession number BC071920). We demonstrated in this study that human ribosomal protein L18a, a constituent of ribosomal protein large subunit, interacts specifically with hnRNP E1 in the yeast two-hybrid system. Such an interaction was observed for the first time in this study, and was also verified by biochemical assay.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.116-125
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• 1987

It is still difficult and time consuming to obtain cDNA sequences that contain the entire nucleotide sequence of the corresponding mRNA. A rapid and high efficient cloning method to obtain full-length cDNA segments is thus developed. The cloning procedure described here consists of the construction of oligo(dT)-tailed vector primer using pWR34 plasmid, polyadenylation of mRNA-cDNA heteroduplex using terminal deoxytransferase, and replacement of MRNA strand with DNA by RNase H and DNA polymerase I. The restriction endonuclease analysis shows that the size of inserted-cDNA is in the range of 1.5~4.0 kb long suggesting that most of cloned cDNA are full-length or nearly full-length cDNA. The plasmid-DNA recombinants obtained were 4$\times$$10^5$~$10^{6}$ per $\mu\textrm{g}$ of rat liver poly (A$^+$)mRNA, which is 4 to 10 fold higher cloning efficiency in comparison to the presently used methods for full-length cDNA cloning. The results indicate that the described cloning system is much simpler, less time consuming, and very efficient cloning method to construct a cDNA library.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 1993

It is essential to clone the peptide transporter in order to obtain better understanding of its molecular structure, regulation, and substrate specificity. Characteristics of an endogenous peptide transporter in oocytes were studied along with expression of an exogenous proton/peptide cotransporter from rabbit intestine. And further efforts toward cloning the transporter were performed. The presence of an endogenous peptide transporter was detected in Xenopus laevis oocytes by measuring the uptake of $0.25\;{\mu}M\;(10\;{\mu}Ci/ml)\;[^3H]-glycylsarcosine$ (Gly-Sar) at pH 5.5 with or without inhibitors. Uptake of Gly-Sar in oocytes was significantly inhibited by 25 mM Ala-Ala, Gly-Gly, and Gly-Sar (p<0.05), but not by 2.5 mM of Glu-Glu, Ala-Ala, Gly-Gly, Gly-Sar and 25 mM glycine and sarcosine. This result suggests that a selective transporter is involved in the endogenous uptake of dipeptides. Collagenase treatment of oocytes used to strip oocytes from ovarian follicles did not affect the Gly-Sar uptake. Changing pH from 5.5 to 7.5 did not affect the Gly-Sar uptake significantly, suggesting no dependence of the endogenous transporter on a transmembrane proton gradient. An exogenous $H^+/peptide$ cotransporter was expressed after microinjection of polyadenylated messenger ribonucleic acid $[poly\;(A)^+-mRNA]$ obtained from rabbit small intestine. The Gly-Sar uptake in mRNA-injected oocytes was 9 times higher than that in water-injected oocytes. Thus, frog oocytes can be utilized for expression cloning of the genes encoding intestinal $H^+/peptide$ cotransporters. Using the technique size fractionation of mRNA was sucessfully obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.147.2-148
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• 2003

Complete nucleotide sequence of genome RNA of a Korean isolate of Pepper mottle virus (PepMoV-Vb) from field-collected diseased paprika (Capsicum annuum var grossum) was determined in this study. Symptoms of isolates of PepMoV were divided largely into two groups, vein banding (Vb) and vein clearing (Vc) patterns. PepMoV-Vb RNA consists of 9,640 nucleotides excluding the poly(A) tail. A single open reading frame was identified beginning at nucleotide position 169 encoding a polyprotein of 3024 amino acids which is typical of the Potyvirus genus. The complete nucleotide sequence and coding regions of PepMoV-Vb were compared to that of 11 potyviruses within the genus Potyvirus. The overall nucleotide sequence identity was 94.7 and 94.1％ identical to PepMoV-C and PepMoV-FL, respectively. Full-length cDNAs of PepMoV-Vbl were synthesized from purified viral RNAs by RT-PCR and their genome structure was analysed by RFLP analysis. This is the first report on complete nucleotide sequence of PepMoV isolated from paprika in Korea.