• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.159-165
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• 2009

This study was conducted to identify the PERV (Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus) integration sites and their characterizations using the porcine genomic sequence information. Total 114 Mb (4.2%) sequence of the 2.7 Gb pig genome was investigated for the PERV sequences. As the results, 8 PERV sequences were identified and their genomic structures were deduced from the BLAST searches against previously known PERV genes. Seven PERVs have internal deletions in the protein coding region and they will not be functional. The other one also has internal deletions in the gag and env genes, indicating this PERV is also defective. Even though we could not identify the functional PERVs in this study, the results presented here can be used for the fundamental research materials for controlling PERV infections in relation to xenotransplantation using porcine organs and tissues.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.11
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• pp.899-908
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• 2020

Intrinsically disordered proteins or regions (IDPs or IDRs) are widespread in the eukaryotic proteome. Although lacking stable three-dimensional structures in the free forms, IDRs perform critical functions in various cellular processes. Accordingly, mutations and altered expression of IDRs are associated with many pathological conditions. Hence, it is of great importance to understand at the molecular level how IDRs interact with their binding partners. In particular, discovering the unique interaction features of IDRs originating from their dynamic nature may reveal uncharted regulatory mechanisms of specific biological processes. Here we discuss the mechanisms of the macromolecular interactions mediated by IDRs and present the relevant cellular processes including transcription, cell cycle progression, signaling, and nucleocytoplasmic transport. Of special interest is the multivalent binding nature of IDRs driving assembly of multicomponent macromolecular complexes. Integrating the previous theoretical and experimental investigations, we suggest that such IDR-driven multiprotein complexes can function as versatile allosteric switches to process diverse cellular signals. Finally, we discuss the future challenges and potential medical applications of the IDR research.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8155-8159
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer is the serious health concern in India causing the highest mortality rate in females, which occurs due to uncontrolled cell division and can be metastasize to other parts of the human body. Interactions with estrogen receptor (ER) alpha are mainly responsible for the malignant tumors with regulation of the transcription of various genes as a transcription factor. Most of the drugs currently used for the breast cancer treatment produce various side effects and hence we focused on natural compounds which do not exhibit any toxic effect against normal human cells. Materials and Methods: Structure of human ER was retrieved from the Protein Data Bank and the structures of flavonoid compounds have been collected from PubChem database. Molecular docking and drug likeness studies were performed for those natural compounds to evaluate and analyze the anti-breast cancer activity. Results: Finally two compounds satisfying the Lipinski's rule of five were reported. The two compounds also exhibited highest binding affinity with human ER greater than 10.5 Kcal/mol. Conclusions: The results of this study can be implemented in the drug designing pipeline.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.54-58
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• 2017

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS) is one of the powerful methods that enable analysis of small molecules as well as large molecules up to about 500,000 Da without severe fragmentation. MALDI-TOF MS, thus, has been a very useful an analytical tool for the confirmation of synthetic molecules, probing PTMs, and identifying structures of a given protein. In recent nuclear medicine, MALDI-TOF MS liner ion mode helps researcher calculate the average number of chelator(or linkage) per an antibody conjugate, such as DOTA-(or DFO-) trastuzumab for labeling a medical radioisotope. This simple technique can be utilized to improve the labeling method and control the quality at the development of antibody-based radiopharmaceuticals, which is very effected to diagnosis and therapy for in vivo tumor cells, with radioisotopes like $^{89}Zr$, $^{64}Cu$, and 177Lu. To minimize the error, MALDI-TOF MS measurement is repeatedly performed for each sample in this study, and external calibration is carried out after data collection.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.144.1-144
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• 2003

Attenuated viruses can protect their hosts against challenge to their related viruses. Increasing evidence shows that mutations of the tobamoviral 126/183 kDa protein play a major role in the viral attenuation and contribute to the cross protection mechanism. In this study, four mutants of Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) have been constructed by mutagenesis; two mutants, pTPpoly348 and pTPpoly762, were substituted in the middle of replicase gene, and the others, pTPL3D:: $\Delta$6207 and pTPL3D:: $\Delta$6219, were deletion mutants made by deleting some parts of pseudoknot structures of the 3' noncoding region (NCR) of the virus. Progeny viruses generated from the four mutants were infectious on N. benthamiana plants with symptomless or mild mosaic symptom. Replication efficiency and viral product accumulations of four mutants were assessed by Northern and Western blot analyses on BY-2 protoplast cells. Accumulation of CP for the pTPL3D:: $\Delta$6207 and pTPL3D:: $\Delta$6219 were lower than that of other mutants and wild type virus. These data suggest that the 3'-NCR mutations contribute to the viral gene expression in host tissues, while mutants of replicase gene rather govern the symptom expression.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.215-225
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• 1999

Phytochromes (with gene family members phyA, B, C, D, and E) are a wavelength-dependent light sensor or switch for gene regulation that underscore a number of photo responsive developmental and morphogenic processes in plants. Recently, phytochrome-like pigment proteins have also been discovered in prokaryotes, possibly functioning as an auto-phosphorylating/phosphate-relaying two-component signaling system (Yeh et al., 1997). Phytochromes are photochromically convertible between the light sensing Pr and regulatory active Pfr forms. Red light converts Pr to Pfr, the latter having a "switch-on" conformation. The Pfr form triggers signal transduction pathways to the downstream responses including the expression of photosynthetic and other growth-regulating genes. The components involved in and the molecular mechanisms of the light signal transduction pathways are largely unknown, although G-proteins, protein kinases, and secondary messengers such as $Ca^{2+}$ ions and cGMP are implicated. The 124-127 kDa phytochromes form homodimeric structures. The N-terminal half contains the tetrapyrrolic phytochromobilin for red/far-red light absorption. The C-terminal half includes both a dimerization motif and regulatory box where the red light signal perceived by the chromophore-domain is recognized and transduced to initiate the signal transduction cascade. A working model for the inter-domain signal communication within the phytochrome molecule is proposed in this Review.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.691-695
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• 2015

We report that phytosphingosine, a sphingolipid found in many organisms and implicated in cellular signaling, promotes megakaryocytic differentiation of myeloid leukemia cells. Specifically, phytosphingosine induced several hallmark changes associated with megakaryopoiesis from K562 and HEL cells including cell cycle arrest, cell size increase and polyploidization. We also confirmed that cell type specific markers of megakaryocytes, CD41a and CD42b are induced by phytosphingosine. Phospholipids with highly similar structures were unable to induce similar changes, indicating that the activity of phytosphingosine is highly specific. Although phytosphingosine is known to activate p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-mediated apoptosis, the signaling mechanisms involved in megakaryopoiesis appear to be distinct. In sum, we present another model for dissecting molecular details of megakaryocytic differentiation which in large part remains obscure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.414-421
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• 1999

Helicobacter pylori were found to be resistant to azide but sensitive to vanadate, suggesting that defect in the P-type ATPase activity rather than F-type ATPase would be lethal to cell survival or growth. To elucidate the relationship between this enzyme inhibition and H. pylori death, we determined the effect of omeprazole (OMP) plus vanadate on enzyme activity and cell growth. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC; ca. 0.8$\mu$mol/disk) of vanadate for H. pylori growth was lowered over l0-fold with the aid of OMP, whereby its inhibitory potential toward the P-type ATPase activity was diametrically increased. Alternatively, we found that this enzyme activity was essential for active transport in H. pylori. From these observations, we strongly suggest that the immediate cause of the growth inhibition of H. pylori cells with OMP and/or vanadate might be defective in the cell's active transport due to the lack of P-type ATPase activity. From the spectral data with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, we found that activated OMP (OAS) at concentration below MIC did not disrupt helical structures of membrane proteins. Separately, we determined the cytopathic effect of OAS by SDS-PAGE, indicating the change in the production of cytoplasmic protein but not cell membrane.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2008

The testis and epididymis are important organs of the male reproductive system; the functionis to produce, mature, transport, and store sperm. It is important to understand the localization and expressionof specific proteins based for the studies of its physiological processes. In this study, we investigated theexpression and distribution of galectin-3, one of beta-galactoside-binding proteins, in the testis andepididymis of mouse using western blot and imunohistochemistry. Western blot analysis revealed that theexpression of galectin-3, 29 kDa protein, was low in the testis. In the epididymis, high expression wasdetected in the body and tail part, but moderate expression in the head part. By immunohistochemicalanalysis, we found that positive localization of galectin-3 was detected in some myoid cells and Leydigin the epithelium of epididymis, especially in the epithelium of both body and tail of epididymis. Collectively,these results suggest that galectin-3 is constitutively expressed in the testis and epididymis of mouse withvarying intensity, and the role of galectin-3 in the male reproductive organ may be involved in the specificfunction of its structures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Bioinformatics Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.114-119
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• 2003

단백질 구조를 비교하는 방법은 단백질 구조를 표현하는 기술에 따라 다양하게 존재한다. 일반적인 단백질 구조 정렬방법은 단백질 구조를 원자 또는 Residue를 기준으로 표현하고, 표현된 두 구조사이의 일치된 부분을 찾는 방법과 단백질 구조를 단백질 이차구조요소로 표현하고 표현된 두 단백질 구조를 정렬하는 방법으로 크게 구분된다. 이러한 단백질 구조 비교 방법은 단백질 구조의 유사성을 측정하는 과정에서 많은 시간을 요구할 뿐만 아니라 PDB에 저장된 데이터가 증가함에 따라 보다 많은 단백질과 비교가 요구된다. 따라서 대용량의 단백질 구조 데이터베이스를 대상으로 효율적으로 단백질의 유사 부분구조를 찾을 수 있는 방법이 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 단백질 구조 비교를 보다 빠르고 효과적으로 수행하기 위하여, 기존의 단백질 이차구조 기반의 구조 표현 방법인 PSAML을 확장하여 단백질 이차구조가 가지는 공간상의 정보를 내포한 Topology String을 생성하고 이를 이용하여 대용량의 단백질구조 데이터베이스에서 유사성이 높은 단백질 구조를 필터링하는 방법에 대하여 기술한다. Topology String은 단백질 이차구조를 하나의 문자로 기술하여 아미노산 순서와 위상학적인(공간적인) 정보를 바탕으로 단백질 구조를 표현하여, 단백질 이차구조를 이용하여 구조 비교를 수행하기 이전에 유사성이 높은 단백질 구조를 신속하게 찾아내는데 효과적으로 적용될 수 있다.