• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2011

Chloroplast genetic engineering of higher plants offers several unique advantages compared with nuclear genome transformation, such as high levels of transgene expression, a lack of position effect due to site-specific transgene integration by homologous recombination, multigene engineering in a single transformation event and reducing risks of gene flow via pollen due to maternal inheritance. We established a reproducible chloroplast transformation system of potato using a tobacco specific plastid transformation vector, pCtVG (trnI-Prrn-aadA-mgfp-TpsbA-trnA). Stable transgene integration into chloroplast genomes and the homoplasmic state of the transgenome were confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analyses. Northern, immunoblot analysis, and GFP fluorescence imaging revealed high expression and accumulation of GFP in the plastids of potato leaves. This system would provide new opportunities for genetic improvement and mass production of value added foreign proteins in this crop.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.299-303
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• 2015

KO mice provide an excellent tool to determine roles of specific genes in biomedical filed. Traditionally, knockout mice were generated by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells. Recently, engineered nucleases, such as zinc finger nuclease, transcription activator-like effector nuclease and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), were used to produce knockout mice. This new technology is useful because of high efficiency and ability to generate biallelic mutation in founder mice. Until now, most of knockout mice produced using engineered nucleases were C57BL/6 strain. In the present study we used CRISPR-Cas9 system to generate knockout mice in FVB strain. We designed and synthesized single guide RNA (sgRNA) of CRISPR system for targeting gene, Abtb2. Mouse zygote were obtained from superovulated FVB female mice at 8-10 weeks of age. The sgRNA was injected into pronuclear of the mouse zygote with recombinant Cas9 protein. The microinjected zygotes were cultured for an additional day and only cleaved embryos were selected. The selected embryos were surgically transferred to oviduct of surrogate mother and offsprings were obtained. Genomic DNA were isolated from the offsprings and the target sequence was amplified using PCR. In T7E1 assay, 46.7% among the offsprings were founded as mutants. The PCR products were purified and sequences were analyzed. Most of the mutations were founded as deletion of few sequences at the target site, however, not identical among the each offspring. In conclusion, we found that CRISPR system is very efficient to generate knockout mice in FVB strain.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.275-282
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• 2010

Chloroplast transformation in higher plants offers many attractive advantages over nuclear transformation, including a high-level accumulation of foreign proteins, multi-gene expression in single transformation event via transgene stacking in operons and no position effect due to site-specific integration of transgenes by homologous recombination. Most importantly, chloroplast transgenic plants are eco-friendly because their transgenes are maternally inheritance in most crop plants. However, chloroplast transformation system has limited success in crops alike nuclear transformation. In the past two decades, great progress has been made to overcome the limitations of chloroplast transformation, thus expending chloroplast bioreactor to several important crops including soybean, carrot, lettuce, and oilseed. Therefore, it has become possible that chloroplast transformation of crops can be used not only for the improvement of agronomic traits, but also for the production of vaccines and high valuable therapeutic proteins in pharmaceutical industry.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.304-312
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• 2013

The thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha is attracting interest as a potential strain for the production of recombinant proteins and biofuels. However, only limited numbers of genome engineering tools are currently available for H. polymorpha. In the present study, we identified the HpPOL3 gene encoding the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase ${\delta}$ of H. polymorpha and mutated the sequence encoding conserved amino acid residues that are important for its proofreading 3'${\rightarrow}$5' exonuclease activity. The resulting $HpPOL3^*$ gene encoding the error-prone proofreading-deficient DNA polymerase ${\delta}$ was cloned under a methanol oxidase promoter to construct the mutator plasmid pHIF8, which also contains additional elements for site-specific chromosomal integration, selection, and excision. In a H. polymorpha mutator strain chromosomally integrated with pHIF8, a $URA3^-$ mutant resistant to 5-fluoroorotic acid was generated at a 50-fold higher frequency than in the wild-type strain, due to the dominant negative expression of $HpPOL3^*$. Moreover, after obtaining the desired mutant, the mutator allele was readily removed from the chromosome by homologous recombination to avoid the uncontrolled accumulation of additional mutations. Our mutator system, which depends on the accumulation of random mutations that are incorporated during DNA replication, will be useful to generate strains with mutant phenotypes, especially those related to unknown or multiple genes on the chromosome.

• Entomological Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.384-389
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• 2018

Aphis gossypii Glover is an important insect pest that functions as a viral vector and mediates approximately 45 different viral diseases. As part of a strategy for control of A. gossypii, we investigated the functions of genes using RNAi. To this end, a cDNA library was constructed for various genes and for selecting appropriate targets for RNAi mediated silencing. The cDNA library was constructed using the Gateway cloning system with site-specific recombination of bacteriophage ${\lambda}$. It was used to carry out single step cloning of A. gossypii cDNAs. As a result, a cDNA library with a titer of $8.4{\times}10^6$ was constructed. Since the sequences in this library carry att sites, they can be cloned into various binary vectors. This library will be of value for various studies. For later screening of selected genes, it is planned to clone the library into virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) vectors, which makes it possible to analyze gene function and allow subsequent transfection of plants. Such transfection experiments will allow testing of RNAi-induced insecticidal activity or repellent activity to A. gossypii, and result in the identification of target genes. It is also expected that the constructed cDNA library will be useful for analysis of gene functions in A. gossypii.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.26 no.4 s.87
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• pp.450-457
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• 1998

The cryparin of Cryphonectria parasitica belongs to a cell wall associated fungal hydrophobin. The cryparin, though it is encoded by a single copy gene, is known for the high expression during the liquid culture of C. parasitica, and it turns out that 22% of total mRNA was transcribed for cryparin at 48hr after the liquid culture. In addition, it is also known as one of down-regulated fungal proteins by the presence of double stranded RNA virus, Cryphonectria hypovirus 1. In previous studies (Kim et al., 1999), we have constructed a cryparin-null mutant by replacing the cryparin gene with hygromycin B resistance gene due to site directed homologous recombination. In order for the promoter analysis of cryparin which seems to be very strong as well as mycoviral specific, it is preferable to have a strain with only a target promoter replaced and a discernable target site for incoming vectors. However, the cryparin-null mutant revealed the presence of an additional copy of transforming vector except the one which replaced the cryparin gene. In addition, the cryparin-null mutant did not contain any markers for targeted integration of incoming vectors. This prompts us to design an experiment to obtain a strain for promoter analysis of cryparin gene. A different mating type strain EP6(Mata, $met^-$) was mated with the cryparin-null mutant ${\triangle}$Crp194-7(MatA, Crp${\triangle}$::hph) to make the progenies with only a single replacement vector and $met^-$ characteristic remained. Nutritional assay as well as Southern blot analysis revealed that the progeny, ${\triangle}$Crp194-a6, was the methionine auxotroph with a single replacing vector in genome. Northern blot analysis and PAGE showed that there was no cryparin produced in this bred strain either.