• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.253-260
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• 2000

The virulence(vir) genes in Ti plasmid at Agrobacterium tumefaciens are expressed by a phenolic compound synthesized at plant wound site. The vir genes inducing abilities of 8 phenolic compounds were tested using three wild type strains of A. tumefaciens. It was also investigated how the levels of vir gene expression among the strains tested could be related to the kinds of specific phenolic compounds. Five phenolic compounds like as 4-hydroxyacetophenone, phenol, catechol, resorcinol, and vanillin had exhibited a strong effect on the vir gene expression of A. tumefaciens MW102 whereas they did not be either non-functional or weakly inducible to the vir gene expression of other strains i.e. A. tumefaciens MW105 and MW108. Furthermore, the vir gene of A. tumefaciens MW102 was lowly expressed by acetosyringone that exposed an strong effect on the vir gene induction of other two strains. Thus, it appeared that the vir gene inducing abilities were differed by the kinds of phenolic compounds and Ti plasmids. In conclusion, we suppose that a change in vir gene inducing ability could be resulted from a difference of sensor protein expressed by vir A gene.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1000-1006
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• 2011

We examined the effects of various phenolic compounds, Ti plasmids(octopine, nopaline) and A. tumefaciens on the vir gene expression. Nine phenolic compounds were tested using 3 types of Ti plasmid and 3 strains of A. tumefaciens on the vir gene expression. It was also investigated how the levels of vir gene expression could be related to specific phenolic compounds. Six phenolic compounds as 4-hydroxyacetophenone, phenol, catechol, resorcinol, acetosyringone and vanillin had exhibited a strong effect on the vir gene expression of A. tumefaciens MW107 containing nopaline Ti plasmid. The vir genes of A. tumefaciens MW105 and MW108 containing octopine Ti plasmids were remarkably stimulated only by acetosyringone. Thus, it appeared that the vir gene inducing abilities were differed by the kinds of phenolic compounds, A. tumefaciens and Ti plasmids.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 1999

To elucidate the role of vir-box in the expression of the virE gene, the vir-box was modified by site-directed mutagenesis and tested for ${\beta}$-galactosidase activities. A, C, T T, A, C substitutions at -62, -63, and -65 positions, destroying the 5'-region of the vir-box and A T at position -55, destroying the 3'-region of the vir-box respectively, showed only 17% promoter activity. When the vir-box was modified to contain perfect dyad symmetry structure (DSR) by the substitutions T, G A, T at -60 an d-61 positions, ${\beta}$-glactosidase activity increased 302%. These results indicate that the 5' and 3'-region of vir-box as well as the imperfect DSR of the vir-box itself may play a very important role in the regulation of virE gene expression.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 1995

The vir genes expression of Ti plasmid is induced by a family of related phenolic compounds. We investigated the effects of various phenolic compounds, Ti plasmids and hosts on the expression of the vir genes in the same type of octopine Ti plasmids, pTiKU12, pTiAch5 and pTiA6. The vir gene induction of pTiKU12 was remarkably stimulated by p-coumaric acid in relation to acetosyringone, but those of pTiAch5 and pTiA6 were more stimulated by acetosyringone than by p-coumaric acid. The effect of phenolic compound on the vir gene induction was different according to the kind of Ti plasmids. Also, the vir gene expression of A. tumefaciens KU913, which has pTiKU12 was about 6.2 times as much as that of A. tumefaciens KU915, which has pTiKU12 in KU12 host, in the presence of ferulic acid. But no difference was shown in the presence of p-coumaric acid. The vir gene induction abilities of phenolic compounds are different according to the kinds of phenolic compounds, Ti plasmids and hosts.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.316-320
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• 2001

Sonication tremendously improves the efficiency of Agrobacterium infection by introducing small and uniform fissures and channels throughout the targeted tissue. Using shoot tips of cotton as explants, the effect of sonication treatment and virulence genes in Agrobacterium tumefaciens on transformation efficiency was investigated. The pat gene which encodes resistance to the herbicide, glufosinate, was used as a selectable marker. Transformation efficiency was evaluated on th basis of survival rates of cocultivated shoot tips on selection medium containing 2.5 mg/l gulfosinate-ammonium(ppt) adn 25. mg/l Clavamax. Sonication from 5 to 15 second has a positive effect on shoop tip survival. However, whil virE as well as virG or vir GN54D showed an enhancement in transformation efficiency, virE,. virG resulted in the most significant enhancement. Overall, the combination of additional virG/virE gene and sonication treatment resulted in the most significant increase in transformation efficiency.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 1991

In order to investigate the phenolic compounds inducing the expression of Ti-plasmid vir genes of Agrobacterium tumefaciens KU12, we tested whether the eighteen phenolic compounds known as vir gene inducer have the activity to induce vir operon of the Ti-plasmid in A. tumefaciens KU12 transformed with pSM358cd. Also, the phenolic compounds in some tumor-uninduced dicotyledons and the attachment ability of a. tumefaciens KU12 on such dicotyledonous plants were investigated in an effort to analyze the reason why no tumor is formed on the plants. As results, fifteen among eighteen phenolic compounds known as vir gene inducer induced the expression of the Ti-plasmid vir genes. Some dicotyledonous plants which do not form the tumor have the phenolic compounds inducing the vir genes, but have less ability of the attachment than the dicotyledonous plants forming tumor.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2017

Variant surface antigens (VSAs) encoded by pir families are considered to be the key proteins used by many Plasmodium spp. to escape the host immune system by antigenic variation. This attribute of VSAs is a critical issue in the development of a novel vaccine. In this regard, a population genetic study of vir genes from Plasmodium vivax was performed in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Eighty-five venous blood samples and 4 of the vir genes, namely vir 27, vir 21, vir 12, and vir 4, were selected for study. The number of segregating sites (S), number of haplotypes (H), haplotype diversity (Hd), DNA diversity (${\pi}$ and ${\Theta}_w$), and Tajima's D test value were conducted. Phylogenetic trees of each gene were constructed. The vir 21 (S=143, H=22, Hd=0.827) was the most genetically diverse gene, and the vir 4 (S=6, H=4, Hd=0.556) was the opposite one. Tajima's D values for vir 27 (1.08530, P>0.1), vir 12 (2.89007, P<0.01), and vir 21 (0.40782, P>0.1) were positive, and that of vir 4 (-1.32162, P>0.1) was negative. All phylogenetic trees showed 2 clades with no particular branching according to the geographical differences and cluster. This study is the first survey on the vir genes in ROK, providing information on the genetic level. The sample sequences from vir 4 showed a clear difference to the Sal-1 reference gene sequence, whereas they were very similar to those from Indian isolates.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.557-564
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• 2014

The vir genes are antigenic genes and are considered to be possible vaccine targets. Since India is highly endemic to Plasmodium vivax, we sequenced 5 different vir genes and investigated DNA sequence variations in 93 single-clonal P. vivax isolates. High variability was observed in all the 5 vir genes; the vir 1/9 gene was highly diverged across Indian populations. The patterns of genetic diversity do not follow geographical locations, as geographically distant populations were found to be genetically similar. The results in general present complex genetic diversity patterns in India, requiring further in-depth population genetic and functional studies.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 1995

To investigate how the dyad symmetry region (DSR) and the distance between vir box and -35 sequence of the virE promoter plays a role in virE gene expression, two mutants were constructed by base substitution and insertional mutagenesis. The base substitutional mutation, a AAlongrightarrowCG substitution at positions -39 and -40 on the DSR, showed the level of $\beta$-galactosidase activity approximately 91% of the wild type virE promoter activity. Therefore, the native structure of the DSR seems to be not essential for virE expression. The insertional mutation, constructed by inserting 8 bp ClaI linker between -49 and -50, displayed the $\beta$-galactosidase activity at 12% of the native virE promoter activity. However, this striking reduction appears to be not caused by destruction of the native DSR structure, but by shifting the vir box far from putative -35 sequence.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 1997

Data from structure/activity studies in vir gene induction system have led to evaluate the working hypothesis of interaction between phenolic inducers and phenol binding proteins. The primary specificity in the association of a phenolic inducer with its receptor in our system is hypothesized to be the hydrogen bonding interactions through the ortho methoxy substituents as well as the proton transfer between the inducer and the binding protein. In this paper the proposed working model for phenol-mediating signal transduction was evaluated in several ways. The importance of the general acid-base catalysis was first addressed by the presence of an acidic residue and a basic residue in the phenol binding protein. Series of compounds were tested for vir gene expression activity to confirm the generation of a strong nucleophile by an acidic residue and an involvement of a basic residue as a proton acceptor. An attempt was made to correlate the pKa values of the phenolic compounds with vir gene induction activities as inducers to further support the proposed proton transfer mechanism. Finally, it was also observed that the regioselectively attached methoxy group on phenol compounds is required as the proper hydrogen bond acceptor.