The leaf beetle, Chrysolina aurichalcea (Coleoptera: Chysomelidae), is a pest damaging plants of Compositae. In order to understand the genetic diversity and geographic variation of the species we sequenced a portion of mitochondrial COI gene (658 bp) and complete nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) collected from seven Korean localities. A total of 18 haplotypes (BARCA01 ~ BARCA18), with the maximum sequence divergence of 3.04% (20 bp) were obtained from COI gene sequence, whereas 17 sequence types (ITS2CA01 ~ ITS2CA17), with the maximum sequence divergence of 2.013% (9 bp) were obtained from ITS2, indicating substantially larger sequence divergence in mitochondrial gene sequence. Phylogenetically, the mitochondrial DNA has shown several haplotypes formed independent groups with substantially high node support (≥ 90%), whereas no such grouping was evidenced for ITS2, indicating different behaviors of the two molecules. Such difference may reflect a diverse dynamics of the species such as biogeographic history, mating behaviors, and also possibly different mode of inheritance of the two molecules, but requires further scrutinized examination of the dataset. In terms of population genetic perspective, overall no population subdivision was detected from both molecules, except for locality 7 (Eocheong islet) from mitochondrial DNA. As more scrutinized analysis is performed, further fruitful inference on the geographic contour of the species might be available.

Al t hough substance P(SP) , a potent pro- inflammatory peptide, is involved in inflammation and immune responses‘ t he eff'ect of SP on t he expression of macrophage inflammatory protein 3a (MIP- 3α CCL20) in periodontal liga ment(PDL) cell s a re unknown, Equally as enigmatic is the link between SP, t he stress protein heme oxygenase- l(HO-l) ‘ and CCL20 procluction, We investigated whether SP induces the release of chemokine CCL20 from immortal ized PDL(IPDL) ceJJ s‘ and fur ther c l a꺼 SP mediated pathways, We also examined the relationship between HO-l a ncl CCL20 by t reating PDL cells with SP, Incubating IPDL cells with SP increased expression of CCL20 mRNA a nd CCL20 protein in a dose-time dependent manner Highly selective p38 and ERKl/2 inhibitors abrogated SP-induced expression of CCL20 in IPDL cell s, SP is a lso responsible for ini t iating phosphorylation of I/C B, degradation of Iκ B‘ ancl activat ion of NF'-/C B, SP induced expression of HO-l in both a concentration- and time-dependent man nel ‘ and CCL20 refl ected s imilar patterns, The inductive effects o[ SP on HO- l and CCL20 wer e enhanced by HO- j inducer hemin and the membrane-permeable cGMP analog 8-bromo-cGMP, Conversely, this pathway was inJübited by t he 1-10난 inhi bitor zinc protoporphyrin IX(ZnPP IX) and the selective inl뼈itor of guanylate cyc1ase‘ lH-[l , 2, 4Joxad iazole[4‘ 3-aJquinoxal in-l-one (ODQ) , We report herein the pathway that connects SP along with other modulators 。f neuroimmunoregulationto the induction of HO-l and t he inflammatory mediator MIP-3a /CCL20 in IPDL cell s‘ which play an important role in the development 01' periodontitis or inflamrnation during orthodontic tooth movem

Spatial- and temporal-specific expression patterns are primarily regulated at the transcriptional level by the promoter. Therefore, it is important to determine the binding motifs of transcription factors to understand the networks associated with embryogenesis. Here, we used a protein-binding microarray (PBM) to determine the binding motif of OsSMF1, which is a basic leucine zipper transcription factor that is involved in the regulation of rice seed maturation. OsSMF1 (previously called RISBZ1) is known to interact with GCN4 motifs (TGA(G/C)TCA) to regulate seed storage proteins (SSPs). In addition, OsSMF1 (also known as OsbZIP58) functions as a key regulator of starch synthesis in the rice seed. Quadruple 9-mer-based PBM (Q9-PBM) and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) experiments revealed that OsSMF1 binds to the ACGT (CCACGT(C/G)), GCN4 (TGA(G/C)TCA), and GCN4-like (GGATGAC) motifs with Kd values of 0.3353 μM, 0.6458 μM, and 1.117 μM, respectively. We also identified 60 putative OsSMF1 target genes using a combination of data from expression microarrays and RiceArrayNet (RAN) analysis. Of these OsSMF1 target genes, 20, 22, and 17 genes contained ACGT, GCN4, and GCN4-like motifs within the 2-kb promoter region, respectively. In addition to known target genes, we also identified 35 potential OsSMF1 target genes that have not been previously described in immature seeds. We also confirmed that OsSMF1 directly regulates Os03g0168500 (thioredoxin-related protein), RPBF, NAC6, and two hypothetical proteins (Os12g0621600 and Os11g0582400) in vivo. This study suggests that OsSMF1 functions in a wide range of seed development processes with specific binding affinities for three DNA binding motifs

Gluten is the main functional component of wheat, and is the main source of the viscoelastic properties in a dough. One of the gluten group is glutenin, which is composed of high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) subunits. The HMW glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) have been shown to play a crucial role in determining the processing properties of the grain. They are encoded by the Glu-1 loci located on the long arms of homeologous group one chromosomes, with each locus comprising two genes encoding x- and y-type subunits. The presence of certain HMW subunits is positively correlated with good bread-making quality. The highly conserved N- and C- terminal contaning cystein residues which form interand intra-chain disulphide bonds. This inter chain disulphide bonds stabilize the glutenin polymers. In contrast, the repetitive domains that comprise the central part of the HMW-GS are responsible for the elastic properties due to extensive arrays of interchain hydrogen bonds. In this review, we discuss HMW-GS, HMW-GS structure and gluten elasticity, relationship between HMW-GS and bread wheat quality and genetic engineering of the HMW-GS.

Beta-carotene producing transformants were produced in the background of 'Nagdongbyeo', a Japonica rice cultivar. Introgression of the carotenoid locus in the transformant, PAC4-2 into the elite cultivar 'Ilpumbyeo' was started. To initiate a backcrossing program, we surveyed 220 SSR markers and found that 38% of them were polymorphic between 'Ilpumbyeo' as a recurrent parent and the PAC4-2 as a recipient parent. The selection strategy comprising foreground and background selection was employed. First, foreground selection was practiced in BC1, BC2, and BC3 generations using the transgene specific PCR-based marker in addition to visual scoring of the seed color. Marker-based background selection combined with phenotypic selection was employed from BC3F2 to BC3F4 generations. Blast search indicated that the transgene PAC4-2 was located between SSR markers, RM6 and RM482. 240 BC3F3 and 63 BC3F4 lines were evaluated for four agronomic traits including days to heading. Most of the lines were similar to Ilpumbyeo in agronomic traits evaluated. The percentage of PAC4-2 genome ranged from 4% to 21% with a mean of 12.5%, which was higher than the expected for an unselected BC3 backcross population. This could be explained by the fact that two genes for beta-carotene and the stripe virus resistance were targeted in this study. We selected 10 representative BC3F5 lines from 63 BC3F4 lines based on agronomic traits and carotenoids content. The selection strategy would be appropriate for the introgression of beta-carotene gene in a breeding program.

미성숙 종자로부터 추출된 전체 RNA를 이용하여 합성한 cDNA와 LMW-GS 특이 프라이머세트를 이용하여 43개의 LMW-GS 유전자를 분리하였다. 각각의 유추 아미노산은 상동성이 높은 20개의 시그널 펩타이드, N-말단 영역, 반복서열영역 그리고 C-말단 영역을 가지며 C-말단 영역에 분자내 혹은 분자간 이황화 결합을 형성하는 전형적인 8개의 시스테인을 가지고 있었다. 이들 시스테인의 위치는 첫번째, 일곱번째를 제외하고는 보존되어 있었다. Ikeda