Cassettes are a key component for power transmission and smooth shifting, and their construction consists of sprockets and spiders. The sprocket receives the force generated by pressing the pedal through the chain and rotates the rear wheel. It is a circular part. As the shifting system for efficient driving of bicycles has been developed, chains and sprockets require more complicated shapes than the conventional ones, and researches are being conducted to increase the production efficiency of sprockets. Cr-Mo steel is mainly used as the material for sprockets, but the trend of converting high-performance cassette material to titanium, which is a material with high specific strength, is gradually increasing. In this study, we also studied the molding technology of titanium material for the 5th and 6th stage shape design, the finite element analysis and the mass production using the press mold.

In our previous studies, the cardiac xenotransplantation from an alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferase knockout pig (GT-MCP-MCP) to cynomolgus monkeys showed a mean survival of 38 days. The objective of this study is to genetically upgrade the GT-MCP-MCP pig, to further enhance membrane cofactor protein (MCP) expression and to express an endothelial specific thrombomodulin (TBM). MCP is a complement regulatory protein and TBM is a coagulation inhibitor. As the dicistronic cassette for wild-type-based MCP and TBM concurrent expressions does not show any increase of MCP, we optimized the MCP codon usage (mMCP) and substituted mMCP for MCP. When the mMCP-TBM cassette was transfected to HeLa cells, we were able to find an increased expression of MCP and endothelial cell-specific TBM expression. The cassette was then transfected into ear-skin fibroblasts isolated from one-month-old #23-4 of a GT-MCP-MCP pig, and the cell populations expressing MCP were obtained by MACS cell sorting. We performed a single cell culture of the selected cells, and obtained clones over expressing 90% MCP. The cells of a clone were used as a donor for nuclear transfer and generated GT-MCP/-MCP/mMCP/TBM pig. The transgenic pig was confirmed to be carrying the cells expressing MCP and functioning as an inhibitor against the cytotoxic effect of normal monkey serum, comparable with donor cells. Thus, we believe that the GT-MCP/-MCP/mMCP/TBM transgenic pig would be potential for the prolongation of xenograft survival in the recipients.

Immunological rejection of the organ grafted onto a primate arises from two antibody mediated processes, hyperacute rejection (HAR) and acute humoral rejection (AHR). Functional ablation of α1,3-galactosyltransferase (GalT) and concurrently overexpression of complement regulatory proteins are known to inhibit HAR and AHR. In previous study, we reported that production of porcine male fibroblasts harboring a MCP expression cassette targeted to GalT locus. In this study, we constructed a different MCP expression cassette, in which the EF1α promoter regulates MCP expression and internal ribosome entry site-mediated neomycin resistance gene expression. Subsequently, this cassette was inserted between the left and the right homologous arms to target exon 9 of the GalT gene. Female fibroblasts were isolated from ear skin of 10 days old miniature pig, and used for nucelofection of the the construct for MCP expression at GalT locus. PCR analysis showed that four clones of forty neomycin resistant clones carry MCP expression cassette at exon 9 of the GalT gene. Two clones analyzed downregulated GalT expression, as determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Flow cytometry analysis showed that MCP was efficiently expressed at the cell surface.

A cDNA clone encoding a MDR-like ABC transporter protein was isolated from Brassica rapa seedlings, through rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). This gene (named as Brmdr 1; GenBank accession no.: DQ296184 ) had a total length of 4222 bp with an open reading frame of 3900 bp, and encoded a predicted polypeptide of 1300 amino acids with a molecular weight of 143.1 kDa. The BrMDR1 protein shared 71.0, 62.5, 60.0 and 58.2% identity with other MDR proteins isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana (AAN28720), Coptis japonica (CjMDR), Gossypium hirsutum (GhMDR) and Triticum aestivum (TaMDR) at amino acid level, respectively. Southern blot analysis showed that Brmdr1 was a low-copy gene. Expression pattern analysis revealed that Brmdr1 constitutively expressed in the root, stem petals and stamens, but with lower expression in leaves and open flowers. The domains analysis showed that BrMDR1 protein possessed two transmembrane domains (TMDs) and two nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) arranging in "TMD1-NBD1-TMD2-NBD2" direction, which is consistent with other MDR transporters. Within NBDs three characteristic motifs common to all ABC transporters, "Walker A", "Walker B" and C motif, were found. These results indicate that BrMDR1 is a MDR-like ABC transporter protein that may be involved in the transport and accumulation of secondary metabolites.