The pheromone biosynthesis in Plutella xylostella is more active in the scotophase than in the photophase, indicating that there may be changes of gene expression in the pheromone glands. To identify genes contributing to change in pheromone production, we analyzed transcriptomes of pheromone glands from both decapitated females (PG-minus) in the photophase and normal ones (PG-plus) in the scotophase. Deep sequencing for mRNAs in the pheromone gland yielded approximately 7.5Gb and 6,671 transcripts showing positive FPKM value were analyzed. Differentially expressed gene analysis revealed that up- and down-regulated transcripts were 310 and 326 in the PG-plus transcriptome, respectively. Genes putatively involved in the pheromone biosynthesis pathway were identified such as acetyl-CoA carboxylase, acetyl-CoA dehydrogenase, fatty acid synthase (FAS), desaturases (Δ9 and Δ 11) and fatty acid reductases of pheromone gland (pgFAR), alcohol oxidase, aldehyde oxidase and aldehyde reductase, etc. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that expressions of FAS, Δ11 desaturase and pgFAR were significantly higher in PG-plus, suggesting that they may have crucial roles in sex pheromone biosynthesis of P. xylostella

송아지 조기 이유는 반추위 발달을 포함하여, 성장과 고기의 육질 형성에 밀접한 관련이 있다. 이유 전 올바른 영양 관리 및 사료 급여에 대한 기초 기반 연구를 위하여 한우 송아지 이유용 사료 급여에 따른 반추위 발달에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 한우 송아지 총 17두를 공시축으로 하여 사료급여 체계에 따라 4개의 그룹으로 나누었으며, 그룹 1은 분유, 농후사료를 급여하였고, 그룹 2는 분유, 농후사료, 조사료, 그룹 3은 분유, 농후사료, 전분, 그룹 4는 관행적인 대조구로 모유를 급여하였다. 그룹별 사료 섭취량은 그룹1, 2, 3 각각 0.9 kg/d, 0.88 kg/d, 0.87 kg/d였고, 그룹2에는 조사료 티모시 0.18kg/d를 추가적으로 급여하였다. 사료 에너지가는 그룹 1, 2, 3 공통적으로 DM 88%, CP 15%, TDN 68% 수준이고, 그룹 3은 전분 30%를 추가 공급하여 TDN 함량을 73%로 높였다. 어미젖을 포유한 후 2주령 후부터 10주령까지 8주간에 걸쳐 각 사료 체계에 따라 급여 후, 각 그룹으로부터 반추위를 적출하여 반추위의 유전자 발현을 분석 하였다. 상피 세포의 성장과 관련이 있는 KRT4 유전자는 그룹 3에서 높은 발현을 보였고, 각종 염증성 질환에 대한 면역 반응과 관련이 있는 BPIFA1 유전자는 그룹 1, 3에서 발현이 증가함을 확인할 수 있었으며, 반추위 발달에 중요한 역할을 하는 ACAT1 유전자는 조사료를 급여한 그룹 2에서 발현율이 높게 나타났다. 결과적으로 송아지 조기 이유 및 양질의 조사료 급여는 반추위 발달에 긍정적으로 작용하며, 이를 실험 결과를 통하여 유전자 발현 수준에서 확인 할 수 있었다.

A novel oxidant fumigation (NOF) is a commercial bleaching and disinfection agent. Recent study indicates its insecticidal activity. However, its exact mode of action to kill insects is not known. This study sets up a hypothesis that reactive oxygen species released from NOF is a main factor to kill insects. Plodia interpunctella is a lepidopteran insect pest infesting various stored grains. Both larvae and adults were susceptive to NOF. To test the hypothesis, we needed to identify antioxidant genes in P. interpunctella. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and thioredoxin-peroxidase (Trx) were identified from P. interpunctella EST library using ortholog sequences of Bombyx mori. Both SOD and Trx were expressed in larvae of P. interpunctella expecially against oxidative stress induced by bacterial challenge. The bacterial challenge also induced some heat shock protein (HSP) genes. Similarly, different doses of NOF significantly induced both SOD and Trx genes. There results suggest that NOF at sublethal doses releases reactive oxygen species, which may be detoxified by the antioxidant activities of SOD and Trx of P. interpunctella.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have detrimental effects on human health. Among these EDCs, bisphenol A (BPA) binds to estrogen receptors (ERs) to stimulate estrogen-mediated responses. BPA is assumed to disrupt the reproductive and developmental system of humans. In addition, BPA has recently been suspected as a risk of carcinogenesis. Because BPA can cause abnormal estrogen-mediated response in the organism, exposure to BPA may stimulate growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancers in human. In breast cancer, cyclin E and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 are important in G1/S phase transition during cell cycle progression. In this study, using an MTT assay, we investigated the effect of BPA on proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro. In addition, we also analyzed the transcriptional levels of cyclin E and p27 following treatment with BPA using semi-quantitative RT-PCR. As a result, treatment with BPA resulted in significant induction of breast cancer cell growth, compared to a vehicle. BPA caused alterations of cyclin E and p27 mRNA expression. Expression of cyclin E was increased by BPA, while p27 was decreased at 24 h after treatment with BPA in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Taken together, these collective results suggest that exposure to BPA induced breast cancer cell proliferation with deregulation of the cell cycle. A further study is required in order to determine the effects of BPA on the carcinogenic process in in vivo models.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) experiments have generally demonstrated that a differentiated cell directly converts into a undifferentiated or pluripotent state. In SCNT experiment, nuclear reprogramming is induced by exposure of introduced donor cell nuclei to the recipient cytoplasm of matured oocytes. Although nuclear reprogramming of cells by the ex-ovo methods is not always consistent or efficient, it has been suggested that a combination of nuclear reprogramming technique may improve the efficiency or frequency of normal development of SCNT embryos. Here we hypothesized that treatment of somatic cells with extracts prepared from GV stage sturgeon's oocytes prior to their use as nuclear donors for SCNT will improve subsequent development. We reported a reversible permeabilization protocol with digitonin to deliver sturgeon oocyte exteact (SOE) to porcine fetal fibroblast cell nuclei ex ovo. Porcine fibroblasts were permeabilized by 4 μg/ml of digitonin for 2 min at 4℃ and then incubated in SOE for 7h at 15 18℃ followed by resealing of cell membrane. As results, no difference was observed in the number of fused couplets or the number of fused couplets that cleaved between the extract treated or control group. However, there was a significantly decrease in the percentage of fused couplets that developed to the blastocyst stage in the SOE treated group (p<0.05). Histone acetylation status was determined using an antibody to acetylation at lysine 9 on histone 3 (H3K9Ac). The intensity of H3K9Ac staining in 1-cell stage NT embryos was significantly increased when treated with the SOE (p<0.05), similar to that in 1-cell stage IVF embryos. In addition, porcine NT embryos reconstructed by using donor cell exposed to SOE prior to cell fusion significantly decreased developmental competence to the blastocyst stage but increased pluripotent gene expressions (Sox2, Nanog and Oct3/4) when compared with those in normal NT embryos (p<0.05).

Although somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has successfully been produced cloned animals in several species, the cloning efficiency is extremely low. It is generally believed that the low cloning efficiency is mainly attributed to faulty epigenetic modifications underlying the aberrant reprogramming of donor cell nuclei in recipient cytoplasm after SCNT. The nuclear reprogramming process involves epigenetic modifications, such as DNA demethylation and histone acetylation, which may be a key factor in improving the cloning efficiency. Recently, the histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), such as trichosatin A (TSA) and m-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA), to increase histone acetylation have been used to improve the developmental competence of SCNT embryos. Therefore, we compared the effects of TSA with CBHA on the in vitro developmental competence and pluripotency-related gene expressions (Nanog, Oct3/4 and Sox2) in porcine cloned blastocysts. The porcine cloned embryos were treated with a 50 nM concentration of TSA or a 100 μm concentration of CBHA during the in vitro early culture (10h) after cell fusion and then were assessed to cleavage rate, development to the blastocyst stage and pluripotency-related gene expressions in NT blastocysts. All data was analyzed by chi-square. Following 4-5 replicates (245, 200 and 222 for NT, TSA and CBHA treated NT embryos respectively) there was no difference between normal NT and CBHA treated NT embryos, whereas TSA treated NT embryos was significantly decreased for cleavage rate (p<0.05). The developmental competence to the blastocyst stage in CBHA treated NT embryos (18.9%) significantly increased than that of normal NT and TSA treated NT embryos (9.4% and 11.5%) (p<0.05). In addition, all of pluripotent transcription factors (Nanog, Oct3/4 and Sox2) were highly expressed in the CBHA treated NT embryos, however, Sox2 and Oct3/4 were expressed in TSA treated NT embryos and Sox2 was only expressed in normal NT embryos (p<0.05). In conclusion, the treatment of CBHA as a histone deacetylase inhibitor significantly increased the developmental competence of porcine NT embryos and pluripotency- related gene expressions (Nanog, Oct3/4 and Sox2) in NT blastocysts.

Genistein is a product of naturally occurring isoflavones at relatively high levels in soybeans. The harmful effects of ethanol are attributed to the induction of biological processes which lead to an increase in the generation of reactive oxygen species in fetuses. In this study, we investigated the effects of genistein ( and /ml) on gene expressions of the representative cellular antioxidative enzymes in ethanol (1 /ml)-treated mouse fetuses during the critical period (embryonic days 8.5~10.5) of organogenesis using a semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis. The mRNA levels of cytosolic glutathione peroxidase (GPx), phospholipid hydroperoxide GPx, cytosolic CU,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD), and mitochondrial SOD were significantly decreased in ethanol-treated fetuses. However, the mRNA levels of ethanol plus genistein-treated fetuses were significantly higher than those of ethanol alone fetuses. These results indicate that genistein can up-regulate the expressions of GPx and SOD mRNAs reduced by the ethanol treatment in fetuses.

Maternal hypoxia induced by a variety of exogenous oxidative stresses such as ethanol intake, diabetes, and cigarette during pregnancy provokes the impaired embryonic gene expression and developmental malformations. We investigated the gene expression patterns of the representative selenium containing antioxidant enzymes (selenoproteins) such as cytosolic GPx (cGPx), gestrointestinal GPx (GI-GPx), plasma GPx (pGPx), phospholipid hydroperoxide GPx (PHGPx), and selenoprotein P (SePP) in the cultured mouse embryos under normal or hypoxic (low oxygen state, 5% O₂) condition at embryonic day 8.5 for 2 days using real-time PCR analysis. cGPx, pGPx, and SePP mRNAs were significantly decreased, but GI-GPx and PHGPx mRNAs were remarkably increased in the hypoxic state compared to normal gassing state (p<0.05). These findings indicate that hypoxic condition leads to the unusual expressions of selenoproteins during mouse organogenesis.

Panax Ginseng is a perennial medicinal plant originated from North-east asia. Because of its well-known tonic effects mainly from ginsenosides, various types of processed ginseng products have been distributed around the world. Here, we analyzed secondary metabolite profiling of adventitious roots of 5 korean ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong (CP), Sunhyang (SH), Gopoong (GO), Sunun (SU), and Cheongsun (CS). At the same time, the profiles of relative gene expressions related to ginsenoside biosynthesis pathway were compared among ginseng cultivars. Secondary metabolite profiles were revealed by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS from extracts of bioreactor derived adventitious roots of five ginseng cultivars. Using principal component analysis, secondary metabolite profiles of ginseng cultivars were categorized into three groups. Metabolites with high VIP values were annotated using known database and standards compounds. Relative gene expression of ginsenoside related gene were analyzed using realtime PCR. The three groups had distinct metabolite contents. Furthermore, gene expression profiles related to ginsenoside were also different, which might contribute diverse secondary metabolite composition of ginseng cultivars. Further integrated analysis would provide a relationship between genetic background of ginseng cultivars and secondary metabolite profiles.

Water temperature influences on various key biological events in fish, but the internal pathway of the temperature effects are not well understood. Heat shock proteins (HSPs), known to respond in the level of cells to many environmental factors including temperature, could improve our understanding on the pathway. Some biological processes such as gonadal development and sex differentiation in the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus is particularly sensitive to water temperature. In this study, we have investigated the expressions of HSP70 and HSP90 genes in young tilapia at an ordinary temperature () and elevated water temperature (). The distribution of the expressions of HSP70 and HSP90 mRNA in this species were found to be almost ubiquitous, being detected in all tissues studied here (brain, gonad, liver and muscle), suggesting the house keeping functions of these genes. Heat shock by elevating temperature from to significantly increased the expression of HSP70 mRNA in the gonad, liver and muscle for several hours (P<0.05) (brain tissue was not examined for this). The increased level of HSP70 gene expression recovered to the level at control temperature () when fish were kept continuously at high temperature () for 24 hours. Contrary to this, expression of HSP90 mRNA did not show significant increase in the gonad and muscle by the same heat shock (P>0.05), except in the liver where the expression of HSP90 mRNA increased continuously for 24 hours at . The results obtained in this study suggest that response to temperature change in different tissue or organ may utilize different heat shock proteins, and that HSP70 may have some importance in temperature-sensitive gonadal event in the Nile tilapia.

Vinclozolin (VCZ)은 침투성 살균제로써 과일, 채소, 와인산업에 널리 사용된다. VCZ와 그것의 대사산물들인 butenoic acid (M1)과 enanilide (M2)는 안드로겐 수용체를 놓고 항 안드로겐 물질로 작용한다. VCZ가 수컷의 생식생리와 병리에서 내분비계 장애물질(endocrine disrupting chemical, EDC)로 작용함에 대한 증거는 많이 있지만, 암컷 생식생리에 미치는 VCZ의 효과에 대한 증거는 전무하다.

본 연구에서는 흰쥐 자궁에서 pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP)과 그 수용체 유전자들이 발현되는가와 각각 어떠한 유형의 transcript들이 발현되는가를 조사하였고, 이를 위해 역전사 중합효소 연쇄반응 (RT-PCR)을 시행하였다. 시상하부와 정소에서 공통적으로 존재함이 알려진 PACAP common exon 부위에 해당되는 primer를 사용하여 PCR을 시행한 결과 자궁을 포함한