Doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor (dmrt) play crucial roles in sex determination and sex differentiation in vertebrates and invertebrates. Although dmrt genes have been identified in vertebrates, little is known about aquatic invertebrates. In this study, two dmrt genes, namely, Dc_dmrt93B and Dc_dmrt99B, were identified from brackish water flea, Diaphanosoma celebensis. Transcriptional changes were observed in the dmrt genes when the flea was exposed to bisphenol (BP), an endocrine disruptor. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses showed that both dmrt genes contained two conserved domains, namely, DM and DMA, closely clustered with those of Daphnia spp. Additionally, a significant increase in the Dc_dmrt99B mRNA expression level was observed upon exposure to intermediate concentrations of BP (bisphenol A>bisphenol S=bisphenol F, p<0.05), while the expression of Dc_dmrt93B mRNA was slightly modulated. These findings imply that the two dmrt genes may be involved in sex differentiation of D. celebensis. Furthermore, it was found that the ability of BP to modulate dmrt genes could affect development and reproduction. This study provides a basis for understanding the function of the dmrt genes and the molecular mode of action of BP in small crustaceans.

For people who have a food allergy the only way to manage the allergy is to avoid the food allergen. The mackerel is one of the major food allergens, but no immunoassay for the rapid and simple detection of mackerel has been reported. The objectives of this study are to develop and characterize monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to mackerel using thermal stable-soluble proteins (TSSP) as an immunogen and to characterize the MAbs by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA). The mice immunized with mackerel TSSP and showing high titer were used for cell fusion and cloning. The characterization of MAbs produced from hybridoma cells obtained was confirmed by indirect ELISA and western blot. Four MAbs were confirmed to be specific to mackerel without crossreaction to other marine products and livestock products in the both methods. The iELISA and western blot based on the MAbs can sensitively detect 1% mackerel protein in other marine products. These results support that immunochemical methods based on the MAb produced could be used as rapid means to detect low levels of mackerel and to identify mackerel adulterated in food.

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, nearly all patients diagnosed with this cancer die from it. Antibodies are glycoprotein molecules, which can efficiently recognize and eliminate specific pathogenic and disease antigens. Antibody researches for the last several decades have demonstrated the potential of therapeutic antibodies to fight cancer. Monoclonal antibody (mAb) CO17-1A recognizes the tumor-associated antigen GA733-2, a cell surface glycoprotein highly expressed in colorectal carcinoma cell, which is applicable for preventing and curing colorectal cancer. We have currently established baculovirus insect cell expression system to produce anti-colorectal cancer mAb CO17-1A. In this study, mAb CO17-1A was expressed in the transgenic insect cell line SWT4, which has humanized glycosylation processing pathway. Immunoblot confirmed that mAb CO17-1A properly expressed in SWT4. mAb CO17-1A was purified using protein G affinity column. In addition, Maldi-TOF verified that the mAb fused to KDEL, ER retention signal had high mannose type of glycan structure whereas the mAb without KDEL had partially humanized glycan structure. These results suggest that the insect cell expression system with the SWT4 possibly can be used as a useful alternative way to produce full-size mAb with humanized glycan structures for cancer immunotherapy.

The goal of marker-assisted backcrossing is to reduce the number of generations significantly by using genome-based molecular markers. Among other types of molecular markers, SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) is mostly used in genetic diversity analysis due to its abundance. To develop high-throughput SNP marker for MAB system, we selected 20 Chinese cabbage lines each represent traits as inner leaf color, disease resistance, head type and maturity etc. Then, we sequenced the transcriptomes of 20 lines by using Illumina Hiseq2000. The average transcriptome size was 1.37 Gbase, and the average of short reads mapping rate was about 62.15% (30xcoverage). We identified 13,976 SSR markers and 380,198 SNPs by aligning contigs of 20 Chinese cabbage lines. To develop SNP marker set, we chose 409 SNPs that covers the whole Brassica rapa transcriptome. The filtering criteria were depth, polymorphism, segregation ratio, lack of adjacent SNP and copy number. We positioned the selected SNP markers to the Chinese cabbage linkage map. Clustering dendrogram was produced using SNP marker and three different clusters were generated. The result showed that the genotyping data is partially linked to the phenotyping data. We assume that the developed SNP marker set can be applied in the Chinese cabbage MAB system soon.

본 연구에서는 토마토 MAB에 활용하고자 토마토 7 품종의 genome-wide SNPs 데이터베이스를 구축하고, MAB를 위한 분자마커 선발 프로그램을 개발하였다. 토마토 전사체 데이터를 NCBI-SRA에서 다운로드 하여 in silico 분석으로 SNP를 추출하였다. 전사체 데이터에서 추출된 SNP를 재료로 7 품종의 토마토 계통을 이용해 총 21개 교배조합별 SNP 분자마커를 선발하였고, primer가 이용 가능한 마커를 이용하여 데이터베이스를 구축하였다. 마커를 선발하기에 앞서 염색체의 분획으로 두 가지 방법을 사용하였는데, 물리적 거리에 따른 분획과 유전거리에 따른 분획 방법이다. 물리적 거리를 이용한 분획은 각 염색체를 동일한 크기의 5개의 구획으로 나누고, 한 구획 당 교배조합별 차이를 보이는 3개의 SNP를 선발하였다. 교배조합이 바뀔 때마다 이용 가능한 SNP가 자동으로 primer 정보와 함께 제공되도록 하였다. 유전거리를 반영한 분획 방법은 각 염색체의 유전적 거리를 측정하여 물리적 거리에 차등을 두어 염색체 구획을 설정하였다. 즉 재조합이 자주 일어나는 염색체 양끝 말단 부분은 구획을 조밀하게 나누어 MAB 마커 또한 많이 할당하여 자세히 조사하도록 구성하였다. 유전거리에 따른 마커 선발에는 1,924개의 tomato- EXPEN 2000 map 분자마커와 SNP 마커를 이용하였다. 교배조합별로 이용할 수 있는 마커를 12개 염색체 상에 그래픽적으로 제공함으로써 사용자가 쉽게 이해하고 이용할 수 있는 MAB 위한 마커 선발 프로그램을 개발하였다. 이러한 토마토 MAB용 분자마커를 제공하는 프로그램은 실제적인 여교잡 선발 육종에 적용하여 분자마커의 활용을 높이고, 육종효율을 증진시킬 것이다.