The first comprehensive cladistic analysis of Miridae, the plant bugs, based on ~3000 base pairs of mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28SD3) genes, is presented. For 105 taxa (101 Mirid species in 7 subfamilies and 11 tribes, and 4 outgroups) in 7 subfamilies and 11 tribes of Miridae, the combined dataset was analyzed using ML (maximum likelihood), BC (bayesian criteria) and MP (maximum parsimony). Clades recovered in all analyses, comprise 6 main groups: Cimicomorpha and Miridae; Phylinae; Mirinae (Eurystylus + Polymerus + Proboscidocoris + Taylorilygus + Stenodemini); Orthotylinae; Mirini (Adelphocoris group except “Apolygus complex”); Apolygus complex; Deraecorinae; Bryocorinae + Isometopinae + Cylapinae. Our results indicate 1) the monophyletic relationships of two subfamilies Phylinae and Deraeocorinae within the family Miridae; 2) the paraphyly of subfamily Mirinae. Phylogenetic relationships at the tribal or subfamily level are provided in comparison with the prior studies based on morphological data.

The flower bugs (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) is usually known as biological control agents against various kinds of agricultural pests such as aphids, mites, thrips and so on. Since the classification of the family Anthocoridae has been controversial, the molecular phylogenetic study was conducted with 44 species including 6 outgroup taxa. Three genes, a total of 3277 bp of sequence data (nuclear 18S rDNA: 2022bp, 28S rDNA: 755bp, and mitochondrial 16S rDNA: 498bp), were analyzed using ML (maximum likelihood) and Bayesian methods, excluding MP (maximum parsimony) as the incongruence length difference (ILD) test has very low (0.001) P-values on all partition tests. Our results support the rank and monophyly of the family Lasiochilidae which was exclusively separated from the main clade of Anthocoridae proposed by Schuh and Stys (1991), and indicate the monophyletic relationships among tribes and genera within the family Anthocoridae. According to our results, the genus Amphiareus should be out of the tribe Dufourini and treated as the tribe level and The three genera, Blaptostethus, Scoloposcelis and Xylocoris should be placed to the family Lyctocoridae. We also propose the evolutionary theory of Anthocoridae based on their habitats, hunting behavior and the molecular phylogenetic results.

Nerve gro때h factor-induced B (NGFI-B, Nur77) is an orphan nuclear receptor with no known endogenous Iigands , however‘ recent stuclies on a series of methylene -substituted diindolylmethanes (C-DIMs) have identified 1,l-bis(3’ - In dolyl) -l-(phenyl)methane (DIM-C-Ph) and l , l -bis(3’ indolyl)-l-(p-anisyl)methane (DIM-C-pPhOCHa) as Nur77 agonist Nur77 is expressed in several colon cancer cell lines (RKO, SW480, HCT-116, HT-29 and HCT-15) and we a lso observed by irnmunostaining that Nur77 was overexpressed in colon tumors compared to normal colon tIssue DIM-C-Ph and DlM-C-pPhOCH3 decreased survival and induced apoptosis in RKO colon cancer cells and this was accompanied by in ductdion of tumor nec rosis factor-related apoptosis-incluced ligand (TRAlL) protein, The induct ion of a poptosis and TRAlL by DIM-C-pPhOCH3 was significantly inhibited by a small inhibitory RNA for Nur77 (iNur77); however, it was evide nt from RNA in terference studies that DIM-C-pPhOCH3 a1so induced Nur77-independent apoptosis. Analysis o( DIM-C-pPhOCH3-induced gene expression using microarrays idontifiod sovoral proapoptotic genos and analysis by ro verse t ranscriptase PCR in the presence 0 1' absence of iNru77 showed that incluction of prograrnmed cell death gene 1 (PDcm) was Nur77-dependent‘ whereas induction of cystathionase (CSE) and activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) was Nur77-independent, DIM-C-pPhOCHa (25 mg/kg/day) also inhi bited tumor growth in athymic nude mice bearing RKO cell xenograft, These results demonstrate that Nur77-active C-DIM compounds represent a new class of anti-colon cancer drugs that act through receptor- dependent and - independent pathway

DNA 메틸화 (DNA methylation)는 유전자의 발현을 조절하는 대표적인 후생학적 조절기작 (epigenetic regulation) 중에 하나이다. DNA 메틸화 양상은 생식세포 형성과정 및 배 발생단계에서 탈메틸화 (demethylation)와 de novo 메틸화의 드라마틱한 변화가 일어난다. 또한 이러한 DNA 메틸화는 배아줄기세포 (embryonic stem cells, ESCs)에서 특징적인 양상을 보이는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는 생쥐 수정란 유래 배아줄기세포와 체세포핵이식 배아줄기세포 (nuclear transplanted ESCs)를 이용해서 대표적 각인유전자 (imprinting genes)로 알려진 Snrpn, Igf2r, H19 유전자들에 대한 메틸화 양상을 알아보고자 하였다. 연구 결과 H19 유전자에 대해서는 DNA 메틸화 양상은 수정란 유래 배아줄기세포와 체세포핵이식 배아줄기세포에서 비슷한 경향을 보였으나, Snrpn과 Igf2r의 경우에는 체세포핵이식 배아줄기세포에서 과메틸화 (hypermethylation) 경향을 보였다.