IL-1RAcP는 일명 interleukin-1 receptor accessory protein이라 칭하며 interleukin-1 염증성 사이 토카인과 interleukin-1 receptor I (IL-1RI) 결합체와 복합체를 형성하여 작용한다. IL-1RAcP는 면 역반응, 스트레스 및 세포사멸과 관련이 있다. 본 연구의 목적은 참돔(Pagrus major)을 저수온 (8℃, 33 psu) 및 저염분(20℃, 10 psu) 상태에 노출시킨 후, IL-1RAcP 유전자의 발현을 관찰하는 것이다. 연구결과, IL-1RAcP 유전자의 발현은 저수온(8℃, 33 psu) 및 저염분(20℃, 10 psu) 상태 에서 유의적으로 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 이 연구결과로서 IL-1RAcP 유전자는 저수온 및 저 염분 등의 환경 스트레스에 대한 생체지표유전자로서 역할을 한다고 제의한다.

Toll–interleukin 1 receptor (TIR) superfamily는 intracellular TIR domain에 존 재하며, proinflammatory cytokines을 생산하는 transcription factor NF-κB의 활성 화에 의해 선천성 면역을 개시한다. 본 연구에서는 갈색거저리 유충을 이용하여 Mycoplasma genus와 유사한 acholeplasma lysate를 접종하여 비교 유전체학적 방 법을 통하여 갈색거저리에서 면역반응에 관여하는 t1/st2 receptor binding protein 을 동정하였으며, 그 구조 분석을 위한 기초 데이터를 확보하고자 하였다. IL1RL1 (Interleukin 1 receptor-like 1) gene는 Toll-like receptor superfamily로써 사람에서 발견되며 ST2는 Toll-interleukin 1 receptor family의 member이자 endotoxin tolerance 유지에 중요한 역할을 하는 것으로 알려졌다. 갈색거저리 유충에 acholeplasma lysate를 처리하기 전과 후의 각 샘플들로부터 cDNA library를 구축 한 후 random sequencing 을 통해 분석되어진 서열들 중 증감하는 유전자들을 동정 하였고, 그 중 acholeplasma 처리 후 약 4배 정도 발현이 증가한 t1/st2 receptor binding protein 의 서열을 추출한 후 단백질의 2차 구조를 예측한 결과 alpha helix 구조는 서열상에서 8영역으로 예측되었으며 beta sheet 구조는 서열상에서 1영역 에서 존재하고 있어 후속연구를 진행하고 있다.

The neurotrophin plays an important role in the development, differentiation and survival of the nervous system in vertebrates. It exerts its cellular effects through two different receptors, the Trk receptor tyrosine kinase neurotrophin receptor and the p75 neurotrophin receptor, a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily. Trk and p75 neurotrophin receptors utilize specific target proteins to transmit signals into the cell. An ankyrin-rich membrane spanning protein (ARMS) was identified as a new p75 interacting protein and serves as a novel downstream target of p75 neurotrophin receptor. We sought to delineate the interaction between p75 and ARMS by deletion constructs of p75 and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged ARMS. We examined the interaction between these two proteins after overexpressing them in HEK-293 cells. Using both Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry followed by confocal laser scanning microscopy, we found out that the intracellular domain of the p75 neurotrophin receptor was important for the interaction with ARMS. The results from this study suggest that ARMS may play an important role for mediating the signals from p75 neurotrophin receptor into the cell.

Osteoclasts are multinucleated cells with bone resorbing activity and differentiated from hematopoietic cell lineages of monocyte/macrophages in the presence of receptor activator of NF-xB ligand (RANKL) and M-CSF. However, the exact molecular mechanisms through which RANKL stimulates osteoclastogenesis remain to be elucidated. Here we report that activation of cAMP-response elementbinding protein (CREB) is not involved in osteoclastogenesis from osteoclast precursors in response to RANKL. RANKL induced CREB activation in osteoclast precursors. Using pharmacological inhibitors, we found that RANKL-induced CREB activation is dependent on p38 MAPK pathways. We also found that ectopic expressions of wild type and dominant negative forms of CREB in osteoclast precursors did not affect RANKL-induced osteoclast formation and bone resorbing activity. Furthermore, dominant negative forms of CREB did not alter the expression levels of osteoclast-specific marker genes. Taken together, these data suggest that CREB is dispensable for differentiation and resorbing activity of osteoclasts.

저밀도 리포단백질 수용체 관련 단백질 5(LRP5)는 간과 췌장을 포함하여 많은 조직에서 발현하며 아포리포단백질 E와 결합한다. 이와 같은 LRP5 유전자의 체내 기능을 규명하기 위하여 LRP5 유전자가 결손된 생쥐를 개발하였다. 먼지 LRP5 genomic DNA는 TT2 ES 세포로부터 분리하였으며 LRP5 유전자의 엑손 18에 neo 유전자를 삽입한 vector를 구축하고 TT2 ES 세포에 도입하였다. 178개의 G418 내성을 보인 세포 중 상동유전자 재조합에 의하여 targeting vector가 LRP5 유전자 위치에 삽입된 clone은 3개였다. 키메라 생쥐는 상실배기 수정을 ES 세포와 응집시켜 생산하였으며 생산된 키메라 생쥐는 C57BL/6 생쥐와 교미를 유도하여 heterozygous를 얻었다. 또한 이들 heterozygous간의 교배에 의하여 LRP5 유전자 결손 생쥐를 생산하였다. 이러한 생쥐는 LRP5 유전자의 체내 기능연구에 있어서 모델로 이용될 것으로 생각된다.

The effects of adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) and ATP analogs, P/sub 2y/ purinoceptor agonists, on growth of normal mouse mammary epithelial cells (NMuMG) were examined. Cells were plated onto 24 well plates in DMEM supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum. After serum starvation for 24 hours, ATP, P/sub 2y/ purinoceptor agonists (AdoPP[NH]P, ATP-α-S, ATP-γ-S, β, γ-me-ATP and 2me-S-ATP), P/sub 2u/ purinoceptor agonist (UTP) and P/sub 2y/ purinoceptor antagonists (Reactive Blue 2, more selective to P/sub 2y/ receptor than PPADS; PPADS) were added. DNA synthesis was estimated as incorporation of 3H-thymidine into DNA (1 hour pulse with 1 μ Ci/ml, 18～19 hours after treatment). ATP, Adopp[NH]P, ATP-α-S or ATP-γ-S, significantly increased DNA synthesis at 1, 10 and 100 μM concentrations with dose-dependency (P<0.05), and the maximum responses of ATP and ATP analogs were shown at 100 μM concentration (P<0.05). The potency order of DNA synthesis was ATP≥ATP- γ -S>Adopp [NH]P>ATP-α-S. β, γ -me-ATP, 2me-S-ATP and UTP did not increase DNA synthesis. In autoradiographic analysis of percentage of S-phase cells, similar results were observed to those of DNA synthesis. Addition of 1, 10 or 100 μM Reactive Blue 2 or PPADS significantly decreased ATP (100 μM)-induced DNA synthesis, however, PPADS was less effective than Reactive Blue 2. In Elvax 40P implant experiment, ATP directly stimulated mammary endbud growth in situ suggesting the physiological regulator of ATP in mammary growth. ATP 100 μM rapidly increased MAPK activity, reaching a maximum at 5 min and then gradually decreasing to the base level in 30 min. ATP analogs, Adopp[NH]P and ATP-γ-S also increased MAPK activity, however, β, γ-me-ATP and 2me-S-ATP did not. The inhibitor of the upstream MAPK kinase (MEK), PD 98059 (25 μM), effectively reduced ATP (100 μM) or EGF(10 ng/ml, as positive control)-induced MAPK activity and DNA synthesis (P<0.05). These results indicate that ATP-induced DNA synthesis was prevented from the direct inhibition of MAPK kinase pathway. Overall results support the hypothesis that the stimulatory effects of normal mouse mammary epithelial growth by addition of ATP or ATP analogs are mediated through mammary tissue specific P/sub 2y/ purinoceptor subtype, and MAPK activation is necessary for the ATP-induced cell growth.

Sessile organism, plants constitutively challenged with pathogens have been developed various strategies for protection, such as preformed and inducible defense mechanisms. Receptor-like Proteins(RLPs) play critical roles in defense response as well as in plant development and growth. The domain structure of RLPs consists of extracellular leucine–rich repeats, a transmembrane domain, and a short cytoplasmic tail. Here, we identified putative 170 RLP genes from pepper genome using in-house bioinformatics pipeline. The distribution of RLPs on pepper pseudomolecule showed uneven spread and a number of RLPs were physically clustered by tandem array in the specific chromosome. Motifs analysis of pepper RLPs showed conserved LRR sequences (LxxLxxLDLxxNxxxGxIP). To understand further functional and evolutionary characteristics, evolutional relationship and gene profiling analysis are on progress.

The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) serves as an integrator of environmental stress such as drought, to trigger stomatal closure by regulating specific ion channels in guard cells. We previously reported that SLAC1, an outward anion channel required for stomtal closure, was regulated via reversible protein phosphorylation events involving ABA signaling components including protein phosphatase 2C members and a SnRK2-type kinase (OST1). In this study, we reconstituted the ABA signaling pathway as a protein-protein interaction relay from the PYL/RCAR type receptors, to the PP2C-SnRK2 phosphatase-kinase pairs, to the ion channel SLAC1. The ABA receptors interact with and inhibit PP2C phosphatase activity against the SnRK2-type kinase, releasing active SnRK2 kinase to phosphorylate and activate the SLAC1 channel, leading to reduced guard cell turgor and stomatal closure. Both yeast-two hybrid and bi-molecular fluorescence complementation assays were used to verify the interactions among the components in the pathway. The biochemical assays demonstrated the activity modifications of phosphatases and kinases by their interaction partners. The SLAC1 channel activity was used as a readout for the strength of the signaling pathway depending on the presence of different combinations of signaling components.

As in the O. mykiss electrophoretic profiles of RNA, the signals of each RNA sample from 9 individual tissues such as liver, muscle, brain, heart, pituitary gland, kidney, intestine, spleen and gill similar to positive control were obtained. The tissue distributions of the complimentary DNA (cDNA) of O. mykiss four genes were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR with primer sets for tissue expression analysis. In this rainbow trout species, author obtained bands of various sizes, ranged from 700 bp to 1,400 bp. A dissociation curve was made at the end of each run to make sure that there was no non-specific amplification. Supplementarily, the Ct of each DNA was compared. The Ct values of vinculin with rainbow trout tissues were determined in a manner similar to those for agouti-related protein (AgRP) and melanocortin receptors (MC4R I and MC4R II). Further, obtained Cts for standard curve of each DNA were affected by specific product (vinculin, AgRP and MC4R II genes). After several experiments with four individual genes of rainbow trout, author estimated a variation ratio of the mean Ct value of the DNA extracted using the comparative CTt method was 37.27, and the standard deviation was 5.33. The correlation coefficient between the Ct values and the concentration of cDNA was -0.98, -0.99, -0.91 and -0.86, respectively (vinculin, AgRP, MC4R I and MC4R II genes). Since this correlation showed high linearity, the straight line obtained was used as a standard for the O. mykiss tissues reared in aquarium. A PCR efficiency of 100% is ideally achieved when the slopes are close to the theoretical value of -3.31. According to quantification method, the results of quantification are strongly affected by the DNA fragmentation. The size of most DNA fragments obtained from various tissues of rainbow trout used in the experiment was approximately 100 bp. According to the four slopes, an efficiency of nearly 100% was estimated for four genes detection methods. Additionally, further analysis with more individuals and primers will be required to fully establish optimization in rainbow trout.