In previous studies, we found the production of antibodies against cross-reactive bovine serum albumin (BSA) in D-galactose (D-gal) induced aging mouse models. We performed immunoblot analysis with mouse tissue lysates to investigate the changes in the overall autoantibody production in this animal model. And we were able to see the possibility of altering the activity of mouse natural antibodies in this process. In this study, we examined changes in existing natural antibodies in a D-gal-induced aging mouse model. Serum samples were collected from 3-week-old mice (3w), 13-week-old mice (13w), and 13-week-old mice that were treated with D-gal for 6 weeks (13wDG), beginning at the age of 8 weeks. Levels of immunoglobulins (IgM, IgG, and IgA) were quantitatively analyzed in serum samples. Tissue samples were obtained from skin, spleen, and ovary for Western blotting analyses. Natural antibody activity was examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analyses of anti- double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) antibody. Western blotting analyses using mouse tissue lysates showed that several protein bands detected by serum antibodies from 3w mice became increasingly thicker when detection was performed with serum samples from 13w and 13wDG mice, indicating quantitative increases in levels of natural antibodies. Relative amounts of total IgG, IgM, and IgA immunoglobulins sequentially increased in serum samples from 3w, 13w, and 13wDG mice. A similar tendency was observed regarding the levels of IgM and IgG antibodies against dsDNA. These results indicate increased levels of natural antibodies in the D-gal-induced aging mouse model. Therefore, this animal model could be useful for future natural antibody research.

북위 33˚15'~38˚11' 사이에 위치한 한반도 남부의 19개 지역(포천, 고성, 평창, 강화, 금산, 서천, 진천. 단양, 통영, 산청, 금능, 월성, 울릉, 완도, 나주, 고창, 장수, 제주 및 북제주)에서 수집된 콩의 지역개체군들을 대상으로 종자 내에 함유된 mannose와 galactose의 정량분석을 실시하였다. 각 지역별 mannose의 함량은 최저 6.648mg/g (금산)에서 최고 12.207mg/g(고창)의 범위 내에서 다양하게 나타났다. Galactose의 지역별 함량 역시, 최고 16.949mg/g(북제주)에서 최저 9.967mg/g(단양)에 이르는 다양한 수치를 보였다. 환경적응과 관련한 생태지표로서 종자의 경실도(硬實度, seed hardness)를 의미하는 mannose/galactose 함량비를 산출한 결과, 지역에 따라 0.63~0.78의 값을 나타내었다. mannose/galactose 함량비와 지리적 기후구분에 대응하여 콩의 19개 지역개체군 들은 크게 내륙 I형(월성, 장수, 단양), 해안 I형(고창, 나주, 제주, 고성, 울릉, 북제주, 강화, 서천, 통영), 내륙 II형(금산, 포천, 평창) 및 해안 II형(완도, 진천) 등 4가지 변이유형으로 구분되었고 이질적인 2개 지역개체군(금릉과 산청)은 유형구분에서 배제하였다. 이러한 형질분화의 요인으로는 육종이나 기타 다양한 인위적 도태압에 크게 의존하는 재배식물에 있어서도 기후요인과 같은 재배지의 특수한 자연환경조건에 대한 보편적인 적응이 지속적으로 이루어진 결과로 해석된다. 따라서 콩 종자에서 나타나는 mannose/galactose 함량비의 다양성 및 기후형에 대응적인 함량비 서열상의 변이유형 분화는 자연도태와 관련한 재배식물의 미진화 현상에 대한 구체적인 증거의 하나로서 종생태학적인 의의가 큰 것으로 판단된다.

UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (UGE) catalyzes the reversible conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-galactose. The gene, named BrUGE1, isolated from a Chinese cabbage had a total length of 1,328 bp that contains a single open reading frame (ORF) of 1,056 bp which encodes a polypeptide of 351 amino acid residues with a calculated mass of 39.0 kDa. Sequence analysis of BrUGE1 protein has the characteristic of an active site tetrad and NAD-binding motif (typically TGXXGXXG) of the extended short chain dehydrogenase/ reductase (SRD) superfamily. Expression analysis showed that BrUGE1 is tissue specific and highly expressed in stem of rice plant. Interestingly, BrUGE1 mRNA was highly accumulated by drought stress with significantly higher amount of soluble sugar. Morphological evaluation showed an increase in yield by 27%. Panicle length, number of productive tillers/hill, and filled spikelets were significantly increased by 17~20% compared to the wild type Gopum. Moreover, the growth of the wild type Gopum seedlings on galactose was increasingly inhibited with a decrease in UDP-glc epimerase 1 expression compared to the transgenic rice lines. In the Ubi-1::BrUGE1 lines, the increase of UDP-glc epimerase 1 expression was apparently sufficient to overcome the toxic effects of galactose. Taken together, the Ubi-1::BrGUE1 rice lines increased yield probably by increasing the rate of filled grains. The enhanced drought tolerance may be due to the induction of soluble sugar which may act as osmolyte to compensate dehydration during drought stress.

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of calcium and galactose treatments on ethylene productions in persimmon fruits for the study on the study of persimmon fruits. Ethylene was producted in green mature persimmon fruits treated with water, calcium and galactose after 24hrs of treatment. Ethylene productions of persimmon fiuits treated with galactose was very higher than those of persimmon fruits treated with water and calcium after 72hrs of treatment. Ethylene productions of persimmon fruits teated with water and calcium were similarly to that of persimmon fruit tested with calcium. The treatment of glucose was not effected on ethylene production of persiommn fruits. The ACC contents and ACC synthase activity in persimmon fruit treated with galactose were higher than those of other groups after 72hrs of storage, but the ACC contents and ACC synthase activity of persimmon fruits treated with calcium were lower than those of control and persimmon fruits treated with water.