81 research outputs found
Customized Asthma Control Test with Reflection on Sociocultural Differences
We evaluated the utility and feasibility of customizing Asthma Control Test (ACT) items to generate a Korean Asthma Control Test (KACT) specific for Korean patients. We surveyed 392 asthma patients with 19 items, selected to reflect the Korean sociocultural context. Guideline ratings were integrated with the evaluations of specialists (i.e., using both guide base rating together with specialist's rating), and items with the greatest discriminating validity were identified. Stepwise regression methods were used to select items. KACT scale scores showed significant differences between the asthma control ratings generated by integrating ratings (r=0.77, P<0.001), by specialist's evaluations (r=0.54, P<0.001), or by FEV1 percent predicted (r=0.39, P<0.001). Specialist's and guideline ratings detected 56% and 48.6% of patients with well-controlled asthma, respectively. However, the integrated ratings indicated that only 34.3% of the patients in the test sample were well controlled. The overall agreement between KACT and the integrated rating ranged from 45% to 78%, depending on the cut-off points used. It is possible to formulate a valid, useful country-specific diagnostic tool for the assessment of asthma patients based on the original ACT that reflect differences in sociocultural context
Comparative analysis of pepper and tomato reveals euchromatin expansion of pepper genome caused by differential accumulation of Ty3/Gypsy-like elements
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Background
Among the Solanaceae plants, the pepper genome is three times larger than that of tomato. Although the gene repertoire and gene order of both species are well conserved, the cause of the genome-size difference is not known. To determine the causes for the expansion of pepper euchromatic regions, we compared the pepper genome to that of tomato.
Results
For sequence-level analysis, we generated 35.6 Mb of pepper genomic sequences from euchromatin enriched 1,245 pepper BAC clones. The comparative analysis of orthologous gene-rich regions between both species revealed insertion of transposons exclusively in the pepper sequences, maintaining the gene order and content. The most common type of the transposon found was the LTR retrotransposon. Phylogenetic comparison of the LTR retrotransposons revealed that two groups of Ty3/Gypsy-like elements (Tat and Athila) were overly accumulated in the pepper genome. The FISH analysis of the pepper Tat elements showed a random distribution in heterochromatic and euchromatic regions, whereas the tomato Tat elements showed heterochromatin-preferential accumulation.
Conclusions
Compared to tomato pepper euchromatin doubled its size by differential accumulation of a specific group of Ty3/Gypsy-like elements. Our results could provide an insight on the mechanism of genome evolution in the Solanaceae family
Whole-genome, transcriptome, and methylome analyses provide insights into the evolution of platycoside biosynthesis in Platycodon grandiflorus, a medicinal plant
Triterpenoid saponins (TSs) are common plant defense phytochemicals with potential pharmaceutical properties. Platycodon grandiflorus (Campanulaceae) has been traditionally used to treat bronchitis and asthma in East Asia. The oleanane-type TSs, platycosides, are a major component of the P. grandiflorus root extract. Recent studies show that platycosides exhibit anti-inflammatory, antiobesity, anticancer, antiviral, and antiallergy properties. However, the evolutionary history of platycoside biosynthesis genes remains unknown. In this study, we sequenced the genome of P. grandiflorus and investigated the genes involved in platycoside biosynthesis. The draft genome of P. grandiflorus is 680.1Mb long and contains 40,017 protein-coding genes. Genomic analysis revealed that the CYP716 family genes play a major role in platycoside oxidation. The CYP716 gene family of P. grandiflorus was much larger than that of other Asterid species. Orthologous gene annotation also revealed the expansion of beta -amyrin synthases (bASs) in P. grandiflorus, which was confirmed by tissue-specific gene expression. In these expanded gene families, we identified key genes showing preferential expression in roots and association with platycoside biosynthesis. In addition, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing showed that CYP716 and bAS genes are hypomethylated in P. grandiflorus, suggesting that epigenetic modification of these two gene families affects platycoside biosynthesis. Thus whole-genome, transcriptome, and methylome data of P. grandiflorus provide novel insights into the regulation of platycoside biosynthesis by CYP716 and bAS gene families
Amyloid-β precursor protein promotes cell proliferation and motility of advanced breast cancer
Highly responsive near-infrared photodetector with low dark current using graphene/germanium Schottky junction with Al2O3 interfacial layer
The performance of a graphene/Ge Schottky junction near-infrared photodetector is significantly enhanced by inserting a thin Al2O3 interfacial layer between graphene and Ge. Dark current is reduced by two orders of magnitudes, and the specific detectivity is improved to 1.9 x 10(10) cm . Hz(1/2)W(-1). The responsivity is improved to 1.2 AW(-1) with an interfacial layer from 0.5 AW(-1) of the reference devices. The normalized photo-todark current ratio is improved to 4.3 x 10(7) W-1 at a wavelength of 1550 nm, which is 10-100 times higher than those of other Ge photodetectors.11Ysciescopu
Negative regulatory roles of DE-ETIOLATED1 in flowering time in Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis flowers early under long days (LD) and late under short days (SD). The repressor of
photomorphogenesis DE-ETIOLATED1 (DET1) delays flowering; det1-1 mutants flower early, especially
under SD, but the molecular mechanism of DET1 regulation remains unknown. Here we examine the
regulatory function of DET1 in repression of flowering. Under SD, the det1-1 mutation causes daytime
expression of FKF1 and CO; however, their altered expression has only a small effect on early flowering in
det1-1 mutants. Notably, DET1 interacts with GI and binding of GI to the FT promoter increases in det1-1
mutants, suggesting that DET1 mainly restricts GI function, directly promoting FT expression independent
of CO expression. Moreover, DET1 interacts with MSI4/FVE, which epigenetically inhibits FLC expression,
indicating that the lack of FLC expression in det1-1 mutants likely involves altered histone modifications at
the FLC locus. These data demonstrate that DET1 acts in both photoperiod and autonomous pathways to
inhibit expression of FT and SOC1. Consistent with this, the early flowering of det1-1 mutants disappears
completely in the ft-1 soc1-2 double mutant background. Thus, we propose that DET1 is a strong repressor
of flowering and has a pivotal role in maintaining photoperiod sensitivity in the regulation of flowering
time.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2015-01/102/0000003606/3ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A002118DEPT_CD:517CITE_RATE:5.578FILENAME:2015-2 det1 flowering (sci rep).pdfDEPT_NM:식물생산과학부SCOPUS_YN:YCONFIRM:
Highly responsive near-infrared photodetector with low dark current using graphene/germanium Schottky junction with Al2O3 interfacial layer
The performance of a graphene/Ge Schottky junction near-infrared photodetector is significantly enhanced by inserting a thin Al2O3 interfacial layer between graphene and Ge. Dark current is reduced by two orders of magnitudes, and the specific detectivity is improved to 1.9 × 1010 cm ⋅ Hz1/2W−1. The responsivity is improved to 1.2 AW−1 with an interfacial layer from 0.5 AW−1 of the reference devices. The normalized photo-to-dark current ratio is improved to 4.3 × 107 W−1 at a wavelength of 1550 nm, which is 10–100 times higher than those of other Ge photodetectors
High-performance near-infrared photodetectors based on gate-controlled graphene–germanium Schottky junction with split active junction
The structure of a gate-controlled graphene/germanium hybrid photodetector was optimized by splitting the active region to achieve highly sensitive infrared detection capability. The strengthened internal electric field in the split active junctions enabled efficient collection of photocarriers, resulting in a responsivity of 2.02 A W-1 and a specific detectivity of 5.28 x 10(10) Jones with reduced dark current and improved external quantum efficiency; these results are more than doubled compared with the responsivity of 0.85 A W-1 and detectivity of 1.69 x 10(10) Jones for a single active junction device. The responsivity of the optimized structure is 1.7, 2.7, and 39 times higher than that of previously reported graphene/Ge with Al2O3 interfacial layer, gate-controlled graphene/Ge, and simple graphene/Ge heterostructure photodetectors, respectively.11Ysciescopu
Novel cysteine-centered sulfur metabolic pathway in the thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha.
In yeast and filamentous fungi, sulfide can be condensed either with O-acetylhomoserine to generate homocysteine, the precursor of methionine, or with O-acetylserine to directly generate cysteine. The resulting homocysteine and cysteine can be interconverted through transsulfuration pathway. Here, we systematically analyzed the sulfur metabolic pathway of the thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha, which has attracted much attention as an industrial yeast strain for various biotechnological applications. Quite interestingly, the detailed sulfur metabolic pathway of H. polymorpha, which was reconstructed based on combined analyses of the genome sequences and validation by systematic gene deletion experiments, revealed the absence of de novo synthesis of homocysteine from inorganic sulfur in this yeast. Thus, the direct biosynthesis of cysteine from sulfide is the only pathway of synthesizing sulfur amino acids from inorganic sulfur in H. polymorpha, despite the presence of both directions of transsulfuration pathway Moreover, only cysteine, but no other sulfur amino acid, was able to repress the expression of a subset of sulfur genes, suggesting its central and exclusive role in the control of H. polymorpha sulfur metabolism. 35S-Cys was more efficiently incorporated into intracellular sulfur compounds such as glutathione than 35S-Met in H. polymorpha, further supporting the cysteine-centered sulfur pathway. This is the first report on the novel features of H. polymorpha sulfur metabolic pathway, which are noticeably distinct from those of other yeast and filamentous fungal species
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