Chae-Young Lee

Endothelin-1 enhances the proliferation of normal human melanocytes in a paradoxical manner from the TNF-α-inhibited condition, but tacrolimus promotes exclusively the cellular migration without proliferation: a proposed action mechanism for combination therapy of phototherapy and topical tacrolimus in vitiligo treatment

Background  Vitiligo is an acquired pigmentary disorder caused by the destruction of melanocytes. Two of the major theories regarding the pathogenesis of vitiligo are the autoimmune theory and autocytotoxicity theory, but, the precise pathogenetic mechanism is still not clarified.

A Korean experience with chronic actinic dermatitis during an 18‐year period: meteorological and photoimmunological aspects

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The authors noted that chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD) increased in connection with increased sun exposure and believed that there may be a correlation between the two. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between increased sun exposure and CAD. We also applied a clinical severity scoring system to determine the correlation with various laboratory parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS We investigated trends in sun exposure in Pusan during an 18-year period. We conducted photopatch/patch testing in 51 CAD patients. We also determined the total IgE, percentage of eosinophils, and chemokine receptor profiles in the peripheral blood and analyzed correlations between laboratory data and the clinical severity of CAD. RESULTS A close correlation was demonstrated between the number of CAD patients and increased sun exposure. Positive patch test reactions and positive photopatch reactions were observed in 35 and 41 of the 51 tested patients, respectively. The total IgE levels were higher in the severe group than in the others. CCR4 expression increased in parallel with clinical severity. CONCLUSION Korean patients may have increased susceptibility to CAD with increased sun exposure. We believe that the majority of the CAD patients tested had photoallergy and contact allergy. The clinical severity seemed to correlate well with the total IgE level and CCR4 expression.

Cross-Family Translational Genomics of Abiotic Stress-Responsive Genes between Arabidopsis and Medicago truncatula

Cross-species translation of genomic information may play a pivotal role in applying biological knowledge gained from relatively simple model system to other less studied, but related, genomes. The information of abiotic stress (ABS)-responsive genes in Arabidopsis was identified and translated into the legume model system, Medicago truncatula. Various data resources, such as TAIR/AtGI DB, expression profiles and literatures, were used to build a genome-wide list of ABS genes. tBlastX/BlastP similarity search tools and manual inspection of alignments were used to identify orthologous genes between the two genomes. A total of 1,377 genes were finally collected and classified into 18 functional criteria of gene ontology (GO). The data analysis according to the expression cues showed that there was substantial level of interaction among three major types (i.e., drought, salinity and cold stress) of abiotic stresses. In an attempt to translate the ABS genes between these two species, genomic locations for each gene were mapped using an in-house-developed comparative analysis platform. The comparative analysis revealed that fragmental colinearity, represented by only 37 synteny blocks, existed between Arabidopsis and M. truncatula. Based on the combination of E-value and alignment remarks, estimated translation rate was 60.2% for this cross-family translation. As a prelude of the functional comparative genomic approaches, in-silico gene network/interactome analyses were conducted to predict key components in the ABS responses, and one of the sub-networks was integrated with corresponding comparative map. The results demonstrated that core members of the sub-network were well aligned with previously reported ABS regulatory networks. Taken together, the results indicate that network-based integrative approaches of comparative and functional genomics are important to interpret and translate genomic information for complex traits such as abiotic stresses.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]: importance as a crop and pedigree reconstruction of Korean varieties.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is one of the most important crops in the world and in Korea as well. Since the official start of soybean breeding program in Korea at which a landrace ‘Jangdanbaekmok’ was first released to promote cultivation in 1913, approximately one century has elapsed. Currently, a total of 178 soybean varieties are registered at two representative Korean national institutes, the RDA-Genebank Information Center (http://www.genebank.go.kr) and the Korea Seed & Variety Service (http://www.seed.go.kr). Of these, 155 varieties (87.1%) have been developed through hybridization-based breeding technologies, of which most cultivars (133 varieties, 85.8%) have been released in the last twenty five years. In this review, we attempted to integrate all the information for individual cultivars and to rebuild a breeding pedigree including the entirety of registered Korean soybean varieties. The analysis has resulted in a total of four pedigrees involving 168 cultivars (94.4% out of 178 cultivars), which form the broadest network of pedigrees. Each of pedigrees highlights different key varieties within the context of progenitor networks derived from crossing of various elite parental lines as follows; pedigree I-‘Kwangkyo’, ‘Hwangkeumkong’, ‘Paldalkong’ and ‘Sinpaldalkong2’, pedigree II-‘Baegunkong’, ‘Jangyeobkong’ and ‘Keunolkong’, pedigree III-‘Danyeob’, ‘Pangsa’ and ‘Eunhakong’. These pedigrees also reveal purpose (i.e., desirable traits)-driven development of characteristic soybean varieties during the past century of breeding history in Korea. We expect that the pedigree reconstructed in this study will provide breeders with information useful to design breeding schema and guidance towards the genomics-assisted soybean improvement in the future.

The Efficacy of Photodynamic Diagnosis in Defining the Lateral Border Between a Tumor and a Tumor-Free Area During Mohs Micrographic Surgery

BACKGROUND Photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) is a preoperative procedure that simplifies Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) by allowing more accurate demarcation of neoplastic lesions involving the skin. After topical application of aminolevulinic acid (ALA), protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is selectively induced in neoplastic cells with a high tumor‐to‐surrounding tissue ratio and can be visualized after excitation using a Woods lamp. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of PpIX fluorescence images in accurately determining the boundaries of tumors during MMS. METHODS A retrospective evaluation of biopsy‐proven basal cell carcinoma (BCC; n=163), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; n=51), and Bowens disease (n=8) in 222 patients treated with MMS was conducted. In the PDD group, 20% ALA ointment was applied 6 hours before the surgery, and then the boundaries were mapped based on the red fluorescence of the Woods lamp in the operating room. Each of the PDD (n=142) and non‐PDD (n=80) groups was surgically staged and compared. RESULTS The average number of stages was 1.59, with more in the PDD group (1.66) than the non‐PDD group (1.44) (p=.05). The average number of stages was 1.77 in the PDD group and 1.50 in the non‐PDD group (p=.06) for BCC, was 1.40 in the PDD group and 1.37 in the non‐PDD group (p=.90) for SCC, and 1.25 in the PDD group and 1.00 in the non‐PDD group (p=.36) for Bowens disease. CONCLUSIONS In previous studies, the fluorescence of induced porphyrins was effective in detecting and delineating neoplastic skin areas, but, in the present study, PDD did not support surgical efficacy during MMS. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.

CSGM Designer: a platform for designing cross-species intron-spanning genic markers linked with genome information of legumes

BackgroundGenetic markers are tools that can facilitate molecular breeding, even in species lacking genomic resources. An important class of genetic markers is those based on orthologous genes, because they can guide hypotheses about conserved gene function, a situation that is well documented for a number of agronomic traits. For under-studied species a key bottleneck in gene-based marker development is the need to develop molecular tools (e.g., oligonucleotide primers) that reliably access genes with orthology to the genomes of well-characterized reference species.ResultsHere we report an efficient platform for the design of cross-species gene-derived markers in legumes. The automated platform, named CSGM Designer (URL: http://tgil.donga.ac.kr/CSGMdesigner), facilitates rapid and systematic design of cross-species genic markers. The underlying database is composed of genome data from five legume species whose genomes are substantially characterized. Use of CSGM is enhanced by graphical displays of query results, which we describe as “circular viewer” and “search-within-results” functions. CSGM provides a virtual PCR representation (eHT-PCR) that predicts the specificity of each primer pair simultaneously in multiple genomes. CSGM Designer output was experimentally validated for the amplification of orthologous genes using 16 genotypes representing 12 crop and model legume species, distributed among the galegoid and phaseoloid clades. Successful cross-species amplification was obtained for 85.3% of PCR primer combinations.ConclusionCSGM Designer spans the divide between well-characterized crop and model legume species and their less well-characterized relatives. The outcome is PCR primers that target highly conserved genes for polymorphism discovery, enabling functional inferences and ultimately facilitating trait-associated molecular breeding.

Spectrophotometric Measurement of Minimal Erythema Dose Sites after Narrowband Ultraviolet B Phototesting: Clinical Implication of Spetrophotometric Values in Phototherapy

Background The spectrophotometer is well known to be a useful tool for estimating the objective minimal erythema dose (MED) during planning of phototherapy protocol. However, only a few spectrophotometric values are used to evaluate the erythema and pigmentation of the MED site during phototesting. Objective To determinea new meaning of the relationships among spectrophotometric values during phototesting. Methods Twenty-five patients with psoriasis and 23 patients with vitiligo were selected before undergoing narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy. We interpreted the gross findings of erythema and measured the L*a*b* values using a spectrophotometer at each phototest spot. We compared MEDs, basic spectrophotometric values (L*a*b*), and b*/L* values separately according to skin type, and determined the correlation of each spectrophotometric value and the correlation between a* and b*/L* values. Results Among L*a*b* values, only b* values showed a statistically significant difference between the type III and IV groups (p=0.003). There was a positive correlation only between MEDs and b* values (p<0.05). The average b*/L*value in the type IV group was significantly higher than the type III group (p<0.05). Conclusion The higher b* values in type IV skin indicates that skin tanning develops more prominently than type III. The correlation between MEDs and b* values may signify that the skin pigmentation status is deepened with the higher MEDs. The difference in b*/L*values between type III and IV skin reflects that the b*/L*value is thought to be an index of tanning. The a* value, known as an index of erythema, does not influence the degree of tanning.

Physiological and metabolomic analysis of a knockout mutant suggests a critical role of MtP5CS3 gene in osmotic stress tolerance of Medicago truncatula

In the model legume Medicago truncatula, Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS), the rate-limiting enzyme of proline biosynthesis, is encoded by three closely related genes, MtP5CS1, MtP5CS2, and MtP5CS3. While MtP5CS1 is constitutively expressed, MtP5CS2 and MtP5CS3 are induced by adverse environmental conditions, of which MtP5CS3 is prevalently expressed during drought and salinity stresses. Mtp5cs3, a transposon (Tnt1) insertion mutant of MtP5CS3 that cannot synthesize a mature protein, showed decreased proline accumulation and increased sensitivity to salinity, drought, and low water potential stresses, as evidenced by decreased seedling growth and chlorophyll content and increased hydrogen peroxide content. These defective phenotypes were complemented by externally supplied proline or ectopically expressed cDNA to the wild-type gene (MtP5CS3). Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry-based analysis of soluble metabolites revealed that some major metabolites contributing to osmotolerance, including certain amino acids, sugars, and polyols, accumulated more abundantly in the Mtp5cs3 roots than in the wild type, whereas a few other amino acids accumulated less during drought and salinity stresses. While such metabolic reconfiguration apparently fell short of compensating for proline deficiency in Mtp5cs3, overexpression of MtP5CS3 significantly increased tolerance of M. truncatula to salinity and low water potential stress. Thus, MtP5CS3 plays a crucial role in proline accumulation and osmotic stress tolerance of M. truncatula. Manipulation of this predominant proline biosynthetic gene will facilitate the development of environmentally stable legume crops.

A Case of Trichilemmal Carcinoma Treated with Mohs Micrographic Surgery

Trichilemmal carcinoma is a cutaneous adnexal tumor originating from the outer root sheath of hair follicle, and it was first described by Headington in 1976. Clinically, it usually occurs as an asymptomatic solitary papule, nodule or mass on the face or scalp. This neoplasm is a malignant counterpart of trichilemmoma, and it has been reported in the literature as trichilemmal carcinoma, tricholemmal carcinoma, malignant trichilemmoma, and tricholemmocarcinoma. Although histologically, trichilemmal carcinoma frequently has maliganant features, it has a relatively benign clinical behavior. We think Mohs micrographic surgery is a useful treatment modality in trichilemmal carcinoma because the final skin defect is smaller than a wide excision. We report a case of primary trichilemmal carcinoma which had developed on the face, treated with Mohs micrographic surgery.

Reconstruction of a composite comparative map composed of ten legume genomes

The Fabaceae (legume family) is the third largest and the second of agricultural importance among flowering plant groups. In this study, we report the reconstruction of a composite comparative map composed of ten legume genomes, including seven species from the galegoid clade (Medicago truncatula, Medicago sativa, Lens culinaris, Pisum sativum, Lotus japonicus, Cicer arietinum, Vicia faba) and three species from the phaseoloid clade (Vigna radiata, Phaseolus vulgaris, Glycine max). To accomplish this comparison, a total of 209 cross-species gene-derived markers were employed. The comparative analysis resulted in a single extensive genetic/genomic network composed of 93 chromosomes or linkage groups, from which 110 synteny blocks and other evolutionary events (e.g., 13 inversions) were identified. This comparative map also allowed us to deduce several large scale evolutionary events, such as chromosome fusion/fission, with which might explain differences in chromosome numbers among compared species or between the two clades. As a result, useful properties of cross-species genic markers were re-verified as an efficient tool for cross-species translation of genomic information, and similar approaches, combined with a high throughput bioinformatic marker design program, should be effective for applying the knowledge of trait-associated genes to other important crop species for breeding purposes. Here, we provide a basic comparative framework for the ten legume species, and expect to be usefully applied towards the crop improvement in legume breeding.