Buckwheat is well-known as a healthy crop with excellent nutritional and functional superiority mainly because of a high content of flavonoid compounds, specifically, rutin. However, buckwheat-based food products are known to have the reduced levels of rutin by rutin-degrading enzymes that generate quercetin during processing. However, since quercetin has a bitter taste, it may have a negative impact on consumer preferences, consequently retarding the utilization of buckwheat flour to a variety of buckwheat processed foods. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the levels of rutin and quercetin in the milling fractions of buckwheat flours and also to monitor their changes by a variety of thermal treatments. Native buckwheat was separated into three fractions by sieving with 40 and 100 mesh screens which were designated as >40 M, 40-100 M, and 100 M<, respectively. The levels of rutin were the highest in the 40-100 M milling fraction, followed by <100 M and >40 M. Also, buckwheat flours were subjected to several thermal treatments including steaming and autoclaving. The contents of rutin and quercetin in the resulting buckwheat samples were analyzed by HPLC and the correlations between the flavonoid compounds and thermal treatments were investigated. The addition of water to buckwheat flour in making buckwheat products significantly decreased the levels of rutin while the quercetin content increased. However, the thermal treatments of buckwheat flours distinctly reduced the rutin loss and quercetin was hardly detected. Therefore, this study contributes to enhancing the health functionalities of buckwheat by reducing rutin loss, probably extending use of buckwheat flour to a variety of processed food products.

The longhorn pine sawyers, Monochamus saltuarius and M. alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), are vectors of the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae), the causal pathogens of pine wilt disease in Korea. Recently, an aggregation pheromone, 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol, identified from M. galloprovincialis and M. alternatus, was shown to be effective for attracting several Monochamus species in Europe, North America, and East Asia. However, the effect of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol on attracting M. saltuarius remains largely unraveled. In this study, we investigated the abilities of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol along with host plant volatiles (α-pinene and ethanol) to attract M. saltuarius at a pine forest in Cheongsong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. Pine trees in the field experiment site were not previously affected by pine wilt disease. The combination of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol with host plant volatiles was more effective than either of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol or host plant volatiles for attracting M. saltuarius. Both sexes of M. saltuarius were attracted to traps containing 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol with the host plant volatiles. Our study suggests that the aggregation pheromone in combination with host plant volatiles could be used for detection and population monitoring of M. saltuarius as well as for effective mass trapping in outbreak situations.

The pine wilt disease that blocks the path for water and nutrition in pine trees is caused by the nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae). The nematode relies on the longhorn pine sawyer beetle Monochamus alternatus and Monochamus saltuaris (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) as vectors. Recently, 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol was identified as a male-produced aggregation pheromone of Monochamus species. In this study, we investigated the effect of 2-(undecyloxy) ethanol along with host plant volatiles -pinene and ethanol on attracting M. alternatus at a pine forest in Pohang, Korea from May, 2014 to July, 2014. To sustain the volatility of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol and host plant volatiles, a superabsorbent polymer based on polyacrylic acids and water were added to the pheromone mixture. A total of 46 M. alternatus were collected from two field bioassays. Our results indicate that 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol is effective in attracting M. alternatus in Korea. Our study suggests that the aggregation pheromone could be used for detection and population monitoring of the beetles as well as for the effective mass trapping in outbreak situations.

Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation. Urban development negatively affects biodiversity. This study aimed to clarify the change of butterfly communities on effect of urbanization in urban green areas. Butterfly survey was conducted using the line transect methods from April to October in 2012. A total of 59 species and 1,465 individuals of butterflies were observed in four urban green areas: Namsan Park (NS), Ewha Womans University (EW), Bukseoul Dream Forest (BD), and Hongneung Forest (HF), and natural forest: Gwangneung Forest (GF). The category of land use around study site was determined based on GIS data. Species richness and abundance of niche breadth and habitat type in urban green areas differed significantly from those in GF. Estimated species richness and species diversity (H’) in four urban green areas were significantly lower than those in GF. Species richness and abundance of forest interior species and specialist were positively correlated with paddy, field, and forest, whereas those of forest interior species and specialist were negatively correlated with urban area and road. Butterfly communities in four urban green area differed from that in GF. The result suggests that the decrease of paddy, field, and forest associated with increase of urban area and road negatively influences species composition and changes butterfly communities.

식물공장은 외부 환경요인에 관계없이 효율적인 공간 활용을 통해 작물의 생산성 및 경제성을 극대화시켜 생산할 수 있는 획기적인 기술이다. 본 연구은 엽채류 중 만추대 열풍적치마상추, 만추대 청치마상추, 그린 로메인상추, 그린골 양상추, 개량사또 쑥갓과 영진 청경채를 대상으로 식물공장에서 실험하였다. LED 시스템을 이용하여 광원의 종류를 적색, 청색, 적색+청색, 적색+청색+백색, 적색+적외선 혼합광으로 구성하였다. 적색+청색 혼합광에서 적색과 청색의 조사기간 비율은 1 : 1, 2 : 1, 5 : 1, 10 : 1로 구성하였고, duty 비는 100%, 99%, 97%로 구성하였다. 광원의 종류에 따른 결과 로메인상추에서 지상부 건중량과 S/R 비는 R+B 혼합광에서 가장 높았고, 양상추의 지하부 건중량과 쑥갓의 S/R 비는 R+B+W 혼합광에서 높았지만, 나머지 종에서는 차이가 없었다. 적색과 청색의 조사기간 비율에 따른 결과 청치마상추, 양상추와 청경체는 지상부 건중량, 총 건중량, S/R비가 비교적 적색의 비율이 높은 조건 (5 : 1)에서 가장 높았다. duty 비에 따른 결과 R+B 혼합광에서 쑥갓은 100%와 99%, 로메인은 100%와 97%일 때 지상부와 지하부, 총 건중량이 높았다. S/R 비는 엽채류 6종 모두 duty 비가 낮은 97%에서 높게 나와 낮은 duty 비에서도 양호한 생육을 보였다. R+B+W 혼합광에서 청치마상추와 로메인상추 그리고 청경채는 duty 비는 낮은 97%에서도 비교적 높은 지상부 건중량 및 총 건중량을 보였다. 또한, 로메인 상추와 양상추의 S/R 비는 duty 비가 97%인 조건에서 가장 높았다. 따라서 LED 시스템을 이용한 식물공장에서 각 엽채류 별로 적절한 광원과 광질을 이용하면 외부 환경인에 관계없이 안정적인 재배를 할 수 있을 것이다.

The Diadegma fenestrale is known as parasitoid on potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella and diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella. The Diadegma genus is reported to have symbiotic virus, ichnovirus, D. fenestrale Ichnovirus (DfIV) was identified from this species which is a first report. DfIV showed typical ichnovirus shape with two membranes surrounding the virus capsid. To identify DfIV genes, whole genome sequencing based on GS-FLX was conducted using purified total DfIV genomic DNA extracted from D. fenestrale calyx. About sixty ORFs were analyzed and several typical ichnovirus gene families were detected such as cys-motif, repeat element, vinnexin and vankyrin. Present study was focused on the gene expression patterns in two different lepidopteran hosts.

본 연구는 투자유치국가에서 행해지는 다국적기업의 기업시민행동에 대해, 전략적 요소 및 제도적 환경이 미치는 효과를 고찰한다. 한국에 상주하는 199개 다국적 기업을 분석한 결과, 다국적 기업의 기업시민행동은 투자유치국-투자모국간의 제도적 환경 차이에는 별다른 영향을 받고 있지 않지만 전략적 요소, 즉 소유 집중도 및 국제화 동기 차원과는 관련성이 크다는 것을 알 수 있다. 특기할만한 점은, 다국적 기업의 구체적인 기업시민행동 (예를 들면, 환경차원의 활동)은 투자모국의 제도적 여건에 의해 더욱 촉진되고 있음을 알 수 있다. 본 연구를 통하여, 우리는 투자유치국가에서 행해지는 다국적 기업의 시민행동은 자원몰입의 정도 및 그들이 직면한 제도의 효과성에 의해 영향 받고 있음을 제시한다.

The Diadegma fenestrale was known as parasitoid on potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella and diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella. This species, genus Diadegma are first reported from Korea. DfIV showed typical ichnovirus shape which two membranes surround virus capsids. The genome contents of DfIV consist about sixteen double-stranded DNA segments ranging 2 to 6 kb. To identify DfIV genes, whole genome sequencing based on GS-FLX was conducted using purified total viral DNA extracted from D. fenestrale calyx. About sixty ORFs were analyzed and several typical polydna virus gene family detected such as cys-motif, rep, vinnexin and vankyrin. This is the first report of DfIV and these lepidopteran host immune suppression genes will be deeply identified.

To induce the enhanced mutants of dinitroaniline herbicide pendimethalin degrading bacterium, Bacillus sp. MS202 was irradiated with gamma radiation at the dose of LD99 (3.35 kGy). Three enhanced mutants (MS202m7, MS202m14, MS202m18) were isolated fr

Background & Objectives: Methoxychlor(MET), an organochlorine insecticide, has been thought a potent endocrine disrupting chemical. The present study was undertaken to examine whether short-term exposure to MET can alter the onset of puberty and the associated reproductive parameters such as hormone receptor expressions in prepubertal female rats. Method: MET (1, 10 and 100 mg/kg/day) was administered daily from postnatal day 25 (PND 25) through the PND 34, and the animals were sacrificed on the PND 35. The first V.O. day was monitored, and the weights of reproductive tissues were measured. To assess the structural alterations in the ovary and uterus, the tissues were embedded in paraffin and stained for histological analysis. The transcriptional activities of hypothalamic and pituitary genes were measured using quantitative RT-PCRs. The uterine and hypothalamic proteins were extracted and used for the ER western blotting. Results: As a result, 100 mg group showed advanced V.O. than control, 1 mg group and 10 mg group. The wet weights of ovaries from MET-treated animal dose-dependently increased. The uterine weights were increased in 1 mg group and 10 mg group, while the 100 mg group samples were not significantly different from control tissues. The adrenal, kidney, spleen and thymus weights were not shown any significant change. Corpora lutea and fully grown follicles were observed in the ovaries from the 100 mg group, while numerous primary and secondary follicles were observed in the ovaries from control group. Myometrial thickness of MET-treated group was dose-dependently increased. Epithelial hypertrophy and well-developed glands were observed in the uterus from the 10 mg groups. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that the short-term exposure to MET during the critical period of prepubertal stage could activate a reproductive endocrine system, resulting the early onset of puberty in immature female rats. Our study suggests that MET’s disrupting effect might be derived from premature activation of key reproduction-related genes in hypothalamus-pituitary neuroendocrine circuit.

Recent release of whole genome draft sequences in legume species have led comparative genome studies among legume plants including Glycine max, G. soja, Cajanus cajan and Medicago truncatula. The majority of comparative genomic researches have been conducted based on synteny of coding sequences and coding sequence variations may be one of major forces for speciation and evolution. However, non-coding sequences have been also reported to be important phenotypic regulators. Especially, since short sequence motifs in the promoter regions are highly conserved, they are suggested to be another resources of interests in comparative studies. In this study, we predicted the conserved short sequence motifs by BLASTN algorithm using dicot promoter database from Softberry (http://www.softberry.com). A total of 37,396 conserved short sequence motifs were identified onto 2 kb upstreams of 46,367 high confident gene model of G. max (cv. Williams 82). Meanwhile, whole genome of 7 soybean landraces (G. max) and 7 wild soybean genotypes (G. soja) were sequenced at low depth of less than ten using Illumina Hiseq 2000. Among these genotypes, nucleotide variations were identified in predicted conserved regulatory motifs by mapping of short reads to the reference genome sequence using the Samtools program (http://samtools.sourceforge.net/). Fifteen and two genes, which have SNPs in regulatory motifs and no SNP in coding sequence, were identified by comparisons of inter-species and intra-species, respectively. qRT-PCR experiments are in progress for investigating differences of these 17 genes expressions at transcriptional level.

As soybean (Glycine max) is known for its high nutritional value of oil and protein, soybean has been domesticated and cultivated by one specific character trait based on human selection. Importantly, tracing back in time where G. max and G. soja, the undomesticated ancestor of G. max have diverged plays an important role in studying of genetic diversity and in investigating the common ancestor of soybean. In this study, we sequenced 6 G. max and 6 G. soja using Illumina’s Hiseq 2000 with a low coverage sequencing technology to estimate the divergence of times between genotypes and populations. A total of the 12 genotypes were sequenced at the average depth of 6.5 and resulted 892.5 Mb and 903.3 MB consensus sequences with the coverage of 91.54% and 92.65% for G. max and G. soja, respectively. The whole genome SNP analysis showed that G. max had lower frequency levels of polymorphism (~0.1%) than G. soja (~0.25%). And, a high number of SNPs located in introns were found among 6 G. soja genotypes as SNPs were approximately twice than those found in 6 G max. The number of SNPs in G. max intronic regions was 53,134, whereas a total of 133,329 SNPs were discovered in G. soja introns. Almost an equal number of SNPs were discovered in 5’ UTR and exon regions; however, different numbers of SNP in CDS and 3′ UTR were identified. By the rate of nonsynonymous change, divergence of time between G. soja and G. max would be investigated.