Background : Lycoris radiata (L. radiata), which belongs to Amaryllidaceae family, is native to Northeast Asia including Korea, Japan, and China. It is known for its high ornamental and medicinal values. Extensive research has been conducted in a several fields, including molecular biology, morphology, pharmacology, physiology, palynology, and chromosomal biology. The plant is notable for its various biological activities, including anti-cancer, anti-malarial, anti-microbial, reduction in blood pressure, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxicity, and neuroprotective effects. Methods and Results : The results of studies conducted in duplicate revealed the presence of a total of 325,609 and 404,019 unigenes, acquired from 9,913,869,968 and 10,162,653,038 raw reads, respectively, after trimming the raw reads using CutAdapt, assembly using Trinity package, and clustering using CD-Hit-EST. The resulting unigenes were annotated based on the NCBI Non-redundant protein database, as L. radiata is genetically closer to Elaeis guineensis and Phoenix dactylifera. The unigenes of L. radiata were clustered into three major categories: biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions, with 51 functional sections. A large number of unigenes (203,157 and 224,813 from replicates 1 and 2, respectively) were categorized in the biological process cluster, followed by the cellular component cluster, and the molecular function cluster. With respect to the biological process category, the unigenes were assigned to 23 functional sections. The majority of unigenes were involved in cellular processes. Among the unigenes clustered as the cellular component with 14 sections, most genes were associated with the cell and cell parts. Furthermore, 78,017 and 88,817 unigenes, respectively, matched the molecular function cluster with 14 sections, of which most unigenes were related to binding and catalytic activity. Conclusion : This study provides functional information of L. radiata and highlights the use of the Illumina platform for transcriptome research.

Background : Nasturtium officinale, belongs to the Brassicaceae, is a perennial plant growing in and around natural watersystem. It is commonly called watercress and commercially consumed as a salad crop in many countries. Hairy root cultures (HRCs), transformed by Agrobacterium rhizogenes (A. rhizogenes), have been noted for an experimental model system in plant metabolic engineering for the synthesis of natural products since hairy roots have fascinating properties including biochemical and genetic stability, high biosynthetic capacity for secondary metabolites and rapid growth rates. Methods and Results : The dry weights (DW) of watercress hairy roots was measured after 4-days freeze dryer. The highest weight was recorded after HRCs in SH and half-strength SH medium, followed by the levels of DW in MS and half-strength medium. However, the level of DW after HRCs in half-strength medium was lowest. SH medium is the most suitable for the growth of watercress hairy roots. Glucosinolate contents in the hairy roots varied responding to the basal media. 1/2 SH basal media resulted in the lowest value of total glucosinolate. MS basal media, however, resulted in the highest value of total glucosinolate, as well as the highest accumulation of each glucosinolate. The hairy roots cultured in 1/2 MS basal media showed the second highest value of total glucosinolate, followed by B5, SH and 1/2 B5. The accumulation of 4-Methoxyglucobrassicin and gluconasturtiin was also secondly higher in the hairy roots in 1/2 MS. In contrast, the level of 4-Hydroxyglucobrassicin and glucobrassicin were the second highest after culturing in SH and B5, respectively. Conclusion : In this study, media played a main role in growth and glucosinolate accumulation in watercress hairy roots. SH and half-strength SH media enabled the rate growth of hairy roots to be highest. In contrast, the highest accumulation of glucosinolate was recorded after HRCs in MS media. The current study suggests HRCs of watercress could be one of an effective alternative approaches for the enhanced production of glucosinolates

Background : Agastache rugosa (A.rugosa), belongs to the Labiatae family, is a perennial plant distributed in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China. It is commonly called korean mint and commercially consumed as a medicinal plant in many countries since the crop contains monoterpenes and phenylpropanoids including rosmarinic acid, tilianin and acacetin. Achievement of hairy root cultures (HRCs) through infection of A rhizogenes is a valuable alternative approach, resulting from genetic and biochemical stability, rapid growth rates and synthesis of natural products. Methods and Results : The hairy root, obtained from the explant of A.rugosa, was cultured in the basal half-strength MS (Murashige & Skoog) medium. The dry weights (DW) of hairy roots was measured after 4-days freeze dryer. The highest levels of DW were obtained at hairy roots cultured in the basal medium supplemented with glucose, galactose and sucrose. The lowest weight was recorded after HRCs in the control, meant that the medium did not contain any carbon sources. Sucrose, glucose and galactose are the most suitable for the growth of korean mint hairy roots. the rosmarinic acid contents in the hairy roots varied responding to various carbohydrates. The basal media added with sucrose resulted in the highest value of rosmarinic acid, followed by the basal media with galactose and glucose. The control showed the lowest amount of rosmarinic acid. Conclusion : In this study, carbon source are of importance for growth and accumulation of rosmarinic acid accumulation in korean mint hairy roots. Especially, the accumulation of rosmrinic acid and hairy root growth was the most appropriate carbohydrate. The current study suggests HRCs of korean mint could provide an valuable alternative approaches for the enhanced production of rosmarinic acid.

Background : Mulberry (Morus alba L.), renowned for their medicine benefits and the leave as the sole food for silkworm (Bombyx mori). To understanding the molecular mechanism of color formation and nutritive value in different mulberry fruit varieties, we use high-throughput transcriptome sequencing technique to investigated the anthocyanin and betulinic biosynthesis pathway related functional genes. In addition, the total antosyanin and betuinic acid contend were also measured. Methods and Results : The resulting cDNA library was then sequenced using an Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 system. The clean reads were assembled using Trinity software, Then perform gene family clustering to get final unigenes. The pH differential method was used to determine the total anthocyanin content (TAC) of methanol extract from the red and white mulberry, and High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis was used to quantify the triterpenes content. In this study, total 50,149 unigenes with an average length of 1,125 nt and N50 equaling 1,861 nt were generated. Using these transcriptome sequecing, cDNAs encoding anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and triterpene biosynthetic genes were isolated. In addition, total anthocyanins and betulinic acid content were analyzed. A great amount of total anthocyanins (59.16 mg/g) were found in fully ripe fruit of Cheongil. Accumulation of betulin and betulinic acid were also detected in all stages of Cheongil and Turkey fruits with small amount. Conclusion : The results of transcriptome sequencing provide useful information at molecular lever in mulberry research, such as interesting gene discovering, marker assisted molecular breeding, and interesting metabolic pathway investigate. The gene expression results could help us understanding of the molecular mechanisms of different fruit color determining factor.