Polygonatum is a genus placed in the family Liliaceae, distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and 16 of the species are grown naturally in Korea. In oriental medicine, the rhizomes of Polygonatum have been used as two different medicines, Okjuk (Polygonati odorati Rhizoma) and Hwangjeong (Polygonati Rhizoma). However, it is difficult to identify the morphological and chemical differences between the medicinal groups and thus easy to confuse the one with the other. Therefore, a clear classification standard needs to be established so as to be able to discriminate between them. In the study, the morphological characteristics of the plants, Polygonatum spp., were examined. Then, the differences in SNPs among the DNA sequences of 7 of the Polygonatum spp. and 1 of the Disporum spp. were analyzed by DNA barcoding with rpoC1, rpoB2, matK, and psbA-trnH of the cpDNA region. In the results, three regions, rpoC1, rpoB2, and matK were useful for discriminating the species, P. stenophyllum and P. sibiricum. Furthermore, it was possible to discriminate the individual germplasm within the species by using the combination of the results obtained from rpoB2, rpoC1, and matK.

Twenty two common millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) varieties collected from Korea, China and Russia were investigated for their phylogenetic relationship using 5S ribosomal DNA sequences with a hope to provide the basic information on their exact origin. Sequences of 5S rDNA were isolated by PCR. The primers, 5s-rRNA1 and 5s-rRNA2, were designed to isolate the complete NTS. Genomic DNA amplification produced two fragments with different length, 900 bp and 400 bp fragments, confirming the presence of two types of 5S rDNA repeats that differed from each other in the length of the NTS region. Amplified DNAs of 400 bp fragment were subcloned and used for further investigation. The obtained NTS sequences ranged from 200 to 300 bp and homology of sequences among plant materials was much higher than long repeat. CLUSTALW multiple aligment of 5S rDNA sequences from 22 different common millets revealed the clear difference by their origin. And critically different areas with insert or deletion were also confirmed. Those sequence difference seems to be used for discrimination of cultivars from different origin and use as molecular markers for origin identification. In phylogenic tree construction, the clear classification was shown where the genotypes from China and Russia is positioned together and stay away from domestic genotypes.

The plant family chrysanthemum is known for its medicinal, ornamental, and economic purposes. Owing to its economic and biological significance to the difficult identification based on morphological characters, it is useful to develop DNA barcodes. DNA sequence data enable not only the inference of phylogenetic relationships but also provide an efficient method for species-level identifications under terms DNA barcoding or DNA taxonomy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of DNA barcoding in discriminating Chrysanthemum species. Four cpDNA regions (matK, rpoC, rpoB, trnH-psbA) and one nuclear (ITS) marker have sequenced from 28 specimens of 11 species from 4 genera of Chrysanthemum which were collected from 5 provinces in Korea. Comparisons of within and between species levels of sequence divergence showed that genetic variation between species exceeds variation within species.

It is very crucial to evaluate the genetic diversity of peanut genetic resources for identification of peanut germplasm accessions and variety improvement. Cultivated peanut generally has two subspecies, hypogaea and fastigiata. In this study, we identified peanut into three plant types, virginia (var. hypogaea), spanish (var. vulgaris), and valencia (var. fastigiata). Former one belongs to ssp. hypogaea and latter two are involved in ssp. fastigiata. Twenty SSR markers were used to assess the genetic variation of three sets, hypogaea, vulgaris, and fastigiata, respectively. Out of variety-specific SSR primers tried in this study, ten pairs of SSR primers showed polymorphisms. Each accession could be identified by a specific set of polymorphic SSR primers, and allele number was evaluated among accessions, with an average of 6.7 in var. hypogaea and 5.4 in var. vulgaris and fastigiata. For evaluation of genetic diversity, gene diversity ranged from 0.336 to 0.844 and PIC (polymorphism information contents) ranged from 0.324 to 0.827 were investigated. Dendrograms based on genetic distances were constructed, which showed the existence of three different clusters. And these three different clusters might be associated with the genes involved in three plant types. The results also suggested that there were plentiful SSR polymorphisms among peanut germplasm accessions in RDA (Rural Development Administration, Korea) Genebank and SSRs might play an important role in evaluating peanut accessions and cultivar improvement.

한국산 쑥속 분류군의 계통분류학적 연구를 위해 Nuclear ribosome DNA의 ITS 염기서열 분석을 실시하였다. 정렬된 염기의 총 길이는 635~643 bp이며, ITS1과 ITS2 부위의 길이는 각각 251~255 bp와 217~222 bp로 나타났다. 염기서열 변이를 보이는 site는 95개로 확인되었다. 그 중 ITS1이 35개, ITS2가 26개로 총 72개의 site가 계통학적으로 유효한 것으로 나타남으로써 ITS1이 ITS2보다 종 분화의 변이가 다양하게 발생하는 것으로 확인되었다. ITS 염기서열을 기초한 계통학적 분석은 쑥속 내에 5개의 Clade를 형성하였다. 그 결과 자방이 퇴화된 분류군들(사철쑥, 제비쑥, 섬쑥, 갯제비쑥)이 하나의 분계조(Clade 1)를 형성함으로써 아속 수준(Subgen. Dracunculus)으로 취급되는 결과를 뒷받침 하였다. 애기비쑥과 큰비쑥은 거의 동일한 유전적 정보를 보였으며(Boostrap 99%), 한국산 참쑥의 학명은 재고 되어야할 것으로 사료된다. 또한, 강화약쑥(A. sp.)은 황해쑥과 매우 가까운 상동성을 보였다(Boostrap 89%). 따라서, 형태적 형질의 변이가 다소 연속적인 쑥속은 DNA 염기서열에 기초한 분자계통학적 연구가 유용한 방법으로 판단되며, 본 ITS 연구결과는 한국산 쑥속의 계통분류를 이해하는데 유용한 형질로 기여할 것으로 기대된다.

Schizonepeta spike (Korean name "Hyung-Gae") has been used for oriental medicinal purposes in Korea, China and Japan. In this study, twenty six "Hyung-Gae" samples were collected including nine certified Schizonepeta tenuifolia plants, and seventeen commercially marketed "Hyung-Gae" products. Chloroplast trnL-F and rDNA ITS regions of the "Hyung-Gae" samples were sequenced and used to identify whether the samples were genuine S. tenuifolia or not. As the result, the trnL-F and ITS sequences of all the "Hyung-Gae" samples were shown to be identical and it was proven that commercially available medicinal products "Hyung-Gae" are genuine S. tenuifolia. Phylogenetic tree of S. tenuifolia using the trnL-F sequences was constructed and compared with phylogenetic tree using ITS of rDNA region sequences. In these tree, S. tenuifolia was affiliated in the family Lamiaceae. It is proven that trnL-F and ITS phylogenetic trees are useful to study taxonomic position of S. tenuifolia.

The region containing 18S rRNA gene, ITS 1 and part of the 5.8S rRNA gene of the Atractylodes japonica Koidz was amplified by PCR and the product cloned in a pBluescript SK II plasmid. DNA sequence of the cloned DNA was determined and submitted to the GenBank (accession number EU678363). Phylogenetic analysis of the ITS 1 DNA showed close similarity with the other plant species of the family Compositae. The extract of the plant materials of five different members of the family Compositae was analyzed by HPLC to detect atractylon. Extract of the A. japonica Koidz showed presence of significant amount of atractylon. However, noticeable amount of atractylon was not detected by the same analyses from the extracts of the other plants belonging to the family Compositae including Artemisia capillaris, Chrysantemum zawadskii, Eclipta prostrata or Taraxacum platycarpum.

국내자생 쑥속의 식물을 약용작물 및 산업화에 활용하기 위한 기초자료를 얻고자 본 연구를 수행하였다. 그 결과, 수집된 쑥속 식물들은 사철쑥 (A. capillaris)을 포함한 20종 1아종 2변종 24분류군으로 분류 되었으며, 이를 바탕으로 25개의 화기형질을 이용하여 주성분 분석과 군집분석을 수행하였다. 주성분 분석결과 제1주성분은 전체 분산의 44.73%, 제2주성분은 16.86%, 제 3주성분은 8.88%, 제4주성분은 7.07%의 기여율을 보였으며, 상위 제4주성분까지의 누적 기여율이 77.56%였다. 군집분석 결과, 자방의 퇴화, 아관목, 두화의 크기 등의 주요형질에 의해 크게 3개의 군으로 구분되어졌으며, 화기구조의 식별형질로는 기발표된 Dracunculus, Abrotanum, Absinthium 3절과 완전히 일치하지는 않았으나 국내 자생쑥의 분류형질로 활용이 가능하였다.

지모 (Anemarrhena asphodeloides)는 탁월한 해열작용과 진정작용을 갖는 한약재로 한국, 중국, 일본에서 널리 이용되어 왔다. 본 연구에서는 먼저 국내 연구소에서 형태학적 분류 결과 지모로 확인된 3종의 식물체를 수집하여 엽록체 DNA의 trnL-F 염기서열을 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 국내 연구기관에서 보관중인 지모 식물체들이 모두 동일한 trnL-F의 염기서열을 보여서, 형태학적 분류와 계통유전학적 분류가 동일함을 확인하였다. 최초로 얻어진 지모 trnL-F 염기서열은 NCBI database에 등록하였다. 다음으로 국내 한약재 시장과 중국 한약재 시장에서 유통 중인 지모 한약재를 다량 구입하여 trnL-F의 염기서열을 분석하였다. 그 결과, 유통 중인 지모 한약재들이 모두 기원식물과 동일한 TrnL-F의 염기서열을 보여서 지모 약재의 경우 진품이 유통되고 있음을 알 수 있었다. TrnL-F의 염기서열로 계통수를 작성한 결과 지모는 아스파라거스목 (Asparagales), 용설란과 (agavaceae)에 속한 것으로 보여 졌다. 엽록체 rbcL 유전자 염기서열로 얻은 계통수와 비교한 결과 trnL-F 계통수와 rbcL 계통수가 비슷한 결과를 보여주어서 분자유전학적 분류에 두 유전자가 상호보완적으로 이용될 수 있음을 확인하였다.

RAPD analysis was performed to discuss the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among the tribe Forsythieae and related groups. Two hundred and eighteen scorable polymorphic bands were detected from fourteen oligonucleotide primers. From the results of RAPD analysis by Nei and Li's genetic distance, each individuals of Abeliophyllum distichum showed high genetic relationships with ranging from 0.085 to 0.301, also the genus Forsythia showed from 0.042 to 0.655 among the species and populations. But, Abeliophyllum and Forsythia showed distinct dissimilarity, ranging from 0.610 to 1.258. And genetic differences among the population of Forsythia were 0.042 in F. koreana, 0.275 in F. saxatilis, 0.275 in F. ovata, 0.279 in F. nakaii, and 0.249 in F. viridissima. The UPGMA phenogram of tribe Forsythieae based on the results of RAPD analysis were presented that Abeliophyllum is distinct genus different from Forsythia. NJ tree which applied as the outgroups Fontanesia and Jasminum was derived, and it showed that tribe Forsythieae might be a monophyletic group. The genus Fontanesia was showed as sister group of tribe Forsythieae. Among the populations of taxa in Forsythia, F. koreana and F. saxatilis were more closely related, and F. ovata and F. nakaii were very closely related to F.japonica. And Fontanesia was the sister group of tribe Forsythieae.