Korean Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (P. ginseng) is a well-known and one of the most important tonic herbs used in traditional Korean medicine. The pharmacological effects of P. ginseng have been reported by many researchers. Nevertheless, little is known between the mechanism of action and the active compounds. In this study, we performed a comprehensive proteomic analysis and protein categorization in order to understand the physiological characteristics of the major components in the adventitious roots of P. ginseng. Whole proteins extracted from the cultured adventitious roots of P. ginseng were separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE). Among the 1000 spots which were detected by silver staining, 113 spots were labeled and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Our results showed that 40 proteins were identified among the 113 spots, with a hit ratio of 35.3%. A number of proteins identified on the 2-DE gels (30%; 16 spots) were involved in energy metabolism. These proteomic data will be helpful to better understand the physiological and pharmacological effects of P. ginseng.

• Cho, Jin-Hyoung(Department of Oral Pharmacology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Dental Bioscience) | 조진형
• Jeon, Young-Joo(Department of Oral Pharmacology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Dental Bioscience) | 전영주
• Lee, Ra-Ham(Department of Oral Pharmacology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Dental Bioscience) | 이라함
• Shim, Jung-Hyun(Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Mokpo National University) | 심정현 Corresponding author
• Chae, Jung-Il(Department of Oral Pharmacology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Dental Bioscience) | 채정일 Corresponding author