Effects of Vegemil® containing soybean proteins and isoflavones on the growth and bone density of broiler chickens were investigated. One-week-old male and female Arbor Acres broiler chickens were fed on Vegemil® A containing 3% soybean proteins and 162 ppm isoflavones, instead of water, for 30 days and their growth indices (body weight, leg weight and femur length) and bone density were analyzed. The body weight gains in male and female chickens were increased by 15.6% and 31.7%, respectively, following feeding Vegemil® A compared to normal water. Vegemil® A increased leg weight as well as femur length of females by 22.9% and 15.0%, respectively. In addition, Vegemil® A feeding enhanced femoral bone density by 21.3% in comparison with water feeding. Therefore, it is suggested that Vegemil® A not only facilitates body growth, but also strengthens bone density of normal chickens, and that it could be a promising candidate for the improvement of infant growth and for the prevention of menopausal osteoporosis.

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a major etiologic agent of chronic periodontitis and cytokines produced by macrophages play important roles in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. In this study we investigated the cytokine response of phorbol myristate acetatedifferentiated THP-1 cells exposed to P. gingivalis. Compared with the prominent cell wall components of P. gingivalis (lipopolysaccharide and the major fimbrial protein FimA), live P. gingivalis stimulated much higher levels of cytokine production. In addition, whereas low multiplicity of infection challenges (MOI=10) of P. gingivalis 381 stimulated high levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-1β, high dose challenges with this bacterium (MOI = 100) resulted in a substantially diminished production of MCP-1 and IL-6. Moreover, high MOI P. gingivalis challenges achieved only low levels of induction of MCP-1 and IL-6 mRNA. The decreased production of MCP-1 and IL-6 appeared to be mediated by P. gingivalis proteases, because high MOI challenges with congenic protease mutant strains of this microorganism (MT10 and MT10W) did not result in a diminished production of MCP-1 and IL-6. Similar to its protease mutant strains, leupeptin (a protease inhibitor)- treated P. gingivalis at high doses induced high levels of MCP-1 production. To examine the mechanisms underlying the diminished production of MCP-1 by P. gingivalis proteases, the activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and NF-xB was compared between the 381 and MT10W strains. Whilst high doses of both 381 and MT10W similarly activated the three members of the MAP kinase family, the DNA binding activity of NF-xB, as revealed by gel shift assays, was greatly increased only by MT10W. Taken together, our data indicate that P. gingivalis stimulates the production of high levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and MCP-1 but that high dose challenges with this bacterium result in a diminished production of MCP-1 and IL-6 via the protease-mediated suppression of NF-B activation in THP-1 macrophagic cells.

The gap between the increasing amount of raw sequence data and qualified biological information is widening: it is not possible to provide qualified annotation for new genomes with the same speed at which sequences are generated -- especially with next generation sequencing technologies. Additionally, managing the huge number ofavailable bioinformatics algorithms represents a challenge of its own. Thus, a systemwhich provides maximum annotation quality with approved methods in a minimum of time is absolutely critical as the basis for the R&D pipeline in industrial biotechnology. Also using those various genome annotation, comprehensive knowledge of a fungal’s biosynthetic capacities is the indispensable basis of its usefulness in the biotechnology research. Comparative genomics is on the rise as a potent tool in molecular biology. The publicly available genomes from yeasts and several fungal species are used to comparative genomics method for discovery of functional information in our research. Also we had integrated information from different data sources to dynamically build semantic networks representing up-to-date knowledge, which can then be mined and analyzed. Through those methods, we could inspect the common features and uniques between yeasts and fungal species in the new aspect.

The tribe Atimiini LeConte containing two genera (Atimia and Paratimia) and about 12 species is distributed in East Asia and North America. The systematic position of the Atimiini has long puzzled the Coleopterist due to the Lamiid-like aspect of the Atimia. But the Atimiini has regarded as a tribe of the subfamily Aseminae since Webb (1912) associated the Atimia with the Asemum on the basis of larval characters. The tribe is very specialized in food habits, the species of Atimia are all restricted to trees of the Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae, including Cupressus, Libocedrus, Thuja, Chamaecyparis, Juniperus, Taxodium, Sequoia, and their relatives. Members of the Atimiini are characterized by the combination of following features: head transverse, front short, vertical, mouthparts nearly horizontal; antennae 11-segmented, shorter than the body in both sexes, eyes large, moderately granulated, deeply emarginate, embracing antennal insertion; labrum transverse, ciliated; palpi unequal in length, the maxillary longer; pronotum quadrate, transverse; anterior coxae rounded, cavities usually not angulated, completely closed behind; mesonotum with a large, divided, stridulatory area; scutellum subquadrate; intermediate coxal cavities closed; metasternum deeply emarginate posteriorly, metepisterna narrow, attenuated behind; legs short; femora feebly clavate; tibiae armed with short spurs; wings with a closed cell in the anal sector. Here, we report the tribe Atimiini for the first time in Korea based on provisional identified species, Atimia spec. okayamensis Hayashi. We also provide a diagnosis, habitus photo, and drawings of diagnostic characters.

We tested differences in female pheromone production and male response in three species of the genus Adoxophyes in Korea. Females of all three species produced mixtures of Z9-14:OAc and Z11-14:OAc as major components but in quite different ratios. The ratio of Z9-14:OAc and Z11-14:OAc in pheromone gland extracts was estimated to be 100:198 for A. honmai, 100:23 for A. orana, and 100:3880 for A. sp. Field tests showed that males of each species were preferentially attracted to the two-component blends of Z9-14:OAc and Z11-14:OAc mimicking the blends found in pheromone gland extracts of conspecific females. The effects of minor components identified in gland extracts on trap catches varied with species. Addition of 10me-12:OAc or E11-14:OAc to the binary blend of Z9-14:OAc and Z11-14:OAc significantly increased captures of A. honmai males, whereas E11-14:OAc exhibited a strongly antagonistic effect on catches of A. sp. males. Moreover, Z9-14:OH or Z11-14:OH added to the binary blends increased attraction of male A. orana but not A. honmai and A. sp. males, suggesting that these minor components, in addition to the relative ratios of the two major components, play a noteworthy role in reproductive isolation between Adoxophyes species in the southern and midwestern Korea where these species occur sympatrically.