Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) is one of the most popular ornamental species in the world due to the great diversity of inflorescence form and color. There has been increasing demands for various types of chrysanthemums, such as cut flowers, potted plants and bedding plants. However, the genomic studies of this species have been not extensively conducted relative to other ornamental species due to high levels of polyploidy (2n = 4x =36 or 2n = 6x = 54) and heterozygosity as well as large genome size. In this work, we developed a molecular tool for cultivar identification using simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and investigated genetic diversity in 127 chrysanthemum cultivars. Of the 150 SSR primer pairs tested in this study, 62 primers were obtained from previous studies, while 88 primers were designed using the unigene sequences of C. nankingense and the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) sequences of C. morifolium in the NCBI database. Thirty SSR primers were selected based on polymorphism and banding patterns in a subset of 8 cultivars and used to amplify the DNA of 127 chrysanthemum cultivars. The UPGMA dendrogram based on these 30 SSR markers showed that most of chrysanthemum cultivars were divided into five clusters. These results will benefit chrysanthemum research community to develop elite cultivars.

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) is a short day plant and has been adapted to various climates and environments during cultivation. However, the cultivation area is restricted to a very narrow range of latitudes. To date, nine major genes (E1 to E8 and J) have been reported to control the flowering time and maturity. Here, we evaluated the role of E2, E3, E4, and their paralogue genes in late flowering soybean cultivars under long day (LD) conditions using Soybean yellow common mosaic virus (SYCMV)-based virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system. A total of nine VIGS constructs were infiltrated into two fully expanded cotyledons and primary leaves. After inoculation with these VIGS constructs on Jangyeobkong, which is a late-flowering cultivar, phenotypic traits were evaluated for the first flowering dates (FFDs) and pod maturities under LD conditions. The FFDs of the silenced plants occurred 50-56 days after sowing (das), while the non-silenced plants bloomed on 60-61 days. We found that the E3 paralogue-silenced plants flowered the fastest and responsive genes were identified to be associated with the promotion of flowering time. As the knock-down of E3 paralogue, expression of E1 was up-regulated, E2 was no difference, E3 and E4 genes were down-regulated in the silenced plants. Expression of GmFT2a and GmFT5a is known to be controlled by E3 and E4. Interestingly, GmFT5a were highly expressed in SYCMV:E3 paralogue-silenced plants, whereas the expression of GmFT2a was not significant. These results support that GmFT5a is able to independently promote flowering under LD conditions.

Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is a Gramineae perennial grass species and commonly used as a forage crop and developed to be used for pasture. In Korea, in order to improve high persistence and forage quality, through selection of various superior parental varieties for breeding and synthesis of them with new lines, there are ongoing worldwide studies aiming to enhance the quality and environmental adaptability of Orchardgrass. Between 2010 and 2014, a Orchardgrass variety named Onnuri 2ho was developed by the Grassland & Forages Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration (RDA), Republic of Korea. For the production of synthetic seeds for Onnuri 2ho 4 superior clones, Dg7506, Dg9508, Edg215 and Edg218 were selected and polycrossed. Between 2010 and 2011, the agronomic growth characteristics and forage production capability of the seeds were studied at Cheonan, and between 2012 and 2014, regional trials were conducted in Cheonan, Hoengseong, Jinju, and in Jeju. The main growth characteristic of Onnuri 2ho is a tetraploid variety, a medium-late maturity variety, the heading stage of which is around May 17, which is four days later than that of Amba. This study tested the regional adaptability of Orchardgrass in Cheonan, Hoengseong, Jeju, and in Jinju. The average dry matter yield of Onnuri 2ho in the four regions was 15,814 kg/ha, which is greater than that of Amba by 34%. These differences show that Onnuri 2ho is more resistant to environmental stresses than Amba and that this growth characteristic directly led to dry matter yield. Thus, Onnuri 2ho is a suitable variety for the establishment of grasslands as it has enhanced disease resistance and persistence, compared to Amba. The forage quality of Onnuri 2ho was similar to that of Amba in crude protein (11.5%), total digestible nutrients (59.2%), neutral detergent fiber (62.7%), and acid detergent fiber (37.6%), whereas the forage quality of Ongreen was higher than that of Amba in (71.0%). The new variety was selected and named Onnuri 2ho from Composite 34 by the RDA in November 2014, and the application for the protection of the new variety by the Korea Seed and Variety Service is currently pending. In this study, a new variety of Orchardgrass with excellent environmental adaptability was developed, in order to contribute to the vitalization of the Korean grassland industry.

This study was performed to investigate the growth characteristics and inorganic components of Codonopsis lanceolata regarding regional differences. The plant height of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata was 373.6 cm, so it’s revealed that it has more vigorous growth than Korean won. The flowering time of Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was 2 weeks faster than Japanese one. Total fresh weight of root was 41.0 g and 39.0 g for Korean and Japanese respectively, thus, no significance difference was found. However, regarding fresh weight, Korean one had a more fresh weight (35.4 g) of main root parts, but Japanese one had a more fresh weight (9.6 g) of the lateral root part. Each inorganic component was found more in the aboveground parts, regardless of the region and the content of K was the largest. Regarding the content of macroelements for each part of Codonopsis lanceolata, the content of Na, Mg, P, S, and Ca in Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was found the highest on the leaf, followed by stem and root. In the case of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata, same result was found on the content of Mg and Ca, however, the highest content of Na and P was found in the stem.

This study was conducted to compare the growth, inorganic components, and proximate components of Codonopsis lanceolata grown in 10 regions of Korea for selecting superior species and breeding by crossing. Among the all tested lines, the shortest plant height (217.12 cm) was observed from the Ulleungdo region line (No. 4) while the longest (273.9 cm) was observed from Hwasun region line (No. 9). In addition, the lines of central and northern region (No. 1~No. 7) tend to have shorter plant height than those of southern region (No. 8~No. 9) except Jejudo region line (No. 10). Flowering tends to be late towards southern region, and lines in central and northern regions were started flowering about 2 weeks earlier than those in southern regions. However, the heaviest root weight was 13.1 g, found in only Jejudo line (No. 10) whereas there was no significant difference found in the other regions which have a range of 8.3~11.0 g. The inorganic components were varied in each line, however, proportion of macroelements, such as K, Ca, and P, was the largest for every line. Especially for Heongseong region line (No. 2), had larger proportion of macroelements than the others. There was a difference of proximate compositions of Codonopsis lanceolata, except the moisture content, among all regions, however, it was generally shown that the content of crude protein (1.31~3.76%) and crude fiber (2.18~3.12%) was the highest.

Multivessel spontaneous coronary artery dissection is extremely rare. There are no guidelines regarding optimal treatment of spontaneous coronary artery dissection. The treatment depends on clinical symptoms, extent and location of the dissection, and the hemodynamic status of the patient. Although percutaneous coronary intervention might be required for all of the dissecting arteries, this case demonstrated the importance of an appropriate selection of treatment modalities for spontaneous coronary artery dissection.

The patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a vascular structure connecting the proximal descending aorta to the roof of the main pulmonary artery, near the origin of the left branch pulmonary artery. Transcatheter closure has become the treatment of choice for most cases of PDA in both children and adults; however, measurement of the exact size and morphology of the shunt in adult cases using only contrast fluoroscopy is difficult. We report on a case of a 49-year-old woman who underwent transcatheter closure of PDA with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guideance. In the current case, IVUS is feasible and helpful for measuring the exact size and shape of the PDA.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful tool for the detection of DNA sequences in the specific region of the chromosomes. As well as for the integrated physical mapping, FISH karyotype analysis has to be preceded. The detailed karyotypes of two onion cultivars, which are resources for onion genome sequencing project (‘Eumginara’ and ‘Sinsunhwang’), were constructed based on triple color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using 5S rDNA, 45S rDNA, and tandem repeat sequence. All used our materials showed 2n=2x=16 with x=8 as basic chromosome number. 5S rDNAs were located on 4 loci in one pair of interstitial region of short arm chromosome in both onion cultivars. Two pairs of 45S rDNAs were positioned in distal region of short arm chromosome in ‘Eumginara’. Otherwise 5 loci of 45S rDNAs were located in distal region of two pairs of short arm chromosome in ‘Sinsunhwang’. Among them, two signals of 45S rDNAs were co-localized in distal part of short arm and long arm chromosome, respectively. In case of tandem repeat sequence was detected on telomeric region of 8 pairs of chromosomes except on 45S ribosomal DNA sites. These results will provide a valuable background for physical mapping and help to further more understand the genome sequencing project in Allium cepa.

xBrassicoraphanus, a new synthetic intergeneric hybrid between Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis and Raphanus sativus L., also locally known as ‘Baemoochae’, is an interesting subject for studying polyploidy and genome plasticity in the family Brassicaceae, but very few genomic and cytogenetic information. Here, we analysed the chromosome complements and pairing of the most fertile lines, BB1 and BB5, using dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) to check their chromosomal segregation stability. The somatic chromosome complement of B. rapa was confirmed to be 2n=20 (2.8~4.8μm), of R.sativus, 2n=18 (2.0~3.3μm), and of xBrassicoraphanus, 2n=38 (2.2~5.0μm). There were eight, eight, and seventeen metacentric pairs and two, one, and two submetacentric pairs in B. rapa, R. sativus, and xBrassicoraphanus, respectively. Additionally, three, two, and five pairs of 5S rDNA and five, three, and eight pairs of 45S rDNA were observed in B. rapa, R. sativus, and xBrassicoraphanus, respectively. This suggests that both B. rapa (AA) and R. sativus (RR) genomes, particularly the rDNA arrays, co-exist in xBrassicoraphanus (AARR) genome. In meiosis I, nineteen bivalents were most frequent, and GISH analysis showed ten bivalents from the A genome. This study would provide a useful information for further genomic study of xBrassicoraphanus and its improvement as a new promising breeding variety.

Genome sequencing researches for considerable numbers of crops and wild plants are being developed. Cytogenetic researches according to chromosome number and size are essential to confirm and comprehend ploidy level and genome size before genome sequencing project is actually conducted. Cytogenetic researches on six food crop plants were carried out by DAPI staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method. Fagopyrum esculentum Moench showed 2n=2x=16, each chromosome length of 1.42㎛ to 1.77㎛, total chromosome length of 13.31㎛, and karyotypic formula of 2n=8m; Phaseolus angularis W.F. Wight, 2n=2x=22, 2.01㎛ to 3.84㎛, total 28.03㎛, 2n=9m+2sm, Perilla frutescens var. japonica Hara, 2n=2x=40, 1.73㎛ to 2.76㎛, total 44.36㎛, 2n=5m+13sm+2st. Chromosome sizes of the other three species such as, Panicum miliaceum L., 2n=2x=36, total chromosome length of 30.83㎛, Sesamum indicum L., 2n=2x=26, 27.39㎛, lpomoea batatas L., 2n=2x=30, total 33.51㎛ were too small for each chromosome type to be identified and analyzed. The result of FISH analysis using 5S and 45S rDNA probe showed species-specific chromosome locations in the genome. These preliminary analyses were carried out to decide which food crop to prioritize for genome sequencing. This work was supported by the “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (No.PJ009837), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Neutropenic enterocolitis (NE), the most serious gastrointestinal complication, has been reported as a clinical syndrome that occurs in the setting of disease- or chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. Complications of NE include bowel necrosis with perforation, fistula, stenosis, massive bleeding, abscess formation, and pneumatosis intestinalis (PI). Most physicians recommend initial conservative management with bowel rest, intravenous fluids, total parenteral nutrition, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and normalization of neutrophil counts. Surgical intervention is recommended in the event of obstruction, perforation, persistent gastrointestinal bleeding despite correction of thrombocytopenia and coagulopathy, or clinical deterioration. We experienced a patient whose abdominal computed tomography scan showed pneumoretroperitoneum, intramural gas in the colon, and inferior vena caval gas. Her condition improved after treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and broad-spectrum antibiotics. We report on this case along with a review of the literature.

Genetically modified (GM) plant claims to be the solution to global poverty, and potentially solving environmental change and food requirement by increased human population. In this study, we were evaluating agronomic characteristics and chemical properties of two GM drought-tolerant rice (CaMsrB2-8 and CaMsrB2-23) compared with donor cultivars (Ilmi). Statistical analysis agronomic characteristics GM and donor rice showed no significant difference between both of them. Yield and appearance of rice grain, GM rice was a similar to the donor rice. Chemical composition analysis showed that GM drought-tolerant rice has no different with donor rice. This result indicated that GM drought tolerant rice has no big significant difference agronomic character and chemical properties; it can be solve food shortages in spite of drought condition.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) approaches can also be useful tool for characterization of organelle genomes. We generated chloroplast (CP) genome sequences of two Korean ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong and Yunpoong, based on reference-guided assembly using whole genome NGS data. We used 0.5x of P. ginseng genome NGS reads to assemble CP genome. Of the NGS reads used, about 6% were mapped to the reference CP genome with mean coverage of 94x due to high copy number of CP genome in plant cell. CP genomes of the two cultivars were predicted to be 156,248 bp and 156,355 bp in length and showed about 0.1% differences at nucleotide level, compared to reference CP genome sequenced from P. ginseng (Acc.no. NC_006290), whereas difference between CP genomes of the two cultivars is very rare. In this study, we developed the molecular marker to perform taxon identification and also to elucidate phylogenetic relationship among Korean ginseng cultivars. Now, we are analyzing the CP genomes of other P. ginseng cultivars together with other Panax species including American ginseng and Panax related species.

Korean soybean variety Kwangan was transformed with ORE7 gene using highly efficient soybean transformation system. The gene is known to exhibit a delayed leaf senescence phenotype in Arabidopsis. To confirm phenotypic characterization of leaf senescence for non-transgenic (NT) and transgenic plants, we transplanted T1 transgenic lines 7, 9, 14 and 15 together with two negative controls (NT and EV) in greenhouse. As a result, line 15 showed dramatic phenotypic characterization of yield increase and senescence delay. In addition, to investigate the agriculture traits for transgenic plants with leaf senescence delaying, T2 transgenic lines and two negative controls were transplanted on GMO fields in Ochang and harvested T3 seeds (2010). Most transgenic lines showed higher total seed weigh than NT. Especially, total seed weight of line 15 was increased by about 180% and 120% compared with the NT and EV, respectively. Therefore, we carried out the second field experiments with T3 transgenic line 15 and NT in Ochang (2011). A total of 117 transgenic plants were divided into two groups, senescence delaying (64 out of 117 plants) and increased yield (53 out of 117 plants), by transcript level of ORE7 gene. Interestingly, among increased yield plants, total seed weight of each 7 plants were increased by more than 200% compared with NT.