Background : Schizandra chinensis Baillon have five tastes and lately it is using a beverage broadly. Schizandra chinensis is one of the top producing medicinal plant in Korea. Mungyeong of Gyongbuk province produce almost of Schizandra chinensis. Maturity of Schizandra chinensis get 3 years and proliferation of Schizandra chinensis was not a manual. It is needed that a new cultivar has a big fruit and high quality chracteristics using processed food and beverage. Methods and Results : 105 lines of Schizandra chinensis were collected on Mungyeong, Yeongwol, Jinan. It were studied it’ characteristics especially it’s fruit trait. Fruit traits of Schizandra chinensis were researched on fruit length, fruit weight, maturity, number of fruit, male and female ratio, powdery mildew. Fruit length of Schizandra chinensis is relation of fruit weight. It were founded 15 lines of long fruit length. 5 lines were studied high fruit weight and it’s weight were 32 to 41g. Number of fruit has relation with fruit weight and high fruit weight gets many fruits. it’s numer of fruits were 3 to 41. Male and female ratio were very impotant characteristic. High level of female ratio has quantity of fruit. High level of female ratio were founded 2 lines. Finally It was selected 3 good breed lines of Schizandra chinensis. Conclusion : 105 lines of Schizandra chinensis Baillons were collected on Mungyeong, Yeongwol, Jinan. It were founded 15 lines of long fruit length and 5 lines were studied high fruit weight. High level of female ratio were founded 2 lines. 3 good breed lines of Schizandra chinensis were selected.

Background : ROS produced by oxidative stress damaged endothelial cells, and cause a variety of vascular complications. In diabetic hyperglycemia state, ROS increase. The polyol pathway occur in diabetic complications, the excess glucose is absorbed into the polyol pathway when aldose reductase increased, NADPH changes it to sorbitol. Glutathione (GSH) removes ROS. GSH level is reduced by glutathione reductase, using NADPH as an electron donor. Activation of the polyol pathway decrease NADPH, and GSH also reduced. As a result, ROS is increased. In diabetic hyperglycemia state, Glycolysis increases. Effects of increased glycolysis, protein kinase C (PKC) is increased. NAD(P)H oxidase, stimulated by PKC-dependent pathway, increases ROS in the cell. In this study, we measured the ROS scavenging activity of 5 natural products (Lycii fructus, Astragalus membranaceus, Cassia Tora, Polygonatum odoratum, Rubus Coreanus), to confirm the efficacy as diabetic antioxidants. Methods and Results : We extracted 5 natural product by distilled water and ethanol. DPPH radical scavenging activity was significantly higher in Lycii fructus, Rubus coreanus. ABTS radical scavenging activity was better Rubus coreanus, Lycii fructus, Cassia Tora. In addition to, Rubus coreanus, Cassia Tora, Lycii fructus was comparatively higher reducing power activity than other natural products. And total phenolic and flavonoid contents were much higher in Rubus coreanus compared with other extracts. Conclusion : These results suggest that Lycii fructus, Rubus coreanus can be applied as diabetic antioxidant that prevent vascular complications caused by ROS.

Small heat shock proteins (Hsps) are one of most conserved molecular chaperones that protect stress-inducible denaturation of substrates in living organisms. Small Hsps consist of a large subfamily categorized by subcellular localization ranging in size from 12 to 40 kDa. Here, we identified and characterized a small Hsp 16.9 gene (EsHsp16.9) from Siberian wild rye (Elymus sibiricus L.). EsHsp16.9 is a 456-bp cDNA with an open reading frame predicted to encode a 151-amino acid protein. It possesses a conserved ɑ-crystallin domain, which is a unique domain for small Hsps; shares high sequence similarity with cytosolic class I small Hsps among the small Hsp subfamily in Arabidopsis; and is close (96% similarity) to small Hsp in wheat. Northern blot analysis showed that EsHsp16.9 transcripts were enhanced by heat, drought, arsenate, methyl viologen, and H2O2 treatments. Moreover, we expressed and purified recombinant EsHsp16.9 proteins in Escherichia coli to confirm its activity as a molecular chaperone. We found that recombinant EsHsp16.9 exhibits effective molecular chaperone activity, as determined by inhibition of thermal aggregation of malate dehydrogenase (MDH), which is broadly used as a model substrate.

To develop transgenic forage crops with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress, we introduced an alfalfa Hsp23 gene expression vector construct through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Integration and expression of the transgene were confirmed by PCR, northern blot, and western blot analyses. Under normal growth conditions, there was no significant difference in the growth of the transgenic plants and the non-transgenic controls. However, when exposed to various stresses such as salt or arsenic, transgenic plants showed a significantly lower accumulation of hydrogen peroxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances than control plants. The reduced accumulation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances indicates that the transgenic plants possessed a more efficient reactive oxygen species-scavenging system. We speculate that the high levels of MsHsp23 proteins in the transgenic plants protect leaves from oxidative damage through chaperon and antioxidant activities. These results suggest that MsHsp23 confers abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic forage crops and may be useful in developing stress tolerance in other crops.

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 investigated possible involvement of photoperiodic regulation in reproductive endocrine system of female olive flounder. To investigate the influence on brain-pituitary axis in endocrine system by regulating photoperiod, compared expression level of Kisspeptin and sbGnRH mRNA in brain and FSH-β, LH-β and GH mRNA in pituitary before and after spawning. Photoperiod was treated natural photoperiod and long photoperiod (15L:9D) conditions from Aug. 2013 to Jun. 2014. Continuous long photoperiod treatment from Aug. (post-spawning phase) was inhibited gonadal development of female olive flounder. In natural photoperiod group, the Kiss2 expression level a significant declined in Mar. (spawning period). And also, FSH-β, LH-β and GH mRNA expression levels were increasing at this period. However, in long photoperiod group, hypothalamic Kiss2, FSH-β, LH-β and GH mRNA expression levels did not show any significant fluctuation. These results suggest that expression of hypothalamic Kiss2, GtH and GH in the pituitary would change in response to photoperiod and their possible involvement of photoperiodic regulation in reproductive endocrine system of the BPG axis.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in organisms as the natural products of oxidative metabolism by environmental stress and pathogen invasion. ROS, such as superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide, can be toxic to cells and tissues to cause oxidative stress. Recent study revealed that olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) superoxide dismutase (SOD) has been identified as a partial gene and strongly induced to benzoin[a]pyrene and it was deduced indicator of aquatic oxidative stress responses, but its transcriptional response against viral infection has not been investigated. In the present study, spatial and temporal expression profile was analyzed to investigate the function of Of-SOD in the anti-viral response. Of-SOD transcripts were ubiquitously detected in diverse tissues with variable levels using a real-time PCR. The expression of Of-SOD was significantly higher in the muscle, liver and brain, but extremely low in the stomach and spleen. Following VHSV challenge, the expression of Of-SOD increased within 3 hours and subsequently decreased to the original level at 2 days post-challenge in kidney. Although expression pattern and induction time are slight differences depending on the tissue, the transcript of Of-SOD was consistently increased in acute infection response, but expression is low in the chronic response. Collectively, Of-SOD expressions were inducible after VHSV infection and they were probably involved in the immune response against viral challenge. These results suggest that SODs may play important roles in the immune defense system of P. olivaceus and perhaps contribute to the protective effects against oxidative stress in this flounder.

UVB radiation which causes dermatosis, cancroid, and necrosis in living organisms is mostly absorbed by ozone layer, resulting in transmission of only small UVB proportion to earth surface. Recently, however, rapid increases of pollutants like CFCs have accelerated depletion of stratospheric ozone layer. Increased UVB irradiation alters affects biomolecule interinity such as DNA, RNA and protein. To understand DNA mutation spectra in response to UVB, in the present study, we used two soybean cultivars, Buseok and Cheongja 3, which were screened as the most UVB tolerant and sensitive genotypes among 140 soybean germplasms, respectively. Whole genomes of Buseok and Cheongja were sequenced at low-coverage depth by illumina Hiseq2000, and we also sequenced 6 hr UVB irradiated genomes of two cultivars. Raw sequence reads were aligned to the soybean reference sequences (cv. Williams 82) by BWA aligner software. To identify DNA mutations induced by UV-B irradiation, multiple comparisons between non-irradiated and irradiated genomes in these two soybean genotypes were conducted using samtools and GenomeAnalyzerTK packages and homebrew python codes. A total, 13,992 and 17,078 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were indentified between non-irradiated and irradiated genomes of Buseok and Cheongja 3, respectively. In addition, Buseok and Cheongja 3 have 423 and 465 insertions/deletions induced by UVB, respectively. Approximately 58% of the identified SNPs were C to T or CC to TT transversions, consistent with the previous studies. Chromosomal distributions of the SNPs likely showed differences in UV-B mutation positions depending on the soybean genotype

Sequence diversity was accumulated through evolution and breeding process. A set of 595 PCR-based novel insertion/deletion (InDel) markers was designed in order to widen the genetic basis for national rice breeding programs. The markers were generated by analyzing of 40 Korean cultivars and published genome sequences of rice(Oryza sativa L. spp japonica). We selected 112 markers spread across all rice chromosomes among the 595 InDel markers, and they showed polymorphic between rice cultivars, which are 284 Korean japonica and Tongil varieties. Due to their simplicity in design and robustness in genotyping, these InDel markers have been routinely used in quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping studies and marker assisted selection programs for rice. Moreover, the PCR amplification type of InDel markers was converged to digital code, 0 or 1 and then finally represented as one- and two dimensional bar-code system, which could easily differentiate genetically highly homologous japonica rice cultivars. The developed InDel markers uniquely discriminated among each of the Korean cultivars. Therefore, the systems we developed may be valuable tools in discrimination from cultivars

Mungbean (Vigna radiata) is a fast-growing, warm-season legume crop that is primarily cultivated in developing countries of Asia. We constructed a draft genome sequence of mungbean to facilitate genome research into the subgenus Ceratotropis and to enable a better understanding of the evolution of leguminous species. The draft genome sequence covers 80% of the estimated genome, of which 50.1% consists of repetitive sequences. In total, 22,427 high confidence protein-coding genes were predicted. Based on the de novo assembly of additional wild mungbean species, the divergence of what was eventually domesticated and the sampled wild mungbean species appears to have predated domestication. Moreover, the de novo assembly of a tetraploid Vigna species (Vigna reflexo-pilosa var. glabra) provided genomic evidence of a recent allopolyploid event. To further study speciation, we compared de novo RNA-seq assemblies of 22 accessions of 18 Vigna species and protein sets of Glycine max and Cajanus cajan. The species tree was constructed by a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo method using highly confident orthologs shared by all 24 accessions. The present assembly of V. radiata var. radiata will facilitate genome research and accelerate molecular breeding of the subgenus Ceratotropis.

Rice blast (Magnaporthe oryza B.) is one of the most widespread and devastating diseases of rice. Screening of valuable genetic resources harboring resistance genes is one of the most efficient approaches against blast disease. Because the bioassay to rice blast in the field shows high variations, this study has performed to provide DNA profiles in the accessions of diverse countries using major blast resistant genes linked markers, identified and mapped in different genotypes of rice. Because durable resistance to blast is controlled by a combination of major resistance genes, we surveyed the distribution of blast resistant genes in the 1,500 accessions using major 12 blast resistance genes linked markers. These resistant genes found that the frequency distribution of Pi-39 (66.9%), Pik-m (41.9%), Pit (40.5%), Pii (21%), Pib (19.3%), Pi-d(t)2 (12.7%), but Pita, Pita/Pita-2, Pik, Piz-t, Pi5 genes were identified in less than 10% frequency. Most of accessions contain from 1 to 4 different resistant genes. Pi39 and Pik-m genes amplified in the 69.1% and 51.7% among 356 Korean accessions, Pi39 (79.6%) and Pib (55.8%) in 113 China, Pit (80.6%) and Pib (32%) in 103 Philippines, respectively. In this study, we evaluated the blast resistance degree and the information about the distribution of rice blast resistant genes in rice germplasm. This study will help to develop effective strategies for managing rice blast disease in rice germplasm.

Olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) is a most important aquaculture species in Korea. Like most marine fishes, olive flounders are stomachless at first feeding and aquired gastric function during the metamorphosis, so food was mainly digested by pancreatic enzyme from first feeding to premetamorphosis. However, comprehensive analysis of pancreatic and gastric digestive enzyme of olive flounder at early developmental period is still unclear. In the expression study of pancreatic and gastric digestive enzyme by real-time PCR at early developmental stage, pancreatic enzyme such as chymotrypsinogen 2, preproelastase 2 and 4, pancreatic protein somatomedin-B domain (PPSB) mRNA expression were initiated at first feeding and strongly expressed in the pancreas developmental stage, while gastric digestive enzyme signal was not at all detected during same period. Although, trypsinogens were secreted from pancreas and have similar amino acid sequence, trypsinogen 3 expression induction was detected both pancreas and stomach developmental stage, while trypsinogen 2 expression was significantly increased only post-metamorphosis period. Pepsinogen mRNA expression was only detected at metamorphosis according to stomach differentiation. Lipid digestive enzyme, lipase and intestine fatty acid binding protein 1 (I-FABP 1), were already reached a certain level at beginning of hatching and more increased during early developmental stage and then gradually decreased before metamorphosis. These results suggested that feed ingestion of olive flounder was exclusive charged by pancreatic digestive enyme, lipid digestive enzyme and trypsinogen 3 from first feeding and then fully swiched by gastric digestive enzyme and trypsinogen 2 from metamorphosis period.

The excessive and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers in the past has brought serious soil and other environmental problems so alternatives over this agrochemical are being searched. Our study focuses on the effects of expanded rice hull inoculated with selected beneficial microorganisms on growth (through agronomic characters), yield and yield components, and grain quality indices of rice. Results showed that favorable effects of different expanded rice hull preparations were not readily apparent at vegetative stage and only treatments with supplemental chemical fertilizer application were comparable with the conventional practice. Expanded rice hull combined with 50% rate of chemical fertilizer exhibited a significantly higher yield (6,471 kg ha-1) over conventional practice (5,719 kg ha-1). Good milling quality indices were observed in treatments having 50% chemical fertilizers plus alternatives from expanded rice hull. Finally, we demonstrated that chemical fertilizer rate can potentially be reduced into 50% if combined with expanded rice hull, and show even better output than chemical fertilizer alone.

Acinetobacter baumannii is usually considered an opportunistic pathogen that it responsible for a variety of nosocomial infections, such as, pneumonia, tracheobronchitis, meningitis, endocarditis, peritonitis, skin and soft tissue infections, and urinary tract infections. However, over the years, the organism has developed substantial antimicrobial resistance, and thus, the management of infections has become more difficult. The less common infective endocarditis is one of the more serious consequences of nosocomial bacteremia. Here, we report the successful treatment of the first case of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii endocarditis in a 33-year-old patient.

R genes are a key component of genetic interactions between plants and biotrophic bacteria and are known to regulate resistance against bacterial invasion. The most common R proteins contain a nucleotide-binding site and a leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) domain. Some soybean NBS-LRR genes have also been reported to function in disease resistance. A total of 319 genes were determined to be putative NBS-LRR genes in the soybean genome. The number of NBS-LRR genes on each chromosome was highly correlated with the number of disease resistance QTL in the 2-Mb flanking regions of NBS-LRR genes. In addition, the recently duplicated regions contained duplicated NBS-LRR genes and duplicated disease resistance QTL, and possessed either an uneven or even number of NBS-LRR genes on each side. The significant difference in NBS-LRR gene expression between a resistant near-isogenic line (NIL) and a susceptible NIL after inoculation of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines supports the conjecture that NBS-LRR genes have disease resistance functions in the soybean genome. The number of NBS-LRR genes and disease resistance QTL in the 2-Mb flanking regions of each chromosome was significantly correlated, and several recently duplicated regions that contain NBS-LRR genes harbored disease resistance QTL for both sides. In addition, NBS-LRR gene expression was significantly different between the BLP-resistant NIL and the BLP-susceptible NIL in response to bacterial infection. From these observations, NBS-LRR genes are suggested to contribute to disease resistance in soybean. Moreover, we propose models for how NBS-LRR genes were duplicated, and apply Ks values for each NBS-LRR gene cluster.

Phomopsis seed decay (PSD), primarily caused by Phomopsis longicolla, is a major contributor to poor soybean seed quality and significant yield loss, particularly in early maturing soybean genotypes. However, it is not yet known whether PSD resistance is associated with early maturity. This study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for resistance to PSD and maturity time using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between the PSD-resistant Taekwangkong and the PSD-susceptible SS2-2. Based on a genetic linkage map incorporating 117 simple sequence repeat markers, QTL analysis revealed two and three QTLs conferring PSD resistance and maturity time, respectively, in the RIL population. Two QTLs (PSD-6-1 and PSD-10-2) for PSD resistance were identified in the intervals of Satt100-Satt460 and Sat_038-Satt243 on chromosomes (Chrs) 6 and 10, respectively. These QTLs do not overlap with any previously reported loci for PSD resistance in other soybean genotypes. Two QTLs explained phenotypic variances in PSD resistance of 46.3% and 14.1%, respectively. Among three QTLs for maturity time, two (Mat-6-2 and Mat-10-3) were located at positions similar to the PSD resistance QTLs. The identification of the QTLs linked to both PSD resistance and maturity time indicates a biological correlation between these two traits. The newly identified QTLs for resistance to PSD associated with maturity time in Taekwangkong will help improve soybean resistance to P. longicolla.

The genus Rubus belongs to the Rosaceae family and is comprised of 600-800 species distributed worldwide. Understanding the genetic relationships and genetic structure in Rubus species is important for enabling efficient management, conservation, characterization and utilization of the species. However, as a minor crop, genetic research foundation was limited to explore genetic diversity and relationships in Rubus species. The present study shows the results of application SSR markers that were developed from SSR-enriched libraries of the one Rubus species (Rubus coreanus Mique.) in our previous study. We used 34 polymorphic microsatellite markers to analysis of genetic diversity within the Rubus species, including redraspberry, blackraspberry, blackberry and mountainberry. All the 34 SSR primers pairs produced 483 polymorphic and reproducible amplification fragments. The largest number of alleles per primer pair was confirmed at GB-RC-167, GB-RC-100, GB-RC-076 and GB-RC-245, which contained 26, 25, 23 and 21, respectively. An average value of polymorphic information contents (PIC) were 0.74 with a range of 0.36 to 0.92. Population structure and phylogenetic analyses showed that all Rubus species formed three largely distinct clusters, which were confirmed by principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). We obtained the results that the developed SSR markers showed a substantial degree of genetic diversity in the various Rubus species distributed in Korea.

Recent release of whole genome draft sequences in legume species have led comparative genome studies among legume plants including Glycine max, G. soja, Cajanus cajan and Medicago truncatula. The majority of comparative genomic researches have been conducted based on synteny of coding sequences and coding sequence variations may be one of major forces for speciation and evolution. However, non-coding sequences have been also reported to be important phenotypic regulators. Especially, since short sequence motifs in the promoter regions are highly conserved, they are suggested to be another resources of interests in comparative studies. In this study, we predicted the conserved short sequence motifs by BLASTN algorithm using dicot promoter database from Softberry (http://www.softberry.com). A total of 37,396 conserved short sequence motifs were identified onto 2 kb upstreams of 46,367 high confident gene model of G. max (cv. Williams 82). Meanwhile, whole genome of 7 soybean landraces (G. max) and 7 wild soybean genotypes (G. soja) were sequenced at low depth of less than ten using Illumina Hiseq 2000. Among these genotypes, nucleotide variations were identified in predicted conserved regulatory motifs by mapping of short reads to the reference genome sequence using the Samtools program (http://samtools.sourceforge.net/). Fifteen and two genes, which have SNPs in regulatory motifs and no SNP in coding sequence, were identified by comparisons of inter-species and intra-species, respectively. qRT-PCR experiments are in progress for investigating differences of these 17 genes expressions at transcriptional level.