The global rice reduction due to drought averages 18 Mt, especially, 23 Mha of rice fields in Asia are drought-prone. However, rice breeding programs focusing on drought resistance have made little progress to date. Because proper screening approaches with large scale were not developed to evaluate the drought tolerant degree. In here, we have developed of leaf water loss rate with plastic ware in dark conditions for large screening. Through this bioassay system, we examined drought phenotype degrees of 650 rice varieties. To validate whether this optimized bioassay system is corelated with drought phenotype, we chose 14 varieties having the lowest or highest of the water loss rate. We observed the visual drought phenotype and agricultural traits in green house and field conditions. Apo and Samgang having the lowest of leaf water loss rate showed drought tolerance phenotype, whereas Yeolbaeg and Milyang254 having the highest of leaf water loss rate showed drought sensitive phenotype. Apo displayed proper root length trait and Samgang showed good root dry trait in the greenhouse conditions. These results suggest that a simple screening procedure with water lose rate of leaves is effective to perform large scale screening for drought phenotype in rice.

This study was carried out to analyze correlation between heterosis of F1 hybrids and the genetic distance of parental lines. Growth characteristics such as number of leaves, plant height, bulb diameter, bulb height, bolting rate and marketable yield were examined in 15 F1 hybrids. The genetic distance among one male sterile line and fifteen restorer lines were analyzed with SSR markers. 21 primer pairs amplified polymorphic band and the average number of polymorphic allele was 3.4. As a result of UPGMA cluster analysis, the similarity coefficient value among parental lines ranged from 0.43 to 0.63. Combination of M1 and R14 is high similarity and number of leaves, plant height and yield are 10.2, 66.7cm and 6,818kg·10a-1. The case of the lowest value combination, they are 9.0 and 63.7cm and 7,728kg·10a-1, respectively. The results showed that there are no significant correlations between genetic distance and heterosis of F1 hybrids and only molecular marker does not predict growth traits and yield of onion.

Chrysanthemum white rust, caused by Puccinia horiana, is one of the most destructive fungal diseases in chrysanthemum cultivation worldwide. For increasing efficiency of resistant breeding, molecular markers linked to chrysanthemum white rust resistance gene were developed in pseudo F1 cross population between ‘Puma White’ as susceptible and ‘Dancer’ as resistant using bulked segregant analysis (BSA). Of 280 RAPD primers (Operon 10 mer), 18 primers found to be polymorphic. After screening of these primers in 20 individual lines, only OPI-13520 was selected as closely linked marker to white rust disease resistance. Based on correspondence between phenotypic resistant level and marker in 187 segregation population, the genetic distance between white rust resistance gene and OPI-13520 marker assumed to be 3.8 cM. For OPI-13520 marker conversion into sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker, the amplified fragment of OPI-13520 was purified, cloned and sequenced. Based on the DNA sequence of OPI-13520, SCAR maker was generated and verified in 20 individual lines used in BSA-RAPD.The results showed SCAR marker could be used to identify white rust resistance in chrysanthemum.

Transforming growth factor (TGF) family is well known to induce the chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). However, the precise signal transduction pathways and underlying factors are not well known. Thus the present study aims to evaluate the possible role of C2 domain in the chondrogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells. To this end, 145 C2 domains in the adenovirus were individually transfected to hMSC, and morphological changes were examined. Among 145 C2 domains, C2 domain of protein kinase C eta (PKCη) was selected as a possible chondrogenic differentiation factor for hMSC. To confirm this possibility, we treated TGFβ3, a well known chondrogenic differentiation factor of hMSC, and examined the increased-expression of glycosaminoglycan (GAG), collagen type II (COL II) as well as PKCη using PT-PCR, immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis. To further evaluation of C2 domain of PKCη, we examined morphological changes, expressions of GAG and COL II after transfection of PKCη -C2 domain in hMSC. Overexpression of PKCη-C2 domain induced morphological change and increased GAG and COL II expressions. The present results demonstrate that PKCη involves in the TGF-β3-induced chondrogenic differentiation of hMSC, and C2 domain of PKCη has important role in this process.

The cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops has increased due to their economic and agronomic advantages. Before commercialization of GM crops, however, we must assess the potential risks of GM crops on human health and environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible impact of Bt rice on the soil microbial community. Microbial communities were isolated from the rhizosphere soil cultivated with Bt rice and Nakdong, parental cultivar and were subjected to be analyzed using both culture-dependent and molecular methods. The total counts of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes in the rhizosphere of transgenic and conventional rice were not significantly different. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that the bacterial community structures during cultural periods were very similar each other. Analysis of dominant isolates in the rhizosphere cultivated with Bt and Nakdong rice showed that the dominant isolates from the soil of Bt rice and Nakdong belonged to the Proteobacteria, Cloroflexi, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria. These results indicate that the Bt rice has no significant impact on the soil microbial communities during cultivation period. Further study remains to be investigated whether the residue of Bt rice effect on the soil environment.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs of approximately 21-nt which play important roles in regulating gene expression in plants. Although many miRNA studies have focused on a few model plants, the miRNAs and their target genes remain largely unknown in pepper, one of the most important crops cultivated worldwide. Here we employed high-throughput small RNA sequencing to extensively identify miRNAs in pepper from 10 different libraries, including leaf, stem, root, flower, and six developmental stage fruits. Based on bioinformatics pipeline, we successfully identified 29 and 35 families of conserved and novel miRNAs, respectively. We noticed that some miRNAs, whose targets were validated experimentally in this study, exhibited prominent changes in expression levels during fruit development stages. From the qRT-PCR analysis of the target mRNAs, including the SBP-transcription factor and F-box protein, we found that expression of these two target mRNAs gradually decreased in general during fruit development and was negatively correlated with the expression of their corresponding miRNAs. The validation of miRNA-directed cleavage of these target mRNAs, combined with the results of qRT-PCR analysis, likely suggests that some miRNAs in pepper may play a role in fruit development. Conclusively, our study first utilizes high-throughput sequencing to identify and characterize conserved and novel miRNAs and their targets in pepper, providing a basis for understanding the functional roles of miRNAs in pepper.

For developing molecular markers linked to white rust resistance in chrysanthemum, RAPD and AFLP were carried out in ‘Puma White’ x ‘Dancer’ mapping population through Bulked Segregant Analysis (BSA) methods. 10 resistant and 10 susceptible individuals were selected and bulked. And then, these bulks were screened using 280 RAPD primers (10 mer) with two parents. As a result of BSA-RAPD, 25 Dancer/R-bulk specific bands in 21 primers and 22 Puma White/S-bulk specific bands in 18 primers were selected. These resistant or susceptible specific bands were screened in 10 resistant and 10 susceptible individuals. Except OPI-13520, all bands were confirmed as false positive. OPI-13520 band presumed as closely linked marker to white rust disease resistance was tested in whole population. Among 187 progenies, just six off-springs did not correspond with phenotypic data. Based on expected phenotypic segregation ratios in the pseudo F1 progenies, it was assumed that a duplex type of white rust resistance in ‘Dancer’ (RRrrrr) were in combination with a duplex type of OPI-13520 marker. As a result of x2-test of independence between resistance gene and OPI-13520 marker, x2 score is 76.08 and probability is 2.13x10-16. And resistance gene and OPI-13520 marker were assumed to be linked in coupling phase. The value of recombination fraction obtained by successive trials and second derivative of log likelihood was 0.03832±0.0271.

Spontaneous perirenal hematoma is an unusual but serious complication of tumors, vascular disease, ruptured cyst, or infection. The authors report the case of a diabetic patient who presented with spontaneous perirenal hematoma and who was subsequently diagnosed to have emphysematous pyelonephritis.

Radio waves including GPS signals, various TV communications, and radio broadcasting can be disturbed by a strong solar storm, which may occur due to solar flares and produce an ionospheric delay anomaly in the ionosphere according to the change of total electron content. Electron density irregularities can cause deep signal fading, frequently known as ionospheric scintillation, which can result in the positioning error using GPS signal. This paper proposes a detection algorithm for the ionosphere delay anomaly during a solar storm by using multi-reference stations. Different TEC grid which has irregular electron density was applied above one reference station. Then the ionospheric delay in zenith direction applied different TEC will show comparatively large ionospheric zenith delay due to the electron irregularity. The ionospheric slant delay applied an elevation angle at reference station was analyzed to detect the ionospheric delay anomaly that can result in positioning error. A simulation test was implemented and a proposed detection algorithm using data logged by four reference stations was applied to detect the ionospheric delay anomaly compared to a criterion.

The objective of this study was to determine the fatty acid composition of newly developed tissues of germinated soybean seeds. Five soybean accessions with varied fatty acid composition were allowed to germinate in sand under greenhouse conditions. Seedlings were picked up after 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 days of germination and freeze dried. The fatty acid composition of the newly developed tissues was analyzed by gas chromatography. Significant variation in fatty acid composition was observed between accessions, days of germination, and variety × day of germination in whole and the cotyledons. In the case of newly developed five tissues, significant variation in fatty acid composition were observed between days of germination except oleic acid for root, hypocotyl and epicotyl stem and except stearic acid for hypocotyl and unifoliate leaves while all the parameters were significantly different for accession. Significant interactions of accession and days of germination were observed for palmitic, linoleic and linolenic acid in all tissues; only for oleic acid in hypocotyl, epicotyl and unifoliate leaves; and only for stearic acid in root, hypocotyl, epicotyl and unifoliate leaves. During germination, the fatty acid composition of newly developed tissues changed dramatically but whole seedlings and cotyledons changed slightly. These tissues contained five major fatty acids as found in original seeds, but compositions were totally different from that of the seed: higher in palmitic, stearic and linolenic acid and lower in oleic and linoleic acid. New tissues conserved their fatty acid compositions regardless of genotypic variation in the original seeds.

Climate warming has the potential to deteriorate grain yield and quality of rice (Oryza sativa L.), offsetting the stimulative effects of elevating CO2. To know how the change in sink-source balances by reducing sink-size (RSS) may affect grain yield and quality of rice grown under various climate change scenarios, we conducted a temperature gradient chamber experiment with/without CO2 fumigation systems which were established in paddy field. Rice crops (cv. Ilmybyeo) were exposed to either ambient (396ppmV) or elevated CO2 of 673ppmV in three levels of air temperature [(Ta), local ambient Ta (24.8℃), 1.3℃ and 2.4℃ above ambient Ta] over whole seasons. Thus, the experiment was a 2×3 factorial design with three replicate plots of each CO2×Ta combination. At flowering, for two hills from each combination treatment total thirty (10 per each top, middle and basal parts of panicle) spikelets per panicle were removed with order of panicle appearance by scissors. This corresponded to a 25% reduction of total sink-size per hill. In ambient Ta and CO2 , grain yield decreased with RSS by 23.4%, approximately mirroring the reduced sink-size. With rising Ta, however, the yield reduction by RSS was significantly mitigated (-5.6% in 1.3℃ above ambient Ta), and the yield rather increased with RSS by 9.3% in 2.4℃ above ambient Ta. This was due primarily to the increased single grain mass with RSS. A similar response fashion of grain mass and yield with RSS to Ta was found in elevated CO2, but not CO2×Ta interaction. For brown rice, the fraction of normal rice was linearly reduced with rising Ta, ranging from 78.5～79.2% in local ambient Ta to 48.2～55.5% in 2.4℃ above ambient Ta over CO2 treatments. However, this deteriorative effect of rising Ta was significantly alleviated with RSS; the fractions of normal rice were a 81.9～84.1%, 75.9～77.2% and 64.0～66.3% in local ambient Ta, 1.3℃ and 2.4℃ above ambient Ta, respectively. The alleviative effect of RSS on rice quality was due mainly to the reduced immature rice, and was more conspicuous as Ta rises. These results suggest that current rice cultivars in Korea, at least cultivars tested in this experiment, will likely to be prone to source-limitation in the future projected warming with elevating CO2, and thereby will be needed a cultivar having either a greater source ability or a less sink size compared with current cultivars, in order to ensure a rice quality in the future warming conditions.

To know how interacting climate drivers may affect rice quality, we investigated physio-chemical properties of brown and milled rice. Rice crops (Oryza sativa L., cv. Ilmybyeo and Pyounganbyeo) were grown under either ambient [370ppmV (2008)/396ppmV (2009)] or elevated CO2 of 650ppmV (2008)/673ppmV (2009) in three levels of air temperature [(Ta), local ambient Ta [25.9℃ (2008)/24.8℃ (2009)], 1.3℃ and 2.4℃ above ambient Ta] over whole seasons, using six temperature gradient chambers established in paddy fields. Over 2 years, thus the experiments were a 2×3 factorial design with three replicate plots of each CO2×Ta combination. The fractions of normal brown rice were reduced with elevating CO2 by 8% (Ilmybyeo)～14% (Pyounganbyeo), and with rising Ta by 16% (+1.3 ℃)～27% (+2.4℃) in Ilmybyeo and by 27% (+1.3℃)～42% (+2.4℃) in Pyounganbyeo (p=0.015, 0.000, 0.059, 0.000 and 0.017 for CO2, Ta, CO2×Ta, cultivar and Ta×cultivar, respectively). With respect to immature rice, elevating CO2 increased milky-white rice, white-based rice and white-belly rice across cultivars. Warming also significantly increased all immature rice across cultivars, though no CO2×Ta interaction was observed. Over 2 years, the deteriorative effect of warming on brown rice quality was significantly greater in Pyounganbyeo than in Ilmybyeo. Across cultivars, protein contents of milled rice were decreased (c. 5～9%) with elevating CO2 but increased (c. 5%) with warming, though no CO2×Ta interaction was found (p=0.119). Elevating CO2 significantly increased whiteness of milled rice over cultivars but not amylose contents and gloss value of cooked rice, while warming had a strong affect these properties all related rice quality. Overall, our results suggest that warming and elevating CO2, in each alone or in combination, may have the potential to deteriorate physio-chemical properties of rice related to quality.

A New Cymbidium variety "Yellow Evening" was developed from a cross between "Oji" and "Valley Flower Cherry Life" followed by seedling and line selections at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (NIHHS), Rural Development Administration (RDA) in 2004. After investigation of the characteristics and selection for 9 years (1996-2004), it has been selected specifically pot orchid flower. "Yellow Evening" has medium plant height and semi-erect peduncle. It has medium flowering habit and brownish yellow flowers (RHS, Y11B: petal and sepal) with grayed purple GP183A) spot on lip, when fully opened. Each peduncle has 15.3 flowers with diameter of about 7.4 cm. It has adequate peduncle height, with some curved and spreading petal and sepals. Under optical culture conditions, it started to bloom early-winter (November).

To investigate genes related to vernalization and cold- resistance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Nagaoka), differentially expressed genes were identified from cold-resistant barley leaves with suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and Northern blot analyses. The nucleotide and the deduced amino acid sequences of the putative gene products were compared. The bvrn-7 showed high homology(84%) with gene related to vernalization, and the bvrn-3, bvrn-12, bvrn-28, bvrn-29 and bvrn-36 related to cold-resistant genes had high identity of 88~98% with low temperature-induced genes. The results indicate that the 6 genes were closely related to vernalization and cold-resistance during low temperature treatment.

This study was carried out to classify Korean soybean varieties base on maturity group (MG) and to find character relationships according to planting date for high quality soybean seed production adapted to early season cultivation environment of Miryang. Results of maturity grouping of Korean soybean varieties showed that Keunol (3 cultivars), belonged to Group 0; Seonnok and Danmi in Group II, Shinrok in Group III, Seonyu (17 cultivars), in Group IV, Taekwang (44 cultivars) in Group V, Daewon (25 cultivars) in Group VI, and Kwangdu and Keumdu in Group VII. Agronomic characteristics of 100 soybean varieties were compared based on MG, cultivation year and seeding date. Soybean varieties belonging to the MG VI~VII showed longer days to flowering and growth period, high lodging density and higher yield. Seed quality analysis revealed that as maturity was delayed, seed weight becomes heavier while seed cracks become abundant. In addition, occurrence of purple seed and phomopsis were higher in MG 0~III . Protein content was higher in MG 0~III , and isoflavone content was higher as maturity was delayed. On the other hand, lipid content was generally similar across MGs. Correlation analysis of major agronomic characters showed positive relationships between days to flowering and growth days, seed weight and lodging in MG IV~V , seed crack and growth days in MG 0~III , seed crack and days to flowering in MG IV~V and MG VI~VII , seed crack and lodging in MG IV~V and MG VI~VII , seed crack and seed weight in MG IV~V and MG VI~VII , purple seed and growth days in MG IV~V , purple seed and seed weight in MG VI~VII , phomopsis and growth days in MG IV~V and MG VI~VII , and phomopsis and purple seed in MG IV~V and MG VI~VII . In contrast, a negative relationship was observed between seed weight and lodging in MG 0~III . Correlating yield and major characters revealed negative relationships between days to flowering and growth days in MG 0~III and MG IV~V , whereas positive relationships were obtained on MG VI~VII seeded on April 30. Lodging, seed weight and seed crack were all negatively correlated with yield in the MG IV~V and MG VI~VII . Soybean cultivars identified as adaptable to early season planting for production of high quality soy curd and fermented soybean paste were Seonyu, Kwangdu, and Soho while those suited for the manufacture of soybean sprouts were Sobaeknanul, Kwangan, Sowon, and Bosuk. Geomjeong 2 chosen as best for mixing with rice.

　‘eeun’an Asiatic hybrid lily was released in 2005 at National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Suwon, Korea. The cross was made in 1994 between Liliium Asiatic ‘hite Bird’white colored, and Liliium Asiatic ‘ote d’zur’ pink colored variety. It was preliminarily selected as ‘96-5’in 1996. Multiplication and bulbing, and characteristic tests were conducted from 1997 to 2004. The evaluation of characteristics was investigated as ‘ongyo C1-21’ in 2004 at Suwon. ‘eeun’flowers in the end of June and grows 41.6 cm stem length. Flowers are upward-facing, unspotted in petals and yellow green (RHS, 18C). Year-round flowering can be by storing the bulb under -1.5℃ conditions. For forcing culture, it is necessary to add calcium to the fertilizer or remove side scales to prevent leaf scorch. It is needed to control Botrytis disease in wet season.

"Juan1" is a new japonica rice variety of mid-late maturing, tolerance to lodging and adaptable to direct seeding which was developed by the rice breeding team of National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, in 2005. This variety is derived from a cross between Ilpumbyeo, a variety of good-eating quality and high yield, and SR18392-HB683-104. The Juanl has heading date of August 19 at ordinary planting in the middle plain. It has semi-erect plant type with culm length of about 80cm and tolerance to lodging. This variety shows susceptible to blast, bacterial blight, virus diseases and brown planthopper. The milled rice kernels of Juanl are translucent with non-glutinous endosperm, clear in chalkiness and medium short grain. It has also low amylose content of 18.8%, low gelatinization temperature and good palatability. The average milled rice yield of this variety was 5.68 MT/ha at ordinary planting in local adaptability test for three years from 2003 to 2005. Juan! would be highly adaptable to middle plain and mid-eastern coastal region of Korea.

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Whitney PangPang' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), in 2006. The cross was made in 2003 between '01B1-41', a breeding line of NHRI and `01B1-273', a breeding line of NHRI. The characteristics were investigated from 2004 to 2006 for the evaluation and selection of this variety, including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in autumn. The natural flowering time of "Whitney PangPang" is late October, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and illumination. It has pompon type flowers with light-ivory petals and yellow green flower center. Flower neck and stem showed very strong hardness. The diameter of flower is 5.0 cm. The number of flowers per stem is 11 and the days to flower under the short day treatment is about 56 in autumn season. "Whitney PangPang" has over 22 days of long vase life.

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Orange Memory' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), in 2006. The cross was made in 2003 between '02B1-525', a breeding line of NHRI and '02B1-493', a breeding line of NHRI. After evaluation for the characteristics including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in spring and consecutive selection from 2002 to 2005, final selection was made. The natural flowering time of "Orange Memory" is Early November, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and illumination. It has semi-double type flowers with orange color and shows resistant to white rust and vigorous growth. The diameter of flower is 5.3 cm. The number of flowers per stem is 13.5 and number of petals per flower is 59.0. The days to flower under short day treatment is about 64 and its vase life is 20 days in autumn season.