Rice is a staple food crop for more than half of the world population. Severe losses of rice production was caused by various environmental conditions such as cold, heat and flooding annually. Rice is a highly sensitive to low temperature below 15-20 ℃ because of originating from tropical or subtropical climates. Especially, seedling of rice is easily damaged to low temperature and result in seedling yellowing, growth retardation, reduced tillering and yield losses at last. We used a recombinant inbreeding lines (RIL) population of 384 individuals derived from a cross between Hanareum 2, a highly cold sensitive variety and Unkwang, a cold tolerant variety for molecular mapping of QTLs related to cold tolerance. Seedling discoloration of each lines and parents caused by cold response were investigated in field condition after transplanting. And leaf samples of RIL population were collected for evaluation of chlorophyll content using 80% acetone extraction. The seedling of each lines and parents was subjected to low temperate by 5~13 ℃ during 14 days. The cold recovery score (CRS) of RILs was recorded after 4 days recovery period according to standard evaluation system (SES, IRRI). Total of eight QTLs were detected on chromosome 1, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 using cold tolerance traits, chlorophyll content, seedling discoloration and cold recovery score in 384 RILs. The qCRS12, which detected on chromosome 12 between two flanking markers id12002113, id12002563 (1.1 Mbp) showed 25 LOD score with 26% of phenotypic variation of cold recovery score in RILs population. The positive allele contributing to cold tolerance came from the cold tolerant parent Unkwang. The result may provide useful information for a marker-assisted breeding program to improve cold tolerant in rice.

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.

Tissue-specific promoters are a very useful tool for manipulating gene expression in a target tissue or organ; however, their range of applications in other plant species has not been determined, to date. In this study, we identified two late pollen-specific rice promoters (ProOsLPS10 and ProOsLPS11) via meta-anatomical expression analysis. We then investigated the expression of both promoters in transgenic rice (a homologous system) and Arabidopsis (a heterologous system) using ProOsLPS10 or ProOsLPS11::GFP-GUS constructs. As predicted by microarray data, both promoters triggered strong GUS expression during the late stages of pollen development in rice, with no GUS signals detected in the examined microspores and sporophytic tissues. Interestingly, these promoters exhibited different GUS expression patterns in Arabidopsis. While in Arabidopsis, the OsLPS10 promoter conferred GUS expression at the uni- and bi-cellular macrospore stages, as well as at the shoot apical region during the seedling stage, the OsLPS11 promoter was not active in the pollen at any stage, or in the examined sporophytic tissues. Furthermore, by performing a complementation analysis using a sidecar pollen (scp) mutant that displays developmental defects at the microspore stage, we found evidence that OsLPS10, which can be an applied promoter expressed in Arabidopsis, is useful for directing gene expression in the early stages of pollen development. Our results indicate that the OsLPS10 and OsLPS11 promoters can drive the expression of target genes during the late stages of pollen development in rice, but not in Arabidopsis. Our results also emphasize the necessity of confirming the applicability of an established promoter to heterologous systems.

The correct development of male gametophytes (pollen grains) in flowering plants is essential for proliferate in gamete production. Here we have taken a map-based cloning approach using Arabidopsis male gametophytic mutant, named gemini pollen3 (gem3) to identify and characterize key gene that is expressed gametophytically for the completion of microgametogenesis focusing on genes which control cell division and cell fate determination. Previously reported gem1 and gem2 mutants with similar characteristics to gem3 that are disturbed at asymmetric division and cytokinesis at pollen mitosis I (PMI) in Arabidopsis. However, gem3 was mapped to a different genetic locus, and pollen developmental analysis revealed that gem3 exert an effect at meiosis and mitosis causing complete sterility. We also discovered that gem3 homozygous lines produce aberrant pollen grains, arising from incomplete cytokinesis during male meiosis with sporophytic phenotypes of twisted-shape leaves, large flowers. This mutation shows reduced genetic transmission of gem3 allele through male gametophyte. In previous results, the gem3 locus was confirmed by mapping to the region located on chromosome 5. To further confirm strong candidate gene, we performed sequencing and genetic complementation analysis. Currently, we are performing functional studies of the gem3 gene for the better understanding of molecular mechanisms that control asymmetric division at meiosis and mitosis during pollen development.

Post-thawed larval rearing in Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas was performed to investigate the survival rate with time course in three kinds of larvae cryopreserved. The highest survival rate and larval activity index (LAI) of post-thawed larvae were obtained from the permeation in 0.2 M sucrose and 2.0 M ethylene glycol (EG) at －1℃/min in freezing speed showing the survival rates just after thawing of 63.8% in trochophore, 84.1% in D-shaped veliger and 56.3% in early umbo veliger. In post-thawed larval rearing with food supply, the larvae lasted their lives until 24 hours in trochophore, 75 hours in D-shaped veliger and 57 hours in early umbo veliger. The results suggested that each larval stage post-thawed revealed no more further development to subsequent respective stage.

During implantation, endometrial cells undergo functional and structural changes, and support the successful embryo development. This reaction is known as decidualization and is critical to placental formation and to prevent the uterine functions. This progress is achieved by complex communication of regulators such as hormones, cytokines and growth factors. Some of the TGF-b superfamily members such as inhibin, activin, TGF-β, and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) involve in uterine modulation during pregnancy. Müllerian inhibiting factor (MIF) is a member of TGF-β superfamily and regulate folliculogenesis, but its expression and roles in uterus are not clear. In this study, we investigated the expression of MIF and its receptor Ⅱ in decidualizing endometrium. Interestingly its expression was detected in the fully decidualized cells. Its receptor II was detected in undifferentiated stromal cells. MIF expression was increased by decidual maturation and MIF receptor II was decreased by decidual reaction. MIF expression was induced by estrogen and its receptor II was increased by only progesterone in the stroma cells primed with estrogen. In the uterus of delayed implantation model mice, MIF expression was peak after 6 hr of estrogen administration. MIF receptor II expression was not induced. It means that MIF and MIF receptor II are expressed in the stroma cells with the specificity on physiological status. Based on them, it is suggested that MIF may work as paracrine factors in uterus during decidualization.

Soybean isoflavones include daidzein, genistein and glycitein with their glycosides, and their malonated derivatives are the main polyphenolic compounds that are helpful for human health. Our research objective was to investigate the differentitation of soybean isoflavones contents of breeding populations between yellow and black soybean. Isoflavones contents in soybean are a wide range from 500 to 7000 ㎍/g. In this study, we used Ilmi (Isoflavones content, 3.612 ㎍/g) as male parent and 04GAYT-4 (Isoflavones content, 1,648 ㎍/g) as female parent. From these varieties, we obtained 94 breeding lines (yellow, 48 lines; black, 25 lines; brown, 21 lines) which have isoflavones content range from 1000 to 6000 ㎍/g. Highest isflavone contents of three different breeding lines was yellow seed coated lines (average isoflavone content, yellow 3,046 ㎍/g, brown 2,935 ㎍/g, black 2,813 ㎍/g).

Central venous catheterization can induce cardiac arrhythmias, such as, premature atrial or ventricular complexes, which are typically transient events. However, sometimes it initiates supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) with hemodynamic repercussions. We present a case of supraventricular tachycardia with cardiovascular collapse during central venous catheterization in a 32-year-old woman with an ovarian mass who required exploratory laparotomy. At first, the guide wire was withdrawn and carotid sinus massage attempted, but the patient did not return to sinus rhythm. Eventually, reversion to sinus rhythm was achieved after injecting adenosine.

Lhx8 (LIM homeobox 8) gene encodes a LIM homeodomain transcriptional regulator that is preferentially expressed in germ cells and critical for mammalian folliculogenesis. However, Lhx8 DNA binding sequences are not characterized yet. We aimed to identify and characterize a cis-acting sequence of germ-cell specific transcriptional factor, Lhx8. To identify Lhx8 DNA binding element, Cyclic Amplification of Sequence Target (CAST) Analysis was performed. Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay (EMSA) was processed for the binding specificity of Lhx8. Luciferase assay was for the transcriptional activity of Lhx8 through identified DNA binding site. We identified a putative cis-acting sequence, TGATTG as Lhx8 DNA binding element (LBE). In addition, Lhx8 binds to the LBE with high affinity and augments transcriptional activity of luciferase reporter driven by artificial promoter containing the Lhx8 binding element. These findings indicate that Lhx8 directly regulates the transcription of genes containing Lhx8 binding element in oocytes during early folliculogenesis.

Herb extracts commercially used in Korea were screened for PPAR-γ agonist test and α-glucosidase inhibition assay. Total 16 herb plants had a PPAR-γ agonist activity. Specially, Alisma orientale Juz (108.41%), Ephedra sinica (98.22%), Sasa japonica Makino var. purpurascens Nakai (140.68%), Astragalus membranaceus Bunge (106.79%) and Cnidium officinale Makino (113.00%) showed high PPAR-γ agonist activity rate compared with rosiglitazone's (167.46%). And Cornus officinalis S. et Z. (90.3%), Cinnamomum cassia Blume (89.2%), Psoralea corylifolia L. (89.8%), Paeonia japonica (Makino) Miyabe (92.4%) and Paeonia suffruticosa Andr (93.2%), showed high α-glucosidase inhibition rates. These results support previous reports of the efficacy of Oriental medicinal plants used for diabetes mellitus.

This paper studies the problem of tracking a re-entry vehicle (RV) in order to predict its impact point on the ground. Re-entry target dynamics combined with super-high speed has a complex non-linearity due to ballistic coefficient variations. However, it is difficult to construct a database for the ballistic coefficient of a unknown vehicle for a wide range of variations, thus the reliability of target tracking performance cannot be guaranteed if accurate ballistic coefficient estimation is not achieved. Various techniques for ballistic coefficient estimation have been previously proposed, but limitations exist for the estimation of non-linear parts accurately without obtaining prior information. In this paper we propose the ballistic coefficient β model-based interacting multiple model-extended Kalman filter (β-IMM-EKF) for precise tracking of an RV. To evaluate the performance, other ballistic coefficient model based filters, which are gamma augmented filter, gamma bootstrapped filter were compared and assessed with the proposed β-IMM-EKF for precise tracking of an RV.

Understanding the host defense mechanisms in response to brown leaf spot disease caused by Cochliobolus miyabeanus is very important for production of resistant plant. In this study, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE) in conjunction with mass spectrometry was utilized to unravel changes of stress inducible proteins in rice leaves infected with C. miyabeanus. For this purpose, we firstly observed disease developmental process of C. miyabeanus in rice using trypan blue, anilin blue, acid fuchsin staining, and DAB staining for ROS detection and expressional abundance of ROS related proteins in rice leaves inoculated was confirmed by Western blotting. Proteins were extracted by PEG fractionation and their expression patterns were analyzed by 2-DGE and subjected to image analysis using the ImageMaster 6.0 2D Platinum software, resulting in the identification of 86 differentially expressed protein spots with significantly changes (p<0.05) compared with control. MALDI-TOFTOF-MS analysis revealed that 69 proteins including 42 and 27 significantly up- and down-regulated proteins, respectively, were identified. Based on gene ontology analysis, identified proteins were classified according to their functional groups: metabolism (20%), oxygen-detoxifying (13%), protein stress/defense (24%). Thus, these results for the first time suggest that differentially induced proteins may play a key role for understanding host defense mechanisms during rice -C. miyabeanus interaction.

The rice blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) is one of the most serious diseases of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) in most rice-growing regions of the world. In order to investigate early responsible genes in rice in response to M. oryzae, we analyzed transcriptomics analysis using 300 K tilling microarray chip. The quality of RNA samples was initially validated by 4 defense related genes and phytoalexins measurement using RT-PCR and HPLC, respectively, which are well known defense markers. We determined that accumulation of 608 genes showed statistically significant changes in the level of transcription (>2 fold change, P<0.05). Among them, 261 genes were more up-regulated in incompatible interaction than that of compatible one. We further analyzed GO enrichment analysis of the 41 and 231 which were 2 fold up-regulated genes at 12h and 48h in incompatible interaction, respectively, using Rice Oligo nucleotide Array Database (http://ricearray.org). Furthermore, MapMan analysis (http://mapman.gabipd.org/) revealed that 21 and 85 genes including 18 receptor-like genes which were more induced in incompatible interaction compared to compatible interaction were found to be involved in biotic stress. Thus, this study suggests that early inducible genes including receptor-like protein kinases in incompatible interaction may play a key role in disease resistance against M. oryzae attacks.

Here, we first demonstrate that identification of rice brown spot disease fungus (Cochliobolus miyabeanus, C. miyabeanus) proteins is possible in infected tissues using in planta apoplastic proteome with non-destructive tissues. In planta apoplastic proteins from rice leaves inoculated with C. miyabeanus, CM2 (compatible race), were isolated by vacuum infiltration with CaCl2/Na-acetateextractionbuffer, separated by SDS-PAGE, and identified by MudPIT. Of the 529 proteins that were identified by MudPIT, a large proportion (490) was from the rice. Numerous carbohydrate metabolic process (48), oxidation and reduction (44), response to oxidative stress (20%) were identified and confirmed their expression at RNA levels using microarray. Bioinformatic analysis showed that 176 and 39 of these proteins have a signal peptide in rice and rice brown spot fungus, respectively, using Signal P. The large proportion of proteins interestingly identified from the in planta apoplast were involved inprotease, hydrophobin, and host cell wall hydrolysis (Xylanase, beta-glucosidase) derived from pathogen. Thus, we suggest that in planta rice apoplastic secretome will be an important clue to understand the rice-rice brown spot fungus interactions.

Soybean isoflavones include daidzein, genistein and glycitein with their glycosides, and their malonated derivatives are the main polyphenolic compounds that are helpful for human health. Our research objective was to investigate the differentitation of soybean isoflavones contents of breeding populations between high and low isoflavones contained soybean. Isoflavones contents in soybean are a wide range from 500 to 7000 ㎍/g. In this study, we used Ilmi (Isoflavones content, 3.108 ㎍/g) as male parent and Dajin (Isoflavones content, 578 ㎍/g) as female parent. From these varieties, we got 165 breeding lines which have isoflavones content range from 472 to 2973 ㎍/g. Isflavone contents in breeding lines showed normal distribution.