Most traditional genome sequencing projects involving infectious viruses include culturing and purification of the virus. This can present difficulties as an analysis of multiple populations from multiple locations may be required to acquire sufficient amount of high-quality DNA for sequence analysis. The electrophoretic method provides a strategy whereby the genomic DNA sequences of the Korean isolate of Pieris rapae granulovirus (PiraGV-K) were analyzed by purifying it from host DNA by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, thus simplifying sampling and labor time. The genomic DNA of infected P. rapae was embedded in agarose plugs, digested with a restriction nuclease and methylase, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to separate PiraGV-K DNA from the DNA of P. rapae, followed by mapping of fosmid clones of the separated viral DNA. The double-stranded circular genome of PiraGV-K encodes 120 open reading frames (ORFs), covering 92% of the sequenced genome. BLAST and ORF arrangement showed the presence of 78 homologs to other genes in the database. The mean overall amino acid identity of PiraGV-K ORFs was highest with the Chinese isolate of PiraGV (~99%), followed up with Choristoneura occidentalis ORFs at 58%. PiraGV-K ORFs were grouped, according to function, into 10 genes involved in transcription, 11 involved in replication, 25 structural protein genes, and 15 auxiliary genes. Genes for Chitinase (ORF 10) and cathepsin (ORF11), involved in the liquefaction of the host, were found in the genome. The recovery of PiraGV-K DNA genome by pulse-field electrophoretic separation from host genomic DNA had several advantages, compared with its isolation from particles harvested as virions or inclusions from the P. rapae host. We have sequenced and analyzed the 108,658 bp PiraGV-K genome purified by the pulsed field electrophoretic method. The method appears to be applicable to the analysis of genomes of large viruses. The chitinase, identified by PiraGV-K genome sequence, was functionally characterized by quantitative PCR, Western blot analysis, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy.

The Black pine bast scale, Matsucoccus thunbergianae is one of the most serious in black pine, Pinus thunbergii forests in Korea. Since this pest was first reported in Goheung, Korea in 1963, which is gradually spread into neighboring regions and now occurs in many regions of the southern and eastern part of the Korean peninsula. The monitoring for distribution of M. thunbergianae was able to observed by naked eye egg sacs and pupa of male on the host until now. Therefore, this monitoring was very difficult in the low density of M. thubergianae. This experiment was conducted to use simple and practical moving cross-shaped flat trap for monitoring of M. thunbergianae. The monitoring of M. thunbergianae using the device was carried out to southern regions of the Korean peninsula. The first emergence of male showed mid. March in Namhae and late march in Busan, Jinju and Pohang. The peak of emergence showed late March in Namhae and early April in the other regions. When the number of M. thunbergianae intermediate nymph showed 58~59, 11~44 and 8~25 on 39.25 ㎠ bark area of the black pine, Pinus thubergii for 1 week, the number of captured its male adult was 58~83, 67~488 and 1~55 on the moving cross-shaped flat trap (10× 13㎝), respectively. The low density of M. thunbergianae was some few the number of capture, but there were no significant difference in its high density. Also, the number of captured its male adult was no significant in the different color (yellow, red, white and blue) of the moving cross-shaped flat trap.

We introduce and describe performance of the 6-meter telescope of Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory (SRAO). All the softwares and instruments except the antenna structure and its driving system are developed for ourselves. The SIS mixer type receiver resulted in the receiver noise temperature less than 50 K (DSB) over the whole 3-mm radio window. An autocorrelation spectrometer, developed first in Korea, provides maximum 50 MHz band width over 1024 channels. Antenna surface is measured and adjusted using template method and radio holography which resulted in a superb surface accuracy bet-ter than 30μm. Accordingly, the aperture and beam efficiences amount to 70% and 75%, respectively, largely independent of frequency in the 85 - 115 GHz range. It is also found that telescope pointing errors are less than 10" in both azimuth and elevation and that antenna gain is almost constant against elevation greater than 20°, without adjusting sub-reflector position. The SRAO 6-meter telescope is now fully operational and all these characteristics verify that observations are carried out with high precision and fidelity.

This study is conducted to investigate the effects of growth characteristics (GC) and DPPH radical scavenging activity (DRSA) of the heading lettuce ‘Fidel’ depending on four concentrations of activated mineral groups (AMG: 1.6% active minerals and 0.03% CaO) added to basic nutrient solutions (diluted by 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2%) and on four different light-emitting diodes (LED; B:R:W ratio = 0:1:12, 0:1:9, 0:5:5, and 2:3:5). Both 0.1 and 0.2% AMG showed better GC of lettuce in plant width, plant length, leaf width, leaf length, and the number of leaves than those of other AMG, while leaf thickness and chlorophyll value did not show significant difference among all AMG. Moreover, 0.1 and 0.2% AMG showed heavier shoot fresh weights than those of other AMG. As for the combinations of AMG and LED, B0:R5:W5 showed the best lettuce GC regardless of AMG compared to other AMG and LED combinations. As shown in the above results of LED, although there was a difference in lettuce growth by LED, the differences of lettuce growth by AMG were statistically significant. The DRSA was the highest at 82.8% in B2:R3:W5, followed by B0:R5:W5 at 77.8%. LED showed differences but AMG did not affect DRSA. Therefore, the optimal conditions in plant factory for GC and DRSA of the lettuce were 0.1% AMG and B0:R5:W5.

Background: The plant Aster koraiensis has long been used as an ingredient in folk medicine. It has been reported that Aster koraiensis extract (AKE) prevents the progression of diabetes-induced retinopathy and nephropathy. However, although these beneficial effects of AKE on diabetes complications have been identified, the antidiabetic effects of AKE have not yet been completely investigated and quantified. In the present study, the glucose-lowering and antioxidant effects of aqueous and ethanolic AKEs were evaluated. Methods and Results: The glucose-lowering effects of aqueous and ethanolic (30%−, 50%−, and 80%-ethanol) AKEs were investigated via α-glucosidase inhibitory assays. The mode of inhibition by AKEs on α-glucosidase was identified through kinetic analysis. The total antioxidant capacity of each of the 4 AKEs was evaluated by assessing their conversion rate of Cu2+ to Cu+. The content of chlorogenic acid and 3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, the bioactive compounds in AKE, in each extract were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The AKEs showed potent α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with mixed inhibition mode, and significant antioxidant capacity. Conclusions: These results of this study suggested that the AKEs tested had α-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant effects. Among the extracts, the 80% ethanol extract showed the most significant α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50 value) of 1.65 ± 0.36㎎/㎖ and a half maximal effective concentration (EC50 value) for its antioxidant activity of 0.42 ± 0.10㎎/㎖. It can therefore be used as a source of therapeutic agents to treat diabetes patients.

Resequencing data is actively used for searching QTL or analyzing genetic diversity in the crops. However, the complexity of genome, caused by genome duplication, limits the utility of genome-wide association studies and linkage analyses to identify genes that regulate agronomically valuable traits. Here, we propose a comparative genomics approach based on core or common variation-based recombination blocks (CRB) using single nucleotide variation (SNV) density information. We found that the soybean genomes are assembled with long and distinct CRBs as large as 10Mb. CRB-based comparative genomics enabled us to accurately identify recombination blocks at the whole-chromosome level. We identified the Ih locus that determines the yellow hilum color in soybeans using CRB-based mapping with representative indel markers. These results suggest that the CRB-based comparison method is a promising platform for molecular breeding and map-based cloning.