In this study, β -carotene concentrations was determined in soybean cultivar according to seed size, usage, seed coat color and cotyledon color as well as the process of seed germination. The total average concentration of β -carotene was 6.6~mug/g in soybean seed, 33.3~mug/g in soybean sprout. According to seed size, the total β -carotene concentration of soybean was 6.9~mug/g in large soybean seed, 6.7~mug/g in medium soybean seed, and 6.31~mug/g in small soybean seed. In soybean sprout, the total β -carotene concentration was 21.4~mug/g in large soybean sprout, 30.5~mug/g in medium soybean sprout, and 43.5~mug/g in small soybean sprout. According to the utilization of seed, the total β -carotene concentration of soybean seed was 7.2~mug/g in cooked with rice soybean seed, 6.1~mug/g in paste and curd soybean seed, and 6.3~mug/g in sprout soybean seed. In soybean sprout, the total β -carotene concentration was 25.9~mug/g in cooked with rice soybean sprout, 32.4~mug/g in paste and curd soybean sprout, and 41.9~mug/g in sprout soybean sprout. When comparison with seed coat color, the total β -carotene concentration of soybean with brown seed coat (8.8~mug/g ) was slightly higher than those of soybean with yellow (6.1~mug/g ). In soybean sprout, the total β -carotene concentration was 21.8~mug/g in black seed coat sprout, 38.7~mug/g in brown seed coat sprout, 34.1~mug/g in green seed coat sprout, 39.5~mug/g in yellow seed coat sprout, and 30.5~mug/g in mottle seed coat sprout. The results of this study suggested the functional characteristics of soybean through quantitative analysis of β -carotene.

This study was done to characterize the anther derived regenerants (R1) including haploids and spontaneous diploids of minipaprika (cvs.‘Vine sweet-red’ ‘Vine sweet-yellow’ and ‘Vine sweet-orange’) in glasshouse. Eleven haploids (three, seven and one from red, yellow and orange, respectively) and sixteen spontaneous diploids (five, nine and two from red, yellow and orange, respectively) were grown in plastic pot with three (red, yellow and orange) anther donor (R0) F1minipaprika varieties. Regenerants were characterized for their plant and fruit characters as well as their fruit color and shape. The homozygosity of spontaneous diploid plants of each population was assessed using simple-sequence repeat (SSR) marker analysis. Haploid plants were characterized by reduced plant height, small leaves, short petiole and internode and small flower bud and all haploids showed the sterility and vice-versa in spontaneous diploid lines. The fruit biometrical traits exhibited greater variation within the spontaneous diploid plants and average value of quantitative traits is lower than standard varieties. MR-4 gave the highest yield (150.5 g) per plant followed by MY-6 (140.0 g) and MY-8 (130.5 g) and the lowest in MY-5 (31.5 g). Morphological marker such as fruit color further determinedthe microspore origin of androgenic diploids obtained in anther culture of ‘Vine sweet-red’. Of the fifteen spontaneous diploid plants, fourteen plants were identified as doubled haploids using microsatellite markers (SSR), and these homozygous lines are recommended to use in minipaprika breeding program.

This study was carried out in order to catalogue the folk plants of 7 counties and cities of northern region of Chungcheongbuk-do from March to October, 2011. Based on the 626 survey sheets collected from 67 residents at 17 places of 7 counties and were subsequently analysed. The identified folk plants in the northern region of Chungcheongbuk-do consisted of a total 348 taxa; 98 families, 250 genera, 298 species, 5 subspecies, 38 varieties, and 7 forms. The use by its usage were: 223 taxa; edible, 123 taxa; medicinal, 4 taxa; dye, 2 taxa; aroma, 6 taxa; spice, 32 taxa; ornamental, 11 taxa; oil, 4 taxa; starch, 22 taxa; and others, respectively, so the edible use is the highest. The most useful part was the leaf, followed by fruit and root. The consistency comparison between the scientific and the local name were the highest in the 50's and the lowest in 80's.

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.

Muscle strength and endurance activities of Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer; KG) were compared with those of wild simulated cultivation ginseng (WCG) in mice. Fifty male ICR mice were divided into five groups: A (vehicle); B (WCG 100 mg/kg); C (WCG 500 mg/kg); D (KG 100 mg/kg); E (KG 500 mg/kg). Subsequently, the mice were subjected to the forced swimming test (FST) and treadmill test at the 4th and 7th weeks. The glycogen content in the muscle and blood analysis (levels of glucose, triglyceride (TG), IGF-1) were also performed immediately after the last FST and treadmill test at the 7th week. Immobility times in FST were shorter in WCG- than KG-treated groups, and the results of the treadmill tests were also significant except for KG-treated at 100 mg/kg. The glycogen content was increased in both groups with a peak at 500 mg/kg of WCG groups. Serum concentrations of TG and glucose were decreased by administration of KG and WCG and all treated groups showed increase in the level of IGF-1 in serum. These results suggest that KG and WCG supplementations are effective in escalating the muscle strength and endurance.

PCR-based assays with co-dominant or dominant allele-specific STS (sequence tagged sites) markers and sodium-dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) have been used in this study to discriminate Glu-1 and Glu-3 alleles in Korean wheat cultivars. Three alleles were identified at each high molecular weight glutenin (Glu-1) homoeologous locus and 10 alleles were identified at low molecular weight glutenin (Glu-3) homoeologous locus in Korean wheat cultivars. At Glu-1 loci, wheat cultivars contained Glu-A1a, b and c alleles amplified a 1093, 1063 and 920bp fragments, respectively, Glu-B1b, c and f alleles discriminated with 707(Glu-B1b and f) and 662bp(Glu-B1c) fragments and Glu-D1a, d and f alleles amplified a 576(Glu-D1d) and 612bp(Glu-D1a and f) fragments, respectively. At Glu-3 loci, wheat cultivars contained Glu-A3c, d and e alleles amplified a 573, 967 and 158bp fragments, respectively. Glu-B3d, g, h and i alleles gave a 662, 853, 1022 and 621bp, respectively and Glu-D3a, b and c alleles amplified a 884(Glu-D3a and b) and 338bp(Glu-D3c) fragments. A multiplex-PCR assay was also established which permitted the discrimination of the major Glu-1 and Glu-3 to determine glutenin compositions in a single PCR reaction and agarose gel assay because these systems could be useful to select DNA-based identification of wheat lines carrying good breadmaking performance in Korean wheat breeding programs. Three multiplex-PCR for Glu-1 and Glu-3, Glu-A1c + Glu-B1acf + Glu-D1d, Glu-A3ac + Glu-A3d + Glu-A3e and Glu-B3d + Glu-B3fg + Glu-B3h were established in this study.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum is a major disease problem on wheat and barley in Korea and around the world. We screened for Type II resistance in the greenhouse using single floret inoculation and for Type I resistance in the field using spray inoculation. Sumai 3 was used the FHB resistant check. Three hundred and seventy lines were evaluated for resistance to spread of symptoms within spike (type II). The 2012 field screening with 300 wheat lines was located in Kimjae-si Joeonbuk Korea. All plots were inoculated twice. The first inoculation was applied at anthesis for wheat. The second inoculation was applied three days after the initial inoculation (dai) for each plot. The inoculum was F. graminearum (GZ3639) prepared at a concentration of 100,000 macroconidai/ml with Tween 20 added as a wetting agent. Mist-irrigation was applied from the first inoculation on May 7 till June 7 to facilitate FHB development. FHB severity was assessed visually 21 days after inoculation on 20 arbitrarily selected spikes per plot. FHB severity was determined as the percentage of symptomatic spikelets from the total of all spikelets observed in these 20 spikes. Based on the field test, we could observe four categories of FHB severity: resistant (R: 0-20%), moderately resistant (MR: 21-40%), moderately susceptible (MS: 41-60%), and susceptible (S: 61-100%). The results showed that forty four lines showed the resistant category on FHB severity between 2.7% and 19.8%. In addition, ten lines showed similar FHB severity compared to Sumai 3 (9.9%).

Rice is one of the most important major food crops which provide the major food for more than half of global population. To improve the grain quality as well as grain yield has been the essential breeding goal in rice. The composition of amylopectin is the determinant of rice eating quality under certain threshold of protein content and the ratio of amylose and amylopectin. In this study, RBE 1 driven by CaMV-35S promoter was constructed and transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. We selected single copy with low amylose content among transgenic lines. The mRNA expression was investigated using RT-PCR, and enzyme activity was determined using activity staining method in mid-milky stage endosperm. Also, the overexpression vectors for RBE 1 and SSS 1 driven by seed specific globulin promoter were constructed, respectively. Moreover, the RNA interference vectors for soluble starch synthase 1 and granule bound starch synthase 1 derived by CaMV35S promoter were constructed, respectively and transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The transgene has been confirmed by amplification of HPT and target gene. The transgenic plants obtained will be used to investigate the gene function of related starch pathway in plant cells using Gopumbyeo as a wild type rice, based on the gain-of-function and the loss-of-function. The development of designed site-specific endonucleases boosted the establishment of gene targeting (GT) techniques in a row of different species. However, the methods described in plants require a highly efficient transformation and regeneration procedure and, therefore, can be applied to very few species. Here, we describe a highly efficient GT system that is suitable for all transformable plants regardless of transformation efficiency. Efficient in planta GT was achieved in rice by expression of a site specific endonuclease (SSS1::ZFN) that not only cuts within the target but also the chromosomal transgenic donor, leading to an excised targeting vector.

In pepper, investigation of important traits such as disease resistances, high yield and pungency were mostly focused on a cultivated species, Capsicum annuum. This narrow breeding pool hampered to develop improved cultivars. Exploitation of wild germplasm in Capsicum has been recognized as an important issue. The construction of core collection and analysis of genetic diversity in Capsicum is the first step to make full use of germplasm. Although there have been several attempts to construct core collections in Capsicum, most of the works were limited due to handling small number of samples, relying mainly on the characterization of morphological traits and focusing on C. annuum species. Therefore, the comprehensive studies for genetic diversity and structure of Capsicum including phenotypic data, molecular marker patterns and evaluation of useful alleles are very necessary to understand the structure and patterns of genetic diversity in Capsicum. We are developing for a core collection set in Capsicum using molecular markers and phenotypic data with over 3,000 germplasm accessions.

The latest report on draft genome of Brassica rapa sequence has been published. To elucidate the functions of a large population of these genes and to search efficiently for agriculturally useful genes, the Full-length cDNA Over-eXpressor (FOX) gene hunting system was used. The FOX library was transformed into rice by Agrobacteriummediated transformation. Approximately 1,150 FOX-rice lines were generated. Genomic PCR analysis indicated that the average length of FL-cDNAs was 900∼1,200 bp with functional annotation of many unknown function (35.5%). Most of the randomly selected transgenic rice lines showed overexpression (92%) and barely mRNA expression in the wild type Gopum. Moreover, 94% of the 850 transgenic rice lines were moderately tolerant (slightly yellow) to cold and 9 lines were tolerant (seedling light green). For the salinity evaluation, most of the transgenic lines (85%) were highly susceptible whereas seven lines were tolerant. In addition, morphological evaluation of rice lines showed minimal phenotypic alteration (12%). About 25.1 and 22% were earlier in terms of days to heading and chlorophyll contents, respectively. Further, 18% of FOX rice lines showed lower chlorophyll contents. Filled grains, number of tillers, panicle length, culm and plant height were relatively less variable among the lines. These results provided useful genes for functional analyses in the mechanisms of identified transgenic tolerant lines.

eIF4E family is well known for recessive resistance gene of potyvirus in many crops. And Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) is one of the major viruses in Brassicaceae crops which belong to the genus Potyvirus. To elucidate the key amino acids in the interaction between TuMV VPg and Brassica eIF(iso)4E, amino acids of eIF(iso)4E were mutated. Seven amino acids in cap binding pocket were chose for the candidate amino acid that may play a role in the interaction of TuMV VPg. We demonstrated that a single amino acid mutation in cap binding pocket of Brassica eIF(iso)4E can abolish the interaction with TuMV VPg. eIF(iso)4E which has a mutation at each W49, W95 and K150 positions impaired in its interaction with VPg prominently according to the yeast two hybrid analysis. Complementation of an eIF4E knockout yeast strain by mutated eIF(iso)4E proteins showed that all eIF(iso)4E mutants were able to complement eIF4E of yeast. To find out if these mutations affect the susceptibility of Chinese cabbage, transformant analysis was performed. eIF(iso)4E W95L, W95L/K150E and susceptible wild type were over-expressed in susceptible Chinese cabbage. According to the TuMV screening result of T1 and T2 transformants, over-expression of the eIF(iso)4E mutants showed resistance to four TuMV strains (CHN2, 3, 4 and 5). Our results support that the mutations in eIF(iso)4E may control the broad spectrum TuMV resistance.

The antimicrobial peptide possesses defence system to virus, fungi and bacteria. To study antibiotic in plant, antimicrobial peptides were obtained by PCR analysis by primers designed from antimicrobial peptides (Gene bank accession no. NM-004345), cloned in pET28 expression vector and the vector transformed into E. coli. And this gene was inserted into Ti-plasmid VB2 vector, which contained the pGD1 promoter. The expression construction was transformed into Agrobacterium EHA105 and then plant tissues of rice (Oryza sativa). Seeds from transgenic plants (T0) were germinated on selective media containing spectinomycin 50 mg/L. Selected plants and wild type were analyzed by PCR and RT-PCR with pGD1 promoter region and transgene specific primer set. All transgenic plants showed expression pattern of similar levels. We showed that the chromobody is effective in binding GFPand antimicrobial peptide gene in tobacco leaf. Most interestingly, this can be applied to interfere with the function of GFP fusion protein and to mislocalize (trap) GFP fusions to the plant cytoplasm in order to alter the phenotype mediated by the targeted proteins. Bacterial blight disease was enhanced resistance in transgenic lines. These results showed that antibiotic peptides might show a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity.

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) is an annual herbaceous plant of the family Malvaceae that has been planted in Africa for more than 4000 years and used as source of fiber, energy and feed stock. Also, kenaf seeds are good source for edible oil used for first class cooking oil and margarine production. The seeds can be used for lubrication, soap, paint and varnishes. This study was carried out to evaluate fatty acids variation among sixteen kenaf germplasm and gamma-ray induced mutants derived from Jinju and Auxu. Linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acid were the predominant fatty acids in all kenaf seed oils. The sixteen accessions showed a wide range of fatty acid compositions, spanning from 28.94 to 43.36% saturated, 56.64 to 71.05% total unsaturated, 15.52 to 46.85% monounsaturated, and 13.56 to 48.97% polyunsaturated fatty acids. The mutant lines derived from Jinju, significantly surpassed parental mean for all the palmitic and oleic acid. Also, the mutant lines derived from Auxu showed broad ranges of variation in oleic and linoleic acid and narrow ranges of variation in stearic and palmitic acid. The relative amount of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were increased at all the gamma-ray induced mutants. These results will provide a valuable information to assist parental selection of kenaf breeding.

Mutant populations generated by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) have been used for crop improvement and functional genomics. Since pepper is very recalcitrant to be transformed, EMS mutagenesis can be a very useful to generate useful alleles and to characterize the function of genes. We have been developing a mutant population aiming at 5,000 mutants by treating EMS on seeds of C. annuum ‘Yuwolcho’. A total of 4,300 M1 mutants have been developed until now. Among the 4,300 M1 population, almost 800 M2 mutant lines have been phenotyped and evaluated to confirm the effect of EMS. We categorized seven key organ development and subdivided them into twenty secondary categories. Among them, 50 and 72 families have been shown variations in plant growth and leaf development, respectively. In addition, we detected nucleotide variations using HRM analysis in eIF4E and putative aminotransferase genes. These results demonstrated that our mutant population can be very useful for study function of genes in near future.

A new species of Chrysosplenium (Saxifragaceae), C. epigealum J.W.Han & S.H.Kang is described from Mt. Seoraksan, Inje-gun, Gangwon-do, Korea. This new species is distinct from C. flaviflorum Ohwi, its closely relative species, in having calyx 2-2.5 mm long, pistils slightly shorter than calyx, filaments 2-3 times longer than anthers and stolons epigeal.

The ultrastructural characteristics of germ cell differentiations during spermatogenesis and mature sperm morphology in male () were evaluated via transmission electron microscopic observation. The accessory cells, which contained a large quantity of glycogen particles and lipid droplets in the cytoplasm, are assumed to be involved in nutrient supply for germ cell development. Morphologically, the sperm nucleus and acrosome of this species are ovoid and conical in shape, respectively. The acrosomal vesicle, which is formed by two kinds of electron-dense or lucent materials, appears from the base to the tip: a thick and slender elliptical line, which is composed of electron-dense opaque material, appears along the outer part (region) of the acrosomal vesicle from the base to the tip, whereas the inner part (region) of the acrosomal vesicle is composed of electron-lucent material in the acrosomal vesicle. Two special characteristics, which are found in the acrosomal vesicle of A. () in Pinnidae (subclass Pteriomorphia), can be employed for phylogenetic and taxonomic analyses as a taxonomic key or a significant tool. The spermatozoa were approximately in length, including a sperm nucleus (about in length), an acrosome (about in length), and a tail flagellum (about ). The axoneme of the sperm tail evidences a 9+2 structure.