The NISS onboard NEXTSat-1 is being developed by Korea astronomy and space science institute (KASI). For the study of the cosmic star formation history, the NISS performs the imaging spectroscopic observation in the near-infrared range for nearby galaxies, low background regions, star-forming regions and so on. It is designed to cover a wide field of view (2 × 2 deg) and a wide wavelength range from 0.95 to 3.8 μm by using linear variable filters. In order to reduce the thermal noise, the telescope and the infrared sensor are cooled down to 200 K and 80 K, respectively. Evading a stray light outside the field of view and making the most use of limited space, the NISS adopts the off-axis reflective optical system. The primary and the secondary mirrors, the opto-mechanical part and the mechanical structure are designed to be made of aluminum material. It reduces the degradation of optical performance due to a thermal variation. This paper presents the study on the conceptual design of the NISS.

The gonadsomatic index (GSI) of mottled skate was the highest in April, GSI and HSI showed a reverse phase for its reproductive cycle. The fish had one pair of egg capsules, having 1 to 7 fertilized eggs, and spawned all the year round. When surveying the reproductive characteristics of females over 63 ㎝ in disc width, we found the spawning peak was between April to June, and the appearance ratio of egg capsules was the highest in May (32.1%). The eggs were hatched at 8℃, 13℃, 18℃, water temperature (12.8 to 24.2℃), and the best hatching temperature was 18℃. The number of fish hatched was 4 to 5 fish/egg capsules, and the hatching rate was 100%. The sex ratios of hatching larvae were 45.5% female and 54.5% male. Therefore this study will provide fundamental data and information for artificial reproduction of the mottled skate.

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is an enzyme that plays an essential role in the metabolism of nitrogen by catalyzing the condensation of glutamate and ammonia to form glutamine. Exposure of plants to cadmium (Cd) has been reported to decrease GS activity in maize, pea, bean, and rice. To better understand the function of the GS gene under Cd stress in rice, we constructed a recombinant pART vector carrying the GS gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter and OCS terminator and transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. We then investigated GS overexpressing rice lines at the physiological and molecular levels under Cd toxicity. The GS activity along with mRNA expression were found higher in transgenic than in wild type plants. And this is validated by the low malondialdehyde contents observed 10 days after treatment. GS overexpression in rice resulted in the modulation of expression of enzymes responsible for membrane peroxidation, which may result in the sudden death of plants. Our results thus describe the features of a transgenic rice plants with enhanced tolerance to Cd toxicity.

Genetically modified (GM) plant claims to be the solution to global poverty, and potentially solving environmental change and food requirement by increased human population. In this study, we were evaluating agronomic characteristics and chemical properties of two GM drought-tolerant rice (CaMsrB2-8 and CaMsrB2-23) compared with donor cultivars (Ilmi). Statistical analysis agronomic characteristics GM and donor rice showed no significant difference between both of them. Yield and appearance of rice grain, GM rice was a similar to the donor rice. Chemical composition analysis showed that GM drought-tolerant rice has no different with donor rice. This result indicated that GM drought tolerant rice has no big significant difference agronomic character and chemical properties; it can be solve food shortages in spite of drought condition.

A male gametophyte, or pollen develops in the anther, and its development plays an important male reproductive process in flowering plants. A properly designed transgene construct can help to tailor transgene expression in plants by altering the expression strength, timing, and location. In this process, the promoter plays a pivotal role in controlling transgene expression. In this research, the promoter regions of rice anther/pollen-specific genes, named as OsMSP1 to OsMSP11,were selected from the microarray data sets covering 4 developmental stage of male gametophyte and then used for the construction of vector by Gateway cloning method and transformed into rice and Arabidopsis. All 11 promoters in rice and 9 in Arabidopsis were displayed as anther/pollen-specific/preferential genes by GUS assay and RT-PCR analysis. Three out of 11 promoters showed consistent results with published data. In this study, we demonstrated on eight new anther/pollen-specific or -preferential promoters (OsMSP1, OsMSP2, OsMSP3, OsMSP4, OsMSP5, OsMSP6, OsMSP8, and OsMSP9, which have not been reported before. Although the expression pattern of different genes active in pollen grains is diverse and complex, these experimental results would be helpful to understand the molecular mechanism of regulatory elements in rice microspore/pollen-specific genes.

Plant specific gene family, NAC (NAM, ATAF, and CUC) transcription factors have been characterized for their roles in plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. In this study, we isolated OsNAC58 gene from rice and analysed expression level by inoculation of bacterial leaf blight pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). NAC transcription factor family can be divided into five groups (I–V). On the basis of phylogenetic analysis, OsNAC58 was fall into group III. 35S::OsNAC58-GFP fusion protein was localized on the nuclei. To investigate its biological function in the rice, we constructed vector for overexpression in rice, and then generated transgenic rices. Gene expression of OsNAC58-overexpressed transgenic rice lines were analyzed by northern blot. Analysis of disease resistance to pathogen Xoo, twelve OsNAC58-overexpressed transgenic rice lines showing high expression level of OsNAC58 were shown more resistant than wild type. These results suggest that OsNAC58 gene may play regulatory role during pathogen infection.

Amylopectin composition is determined by the relative activity of soluble starch synthase (SSS) and granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS). Soluble starch synthase and starch branching enzymes are major determinants for the synthesis of amylopectin while GBSS1 is responsible for amylose synthesis in vivo. The formers are made of linear and branched molecules and the latter is composed of highly branched molecules. To increase the palatability of rice, down-regulation of amylose synthesis by antisense and RNA interference (RNAi) could be excellent and powerful tools for controlling the starch composition which is responsible for grain eating quality. The goal of this study is to generate breeding lines with lower amylose content relative to its wild type. This study also reports the results of the two down-regulating technology in lowering the amylose content of rice grain. Furthermore, this study elucidates the effect of using antisense and RNAi for SSS1 and GBSS1.

Fruit quality traits like heat, color and flavor are unique and important for pepper cuisines and industrial use. Pepper pigments include chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanin and red pigments like capsanthin are unique carotenoids to capsicum spp. So developing carotenoids-rich peppers and use of red pigments extraction along with capsaicinoids are one of interest pepper breeding goals in the world. Horticultural traits of 113 germplasms introduced by international cooperative research with YASS of China were evaluated to select promissing materials for high quality peppers during the past 3 years. All of germplasms including 60 local peppers were belong to C. annuum and fruit characteristics were diverse. Especially fruit chemical compositions like ASTA color, capsaicinoids and sugars were evaluated compared with korean commercial peppers. Average contents of ASTA　color was 98±37, 55±63mg in capsaicinoids and 12±6% in total sugars. ASTA color which generally means red pigments content was over 120 in 25 germplasms including over 200 in 2 germplasms. Higher ASTA colors were observed in different fruit types. Capsaicinoids content was over 90mg/100g in 24 germplasms including 5 germpalsms over 200mg. Especially higher capsaicinoids were higher in local peppers with round and wrinkled fruit shape. And total sugar content was over 20% in 10 germplasms. Germplasms of different fruit shapes and characteristics will be useful materials for diverse fruit quality breeding.

“Hojoong”, a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar was developed by the National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, Iksan, Korea, during the period from 2006 to 2012. The heading and maturing dates of this variety were May 2 and June 10 in upland, and May 3 and June 7 in paddy field, respectively. It is an It is an awned, semi-dwarf and soft red winter wheat. Culm and spike length of “Hojoong” were 79cm and 9.1cm. It had lower test weight (803 g/ℓ) and 1,000 grain weight (39.5g) than “Keumkang”. It showed resistance to pre-harvest sprouting, which lower rate of pre-harvest sprouting (5.5%) than “Keumkang”. “Hojoong” had lower flour yield (66.7%) and ash content (0.38%) than “Keumkang”. It showed lower protein content (11.3%) and lower SDS-sedimentation volume (34.0㎖) and amylose content (20.5%) than “Keumkang”. It showed higher high viscosity (204BU) and lightness of noodle dough sheet (80.63). It showed different composition in HMW-GS compositios (2.2+12), PPO18 (876bp), GBSS B (null type) and Puroindolines composition compared th “Keumkang”. Average yield of “Hojoong” in the regional adaptation yield trial test was 5.51 ton/ha in upland and 5.10 ton/ha in paddy field. “Hojoong” would be suitable for the area above –10℃ of daily minimun temperature in January in Korean peninsula

“Baechal”, a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar was developed by the National Institute of Crop Science, RDA, Iksan, Korea, during the period from 2006 to 2012. The heading and maturing dates of this variety were May 1 and June 5 in upland, and May 2 and June 8 in paddy field, respectively. It is an It is an awned, semi-dwarf and hard white wheat. Culm and spike length of “Baekchal” were 75cm and 8.7cm. It had lower test weight (794g/ℓ) and 1,000 grain weight (35.7g) than “Keumkang”. It showed moderate to pre-harvest sprouting, which lower rate of pre-harvest sprouting (13.7%) than “Keumkang”. “Baekchal” had similar ash content (0.47%) and protein content (13.1%) to “Keumkang”. It showed lower gluten content (9.6%), SDS-sedimentation volume (38.2㎖) and amylose content (6.5%) than “Keumkang”. It showed higher high viscosity (643BU), water absorption (213%), expansibility of cooking (357%). It showed different composition in HMW-GS compositios (2*), PPO18 (876bp), GBSS (waxy type) and Puroindolines composition compared th “Keumkang”. Average yield of “Baekchal” in the regional adaptation yield trial test was 4.89 ton/ha in upland and 4.83 ton/ha in paddy field. “Baekchal” would be suitable for the area above –10℃ of daily minimun temperature in January in Korean peninsula

UDP-glucose 4-epimerase catalyzes the reversible conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-galactose. The gene, named BrUGE1, isolated from a Chinese cabbage composes of a total length of 1,328 bp that contains a single open reading frame (ORF) of 1,056 bp which encodes a polypeptide of 351 amino acid residues with a calculated mass of 39.0 kDa. Expression analysis showed that BrUGE1 is tissue specific and highly expressed in stem of rice plant. Interestingly, BrUGE1 mRNA was highly accumulated by drought stress with significantly higher amount of soluble sugar. Morphological evaluation showed an increase in yield and yield components compared to the wild type. Moreover, a better growth performance on galactose as well as higher UGE1 expression was observed in transgenic rice lines than in wild type. In the Ubi-1::BrUGE1 lines, the increase of UGE1 expression was apparently sufficient to overcome the toxic effects of galactose. Taken together, the Ubi-1::BrGUE1 rice lines increased yield probably by increasing the rate of filled grains. The enhanced drought tolerance may be due to the induction of soluble sugar which may act as osmolyte to compensate dehydration during drought stress.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum is a major disease problem on wheat and barley in Korea. The objectives of this study were to evaluation of korean wheat cultivars for Type I and Type II resistance to FHB. 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. Thirty-two korean wheat cultivars were evaluated for resistance to spread of symptoms within spike. The 2013 field screening with wheat cultivar was located in Kimjae-si Joeonbuk Korea. All plots were inoculated twice. Mist-irrigation was applied 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. For FHB resistance, the average of FHB severity of Type I exhibited ranging from 21.9% to 77.2% and FHB severity of Type II ranging from 20.8% to 100%. Namhae, Milseong, Geuru, Joen, Anbaek and Sukang were the moderately resistant cultivars while Gobun, Alchan, Dajoong, Eunpa, Shinmichal1, Eunpa and Uri were the most susceptible cultivars for Type II resistance.

Bacterial blight is a serious problem of rice in irrigated and rainfed lowlands. It is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) which is represented by many pathotypes, making it difficult to control. Plant proteases are important players in immunity acting either in the execution of attack, in signaling cascade or in perception of invader. This study demonstrates the response of cysteine protease (CP) upon interaction with the pathogen. The cysteine protease encoding full-length cDNA was identified and characterized using web-based tools. Conserved domain of the gene revealed its affinity to Peptidase_CIA family. The full-length cDNA of CP in Brassica rapa was then cloned and overexpressed in rice. Insertion of gene was verified in the transformants through PCR assay. Spatiotemporal expression of the gene was performed in transgenic rice. To evaluate the resistance of CP-overexpression lines to Xoo, transgenic plants were inoculated with two races of Xoo. In planta analysis of enzymatic activity of CP was also performed before and after infection by the pathogen.

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%).

Plant specific gene family, NAC (NAM, ATAF, and CUC) transcription factors have been characterized for their roles in plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. In this study, we isolated OsNAC69 gene and analysed expression level by inoculation of bacterial leaf blight pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). NAC transcription factor family can be divided into five groups (I–V). On the basis of phylogenetic analysis, OsNAC69 was fall into group II. OsNAC69 was strongly induced 1 hr after infected with Xoo. To investigate its biological function in the rice, we constructed vector for overexpression in rice, and then generated transgenic rices. Gene expression of OsNAC69-overexpressed transgenic rice lines were analyzed by northern blot. Analysis of disease resistance to pathogen Xoo, nine OsNAC69-overexpressed transgenic rice lines showing high expression level of OsNAC69 were shown more resistant than wild type. These results suggest that OsNAC69 gene may play regulatory role during pathogen infection.

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.

Environmentally inflicted stress (abiotic stress) such as high drought stress could be limiting the plant productivity. The mechanism of drought stress signaling in plant related with anti-apoptosis has not yet been full described. Understanding drought stress signaling is key to producing drought-tolerant plant. In this study we recently have identified Oryza sativa genes related abiotic stress water deficit. Abiotic stress related genes were screened from Oryza sativa cDNA library and identified gene by yeast functional screening. The yeast expression showed that they east cell grow well on SD-galactose-Leu-Ura-. The screening of over than 7000 clones from Oryza sativa cDNA libraries has been identified. 28 clones that survived following BAX-expression on inducible galactose medium. R12H780 clones confirmed protein prediction like putative senescence-associated-protein. This gene contains an open reading frame (ORF) of 108 amino acids. Transcription of R12H780 was induced in response to drought stresses, RT-PCR analysis showed transcript level in plant strongly detected in earliest time of drought stress treatment. Yeast transformed with R12H780 gene displayed markedly improved tolerance to PEG treatment, and high salinity in comparison to the control yeast (vector only). The results indicate R12H780 expression represents a new type of drought stress related gene with anti-apoptotic in Oryza sativa and endows tolerance to several types abiotic stress.

A cDNA clone encoding CBL-interacting protein kinase 1 (CIPK1) was isolated from Chinese cabbage seedlings. The gene, BrCIPK1 consisted of 1,982 bp long with 216 bp of the 5’-untranslated region (UTR), 1,509 bp of the coding region and 257 bp of the 3’-UTR. It is highly conserved CBL-interacting module with absolutely conserved domain among the 15 amino acid NAF domain of the 15 related genes. Southern blot analysis showed a single copy number. BrCIPK1 gene was localized in the cytoplasm and peripheral region in the plant cell which is highly expressed in seedling of rice and in the shoot and pistil of Arabidopsis. Analyses of gene expression on Ubi-1::BrCIPK1 rice lines was differentially accumulated by cold, salinity and drought, indicating its biological roles in the multiple stress response pathways in plants. Further, the expression of BrCIPK1 is hijacked by rice calcineurin-B-like protein (OsCBL5). Moreover, mRNA expression of P5CS1, a gene responsible for proline biosynthesis is regulated by the BrCIPK1 during abiotic stresses resulting to improved accumulation of proline. The interaction of BrCIPK1 with OsCBL5 along with the regulation of P5CS1 explained the enhanced tolerance of transgenic rice. This gene could be used in the development of rice varieties with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses.

MYB-like domain (MLD) gene is a transcription factor that plays a diverse role in plant development and in response to abiotic stresses. In this study, we isolated and developed CaMV35S::OsMLD rice lines and determined its expression pattern under abiotic stresses. It has Myb_CC_LHEQLE superfamily similar to most transcription factor genes but with a very unique binding domain of SHLQKYR in the C-terminal region. Overexpressing rice lines showed enhanced tolerance to salinity with elevated mRNA transcript. Additionally, mRNA transcripts were up-regulated by ABA, H2O2 and dehydration stresses. Further investigation in the enhanced tolerance to salinity showed an increased accumulation of proline and a decreased in malondialdehyde contents indicating that OsMLD gene may be involved in the regulation of proline and osmolytes during abiotic stresses. These results showed that OsMLD gene could be used in the development of rice intended for soil with salinity-related problem.

UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (UGE) catalyzes the reversible conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-galactose. The gene, named BrUGE1, isolated from a Chinese cabbage had a total length of 1,328 bp that contains a single open reading frame (ORF) of 1,056 bp which encodes a polypeptide of 351 amino acid residues with a calculated mass of 39.0 kDa. Sequence analysis of BrUGE1 protein has the characteristic of an active site tetrad and NAD-binding motif (typically TGXXGXXG) of the extended short chain dehydrogenase/ reductase (SRD) superfamily. Expression analysis showed that BrUGE1 is tissue specific and highly expressed in stem of rice plant. Interestingly, BrUGE1 mRNA was highly accumulated by drought stress with significantly higher amount of soluble sugar. Morphological evaluation showed an increase in yield by 27%. Panicle length, number of productive tillers/hill, and filled spikelets were significantly increased by 17~20% compared to the wild type Gopum. Moreover, the growth of the wild type Gopum seedlings on galactose was increasingly inhibited with a decrease in UDP-glc epimerase 1 expression compared to the transgenic rice lines. In the Ubi-1::BrUGE1 lines, the increase of UDP-glc epimerase 1 expression was apparently sufficient to overcome the toxic effects of galactose. Taken together, the Ubi-1::BrGUE1 rice lines increased yield probably by increasing the rate of filled grains. The enhanced drought tolerance may be due to the induction of soluble sugar which may act as osmolyte to compensate dehydration during drought stress.