We performed a survey for flavivirus infection and distribution of Aedes albopictus that known as Zika and Dengue virus vector using black–light trap and BG-sentinel trap around urban area in Korea. Mosquitoes were collected in 27 cities during March to November (twice a month) year 2016. Total numbers of mosquitoes collected 102,102 including 19 species 8 genera during collecting period. Total 21,467 Ae. albopictus was collected that 20,961(24.3%) by BG-sentinel trap and 506 (3.2%) by Black-light trap in urban area. Trap index(trap/night) of Ae. albopictus was showed highest in Hamyang (TI:992.3) and lowest in Taebaek (TI:0.3) there was only collected by Black-light trap. A total of 894 pools from all collecting Ae. albopictus were performed a Flavivirus detection. Flavivirus was not detected during study period. This study may provide basic information for surveillance of imported diseases (include Zika virus) and vectors in Korea.

Maruca vitrata larvae feed on flowers and pods of several leguminous crops, and can severely reduce seed yield. Adult emergence, mating and oviposition behaviors were observed in a 15h/9h=light/dark and 25℃ condition as a base study for monitoring. Emergence occurred mainly during the first five hours of scotophase. Mating occurred from the two days after emergence, and the mated females started to lay eggs from the next day. A maximal mating rate was observed in the night of five days. Mating occurred significantly more often during the time from 2 hours before to 3 hours after lights-off, but older females mated more frequently during the photophase. Electroanntennographic responses of males to some chemicals, and body extracts and volatile collections of females were measured

The α-Gal epitope (Galα1,3Galα1,4GlcNAc-R) is responsible for hyperacute rejection (HAR) during transgenic pig-to-non-human primate xenotransplantation. To overcome HAR after xenografts, it is essential for the inactivation of α1,3Galactosyltransferase (GT) gene by the homozygotic knocked out of GT-/- and the isoglobotrihexosylceramide synthase (iGb3s-/-). This study was performed to investigate the generation and characterization of the α1,3GT-MCP/-MCP+iGb3-/- transgenic cells. Ear fibroblast cells from the GT-MCP/-MCP pig were cultured and used to positive control. For iGb3s knock out, the Cas9-GFP-iGb3s vector was transfected into the GT-MCP/-MCP cells. The Cas9-GFP-iGb3s transfected cells were sorted and sequenced for the selection of GT-MCP/-MCP+ iGb3s-/- cells. Among the three sorted cell lines, one transgenic cell line was homozygously deleted 3 bases and 10 bases in each chromosome, respectively. To characterize an expression of α-Gal epitope, a wild type and the transgenic cells were measured by FACS Aria using BS-IB4 lectin antibody. The expression of α-Gal epitope in GT-MCP/-MCP cells (<0.01 %) were significantly down-regulated to the range of wild type (99.4 %) fibroblast cells (p<0.05). To analyze the function of iGb3s, α -Gal epitope expressions were measured for the GT-MCP/-MCP, GT-MCP/-MCP+iGb3s-/+, and GT-MCP/-MCP+iGb3s-/-. The range was 95.8%, 94.2%, and 75.8%, respectively. Interestingly, there was a negative range (16.2%) of α-Gal epitope -/- section in GT-MCP/-MCP+iGb3s-/-, compared to 2.74% of GT-MCP/-MCP+iGb3s-/+ and 1.4% of WT, respectively. Our results demonstrated that iGb3s-/-combined with GT-/- had a function to inhibit α-Gal epitope expression in pig cells. Further studies are needed to evaluate the functions of double gene knock out to minimize a HAR response after xenotransplantation.

The α-Gal epitope (Galα1,3Galα1,4GlcNAc-R) is responsible for hyperacute rejection (HAR) during transgenic pig-to-non-human primate xenotransplantation. There are genes related to the expression of α-Gal epitope such as α1,3Galactosyltransferase gene (GT-/-) and the isoglobotrihexosylceramide synthase (iGb3s-/-). This study was performed to investigate the expression of α-Gal epitope in the skin derived from GT-/- transgenic pig. The skin (7/1000 inches) was obtained by dermatome (Zimmer® Electric Dermatome) from one month old of wildtype (WT) and GT-/- piglets, respectively. The skins were fixed, dehydrated, cleaned, and embedded. To analyze the expression of α-Gal epitope, the paraffin section of WT and GT-/- were stained with BS-IB4 lectin and isoglobotrihexosylceramide synthase antibody. There was a strong BS-IB4 lectin signal in the skin of WT, but not detected in GT-/-. However, the iGb3s positive signals were stained in the skin of both WT and GT-/-. Taken together, it can be postulated that the knocked out of GT gene may not enough to inhibit the expression of α-Gal epitope. Further studies are needed to evaluate the functions of the double knock out of GT and iGb3s on the expression of α-Gal epitope.

Agricultural by-productsis a rich source of dietary fibers including arabinoxylans, which is found mainly in water-insoluble form and reported to have immunomodulatory activities. We investiglatedwhether solublearabinoxylan (AX)-enriched byproducts alters macrophage activity.Agricultural by-products wereorally given to mice for 4 weeks. Peritoneal macrophages from mice were assayed for scavenger receptor expression, phagocytosis, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated responses. Serum levels of inflammatory cytokines were determined 1 hour after intraperitoneal injection of LPS. Agricultural by-productstreated mice showed a higher expression of SRA and CD36, accompanied by enhanced phagocytosis of latex beads, relative to control mice. Upon stimulation with LPS ex vivo, macrophages from the byproducts group showed lower levels of CD86 and CD40 at the surface protein level and lower production of NO, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-6, compared with the control group. Theagricultural by-products group showed a decrease in serum levels of LPS-induced TNF-αand IL-6, while mice given crude byproducts, which was prepared without enzymatic hydrolysis, showed a reduction only in serum TNF-α,indicating that soluble arabinoxylans contributes to the immunomodulatory effect ofagricultural by-products. Our data present evidence that soluble arabinoxylan-enriched agricultural by-products can be an immune enhancing functional food.

The nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is the causal pathogen of pine wilt disease in Korea. Currently, it is reported that B. mucronatus also has a low pathogenicity. Despite this difference in pathogenicity, it is very difficult to differentiate these two species due to similarity in morphological characters. The sequence variation of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and intergenic spacer (IGS) regions of ribosomal DNA has been used for species identification and phylogeny of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus. But, the IGS region sequence data of B. mucronatus has been only reported in Portugal. In this study, We analyzed genetic variation on ITS and IGS regions of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus (Asian genotype, European genotype) based on rDNA gene sequences, and conducted phylogeography using TCS network. When the each isolates was determined the phylogenetic analysis using the neighbor-joining method, Bursaphelenchus species were divided into each groups, and showed low variation within each species. In the TCS analysis, The isolate of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus (Asian genotype and European genotype) were divided into each groups and confirmed slightly genetic distance within species. B. mucronatus European genotype has possibility of new species different with Asian genotype.

A large-scale neutral hydrogen (H i) ring serendipitously found in the Leo I galaxy group is 200 kpc in diameter with MHi ~ 1:67 X 109M⊙, unique in size in the Local Universe. It is still under debate where this Hi ring originated - whether it has formed out of the gas remaining after the formation of a galaxy group (primordial origin) or been stripped during galaxy-galaxy interactions (tidal origin). We are investigating the optical and Hi gas properties of the dwarf galaxies located within the gas ring in order to probe its formation mechanism. In this work, we present the photometric properties of the dwarfs inside the ring using the CFHT MegaCam u*, g', r' and i'-band data. We discuss the origin of the gas ring based on the stellar age and metal abundance of dwarf galaxies contained within it.

The objective of this study was to investigate the quality characteristics of Baeksulgi (BS) and Sulgidduk added with Makgeolli (MS, BS+ Makgeolli) during storage at 20±2 for 3 days. Moisture contents of MS were significantly higher than those of BS during storage. Reducing sugar contents (%) were higher in MS. The pH values were 6.23 and 5.93, for BS and MS, respectively. The pH of MS was lower and thus indicated higher in acidity. The Hunter color L (lightness) and a (redness) values were higher for BS, whereas b (yellowness) value of MS was lower. In the texture analysis, hardness and chewiness of MS were found to be lower, whereas springiness, gumminess, and resilience were higher than those of MS. According to DSC (Differential scanning calorimeter) analysis, enthalpy of MS appeared to be lower than that of BS during storage, which suggests retrogradation of MS was delayed. The total phenol content was higher in MS. The IC50 value of DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity was lower in MS, which means antioxidant activity increased in MS. Results of the preference test showed that appearance, flavor, taste, and overall acceptability of MS scored higher than those of BS. From these results, high quality of MS was derived from Makgeolli addition.

Screening for antimicrobial peptide genes in the immune-induced Antheraea yamamai larvae led to the identification of a novel antifungal moricin-like peptide (MLP10) gene. The complete MLP10 cDNA is comprised of 403 bp with 174 bp open reading frame encoding a 58 amino acid precursor that contains a putative 23-residue signal peptide, a 2-residue propeptide and a 33-residue mature peptide. The deduced amino acid sequence of MLP10 has 26∼52% identity to those of moricin-related peptides from lepidopteran insects. The MLP10 was highly expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) by fusing with ketosteroid isomerase (KSI) to avoid the cell death during induction. The resulting expressed KSI-MLP10 fusion protein was in a insoluble form. Recombinant MLP10 was released by cleavage of the fusion protein with cyanogen bromide (CNBr). Subsequently, we purified pure active MLP10 by FPLC chromatography, and 5.2mg of MLP10 was obtained from 1L culture medium. The purified MLP10 was prevented the growth of candida albicans at 6.25 uM, and was also active against gram negative and gram positive bacteria. This potent antimicrobial activity suggests that MLP10 may play a role in the immune response of A. yamamai.

Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation. Urban development negatively affects biodiversity. This study aimed to clarify the change of butterfly communities on effect of urbanization in urban green areas. Butterfly survey was conducted using the line transect methods from April to October in 2012. A total of 59 species and 1,465 individuals of butterflies were observed in four urban green areas: Namsan Park (NS), Ewha Womans University (EW), Bukseoul Dream Forest (BD), and Hongneung Forest (HF), and natural forest: Gwangneung Forest (GF). The category of land use around study site was determined based on GIS data. Species richness and abundance of niche breadth and habitat type in urban green areas differed significantly from those in GF. Estimated species richness and species diversity (H’) in four urban green areas were significantly lower than those in GF. Species richness and abundance of forest interior species and specialist were positively correlated with paddy, field, and forest, whereas those of forest interior species and specialist were negatively correlated with urban area and road. Butterfly communities in four urban green area differed from that in GF. The result suggests that the decrease of paddy, field, and forest associated with increase of urban area and road negatively influences species composition and changes butterfly communities.

To profile the proteome in porcine plasma, blood samples were collected from adult male barrows and those plasma were retrieved. For the depletion or pre-fractionation of high-abundance proteins, plasma samples were treated with commercial kits. Then, protein profiling was initiated using one and two-dimensional electrophoresis. Proteins were spotted and then identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF and LC-MS-MS. In the results, more than forty six proteins were identified and the reference map was constructed. The pre-treatment for the removal of high-abundance proteins caused the changes in 2-DE images and some of the proteins were newly uncovered after the most of high abundant proteins were removed. However, it is expected for further steps necessary to identify more low-abundance proteins that may contain potential bio-markers.

Here, we present an approach of blood plasma proteome profiling and their comparisons between the young and the adult pigs as prerequisite for the identification of bio-markers related to the health conditions, growth performance and meat quality. To profile the proteome in porcine plasma, blood samples were collected from 19 young piglets and 20 adult male barrows and the plasma was retrieved. Then, protein profiling was initiated using one and two-di-mensional electrophoresis. Proteins were spotted and then identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF and LC-MS-MS. In the re-sults, more than thirty-six and twenty eight protein spots were selected in young piglets and adult pigs, respectively and twenty three proteins were identified. The proteome profile images were compared between those ones using Image Master Version 7.0. The image of expressed proteome showed that most of proteins from plasma of young pig-let separated clearly and concentrated in 2DE display compared to ones from adult. Image analysis in detail was car-ried out to look for the specific proteins related to age progression. It demonstrated that the characteristics of proteome expression could be distinct to their age stages. Further investigations needed to proceed to understand the age de-pendent change of protein conformation and biological meaning of those differences in proteome expression between young and mature adult pigs.

Muscle satellite cell (SC) is responsible for postnatal muscle growth, repair, and regeneration. Satellite cell is an im-portant source of multi-potent stem cell process and differentiation into adipogenic, myogenic, and osteoblastogenic. The objective of this study was to identify alter of transcriptome during differentiation in porcine satellite cell and to elevated transcriptome at different stages of postnatal development to gain insight into the differences in differ-entiated PSC. We used RNA-seq technique to investigate the transcriptomes during differentiation in pig muscle. Sequence reads were obtained from Illumina HiSeq2000. Differentially expressed genes (DEG) were detected by EdgeR. Gene ontology (GO) terms are powerful tool for unification among representation genes or products. In study of GO biological terms, functional annotation clustering involved in cell cycle, apoptosis, extracellular matrix, phosphoryla- tion, proteolysis, and cell signaling in differences stage. Taken together, these results would be contributed to a better understanding of muscle biology and processes underlying differentiation. Our results suggest that the source of DEGs could be better understanding of the mechanism of muscle differentiation and transdifferentiation.

Satellite cells were derived from muscular tissue in postnatal pig. Satellite cell is an important to growth and development in animal tissues or organs. However, the progress underlying induced differentiation is not clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphologic and the transcriptome changes in porcine satellite cell (PSC) treated with insulin, rosiglitazone, or dexamethasone respectively. PSC was obtained from postnatal muscle tissue. In study 1, for study the effect of insulin and FBS on the differentiated satellite cells, cells were cultured at absence or presence of insulin treated with FBS. Total RNA was extracted for determining the expression levels of myo-genic PAX3, PAX7, Myf5, MyoD, and myogenin genes by real-time PCR. Myogenic genes decreased expression levels of mRNA in treated with insulin. In study 2, in order to clarify the relationship between rosiglitazone and lipid in differentiated satellite cells, we further examined the effect of FBS on lipid accumulation in the presence or absence of the rosiglitazone and lipid. Significant differences were observed between rosiglitazone and lipid by FBS. The mRNA of FABP4 and PPARγ increased in rosiglitazone treatment. In study 3, we examined the effect of dexame-thasone on osteogenic differentiation in PSC. The mRNA was increased osteoblasotgenic ALP and ON genes treated with dexamethasone in 2% FBS. Dexamethasone induces osteoblastogenesis in differentiated PSC. Taken together, in differentiated PSCs, FABP4 and PPARγ increased to rosiglitazone. Whereas, no differences to FBS and lipid. These results were not comparable with previous reports. Our results suggest that adipogenic, myogenic, and osteoblasto-genic could be isolated from porcine skeletal muscle, and identify culture conditions which optimize proliferation and differentiation formation of PSC.

Muscular satellite cell (SC), which is stem cell of postnatal pig, is an important for study of differentiation into adipogenesis, myogenesis, and osteoblastogenesis. In this study, we isolated and examined from pig muscle tissue to determine capacity in proliferate, differentiate, and expression of various genes. Porcine satellite cells (PSC) were isolated from semimembranosus (SM) muscles of 90∼100 days old pigs according to standard conditions. The cell proliferation increased in multi-potent cell by Masson’s, oil red O, and Alizarin red staining respectively. We per-formed the expression levels of differentiation related genes using real-time PCR. We found that the differentiation into adipocyte increased expression levels of both fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) and peroxisome proliferator- acti-vated receptor gamma (PPARγ) genes (p<0.01). Myocyte increased the expression levels of the myosin heavy chain (MHC), myogenic factor 5 (Myf5), myogenic regulatory factor (MyoD), and Myogenic factor 4 (myogenin) (p<0.01). Osteo-blast increased the expression levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (p<0.01). Finally, porcine satellite cells were indu-ced to differentiate towards adipogenic, myogenic, and osteoblastogenic lineages. Our results suggest that muscle satellite cell in porcine may influence cell fate. Understanding the progression of PSC may lead to improved strat-egies for augmenting meat quality.

Size-sorted graphene nanoplatelets are highly desired for fundamental research and technological applications of graphene. Here we show a facile approach for fabricating size-sorted graphene oxide (GO) nanoplatelets by a simple centrifugal method using different dispersion solvents. We found that the small-sized GO nanoplatelets were more effectively separated when dispersed in water or dimethylformamide (DMF) than in an alkali aqueous solution. After several iterations of the centrifugation, the sizes of GO in the supernatant solution were mostly several micrometers. We found that the GO area was not strongly correlated with the C-O content of the GO dispersed in water. However, the size-sorted GO nanoplatelets in DMF showed different C-O content, since DMF can reduce GO nanoplatelets during exfoliation and centrifugation processes.