Copper (Cu) is an essential micronutrient required for growth and development of plants. But, at a high concentration in soil, copper acts as a major toxic element to plant cells due to its potential inhibitory effects against many physiological and biochemical processes. In this study, the morphological and physiological changes were observed in the leaf of sorghum plants treated with different concentrations (0, 100, and 150 μM) of Copper (Cu). The results linked to morphological changes that plants treated with Cu suffered reduction in growth and morphological changes. In the ion concentration investigation, the concentrations of Cu2+ increased, the concentration of others interacting ions (Zn2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Fe2+) were changed dramatically. For proteome analysis, 2-D combined with MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry was performed. Two dimensional gels stained with silver staining, a total of 422 differential expressed proteins (≥ 2-fold) were identified using Progenesis SameSpot software. A total of 24 spots from Cu-induced sorghum leaf and 21 spots from Cu-induced sorghum root were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Out of 24 protein spots from Cu-stressed leaf, of which 16 protein spots were up-regulated and 8 protein spots were down-regulated whereas out of 21 protein spots, a total of 9 protein spots were up-regulated and 12 spots were down-regulated from Cu-stressed root. Taken together, these studies revealed the effects of heavy metal, Cu on the growth and physiological characteristics in sorghum seedlings and proteome investigation, hoping to provide references on the mechanism of heavy metal damaging plants.

Citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas citri pv. citri is one of economically important diseases in the citrus industry. The devastating bacterial disease results in unattractive quality and a significant reduction in fruit production. Citrus growers and industry in Korea has been struggling with the serious disease causing the prohibition of export market. Korea also became the top import market for oranges. The development of markers linked to citrus canker resistance is strongly needed. In this study, we investigated molecular markers between ‘Kiyomi’ (Citrus unshiu ｘ C. sinensis), a resistant cultivar, and Natsudaidai (C. natsudaidai), a susceptible cultivar. To develop markers, we focused on structural variation (copy number variation, CNV, and presence/absence variation, PAV). It has been well documented that CNV and PAV of defense-related genes are associated with resistant cultivars. Using a read depth approach following next-generation sequencing, we performed genome-wide analysis of CNV and PAV in two varieties. As a result, 633 genes showing at least two times difference between the mapping reads from two varieties and 61 genes showing presence of the mapping reads in only either one of them were screened. Visual inspection using the Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV) was performed and experimental validation is being investigated. Interestingly, one of PAV candidates showed polymorphism in ‘Kiyomi’ and ‘Natsudaidai’ as well as other resistant and susceptible cultivars. Our results suggest a necessity for the detection of structural variation and indicate that the candidates may be useful for molecular breeding for citrus canker resistance and understanding disease resistance mechanism.

The change of quality characteristics with storage temperature (room (25°C), low (15°C) and cold (4°C) temperature) and period of unhulled foxtail millet (Setaria italica Beauv. cv. Samdame and Gyeongkwan 1), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L. cv. Hwanggeum-gijang and Manhongchal) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench cv. Hwanggeumchal and Donganme) were evaluated. The 1,000 grain weight, lightness, redness, yellowness and moisture content with storage temperature and period of unhulled foxtail millet, proso millet and sorghum were not showed difference. Germination percent and milling recovery of foxtail millet, proso millet and sorghum decreased with increasing storage temperature and period. Fat acidity of stored foxtail millet, proso millet and sorghum was increased with increasing storage period, and the higher temperature increased more. The results of this study show that the storage of foxtail millet, proso millet and sorghum at the low and cold temperature is better than the room temperature. Especially, in mind of the economics, the storage method is good low temperature than cold temperature.

Olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus is one of the most widely cultured fish species in Korea. Although olive flounder receive attention from aquaculture and fisheries and extensive research has been conducted eye morphological change in metamorphosis, but little information was known to molecular mechanism and gene expression of eye development- related genes during the early part of eye formation period. For the reason of eyesight is the most important sense in flounder larvae to search prey, the screening and identification of expressed genes in the eye will provide useful insight into the molecular regulation mechanism of eye development in olive flounder. Through the search of an olive flounder DNA database of expressed sequence tags (EST), we found a partial sequence that was similar to crystallin beta A1 and gamma S. Microscopic observation of retinal formation correspond with the time of expression of the crystallin beta A1 and gamma S gene in the developmental stage, these result suggesting that beta A1 and gamma S play a vital role in the remodeling of the retina during eye development. The expression of crystallin beta A1 and gamma S were obviously strong in eye at all tested developing stage, it is also hypothesized that crystallin acts as a molecular chaperone to prevent protein aggregation during maturation and aging in the eye.

Twenty two common millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) varieties collected from Korea, China and Russia were investigated for their phylogenetic relationship using 5S ribosomal DNA sequences with a hope to provide the basic information on their exact origin. Sequences of 5S rDNA were isolated by PCR. The primers, 5s-rRNA1 and 5s-rRNA2, were designed to isolate the complete NTS. Genomic DNA amplification produced two fragments with different length, 900 bp and 400 bp fragments, confirming the presence of two types of 5S rDNA repeats that differed from each other in the length of the NTS region. Amplified DNAs of 400 bp fragment were subcloned and used for further investigation. The obtained NTS sequences ranged from 200 to 300 bp and homology of sequences among plant materials was much higher than long repeat. CLUSTALW multiple aligment of 5S rDNA sequences from 22 different common millets revealed the clear difference by their origin. And critically different areas with insert or deletion were also confirmed. Those sequence difference seems to be used for discrimination of cultivars from different origin and use as molecular markers for origin identification. In phylogenic tree construction, the clear classification was shown where the genotypes from China and Russia is positioned together and stay away from domestic genotypes.

This study was carried out to compare the physicochemical characteristics of vinegars fermented from cereal crops such as glutinous and nonglutinous foxtail millet, proso millet, sorghum and adlay, and Incalgyun. The crude protein, minerals and P2O5 contents of vinegars fermented from cereal crops and Incalgyun were higher than circulation brown rice vinegar. Brix degree, turbidity and pH of vinegar fermented from cereal crops and Incalgyun were higher, and total acidity was lower than circulation brown rice vinegar. The glucose content of circulation brown rice vinegar was 4.89 mg/mL, and vinegars fermented from cereal crops were 0.00-5.62 mg/mL. The total organic acid content of circulation brown rice vinegar was 41.92 mg/mL, and vinegars fermented from cereal crops were 12.14-42.31 mg/mL. The major organic acids were acetic acid, succinic acid and citric acid. The total polyphenol content of circulation brown rice vinegar was 0.023 mg/mL, vinegars fermented from cereal crops were 0.286-0.413 mg/mL, and vinegars fermented from cereal crops and Incalgyun were 0.266-0.396 mg/mL. The ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities of vinegars fermented from cereal crops were higher than circulation brown rice vinegar.

Cowpea might have been introduced from China to Korea and cultivated for several hundred years but it has never been a staple food crop in Korea. In this study, genetic diversity of 492 Korean cowpea landrace accessions that have passport information was estimated using six SSR markers. The mean of Weir's gene diversity was 0.665 from all accessions investigated in the study. Cowpea gene diversity of six local provinces in Korea was ranged from 0.370 in accessions of Gangwon to 0.680 in Jeonra provinces. Low gene diversity of the cowpea genepool of Gangwon province was probably derived from relatively few introductions. Especially SSR markers VM36 and VM39 seem to be good markers to distinguish the Gangwon accessions from others by occurring at a specific locus with higher than 78% of allele frequency. Except for the Gangwon province with the low genetic diversity, gene diversity of cowpea accessions from other provinces was ranged from 0.600 to 0.680 indicating no big differences among provinces. Distribution pattern of the allele frequencies was similar among the other provinces. This may reveal that Korean farmers might exchange cowpea seeds easily with even their neighbors with geographical barriers. A core collection, 100 landraces, ca. 20% of base collection, was developed at the 70% of a similarity coefficient level using random sampling approaches after stratification of the entire landrace collection based on the phenetic dendrogram. The variability of SSR in the base and core collections of Korean cowpea landrace was compared by calculating Weir's gene diversity. The mean of Weir's gene diversity of the core was 0.707 while that of the base collection was 0.665. The higher diversity index in the core collection indicates that it maintains the initial variability and well represents the base collection. The core collection included one of determinate accession (IT 216155) and two of no branching type accessions (IT 103959 and IT 161024). The core collection could be used to guide more efficient management and utilization of the entire collection. This core collection should be revised periodically as additional accessions are collected and further characterization is conducted.

“Saesangjubyeo” is a japonica rice cultivar developed from the cross between “Junghwabyeo” and “Sambaegbyeo” at the Sangju Substation of National Yeongnam Agricultural Experiment Station, R.D.A in 2001. “Saesangjubyeo” is early matured with July 28 at the