Many transcription factors are involved in directing the growth of porcine oocytes. The localization and expression level of a given transcription factor often differ at each stage of early embryonic growth, which spans from fertilization to the formation of the blastocyst. A hallmark of the blastocyst stage is the separation of the endodermal and mesodermal ectoderm. The embryo's medium and its effects are known to be crucial during early development compared to the other developmental stages, and thus require a lot of caution. Therefore, in many experiments, early development is divided into the quality of oocyte and cumulus cells and used in experiments. We thought that we were also heavily influenced by genetic reasons. Here, we examined the expression patterns of five key transcription factors (CDX2, OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, and E-CADHERIN) during porcine oocyte development whose expression patterns are controversial in the pig to the literature. Antibodies against these transcription factors were used to determine the expression and localization of them during the early development of pig embryos. These results indicate that the expressions of key transcription factors are generally similar in mouse and pig early developing embryos, but NANOG and SOX2 expression appears to show species-specific differences between pig and mouse developing embryos. This work helps us better understand how the expression patterns of transcription factors translate into developmental effects and processes, and how the expression and localization of different transcription factors can crucially impact oocyte growth and downstream developmental processes.

The Gwangneung arboretum, affiliated to the Korea Forest Research Institute, was established in 1987 and it became the Korea National Arboretum (KNA) in May 24, 1999. The entomological collection of KNA currently holds a total of 510,365 specimens of 6,849 species including more than 330 type specimens of Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera are deposited. As the results of recent systematic studies by KNA entomologists, 67 new species were described, and 108 species were newly recorded from Korea and other countries. Not only we have conducted taxonomic studies but also have broaden our research boundary to natural enemy surveys for pine wilt disease vectors, plant and insect interaction, and exotic insect species monitoring. In this presentation, we would like to briefly introduce current entomological researches of KNA in the hope of future collaborations with other entomologists.

Here, we investigated antioxidant defense mechanism in the spermatheca of A. mellifera queens via RNA-seq analysis of spermathecae in both mated and virgin queens. We identified the genes encoding antioxidant proteins, which were differentially expressed in the spermatheca of mated queens. The concentrations of antioxidant proteins, such as superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GTPX), and transferrin (Tf) together with the levels of ROS, H2O2, and iron were higher in the spermathecal fluid of mated queens as opposed to those in the spermathecal fluid of virgin queens; this indicated that increase in antioxidant protein concentration is an antioxidant defense mechanism occurring in the spermathecal fluid of mated queens against ROS; this mechanism involves conversion of ROS using antioxidant enzymes and Tf-mediated inhibition of the Fenton reaction occurring between Fe2+ and H2O2. Our data indicate that an increased expression of antioxidant proteins could facilitate prolonged storage and survival of sperms in the spermatheca of mated queens, suggesting the role of antioxidant proteins in antioxidative defense against ROS.

Melon thrips, Thrips palmi Karny (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a worldwide polyphagous pest. The management of this pest have mainly relied on chemical agents. However, the overuse is harmful to the environment and results in insects resistance. Therefore, alternative eco-friendly control methods that have different mode of action, such as biological control, are necessary to overcome the current issue. In this study, we isolated entomopathogenic fungi from Korean soil, and characterized them via morphological and molecular techniques and pathogenicity assay against Tenebrio molitor larvae. The isolated fungi were screened for virulence against T. palmi under laboratory conditions and the results were used to establish a thrips-pathogenic fungal library. The highly virulent isolates were selected and further characterized for optimum culture conditions and application as biopesticide in the field.

In order to investigate novel insect growth regulators (IGRs) from actinomycetes, 363 isolates of actinomycetes were tested for their IGR activities. Among them, Streptomyces sp. AN120537 showed the highest juvenile hormone antagonist (JHAN) activity and significant insecticidal activities against larvae of Aedes albopictus and Plutella xylostella. In addition, the dead larvae showed morphological deformities such as contraction of body segments or pigmentation of all body parts. Through liquid chromatography and bioassay-guided fractionation, 7 IGR compounds were identified from the crude hexane extract of AN120537. These results suggested that Streptomyces sp. AN120537 could be useful resources for development of eco-friendly insecticidal agents.

최근 기후변화와 더불어 사과원 병해충 방제 횟수, 주변 식생 등의 변화로 인해 노린재류의 발생 밀도가 증가하고 피해가 점점 늘어나고 있다. 사과원 노린재류의 방제는 주로 살충제를 이용하고 있으나 이들의 강한 이동성과 농약 잔류, 작업자에 대한 농약 노출 등의 문제를 야기하는 단점이 있어 이러한 문제를 해결할 수 있는 새로운 해충 방제 수단이 필요한 실정이다. 본 연구는 사과원의 주요 노린재 중 썩덩나무노린재와 갈색날개노린재의 알을 이용하여 사과원 주변의 알 기생봉을 탐색하고 이들에 대한 야외 기생률을 알아보고자 실시하였다. 저온 저장된 두 종의 알을 사과원에 배치하고 이후 수거하여 알에서 채집된 기생봉을 동정한 결과 썩덩큰검정알벌(Trissolcus japonicus Ashmead)로 확인되었다. 야외 기생률은 썩덩나무노린재의 경우 약 27%, 갈색날개노린재는 21%로 나타났다. 추후 이 기생봉에 대한 생태 특성, 인공 사육, 야외 방사 기술 등의 생물적 방제제로 활용하기 위한 다양한 연구를 진행할 예정이다.

A species of Beauveria bassiana is widely used for biological pest management in many countries. Many efforts have been given to figure out the clear fungal mode of action to enhance the insecticidal activity. Homologous recombination (knock-out) or hairpin RNA (knock-down) is popularly used in fungal gene function study, but gene cloning and generation of knock-out or -down mutants takes long time or temporarily knock-downed. Here in this work, we used previously generated egfp-expressing B. bassiana strain (Bb-egfp #3) and integrated dsegfp to the Bb-egfp #3 using a protoplast integration method. This work suggests that protoplast integration with dsRNA possibly generate significantly reduced gene expression in B. bassiana and the reduction is quite stable over generations which provide easy of functional study for fungal mode of action.

Two infamous ant species, red imported fire ant (RIFA, Solenopsis invicta) and tropical fire ant (TFA, S. geminata), originated from South America are invading and harming many countries around the world. Among them, RIFA, known as one of the 100 world’s worst invasive alien species, has been discovered in South Korea; in Busan (Gamman CT) in 2017, and subsequently in Busan (Hutchison CT), Pyongtaek, Incheon and Daegu in 2018. With these relentless introduction of RIFA, South Korea is not safe no more from these ants and faces a risk of settlement. Our research goal is tracing the country origin of invasive populations of RIFA and TFA based on molecular epidemiological approach. We are conducting both microsatellite and genome-wide SNP analyses in order to derive a complementary interpretation. These two methodologies are expected to result in improved resolution in population genetics analysis. Nevertheless, this work needs collaboration of many countries belonging to the range of origin and invasion of RIFA and TFA. We will briefly introduce our research project and progress of collaboration research.

고온기 화색발현이 우수하고 연중생산이 가능한 수출용 스프레이국화 신품종을 육성하기 위하여 충남농업기술원 화훼 연구소에서 2010년 분홍색의 모본 ‘Borami’를 방임수분하였다. 2011년에 종자를 파종하였고, 이중 화형과 화색이 우수한 개체를 선발하여 ‘SP11-148-01’로 계통명을 부여하였다. 2011년부터 2013년까지 주년 생산성을 위해 전조, 자연, 차광재배로 특성을 각각 검정하였고, 생육 및 개화특성은 화형과 화색이 비슷한 자주색 스프레이국화인 ‘Kingfisher’를 대조품종으로 조사하였으며, 2013년 ‘Yes Ruby’로 품종등록 출원하였다. ‘Yes Ruby’는 자주색의 설상화와 연녹색의 통상화로 가을 작형 개화기는 10월 24일로, ‘Kingfisher’의 10월 29일에 비해 빨랐다. ‘Yes Ruby’의 초장과 줄기굵기는 각각 94.9cm와 7.7mm로 ‘Kingfisher’의 89.2cm와 6.4mm보다 컸다. ‘Yes Ruby’의 꽃 직경은 6.2cm로 ‘Kingfisher’의 5.0cm보다 컸으며, 꽃잎수도 ‘Yes Ruby’가 25.7개로 ‘Kingfisher’의 23.3개보다 많았다. 착화수는 두 품종 모두 비슷하였으며, 흰녹병 저항성은 ‘Yes Ruby’가 2단계, ‘Kingfisher’는 3단계의 감염 정도를 나타내어 흰녹병에 대한 저항성이 높은 것으로 나타났다. 재배상 유의사항은 ‘Yes Ruby’는 겨울철 균일한 개화가 이뤄지지 않아 겨울철 야간온도를 18℃ 이상으로 관리해줌으로써 균일개화를 유도할 수 있다. 또한 생장억제제인 Daminozide을 처리함으로써 설상화수를 늘려 볼륨감 높은 꽃봉오리를 형성할 수 있어 고온기에도 화색발현이 우수하고 연중생산이 가능하여 안정적 수출을 통한 농가소득 증대에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

본 연구는 국내 플라워샵에서의 절화보존제 사용현황 및 인식을 알아보고자 국내 성인남녀 120명의 플로리스트들을 상대로 설문조사를 진행하였다. 국내 플라워샵에서 일하는 플로리스트들 중 19.8%만이 절화보존제를 사용하는 것으로 나타난 반면, 전혀 사용하지 않은 플라워샵은 45.5%로, 국내 플라워샵에서의 절화보존제 이용이 매우 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 국내 플로리스트들의 절화보존제 주 사용 시기와 목적은 ‘화훼 상품 보관 시(39.6%)’에 ‘균 번식 억제를 위해(36.7%)’ 가장 많이 사용하는 것으로 나타났으며 절화보존제를 사용하지 않는 이유에 대해서는 필요성을 느끼지 못한다는 응답(51.4%)이 가장 높게 나타나, 절화보존제에 대한 인식이 부족한 것으로 나타났다. 그러나, 절화보존제 사용 경험이 있는 플로리스트들에게서는 절화보존제의 이용 만족도가 높게 나타났으며, 50.5%의 절화보존제 이용 경험자는 재구매 의사가 매우 높은 것으로 나타났다. 일반적으로 국내 플로리스트들의 경우 절화보존제에 대한 관심이 적지는 않으나(Mean=3.22), 절화보존제의 적은 이용 빈도와 낮은 인지도는 국내 절화보존제 시장이 작고 홍보가 부족하여 나타난 것으로 판단된다. 절화보존제 사용 후 플로리스트들의 높은 만족도와 재구매의사를 보았을 때, 절화보존제에 대한 홍보와 교육을 통하여 국내 플라워샵에서의 절화수명제의 접근성을 높이고 절화 품질 관리에 대한 인식을 고양시킬 수 있을 것이며, 이를 통해 소비자들에게도 고품질의 관상기간이 긴 절화 상품 제공을 통하여 국내 절화산업의 발전을 가져올 수 있을 것이다.

This study aimed to analyze a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation using a pentafluorophenyl column of parent drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and its active metabolite, desethylhydroxchloroquine (DHCQ) applying to determine bioequivalence of two different formulations administered to patients. A rapid, simple, sensitive and specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for bioanalysis of HCQ and its metabolite DHCQ in human whole blood using deuterium derivative hydroxychloroquine-D4 as an internal standard (IS). A triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer was operated using electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Sample preparation involves a two-step precipitation of protein techniques. The removed protein blood samples were chromatographed on a pentafluorophenyl (PFP) column (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 2.6 μm) with a mobile phase (ammonium formate solution containing dilute formic acid) in an isocratic mode at a flow rate of 0.45 mL/min. The standard curves were found to be linear in the range of 2 – 500 ng/mL for HCQ; 2 – 2,000 ng/mL for DHCQ in spite of lacking a highly sensitive MS spectrometry system. Results of intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were within acceptable limits. A run time of 2.2 min for HCQ and 2.03 min for DHCQ in blood sample facilitated the analysis of more than 300 human whole blood samples per day. Taken together, we concluded that the assay developed herein represents a highly qualified technology for the quantification of HCQ in human whole blood for a parallel design bioequivalence study in a healthy male.

To improve the flame retardant performance of cellulose fibers, fluorine functional groups were introduced under various controlled fluorination conditions. The properties of the fluorinated cellulose fibers were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and a thermogravimetric analysis. The fluorine functional group content in the fluorinated cellulose fibers increased with an increase in the fluorination temperature. However, the fluorination reaction increased the char yield and decreased the rate of degradation of the cellulose fibers by introducing donors, enabling the formation of a thick and compact char layer. Therefore, the flame retardant properties of cellulose fibers were improved following the fluorination treatment.

The embryonic genome activation (EGA) is genetically activated states that embryos make the materials such as growth factors for using themselves. EGA is various because they have many materials, different site, different stage, also different species. At this time, transcription factors are expressed. Transcription factors bind to specific DNA region, and regulate the gene expression. Thus, we check the expression of transcription factors, we can know that embryo development is very well or not. The development stages of embryos are basically the stages from fertilization to blastocyst. So, we check the embryos oocyte to blastocyst. In our experiments, we focus the early developmental transcription factors such as Cdx2, Oct4, Sox2, Nanog and E-Cadherin. Above antibody factors showed different expression sites, and there were many differentiated parts from other animal species. In addition, we compared the SCNT and parthenogenetic activation (PA) because these are same methods using electrical activation among the embryo production methods. Our results showed not only similar patterns but also different patterns between pig and mouse. Therefore, we have to investigate that different patterns of transcription factors play a role in pigs, and why occur.

In the current study, a total of 102 common Todarodes pacificus squid caught in the East Sea were investigated for parasitological research. The results revealed that 33 (32.35%) out of 102 squid were infected by Nybelinia surmenicola, the mean intensity was 5.58 parasites per squid, and the maximum abundance was 11. Morphological analysis using a field emission scanning electron microscope showed the characteristic features of N. surmenicola. Molecular identification based on the 28S rRNA gene confirmed the isolated parasite as N. surmenicola, while phylogenetic analysis revealed that N. surmenicola isolated in this study was clustered with N. surmenicola isolated from Japan. This is the first report of phylogenetic characterization of N. surmenicola isolated from Korea.

Insect-killing fungi have high potential in pest management. A deeper insight into the fungal genes at the whole genome level is necessary to understand the inter-species or intra-species genetic diversity of fungal genes, and to select excellent isolates. In this work, we conducted a whole genome sequencing of Beauveria bassiana (Bb) JEF-007 and characterized pathogenesis-related features and compared with other isolates including Bb ARSEF2860. A large number of Bb JEF-007 genes showed high identity with Bb ARSEF2860, but some genes showed moderate or low identity. The two Bb isolates showed a significant difference in vegetative growth, antibiotic-susceptibility, and virulence against Tenebrio molitor larvae. When highly identical genes between the two Bb isolates were subjected to real-time PCR, their transcription levels were different, particularly in heat shock protein 30 (hsp30) gene which is related to conidial thermotolerance. In several B. bassiana isolates, chitinases and trypsin-like protease genes involved in pathogenesis were highly conserved, but other genes showed noticeable sequence variation within the same species. Given the transcriptional and genetic diversity in B. bassiana, a selection of virulent isolates with industrial advantages is a pre-requisite, and this genetic approach could support the development of excellent biopesticides with intellectual property protection.