Acinetospora filamentosa and Microspongium stilophorae are reported as new records from South Korea based on morphological and molecular analyses. A. filamentosa is mainly characterized by having the sparsely branched erect filaments, the scattered meristematic zones, forming crampons, plurilocular sporangia on both prostrate filaments and lower part of erect filaments, and spherical to oval unilocular sporangia formed either sessile or with a pedicel. M. stilophorae is an epiphytic thalli mostly on Stilophora sp. It is characterized by prostrate filaments with irregular cells, short erect filaments with short ramuli, phaeophycean hairs, uniseriate plurilocular sporangia on the terminal part of erect filament. Our molecular analyses of rbcL and cox1 genes reveals that A. filamentosa and M. stilophorae are nested within the clades of Acinetospora and Microspongium, respectively.

Feldmannia chitonicola is reported as a new record from Korea based on morphological studies in laboratory-cultured materials and molecular analyses. F. chitonicola is mainly characterized by a small size (1-2 mm), erect filaments mostly unbranched, plurilocular sporangia produced on both prostrate and laterally on the basal part of erect filaments, and 2 types (lanceolate and ovate) of sporangia. In our cultures, sporangia production was slower at 10°C than in 16°C and 20°C. Our molecular analyses of rbcL and cox1 genes supported its independence from other congeners reported for Korea. This is the first report of F. chitonicola for western Pacific.

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.