The hard tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is one of the vectors of severe fever with thrombocytopeniasyndrome virus (SFTSV) causing in humans, however little consideration was given to the biological control of the pest.We evaluated three bioassay methods, such as spray, dipping and dropping. As a result, the dipping method was themost efficient way to measure the fungal virulence. Finally, we constructed a Haemaphysalis longicornis pathogenic fungallibrary to further facilitate the resources to be used as potential biological control agents. A conidial suspension of 1×107conidia/ml was exposed to the ticks by dipping. We confirmed that some isolates were highly virulent to the ticks. Thisresults indicated that some fungi could be used to effectively control the Haemaphysalis longicornis.

The Japanese oak silkmoth, Antheraea yamamai Guérin-Méneville 1861 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), is one of the important natural resources possessing industrial value for silk fiber production. In this study, ten microsatellite markers and two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene sequences (COI and ND4) were used to investigate the genetic variation and geographic structure of A. yamamai populations in South Korea. Two mtDNA gene sequences revealed very low total genetic variation and resultant low geographic variation, validating to use further variable molecular markers. Population-based FIS, FST, RST, and global Mantel test consistently support that A. yamamai populations are overall well interconnected with a relatively high gene flow. Nevertheless, STRUCTURE analysis using microsatellite data and mtDNA sequences coincidently indicate the presence of two genetic pools in many populations.

To obtain information on the sanitary of indoor environment in greenhouses used for shiitake cultivation, bacteria associated with larvae and imagoes of Sciaridae flies, pest to shiitake mushroom, were isolated and identified. A total of 1,048 bacterial colonies were isolated from the flies’ larvae and 984 bacterial colonies were isolated from the flies’ imagoes. Based on molecular analysis of the 16S rDNA sequence, Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Tetrathiobacter kashmirensis of β-proteobacteria, Enterobacter asburiae and Raoultella ornithinolytica of γ -proteobacteria, Curtobacterium sp. and Microbacterium thalassium of Actinobacteria, and Penibacillus taichungensis of Firmicutes were identified from the colonies of the flies’ larvae. While, Bacillus megaterium, B. thuringiensis, Lysinbacillus sphaericus and L. fusifomis of Firmicutes, Microbacterium thalassium and Citricoccus parietis of Actinobacteria, and Enterobacter asburiae of γ-proteobacteria were identified from the flies’ imagoes. Some of the isolated bacterial species were known be human pathogens. Overall, the results of this study suggested that mushroom fly carrying human pathogenic bacteria is one of sources impact on the sanitary of indoor environment of greenhouses used for shiitake cultivation.

The spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae), was originally observed in a few Asian countries, but is now found even in North America and Europe. Genetic information on geographic variation and relationship may broaden our understanding of origin and migration. As a first step, in this study, a portion of mitochondrial COI gene was sequenced to understand genetic relationship and diversity in Korea. Sequencing of 104 individuals provided 57 haplotypes, with the maximum sequence divergence of 1.5%, suggesting high haplotype diversity and moderate sequence divergence. Comparison to GenBankregistered D. suzukii haplotypes (possibly from Spain, Portugal, USA) has shown 100% sequence identity to most of the haplotypes found in this study, but two USA sequences were found to be independent haplotypes, with the sequence divergence ranging from 0.5% ~ 1.4% from our samples in the 553-bp comparison. Phylogenetically, no separable group was found, but, population genetically, the only Chinese population, Sandong, was significantly differentiated (p < 0.05) from all Korean populations, without sharing any haplotype. Among 28 pairwise comparisons of Korean populations only two comparisons showed a significant genetic differentiation, indicating that no population in Korea is completely isolated. Geographically, one haplotype (SWDBA06) was relatively widespread (five among nine localities) and a few haplotypes were found in more than one locality, but most haplotypes were restricted in a locality as a single individual. Overall, high rate of per generation female migration (Nm = 0.75 ~ infinite) and low level of geographic separation (FST=0~0.40) among localities were characteristic. Current data is limited mainly to Korean localities, thus, an expanded study may provide further scrutinized analysis for the fly.

본 실험은 토마토 플러그묘의 접목활착율과 묘소질 향상을 위한 적정 상토 내 수분함량을 구명하기 위하여 수행되었다. 시험구는 접수와 대목의 상토내 수분함량을 각각 3처리구(고, 중 저)씩, 총 9개의 조합을 설계하여 각 처리구별로 접목활착율과 묘의 생육을 조사하였다. 접수의 상토내 수분 함량의 차이는 접목 활착율에 통계적 유의차는 나타나지 않았으나, 대목의 수분함량은 접목활착율에 영향을 미쳐 수분함량이 낮아질수록 활착율도 저하하는 경향을 보였다. 수분 함량에 따른 묘소질도 접목활착율과 유사한 경향을 보여 접수의 수분함량차이는 생육지표에 큰 영향을 미치지 않았으나, 대목에서는 잎(엽수, 엽장, 엽폭)을 제외한 초장, SPAD함량, 경경은 수분함량의 차이에 따라 유의적 차이를 나타냈다. 묘의 충실도는 상토내 수분 함량이 접수는 중간, 대목은 높은 조합에서 가장 좋게 나타났다. 근권부의 생육에서도 대목의 수분함량이 주로 영향을 미쳐, 수분함량이 저하될수록 전 뿌리 표면적, 전 근장, root tip수 모두가 감소되는 것으로 나타났다.

Mushrooms are considered not only as food but also for source of physiologically beneficial medicines. The culinarymedicinal mushrooms may important role in the prevention of age-associated neurological dysfunctions, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus), is edible mushrooms, is a parasitic fungus that grows hanging off of logs and trees and well established candidate for brain and nerve health. H. erinaceus contains high amounts of antioxidants, beta-glucan, polysaccharides and a potent catalyst for brain tissue regeneration and helps to improve memory and cognitive functions. Its fruiting bodies and the fungal mycelia exhibit various pharmacological activities, including the enhancement of the immune system, antitumor, hypoglycemic and anti-aging properties. H. erinaceus stimulates the synthesis of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) which is the primary protein nutrient responsible for enhancing and repairing neurological disorders. Especially hericenones and erinacines isolated from its fruitin body stimulate NGF, synthesis. This fungus is also utilized to regulate blood levels of glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol. H. erinaceus can be considered as useful therapeutic agents in the management and/or treatment of neurodegeneration diseases. However, this review focuses on in vitro, in vivo and clinical trials for neurodegerative disease.

Mealworms, Tenebrio molitor (L.) is used as an important animal feed additive for growth promotion and health management, but potentially exposes to fungal infection. In this work, virulence of two species of entomopathogenic fungi against the insect, and the relationship between abiotic features and virulence were investigated. Secondly our consideration was also given to the effect of chemical fungicides on conidial germination for risk control. Between Beauveria bassiana (Bb) and Metarhizium roberstii (Mr) (previously M. anisopliae), Bb isolates had much higher virulence (~100% mortality in 3~4 days after the treatment), rather than Mr isolates in laboratory assays. Next, fungus-treated mealworms were kept at wheat bran at 20, 25, 30 and 35℃ with 3, 6, 9 times of water spray to the feeds for set-up of different humidity conditions. Inoculation of fungi to mealworms was conducted by fungal spray and feeding methods, which resulted in higher virulence in feeding method. In the feeding method, all temperature treatments except 35℃ showed high virulence against mealworms, but any significant relationship between virulence and humidity was not observed. In the chemical fungicide screening, fluazinam (CAS No. 79622-59-6) and mancozeb (8018-01-7) significantly inhibited the germination of Bb and Mr conidia. This work suggest that contamination of wheat bran with fungal pathogens, particularly B. bassiana may induce mycosis of mealworms, but introduction of effective fungicides possibly reduce fungal infection.

Beauveria bassiana isolates have been used in integrated pest management, but little consideration has been given to the studies on fungal gene expressions and their functions. In this work, to determine the functions of genes, B. bassiana ERL1170 was transformed by restriction enzyme-mediated integration method, where pABeG with bar gene was used as a transformation vector. Among seven hundred of transformants, morphologically different ERL1170-pABeG-#160 transformant, particularly dysfunctional in conidiogenesis. The transformant had yellow hyphal growth on fourth strength Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA/4) and produced very small amount of conidia (<1.0×105 conidia/cm2 agar) in 7 days, whereas wild type had white mycelial growth and significantly greater conidia (3.6×106 conidia/cm2 agar). Additionally under microscopic observation, hyphae of #160 seemed like indian club, compared to the straight forms of wild type hyphae. The next work is figure out possible genes contributing the conidiogenesis of B. bassiana.

True hermaphrodites are animals of equivocal sex in which both male and female gonads develop simultaneously. The frequency of true hermaphroditism is higher in pigs than in other domestic animals. Two Korean pigs were diagnosed with true hermaphroditism showing ovotestes, epididymes, penes, and uteri. Histomorphologically, the testicular tissues consisted of Sertoli cells that were devoid of spermatogenic germ cells and showed proliferation of interstitial cells. However, the uteri were of normal architecture and had well-developed uterine endometrial glands. The samples were 38, XX female karyotype without the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene. The findings of this study could contribute to the understanding of true hermaphroditism in the Korean pig industry. * This work was supported by a grant (Code# PJ008148) from BioGreen21 Program, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Acteoside acts as an anti-oxidative activity and anti-apoptosis in the cells. But, it has been not studied on maturation and development of porcine oocytes. The aims of the present study were to examine the effects of acteoside on the morphological progress of meiosis, developmental competence, and ROS in porcine oocytes. Oocytes were matured in tissue culture medium-199, supplemented with acteoside at various concentrations: 0 (control), 10, 30 and 50 μM. The oocytes maturation rates of groups supplemented with acteoside were no significantly different (81.13, 85.96, 82.95 and 83.68%, respectively). Level of ROS was significantly decreased in acteoside treated group. Furthermore, the parthenogenetic blastocyst rate was significantly improved in 10 μM acteoside treated group compared with control group (44.83 vs. 27.75%). And we investigated effect of acteoside on the oocytes condition represented by cytoplasmic maturation by homogeneous distribution and formation of cytoplasmic organelles and regulation of apoptosis-related genes. In the results. during IVM, 10 μM acteoside treated oocytes showed that the mitochondria and lipid droplet were smaller and homogeneous distribution in cytoplasm compare with control oocytes. And reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) of parthenogenetic blstocysts revealed that acteoside increased the anti-apoptotic genes (Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL), whereas reduced the expression of pro-apoptotic genes (Bax and Bak). In conclusion, based on the results, the effect of acteoside on IVM was not attractive. However, in acteoside treated group, cytoplasmic maturation seemed to be improved with morphologically uniform distribution of cytoplasmic organelles. Furthermore, embryonic development in acteoside treated group was significantly highly increased than that of non-treated group. Our results represents that addition of acteoside to the IVM medium has a beneficial effect in physiology of porcine oocytes, providing a improved method for porcine oocytes in vitro. * This work was supported by a grant (Code# PJ008148) from BioGreen21 Program, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of knowledge of care workers working at long term care hospitals and nursing homes on pressure ulcer. A total of 81 care workers including 34 at long term care hospitals and 47 at nursing homes were surveyed. 24 questions were used to evaluate their degree of knowledge on pressure ulcer. Their knowledge on pressure ulcer scored 12.84 out of the total score of 24 points(SD=3.40), which was equal to 53.50 (SD=24.23) out of 100 points. Their knowledge on the prevention of pressure ulcer was highest among the subareas of evaluation. Their knowledge on pressure ulcer statistically significantly differed according to education on pressure ulcer(P<.05). A pressure ulcer is a skin disorder that may be prevented and cured. At this point when long term care facilities are rapidly increasing, care workers highlevel knowledge on and good management of pressure ulcer is very important. Practically educating them on pressure ulcer including the provision of recent, updated relevant knowledge will be necessary.

본 연구는 환경스트레스 저항성이 증진된 페튜니아를 개발하기 위하여 NDPK2유전자 도입 형질전환 계통 NDPK2-7-1와 SOD2 유전자 도입 형질전환 계통 SOD2- 2-1-1-35간의 교잡에 의해 획득된 후대들의 비생물적 스트레스 저항성을 조사하기 위해 수행되었다. 비 생물적 스트레스 유발원인 메틸바이올로젠(methyl viologen, MV) 100 μM과 200 μM 처리에서 교잡후대들은 그들의 교배 모본 SOD2 유전자나 NDPK2 유전자가 단독으로 도 입된 형질전환 계통이나 비형질전환체 보다 메틸바이 올로젠에 의한 피해를 적게 받았다. 이는 SOD2 유전 자나 NDPK2 유전자가 단독으로 도입된 형질전환 계 통간 교잡에 의해 획득된 후대들이 그들의 교배모본 (SOD2 유전자나 NDPK2 유전자가 단독으로 도입된 형질전환 계통)이나 비형질전환체 보다 산화적 스트레 스에 대한 저항성이 증진되었음을 증명해 준다고 할 수 있다. 이들 교잡후대들은 초장 등 11종류의 양적형질의 특성이 비형질전환체에 비해 약간 길거나 짧긴 하였지 만 비형질전환체와 거의 유사하였으며, 꽃 색갈이나 모양 또한 그들의 교배모본 (SOD2 유전자나 NDPK2 유전 자가 단독으로 도입된 형질전환 계통)이나 비형질전환 체와 차이가 없었다.

To find an alternative for synthetic pesticides, methanol extract from plant samples were tested for their insecticidal activity against insect. The extract of Asiasarum sieboldii had strongly insecticidal activity against Plutella xylostella. Roots of A. sieboldii were extracted with methanol, and the concentrated extract was partitioned with n-hexane, ethylacetate, n-buthanol and H2O. The highest activity was shown in the hexane fraction. Activity-guided fractionation led to the isolation of two amides from hexane fration through the repeated silica gel column chromatographic separations. From the interpretation of spectropic data including NMR, MS, IR, the chemical structures of compounds were determined as dodeca-2E,4E,8Z,10Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide and dodeca-2E,4E,8Z, 10E-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide. These compounds showed insecticidal activity on P. xylostella by 96.7% at 100ppm. The liquid formulation controlled on cabbage effectively. The extract and compounds from A. sieboldii showed insecticidal activity against Nilaparvata lugens. As a naturally occurring pesticide, A. sieboldii could be useful as a new botanic insecticide.

Neurotrophic factors are essential to maintain and organize neurons functionally; thereby neurotrophic factor-like substances or their inducers are expected to be applied to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke. In the present study, we firstly examined the effects of ethanol extracts of Hericium erinaceus (HE, Yamabushitake), on nerve growth factor expression in neuronal cells. HE extract promoted NGF expression in a brain tissue. Here we assessed neuroprotective effects of HE with a transient global cerebral ischemia model. Global cerebral ischemia was induced by occluding both common carotid arteries. Treatment with HE was initiated after ischemia induction and given once a day for 7 consecutive days. Neuronal cell loss in CA1 of hippocampus was significantly decreased and the performance in the Morris water maze was significantly improved in rats administered HE. We conclude that treatment with HE attenuated learning and memory deficits, motor functional disability, and neuronal cell loss induced by global cerebral ischemia. These results suggest that HE may be a potential candidate for the treatment of vascular dementia.

Recently, farmers of mushroom farms in Korea express the difficulty of shiitake cultivation due to the damage of oak log beds by unknown reason. To elucidate the cause of the damage, we investigated and isolated fungi from inside wood chip of the damaged shiitake log bed. Four of green fungi were obtained and their morphology and molecular properties examined. Trichoderma atroviride, Trichoderma citrinoviride, Hypocrea lixii (Trichoderma harzianum), and Hypocrea lutea (Gliocladiumviride) were identified. Hypocarea lutea is newly described in Korea. These species were able to produce extracellular enzymes such as cellulase, pectinase, and xylanse that might degrade wood components of oak logs. This study provides strong evidence that Trichoderma fungi are involved in the recent damages of shiitake log beds In Korea.