This study was carried out to investigate insect community structure from different habitats in Baengnyeong island.We performed day and night collection at two different habitats (mountain, rural area) of Baengnyeong island from Mayto September in 2015. A total of 2,879 individuals of 404 species, 81 families belonging to 10 orders were collectedand identified. A dominant species was Idisia ornata Pascoe (Tenebrionidae) despite a very low percentage (6.04%) ofthe species among the catches. Results of independent t-test showed a significant high (p<0.001) of species richness onmountain. Also, seasonal results of ANOVA (Analysis of variance) were significantly influential with species abundanceand species richness. The result of NMDS analysis showed that the community structure of the insects from the mountainis different with rural area.

Although Agaricus bisporus mushroom is a popular mushroom consumed world-widely, the application of common bio-elements to verify its geographical origin remains highly limited. Therefore, this study aimed to verify whether the six cultivation regions in Korea of A. bisporus could be determined by the stable isotope composition analysis of bio-elements, which are unique and abundant in most living creatures. δ13C, δ15N, δ18O, and δ34S in A. bisporus were influenced by the region, cultivar, and the interactions between these two factors (P < 0.05). In particular, the effect of cultivation region was more significant to the isotope ratio profiles as compared to the mushroom cultivar effect. During the cultivation period of A. bisporus, the C, N, O, and S isotopic fractionation was observed between the mushroom and cultivation medium, note higher in the mushroom (P < 0.05). Two dimensional plot of δ15N, δ18O, or δ34S effectively distinguished the cultivation regions, Nonsan, Buyeo, Boryung, Daegu, and/or Gyeongju examined in this study. Further, these isotope ratio profiles measured in this study would be statistically analyzed with various chemometrics to provide isotope markers for the authenticity of geographical origin. Our preliminary case study improves our understanding of how the isotope composition of A. bisporus varies with respect to cultivation regions and cultivars. In conclusion, the analysis of stable isotope ratios is a suitable potential tool for discrimination between the cultivation origins of A. bisporus collected from Korea, with potential application to other countries after certain validation steps required.

As the hangover relieving drink market has been expanded, there have been efforts to produce traditional drinks that can be easily taken through reducing material costs after finding materials with high alcohol-degrading activity from agricultural products and manufacturing drinks in a way to produce sikhye. Studies were made to know quality, the ability to relieve hangover and preference of drinks for which seven kinds of agricultural products, including shiitake mushrooms, were added in the forms of fresh juice, extracts and powder. Farm products showed the highest acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) when they were added in the form of powder before saccharification and shiitake mushrooms showed the highest enzyme activity when they were added in the form of powder. When added in the form of powder, people showed the lowest preference except when radish and hericium erinaceum were added. When bear puree was added to a mixture of powdered shiitake mushrooms, radish, bean sprouts and dadagi cucumber, enzyme activity got higher and people showed higher preference. An experiment of animal behaviors showed that the mixture had a high ability to relieve hangover in one or two hours after 10% or 40% alcohol was orally administered to mice due to long traveling distance of mice.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (AtMT) has been widely used for generation of fungal transformants and recently applied to Beauveria bassiana. In this study to comprehend how the AtMT promoter influences on the expression of selection marker (hygromycin B resistance gene; hph), two different Ti-Plasmids were constructed: pCeg (gpdA promoter-based) and pCambia-egfp (CaMV 35S promoter-based). Putative transformants were subjected to the PCR, RT-PCR and qRT-PCR to inspect the T-DNA insertion rate and gene expression level. In conclusion, more than 80% of the colonies succeeded in AtMT transformation and the hph expression level of AtMT/pCeg colonies was higher than that of AtMT/pCambia-egfp colonies. This result can provide useful information on the AtMT of B. bassiana, especially antibiotics susceptibility and promoter-dependant expression level.

We report the use of carrot, a new and inexpensive biomaterial source, for preparing high quality carbon dots (CDs) instead of semi-conductive quantum dots for bioimaging application. The as-derived CDs possessing down and up-conversion photoluminescence features were obtained from carrot juice by commonly used hydrothermal treatment. The corresponding physiochemical and optical properties were investigated by electron microscopy, fluorescent spectrometry, and other spectroscopic methods. The surfaces of obtained CDs were highly covered with hydroxyl groups and nitrogen groups without further modification. The quantum yield of as-obtained CDs was as high as 5.16%. The cell viability of HaCaT cells against a purified CD aqueous solution was higher than 85% even at higher concentration (700 μg mL−1) after 24 h incubation. Finally, CD cultured cells exhibited distinguished blue, green, and red colors, respectively, during in vitro imaging when excited by three wavelength lasers under a confocal microscope. Offering excellent optical properties, biocompatibility, low cytotoxicity, and good cellular imaging capability, the carrot juice derived CDs are a promising candidate for biomedical applications.

고준위방사성폐기물 심층처분에서 처분안전성의 신뢰도를 향상시킬 수 있는 방안으로 그리고 처분 프로그램 개발 및 인허가를 위해 많은 나라들에서 자국에 적합한 safety case를 개발하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 방사성폐기물 처분을 위한 safety case 의 의의, 필요성, 개발과정들을 정리하고 소개하였다. 그리고 처분안전성을 safety case의 다양한 측면에서 논의하였다. 아울러 스위스, 일본, 미국, 스웨덴, 핀란드 등 해외의 safety case 개발 현황과 현재 KAERI에서 개발 중인 safety case의 개발 전략을 간략히 소개하였다. 고준위방사성폐기물 처분안전성의 신뢰도 향상을 위해 safety case 기반 하에서 어떤 노력들이 필요한지를 분석하였다. 그리고 국내 상황을 반영하여 신뢰할 수 있는 정보자료의 구축, 안전성 관련 과정들의 이해, 안전성 평가의 불확실성 저감, 이해당사자와의 의사소통, 공정성과 투명성 확보 등의 실행 방안을 제안하고 논의하였다. 본 논문에 제시된 내용들은 심층처분 safety case를 이해하고, 국내에서 개발하고 있는 고준위방사성폐기물 처분 safety case 개발을 통한 처분안전성 신뢰도 향상에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.

본 연구는 퇴비에 함유된 영양소 및 중금속 함량을 파악하고 상추 재배시 퇴비의 적정 시용 비율을 알아보고자 수행되었다. 실험을 위해 두가지 퇴비를 이용하였다. 첫 번째 퇴비는 미완숙 퇴비(CA)이며 두 번째 퇴비는 시중에서 판매되고 있는 완숙 퇴비(CB)이다. 각각의 퇴비는 인공토양을 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%로 혼합하여 사용하였다. 50%와 75%의 비율로 혼합한 CA의 pH는 각각 5.39, 5.50으로 측정되었으며 약 산성으로 나타났다. CA 및 CB를 75% 비율로 혼합할 경우, 총 탄소 함량은 각각 14.5%와 6.5%로 다른 비율의 퇴비에 비해 높았고 대조구에 비해 총 질소와 인 농도가 유의하게 증가하였다. 총 탄소함량은 CA퇴비를 인공토양에 75% 혼합한 실험구에서 가장 높게 나타났다. CA는 CB와 비교하여 퇴비화율, 질소, 인의 농도가 크게 증가하였다. CB 75% 혼합한 실험구에서 구리(128 mg kg-1), 아연(260 mg kg-1), 납(0.32 mg kg-1), 카드뮴(0.48 mg kg-1) 의 함량은 다른 혼합구에 비해 가장 많은 증가하였다. 특히 비소는 CA퇴비를 25% 혼합한 실험구와 CB퇴비를 75%, 50% 혼합한 실험구에서 가장 높았다(6.69 and 6.28 mg kg-1). CA실험구 중에서 상대적으로 낮은 염분 및 중금속 함량을 함유한 CA 25% 혼합한 실험구는 상추의 성장속도 및 엽면적 등이 CB에 비해 낮게 측정되어 최적의 성장조건은 아닌 것으로 사료된다. 따라서, CA를 사용하여 상추재배에 이용할 경우, 더 낮은 농도의 CA를 이용하는 것이 적당할 것으로 판단된다.

This study investigated the antidiabetic effect of amaranth grain ethanol extract (AEE) in a diabetic animal model, db/db mouse. The mice were divided into 4 groups: normal control mice (C57BL/6J), diabetic mice (C57BL/6J db/db), diabetic mice fed a lower concentration of AEE (0.3 mg/kg), and diabetic mice fed a higher concentration of AEE (0.5 mg/kg). After 10 weeks of treatment, body weights, blood insulin levels and blood glucose levels of each group were compared. At the end of treatment, the results showed that both AEE supplemented groups had lower body weights than those in the diabetic groups although higher than those in the normal groups. Moreover, in both AEE supplemented groups, serum insulin levels were higher and blood glucose levels were lower than those in the diabetic groups although both values were higher than those in the normal groups. The results of this study suggest that AEE can alleviate many of the common symptoms of diabetes in diabetic mice and, therefore, has potential as a therapeutic supplement for normalization of blood glucose and insulin levels in humans.

Mitotic spindle formation is regulated by centrosomes, composed of a centriole pair surrounded by pericentriolar materials(PCM) proteins. However, mammalian oocytes rely on acentriolar MTOCs for the function of meiotic spindle. The composition of acentriolar MTOCs and the molecular precesses that regulate the localization and accumulation in mammalian oocyte are not well understood. In this study, we analyzed the mechanisms of spindle microtubule nucleation and stability from MTOCs in mouse oocyte, and indentified Centrosomal protein192(CEP192) as a key regulator for acentriolar MTOC formation. CEP192 specifically colocalized with pericentrin (PCNT) during the oocyte maturaion. CEP192 proteins are localized throughout cytoplasm and around nucleus at GV stage, and then after BD stage, CEP192 proteins were further fragmented into smaller MTOCs around chromosomes. At metaphase, CEP192 proteins were concentrated in spindle pole. Knockdown of CEP192 using siRNAs resulted in metaphase I arrest. The arrested oocytes were characterized by reduced microtubule intensity and misalignment chromosome. Also at BD and ProMI stage, the oocytes reduced microtubule density and PCNT intensity. To confirm the mechanism of CEP192 regulation, we confirmed that PLK1 and AuroraA kinase were involved in CEP192 activation. The investigations for detailed molecular mechanisms of CEP192 and RanGTP for microtubule nucleation in oocytes are underway using various techniques including siRNA, mRNA, and positive or negative dominant injection and inhibitors.

Maturation-promoting factor (MPF) is well-known as cell cycle regulator during oocyte maturation and fertilization. MPF activity maintains high levels and arrest the cell cycle progression until fertilization. After fertilization, Anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) mediated degradation of cyclin B causes decrease of MPF activity. One of the cytostatic factor (CSF), Emi2 inhibits APC/C activity by binding to APC/C-cdc20, therefore blocks the proteolysis of cyclin B. Degradation of Emi2 requires phosphorylation by Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1). Thus recognition and phosphorylation of Emi2 by Plk1 are essential step for meiotic cell cycle resumption. In our previous research, we found that two phosphorylated threonine regions at amino acid position 152 and 176 in Emi2 are respectively contributed for recognition by polo-box domain of Plk1. Peptidomimetics 103-8 can block the interaction between Plk1-PBD and Emi2, and therefore meiotic maturation and meiosis resumption via parthenogenetic activation were impaired. However, major drawback of 103-8 was the limitation of penetration through the cell membrane. We synthesized the new peptidomimetics and checked bioavailability in mammalian oocyte by injection and media treatment. Medium treatment with peptidomimetics C-4, meiotic maturation has significantly decreased and meiotic resumption via parthenogenetic activation has perfectly impaired. For the next experiment, we are preparing X-ray crystallography to identify the binding modes between Plk1-PBD and peptidomimetics C-4.