Schizonepeta spike (Korean name "Hyung-Gae") has been used for oriental medicinal purposes in Korea, China and Japan. In this study, twenty six "Hyung-Gae" samples were collected including nine certified Schizonepeta tenuifolia plants, and seventeen commercially marketed "Hyung-Gae" products. Chloroplast trnL-F and rDNA ITS regions of the "Hyung-Gae" samples were sequenced and used to identify whether the samples were genuine S. tenuifolia or not. As the result, the trnL-F and ITS sequences of all the "Hyung-Gae" samples were shown to be identical and it was proven that commercially available medicinal products "Hyung-Gae" are genuine S. tenuifolia. Phylogenetic tree of S. tenuifolia using the trnL-F sequences was constructed and compared with phylogenetic tree using ITS of rDNA region sequences. In these tree, S. tenuifolia was affiliated in the family Lamiaceae. It is proven that trnL-F and ITS phylogenetic trees are useful to study taxonomic position of S. tenuifolia.

Ginsenosides have been regarded as the principal components, responsible for the pharmacological and biological activities of ginseng. Absorption of major ginsenosides at the gastrointestinal tract was extremely low, when ginseng taken orally. In order to improve the absorption and bioavailability, transformation of major ginsenosides into more active and valuable minor ginsenoside is much required. In this present study, We isolated a lactic acid bacteria Leuconostoc fallax LH3 from the Korean fermented food Kimchi, which have higher β-glucosidase activity. Using the ethanol precipitated curd enzyme of Leuconostoc fallax LH3, we investigated the biotransformation of ginsenoside Rd at different experimental condition to increase transformation. The maximum convertion was supported at 30 ℃ and decreased when temperatures increased. In order to optimize the effect of pH, the curd enzyme was mixed 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 3.5 to pH 8.0). Ginsenoside Rd was almost hydrolyzed between pH 7.0 and pH 9.0, but not hydrolyzed above pH 10.0. Ginsenoside Rd was hydrolyzed after 24 hrs incubation, but whereas the ginsenoside F2 was appeared from 36 hrs, and all ginsenoside Rd was transformed to F2 after the 60 hrs incubation. Based on this study, the curd enzyme of Leuconostoc fallax LH3 transformed the ginsenoside Rd at the 30℃ and the pH optimum of 7.0 to 9.0 after the 60 hrs incubation time.

지모 (Anemarrhena asphodeloides)는 탁월한 해열작용과 진정작용을 갖는 한약재로 한국, 중국, 일본에서 널리 이용되어 왔다. 본 연구에서는 먼저 국내 연구소에서 형태학적 분류 결과 지모로 확인된 3종의 식물체를 수집하여 엽록체 DNA의 trnL-F 염기서열을 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 국내 연구기관에서 보관중인 지모 식물체들이 모두 동일한 trnL-F의 염기서열을 보여서, 형태학적 분류와 계통유전학적 분류가 동일함을 확인하였다. 최초로 얻어진 지모 trnL-F 염기서열은 NCBI database에 등록하였다. 다음으로 국내 한약재 시장과 중국 한약재 시장에서 유통 중인 지모 한약재를 다량 구입하여 trnL-F의 염기서열을 분석하였다. 그 결과, 유통 중인 지모 한약재들이 모두 기원식물과 동일한 TrnL-F의 염기서열을 보여서 지모 약재의 경우 진품이 유통되고 있음을 알 수 있었다. TrnL-F의 염기서열로 계통수를 작성한 결과 지모는 아스파라거스목 (Asparagales), 용설란과 (agavaceae)에 속한 것으로 보여 졌다. 엽록체 rbcL 유전자 염기서열로 얻은 계통수와 비교한 결과 trnL-F 계통수와 rbcL 계통수가 비슷한 결과를 보여주어서 분자유전학적 분류에 두 유전자가 상호보완적으로 이용될 수 있음을 확인하였다.