Background : Bokbonja the Korean black raspberry (Rubus coreanus Miquel) fruit derived product, which is native to Korea. They contain potential anti-aging, anti-oxidants, depurative activities. Bokbonja refers to an immature berry of Rubus coreanus in the Korean pharmacopeia, Rubus chingii in Chinese pharmacopeia. Recently several Rubus species are available in the Korean drug markets which could easily find their way into drug prescriptions. Methods and Results : Hence we tried to detect the presence of these contaminating species in bokbonja products using SNP marker assisted by multi-plex PCR. We found a SNP region in the 26S region of these species and evaluated their potential to discriminate Rubus species. We designed a set of primer pairs such as, BokR primer has distinguished R.coreanus by producing a band at 852 bp and the primer sanF has differentiated R. crataegifolius by amplifying a band at 129 bp, while chiF has produced a band at 83 bp to distinguish R.chingii. These primer pairs effectively distinguished the bokbonja samples collected from various local markets as well as form drug store in Korea as well. The results were shocking as the bokbonja (R.coreanus) has a limited usage in Korea and either R. crataegifolius or R.chingii has been found in these samples. Taken together the primer pairs bokR, sanF, chiF along with 26S universal primers could effectively distinguish Rubus species in a single multiplex PCR reaction. Conclusion : Our results based on the 26S rDNA derived SNP region have shown that, the usage of R. coreanus is extremely limited and its often mistaken or adulterated with R. crataegifolius and R. chingii. It presses a panic situation in Korean peninsula to preserve bokbonja and the species R.coreanus which is endemic and superior in efficacy.

Background : Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is a multipurpose small tree with unique berries of high nutritional and pharmaceutical values has wide spread distribution from Eurasia to South east Asia. In recent times the medicinal benefits of vitamin tree are inclining, hence, efforts were taken to propagate them in vitro to exploit their medicinal property. Methods and Results : The tissue culture potential of them was investigated for the ability to induce shoot organogenesis in leaf explant, and induction of direct somatic embryogenesis from leaf tissue. Moreover, we also determined the effective induction medium for callus and somatic embryo production from H. rhamnoides. To induce the callus form leaf tissue, several phytohormone combinations such as α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 6-benzyladenine (BA), 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 6-benzyladenine (BA), and Kinetin (K) were tried with the Murashige and Skoog (MS) as well as woody plant medium (WPM). In MS basal medium, the combination of 2,4-D and K showed the best callus induction rate of 71%, whereas in WPM basal medium the combination of NAA and BA showed the best callus induction rate of 91%. The adventitious root induction form callus was also attempted by using MS and B5 medium with the phytohormone combinations of IBA 1 – 5 g/ℓ. In MS medium, root was induced only at 4 g/ℓ of IBA and 64%, 51% and 55% root induction results were obtained at 3 g/ℓ, 4 g/ℓ and 5 g/ℓ in B5 basal medium, respectively. The somatic embryos were induced only in half strength MS with the triple phytohormone ratio of 2:1:2 of NAA, BA, and K. Conclusion : The in vitro propagation of sea buckthorn was successfully employed by generating callus, adventitious roots as well as the induction of somatic embryos form the leaf tissues derived callus. Our results provided a valuable addition to the utilization of H. rhamnoides thus enabling their propagation.

Background : Ginseng root rot is a devastating disease caused by the fungus, Ilyonectria mors-panacis that generally attacks younger roots (-2 years), leading to defects in root quality, ginsenoside accumulation and also life cycle of the plant. Hence, there is an indispensable need to develop strategies resulting in tolerance against ginseng root rot. The protective role of silicon during pathogen infestation is well documented in other plant systems and a previous study demonstrated that silica nanoparticles are absorbed and accumulated more than the bulk silica in maize. However, the role of silica in ginseng-root rot pathosystem is unknown. Methods and Results : In the present study, we evaluated the effect of silica nanoparticles (N-SiO2) in Panax ginseng during I. mors-panacis infection. Long term analysis (30 dpi) revealed a striking 50% reduction in disease severity index upon 1 mM and 2 mM treatment of N-SiO2. However, N-SiO2 did not have any direct antifungal activity against I. mors-panacis. Candidate genes and metabolites based approach revealed jasmonic acid (JA) mediated sterol accumulation and incresed ginsenside biosyntesis as the key transcriptional reprogramming events orchestrated by N-SiO2 during the fungal infection. Conclusion : In a nut shell, N-SiO2 administration induces transcriptional reprogramming in ginseng roots, leading to increased phytosterol and ginsenosides synthesis resulting in enhanced tolerance against I. mors-panacis.