One of the key challenges for the commercialization of carbon nanotube fibers (CNTFs) is their large-scale economic production. Among CNTF spinning methods, surfactant-based wet spinning is one of the promising techniques for mass producing CNTFs. Here, we investigated how the coagulation bath composition affects the spinnability and the properties of CNTFs in surfactant-based wet spinning. We used acetone, DMAc, ethanol, and IPA as coagulants and analyzed the relationship between coagulation bath composition and the properties of CNTFs in terms of kinetic and thermodynamic coagulation parameters. From a kinetic perspective, we found that a low mass transfer rate difference (MTRD) is favorable for wet spinning. Based on this finding, we mixed the coagulant bath with solvent in a proper ratio to reduce the MTRD, which generally improved the wet spinning. We also showed that the coagulation strength, a thermodynamic parameter, should be considered. We believe that our research can contribute to establishment of surfactant-based wet spinning of CNTFs.

Recent research on stem cell conditioned medium (CM) has been revealed that CM could influence on the embryo development when supplemented to in vitro culture medium. However, the optimal basal medium for CM production has not determined although it is the fundamental factor of CM. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of human derived adipose stem cell CM (hASC-CM) with different basal medium on mice embryo development after parthenogenetic activation (PA). hASC-CM was collected from 2 kinds of serum free basal medium, DMEM and KSFM, respectively on day 5 from the culture of hASC isolated from human fat tissue. Intra-peritoneal injection of PMSG and hCG was conducted into 7-week-old ICR mice for superovulation. The oocytes were recovered from the oviductal ampulla, 18 h after hCG injection, and denuded using 0.1% hyaluronidase. PA of oocytes was conducted with KSOM media including strontium chloride. The parthenotes were in vitro cultured in 3 groups: 100% KSOM (Control), 75% KSOM + 25% DMEM or KSFM without FBS (DMEM or KSFM group) and 75% KSOM + 25% hASC-CM from DMEM or KSFM (DMEM-CM or KSFM-CM group). Cleavage rate was assessed after 2 days post IVC and blastocyst formation rate was evaluated after 6 days post IVC both using stereomicroscope. Total cell number of blastocysts was counted by Hoechst staining. 1way ANOVA from Graphpad prism 5 was used for statistical analysis and the values are presented as means ± standard error of mean. As a result, blastocyst formation rate of DMEM-CM group (16.09±3.32%, P<0.05) was significantly lower than control and DMEM group (34.43±2.89% and 34.49±5.34%, P<0.05) but cleavage rate and total cell number of blastocysts showed no significant difference among groups. In case of KSFM, there was no significant difference in cleavage rate, blastocyst formation rate and total cell number of blastocysts among the control, KSFM group and KSFM-CM group. The sort of basal medium used for the CM collection affected the development of parthenotes during in vitro culture differently. Therefore, further research should be conducted to find out the alternative basal medium of CM able to improve the embryo development. This research was supported by Nature Cell (#550-20170028), Cooperative Research Program of RDA (CCAR, #PJ013954022018), Research Institute for Veterinary Science and the BK21 plus program.

국내에서 재배하는 주요 핵과류(복숭아, 자두, 매실, 체리)에 발생하는 깍지벌레는 뽕나무깍지벌레(Pseudaulacaspis pentagona), 말채나무공깍지벌레(Lecanium corni), 무화과깍지벌레(Coccus hesperidum), 가루깍지벌레류(Pseudococcus sp.) 4종이 발견되었으나, 뽕나무깍지 벌레는 2017년에 총 113과원 중 103과원(발생과원율 91.2%), 2018년에는 77과원 중 64과원(발생과원율 83.1%) 모든 핵과류에서 가장 많이 발생하여 우점종으로 확인되었다. 2017년도에는 5월 상순부터 부화를 시작하여 암컷성충 1마리가 평균 75.5개(47∼159개)의 알을 낳으며 모든 알이 부화하는데 약 19일이 소요되었으며 5월 20일경에 월동성충의 모든 알이 부화하였다. 그러나, 2018년에는 4월 하순부터 부화를 시작하여 (부화율 72%) 부화유충(1령)으로 이동 후 5월 중순부터 고착유충(2~3령), 6월 중순부터 2세대 성충이 활동하기 시작하였다. 부화유충기(1령)에 약제 살포를 하면 살충율이 100.0%이었으나, 고착유충기(2~3령)에는 살충율은 2.7%에 불과하였다. 부화약충기를 제외한 모든 단계에서 몸체가 밀납깍지로 덮여 있어 약제를 살포하여도 직접 접촉되지 않아 치사율이 낮았다. 따라서 반드시 부화약충기에 약제를 살포하여야 방제효과를 높일 수 있다.

The tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura(Fabricius), is a major pest of tomato and frequently demands control measures. The timing of insecticide application is a key factor in determining its efficiency, so an experiment was designed to investigate this. Application of insecticide was based on three criteria: (i) the number of trap-caught moths in a Delta-type trap with a commercial sex pheromone lure placed in the center of the target area, soon after plant emergence; (ii) the percentage of plants exhibiting pinhole-type damage (10% or 20%) and (iii) the percentage of plants exhibiting shot hole-type damage (10% or 20%) compared to a check plot without any control measures. We found that the number of trap-caught moths was, compared to the other methods, the best means of deciding on insecticide application in tomato plant to control the tobacco cutworm. Using pheromone traps, we obtained the best performance of the insecticide Shinnago, causing > 90% larval mortality. Without insecticide application, tomato yield reduction due to the tobacco cutworm larva damage was 27%.

Whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) are major pests on greenhouse crops including sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in South Korea. To manage this pest complex effectively, it is fundamental to understand population dynamics and spatial distributions of the pests. In this study, we conducted visual counting and used yellow sticky traps to monitor whitefly and thrips populations in sweet pepper greenhouse (6 × 28 m). The survey was conducted every two weeks over two months. A total of 84 traps were set up at 20cm from the plant top canopy and spaced 1m apart from each other. Leaves were selected randomly from the middle plant canopy for visual counting at the same sampling locations. The trap data indicate that the numbers of whiteflies and thrips increased from 5.50 ± 0.34 to 168.51 ± 14.95 and from 52.40 ± 1.67 to 158.42 ± 7.44 (mean ± SE) per trap, respectively, over the two-month observation period. In general, the spatial distributions of these pests aggregated near the greenhouse entrance with significant positive correlation between the densities of the two species (r = 0.74, P = 0.02). However, the results of visual counting were completely different; either species was rarely found on leaves, even when the trap catches were relatively high at the same locations. That is, there was no correlation between visual counting and sticky trap data sets. The current study will serve as a fundamental step to develop reliable and effective management programs for greenhouse sweet pepper.

Bacillus thuringiensis (B. t.) strains are important microorganism because they produced a large amount of δ-endotoxin protein per bacterial cell and their toxins are highly toxic to Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Diptera depending on B. t. To date, more than a hundred Cry proteins have been identified and classified into 195 holotypes, based on the amino acid sequence identity. The Cry proteins or cry genes from the Korean native B. t. isolates in this study were not identified yet. The electrospray ionization of quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (ESI Q-TOF MS) was used to get the internal amino acid sequences of the endotoxin-spore culture mixtures of B. t. isolates, for which polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques were unable to detect the cognate genes. Most of Cry proteins seperated, excized, and extracted from the one dimensional - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (1D-PAGE), instead of 2D-PAGE, were matched with protein databases using MS-MASCOT search program. The internal amino acid sequences which were submitted to protein BLAST (basic local alignment search tool) had partially homology with the Cry protein databases. Hence, present data strongly suggest that the de novo amino acid sequencing and ESI Q-TOF/MS analysis along with MASCOT search could be used as a simple and rapid method for detection of novel Cry toxins from B. t. isolates and identification of B. t. isolates.

Background : Adenophora triphylla var. japonica (Regel) H. Hara shows vegetative growth by radical leaf until 1 year after sowing and shows reproductive growth during the second year and there is a characteristic of bolting by turning into cauline leaf. In addition, the phenotypes of plants varies even though they are belonging to the same species. For this reason, there is a limit for the classification of the species by the method of visual examination. Methods and Results : Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed based on the genomic sequence of A. triphylla using next generation sequencing to prepare the basis of molecular breeding and analyze the genetic diversity. Ninety-five primer sets including tri-, tetra- and penta-nucleotide motif types were randomly selected and they were applied to mixed genomic DNA and finally 39 primer sets showing from two to four bands were selected and used for genetic relationship analysis. Conclusions : Using the next generation sequencing, 39 polymorphic SSR markers were developed.

Background : There are about 30 species of Adenophora triphylla which grow wild in Korea. but they are very similar so that it is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. Therefore, it is separated by conformational differences such as leaf shape and flower size. However, these morphological distinction is not useful because even in the same type there are differences by a growth phase or the environment. It is difficult to identify and classify Adenophora triphylla because the phenotypes between plant individuals are diverse greatly even within the same type. For this reason, we will investigate the flowering characteristics of Adenophora triphylla and this information will be used as the basis for the breeding line. Methods and Results : We used the second year Adenophora triphylla in Herbal Crop Research Division, Department of Herbal Crop Research in Eumseong. We Investigated flowering characteristics from June 2015 to November 2015. The 34 individuals of 134 individuals were died by pests and diseases. Depending on the flowering and fruition characteristics were classified into 5 populations, except for the early and late maturing individuals. Conclusions : The flowering period of Adenophora triphylla is 1 month from mid-July to mid-August, and it takes 15 days from the flowering season to the 70% of flowering. It usually takes about 60 days from flowering to fruition, and the fruition is finished in mid-October.