Hanon Crater is the largest crater with a diameter of more than 1km and the only maar type crater in the Korean Peninsula. It is like a ‘time capsule of the Earth’s environment’, preserving the invaluable scientific information that reveals the process of the Earth’s climatic and ecological environmental changes over the past 5 million years. However, the value of the crater has been unattended and the crater itself has been damaged and neglected. About 550 years ago, as people tore down the wall of the crater to use the crater as farmland, the crater lake disappeared. In recent years, damage has been done to the crater under the threat of development without thought for the environment. This study verifies the climate and environmental value of Hanon Crater and the value of the maar lake sedimentary layers of the crater as a key national asset and the necessity of its reatoration as presented in the recommendations of the 2012 WCC and provides supportable reasons for making the restoration project as a national one in conjunction with IUCN and the international community. In particular, this study, in which the Commission on Ecosystem Management of IUCN also participated, suggests the objectives, strategies and alternatives in restoring the crater wall, lake, and vegetation based on Ecological Restoration for Protected Areas: Principles, Guidelines and Best Practices (Keenleyside et al., 2012) and ways to utilize the cater as a national resource after the restoration such as establishing a center for studying ancient organisms and climate and setting up a maar museum.”

Background : Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) is a precious herb plant belonging to Araliaceae family especially in Asia and it has been cultivated more than a thousand years as a traditional medicine. Due to their pharmacological efficacy, old ginseng plants are traded high price, however, there are no crucial criteria to determine the ginseng age. To prevent illegal transactions, we assessed the telomere of ginseng roots based on modifications of the assays reported previously. Methods and Results : It is known that telomere length of ginseng root is shorter upon organismal aging. In this study, to support the determination of ginseng age, we modified and investigated methods through telomere analysis. Firstly, we examined the southern blot analysis whether telomere length depends on ginseng age. Based on previous study, we measured telomerase activity that is correlate with age. Furthermore, telomeric DNA was quantified by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to corroborate telomere shortening. The older ginseng root was shown short telomere length to compare with younger ginseng roots. Also enzyme activity of telomerase and amount of telomeric DNA represented decrease patterns upon age. Conclusion : Taken together, it is help to determine the age of ginseng through various methods using telomere because the results shown to positive correlation between telomeric characteristics and age for ginseng.

Background : The P. ginseng breeding line G07006, was selected for salt tolerance through salinity screening of mature leaves at the NIHHS of the RDA in 2014-2016. However, it is difficult to maintain a genetically stable breeding line of cross-pollinating crop in the field. Therefore molecular marker required to identify and maintain breeding line G07006. Methods and Results : DNA was extracted following the CTAB DNA extraction protocol (Doyle and Doyle, 1987) with modifications. A pair-end (PE) library was constructed and sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq platform by Lab Genomics, Inc. (Seongnam, Korea). Approximately 4.0 Gb of sequencing data were obtained, and de novo assembled by a CLC genome assembler(v. beta 4.6, CLC Inc., Rarhus, Denmark). The complete chloroplast(CP) genome size is 156,356 bp, including two inverted repeats (IRs) of 52,060 bp, separated by the large single-copy (LSC 86,174 bp) and small single-copy (SSC 18,122 bp) regions. This CP genome encodes 114 unigenes (80 protein-coding genes, four rRNA genes, and 30 tRNA genes), in which 18 are duplicated in the IR regions. Conclusion : This complete chloroplast DNA sequence will provide conducive to discriminate line G070006 (salt-tolerant) and further enhancing genetic improvement program of this important medical plant.