More than 300 Miscanthus accessions as a potential bioenergy crop were collected in Korea and their morphological traits were investigated at various growth stages. Among morphological traits, stem growth habit, the presence of awn in spikelet, and autumn new shoot are the most important key traits enabling to cluster Miscanthus accessions into M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus groups. Miscanthus sinensis has bunch stem growth habit and awn in spikelet, and produces autumn new shoot, while M. sacchariflorus has scattering stem growth habit with no awn in spikelet and does not produce autumn new shoot. Interestingly, we found several Miscanthus accessions showing intermediate morphological traits. 7 M. sinensis accessions showed morphological traits similar to M. sacchariflorus and 17 M. sacchariflorus accessions showed morphological traits similar to M. sinensis. Flow cytometry and chromosome counting finally revealed 5 Miscanthus hybrids, suggesting that they are resulted from natural hybridization between M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus. Therefore, these Miscanthus hybrids can be used to understand genetic recombination between these two Miscanthus species and our understanding may support future efforts for breeding new Miscanthus variety with high biomass productivity and environmental adaptability.

The objective of the study was to identify 52 Asian pear accessions, two primary pear species, and one reference pear Asian pear with 12 microsatellite markers to maintain pear germplasm collection. The number of alleles of 12 microsatellites detected ranged from eight at CH03d12 to 18 at CH01f07. Gene diversity ranged from 0.7053 at CH01d08 to 0.9224 at CH01f07. The lowest value of PIC was 0.6600 at CH01d08 and the highest was 0.9171 at CH01f07. A group consisting of ‘Ooharabeni,’ ‘Bartlett,’ and P. calleryana was out-grouped and served as a reference to determine the relationship among Asian pear accessions. Except for the out-group, 50 Asian pears were segregated into two groups. Group I was divided in two small groups. Each small group was characterized by P. bretschneideri and P. ussuriensis, respectively. Group II was characterized as P. pyrifolia, and the group was divided in four small groups. The eigenvalue, difference, proportion, and cumulative of six principal components based on PCA to 12 microsatellite. The eigenvalue of the first principal components was 5.5850. The proportion of the first principal component was 0.9308. The cumulative value of the first two principal components was 0.9801. Consequently, nearly all of the results were elucidated by the two principal components. The results from analysis of the standard set of microsatellites in this study may be used as basic materials for the management of Asian pear germplasm collections, and the data might be useful in the development of a core collection.

One of the best solutions for the deficiency of clean water, especially for developing countries, is rainwater disinfection. In the past decades a lot of studies have been made to develop photocatalytic processes using TiO2 determining the performance on their surface oriented photocatalysis. However, most of these researches failed to consider the economical aspect as well as the effectiveness on the disinfection to antibiotic resistance genes. On the other hand, due to the issues of climate change and increased impermeable layer in urban area, flooding prevention is the best solution in water management systems. To remedy these two problems, a roof-harvested rainwater storage system was designed. In addition, a breakthrough technique using a solar simulator with self-rotating TiO2 nanotubes, to apply a photocatalytic system in disinfecting storage rainwater harvested from roof, was established. Roof-harvested storage rainwater was analysed for TN, TP, SS and COD. Aside from these parameters, Escherichia coli (with multidrug resistant pB10 plasmid) was added to the sample. Samples were injected to the self-rotating TiO2 nanotube reactor system with exposure time of 0 to 360 min and 7 different setups. Results show that the developed system has increased disinfection properties compared to negative samples, though the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

May-Thurner syndrome is caused by blockade of local venous flow due to local vascular intimal proliferation, caused by repeated pulsatile compression of the iliac or iliofemoral vein between the iliac artery and the lumbar spine. In this case, we confirmed May-Thurner syndrome using lower extremity computed tomographic angiography and venography. However, on venography, it was impossible to distinguish the left iliac vein from the collateral vein; a thrombus was also seen, although some of the thrombus was not seen clearly. These problems were overcome with use of intravascular ultrasound. We report on intravascular ultrasound guided treatment of May-Thurner syndrome.

May-Thurner syndrome is associated with deep vein thrombosis resulting from chronic compression of the iliac vein against the lumbar vertebrae caused by the overlying common iliac artery. Stent insertion into the compressed lesion is used in treatment of May-Thurner syndrome. Various complications can occur during angioplasty while using a stent. Among these complications, shrinkage of the vein below the stent, a rare complication, was observed in our hospital during treatment of a patient with May-Thurner syndrome. Different complications can occur when venous angioplasty is performed, unlike that when arterial angioplasty is performed.

Rice genetic resources are composed of various species and ecotypes, and each accession reveals different genetic and phenotypic characters. For the managenment of diverse rice genetic resources, seed integrity is important factor in that the individuals of one accession in self-pollinating crop might be homogeneous. To elevate the management efficiency of rice germplasm contrary to the phenotypic distinction, we focused on applicable microsatellite markers because this markers are widly used for genetic evaluation in diverse genetic resources with a character of high reproducibility and polymorphism. In this regard, we selected microsatellite markers based on genotypes; diversity set including 150 accessions using 249 SSR markers. As SSR loci with high PIC(polymorphism information content) values usually revealed multi bands in one accession, proper genotyping were difficult in these loci. Therefor, we checked the band clarity in addition to PIC values and chose 12 and 6 SSR markers finally. All accessions of rice diversity set were distinguished with the first marker set comprising 12 SSR markers, and only 3 combinations of tested accessions(0.03%, 3/11,175) showed same genotype with second marker set comprising 6 SSR markers. The tested 142 Korean bred varieties revealed 0.19%(19/10,011 combinations) and 0.69%(69/10,011 combinations) genotypic identity using first and second marker set, respectively. These newly selected markers might be useful for the analysis of genetic homogeneity and relationship in rice genetic resources.

Compared to wide ranges of genetic variation of natural populations, very limited Miscanthus cultivar has been released. This study was the first report on the development of Miscanthus cultivar by means of radiation breeding. Seeds of M. sinensis were initially exposed to gamma rays of 250 Gy for 24 h, generated from a 60Co gamma-irradiator. The irradiated seeds were sown and then the highly tiller-producing mutants were selected for this study. Biomass-related parameters including tiller number, plant height, stem diameter, and leaf number were measured. Ploidy level and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) were investigated to characterize the mutants compared to wild type (WT) Miscanthus. Plant height and tiller number were negatively related, where multi-tillering mutants were relatively short after 4 month growth. However stem diameter and leaf number were greater in mutants. All the materials used in this study were diploid, implying that the mutants with greater tiller numbers and stem diameter were not likely related to polyploidization. Based on the sequence of ITS regions, the mutants demonstrated base changes from the gamma irradiation where G+C content (%) was decreased in the ITS1, but increased in ITS2 when compared to WT sequence. ITS2 region was more variable than in ITS1 in the mutants, which collectively allows identification of the mutants from WT. Those mutants having enhanced tillers and allelic variations might be used as breeding materials for enhanced biomass-producing Miscanthus cultivars.

Plant transformation systems have been developed using several different approaches, and the development of reliable and efficient transformation systems is still one of the most important breakthroughs in molecular biology and biotechnology of rice. However, there are many cultivars in rice and transformation efficiency is dependent on the cultivar. The conventional Agrobacterium-mediated rice transformation system using secondary calli requires 14-16 weeks for establishing transgenic plantlets, and it is thought that somaclonal variation through the Tos17 retrotransposon occurs during the tissue culture stage. Here, we modified an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system in rice cultivar Dongjin, adding an endosperm removal step that is critical to transformation frequency and changing the Agrobacterium strain and media composition. This method increased transformation efficiency and stability. These results will provide valuable information for scientists to use a reliable and efficient rice transformation system.

We examined the morphometric characteristics and fluctuating asymmetry of diploid and triploid marine medaka, Oryzias dancena. We used morphometric parameters the truss and classical dimensions. Significant differences in all the classical and truss dimensions of the diploid and triploid fish. All the dimensions of the triploid fish were greater than those of the diploid fish. The triploid marine medaka shows sexual dimorphism in these characters, and the sexual dimorphism of the triploid marine medaka is similar to that of the diploid marine medaka. Thus, the growth of triploid marine medaka is faster than that of the diploid fish, and it displays clear sexual dimorphism, with male fish having longer dorsal and anal fins than female fish. we examined fluctuating asymmetry of eye diameter, maxilla length, operculum length, number of pectoral fin ray and number of pelvic fin ray. In all experimental groups, Eye diameter and maxilla length showed no significant difference between left side and right side (P>0.05). Trends of operculum length in triploid male group and pectoral fin ray's number in diploid male group showed similar trend with trends of operculum length in triploid female group and pectoral fin ray’s number in diploid female group. However, trends of operculum length in diploid male group and pectoral fin ray's number in triploid male group showed opposite trend with trends of operculum length in diploid female group and pectoral fin ray’s number in triploid female group. Trend of pelvic fin ray's number in all groups showed similar trend with trend of pectoral fin ray’s number in all groups.

Soybean (Glycine max, 2n = 2x = 40) is broadly distributed throughout East and South East Asia, and important crop as a source of protein, oil, food and animal feed. In order to better understand the morphological differentiation of soybean germplasm collected from China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, America, we analyzed the morphological variabilities among 629 soybeans with 11 morphological traits, such as growth type, leaflet, flower color, trichome, seed coat color, color inside seed etc. and measured the fatty acid composition. The result of the principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) based on the 11 morphological traits revealed diversity among all accessions. The PCoA separated the accessions into two main groups, each group with distinctive features. Among tested germplasm, the contents of five fatty acids were as follows: linolenic acid (2.8%－16.23%), linoleic acid (27.4%－56.6%), oleic acid (9.2%－35.0%), stearic acid (2.9%－8.8%), and palmitic acid (8.7%－17.1%). The fatty acid composition has not shown significant variation among all accessions. IT 22268 was the highest linolenic acid composition (16.2%), while IT 154687 was the lowest (2.8%). Forty three of 629 accessions showed the arachidic acid (0.5%-3.6%), which is the saturated fatty acid with a 20 carbon chain and is as a minor constituent of peanut oil (1.1%-1.7%). This result of this characterization served as reliable resources for detailed description and new functional plant breeding of soybean varieties.

During the last decade, considerable progress has been made to understand the molecular mechanisms of M. grisea infection in rice plants and 10 rice blast R genes have been identified and characterized via map-based cloning methods. In case of rice germplasm, the genetic backgrounds of each germplasm accessions are not uniform and the evaluation for pathogenicity is difficult. To solve these problems, we applied the single resistance gene markers to rice germplasm accessions. A molecular survey was conducted to identify the presence of major blast resistance (R) gene in 363 accessions of Korea landrace rice germplasm. The results revealed that the resistance gene Pik-p (100%), Pib (98%), Pi-d(t)2 (98%) and Piz (76%) were widely observed in tested rice germplasm, but Pita-2, Pik and Pi39 gene were identified in less than 10 accessions. Most of landrace contain the four or five different resistant genes, but these results was not consist of field nursery screening. 13 accessions were shown the blast resistance in field nursery screening and Pik-p, Pib, Pi-d(t)2 and Piz genes were observed in these accessions. The evaluation results of blast resistance genes in rice germplasm will help in breeding of multi disease resistant varieties.

The bulb storability of eight red and ten yellow onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars grown primarily in Korea was evaluated. During storage, sprouting occurred earlier in red cultivars than in yellow cultivars. In addition, the ratio of sprouted to unsprouted bulbs increased more rapidly in red cultivars than in yellow cultivars. However, not all yellow cultivars had strong storabilities. Bulb storability of three yellow cultivars was as poor as that of red cultivars, suggesting only a slight possibility of a pleiotropic effect of color and bulb storability. Meanwhile, F3 lines of a red cultivar selected based on stronger storabilities showed intermediate storabilities between those of the red and yellow cultivars, implying that strong storability could be obtained by successive selection. In contrast, F1 hybrids from crosses between yellow and red breeding lines showed poor storability compared with the yellow cultivars, indicating that poor storability may be dominant over strong storability. The relationships between color and other traits that potentially affect storability, such as fresh and dry weight, water content, and firmness of bulbs, were evaluated. No significant differences in these traits were observed between the two colors, although the water content of yellow cultivars and the dry weight of red cultivars were slightly higher than their counterparts. Correlation analyses between bulb storability and other traits, including weight, water content, and firmness, also showed no significant correlations. In this study, no correlations were identified between bulb color, storability, and other traits. However, based on these results, red cultivars with stronger storabilities could be developed through successive selection of bulbs with stronger storabilities.

A phosphate starvation-induced acid phosphatase cDNA was cloned from the rice, Oryza sativa. The cDNA encoding O. sativa acid phosphatase (OsACP1) has 1100 bp with an open reading frame of 274 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of OsACP1 cDNA showed 53% identity to tomato acid phosphatase and 46-50% identity to several other plant phosphatases. OsACP1 expression was up-regulated in the rice plant and in cell culture in the absence of phosphate (Pi). The induced expression of OsACP1 was a specific response to Pi starvation, and was not affected by the deprivation of other nutrients. OsACP1 expression was responsive to the level of Pi supply, with transcripts of OsACP1 being abundant in Pi-deprived root. The OsACP1 cDNA was expressed as a 30 kDa polypeptide in baculovirus-infected insect Sf9 cells. In addition, the OsACP1 gene was introduced into Arabidopsis via Agrobacterium mediated transformation. Functional expression of the OsACP1 gene in the transgenic Arabidopsis lines was confirmed by Northern blot and Western blot analyses, as well as phosphatase activity assays. These results suggest that the OsACP1 gene can be used to develop new transgenic dicotyledonous plants able to adapt to Pi-deficient conditions.