Korean soybean variety Kwangan was transformed with ORE7 gene using highly efficient soybean transformation system. The gene is known to exhibit a delayed leaf senescence phenotype in Arabidopsis. To confirm phenotypic characterization of leaf senescence for non-transgenic (NT) and transgenic plants, we transplanted T1 transgenic lines 7, 9, 14 and 15 together with two negative controls (NT and EV) in greenhouse. As a result, line 15 showed dramatic phenotypic characterization of yield increase and senescence delay. In addition, to investigate the agriculture traits for transgenic plants with leaf senescence delaying, T2 transgenic lines and two negative controls were transplanted on GMO fields in Ochang and harvested T3 seeds (2010). Most transgenic lines showed higher total seed weigh than NT. Especially, total seed weight of line 15 was increased by about 180% and 120% compared with the NT and EV, respectively. Therefore, we carried out the second field experiments with T3 transgenic line 15 and NT in Ochang (2011). A total of 117 transgenic plants were divided into two groups, senescence delaying (64 out of 117 plants) and increased yield (53 out of 117 plants), by transcript level of ORE7 gene. Interestingly, among increased yield plants, total seed weight of each 7 plants were increased by more than 200% compared with NT.

Korean soybean variety Kwangan was transformed with coat protein (CP), helper component-proteinase (HC-Pro), and ABRE binding factor 3 (ABF3) genes using highly efficient soybean transformation system. Among these genes, CP and HC-Pro were transformed using RNAi technology. Transgenic plants with CP were confirmed for gene introduction and their expression using PCR, real-time PCR, RT-PCR, Southern blot, and Northern blot. To investigate the response of viral infection with CP, T1 plants were inoculated with SMV-infected leaves and confirmed the existence of mosaic symptom in both leaves and seeds. Two transgenic lines with CP were highly resistant to SMV with clear leaves and seeds while SMV-susceptible lines showed mosaic symptom with seed mottling. The transcript levels of T1 plants with CP were also determined by northern blot, suggesting that SMV-resistant T1 plants did not show viral RNA expression whereas SMV-susceptible T1 plants showed viral RNA expression. Currently, the response of viral infection with HC-Pro is investigating to produce SMV-resistant soybean transgenic plants, and the physiological experiment with ABF3 is also carrying out to produce drought-tolerant soybean transgenic plants.

Wild rice might have previously unidentified genes important for disease resistance and stress tolerance in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. A set of subtractive library was constructed both from leaves of wild rice plants, Oryza grandiglumis (CCDD, 2n=48), treated with fungal elicitor and from wounded leaves. A partial fragment that was homologous to PR10 genes from other plant species was identified via suppression subtractive hybridization and cDNA macroarray. The obtained full-length cDNA sequence (OgPR10) contains an open reading frame of 480 bp nucleotide, encoding 160 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 16.944 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 4.91. The multiple alignment analyses showed the higher sequence homology of OgPR10 with PR10 genes identified in rice plants at amino acid level. The OgPR10 mRNA was not expressed by treatment with wounding, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid, but markedly expressed in leaves treated with protein phosphatase inhibitors cantharidin and endothall, and yeast extract. In addition, the expression of OgPR10 mRNA was induced within 72 h after treatment with probenazole, one of well-known chemical elicitors, and reached the highest level at 144 h. Heterologous expression of OgPR10 caused growth inhibition and seedling lethality in E. coli and Arabidopsis, respectively. Chemically induced OgPR10 expression with glucocorticoid-mediated transcriptional induction system further reconfirmed its lethality on Arabidopsis seedling. In addition, OgPR10-expressing rice plants, Oryzae sativar were resistant against the infection of rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea. These results indicate that OgPR10 is involved in probenazole- and microbe associated molecular patterns-mediated disease resistance responses in plants and is a potential gene for developing disease resistance crop plants.