Brands play a critical role as a core asset and the primary driver for corporate growth because of their power of identity and influence on customers’ perceptions in restaurant industry. However, in spite of diverse and dynamically changing recent brand portfolio strategies of restaurants, a study on the effect of brand diversification on financial performance has been rarely conducted in the restaurant industry context. Considering competing viewpoints regarding diversification’s influence on financial performance, the purpose of this study is, therefore, to examine the effect of brand diversification on firm performance of restaurants. The results indicated that brand diversification is positive effect to profitability. Brand diversification seems to be attractive and might be a reasonable growth strategy to expand market power by satisfying diverse consumer needs. Therefore, restaurant managers should be consider in implementing brand diversification strategy especially in dynamically changing trend of brand diversification in the current restaurant industry.

Carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO) catalyzes the isomerization of prolycopene to all-trans-lycopene in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. We isolated two full-length cDNA gene, CuCRTISO and CuCRTISO-like, from Citrus unshiu. To confirm whether these two genes have the function of the carotenoid isomerase, The full-length cDNA of CuCRTISO and CuCRTISO-like gene, respectively, were fused with 35S promoter and NOS terminal region and then transformed into tomato CRTISO mutant, Tangerine, which shows orange fruit due to lack of carotenoid isomerase activity. The mature fruit color of the transgenic line expressing CuCRTISO gene changed from orange to red, which was similar to the fruit color of the tomato “Money Maker”. We also carried out HPLC analysis to detect all-trans lycopene, which is produced from prolycopene by carotenoid isomerase. In the transgenic line expressing CuCRTISO the all trans lycopene was detected from mature fruit but in the tangerine mutant several prolycopenes were detected from it. On the other hand, the transgenic line expression of CuCRTISO gene retained the orange-color fruit at the mature stage as Tangerine mutant. These studies indicate that the CuCRTISO gene has a function of carotenoid isomerase and also plays a role of it in other plant species, and that the CuCRTISO-like gene might be not enough to produce the all trans lycopene or has a another unknown function(s).

Carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO) catalyzes the isomerization of prolycopene to all-trans-lycopene in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. We isolated a full-length promoter region of CuCRTISO from Citrus unshiu. We determined if the promoter encoded organ-specific or developmental-specific expression, and identified possible cis-acting promoter elements. The full-length promoter and two truncated versions were fused to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene and transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana. Transgenic lines expressing the full-length promoter (pCiso-Prom1) and truncated promoters (pCiso-Prom2 and pCiso-Prom3) showed the same developmental and organ-specific activity. GUS expression was detected in the cotyledon and root at 5 and 10 days after germination, mature leaf, and anther. The CuCRTISO promoter contained several cis-acting elements involved in hormonal and environmental stress. Drought stress or abscisic acid treatment did not induce GUS expression in any transgenic lines. Heat stress induced GUS expression in the pCiso-Prom1 line; this promoter construct contains the heat-stress responsive element (HSE). Ethylene and cold-stress treatments induced GUS expression only in the pCiso-Prom3 line, although all transgenic lines contained the same cis-acting ethylene and low-temperature response elements. which could indicate the existence of unknown repressor element(s) in the CuCRTISO promoter. These studies indicate that CuCRTISO promoter activity is regulated in a developmental and organ-specific manner that responds to heat, cold, and ethylene. These results provide new insights into the role of cis-acting element(s) in CuCRTISO promoter activity. (This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2010-0007627 and 2009-0094059), and by Golden Seed Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), Rural Development Administration (RDA) and Korea Forest Service (KFS), Republic of Korea)

we analyzed the survival rate through the measurement of germinability of the gamma-ray irradiated buds of 4 Citrus species, C. hybrid ‘Kiomi’, C. hybrid ‘Setoka’, C. hybrid ‘Kanpei’, and C. junos, in greenhouse. To induce mutation, spring buds of Citrus with 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Gy of gamma radiation were irradiated and then were vgrafted onto trifoliate orange rootstock. The rootstock number per gamma ray dosage was two hundreds. After after 6 months growth, the shoot germination rate from gamma ray-irradiated buds presented lower viability than those of non-irradiated buds. Higher dossage of irradiation more inhibited bud germination at all experimental groups of citrus. The viability of unirradiated citrus plants was C. junos > ‘Setoka’ > ‘Kiomi’ > ‘Kanpei’. We have determined LD50 of gamma ray-irradiation. This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2010-0007627 and 2009-0094059), and by Golden Seed Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), Rural Development Administration (RDA) and Korea Forest Service (KFS), Republic of Korea

In this study we established the high throughput screening system of high functional soybean cultivars using PLS modeling from FT-IR spectral data of soybean(Glycine max L) seeds. Crude extract of 20% methanol from soybean seed powders (153 lines) were used for FT-IR spectroscopy. Total fatty acid, carotenoids, flavonoids and phenolic compounds contents from soybean seed powders were analyzed using UV-spectrum and GC analysis respectively. PCA analysis showed that 153 soybean lines formed a single clusters with a few outlier. PC score 1 and 2 represented 39.5, 16.4% of total variation, respectively. And than showed change patten from the middle to outside for PCA plot. We conducted PLS regression analysis between FT-IR spectral data and fatty acids data. Palmitic acid showed the highest regression coefficient (R=0.78). This result implied that the content of palmitic acid could be predicted from FT-IR spectral data from soybean seed powders with relatively high fidelity. PLS modeling of total carotenoids also showed regression coefficient of 0.69. Regression coefficient of total flavnoids and phenolic compounds were 0.44, 0.39, respectively. At present, we are trying to confirm the accuracy of PLS prediction modeling using targeted metabolite analysis (GC-MS, LC-MS) from predicted soybean lines. To increase the accuracy of PLS modeling, we also trying to standardization of spectroscopy and spectral data processing. Furthermore we are going to develop PLS modeling from GC-MS, LC-MS data. The PLS prediction modeling established in this study could be applied for high throughput screening of other leguminous plant.

Carotenoids are major secondary compounds in Citrus determining the color of fruit and nutritional values. Carotenoids are isoprenoic compounds, and function as color pigments in the flower and fruit to attract pollinators and seed-dispersing animal and chromophore for light harvest and photoprotectant during photosynthesis. In the aim of developing new cultivars with high value using molecular breeding technology, we had performed screening of flesh and peel specific genes by differentially expressed gene screening in Citrus unshiu fruits. From the screening, carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO)1, which converts pro-lycopene to all-trans-lycopene, was identified as peel-specifically expressed gene. In this study, the gene encoding the CRTISO1 was cloned, sequenced, and compared to the CRTISOs in other plant species. Comparison of the cds sequence to other plant species revealed 75% and 78% identity with CRTISO1 of Zea maize and CRTISO2 of Arabidopsis thaliana respectively. We also cloned CRTISO2 from C. unshiu which declines the expression while maturation (Kato et al., 2004), and the gene structure was analyzed. This is the first work reporting the full sequence and gene structure of CRTISOs in C. unshiu, and would give important information in understanding the carotenoid synthesis in the Citrus fruit.