The lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) show in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The three major micturition centers in brain are pontine micturition center (PMC), ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG), and medial preopticnucleus (MPA) regions. Previous study showed that c-Fos expression change was associated with LUTS. In present study, the effect of P. ginseng on c-Fos expression in PMC, vlPAG, and MPA regions in rat brain was tested. P. ginseng is the four year-old Korean ginseng. It was collected at the department of medicinal crop research (Eumsunggun, Chungbuk, Korea) in September 2010. The four groups (n = 6) are control group, BPH-induced group, BPHinduced and P. ginseng-treated group, and BPH-induced and finasteride-treated group. BPH in rats was induced by testosterone. After 4 weeks, all animals were sacrificed to evaluate c-Fos expression in PMC, vlPAG, and MPA regions in rat brain. The c-Fos expression was evaluated in the regions of rat brain by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Present results showed that c-Fos expressions in PMC, vl-PAG, and MPA regions in brain of rats in the BPH-induced group were higher compared to c-fos expression of the control group. The increased c-Fos expression in three regions (PMC, vlPAG, and MPA) were decreased by treatment with P. ginseng (200 mg/kg). These results suggest that P. ginseng has an inhibitory effect on the symptoms of BPH and is associated with regulation of c-Fos expression in the brain in a testosterone induced BPH rat model.

‘Baekseung’, a new variety of Flammulina velutipes, was bred by mating two monokaryotic strains isolated from KMCC 4210 and KMCC 4216 in Mushroom Research Division, Baekseung ARES in 2016. Baekseung showed fast mycelial growth and high mycelial density on MEA (Malt Extract Agar) media for 7days of incubation. Spawn running period on the sawdust substrate required 30days at 25°C. The cultivation period and optimum temperature were 11±1 days at 14°C for primordia formation and 14±1 days at 7°C for fruiting body development. The length of pilei and stipes in Baekseung harvested in optimal stage exhibited 11.3±0.4㎜ and 89.2±7.1㎜ and Megumi harvested in optimal stage showed 8.2±1.0㎜ and 95.9±5.0㎜ respectively. Yield of Baekseung and Megumi strain grown of sawdust substrate was 153.7±12.5g and 150.5±29.7g per 850ml in bottle cultivation. The inferred tree exhibited the difference of phylogenetic relationship between the Korean white fruiting body strains such as Baekseung, Uri1ho, Fv-14-a-38, and Fv-14-a-51 and the Japanese white fruiting body strain Megumi.

In this study, we made population with high biological efficiency to investigate the complex genetic architecture of yield-related traits in A. bisporus. MB013 that crossed with bisp 15-p2 and bisp 34-p2 had high biological efficiency. 170 homokaryons was isolated with CAPS marker (PIN primer/HaeⅢ) from 1000 ISSs. And 100 BC1F1 hybrids obtained by crossing the homokaryons of MB013 with bisp15-p1. Parental line bisp 15-p2 and bisp 34-p2 and 100 homokaryons of MB013 will analyze genome sequencing. Also 100 BC1F1 hybrids will evaluate yield-related traits.

CRISPR/Cas9-induced knock-out/-in can be occurred at specific locus in the genome by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or homology directed repair (HDR). Here, we demonstrate the targeted insertion into the specific loci of embryo fertilized by semen from transgenic cattle via CRISPR/Cas9 system. Recently, we published on the efficient generation of transgenic cattle using the DNA transposon system (Yum et al. Sci Rep. 2016 Jun 21;6:27185). In the study, eight transgenic cattle were born following transposon-mediated gene delivery system (Sleeping Beauty and Piggybac transposon system) via microinjection. In the analysis of their genome stability using next-generation sequencing, there was no significant difference in the number of genetic variants between transgenic and non-transgenic cattle. All the transgenic cattle have grown up to date (the oldest age: 33 months old, the youngest age: 15 months old) without any health issue. One of transgenic male cattle expressing GFP reached puberty and semen was collected. Over 200 frozen semen straws were produced and some were used for in vitro fertilization (IVF). On seven days after IVF, expression of GFP was observed at blastocyst stage and was seen in 80% of the embryos. Another application is to edit the GFP locus of the transgenic cattle because long-term and ubiquitous expression of transgene didn’t affect their health. In one cell stage embryos produced using GFP frozen-thawed semen, microinjection of sgRNA for GFP, Cas9, together with donor DNA that included RFP and homology arms to link the double-strand break of sgRNA target site into fertilized eggs resulted in expression of RFP. This indicated that the GFP locus of transgenic cattle shows potential candidates for stable insertion of the functional transgene. Knock-out/-in for editing GFP locus using CRISPR-Cas9 might be a valuable approach for the next generation of transgenic models by microinjection. In conclusion, we demonstrated P-112 that transgenic cattle via transposon system are healthy to date and germ-line competence was confirmed. The GFP locus will be used as the potential target site for future gene engineering via genome-editing technology. Finally, all those animals could be a valuable agricultural and veterinary science resource for studying the effects of gene manipulation on biomedical research and medicine. This work was supported by BK21 PLUS Program for Creative Veterinary Science and Seoul Milk Coop (SNU 550-20160004).

Cytokines may play an important role in the acute rejection (AR) of solid organ transplantation. Many studies have investigated the association between interleukin-10 gene (IL-10) polymorphisms and risk of AR. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between IL-10 polymorphism (-1082, G/A) and AR risk after solid organ transplantation in Caucasian population. A comprehensive electronic search of PUBMED, Google Scholar, and Korean databases was performed. Meta-analysis was performed using comprehensive meta-analysis software (Biostat, NJ,USA). We assessed the pooled p-value, odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) to measure the association between the risk of AR and IL-10 polymorphism (-1082, G/A). The OR and 95% CI were used to evaluate the strength of the association. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Fourteen case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. In overall analysis, we observed that IL-10 polymorphism (-1082, G/A) was associated with the AR in liver transplantation (G allele vs. A allele, OR = 1.436, 95% CI = 1.006-2.050, p = 0.046 in fixed model). However, IL-10 polymorphism (-1082, G/A) did not show any significant association with solid organ transplantation and renal transplantation (p>0.05 in each model, respectively). Our meta-analysis suggests that IL-10 polymorphism (-1082, G/A) may be related to susceptibility of AR in liver transplantation recipients.

Antibiotic Detection Kit (Combination I), a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) developed for detecting antibiotic residues in milk, was utilized for the analysis of antibiotic residues in the muscle tissue of olive flounder. After 5-h treatment of samples by placing them in water dosed with sulfadimethoxine (SDM; 200 g/ton water), the residue depletion of SDM was investigated in 25 cultured olive flounders (Paralichthys olivaceus). Muscles from fish were sampled before treatment and on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th days after treatment. The concentration of SDM in the muscle was then determined by LFIA. The absorbance ratio of the sample to the control blank (Bs/Bo) was employed as an index to determine the residue in olive flounder muscle. To investigate the recovery rate, standard solutions were added to muscle samples to obtain final concentrations of 25 and 50 ng/mL in the muscle. The recovery rates of all spiked samples were >96.6% of the spiked value. SDM was detectable in the muscle of fish treated with the drug until the 1st day of the withdrawal period. The present study shows that the LFIA can be easily adopted to detect SDM residues in the tissue of farmed fish.

This study investigated the antibacterial effects of Galla rhois extract (GRE) against Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of GRE against C. jejuni and C. coli were 0.28 and 0.55 mg/mL, respectively, and the corresponding minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) were 4.4 and 5.5 mg/mL. C. jejuni treated with the MIC, MBC or 2×MBC of GRE showed significant inhibition of growth compared with that of the control group during the incubation period, and no viable bacteria were detected at 24 h after incubation. C. coli treated with MIC, MBC or 2×MBC of GRE also showed inhibition of growth compared with that of the control group during the incubation period, and in the C. coli cultures treated with MBC and 2×MBC of GRE, no viable bacteria were detected at 24 h after incubation. In conclusion, GRE is a candidate antibacterial agent against C. jejuni and C. coli, and may have applications for the control of Campylobacter infection in poultry.

This study investigated the effects of rare-earth fertilizer on the shoot cuttings’ rooting of Vitex rotundifolia L. and Tamarix chinensis Lour. The shoot cutting test was carried in 2008 and the main results are summarized as follows. The rate of rooting and the average roots increased in both number and length when rare-earth fertilizer is treated in V. rotundifolia and T. chinensis in comparison to those of the untreated control plot. In particular, when rare-earth fertilizer is diluted with water 1/2500, the rooting outstandingly increases. This result is almost similar to the effect of the rooting stimulant, IAA. Although there is no differentiation in its rooting rate according to the density, the rooting of T. chinensis shows a 100 percent effect on in the entire treated plot but not in the untreated control plot, so it is usable as a rooting stimulant. As for shoot cuttings' rooting, depending on the time immersed in diluted solution of rare-earth fertilizer, both V. rotundifolia and T. chinensis showed relatively higher percentages in all treatment plot immersed for 60 minutes than for 10 minutes. In conclusion, considering the results of the rooting percentage and the average number and length of roots of V. rotundifolia and T. chinensis, the shoot cuttings' rooting appeared higher in percentage when they were immersed in the rooting stimulant for sixty minutes with a lower density than 1/2500. This result shows that rare-earth fertilizer can be utilized as an alterative for IAA rooting stimulants currently available in the market.

To date, most serodiagnostic methods for brucellosis screening are based on antibodies against lipopolysaccharides of Brucella spp. However, this approach has the drawback of yielding false-positive results due to cross-reactivity with lipopolysaccharides of other related pathogens, especially Yersinia enterocolitica O:9. In this study, Brucella abortus AspC was cloned and expressed by PCR amplification into a pCold TF expression system to obtain recombinant AspC (rAspC). The immunogenicity of rAspC was confirmed by western blotting of Brucella-positive bovine serum. rAspC-based ELISA was performed to determine whether rAspC could be used in the serodiagnosis of bovine brucellosis. rAspC reacted strongly with anti-Brucella antibodies in positive sera in the tube agglutination test (TAT), but did not show strong reaction with most negative samples. In particular, the average OD492 value at the highest TAT titer showed a 1.4-fold increase with respect to the cutoff value. The accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of rAspC were 71.88%, 78.33%, and 68%, respectively. These findings suggest that rAspC might be valuable for the serological diagnosis of bovine brucellosis.

Brucellosis is an important and re-emerging zoonotic disease worldwide. The prevention of human infection is achieved predominantly through the control of brucellosis in agricultural animals, which in turn depends on accurate diagnosis and vaccination. However, conventional serological diagnosis of brucellosis has several limitations, and currently available vaccines for animals have several drawbacks, including the ability to cause infection in humans. Phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk) is one of the specific proteins reactive with mouse sera in the early stage of Brucella infection, and deletion of the pgk gene in B. abortus strain 2308 resulted in extreme attenuation of this strain in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the B. abortus pgk mutant has been used as a live vaccine, and in challenge experiments, it induced protection that was superior to that conferred by commercial strains. In this study, the pgk gene from Brucella abortus 544 was successfully amplified and cloned into a maltose binding protein fusion protein expression vector (pMAL). The recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli DH5α and purified. The immunogenicity of purified recombinant B. abortus 544 Pgk (rPgk) was evaluated by western blot analysis using Brucella-positive mouse sera. rPgk could be used as an antigenic component for future serological tests and potential vaccine development.