This study was aimed to isolate bacterial inoculants producing chitinase and evaluate their application effects on corn silage. Four corn silages were collected from four beef cattle farms to serve as the sources of bacterial inoculants. All isolates were tested against Fusarium graminearum head blight fungus MHGNU F132 to confirm their antifungal effects. The enzyme activities (carboxylesterase and chitinase) were also measured to isolate the bacterial inoculant. Based on the activities of anti-head blight fungus, carboxylesterase, and chitinase, L. buchneri L11-1 and L. paracasei L9-3 were subjected to silage production. Corn forage (cv. Gwangpyeongok) was ensiled into a 10 L mini silo (5 kg) in quadruplication for 90 days. A 2 × 2 factorial design consists of F. graminearum contamination at 1.0104 cfu/g (UCT (no contamination) vs. CT (contamination)) and inoculant application at 2.1 × 105 cfu/g (CON (no inoculant) vs. INO (inoculant)) used in this study. After 90 days of ensiling, the contents of CP, NDF, and ADF increased (p<0.05) by F. graminearum contamination, while IVDMD, acetate, and aerobic stability decreased (p<0.05). Meanwhile, aerobic stability decreased (p<0.05) by inoculant application. There were interaction effects (p<0.05) on IVNDFD, NH3-N, LAB, and yeast, which were highest in UCT-INO, UCT-CON, CT-INO, and CT-CON & INO, respectively. In conclusion, this study found that mold contamination could negatively impact silage quality, but isolated inoculants had limited effects on IVNDFD and yeast.

The physicochemical properties of dry wine produced from domestic kiwifruit according to production year from 2008 to 2012 were studied. pHs of wine were from 4.02(F wine, production year 2009, sterilized) to 4.11(D wine, production year 2012, non-sterilized) and their acidities were lowest in D wine(0.79%) and highest in F wine(1.18%). All the wines have the same soluble solids of 8 °brix and 12% of alcohol, respectively. The reducing sugar was lowest in A wine(production year 2008, non-sterilized) and highest in D wine. The lactic acid was detected as a main organic acid and the free sugar was detected only fructose. As main flavor components, ethyl acetate and 1-pentanol were detected and their sum of 80~90% and a small amount of phenylethyl alcohol which providing rose-like aroma was also detected. The contents of soluble phenolics were highest in D wine(1.07 g/L) and lowest in C wine(0.80 g/L), corresponding to the antioxidant activity was highest found in D wine according to their soluble phenolic contents.

Monochamus alternatus and M. saltuarius were reported as the vectors of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, pine wood nematode in Korea. According to Kwon et al. (2006), each of 2 species has occupied their own regional distribution : M. saltuarius in southern part including Jeju island and M. alternatus in mid-northern part of Korean peninsula. We measured the supercooling point (SCP) of 2 species (laboratory-reared populations) by each of developmental stages. The SCPs of 2nd, 3rd and 5th instar larvae of M. saltuarius were -7.68±0.19℃, -7.02±0.69℃, -4.93±1.34℃ each of stages. On the other hand, the SCPs of 3rd, 4th, 5th instar larvae and pupae of M. alternatus. were -4.46±1.12℃, -5.94±1.33℃, -7.83±1.44℃, -9.53±1.78℃ each of stages. The SCPs of M. saltuarius larvae generally was lower than that of M. alternatus. The pupae of M. alternatus and 2nd instar larvae of M. saltuarius had the lowest SCP among measured samples. On the other hand, the highest SCP were recorded in 2nd and 5th instar larvae, each. This result shows that regional distribution of 2 beetles may be associated with the adaptation capacity to low temperature represented by the SCP as well as the developmental temperature. However, beetles experimented were not collected from pine forest fields. In further study, we are planning experiments with field populations and all developmental stages.

Sclerodermus harmandi populations were collected from 6 Korean regions (Seoul, Gangwon, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeonasang and Jeju provinces), 1 Chinese region (Nanjing) and 1 Japanese region (Tokyo). Above all was identified as the same species based on morphological characteristics. In present study, we compared the intra-specific characteristics of regional isolated populations of S. harmandi based on nucleotide and amino acid sequences of variant genomic and mitochondrial loci: the full length of internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 (ITS1 & ITS2), the complete cytochrome oxidase subunit I and II (COI & COII) and tRNA genes for aspartate and lysine and 5'end of ATPase 8 genes. There were no significant differences among the analysed 9 populations regardless of regional segregation. The nucleotide and translated amino acid sequences similarities were significantly high, despite some sequence differences were found in same loci. This result support the report based on the morphological characteristics. However, we are conducting further study to identify whether sequence differences in specific loci are the characteristics of individual level in population or population level and to analyse the full sequences of mitochondrial DNA by regional segregation.

Human embryonic stem (ES) cells are derived from the inner cell mass of the preimplantation embryo. Human ES cells have the capacity to differentiate into various types of cells in the body. Human ES cells are indefinite source of cells for cell therapy in various degenerative disorders including neuronal disorders. Directed differentiation of human ES cells is a prerequisite for their clinical application. The objective of this study is to develop the culture condition for the derivation of neural precursor cells from human ES cells. Neural precursor cells were derived from human ES cells in a stepwise culture condition. Neural precursor cells in the form of neural rosette structures developed into neurospheres when cultured in suspension. Suspension culture of neurospheres has been maintained over 4 months. Expressions of nestin, soxl, sox2, pax3 and pax6 transcripts were upregulated during differentiation into neural precursor cells by RT-PCR analysis. In contrast, expression of oct4 was dramatically downregulated in neural precursor cells. Immunocytochemical analyses of neural precursor cells demonstrated expression of nestin and SOX1. When induced to differentiate on an adhesive substrate, neuro-spheres were able to differentiate into three lineages of neural systems, including neurons, astrocytes and oligo-dendrocytes. Transcripts of sox1 and pax6 were downregulated during differentiation of neural precursor cells into neurons. In contrast, expression of map2ab was elevated in the differentiated cells, relative to those in neural precursor cells. Neurons derived from neural precursor cells expressed NCAM, Tuj1, MAP2ab, NeuN and NF200 in immunocytochemical analyses. Presence of astrocytes was confirmed by expression of GFAP immuno-cytochemically. Oligodendrocytes were also observed by positive immuno-reactivities against oligodendrocyte marker O1. Results of this study demonstrate that a stepwise culture condition is developed for the derivation of neural precursor cells from human ES cells.

Molecular genetic markers have wide applicability for a various genetic analyses, and genetic mapping with PCR-based markers has identified many loci in the rice genome. This study was conducted to develop a genetic map of rice based on SSR and MITE-AFLP