The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of feeding methods on in vitro ruminal fermentation, total gas and methane production in Hanwoo steers. Six Hanwoo steers fitted with rumen cannula (430 ± 21 kg of body weight) were randomly assigned to one of three feeding systems: 1) feeding forage 1 hour after concentrate, 2) feeding concentrate 1 hour after forage, 3) feeding mixed ration. Rumen fluid sampled from each animals was incubated 24 hours with maize or timothy substrates in in vitro. Ruminal pH was increased in feeding method 2 or maize substrate than that of other methods or timothy substrate (P < 0.001). The production of total volatile fatty acid, acetate, propionate, butyrate, and valerate were increased when steers fed diets using feeding method 1 or rumen fluid was incubated with maize substrate (P < 0.001). Increased production of total gas and methane was observed in feeding method 1 and maize substrate compared to those of other methods or timothy substrate (P < 0.001). Due to the inconsistent results between ruminal fermentation and gas production in this study, further research is required to estimate effects of feeding method on enteric fermentation and gas production in in vivo.

CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing technology fast replaces the previous methods that require protein engineering such as Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs) and TALE nucleases (TALENs). Conventional genome editing of plant cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technology largely depends on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the plant cells and subsequent regeneration of whole plants from the edited cells. During this process, unwanted foreign DNAs including the antibiotics gene and fragments of the T-DNA can be introduced into plant genome. Insertion of these unwanted DNA causes lots of regulatory restrictions when commercializing the LMO products. To step aside these issues, we designed DNA-free ribonucleoprotein-based method and regenerated whole plants from the successfully engineered cells. We will share our discovery on the successful implement of this technology in lettuce protoplasts.

The oriental melon (C. melo var. makuwa), called ‘Chamoe’ in Korean, is a popular fruit crop cultivated mainly in Asia and a high–market value crop in Korea. To provide a genomic resource as a reference genome for the Cucurbitaceae crop improvement, we performed whole genome sequencing of Korean landrace, Gotgam chamoe. We used Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencing platform to generate 89 Gb (205X) of paired and mate pair sequence reads. The pre-processed reads were de novo assembled resulting in 4,764 scaffolds with a N50 scaffold length of 249kb. This assembly represented 379.8Mb which was 84.7% of the 448Mb of the whole genome. The assembled draft was predicted 26,634 genes of which 80% were predicted by known protein or C. melo unigene homology. Approximately 20% of predicted genes were hypothetical. A total of 1,885 non-coding RNA was detected including rRNA. The transposable elements were accounted for 21% (71.6Mb) of the total assembly. All the marker candidates including SSR, INDEL, SNP were mined and presented. The draft genome will provide a useful platform for genomic research and improvement for Cucurbitacea crops.

This study was carried out to compare the toxicity of nano and micrometer particles with Cu and Zn on soil microbial community and metal uptake of buck wheat. In microcosm system, soil was incubated for 14 days after soil aliquots were artificially contaminated with 1,000 mg/kg Cu, Zn nano and micro particles, respectively. After then, buck wheat was planted in incubating soils and non incubating soils. After 14 days, we compared bioaccumulation of metal, and microbial carbon substrate utilization patterns between incubating soils and non-incubating soils. The enrichment factor (EF) values of incubating samples were greater than non-incubating soils. Dehydrogenase activity had been inhibited by Cu and Zn nanoparticles in non-incubating soil, as well as it had been inhibited by Zn micro particles in incubating soils. Results of biolog test, it was not significant different between nano particles and micro particles. It cannot be generalized that nanoparticles of metal are always more toxic to soil microbial activity and diversity than micrometer-sized particles and the toxicity needs to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.