오래전부터 산업곤충으로서 이용되어온 누에는 최근 바이오 신소재 생산을 위한 생체공장으로써 주목받고 있다. 소재생산을 위해서는 주 로 형질전환 기술을 이용하게 되며, 이는 배아가 있는 알 속으로 목적 유전자를 삽입하는 마이크로인젝션(microinjection) 방식으로 이루어진다. 마이크로인젝션을 위해서는 알을 고정하는 과정이 필수적이며 시간 소모 및 피로도가 높은 작업이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 시간 소모 및 피로도 개선을 통하여 형질전환 효율을 높이고자 3D 프린팅을 이용하여 알의 정렬 및 고정에 도움을 줄 수 있는 알 배열판(egg liner) 및 접착제 줄눈판 (glue drawer)을 3DCADian 프로그램을 이용하여 모델링하고, Fusion 360를 이용하여 3차원 도면을 제작 후 프린팅하여 제작하였다. 제작된 두 도구를 이용하여 슬라이드 글라스에 알을 고정하고, 소요된 시간을 분석한 결과 도구를 사용하지 않았을 때에 비하여 2가지 도구를 이용했을 때 작업시간이 약18.6% 감소하였으며, 연구자의 작업 편의성을 향상시키고 마이크로인젝션을 위한 현미경 및 로봇 팔(manipulator) 조작을 유 리하게 하였다. 따라서 알의 배열 수 또는 조작 편의성을 개선할 수 있는 추가적인 연구 및 개량이 이루어진다면, 알 배열판 및 접착제 줄눈판이 누 에 형질전환 효율성 개선 및 다른 산업 곤충의 형질전환 연구에도 이용될 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

The Japanese oak silkmoth, Antheraea yamamai Guérin-Méneville 1861 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), is one of the important natural resources possessing industrial value for silk fiber production. In this study, ten microsatellite markers and two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene sequences (COI and ND4) were used to investigate the genetic variation and geographic structure of A. yamamai populations in South Korea. Two mtDNA gene sequences revealed very low total genetic variation and resultant low geographic variation, validating to use further variable molecular markers. Population-based FIS, FST, RST, and global Mantel test consistently support that A. yamamai populations are overall well interconnected with a relatively high gene flow. Nevertheless, STRUCTURE analysis using microsatellite data and mtDNA sequences coincidently indicate the presence of two genetic pools in many populations.

To find an alternative for synthetic pesticides, methanol extract from plant samples were tested for their insecticidal activity against insect. The extract of Asiasarum sieboldii had strongly insecticidal activity against Plutella xylostella. Roots of A. sieboldii were extracted with methanol, and the concentrated extract was partitioned with n-hexane, ethylacetate, n-buthanol and H2O. The highest activity was shown in the hexane fraction. Activity-guided fractionation led to the isolation of two amides from hexane fration through the repeated silica gel column chromatographic separations. From the interpretation of spectropic data including NMR, MS, IR, the chemical structures of compounds were determined as dodeca-2E,4E,8Z,10Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide and dodeca-2E,4E,8Z, 10E-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide. These compounds showed insecticidal activity on P. xylostella by 96.7% at 100ppm. The liquid formulation controlled on cabbage effectively. The extract and compounds from A. sieboldii showed insecticidal activity against Nilaparvata lugens. As a naturally occurring pesticide, A. sieboldii could be useful as a new botanic insecticide.

The seven-spotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has a broad ecological range, living almost anywhere there are aphids for feeding. In this study, we isolated and characterized a total of 10 microsatellite loci from the species. The loci were validated and characterized using 25 samples collected from five Korean localities. The number of alleles and heterozygosity observed at each locus ranged from 4 to 16 and from 0.37 to 0.89, respectively. None of the loci deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and there was no indication of significant linkage disequilibrium among pairs of loci. These microsatellite markers should be very valuable markers for population genetic studies of Coccinella septempunctata.

The silkworm (Bombyx mori), as an industrial insect, possesses a high economic value. Casual discrimination and accumulated genetic information of silkworm varieties are essential ground for the practical utilization and long-term conservation. In this study, nine available microsatellite loci were successfully genotyped from ~50 silkworm strains preserved in Korea. According to genotyping analysis, we obtained 3 ~ 16 alleles per locus, with an average of 7.4, the observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.04 to 0.98, and the polymorphic information content (PIC) ranging from 0.06 to 0.88, revealing that some loci are highly variable. Among 54 strains 13 strains were casually identified by the presence of 17 strain-specific apomorphic alleles. Furthermore, 30 among remaining strains contained strain-specific allele combinations that are also apomorphic to each strain, allowing us to discriminate each of these from other strains by genotyping of multiple loci. These results collectively suggest that the silkworm microsatellite DNA is actually and potentially important molecular marker for the discrimination of the silkworm strains that are preserved as hundreds in Korea, as more loci are genotyped.

The 15,338-bp long complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the Japanese oak silkmoth, Antheraeayamamai (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) was determined. This genome has a gene arrangement identical to those of all other sequenced lepidopteran insects, but differs from the most common type, as the result of the movement of tRNAMet to a position 5’-upstream of tRNAIle. No typical start codon of the A. yamamai COI gene is available. Instead, a tetranucleotide, TTAG, which is found at the beginning context of all sequenced lepidopteran insects was tentatively designated as the start codon for A. yamamai COI gene. Three of the 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) harbor the incomplete termination codon, T or TA. All tRNAs formed stable stem-and-loop structures, with the exception of tRNASer(AGN), the DHU arm of which formed a simple loop as has been observed in many other metazoan mt tRNASer(AGN). The 334-bp long A+T-rich region is noteworthy in that it harbors tRNA-likestructures, as has also been seen in the A+T-rich regions of other insect mitogenomes. Phylogenetic analyses of the available species of Bombycoidea, Pyraloidea, and Tortricidea bolstered the current morphology-based hypothesis that Bombycoidea and Pyraloidea are monophyletic (Obtectomera). As has been previously suggested, Bombycidae (Bombyxmori and B.mandarina) and Saturniidae (A.yamamai and Caligula boisduvalii) formed a reciprocal monophyletic group.