Tube, an intracellular protein of the Toll-pathway, forms a complex with Pelle and MyD88, and regulates a signal transduction to activate NF-κB in Drosophila. To understand the antimicrobial function of TmTube, the induction patterns of TmTube were investigated at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 h-post injection of pathogens into 10th to 12th instar larvae. In addition, we investigated the effects of TmTube RNAi on larval mortality and tissue specific AMP expression in response to microbial challenge. Our results will provide a basic information to elucidate the immunological function of TmTube

최근 정원에 대한 관심이 증가함에 따라 자생 식물을 활용 하기 위한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 참식나무(Neolitsea sericea (Blume) Koidz).는 관상용뿐만 아니라 목재로도 이용할 수 있 다. 따라서 이 연구는 참식나무를 정원 식물 소재로 활용하기 위한 대량 증식 기술 개발을 위하여 종자의 발아 특성과 저장 특성에 대해 알아보고자 진행하였다. 2022년 11월 2일 제주 지역에서 채집한 종자를 실험에 사용하였다. 종자의 내·외부 형태 관찰을 한 결과, 종자가 탈리되는 시점에 배가 완전히 발 달한 형태를 가지고 있기 때문에 형태적휴면(morphological dormancy, MD)이 없음을 확인할 수 있었다. 수분흡수 실험 을 통하여 참식나무 종자는 72시간 이후 40% 정도의 수분흡수 율을 보여 내과피의 불투성에 의한 물리적휴면(PY, physical dormancy)이 없는 것으로 판단하였다. 채종 후 곧바로 무가 온 온실에 파종하면 이듬해 5월에 약 60%가 발아하였다. 저 온습윤처리 0, 2, 4, 8, 12주 후 25/15°C에 배양한 결과 최 종 발아율은 각각 0%, 0%, 21.1%, 32.6%, 34.7%였다. GA3 를 0, 10, 100, 1000mg·L-1 농도로 처리한 후 25/15°C에서 배양한 결과, 최종 발아율은 각각 0, 14.5, 22.7, 42.2%였다. 따라서 본 실험의 결과 8주 이상의 저온 처리 또는 GA3 처리 를 통하여 어느 정도 휴면을 타파시킬 수 있었다. 이러한 결과 를 통하여 종자는 intermediate PD를 가지는 것으로 판단 된다. 일부 발아하지 않은 종자는 deep PD를 가지고 있는 것 으로 판단하였다. 후숙 처리 실험의 결과 4주 만에 수분 함량 이 2% 이하로 감소하였고 종자는 전혀 발아하지 않았다. 따라 서 종자의 저장 특성 중 recalcittrant 특성을 지닌 난저장성 종자로 보인다.

There are many types of foam molding methods. The most commonly used methods are the pressure foaming method, in which foam resin is mixed with a foaming agent at high temperature and high pressure, and the normal pressure foaming method, which foams at high temperature without pressure. The polymer resins used for foaming have different viscosities. For foaming under normal pressure, they need to be designed and analyzed for optimal foaming conditions, to obtain resins with low melt-viscosity or a narrow optimal viscosity range. This study investigated how changes in viscosity, molding temperature, and cross-link foaming conditions affected the characteristics of the molded foam, prepared by blending rubber polymer with biodegradable resin. The morphologies of cross sections and the cell structures of the normal pressure foam were investigated by SEM analysis. Properties were also studied according to cross-link/foaming conditions and torque. Also, the correlation between foaming characteristics was studied by analyzing tensile strength and elongation, which are mechanical properties of foaming composites.

The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, is one of the most important pests of vegetable crops worldwide. This species cause direct damage by feeding on plant nutrients and indirect damage as transmits many virus vectors. The control of aphid has relied on the use of chemical insecticides and their intensive use over many years has led to the development of resistance. To surmount or avoid these problems, we screened the entomopathogenic fungi against green peach aphid and evaluated their virulences. Several entomopathogenic fungal isolates were selected with high virulence to green peach aphid. Additionally, the antimicrobial activity of the selected fungal isolates was tested and analyzed to phytopathogens. Consequently, these entomopathogenic fungi would be used effectively for dual control agents for the green peach aphid and phytopathogen.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes acute diarrhea and dehydration in pigs with high mortality. PEDV is belong to Coronavirus, enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA virus. PEDV particles were composed of four structure proteins such as a glycosylated peplomer (spike, S) protein, envelope (E), glycosylated membrane (M) protein, and unglycosylated RNA-binding nucleocapsid (N) protein. Many of previous studies talk about this four structure proteins have a great potential to diagnosis and prevent PEDV. In this study we investigated expression of these structure proteins using the bacterial and baculovirus expression system. In bacterial expression system, our results showed that structure proteins fused polyhedrin and intein gene were expressed higher than non-fusion structure proteins. The expressed fusion proteins were used to immune mice for generating a polyclonal antibodies. In baculovirus expression system, co-infection of insect cells with these four recombinant baculoviruses led to self-assembly of virus-like particles as demonstrated by Transmission electron microscopy. They were confirmed by western blot analysis using pre-made polyclonal antibodies. Finding in this study may provide important information for vaccine and diagnostic development.

Insects are among the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, representing more than half of all known living organisms. These insects are found in nearly every environment. Although humans regard certain insects as pests and attempt to control them using insecticides, most insects perform complex ecological functions, and provide either direct or indirect economic benefits to humans. Recently, the importance of insects used as food sources or as pets has increased in many countries, including Korea. In addition, several insects have a strong influence on people's emotion. Insect-mediated mental healthcare program is designed to help people who have disorders with physical, behavior and development. Children who have mental disorder, the experimental group that was provided with an insect-mediated mental healthcare program over a total of 8 sections, one section per week, 60 minutes per section, followed by pre-test and post-test. They responded to therapeutic effect after the completion of the program. Further research on the basis of this study is expected to help children with emotional therapy in other areas.

The population of managed honey bees has been dramatically declining the recent past in worldwide. The one of most common disease of bees is nosemosis, the nosemosis is caused by microsporidia in the genus Nosema. Nosema apis and N. ceranae have been described as honeybee pathogens. These microsporidia are highly evoloved fungi with an obligately intracellular parasitic lifstyle. The disease causes significant detriment to honey production and results in economic losses. In our knowledge, Fumagillin is the only antibiotic approved for control of nosemosis in honey bees, however this antibiotic may have unintended effects on the honey bee host, ultimately contributing to increased prevalence and pathogenicity of Nosema. Therefore, we screened anti-Nosema substances from entomopathogenic fungal culture filtrates using in vitro polar tube germination assay. These fungal metabolites are employed as antibiotic agents. As results, Total 3 samples (23% of 13 total samples) showing the germinating inhibition against N. ceranae. This screening method may be useful for the detection of anti-Nosema substances from various samples and selected samples in this study may be a good feature to be used in the development of a new biocontrol method of nosemosis.

The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is an effective and widely used method for the production of recombinant proteins in insect cells or larvae. However, the expression efficiency of foreign proteins using the polyhedrin promoter could not obtain the protein yields observed for native polyhedrin. To enhance the production efficiency of foreign protein in baculovirus expression system, the effects of various polyhedrin fragments were investigated by fusion expressing them with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). Among the fusion-expressed protein in nucleus and cytoplasm, the most hyper-expression was observed in the fusion of amino acids 19 to 110 and 32 to 59 of polyhedrin. Additionally, the several proteins expressed by the partial polyhedrin-fused expression system was markedly increased. However, we identified that hyper-expression of target protein varied depending on the partial polyhedrin. Therefore, we constructed the virus inducible partial polyhedrin fusion transient expression system. This system amenable for screening of suitable partial polyhedrin to produce the target protein. The present study suggests a new option for higher expression of useful foreign recombinant protein using the partial polyhedrin fusion expression in baculovirus.

Porcine parvovirus (PPV), a member of the genus Parvovirus, family Parvoviridae, is a significant causative agent in porcine reproductive failure, causing serious economic losses in the swine industry. PPV is a non-enveloped virus and its capsid is assembled from three viral proteins (VP1, VP2, and VP3). The major capsid protein, VP2 is the main target for neutralizing antibodies in PPV. When VP2 was expressed in large amounts, it assembled into virus-like particles (VLPs) similar in size and morphology to the original virions. In this study, we generated the recombinant Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) to express the VP2 protein. Expression of the VP2 protein was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. The recombinant VP2 protein of approximately 64 kDa was detected by both analyses. The formation of VLP by recombinant VP2 was confirmed through transmission electron microscopy examination. The purified VP2 protein assembled into spherical particles with diameters ranging from 20 to 22 nm.

Insects constitute the largest and most diverse group of animals on Earth. They also serve as the hosts or nutrient sources for an immense assemblage of parasites, pathogens, and predators, ranging from bacteria and fungi to plant and animals. More than 700 known fungal species from 100 genera have adopted an entomopathogenic lifestyle. These fungi are widely distributed, occurring in aquatic, forest, and agricultural habitats, and are often used as active ingredients in microbial insect pest control agents. Their mode of action against insects involves the attachment of conidia to the insect cuticle, followed by germination, cuticle penetration, and internal dissemination throughout the insect. During this process, secreted enzymes, protein toxins, and secondary metabolites can be used by the fungus to overcome the host immune system, modify host behavior, and defend host resources against competing pathogens and saprophytes. In some cases, the host insect relationship has been found to be associated with bioactive fungal metabolites. These metabolites exhibit a wide variety of insecticidal, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antioxidant, and antiviral activities. Using molecular techniques and phylogenetic analyses, both the asexual (anamorphic) stages and sexual (teleomorphic) stages of entomopathogenic fungi have recently been shown as linked together. Therefore, entomopathogenic fungi, especially in complex with the host insect, might be a promising source of bioactive molecules of pharmaceutical and various industrial interests. Here, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of entomopathogenic fungi metabolites against plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi for the use in agriculture. The radicals scavenging activity and the anticancer activity were also evaluated for pharmaceutical interests.

Insect constitute the largest and most diverse group of animals on world and also serve as the hosts or nutrient sources. In addition, several insects have a strong influence on people's emotion. To utilize the preference and interest of insects in the field of mental healthcare, a survey study was conducted with individual living in Korea. As results, the most people had a high preference and interest of insect, but some were disagreeable to the insect itself. The preference and interest of insect were high on male, adult and practician experienced insect-related events than female, student and non-practician, respectively. The most favored insects were familiar or pet insects such as Papilio xuthus, Lucanus maculifemoratus, Allomyrina dichotoma and Lampyridae. These results may be useful to develop a healing program for mental healthcare using insects. Further research is needed to determine the effects of these insect in the mental therapy for this purpose.

Polyhedrin is the major component of the nuclear viral occlusions produced during replication of the baculovirus Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV). To enhance the production efficiency of foreign protein in baculovirus expression system, the effects of various polyhedrin fragments were investigated by fusion expressing them with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). Recombinant viruses were generated to express EGFP fused with polyhedrin fragments based on the previously reported minimal region for self-assembly and the KRKK nuclear localization signal (NLS). The marked increase of EGFP by these fusion expressions was confirmed through protein and fluorescence intensity analyses. Among the fusion-expressed protein in nucleus and cytoplasm, the most hyper-expression was observed in the fusion of amino acids 19 to 110 and 32 to 59 of polyhedrin. Also these fragments, some degradation of only the fused polyhedrin was observed in the fusion of amino acids 19 to 85 and 32 to 85. The production of E2 protein, which is a major antigen of classical swine fever virus, was dramatically increased by fusion expression with polyhedrin amino acids 19 to 110, and its preliminary immunogenicity was verified using experimental guinea pigs. The production of luciferase was approximately two folds increased by fusion expression with polyhedrin amino acids 32 to 59, and its activity was measured using Luminometer. This study suggests a new option for higher expression of useful foreign recombinant protein using the partial polyhedrin fusion expression in baculovirus.

Entomopathogenic fungi are natural enemies of insects and contribute to the regulation of their host populations. Numerous fungal species have been isolated from their respective hosts or environmental conditions such as soil and used as pest control agents for a long time in many countries. Recently, the isolation and characterization of native entomopathogenic fungi are essential for gaining insight into the naturally occurring fungal biodiversity of a specific region and to providing a pool of potential biological control agents for pest control purposes. Moreover, exotic strains of entomopathogenic fungi that have been developed for use as pest control agents in a different country could be ineffective due to strain and environmental differences. Therefore, investigating the occurrence and distribution of native entomopathogenic fungi is critical for their use as pest control agents in a given location. Here, we report the isolation, distribution and characterization of entomopathogenic fungi from soils in Korea to establish a pool. During infection against insects, entomopathogenic fungi produce various enzymes, protein toxins and secondary metabolites to overcome host defenses and ultimately kill the host, and to defend host resources against competing pathogens and saprophytes. These metabolites exhibit a wide variety of insecticidal, antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, and antiviral activities, and they have been suggested as potential candidates for the development of new bioactive agents. Entomopathogenic fungi isolated from Korean soils were also evaluated for these additional roles besides pathogenicity.

We have identified novel ricin-type (R-type) lectin by sequencing of random clones from cDNA library of the coleopteran beetle, T.molitor. The cDNA sequence is comprised of 495 bp encoding a protein of 164 amino acid residues and shows 49% identity with galectin of Tribolium castaneum. Bioinformatics analysis shows that the amino acid residues from 35 to 162 belong to ricin-type β-trefoil structure. The transcript was significantly upregulated after early hours of injection with peptidoglycans derived from Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria, beta-1, 3 glucan from fungi and an intracellular pathogen, L. monocytogenes suggesting putative function in innate immunity.

Entomopathogenic fungi are natural pathogens of insects and contribute to the regulation of host insect populations in the environment. Several these fungi produce a wide range of secreted enzymes, secreted protein toxins and secondary metabolites to overcome host defenses and ultimately kill the host, and to defend host resources against competing pathogens and saprophytes. Therefore, this study was performed to select the antimicrobial activity of entomopathogenic fungi form Korea soils against plant pathogenic bacteria Ralstonia solanacearum and plant pathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea using dual culture technique on SDYA. In addition, we also performed to screening of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals scavenging activity compounds from liquid culture filtrates of entomopathogenic fungi and investigate to it’s anticancer activity. As results, 12 isolates, 6 isolates and 25 isolates showing of these fungal metabolites produced antibacterial, antifungal and radicals scavenging activity compounds, respectively. The preferential antimicrobial and radical scavenging activities give evidence that these entomopathogenic fungal metabolites might be useful as a source for plant pathogen control and pharmaceutical interests.

Most patients with chronic low back pain experience functional disability of trunk muscle, and limitations in physical activity. While there are many types of exercise programs available, in recent years sling exercise has been emerging as the exercise program for spinal stabilization. It has been supported by a great amount of research with positive findings on its effectiveness. This research studies the effects of bridging exercise, conducted on a sling, on pain level and trunk muscle activation in supine, sidelying, and prone positions during a 4 weeks period. 10 healthy people(normal group, n=10) and 28 patients with low back pain participated in this study. 28 patients were divided into two groups; one group participated in exercise with the sling(experimental group, n=14) and the other group exercised without the sling(control group, n=14). They were asked to use the Numerical Rating Scale(NRS) to answer to the level of their pain they felt (no pain: 0 point, severe pain: 10 points). During sling bridging exercises, the muscle activity level in each muscle measured in each position was standardized as three seconds of EMG signals during five seconds MVIC. In conclusion, the experimental group with four weeks of sling bridging exercise experienced a statistically significant reduction in the pain level(p<.05) and increase in the muscle activities of erector spinae when in supine position, internal oblique when in sidelying position, and rectus abdominis in prone position(p<.05). Regular sling bridging exercise reduces the low back pain and enhances other trunk muscle activation, thereby positively affect spinal stabilization.

The bulb mite (Rhizoglyphus echinopus) damages garlic, shallot and onion in the bulbs, corms and tubers. It has recently become a serious problem because of the continuous use of acaricides resulting in resistance among bulb mite population. Thus, there is need to find alternative control measures to suppress bulb mite population. Here, we report the screening result of pathogenic fungi for the control of R. echinopus. Initial screenings were performed using 352 isolates of entomopathogenic fungi from Korea soils. As results, 15 isolates of acaropathogenic fungi showed the pathogenicity to bulb mite supporting fungal conidiation. These isolates were identified as 3 isolates of Metarhizium flavoviride var. pemphigi and 12 isolates of Metarhizium pingshaense by microscopic examination and genetic sequencing of the ITS region and elongation factor-1 alpha. Selected 15 isolates were tested for their virulence against adult R. echinopus and the thermotolerance and the activity to UV-B irradiation of conidia. Additionally, the activities of chitinases and proteases produced by M. pingshaense were compared according to the medium. These acaropathogenic fungi would be considered promising for biological control of bulb mite.