Apple pomace is a by-product from the apple processing industry and has the potential to support the growth of microorganisms. In this study, the effect of apple pomace on the growth rate of Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium was investigated. The mycelial growth dramatically increased by 34.5, 20 and 26% in solid culture, liquid culture, and solid-state fermentation, respectively, by adding 2.5% apple pomace. However, the growth of P. ostreatus mycelia was slightly inhibited by adding 5 or 10% compared to 2.5% apple pomace. Our findings reveal that apple pomace utilization can become a model for the valuable addition of similar wastes, and for the development of a solid-state fermenter.

Ganoderma lucidum has long been used as a potent medicinal plant. In addition, recent studies showed that G. lucidum is used to prevent or treat various human diseases such as allergy, hepatopathy, hypertension, cancer and diabetes. In this study showed that ethanol extract from G. lucidum have potential inhibitory effects of glycerol 3-phosphat acyltransferase (GPAT) activity and increase of glucose uptake on skeletal muscle cells. Inhibition of GPAT, which catalyze the first step in de novo TAG synthesis, has been proposed as one of the drug targets for insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes. G. lucidum extract inhibited GPAT activity. Bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation of bio-active substances from ethanol extracts of G. lucidum were carried out by using chromatographic techniques and in vitro GPAT enzyme assay. One of bioactive molecules, ergosterol peroxide, was isolated and identified by physical and spectral properties. In this study showed that ethanol extract from G. lucidum and ergosterol peroxide have potential anti- diabetes effects through the increase of glucose uptake. This was as sociated with increased activity AMP-activated protein kinase(AMPK). AMPK is another regulatory protein in the glucose uptake pathway and energy metabolism. The result was that the increase of glucose uptake by G. lucidum extract might be mediated by AMPK.

The effects of Ganoderma lucidum on glucose uptake was studied in L6 rat skeletal muscle cells. Glucose uptake in muscle cell was increased about 6-fold compared to control by mushroom extract treatment. This increasing effect to the glucose uptake was observed in muscle cells cultured with or without insulin. The levels of phosphor-acetyl CoA carboxylase were upregulated by G. lucidum extract treatment in insulinstimulated and basal culture conditions. However, G. lucidum extract did not affect protein kinaseB/Akt(Akt) level. Furthermore, the expression of phosphor-AMPactivated protein kinase(AMPK) was also up-regulated. AMPK is another regulatory protein in the glucose uptake pathway and energy metabolism. Thus, the treatment of G. lucidum extract in skeletal muscle cells increased the phosphorylation levels of AMPK and acetyl-CoA carboxylase, showing that the increase of glucose uptake by G. lucidum extract might be mediated via the activation of AMPK signaling pathway

For 26 soil series distributed more than 1% among 63 soil series in Jeju Island, natural uncultivated soil samples were collected. For these soils, the chemical speciation of eight heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) was examined. Further, the Plant Bioavailability (PB) and Mobility Factor (MF) of these heavy metals were evaluated using Tessier’s 5-step sequential extraction method (exchangeable, carbonate, reducible (bound to Fe/Mn oxides), oxidizable (bound to organic matter), and residual fraction). The main form present was residual fraction for Cd and Zn; residual and oxidizable fractions for Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pb; reducible fraction for Mn; and carbonate fraction for V. The average plant availability and average mobility factor were found to be V (57.37%) > Zn (12.49%) > Cd (11.76%) > Cu (11.19%) > Pb (9.37%) > Cr (9.09%) > Mn (3.13%) > Ni (2.63%), and Mn (61.04%) > V (59.94%) > Zn (31.54%) > Cd (17.65%) > Cr (15.66%) > Ni (13.89%) > Pb (13.80%) > Cu (13.53%), respectively.

For 63 soil series distributed in Jeju Island, natural uncultivated soils in each soil series were collected, and their physicochemical properties and their concentrations of 19 heavy metals including 8 heavy metals which are regulated by Korean Soil Environment Conservation Law, were analyzed. Moreover, the correlations between physicochemical properties and heavy metal concentrations, and between heavy metal concentrations were analyzed. The heavy metals distributed in the higher concentrations and the lower concentrations with arithmetric mean value, were Mn(730 mg/kg) and Ba(493 mg/kg), and Hg(0.146 mg/kg) and Tl(0.096 mg/kg), respectively. The correlations between pH(H2O) and heavy metals(Hg, Ni, Co, Se), between pH(NaF) and heavy metals(Hg, Ba, Se, Tl), and between organic matter content and heavy metals(Hg, Tl) were significant at the 0.01 level. From the correlations between heavy metal concentrations, there were 22 where there were significant at the 0.01 level and they showed positive correlation. Among those, the heavy metals showing the correlation higher than r=0.5, were Sb-V(0.878), Mo-Sn(0.867), Co-V(0.654), Co-Sb(0.648), Be-Sn(0.546), and Sn-Tl(0.528).