본 연구는 서해에 위치한 영광 연안해역의 해양수질환경 및 해저퇴적물 환경을 파악하여 기초자료로 제공하고자 한다. 영광 안마도 인근 해역의 21개 정점을 선정하여 2020년 7월에 조사를 실시하였다. 표층해수는 고무 용질의 소형바스켓, 저층은 Van Dorn 채수기를 이용하여 채수하였고, 퇴적물은 Van Veen grab sampler로 채취하였다. 분석항목은 수온, 염분, DO, COD, 영양염류 등 13개의 항목이며, ‘해양환경공정시험기준(해양수산부, 2019)’에 준하여 분석을 실시하였다. 수온은 21.20 ~ 24.20℃, 염분은 31.35 ~ 32.53 psu, 수소이온농도 는 7.62 ~ 8.06, 투명도는 0.20 ~ 3.10 m, 부유물질 농도는 47.00 ~ 455.20 mg/L, COD의 경우에는 0.42 ~ 3.78 mg/L, Chl-a는 0.70 ~ 5.51 μg/L, 용존 무기질소는 0.28 ~ 4.17 uM, 인산은 0.24 ~ 1.14 uM, 규산 규소는 16.28 ~ 35.35 uM, 총 질소는 0.186 ~ 0.542 mg/L, 총 인의 경우 0.037 ~ 0.111 mg/L 의 범위를 나타내었다. 퇴적물 COD의 경우 일본수산용수기준치인 20 mg/g-dry(일본수산자원보호협회편, 2000)보다 낮은 값을 나타내었다. 또한 주성분 분석을 실시하여 해역의 특성을 파악하였다.

Mosquito-borne viral pathogens infect millions of people worldwide, often resulting in fatal infections. Our research interests in mosquito vector biology focuses on understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of mosquito resistance to arbovirus infections. Unlike mammalian cells including humans, for instance, mosquito cells do not show pathologic symptoms when infected by arboviruses. This observation led us to embarking a microarray study to investigate mosquito-virus interactions using Anopheles gambiae and o’nyong-nyong virus (ONNV) as a model system. As a result, we found that transcription of the hsc70B gene is increased about 2.6-fold in ONNV-infected An. gambiae compared to non-infected controls. Subsequently, in vivo RNAi silencing of the hsc70B transcript caused enhanced ONNV replication in female mosquitoes. Therefore, these results suggest that the hsc70B protein has an inhibitory effect on ONNV replication. A promoter analysis of the hsc70B locus further demonstrated that the hsc70B promoter is able to induce transcription of hsc70B in response to ONNV infection. In addition, hsc70B transcription was also induced by West Nile or La Crosse virus infection. Collectively, our findings indicate that hsc70B plays a role in suppressing virus replication as a general antiviral mechanism. Implications of hsc70B research and our other research endeavors toward the control of mosquito-borne infectious diseases will be discussed.