Wolfiporia cocos is an edible fungus commercially cultivated in Asia. To investigate metabolic changes of W. cocos mycelia under both light and dark culture conditions, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses were performed. In terms of the total amount of sugars, alcohols, amino acids, organic acids, fatty acids, and purines, there no significant differences between the W. cocos mycelia cultivated under light (L) or dark (D) conditions (p < 0.05). However, there were some differences with respect to the production of particular sugars and proteins. The levels of trehalose (L: 17.2 ± 0.3% vs. D: 13.9 ± 1.6%), maltose (L: 0.9 ± 0.1% vs. D: 0.3 ± 0.1%), turanose (L: 0.7 ± 0.2% vs. D: 0.1 ± 0.1%), glutamine (L: 1.6 ± 0.3% vs. D: 0.7 ± 0.2%), and proline (L: 0.3 ± 0% vs. D: 0.1 ± 0%) were all significantly higher under light condition (p < 0.05). In contrast, the levels of galactose (L: 13.7 ± 1.2% vs. D: 17.6 ± 2.0%), aspartic acid (L: 0.6 ± 0.1 % vs. D: 0.9 ± 0.1%), cystathionine (L: 0.6 ± 0.1% vs. D: 0.8 ± 0 %), and malic acid (L: 0.7 ± 0.1% vs. D: 1.2 ± 0.1%) were higher under the dark condition. It is worth noting that the amount of pachymic acid, a pharmaceutically active compound of W. cocos, was 1.68 times greater under the light condition (p < 0.05).

Agricultural by-productsis a rich source of dietary fibers including arabinoxylans, which is found mainly in water-insoluble form and reported to have immunomodulatory activities. We investiglatedwhether solublearabinoxylan (AX)-enriched byproducts alters macrophage activity.Agricultural by-products wereorally given to mice for 4 weeks. Peritoneal macrophages from mice were assayed for scavenger receptor expression, phagocytosis, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated responses. Serum levels of inflammatory cytokines were determined 1 hour after intraperitoneal injection of LPS. Agricultural by-productstreated mice showed a higher expression of SRA and CD36, accompanied by enhanced phagocytosis of latex beads, relative to control mice. Upon stimulation with LPS ex vivo, macrophages from the byproducts group showed lower levels of CD86 and CD40 at the surface protein level and lower production of NO, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-6, compared with the control group. Theagricultural by-products group showed a decrease in serum levels of LPS-induced TNF-αand IL-6, while mice given crude byproducts, which was prepared without enzymatic hydrolysis, showed a reduction only in serum TNF-α,indicating that soluble arabinoxylans contributes to the immunomodulatory effect ofagricultural by-products. Our data present evidence that soluble arabinoxylan-enriched agricultural by-products can be an immune enhancing functional food.

Periodontal ligament (PDL) tissue is a connective tissue that is interposed between the roots of the teeth and the inner wall of the alveolar bone socket. PDL is always exposed to physiologic mechanical force such as masticatory force and PDL cells play important roles during orthodontic tooth movement by synthesizing and secreting different mediators involved in bone remodeling. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was recently shown to play a significant role in the control of bone formation. In the present study, we applied cyclic tensile stress of 20% elongation to cultured human PDL cells and assessed its impact after six days upon components of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. RTPCR analysis showed that Wnt1a, Wnt3a, Wnt10b and the Wnt receptor LRP5 were down-regulated, whereas the Wnt inhibitor DKK1 was up-regulated in response to these stress conditions. In contrast, little change was detected in the mRNA expression of Wnt5a, Wnt7b, Fz1, and LRP6. By western blotting we found decreased expression of the β-catenin and p-GSK-3β proteins. Our results thus show that mechanical stress suppresses the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in PDL cells.

In crop breeding program, information about genetic dissimilarity on breeding resources is very important to corroborate genealogical relationships and to predict the most heterozygotic hybrid combinations and inbred breeding. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic variation in Kenyan sunflower breeding lines based on simple sequence repeat (SSR). A total of 83 alleles were detected at 32 SSR loci. The allele number per locus ranged from 2 to 7 with an average of 2.7 alleles per locus detected from the 24 sunflower accessions and the average value of polymorphic information contents (PIC) were 0.384. A cluster analysis based on the genetic similarity coefficients was conducted and the 24 sunflower breeding resources were classified into three groups. The principal coordinates (PCoA) revealed 34% and 13.38% respectively, and 47.38% of total variation. It was found that the genetic diversity within the Kenyan sunflower breeding resources was narrower than that in other sunflower germplasm resources, suggesting the importance and feasibility of introducing elite genotypes from different origins for selection of breeding lines with broader genetic base in Kenyan sunflower breeding program.

콩에서 돌연변이를 효율적으로 유기시킬 수 있는 적정 EMS농도를 결정하기 위하여, 황금콩, 장엽콩, 검정콩 001에 30, 50, 70mM EMS세 수준으로 처리 한 다음 M1 종자의 포장발아율과 M2 세대의 돌연변이체 출현빈도율을 조사하였으며 다량 뿌리혹형성 변이체 선발을 위하여 신팔달콩002 종자 약 18,000립에 30mM EMS를 처리하여 M2 세대에서 선발하고, 선발된 변이체의 뿌리혹 형성능력을 미국 초다뿌리혹형성 nts계통과 비교한 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. M1 종자의 포장출현율은 검정콩 001가 황금콩과 장엽콩보다 높은 경향이었으며, 세 품종 모두 EMS처리 농도가 증가함에 따라 포장출현율이 낮았다. 2. M2 세대에서 돌연변이개체는 엽록소 결핍개체가 가장 많이 출현하였는데, 그외에도 생장점괴사, 엽이상, 엽수변이체, 단경 등 다양한 변이양상을 보였다. 3. 30mM EMS처리가 포장발아율도 높고, 돌연변이개체 출현율도 50, 70mM에 비하여 양호한 편으로 판단되었다. 4. 신팔달콩 002로부터 30mM EMS처리에 의하여 M2 세대에서 뿌리혹 형성 nts계통보다도 많은 뿌리혹이 형성되었으며, 뿌리혹형성도 일찍 시작되었다.