Bacillus thuringiensis, an entomopathogenic bacterium belonging to the B. cereus group, harbors numerous extra-chromosomal DNA molecules whose sizes range from 2 to 250 kb. In this study, we used a plasmid capture system (PCS) to clone three small plasmids from B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki K1 using PCS which were not found in B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD-1, and determined the complete nucleotide sequence of plasmid pK1S-1 (5.5 kb). Of the six putative open reading frames (ORF2-ORF7) in pK1S-1, ORF2 (MobK1) showed approximately 90% aa identity with the Mob-proteins of pGI2 and pTX14-2, which are rolling circle replicating group VII (RCR group VII) plasmids from B. thuringiensis. In addition, a putative origin of transfer (oriT) showed 95.8% identity with those of pGI2 and pTX14-2. ORF3 (RepK1) showed relatively low aa identity (17.8-25.2%) with the Rep protein coded by RCR plasmids, however. The putative double-strand origin of replication (dso) and single-strand origin of replication (sso) of pK1S-1 exhibited approximately 70% and 64% identities with those of pGI2 and pTX14-2. ORF6 and 7 showed greater than 50% similarities with alkaline serine protease, which belongs to the subtilase family. The other 2 ORFs were identified as hypothetical proteins. To determine the replicon of pK1S-1, seven subclones were contructed in the B. t huringiensis ori-negative pHT1K vector and were electroporated into a plasmid cured B. thuringiensis strain. The 1.6 kb region that included the putative ORF3 (Rep1K), dso and ORF4, exhibited replication ability. These findings identified pK1S-1 as a new RCR group VII plasmid, and determined its replication region.

Recently, we constructed a novel recombinant baculovirus genome, bEasyBac, enabling easy and fast generation of pure recombinant baculovirus without any purification step. In the bEasyBac, bacteriophage lambda site-specific attachment (att) sites were introduced to facilitate the generation of recombinant viral genome by in vitro transposition. Moreover, extracellular RNase gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, barnase, was expressed under the control of Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV) ORF3005 early promoter to negatively select against non-recombinant background. The bEasyBac could replicate in host insect cells only when the barnase gene was replaced to gene of interest by in vitro transposition. When the bEasyBac was transposed with pDualBac-EGFP and the EGFP expression efficiency along passage was investigated, the resulting recombinant virus, EasyBac-EGFP, showed comparable level of EGFP expression efficiency with the plaque-purified recombinant virus, AcEGFP, which was constructed using bAcGOZA system, whereas, the non-purified AcEGFP showed quite reduced level of EGFP along passages. Moreover, no non-recombinant backgrounds were detected from unpurified EasyBac-EGFP stocks. Based on these results, high-throughput condition for generation of multiple recombinant viruses in a time was established. These results suggest that the bEasyBac has an effective benefit enabling for high-throughput baculovirus expression vector without purifying recombinant virus.

하천수 가뭄을 평가하기 위하여 임계수준 방법을 이용한 하천수 가뭄지수 (streamflow drought index)를 소개하고 섬진강댐의 유입량을 대상으로 적용하였다. 사용한 임계수준은 고정, 월별 및 일별로써 연도별 가뭄의 1순 ~3순위 분석결과, 1984년, 1988년과 1995년이 수문학적 가뭄의 크기도 컸고 오랫동안 지속되었다. 총 물 부족량과 지속기간의 극한값을 연도별로 비교해 본 바, 1984년, 1988년, 1995년과 2001년에 발생하였던 사상이 심각한 수준이었다. 연구결과, 고정 임계수준은 계절 변동성을 반영하지 못하는 단점이 있어서 최소한 계절 이하의 임계수준 사용이 요구되었지만 월별과 일별로 정해진 임계수준은 적정하였다. 본 연구에서 제안한 방법론은 갈수예보 및 저수지 용량결정에 활용될 수 있겠다.

본 연구에서는 2013년 영산강과 섬진강 유역에 발생한 강우 및 홍수사상을 평년 및 예년과 비교하여 분석하였다. 분석결과, 6월, 8월∼9월은 평년대비 50% 수준에 그쳤으나, 7월은 장마전선의 영향으로 4일부터 7일까지 유역평균 250mm 강우를 기록하였다. 8월은 작년과 달리 태풍의 직접적인 영향이 없었으나, 23일과 24일에는 유역평균 140mm의 호우가 집중되었다. 강우에 따른 수위 변화를 알아보면 연중 최고수위가 7월 5일에 발생하였고, 이 때에 선암(황룡강), 나주(영산강), 구례2와 송정지점(섬진강)에 홍수주의보가 발령되기도 하였다. 농업용 저수지(광주, 담양, 장성과 나주) 및 다목적 댐(섬진강, 주암, 탐진)의 11월말 수위를 보면 전반적으로 전년에 비하여 낮은 편이었고, 그 중 광주댐은 전년대비 4.60m, 섬진강댐은 9.15m으로 낮은 편이었다.