에너지 음료는 카페인을 주성분으로 타우린, 비타민 같은 다른 energy-enhancing 성분을 함유하고 있다. 미국과 유럽에서는 글루쿠로노락톤이 에너지 음료에 첨가될수 있으나, 국내에서 의약품으로는 허가되어 있다. 따라서 식품 첨가물로는 그 사용이 금지 되어 있어, 지속적으로 수입 및 유통 음료에서 시험검사를 하여 규제하고 있다. 현재 분석법으로 사용하는 LC-PDA 법은 복잡한 유도체화 과 정을 거치고, 음료 중에 당류들이 위양성 결과를 나타내 기도 한다. 이런 기존 방법의 단점을 개선하기 위해 HILICESI- MS/MS (hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry) 를 이용한 분석법을 개발하고, 선택성, 직선성, 검출한계, 정량한계, 정밀도, 정확성, 재현성에 대하여 분석법 유효성 검증을 수행했고, AOAC, EURACHEM 가이드라인에 부합되는 결과를 얻었다.

Mealworms, Tenebrio molitor (L.) is used as an important animal feed additive for growth promotion and health management, but potentially exposes to fungal infection. In this work, virulence of two species of entomopathogenic fungi against the insect, and the relationship between abiotic features and virulence were investigated. Secondly our consideration was also given to the effect of chemical fungicides on conidial germination for risk control. Between Beauveria bassiana (Bb) and Metarhizium roberstii (Mr) (previously M. anisopliae), Bb isolates had much higher virulence (~100% mortality in 3~4 days after the treatment), rather than Mr isolates in laboratory assays. Next, fungus-treated mealworms were kept at wheat bran at 20, 25, 30 and 35℃ with 3, 6, 9 times of water spray to the feeds for set-up of different humidity conditions. Inoculation of fungi to mealworms was conducted by fungal spray and feeding methods, which resulted in higher virulence in feeding method. In the feeding method, all temperature treatments except 35℃ showed high virulence against mealworms, but any significant relationship between virulence and humidity was not observed. In the chemical fungicide screening, fluazinam (CAS No. 79622-59-6) and mancozeb (8018-01-7) significantly inhibited the germination of Bb and Mr conidia. This work suggest that contamination of wheat bran with fungal pathogens, particularly B. bassiana may induce mycosis of mealworms, but introduction of effective fungicides possibly reduce fungal infection.

The techniques of IVM, IVF and IVC of canine oocytes may provide useful information for gamete salvage programs and the conservation of endangered canidae. This investigation has been made to determine the efficiency of in vitro maturation (IVM) as a basic experiment to study the development of canine oocytes after in vitro fertilization (IVF). The rate of oocytes developing to the MII stage was higher in the hormone treated group (10 IU/ml hCG+eCG, 14.7%, p<0.05) than in the control group (0 IU/ml hCG+eCG, 10.0%). The monospermy and pronuclear rates of canine oocytes were investigated after caffeine treatment on IVF. Canine oocytes were fertilized in the Fert‐TALP medium supplemented with 0, 10, 20 or 30 mM caffeine (Fert I, Fert II, Fert III or Fert IV, respectively). The highest pronuclear formation rate was obtained in the Fert I for 24 h IVF (6.7%, 6/89). Therefore, it is believed that unlike in other mammals, caffeine in canine IVF does not increase the efficiency of fertilization rate, and is not an important factor.

The vascular system of plants consists of two conducting tissues, xylem and phloem, which differentiate from procambium cells. Xylem serves as a transporting system for water and signaling molecules and is formed by sequential developmental processes, including cell division/expansion, secondary cell wall deposition, vacuole collapse, and programmed cell death (PCD). PCD during xylem differentiation is accomplished by degradation of cytoplasmic constituents, and it is required for the formation of hollow vessels, known as tracheary elements (TEs). Our recent study revealed that the small GTPase RabG3b acts as a regulator of TE differentiation through its autophagic activation. By using an Arabidopsis in vitro cell culture system, we showed that autophagy is activated during TE differentiation. Overexpression of a constitutively active RabG3b (RabG3bCA) significantly enhances both autophagy and TE differentiation, which are consistently suppressed in transgenic plants overexpressing a dominant negative form (RabG3bDN) or RabG3bRNAi (RabG3bRNAi), a brassinosteroidinsensitive mutant bri1-301, and an autophagy mutant atg5-1. Wood (called secondary xylem) is the most abundant biomass produced by land plants including Populus and Eucalyptus, and therefore is considered to be one of the most cost-effective and renewable bioenergy resources. In an attempt to enhance xylem differentiation and thus to improve biomass traits in poplars, we generated transgenic poplars overexpressing the RabG3bCA form. As notable phenotypes, both stem height and diameter were increased and xylem area in vascular bundles was significantly expanded in RabG3bCA transgenic poplars compared to control plants. Taken together, these results demonstrate that RabG3b regulates xylem differentiation in both Arabidopsis and Populus. This study enhances our understanding of biological mechanisms underlying wood formation and serve as a framework to engineer the quality and quantity of wood as useful biomass.

Cryopreservation has been known as an efficient method for long-term preservation of clonally propagated plants, and several cryopreservation methods have been developed. Among them, a droplet-vitrification method for potato using axillary shoot tips in vitro has been established previously. In this study, we have optimized the procedure in which explants were submitted to a step-wise pre-culture in liquid sucrose-enriched medium (0.3 and 0.7 M for 7 and 17 h, respectively). The pre-cultured explants were dehydrated with PVS3 (w/v, 50% glycerol + 50% sucrose) for 90 min or modified PVS2 vitrification solution (w/v, 37.5% glycerol + 15% DMSO + 15.0% ethylene glycol + 22.5% sucrose) for 30 min. This two dehydration solutions produced post-cryopreservation regeneration percentages of 57.2% and 80.9%, respectively. We also compared a new post-culture medium (0.1 mg L ･ -1 GA3, 0.1 mg L ･ -1 kinetin) with the conventional one (0.15 mg L ･ -1 IAA, 0.2 mg L ･ -1 zeatin, 0.05 mg L ･ -1 GA3); the shooting initiation rates were 80.9% and 43.5%, respectively. The results suggest that the modified droplet-vitrification protocol described in this study is more effective, easier to implement, and more economical than the droplet-vitrification protocols currently used for potato.

Most vacuolar proteins are synthesized on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as a proprotein precursor and then transported to vacuoles. In vacuoles, they are converted into the respective mature form. TaVPE1 and TaVPE2 were isolated from the cDNA library that was prepared from the wheat kernels at 16 and 18 days after fertilization (DAF). Additionally, putative TaVPEs (TaVPE3, TaVPE4) were isolated by inverse PCR (IPCR) using GrainGenes database. Each open reading frame (ORF) encodes 495, 497, 495, 456 amino acids, respectively. TaVPEs were closely related in respect to peptide comparisons and their sequence homologies were ranged from 84% to 93%. The TaVPE genes showed various expression patterns in response to exogenous treatment of phytohormones. The transcript of TaVPE1 was detected slightly and steadily after exposure to all phytohormones and the accumulation of TaVPE2 transcript was increased from 24 hours in NaCl treatment. The transcript of TaVPE3 was increased from 48 hours in response to H2O2 and decreased after exogenous application of ABA and salicylic acid. In case of TaVPE4, the transcript of TaVPE4 were weakly detected all time points of each phytohormone treatment.