Bombolitin is a venom peptide originally isolated from bumblebees and possesses various biological activities, including hemolytic activity. Bombolitins exhibit amphipathic α-helical structure in lipid-membrane-mimicking environments. To investigate their pharmacological and toxicological properties, anti-tumor, anti-microbial and cytotoxic activities of bombolitins from Bombus ardens and Bombus ussurensis were evaluated. Bombolitins of the two species exhibited extremely high anti-tumor activity against ovarian tumor cells SK-OV-3 and NIH; OVCAR-3 at 25-50 μM, which is 2-fold more potent than other wasp venom peptides studied to date (Yoon et al., 2015; Yoon et al., 2016). The two bombolitins showed significantly high antimicrobial activity. However, bombolotin of B. ussurensis showed no antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli. In addition to their high levels of anti-tumor activity, bombolitins showed considerable levels of hemolytic activity. Thus, to utilize bombolitins as a potential candidate for anti-tumor peptide drugs, further studies for reducing cytotoxic properties of bombolitns is essential.

It was previously pointed out that mutation is the ultimate source of variation. Adequate variation is needed for plant breeding if there is a limitation in natural genetic resources. When the ionizing radiation has been known to cause chromosomal and genomic alternations, it is widely used for inducing mutagenesis. The electron beam as an ionizing radiation is the principal physical mutagens that induces mutation and effectively used in plant breeding. Since dose-response relationships of electron beam in plant species are rarely known, we investigated the seed germination rate and early seedling growth of irradiated seeds of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds., cv Penn-A1) with various electron beam irradiating conditions (1, 1.3, 2 MeV at both 0.03 mA and 0.06 mA with dose of 100 Gy (Gray) and 0.03, 1, 1.3, 2 MeV at 0.03 mA with dose of 200 Gy, respectively) using electron accelerator at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The growth parameters in terms of shoot length, primary root length, and secondary root length showed similar response between 0.06 / 1 (mA / MeV) at 100 Gy and 0.03 / 0.3 (mA / MeV) at 200 Gy. Bentgrass seed germination was mainly affected by the intensity of irradiated dose (Gray). Germination rate was lowered as the irradiated dose increased. On the other hand, early seedling growth was mainly governed not by the dose of radiation but by voltage.

The direct use of mutation is a valuable approach to generate variability in crops. The electron beam, one of the ionizing radiations, has been applied to evaluate its effect on seed germination and early seedling growth of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds., cv Penn-A1). The mature dry seeds were irradiated with various electron beam energies (0.3, 1.0, 1.3, and 2 MeV) and current levels (0.03 and 0.06 mA). Although large variability was existed within each dose, distinct difference of germiability and seedling vigor were not found at 0.3 MeV / 0.03 mA and 0.3 MeV / 0.06 mA beam condition. However, 1.0 MeV / 0.06 mA application most effectively inhibited and retarded seed germination and most severely restricted cotyledon and root growth in early seedling growth. The direct use of electron beam would be a valuable supplementary approach to generate mutants suitable for breeding purposes.

and the very short stem cultivar "Satonoca". "Sangpyeong" with Virginia plant type has more branch number with early floweringand ellipse-shaped large kernel, compared with the check cultivar. Each pod has two grains with brown testa and 100 seed weightwa

A new vegetable peanut cultivar "Baekan" (Arachis hypogaea ssp.fastigiata. L.) was developed at the Yeongnam Agri-flowering and long ellipse-shaped large kemel. Each pod with very shallow constriction had two grains with brown testa and 100 seed weight wa