The red imported fire ant (RIFA, Solenopsis invicta Buren) is defined as invasive species and one of 100 most threaten alien species in world by IUCN. In Korea, RIFA has been first detected at September 28th, 2017 in Busan Port during surveillance by Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA). The RIFA colony was revealed as a polygyne and H5 type through epidemiological analysis on Gp-9 gene and mt-DNA haplotype. APQA has developed eradication program for RIFA with enhanced surveillance in all nationwide Ports and Internal Container Depots. There are subsequently 7 times more invasions of RIFA in Ports (Busan, Pyongeaek, and Incheon) including 2 times of inlands (Daegu and Ansan) and completely eradicated so far. International trade and climate change increases possibility of establishment and spreading of RIFA in Korea. Therefore, it must be required an international cooperation for prevention of global spreading of RIFA between countries.

The red-spotted apollo butterfly, Parnassius bremeri, immatures grow during winter and spring. Supercooling point of larvae during January goes much below -20℃. Morphologically, the larvae appear to be adapted to cold temperatures. Dark-colored body surface is useful to absorb solar energy and spiny integument may prevent any external ice formation on the body surface. Biochemically, P. bremeri larvae elevate glycerol as a cryoprotectant. This study reports two genes associated with glycerol biosynthesis in P. bremeri. Larval transcripts were analyzed using RNA-Seq technique. A total of 14 Gb transcripts were read by Illumina HiSeq and assembled to be 127,279 contigs. To specify the the genes associated with glycerol biosynthesis, a biosynthetic pathway to synthesize glycerol from dihydroxyacetone-3-phosphate was predicted with two genes of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) and glycerol kinase (GK). Both genes were annotated in the transcriptome of P. bremeri. Pb-GPDH encodes 166 amino acid residues containing NAD+-binding region, catalytic site, and calcium binding region. The predicted amino acid sequence was clustered with other lepidpopteran GPDH genes. Three Pb-GK genes were annotated from the transcriptome. Pb-GK1 encodes a full open reading frame of 514 amino acid residues. A ohylogenetic analysis showed that these three GKs were separately clustered. Interestingly, Pb-GK1 was clustered with other GKs that were known to be associated with rapid cold hardiness.

This study aims to examine curvilinearly moderating effects of task interdependence on the relationship between demographic faultlines and group performance. It posits that the degree of task interdependence has an impact on the effects of demographic faultlines. It was conducted in six organizations in Korea, their industries including heavy industries, hospital, construction, petrochemical, fine chemicals, and system integration. The survey was distributed to 1330 individuals in 162 teams and 1082 individuals in 137 teams responded to the questionnaire. To test the hypotheses including nonlinear interactions, we conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to the survey data from 82 groups within six firms in Korea. The results show that for groups that experience a high level of task interdependence, the slope for the regression of demographic faultlines on group performance is comparatively low and, at the low level of task interdependence, insignificant. However, at intermediate levels of task interdependence, the association was strongly negative and significant. This study finds that the negative relationship between demographic faultlines and group performance is stronger when task interdependence is moderate than when task interdependence is high or low. Therefore, managers should pay attention to optimal group design by carefully assigning tasks in diverse and divided groups.

Due to modern trends with postponing child-bearing and getting worse living environment in women, an ovarian aging increased pregnancy failure and other complications with menopause or premature ovarian failure. Although several theories have been suggested such as mitochondrial malfunction, DNA damage/repair/methylation, caloric restriction, studies regarding ovarian aging-related molecular mechanisms for development of therapeutic methods are insufficient so far. Our objective is to determine molecular pathways of ovarian aging that result in pregnancy failure and other complications in women health to develop treatment strategies. This study is consisted of two parts: in Phase I stage, we analyzed distinct gene expression profile between young and aged mouse ovaries, and in Phase II stage several preferentially expressed genes in both ovaries were selected and analyzed their physiological functions and involved molecular networks related to ovarian aging for development of diagnostic markers and therapeutic methods. Ovaries from 10 week and 11 month-old FVB/NJ female mice with synchronized estrus cycle were collected for this study. A half of each ovary was used for RNA preparation and the other half for histological analysis. Using the Illumina HiSeq 2000 System, preferentially expressed genes were identified. Functional annotation database-based gene-set enrichment analyses and Pathway Studio® were employed to evaluate aging-related molecular networks. These findings were confirmed through qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. To validate RNA-Seq data, we examined expression patterns of marker genes (Amh, Bmp15 and Nobox) that were wellknown to be decreased in ovarian aging process. In young or aged ovary, preferentially expressed 876 genes were identified and extracellular matrix (ECM; p<0.001) and chromatin/nucleosome-related (p<0.001) protein-coded genes have the majority in these genes by GOTERM analysis. Amongthem, we selected several candidate genes and confirmed their expression profiles by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry followed by molecular network analysis. Regarding molecular interactions in these genes, PathwayStudio® was employed to predict aging-involved molecular networks in mouse ovary. Here we report a couple of candidate molecular networks and medicines (chemicals) for targeting these preferentially expressed genes/proteins. Further analyses are scheduled to produce transgenic animal models and with human ovarian tissues/cell lines.