Salt stress is one of major restrictions for the production of lettuce. In order to identify promising lettuce genotypes having tolerance against salt stress, effect of different sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations (0, 100, and 200 mM) on electrolyte leakage and growth of thirty-two lettuce landraces from Korea was evaluated. Screening salt tolerant genotypes based on cluster analysis using data of electrolyte leakage discriminated 'IT105183' and 'IT195057' as the most salt tolerant landraces. More importantly, salinity significantly reduced growth of lettuce, but the reduction rates of growth caused by salt stress in salt-tolerant genotypes were much smaller than those in salt-sensitive genotypes. These results indicate that 'IT105183' and 'IT195057' have high potential for being used as parents to improve salt tolerance in other lettuce cultivars.

Background : This study was development of moisture tolerance and high-yielding Rehmannia glutinosa cultivar. Methods and Results : Segang is developed by the medicinal crop breeding team of National Institute of Horticulture and Herbal Science(NIHHS), Rural Development Administration(RDA), during the period from 2005 to 2015. The reproduction of Rehmannia glutinosa has been accomplished mainly by vegetative propagation with its seedlings have many variants. The cultivar was selected from seedling of Jihwang 1(check variety). The plant type of Segang is some rising from ground. Regional yield trials conducted at three site from 2014 to 2015. The root yield of Segang was 21.1ton per hectare, which was increased 12% compared with Jihwang 1. Also, Segang has higher catalpol content and dried root ratio compared with Jihwang 1. Conclusion : Segang is a moisture tolerance and high-yielding Rehmannia glutinosa cultivar.

This study was carried out to investigate and assess the cold tolerance of 24 species broad-leaved evergreen trees in southern region, South Korea, and propose the selection for urban greening responsive to the climate change. The cold stressed impact of each species was measured and calculated by the electrolyte leakage (EL) method, and then the lethal temperature was predicted by the non-linear regression analysis. The scattered plots and fitted curves of most species tended to show sigmoidal response curve. On assessing the EL values and sigmoidal response curve pattern with different temperature, the differences were obviously showed among all the species. Also, among the species within the same family, the differences were obviously showed. The maximum temperature difference among the species was over 10℃. Between Ilex rutunda and Ilex integra within the same family, Aquifoliaceae, it was over 10℃. The results indicate that there are significant differences in cold tolerance among different species in the same region, which are not affected by any environmental factors but affected by any genetical factors. Thus it is valuable to assess the cold tolerance on most broad-leaved evergreen trees in southern region, South Korea. As a result, Euonymus japonicus, Trachelospermum asiaticum, Dendropanax morbiferus, Ilex integra, Machilus thunbergii, Ilex x wandoensis, Cinnamomum japonicum, Distylium racemosum, and Castanopsis sieboldii may have better cold tolerance and survive the region closer to middle region, South Korea compared to the others.

Based on the fabrication experiences of modulization in the global country, tolerance guide of SC module was issued in the their Design Code. In case of KEPIC Code 2015, we have the same level of tolerance guide with other countries. But we need more specific technology and accuracy control system.

Leaf water and osmotic potential, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, and electrolyte leakage were measured to evaluate tolerance to water stress in wild-type (WT) and transgenic tobacco plants (TR) expressing copper/zink superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in chloroplasts. Leaf water potential of both WT and TR plants decreased similarly under water stress condition. However, leaf osmotic potential of TR plants more negatively decreased in the process of dehydration, compared with WT plants, suggesting osmotic adjustment. Stomatal conductance (Gs) in WT plants markedly decreased from the Day 4 after withholding water, while that in TR plants retained relatively high values. Relatively low chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate under water stress were shown in WT plants since 4th day after treatment. In particular, damage indicated by electrolyte leakage during water stress was higher in WT plants than in TR plants. On the other hand, SOD and APX activity was remarkably higher in TR plants. These results indicate that transgenic tobacco plants expressing copper/zink superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in chloroplasts improve tolerance to water stress.

Even though phosphorus (P) is essential element for plant growth and development, it is not enough for crop production in soil. To breed more P deficient tolerance rice, screening and selection in rice population is needed. We tried to develop more simple and rough screening method for breeding of P deficient tolerance rice. In P deficient condition, tiller number was dramatically decreased among yield components in rice. Though this result, we confirmed tiller number could be the best marker in screening of P deficient tolerance rice. 480 rice genetic resources were cultivated in rice bed tray filled with P deficient soil for four weeks and each dry weight was measured. Among them, the 55 kinds of genetic resource were selected then cultivated in paddy field with 3 fertilizer conditions. Plant dry weight and tiller number in ripening stage were shown significant difference according to P condition. Plant dry weight and tiller number in ripening stage was highly correlated especially in P deficient condition. Furthermore, the tiller number in ripening stage and plant dry weight in rough screening were shown high degree correlation. Though these results, we might expect measuring of plant dry weight after cultivation in rice bed tray filled with P deficient soil could be a simple and effective screening method in selection of P deficient tolerance rice.

Drought stress has detrimental effects on the seedling development, vegetative/ reproductive growth, photosynthesis, root proliferation, anthesis, anthesis-silking interval (ASI), pollination and grain yield in maize. Typically, two weeks before silking through pollination are an important time in maize life. Here we reviewed the effects of drought stress on growth, physiological/ molecular researches for drought tolerance, and breeding to genomics in maize. Drought stress during kernel development increases leaf dying and lodging, decreases grain filling period and grain yield. Physiological factors of drought stress/ effects are water content, water deficits, and water potential. Nowdays molecular marker assisted breeding method is becoming increasingly useful in the improvement of new germplasm with drought stress tolerance.

‘해안’은 조숙, 내병, 내도복성 유채 1대잡종으로 식용 및 바이오디젤 생산용으로 적합하다. 2008년에 웅성불임인 목포 -CGMS와 임성회복 화분친인 8516-B-5-6-5-3을 교배하여 생산력검정시험(2009 ~ 2010)과, 지역적응시험(2011 ~ 2013)을 거쳐, 2014년에 육성된 품종이다. ‘해안’의 엽형은 하부익상 전렬형이고 결각은 중간 정도이다. 엽색은 짙은 녹색이며, 화 색은 선황색, 종자색은 갈색이 섞인 검은색이다. ‘해안’의 성 숙일은 6월 4일로 ‘선망’보다 4일 정도 빨라 조숙성이다. ‘해 안’의 수량은 10 a당 272 kg로 같은 1대잡종인 ‘선망’에 비해 6% 증수되었다. ‘해안’의 기름함량은 44.2%이고, 지방산 중에루신산은 없는 반면 올레인산의 함량은 69.8%로 높아 식용 및 바이오디젤 생산용으로 적합하다. 글루코시놀레이트 함량 은 1.84 mg/g으로 국제허용기준치인 3.0 mg/g 이하였다. ‘해 안’은 제주도를 포함하는 전라남도, 전라북도, 경상남도 등 남 부지역에서 재배에 적합한 품종이다.

This study as a part of an extensive green roof system development was carried out to assess the heat tolerance of 11 species Sedum spp. on the extensive green roof system: S. kamtschaticum, S. oryzifolium, S. polystichoides, S. sarmentosum, S. acre, S. album, S. reflexum, S. rupestre, S. sexangulare, S. spurium, and S. telephium. Electrolyte leakage evaluation was used to estimate the heat tolerance level of each Sedum at 40°C, 45°C, 47.5°C, 50°C, 52.5°C, 55°C, and 57.5°C. The critical temperatures at the midpoints of sigmoidal curves fitted through electrolyte leakage (EL) were predicted with the range of 54.0°C to 65.2°C. S. album, S. telephium, and S. sexangulare were more tolerant of high temperature than the others. In field condition, the heat tolerance of 11 species Sedum spp. applied to the suggested extensive green roof system was also estimated by EL evaluation. The EL (%) values of 11 species Sedum spp. subjected to maximum temperature (46.7°C) recorded during the experimental periods were lower than 50% except S. kamtschaticum and S. spurium. Especially, S. album, S. rupestre, and S. telephium were ranked higher than the others in heat tolerance. The most Sedum spp. would show good heat tolerance on the extensive green roof system if the maximum temperature on rooftop was below 50°C in summer season.

하얀찰95는 2011년에 농촌진흥청 국립식량과학원에서 개발한 단교잡종 찰옥수수로 이삭의 색깔은 흰색이며 자식계통 KW44를 종자친으로 하고 KW35를 화분친으로 한다. 하얀찰95의 출사일수는 일미찰(표준품종)보다 3일정도 빠르고 하얀찰95의 이삭길이는 18.3 cm, 이삭직경은 4.1 cm였으며 착립장률은 90%로 일미찰보다 낮은 수준이었다. 아밀로펙틴함량은 92%로 일미찰과 동일한 수준이었고 조명나방과 도복은 표준품종보다 우수하였다. 2009년부터 2011년까지 지역적응시험에서 하얀찰95의 단위면적당 이삭수는 일미찰과 유사하였지만 이삭중은 낮았으며 채종시험결과 종자친과 화분친간 개화기는 잘 일치하였지만 채종량은 낮았다.

High temperature is one of major environmental stress. Heat tolerance managing is difficult through the phenotypic selection, so marker assistant selection (MAS) using molecular markers like as RAPD, SSR etc. was tried to select useful traits for heat tolerance. Fourteen SSR markers reported by previous research were selected for this research. We tried to evaluate 14 SSR markers for MAS using 31 useful wheat resources including 24 crossing line from Turkey, six Korean wheat cultivars and Chinese spring. The average of the number of alleles and PIC values in this study were 6.14 and 0.64, respectively. Two major clades and four sub clades were grouped by phylogenetic tree using UPGMA. Four Korean wheat cultivars were distinct from other Turkey resources in the phylogenetic dendrogram. From the results, we expected that these markers were able to adapt to screening wheat genotyping for heat tolerance.

‘중모 7002’는 유채 중간모본으로 1984년에 ‘RS10//Erra/Tower’를 모본으로 하고, ‘RS10’을 부본으로 하여 인공교배하여 육성하였다. ‘중모 7002’는 엽형은 하부익상전렬으로 결각은 중간이며, 잎색은 짙은 녹색, 줄기색은 갈색이 섞인 녹색, 꽃색은 황색, 종피색은 흑색이다. ‘중모 7002’의 개화기(4월 16일)와 성숙기(6월 9일)는 ‘한라유채’와 비슷하였으나, 개화초기에 일시에 개화하는 개화균일도가 매우 좋았으며, 도복저항성도 ‘한라유채’에 비하여 좋게 나타났다. ‘중모7002’의 수량은 지역적응시험 결과 10 a당 247 kg로 ‘한라유채’의 208 kg에 비해 16% 증수되었다. ‘중모 7002’의 기름함량은 44.3%이고, 올레인산의 함량은 70.8%로 ‘한라유채’에 비하여 각각 0.5%와 3.3% 높게 나타났으며, 구루코시노레이트 함량은 1.91 mg/g으로 국제허용기준치인 3.0 mg/g 이하로 나타났다. ‘중모 7002’의 재배적지는 우리나라의 서남부지역인 전라남도, 전라북도, 경상남도 및 제주특별자치도이다.

Soybean germplasm have diverse accessions with great variation in their ability to survive and reproduce under salt stress conditions. In general, cultivated soybeans are more sensitive to salt stress than their wild relatives, however exceptions are found in both the groups. These variations in response to salt stress makes soybean germplasm an interesting collection of genetic resources to be explored for the identification of salt-tolerance genes, and their mechanism of action. Here, in this report we presented a data showing differential response of selected accessions of both cultivated and wild soybeans to salt stress. Two modes of salt treatment; gradual salt stress (GS) as well as salt shock (SS) were used in this study. The GS was found more effective in finding the difference in response of soybean accessions to salt stress. Various genetic marker based methods are in use to identify and isolate the potential genes contributing to the salt tolerance in soybean. Even then there is a paucity of knowledge on the key genes contributing to the salt tolerance in soybean. We expect that a recently developed functional screen based method, like yeast based functional screen, using cDNA library generated from different salt tolerant accessions of soybean could lead to identification of novel genes responsible for salt tolerance in soybean. Also, we propose for the use of RNA isolated from different stages of GS and SS for making cDNA library to be used for functional screening.

Plants are constantly exposed to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses, which include pathogens and conditions of high salinity, low temperature, and drought. Abscisic acid (ABA) is a major plant hormone involved in signal transduction pathways that mediate the defense response of plants to abiotic stress. Previously, we isolated Ring finger protein gene (CaRING1) frompepper(Capsicum annuum), which is associated with resistance to bacterial pathogens, accompanied by hypersensitive cell death. Here, we report a new function of the CaRING1 gene product in the ABA-mediated defense responses of plants to drought stress. The expression of the CaRING1 gene was induced in pepper leaves treated with ABA or exposed to drought or NaCl. CaRING1-overexpressing (OX) transgenic plants showed enhanced sensitivity to ABA during the seedling growth and establishment. Furthermore, these plants were more tolerant to drought stress than the wild-type plants because of enhanced stomatal closure and increased expression of stress-responsive genes. Together, these results suggest that the CaRING1 acts as positive factor for drought tolerance in Arabidopsis by modulating ABA-mediated stomatal closing and gene expression.

In plants, lipoxygenases (LOXs) are involved in various physiological processes, including defense responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Our previous study has shown that pepper 9-LOX gene, CaLOX1, plays a crucial role in cell death due to pathogen infection. Here, the function of CaLOX1 in response to osmotic, drought, and high salinity was examined using CaLOX1-overexpressing (CaLOX1-OX) Arabidopsis plants. Changes in the temporal expression pattern of the CaLOX1 gene were observed when pepper leaves were treated with drought and high salinity, but not with abscisic acid (ABA), the primary hormone in response to drought stress. During seed germination and seedling development, CaLOX1-OX plants were more tolerant to ABA, mannitol, and high salinity than wild-type plants. In contrast, expression of the ABA-responsive marker genes RAB18 and RD29B was higher in CaLOX1-OX Arabidopsis plants than in wild-type plants. In response to high salinity, CaLOX1-OX plants exhibited enhanced tolerance, compared with wild-type, which is accompanied by decreased accumulation of H2O2 and high levels of RD20, RD29A, RD29B, and P5CS gene expressions. Similarly, CaLOX1-OX plants were also more tolerant than wild-type plants to severe drought stress. H2O2 production and relative increase of lipid peroxidation were lower, and the expression of COR15A, DREB2A, RD20, RD29A, and RD29B was higher in CaLOX1-OX plants, relative to those of wild-type plants. Taken together, our results indicate that CaLOX1 plays a crucial role in plant stress responses by modulating the expression of ABA- and stress-responsive marker genes, lipid peroxidation, and H2O2 production.

To develop transgenic forage crops with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress, we introduced an alfalfa Hsp23 gene expression vector construct through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Integration and expression of the transgene were confirmed by PCR, northern blot, and western blot analyses. Under normal growth conditions, there was no significant difference in the growth of the transgenic plants and the non-transgenic controls. However, when exposed to various stresses such as salt or arsenic, transgenic plants showed a significantly lower accumulation of hydrogen peroxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances than control plants. The reduced accumulation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances indicates that the transgenic plants possessed a more efficient reactive oxygen species-scavenging system. We speculate that the high levels of MsHsp23 proteins in the transgenic plants protect leaves from oxidative damage through chaperon and antioxidant activities. These results suggest that MsHsp23 confers abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic forage crops and may be useful in developing stress tolerance in other crops.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is thought to be one of the leading threat to the environment due to its high toxicity. However, the molecular responses induced by Cd have so far been grossly overlooked. This study examines the morpho-physiological alterations combined with proteome changes in leaves of Sorghum bicolor when exposed to Cd. Ten days old sorghum seedlings were exposed to different concentrations (0, 100, and 150 μM) of CdCl2 and a significant accumulation of Cd in the leaves was recorded by ICP analysis. Furthermore, the effects of Cd exposure on protein expression patterns in S. Bicolor was investigated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and the 2-DE profile of leaf proteins from both control and Cd-treated seedlings were compared quantitatively using Progenesis SameSpot software. Results lined to morphological changes that plants treated with Cd suffered reduction of growth. The concentration of Cd was markedly reversed by the Cd treatments, whereas the absorption degree of Cd was increased by the higher concentration of Cd by confocal microscopy. Using 2-DE method, a total of 33 differentially expressed protein spots were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. Of those, 13 protein spots were significantly enhanced/reduced while 20 reduced under Cd treatment. The most of the up-regulated proteins are involved in oxidative response, glutathione and sulfur metabolism as well as the secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Collectively, our study provides insights into the integrated molecular mechanisms of early responses to Cd and growth and physiological characteristics of sorghum seedlings hoping to provide references on the mechanism of heavy metal damaging plants.

The maize genome is complex with exceeding the levels of intra-specific variation, repetitive DNA content, and allelic content observed between many species. Because of tremendous diversity and variants, maize is considered as a forefront crop development and estimation of molecular markers for agricultural trait in genetics and breeding. Using quantitative trait loci (QTL) and marker assisted breeding (MAS), molecular breeders are able to development of drought tolerance and grain yield in maize genotype. To study QTL congruency, a meta QTL analysis including results from eight-teen QTL publications for grain yield and drought tolerance were considered. Among them, we assembled 420 QTLs for abscisic acid (ABA) concentration, anthesis silking interval (ASI), days to flower, days to silk, ear number, kernel number, grain number and grain yields, involved in drought tolerance and grain yield. The meta QTL analysis revealed significant evidence for linkage of these traits to 39 different segments as candidates regions on maize genome. A total of 571 marker was selected as QTL or integrated QTL markers for narrowing down the QTL region into specific functionally relevant candidates. The results of meta QTL analysis helped to refine the genomic regions of agricultural traits, interest described and provided the closest flanking markers.

High temperature is one of major environmental stress. Some of molecular markers related heat stress or tolerance have been reported by many researchers. Heat tolerance managing is difficult through the phenotypic selection, so marker assistant selection (MAS) using molecular markers like as RAPD, SSR ect. was tried to selection of useful traits for heat tolerance. Fourteen SSR markers reported by previous research were selected for this research. These markers were linked to important traits including grain filling duration, HIS (Heat susceptibility index) grain filling duration. In this study, we tried to evaluate 14 SSR markers for MAS using 31 useful wheat resources including 24 crossing line from Turkey and six Korean wheat cultivars using 14 SSR markers. The average of the number of alleles and PIC values in this study were 6.14 and 0.63, respectively. Two major clades and six sub clades were grouped by phylogenetic tree using UPGMA program. Six Korean wheat cultivars were distinct from other Turkey resources in the phylogenetic dendrogram. From the results, we expected that these markers were able to adapt to screening wheat genotyping for heat tolerance.

Salt is the major factor limiting crop productivity in saline soils. Development of genetic basis of high salt-tolerant rice is necessary to satisfy urgent needs in rice breeding. In this study, 295 rice accessions from a Korean authentic core set were used to identify the evolution associated genes regarding salt tolerance. By using McDonald-Kreitman Test (MKT), we detected orthologous genes in rice (Oryza sativa) using Brachypodium as an outgroup to investigate fast evolved genes that express differentially based on distinct phenotypic groups. Three groups which represented the salt sensitive (group 1), salt medium tolerant (group 2) and salt tolerant (group 3) were separated and each group was examined with the outgroup in neutral and non-neutral polymorphism together with the divergence levels. Total 53 fast evolutionary genes that have a positive selection with FDR ≤ 0.05 were found in the three groups. Among them, 15, 31 and 7 genes were included exclusively in group 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Annotation of these genes showing the predicted functions were checked. Two genes were found to be related to high salt tolerance based on the previous studies. Besides, association study of the candidate gene alleles and salt tolerance phenotype was carried out, indicating that these genes were correlated with salt tolerance. All these result support that using this type of evolution study, we may find some important candidate genes which are related to important traits in rice, such as the salt tolerance, providing important information for future gene based molecular breeding and functional analysis in rice.