세계화로 인해 교역 및 여행객의 증가로 외래 병해충의 유입이 증가하고 있고 이들의 유입 및 확산 경로 규명을 위하여 분자 유전학적 분석 방법이 이용되고 있는 실정이다. 본 연구는 외래 해충인 Reticulitermes kanmonensis의 유전적 특성을 분석하기 위한 18개의 초위성체마커(microsatellite)를 이용하여 총 16개 지역(전주, 김제1, 김제2, 군산1, 군산2, 서천, 완주1, 완주2, 완주3, 완주4, 익산1, 익산2, 논산, 일본1, 일본2, 일본3)의 흰개미 244개체를 분석하였다. 집단간 대립 유전자 패턴(allelic patterns)분석결과 일본3 지역의 유전적 다양성이 높게 나타났고 완주2 지역은 다른 지역에 비해 비교적 낮게 나타났다. 집단 간 유전적 거리(Genetic differentiation)는 평균적으로 0.163정도의 유전적 다향성 비율을 나타냈고, 서천과 군산2 지역이 0.048로 낮게, 서천과 일본2 지역이 0.442로 높게 나타나 서천과 군산2 집단이 유전적으로 가깝게 나타나고, 반면 서천과 일본2 집단과는 유전적으로 멀게 나타났다. STRUTURE 분석결과는 클러스터 집단 수가 6(k=6)일때 이상적인 집단 패턴을 나타내었고, 유전적 구조는 A그룹(전주, 김제1, 완주2), B그룹(서천, 군산1, 군산2), C그룹(완주1, 김제2), D그룹(논산, 익산1, 익산2), E그룹(김제1, 완주2, 완주3), F그룹(일본1, 일본2, 일본3)의 6가지의 패턴이 지역별로 분리되어 나타났다.

Family Pentatomidae has a worldwide distribution, and is considered as one of the largest groups within the Heteroptera. The family is subdivided into 10 different morphological lineages (subfamilies): Aphylinae, Asopinae, Cyrtocorinae, Discocephalinae, Edessinae, Pentatominae, Phyllocephalinae, Podopinae, Serbaninae and Stirotarsinae, however the internal phylogeny and subfamily level relationships of the group remain unstudied. In this talk, molecular markers COI, 16S RNA, 28S RNA and 18S RNA with more than 200 species have been used to test their monophylies and relationships. Based on the results, reclassification and reinterpretation of the characters and groupings should be necessary to understand the evolutionary lineages that make up the Pentatomidae family.

소나무재선충은 소나무에이즈라고 불리는 소나무해충으로서 전국적으로 큰 피해를 끼치고 있다. 최근 소나무재선충 피해는 경북지역의 경주 및 포항지역에 많이 발생하고 있다. 특히 경주지역에는 역사적인 유적지 및 고분공원이 많은데 이 지역의 소나무 숲에 재선충 피해가 확산되고 있어서 역사적 가치뿐만 아니라 관광산업에 큰 피해가 예상된다. 재선충 피해를 줄이기 위하여 재선충 감염목에 대한 신속한 제거작업이 필요한데 이에 대한 진단이 어려운 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 LAMP-PCR 진단키트를 이용하여 경주 고적지 지역의 재선충 감염이 의심되는 소나무를 진단하였다. 경주남산 및 불국사부근 7개 지역에서 재선충 감염 의심목으로부터 시료를 채취하여 조사해 본 결과 약 50%의 소나무에서 양성반응을 나타내었다. 본 연구를 통하여 경주 고적지의 재선충 감염여부를 신속하게 진단할 수 있었고 경주 유적지의 재선충 피해를 억제하는데 기여할 수 있을 것으로 판단한다.

Pine trees are ecologically important in Korea. They are seriously imperiled by Pine wilt disease (PWD), by pine wood nematode (PWN, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus). Here, we isolated and characterized bacterial endophytes (BEs) from pine trees in Korea for biological control of PWN using BE metabolites. Using culture-dependent approach BE isolates were extracted from three tissues (needles, stems, and roots) of four pine species across 18 sampling sites in Korea. Bacterial isolates were characterized into 389 distinct isolates based on 16S rDNA sequencing. Ethyl acetate crude extracts (CEs) of bacterial liquid cultures were prepared using ethyl acetate and screened for nematicidal activity against PWN. BEs (1,622 isolates) were isolated; their taxonomic binning resulted in 215 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Analysis of species richness and Shannon’s diversity of the three tissues revealed that BEs colonized the needles more than the stem and root tissues. Furthermore, based on nematicidal activity screening of 389 isolates, 44 BEs were identified, with two isolates exhibiting a significant inhibitory activity against PWN. Taken together, these data revealed numerous nematicidal BEs in pine trees, providing new insights that can serve as an effective and promising alternative approach to combat PWD.

Environmental stresses caused by climate change, such as high temperature, drought and salinity severely impact plant growth and productivity. Among these factors, high temperature stress will become more severe during summer. In this study, we examined physiological and molecular responses of maize plants to high temperature stress during summer. Highest level of H2O2 was observed in maize leaves collected July 26 compared with June 25 and July 12. Results indicated that high temperature stress triggers production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in maize leaves. In addition, photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) sharply decreased in leaves with increasing air temperatures during the day in the field. RT-PCR analysis of maize plants exposed to high temperatures of during the day in field revealed increased accumulation of mitochondrial and chloroplastic small heat shock protein (HSP) transcripts. Results demonstrate that Fv/Fm values and organelle-localized small HSP gene could be used as physiological and molecular indicators of plants impacted by environmental stresses.

In order to understand biological phenomena accurately, single molecule techniques using a physical research approach to molecular interactions have been developed, and are now widely being used to study complex biological processes. In this review, we discuss some of the single molecule methods which are composed of two major parts: single molecule spectroscopy and manipulation. In particular, we explain how these techniques work and introduce the current research which uses them. Finally, we present the oral biology research using the single molecule methods.

Myosin is considered as the vital motor protein in vertebrates and invertebrates. Our present study was conducted to decipher the occurrence of myosin in dog fish (Squalus mitsukurii). We isolated one clone containing 979 bp cDNA sequence, which consisted of a complete coding sequence of 453 bp and a deduced amino acid sequence of 150 amino acids from the open reading frame with molecular weight, isoelectric point and aliphatic index are 16.72 Kda, 4.49 and 78.00, respectively. It contained 428 bp long 3' UTR with single potential polyadenylation signals (AATAAA). The predicted EF CA2+ binding domains were identified in residue 6-41, 83-118 and 133-150. A BLAST search indicates this protein exhibits a strong similarity to whale shark (Rhincodon typus) MLC3 (91% identical) and also house mouse (Mus musculus) MLC isoform 3f (81% identical). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this protein is a MLC 3 isoform like protein. This protein also demonstrates highly conserved region with other myosin proteins. Homology modeling of S. mitsukuri was performed using crystal structure of Gallus gallus skeletal muscle myosin II based on high similarity. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR results exhibits dogfish myosin protein is highly expressed in muscle tissue.

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)의 중공사막 표면에 2번 딥코팅하여 layer-by-layer 방식으로 나노복합막을 제조하 였다. 1차 코팅에서 poly(vinylsulfonic acid)(PVSA)와 Poly(styrene sulfonic acid)(PSSA)의 농도, 이온세기(Ionic strength, IS) 등을 변화시키며 막을 제조하였으며, 2차 코팅 용액으로는 Poly(ethyleneimine) 10,000 ppm I.S = 0.3으로 고정하였다. 막의 특성평가를 위해 각각의 100 ppm NaCl, CaSO4, MgCl2, 그리고 25 ppm Methyl Orange (MO) 공급액에 대한 막의 투과도와 염배제율을 측정하였다. 코팅용액의 코팅 물질의 농도가 올라갈수록 염배제율이 상승하였으며, 본 실험 조건에서 PVSA보다 는 PSSA를 이용하여 제조한 중공사막이 염배제율이 높은 것을 확인하였다. 대표적으로 PSSA 30,000 ppm I.S = 1.0에서 중공사막을 제조하였을 때 25 ppm MO용액의 투과도 1.848 LMH, 염배제율 76.3%로 가장 높은 값을 나타내었다.

As a transcription factor, the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) induces the expression of specific genes by interacting with their promoters. C/EBP can trigger to express other genes, because it can open chromatin structure after binding to DNA, then lead to another transcription factors. In this study, we investigated the features and post-exercise expression patterns of two genes in the C/EBP family, C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ. The basic region leucine zipper motif (bZIP) is a crucial region of C/EBP, and analysis of synonymous and non-synonymous substitution ratios revealed that bZIP regions were well conserved in mammalian species. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR data showed that C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ expression increased significantly in the muscle after exercise, but did not do so in the blood. We therefore propose that exercise-induced increased expression of C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ may stimulate gene expression in physiological pathways in muscle cells.

고분자는 많은 수의 원자로 구성 되어 있기 때문에, 분자동역학 연구 시 다양한 변수를 고려 해야 하는 어려운 연구 대상이다. 구성 원자 개수가 너무 많은 경우 계산 시간이 오래 걸리는 문제점이 있으며, 반대로 원자의 개수를 너무 줄일 경우에는 실제 모사 대상을 정확하게 반영하지 못할 수가 있다. 특히, 기체 분리와 같은 분야에서는 기체 분자가 고분자 내에서 투과하는 것을 반영한 계산이 필요하기 때문에 오랜 시간동안 계산을 하게 되며, 이로 인하여 모델의 크기를 정하는데 있어서 앞서 언급한 모든 요소를 적절히 고려하는 것이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 분자동역학 전산모사에 있어서 고분자를 구성하는 원자의 개수와 그에 따른 영향을 연구하기 위하여, 고분자 주쇄 길이를 조절하면서 고분자 모델의 특성을 분석하였다.

To separate olefin from paraffin efficiently, highly selective and permeable carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane has been employed. Especially, supported CMS membrane could offer high permeance and mechanical strength. However, it has been limited to flat or tubular type membranes despite a lower packing density due to a difficult manufacturing process of hollow fiber membrane. Thus, we have optimized the process to prepare the CMS membrane on alumina hollow fiber. To coat a defect-free thin alumina intermediate layer, the withdrawal speed during dip-coating process was varied, and the viscosity of polymer solution was controlled to form uniform layer. Then, the pyrolyzed CMS membrane was tested in propylene/propane mixture gas system as well as single component. Moreover, a long-term performance was evaluated in harsh conditions.