Solanum nigrum is one of useful sources for improving resistance to several diseases in potato (S. tuberosum). For enhancing late blight resistance, introgression of late blight resistance from S. nigrum was attempted into the cultivated potatoes using somatic hybridization due to their sexual incompatibility. Therefore, we sequenced the chloroplast genome of S nigrum and compared it with those of Nicotiana tabacum, S. bulbocastanum, S. tuberosum and S. lycopersicum. The complete sequence of the chloroplast genome of S. nigrum consists of 155,432 bp in length including a pair of inverted repeat regions (Ira, Irb) of 25,589 bp each, a small single copy region of 18,402 bp and a large single copy region of 85,852 bp. The genome contains 107 genes. A comparison of chloroplast genome of five solanaceous species revealed that the gene contents and their relative positions of S. nigrum are similar to the other four species. Detailed comparison identified 35 indels, including 22 insertion and 13 deletion, in the intergenic and intragenic regions. The phylogenetic tree of chloroplast sequences of five solanaceous species shows that S nigrum is located at a same node with N. tabacum and is secondly close to S. lycopersicum. A sister clade with S. bulbocastanum and S. tuberosum is the farthest. The results obtained in this study will facilitate the development of PCR-based markers to select somatic fusion products.

The perturbation of the steady state of reactive oxygen species due to biotic and abiotic stresses in a plant could lead to protein denaturation through the modification of amino acid residues, including the oxidation of methionine residues. Methionine sulfoxide reductases (MSRs) catalyze the reduction of methionine sulfoxide back to the methionine residue. To assess the role of this enzyme, we generated transgenic rice using a pepper CaMSRB2 gene under the control of the rice Rab21 promoter with/without a selection marker, the bar gene. A drought resistance test on transgenic plants showed that CaMSRB2 confers drought tolerance to rice, as evidenced by less oxidative stress symptoms and a strengthened PSII quantum yield under stress conditions, and increased survival rate and chlorophyll index after the re-watering. The results from immunoblotting using a methionine sulfoxide antibody and nano-LC-MS/MS spectrometry suggest that porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD), which is involved in chlorophyll synthesis, is a putative target of CaMSRB2. The oxidized methionine content of PBGD expressed in E. coli increased in the presence of H2O2, and the Met-95 and Met-227 residues of PBGD were reduced by CaMSRB2 in the presence of dithiothreitol. An expression profiling analysis of the overexpression lines also suggested that photosystems are less severely affected by drought stress. Our results indicate that CaMSRB2 might play an important functional role in chloroplasts for conferring drought stress tolerance in rice

Chloroplast (cp) DNA sequence data are a versatile tool for plant identification, barcoding and establishing genetic relationships among plant species. Different chloroplast loci have been utilized to infer evolutionary relationship of plant species. Although the overall structure of the chloroplast genome is generally well conserved, a number of mutations have been observed. Thus, documentation of chloroplast sequence variation has also been an valuable asset in plant population and evolutionary studies for over two decades. Recently, advance in chloroplast genome assembly from whole genome NGS data has become available. In the present study, chloroplast variations among 295 diverse origin accessions were detected based on Oryza rufipogon, which thought to be the progenitor of cultivated rice.. Variation calling was carried out using the whole genome re-sequencing data of those accessions along with the five rice reference cp genomes. Phylogenetic and evolution analysis of the six references and 295 accessions were performed using the whole reference genome sequence and the variation data, respectively. Also, nucleotide polymorphisms of 295 rice accessions were validated by using previously characterized 50 ecotypes. Differential SNP frequency across the rice cp genome suggests a regional dependent preferential high variation occurrence during the evolution of chloroplast

Bitter buckwheat, also called tartari buckwheat (F. tartaricum), contains large amount of rutin and it has antioxidant activity compared to common buckwheat. But after harvesting and processing, the discrimination of two species through visual inspection was almost impossible. Therefore we developed InDel markers to identify common and tartari buckwheat content based on the chloroplast genome sequence. We conducted complete full chloroplast genome sequence of tartari buckwheat and compared with common buckwheat chloroplast genome sequence (NC010776). Based on the mVISTA alignment, we found eight big InDel (above 50bp) regions. Among the InDel, 6 regions are intergenic region and two are genic region in ycf1. We designed InDel specific primers and applied to PCR with buckwheat genomic DNA to check the discrimination of two species. These InDel specific primers also applied to buckwheat germplasm, 75 tartari and 21 common buckwheat. Among the primers, 5 markers could be successfully amplified in all germplasm species specific amplicon. And we can detect 10pg/ul of DNA and processed food such as tea and noodle. These results could improve the QC (Quality control) of tartari buckwheat food

Plant growth under water-deficit conditions adversely affects many key processes. Efforts to understand drought stress-related defense mechanisms have revealed a host of plant genes using molecular approaches in rice. Here, we report the novel finding that OsCTR1 E3 ligase regulates both chloroplast-localized chloroplast protein 12 (OsCP12) and ribosomal protein 1 (OsRP1) in protein levels and subcellular localization. The results of a yeast-two hybrid assay, bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay, ubiquitination assay, subcellular localization, and a protein degradation assay support the hypothesis that OsCTR1 functions in trafficking inhibition and proteolysis of OsCP12 and OsRP1 via the ubiquitin 26S proteasome pathway. Heterogeneous overexpression of OsCTR1 in Arabidopsis showed ABA-hypersensitive phenotype in seed germination, seedling growth, and stomatal closure. The transgenic plants also exhibited improvement of water-deficit tolerance with an accumulation of hydrogen peroxide production. These results demonstrate that the OsCTR1 E3 ligase might positively regulate the cellular functions of OsCP12 and RP1 related to photosynthesis under drought stress conditions in rice.

We performed phylogenetic analyses of a total of 21 acessions covering 5 species in the Korean Trigonotis and one outgroup species using nuclear ribosomal ITS and chloroplast rbcL, matK, ndhF sequences. Outgroup were chosen from the closely related genus Lithospermum zollingeri. Both parsimony and Bayesian Inference methods were used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the group. The evidence collected indicated that phylogenetic relationships among Korean Trigonotis species are unresolved based on nuclear marker (ITS), as the same as based on separated chloroplast sequences. While the phylogenetic relationships of Korean Trigonotis species almost clearly were resolved in combined chloroplast sequences. Thus, the members of Trigonotis coreana can be distinguished to the members of Trigonotis peduncularis in combined cpDNA sequences and Trigonotis nakaii was treated as a synonymed to Trigonotis radicans var. sericea. In addition, the MP and BI analysis showed Trigonotis icumae as sister of the remained Korean Trigonotis species based on combined molecular markers (BI: PP = 1).

Next generation sequencing (NGS) approaches can also be useful tool for characterization of organelle genomes. We generated chloroplast (CP) genome sequences of two Korean ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong and Yunpoong, based on reference-guided assembly using whole genome NGS data. We used 0.5x of P. ginseng genome NGS reads to assemble CP genome. Of the NGS reads used, about 6% were mapped to the reference CP genome with mean coverage of 94x due to high copy number of CP genome in plant cell. CP genomes of the two cultivars were predicted to be 156,248 bp and 156,355 bp in length and showed about 0.1% differences at nucleotide level, compared to reference CP genome sequenced from P. ginseng (Acc.no. NC_006290), whereas difference between CP genomes of the two cultivars is very rare. In this study, we developed the molecular marker to perform taxon identification and also to elucidate phylogenetic relationship among Korean ginseng cultivars. Now, we are analyzing the CP genomes of other P. ginseng cultivars together with other Panax species including American ginseng and Panax related species.

There is a considerable difference in morphological traits between Bokbunja cultivated in Korea (KCB) and Korea native Rubus coreanus, contrary to the conviction that the cultivated Bokbunja is the domestication of R. coreanus. To infer the phylogenetic relationship of KCB with other Rubus species, we compared the chloroplast DNA spacers of KCB with those of several Rubus species including black raspberry, R. occidentalis. The three chloroplast DNA spacers, atpB~rbcL, trnL~trnF, and trnT~trnL, were amplified using the specific primer pairs and converted to Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism (SSCP) markers. The SSCP makers of the chloroplast DNA spacers showed a considerable variation both within and among Rubus species. In the phylogenetic tree generated by the SSCP markers, KCB accessions were located in the same clade with R. occidentalis, but R. coreanus accessions in the different clade. Also, in the phylogenetic tree by the nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast DNA spacer trnL~trnF, KCB located in the same clade with R. occidentalis but not with R. coreanus. These results suggest that the three KCB accessions share higher similarity with R. occidentalis than with R. coreanus in the three chloroplast DNA spacers.

To better understanding the function of the luminal sub-organelles within the thylakoid network, we have carried out a systematical analysis and identification of the lumenal proteins in the thylakoid of wheat by using Tricine / 1D-PAGE, and LTQ-ESI-FTICR mass spectrometry followed by SWISS-PROT database searching. We isolation and fractionation these membrane from fully developed wheat leaves using a combination of differential and gradient centrifugation couple to high speed ultra-centrifuge. After collecting all proteins to eliminate possible same proteins, we estimated that there are 407 different proteins including chloroplast, chloroplast stroma, lumenal, and thylakoid membrane proteins excluding 20 proteins, which were identified in nucleus, cytoplasm and mitochondria. A combination of these three programs (PSORT, TargetP, and TMHMM) was found to provide a useful tool for evaluating chloroplast localization, transit peptide, transmembranes, and also could reveal possible alternative processing sites and dual targeting. Finally, we report also sub-cellular location specific protein interaction network using Cytoscape software, which provides further insight into the biochemical pathways of photosynthesis. The present work helps understanding photosynthesis process in wheat at the molecular level and provides a new overview of the biochemical machinery of the thylakoid in wheat.

1. 본 연구에서는 완두유래의 세포질성 PsAPX1 유전자를 대상으로 산화스트레스 유도성 프로모터를 연결하여 엽록체에 targeting 되는 과발현 운반체를 제작하고 벼에 도입한 결과 형질전환체에서 도입유전자 수가 1~3 copy인 것으로 나타나, 적은 수의 유전자가 안정적으로 도입되었음을 확인하였다. 2. 염, 오존, 자외선, 한발과 같은 다양한 환경스트레스 조건에서 내성이 증진된 우수 계통을 선발하기 위하여 작성된 형질전환 벼 계통들을 대상으로 생물

지모 (Anemarrhena asphodeloides)는 탁월한 해열작용과 진정작용을 갖는 한약재로 한국, 중국, 일본에서 널리 이용되어 왔다. 본 연구에서는 먼저 국내 연구소에서 형태학적 분류 결과 지모로 확인된 3종의 식물체를 수집하여 엽록체 DNA의 trnL-F 염기서열을 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 국내 연구기관에서 보관중인 지모 식물체들이 모두 동일한 trnL-F의 염기서열을 보여서, 형태학적 분류와 계통유전학적 분류가 동일함을 확인하였다. 최초로 얻어진 지모 trnL-F 염기서열은 NCBI database에 등록하였다. 다음으로 국내 한약재 시장과 중국 한약재 시장에서 유통 중인 지모 한약재를 다량 구입하여 trnL-F의 염기서열을 분석하였다. 그 결과, 유통 중인 지모 한약재들이 모두 기원식물과 동일한 TrnL-F의 염기서열을 보여서 지모 약재의 경우 진품이 유통되고 있음을 알 수 있었다. TrnL-F의 염기서열로 계통수를 작성한 결과 지모는 아스파라거스목 (Asparagales), 용설란과 (agavaceae)에 속한 것으로 보여 졌다. 엽록체 rbcL 유전자 염기서열로 얻은 계통수와 비교한 결과 trnL-F 계통수와 rbcL 계통수가 비슷한 결과를 보여주어서 분자유전학적 분류에 두 유전자가 상호보완적으로 이용될 수 있음을 확인하였다.