The objectives of this study were to evaluate total phenolic content (TPC) and individual phenolic compounds in leaves of perilla genetic resources, assess whether they could be used as distinguishing factor among germplasms, and evaluate their relationship with some quantitative and qualitative morphological characters. TPC and individual phenolic compounds were determined using Folin-Ciocalteu method and UPLC-PDA system, respectively. Wide variations in TPC (7.99 to 133.70 ㎎GAE/g DE), rosmarinic acid (ND to 21.05 ㎎/g DE), caffeic acid (ND to 1.17 ㎎/g DE), apigenin- 7-O-diglucuronide (ND to 2.21 ㎎ luteolin equivalent (㎎LUE)/g DE), scutellarein-7-O-glucuronide (ND to 5.25 ㎎ LUE/g DE), and apigenin-7-O-glucuronide (ND to 2.81 ㎎ LUE/g DE) were observed. Intensities of green pigment at abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces were positively correlated with phenolic compounds whereas leaf length and width had negative correlation. Purple pigmented accessions were shorter in leaf length and width but exhibited higher amount of phenolic compounds compared to green pigmented accessions in most cases. Leaf shape was not related with content of phenolic compounds, color of leaves, and length/width of leaves. TPC and individual phenolic compounds along with morphological characters could be useful distinguishing factors for perilla genetic resources.

The morphological characteristics and genetic relationships among 32 germplasms of Zanthoxylum schinifolium and Zanthoxylum piperitum collected from two farms in Korea were investigated. The traits with the most variability were seed color, leaf size, and spine size. The intraspecific polymorphism of Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum was 96.5% and 60.3%, respectively. The genetic diversity and Shannon’s information index values ranged from 0.11 to 0.33 and 0.19 to 0.50, with average values of 0.26 and 0.42, respectively. Two ISSR primers (UBC861 and UBC862) were able to distinguish the different species. The genetic similarity matrix (GSM) revealed variability among the accessions ranging from 0.116 to 0.816. The intraspecific GSM for Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum was 0.177–0.780 and 0.250–0.816, respectively. The GSM findings indicate that Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum accessions have high genetic diversity and possess germplasms qualifying as good genetic resources for cross breeding. The clustering analysis separated Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum into independent groups, and all accessions could be classified into three categories. Z. Schinifolium var. nermis belonged to independent groups. Comparison of the clusters based on morphological analysis with those based on ISSR data resulted in an unclear pattern of division among the accessions. The study findings indicate that Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum accessions have genetic diversity, and ISSR markers were useful for identifying Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum.

Plant breeding requires the collection of genetically diverse genetic resources. Studies on the characteristics of Platycodon grandiflorum resources have not been carried out so far. The present study was carried out to discriminate P. grandiflorum based on morphological characteristics and genetic diversity using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Methods and Results :We collected 11 P. grandiflorum cultivars: Maries II, Hakone double white, Hakone double blue, Fuji white, Fuji pink, Fuji blue, Astra white, Astra pink, Astra blue, Astra semi-double blue and Jangbaek. Analyses of the morphological characteristics of the collection were conducted for aerial parts (flower, stem and leaf) and underground parts (root). Next, the genetic diversity of all P. grandiflorum resources was analyzed using SSR markers employing the DNA fragment analysis method. We determined that the 11 P. grandiflorum cultivars analyzed could be classified by plant length, leaf number and root characteristic. Based on the genetic diversity analysis, these cultivars were classified into four distinct groups. Conclusions : These findings could be used for further research on cultivar development using molecular breeding techniques and for conservation of the genetic diversity of P. grandiflorum. Moreover, the markers could be used for genetic mapping of the plant and marker-assisted selection for crop breeding.

자연 석면 산출지의 투각섬석-양기석에 대한 전자현미경관찰 결과, 섬유상, 침상, 주상의 다양한 입자 형태가 관찰되었다. 섬유상 입자들은 일정한 너비로 가늘고 길게 휘어지며, 로프 모양의 다발이나 매트를 형성한다. 침상 입자들은 평행한 다발을 형성하나 장축 방향으로 쉽게 갈라지며 탄성이 있다. 주상 입자는 분쇄과정에서 벽개를 따라 쪼개지며 종횡비가 짧은 침상입자를 형성한다. 입자의 형태적 특성은 산출지별로 다르며 하나의 시편 내에서도 차이가 관찰된다. 투각섬석-양기석 계열의 각섬석은 섬유상에서 주상까지 형태적 연속체를 형성하므로 석면상 각섬석에 대한 유해성 평가를 위해서는 형태적 특성과 발암 특성 간의 인과관계에 근거한 동정 기준 및 시료준비과정이 수립되어야 한다.

To elucidate genetic diversity of common reed in Korea, we collected a total of 674 common reed plants from 27 regions in South Korea. Hierarchical clustering using 7 morphological traits divided the 27 common reed populations into 7 groups. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) results identified three distinct groups of common reed. Common reed accessions in group I mostly inhabit coastal areas. Group II includes reeds mostly collected from inland areas. Group III consists of common reed accessions collected from inland and coastal areas, suggesting that this group might contain hybrids. In summary, we suggest that parapatric speciation might be an important factor in the genetic diversity of common reed and geographical speciation of common reed that might be also affected by environmental gradients.

The present study researched morphological characteristics and analyzed the genetic diversity by using RAPD in Calanthe species, native plant in Jeju, Korea. Twenty-six samples were selected by flower color, and 19 horticultural traits were investigated to study morphological characteristics. The C. discolor had the smallest leaf, the length and width of dorsal sepal, lateral sepal, petal, central lip, lateral lip, and flower stalk length were shortest and/or smallest except the spur and ovary length in Calanthe species, but those of Calanthe discolor for. sieboldii (Dence.) Ohwi (Calanthe discolor for. sieboldii) were the largest and/or biggest, and those of variants were the intermediate between C. discolor and C. discolor for. sieboldii, but spur length was the longest in C. discolor, the shortest in C. discolor for. sieboldii, and intermediate in the variants. Ovary length in C. discolor was shortest and C. discolor for. sieboldii and variants were similar with each other. The flower colors of C. discolor were brownish red, the value of CIE Lab was between 40 and 50. The flower color of C. discolor for. sieboldii was yellowish; the value of CIE Lab was between 110 and 130. And variants had various colors between 50 and 70 in the value of CIE Lab. After analyzing multiple band patterns of PCR products, 154 bands were selected as polymorphic RAPD markers. The analysis of Genetic distance of Calanthe species using RAPD showed that C. discolor and C. discolor for. sieboldii are more distant from each other than variants, and demonstrated the fact that genetic position of variants is between the other two species.

Barley landraces harbor significantly higher genetic diversity than modern cultivars. Diversity of agronomic and morphological traits was investigated for 386 accessions of Korean landrace barley which were back-introduced from Okayama University, Japan. Among the accessions, 279 were covered barley and 89 naked barley. Seeds were sowed in late October and major growth characteristics were investigated at maturity and after harvest. The traits evaluated exhibited higher variation with respect to the CV, ranging from 47 to 60. The trait exhibiting the greatest variation was flag leaf width (FLW, CV=60 with 2.8x difference between minimum 0.6 and maximum 1.7). Those traits exhibiting least variation were heading date (HD, CV=47.2 with 31 days difference between the earliest and the latest) and seed number per spike (SNS, CV= 48.9 with 2.8x difference between minimum 36 and maximum 72). The other eight traits [maturity date (MD, CV= 53.7), culm length (CL, CV= 55.4), flag leaf length (FLL, CV= 51.6), spike length (SL, CV= 54.3), awn length (AL, CV= 54.4), whole spike length (WSL, CV= 52.9), spike density (SD, CV= 52.7), seed rows of spike (SRS, CV= 50.1)] were intermediate in their level of variation with respect to the CV. The first, second and third principal components explained about 30.3%, 17.0% and 13.4% of the total variation of the traits, respectively. The traits which contributed more positively to PC1 were SL, SD, WSL and AL. The traits which contributed more positively to PC2 were SRS and SNS, and those contributed more positively to PC3 were FLL and FLW. The Korean landrace barley accessions contain significantly diverse variation to explore for the improvement of agronomic and morphological traits of current elite cultivars. This work was supported by a grant from Regional Subgenebank Support Program of Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Morphological and genetic diversity of thirty nine safflower germplasm were collected and evaluated by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method. Stem length and seeding to flowering days of the safflower germplasm showed 26~~117cm~;and~;76~~179 days of variation respectively. USA originated germplasm showed higher oil content as 39~% , but that of Japanese showed lower as 26~% . PCA made three different cluster groups according to some agronomic characteristics of safflower. Korea originated germplasm showed similar cluster group with that of collected from USA in the PCA of stem length. But in the seeding to flowering days, it showed similar cluster pattern with that of collected from Japan rather than USA. In the experiment of RAPD analysis, total five primers showed polymorphism at the several chromosomal loci. Korea, China Japan and South Central Asia originated germplasm were differently classified with USA and South West Asia originated germplasm with lower similarity coefficient value (0.47). Most of Korea originated germplasm were grouped with South Central Asia originated germplasm with higher similarity coefficient value (0.74) conferring similar genetic background between both of them. China and Japan originated germplasm were dendrogramed with Korea originated germplasm at the 0.65 and 0.50 similarity coefficient values respectively. Some common results were expected from both of PCA and RAPD analysis, but lower genetic heritability caused by relative higher portion of environmental variance and environment by genotype interaction at the expression of those of agronomic characteristics made constraint to find any reliable results.