Over the past few decades Miscanthus has been studied as a potential bioenergy crop in Europe but not much been studied in Korea although Korea has many native Miscanthus species and genetic resources. Because of their features, such as low demands of fertilizers and other agrochemicals, high water use efficiency and high productivity, Miscanthus can be cultivated in marginal lands. However, it is not known how Miscanthus can survive in saline soil and what extent Miscanthus can tolerate salt stress, one of main abiotic stresses in reclaimed lands or dry climates. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate physiological response of Miscanthus species to salt stress and thus to establish a salt stress threshold. Miscanthus sinensis and M. sacchariflorus showed similar responses to salt stress. Chlorophyll contents, photosynthesis and plant growth were all significantly affected by salt stress. Both species were completely killed at > 100 mM NaCl. The GR50 values estimated by non-linear regression analysis with the logistic model were 116.2 mM and 63.1 mM for M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus, respectively. These GR50 values can be used as their thresholds of salt stress. Further studies will be conducted to screen salt-tolerant Miscanthus genotypes.

Endophytic Aspergillus Fumigatus sp. LH02, isolated from the roots of soybean and indentified through phylogenetic analysis of 18S rDNA sequence, was found stimulatory to the growth of Waito-C rice seedlings among 13 other endophytic strains screened. In growth hormone analysis, pure culture of fungal isolate produced three gibberellins viz GA4, GA9 and GA12. To know the role and effect on soybean in endophytic association (EA) and non-endophytic association (NEA) under salt stress (70 and 140mM), experiment was carried out at growth chamber using complete randomized block design. The results elaborated that the EA has significantly increased the shoot length, shoot and root fresh and dry weights, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis rate and leaf area of the plants with and without salt stress compared to control. Field emission scanning electron microscope analysis of root's surface showed that EA plants were extensively colnized by Aspergillus fumigatus LH02 under high salanity. In phytohormonal anlysis, ABA contents in EA and NEA were almost similar. Howere, when plants were exposed th salt stress, ABA levels were found significantly low in EA compared to NEA plant. In isoflavone content analysis, aglycones, malonyl, acetyl and glucosides isoflavones (total 11 compounds) were analyzed for each treatment through extensive HPLC andalysis. The quantities of isoflavone were found higher in EA plant's leaves with and without salt stress compared to NEA plant leaves. In conclusion, such endophytic association can be beneficial to explore ways to improve crop production under stressful conditions.

Agricultural productivity is subjected to enormous environmental constraints, particularly to salinity and drought due to their higher magnitude of adverse impacts and worldwide distribution. Silicon (Si) was found to play a favorable role in salinity and drought stress alleviation of soybean cultivar Daewonkong. All growth attributes insignificantly improved with Si nutrition. The endogenous bioactive GA1 and GA4 content increased with the application of elevated Si level both under normal and stressful condition. JA contents sharply increased with NaCl and PEG application but decreses with Si added to salt and drought stress treatments. SA level increased with NaCl and PEG and was further enhanced with Si in the salt treated plants, but reduced with the combined application of Si and PEG. The endogenous bioactive GA1 and GA4, JA and ABA content of soybean leaves were analyzed through chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode, while SA content was quantified with HPLC.

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is a shrub or tree belonging the genus Euphorbiaceae and is cultivated in a tropical regions including South America, South-East Asia, India and Africa. Jatropha possibly is adapted to grow in a wide range of environments for producing non-edible oils. The objective of the study is to determine effect of salt and drought on plant growth characteristics. Treatments are thus followed, 100 and 200 mM NaCl and 5 and 10% PEG. Various physiological parameters such leaf length and width, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence and gene expression were investigated. The results showed that from 2 days onwards, 100 and 200mM NaCl treatments were significantly suppressed leaf length, width, and stomatal conductance, but 5% and 10% PEG treatments showed a similar trend of control plants. Gene expression of JcACBP of the 100 mM NaCl was slightly decreased compred to those of other treatments. These results indicate that 100 and 200 mM NaCl treatments significantly showed negative response, but 5 and 10% PEG treatments improved plant growth and development of Jatropha.

Gene-expression analysis is increasingly important in biological research, with real-time reverse PCR (RTPCR) becoming the method of choice for high-throughput and accurate expression profiling of selected genes. However, this technique requires important preliminary work for standardizing and optimizing the many parameters involved in the analysis. Plant stress studies are more and more based on gene expression. The analysis of gene expression requires sensitive and reproducible measurements for specific mRNA sequence. Several genes are regulated in response to abitoic stresses, such as salinity, and their gene products function in stress response and tolerance. The design of the primers and TaqMan probes for real-time PCR assays were carried out using the Primer ExpressTM software 3.0. The PCR efficiency was estimated through the linear regression of the dilution curve. To understand the expression pattern of various genes under salt stressed condition, we have developed a unique public resource of 9 stress-related genes in poplar. In this study, real-time RT-PCR was used to quantify the transcript level of 10 genes (9 stress-related genes and 1 house keeping gene) that could play a role in adaptation of Populus davidiana. Real-time RT-PCR analyses exhibited different expression ratios of related genes. The data obtained showed that determination of mRNA levels could constitute a new approach to study the stress response of P. davidiana after adaptation during growth in salinity condition.

본 연구는 삼투포텐셜이 동일한 NaCl과 PEG6000 용액을 사용하여 염해와 한발에 대한 보리의 생화학적 반응을 검토하였으며 시험결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 보리의 지상부 생육 및 보리 잎의 상대수분함량은 염해보다 한발에 의해서 더욱 감소하였다. 2. 과산화수소의 발생은 염해처리 후 6일에 한발보다 27.5% 많았으며, 영해처리 후 4일에 나타난 APX, CAT 및 GR의 활성은 한발처 리보다 각각 12.6%, 27.9%, 23.3% 높았다. 한편, 보리의 경우 CAT의 활성은 한발보다 염해조건에서 더욱 신속하게 유도되는 것으로 나타났다. 3. 아미노산 함량의 변화는 염해 및 한발처리에 의해서 서로 다른 양상을 보였다. 특히 glycine, arginine 및 GABA의 함량은 한발처리에서 더욱 증가하였으나, proline의 함량은 염해처리에서 크게 증가하였다. 4. 본 연구를 통해서 보리의 항산화효소 활성 및 아미노산 함량이 염해와 한발에 의해서 상이하게 조절되는 것이 확인되었다. 이러한 결과들은 염해에 대한 보리의 특이적인 반응지표가 될 수 있을 것으로 생각되었다.

Seedlings of two rice genotyopes, cvs. Ilpumbyeo and Gancheokbyeo, were exposed to 0, 50 and 100 mM NaCl in nutrient solution for nine days. Plants were collected at the interval of 3 days and organic and inorganic solutes in leaves and roots and antioxidative enzyme activity in leaves were determined. Under salinity, the accumulation of soluble sugars occurred considerably in the older leaves of stressed seedlings compared to younger leaves and roots. The endogenous Na+ contents markedly increased at higher NaCl concentration in leaves and roots of seedlings, though it was higher accumulated in roots. Salinity resulted in an excessive proline accumulation in the stressed plants. A more pronounced increase was observed in Gancheokbyeo leaves. SOD activity in Impumbyeo cannot found any remarkable change, whereas, in Gancheokbyeo, its activity was rapidly decreased. CAT and POD activities increased with an increase in NaCl concentration in both genotypes. In sum­mary, the high capacity of rice seedlings to overcome an unfavorable growth condition such salt stress appears to be related to an adequate partition of organic solutes between shoots and roots and to changes in absorption, transport and re-translocation of salts.

Thirty-nine out of eighty-five barley varieties/strains survived until heading stage in the saline experimental field (0.03-0.05~%~;salt) and they were used for pollen study. Light and scanning electron microscopic observations revealed two distinctive types of barley pollens: one transparent and small in size and the other dark and larger. In addition, both types of pollens were stained with Alexander's stain and it was found that the smaller and transparent pollen was cytoplasm-devoid (CD) while the larger pollen was cytoplasm-rich (CR). Sixteen out of 39 barley varieties/lines grown in the saline soil had CR pollens, which were rarely observed in the barley plants grown in the non-saline soil. Moreover, it was observed that salt stress severely reduced seed setting in the varieties having degenerated pollens. These results suggest that salt stress affects the fertility of barley pollen. The sterile pollen was undersized and lack of cytoplasm probably due to abortion. Furthermore, a varietal difference existed in the response of pollen development to salt stress.

Selection of stress-tolerant ginseng lines in fields is very difficult because it is almost impossible to control properly the environmental conditions of soil. On the contrary, it can be studied with ease to search for stress-tolerant ginseng lines through in vitro culture because of easy manipulation of stress conditions. This study was conducted for the selection of ginseng pure lines tolerant to salt stress. Murashige ＆amp; Skoog(MS) media with 2.5 folds of KNO3, NH4NO3, MgSO4.7H2O, KH2PO4, and CaC12.2H2O was established for the selection of ginseng pure lines tolerant to salt stress in vitro. Among 88 ginseng pure lines bred by Korea Ginseng and Tobacco Research Institute, Punggi Hwangsuk, 78093, 82886, 78135, 86024 and KG104 lines was tolerant to salt stress. For the stable production of quality Korean ginseng, genetic tolerance to salt stress is one of important factors since relatively high salt concentrations in the ginseng nursery soil environment of Korea. Ginseng inbred pure lines were tested for their tolerance to salt stress through in vitro culture technique.

To examine whether salt stress would alter or not contractility of isolated rat aorta, under anesthesia with sodium pentobarbital(50 mg Kg-1 i.p.), male Sprague Dawley rats(300-330 g) were subjected to 0, 50, and 150 mM of sodium chloride at 37℃ for 60 min. where as the sham group was left at modified Krebs-bicarbonate solution. To measure contractile response of vascular ring preparation isolated from rat was determined in organ bath and was recorded on physiograph connected to isometric transducer. And the strip was checked for expression of heat shock protein(Hsp) by Western blotting. One, three and eight hours later, we measured vascular contractility of isolated rat aorta treated with KCl, phenylephrine from organ bath study. The dose-vascular responses of potassium chloride and phenylephrine showed a little augmentation by NaCl concentration in the strips exposed to NaCl for 8 hours. And the response of relaxation induced by nitroprusside and acetylcholine was not influenced by NaCl stress in isolated aorta ring for 8 hours, respectively. Expression pattern of Hsp 70 of vascular muscle in isolated rat aorta showed a little increase in 150 mM NaCl group at 8 hours after NaCl treatment but not at 3 hours, and Hsp 60 expression of rat aorta was markedly increased in 50 mM NaCl group at 8 hours after NaCl treatment. Taken together, NaCl induced dose- and time dependent accumulation of the Hsp but not affected contraction of rat aorta. These data suggest that short term high salt stress was not sufficient to induce hypertension of rat aorta..