• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2014

This study was carried out to investigate the pest species and their damage on Asparagus officinalis. Field surveys were conducted in asparagus greenhouse in Jeju, for four years from 2007 to 2010. Total of 16 pest species belonging to 5 orders were found as follows: Thrips tabaci, Thrips hawaiiensis, Adoxophyes honmai, Spodoptera litura, Spodoptera exigua, Helicoverpa armigera, Mamestra brassicae, Ascotis selenaria, Ectropis excellens, Geisha distinctissima, Aphis gossypii, Myzus persicae, Anomala albopilosa, Crioceris quatuordecimpunctata, Acusta despecta sieboldiana and Deroceras reticulatum. Among them, T. tabaci frequently occurred and damaged asparagus plants during the whole growing seasons. C. quatuordecimpunctata and snails caused severe damages on asparagus shoots in spring harvest season. In mid-late seasons, aphids and lepidopteran species occurred and attacked asparagus plants. Of the lepidopteran pests, S. litura, S exigua and H. armigera belonging to Noctuidae occurred moderately and fed on asparagus plants. And the pest control strategy in asparagus cultivation was discussed based on the present results.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.21 no.2 s.51
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• pp.78-86
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• 1982

The ecological studies were conducted to identify some bark-beetles on apricot and plum trees in Jeonnam province. Harmful bark-beetles caught from apricot and plum trees were identified as Scolytus seulensis. Xyleborus atratus., X. germanus, X. rubricollis and X. saxeseni. The seoul barkbeetle emerged during the period from early May to late October $1980\~1981$, it happens twice in a year, with the peak July 10 and August 25 in 1950, July 15 and August 20 in 1981. A daily peak emerged for adults was at 11 AM to 1 PM. Distribution of holes on the apricot stems varied; more than 100 holes per meter in Henderson (Apricot) and Y-49057 (Apricot), 12 holes per meter in Derbyroyal (Apricot). Comparatively more holes were found in the European variety, and the cardinal distribution was in the order of east, south, west and north. The longer the longth of the mother-gallery, the greater number of egg-gallery found. Optimum temperature for mating was $27^{\circ}C$. The time for mating was longer during May-June than July-August. The fruit weight of damaged plum tree reached 12.25g around four weeks after flowering; where as that of normal tree increased up to 63.5g at harvest time. The natural enemy of the seoul bark beetle was Eurytoma sp. They were found as mature larva or pupa and they emerged from early May to the middle of June. Adult longevity was about a week.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.289-294
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• 2015

Striped flea beetle, Phyllotreta striolata (SFB) and turnip sawfly, Athalia rosae ruficornis (TSF) are two economically important sporadic pests in radish fields on Jeju island. The response of adult SFB and TSF to a mixture of aggregation pheromone, (+)-(6R,7S)-himachala-9,11-diene and host plant volatile, allyl isothiocyanate (HAI), as well as to yellow and blue sticky traps was examined in radish fields. Adult SFB was more attracted to the sticky trap with HAI, regardless of the color of the sticky trap; however, adult TSF was more attracted on the yellow sticky trap than blue, and no effect of HAI was observed. The adult SFB and TSF can be effectively monitored using yellow sticky traps placed 10 cm above the plant canopy. SFB and TSF had 3 and 5 peak times in a year, respectively. The first peak occurred in the middle of March for SFB and mid-late of April for TSF. We expect that the results of the present study can facilitate minimizing the damage caused by the two important pests in commercial radish fields.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.357-362
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• 2007

Copris tripartitus Waterhouse is a coprophagus insect which enhances the soil fertility as conveying dung into the soil. We compared preimaginal development, mortality, and size of C. tripartitus at various temperature condition (15, 17.5, 20, 25, 27.5, 30). Total preimaginal periods ranged from 118.0d at $17.5^{\circ}C$ to 49.3d at $27.5^{\circ}C$. Development threshold temperature (DT) and total effective temperature for the development of egg, larva, pupa and for complete development (egg to emergence) were 12.1, 11.2, 12.1 and $9.2^{\circ}C$ and 82.7, 462.0, 225.7 and 947.2 degree days, respectively. The mortality of egg and larva was the lowest at $25^{\circ}C$. The optimum temperature for hatchability and on the development of C. tripartitus was estimated to the $25^{\circ}C$.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.353-362
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• 2011

This study was conducted to elucidate the patterns of occurrence of bark beetles on deadwoods of Quercus serrata Fisher and Carpinus laxiflora Blume which are expected to increase due to climate change. The survey was carried out at the LTER site in Gwangneung forest in Gyeonggi Province in 2007-2008. Bark beetles were collected using emergence traps and attraction traps (funnel trap and window trap). A total of 408 beetles belonging to 12 species in two subfamilies were collected. Platypus koryoensis (Murayama) was the most abundant species. P. koryoensis and Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford) occurred mainly in deadwoods of Q. serrata. All other species, except two rare species, occurred commonly in deadwood of both tree species. Species richness and abundance of bark beetles were higher in the attraction traps than in the emergence traps, and higher in Q. serrata than in C. laxiflora. These indexes were higher in classes I-II or I-III than in classes III-IV or IV of deadwood. Bark beetle communities differed according to years and showed a little difference between tree species.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.437-445
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• 2017

An analysis of recent studies and a field survey were conducted to investigate the distribution of the exotic species Ophraella communa LeSage (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) and the results' applicability for biological control against ragweed, which disturbs the island's ecosystem. The ragweed beetle (O. communa) can be found anywhere on the host plant Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., which grows in Jeju Island. Moreover, ragweed beetles possess the following characteristics: a high host plant specificity, a high-temperature resistance, an excellent mobility, and multivoltinism. Ragweed is extensively distributed and gradually expands its habitat further on Jeju Island. For this reason, it is recommended to take advantage of O. communa for the biological control of ragweed instead of pesticides or direct removal, considering that Jeju is endowed with many natural reserves and unique insular traits.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.996-1001
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• 2019

Edible insects are reported to be rich in protein, minerals and vitamins, and much attention has been paid to them as a future food source. In Korea, they were massively reared and sold. In order to enhance the market value of edible insects for industrialized mass production, it is important to develop the safe and nutritious feed sources for rearing them are needed. In this study, a chlorella-free control feed (Exp1) and six experimental feeds supplemented with 0.5~2.0% liquid or powder types of chlorella were formulated. Protaetia brevitarsis and Allomyrina dichotoma, registered as food ingredients in Korea, were fed with the designed feeds and parameters of growth including larval survivorship, larval body weight, and larval period were analyzed. When chlorella added, larval survivorship was increased 2~13%(p>0.05) and 9~22%(p<0.05) in each beetle compared to the control. Interestingly, the larval period of chlorella powder-added groups was shortened by 24 days (Exp3, p<0.05) in P. brevitarsis and 19 days (Exp4, p<0.01) in A. dichotoma. Meanwhile, some parameters, crude protein, crude fiber, copper, zinc, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorous, in chlorella-added groups of P. brevitarsis were also higher than the control group. Therefore, chlorella could promote the larval growth performance of these two beetles and be used as a feed additive in rearing them.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2022

CopA3 (LLCIALRKK), an antimicrobial peptide isolated from the Korean dung beetle, has been shown to suppress apoptosis in various cell types. CopA3 inhibits not only bacterial toxin-induced colonocyte apoptosis but also 6-hydroxy dopamine-induced neural cell apoptosis. Our recent study revealed that CopA3 directly binds to caspases (key regulators of apoptosis) and inhibits the proteolytic cleavage required for their activation. But molecular mechanisms underlying CopA3-mediated inhibition of apoptosis in multiple cell types remain unknown. Here we assessed possible effects of CopA3 on expression of survivin, which is known to inhibit apoptosis. In HT29 human colonocytes, CopA3 exposure markedly upregulated survivin expression in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. RT-PCR revealed that CopA3-mediated upregulation of survivin was attributable to increased gene transcription, and further showed that CopA3 also increased expression of Sp1, one of many transcription factors known to be involved in transcription of the survivin gene. Notably, blocking Sp1 by treatment with the Sp1 inhibitor, tolfenamic acid, significantly reduced CopA3-mediated upregulation of survivin. These results collectively suggest that CopA3 induces Sp1 expression, which in turn is involved in upregulation of survivin in human colonocytes. These novel findings establish another pathway for explaining the anti-apoptotic effects of CopA3 against various cellular apoptosis systems.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.45-55
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• 2023

The diploid Solanum cardiophyllum, a wild tuberbearing species from Mexico is one of the relatives to potato, S. tuberosum. It has been identified as a source of resistance to crucial pathogens and insects such as Phytophthora infestans, Potato virus Y, Colorado potato beetle, etc. and is widely used for potato breeding. However, the sexual hybridization between S. cardiophyllum and S. tuberosum is limited due to their incompatibility. Therefore, somatic hybridization can introduce beneficial traits from this wild species into the potato. After somatic hybridization, selecting fusion products using molecular markers is essential. In the current study, the chloroplast genome of S. cardiophyllum was sequenced by next-generation sequencing technology and compared with those of other Solanum species to develop S. cardiophyllum-specific markers. The total length of the S. cardiophyllum chloroplast genome was 155,570 bp and its size, gene content, order and orientation were similar to those of the other Solanum species. Phylogenic analysis with 32 other Solanaceae species revealed that S. cardiophyllum was expectedly grouped with other Solanum species and most closely located with S. bulbocastanum. Through detailed comparisons of the chloroplast genome sequences of eight Solanum species, we identified 13 SNPs specific to S. cardiophyllum. Further, four SNP-specific PCR markers were developed for discriminating S. cardiophyllum from other Solanum species. The results obtained in this study would help to explore the evolutionary aspects of Solanum species and accelerate breeding using S. cardiophyllum.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.804-812
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• 2020

The giant mealworm beetle, Zophobas atratus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) has been used as a protein source for small pets and mammals. Recently, it was temporarily registered in the list of the Food Code. We previously performed an in silico analysis of the Zophobas atratus transcriptome to identify putative antimicrobial peptides and identified several antimicrobial peptide candidates. Among them, we assessed the antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of zophobacin 1 that was selected bio-informatically based on its physicochemical properties against microorganisms and mouse macrophage Raw264.7 cells. Zophobacin 1 showed antimicrobial activities against microorganisms without inducing hemolysis and decreased the nitric oxide production of the lipopolysaccharide-induced Raw264.7 cells. Moreover, ELISA and Western blot analysis revealed that zophobacin 1 reduced expression levels of pro-inflammatory enzymes such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). We also investigated expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 and interleukin-1β) production through quantitative real time-PCR and ELISA. Zophobacin 1 markedly reduced the expression level of cytokines through the regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling. We confirmed that zophobacin 1 bound to bacterial cell membranes via a specific interaction with lipopolysaccharides. These data suggest that zophobacin 1 could be promising molecules for development as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory therapeutic agents.