• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.88-98
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• 2016

The pharmacological effects of ginseng berry have been known to improve psychological function, immune activities, cardiovascular conditions, and certain cancers. It is also known that fermentation improves the bioavailability of human beneficial natural materials. Accordingly, we investigated the optimal fermentation conditions of ginseng berry extract with strain isolated from conventional foods. We also analyzed the fermentation product and its antioxidant activity. The bacterium isolated from fermented kimchi was identified as Lactobacillus sp. strain KYH. To optimize the process, fermentation was performed in a 5 L fermenter containing 3 L of ginseng berry extract at 200 rpm for 72 hr. Under optimized conditions, batch and fed-batch fermentations were performed. After fermentation, organic acids, amino acids, sugars, ginsenosides, and antioxidant activity were evaluated. The optimum fermentation conditions were determined as pH 7.0 and a temperature of $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. After fermentation, the amounts and compositions of organic acids, amino acids, sugars, ginsenosides, and antioxidant activity were altered. In comparing the distribution of ginsenosides with that before fermentation, the ginsenoside Re was a major product. However, amounts of ginsenosides Rb1, Rc, and Rd were reduced, whereas amounts of ginsenosides Rh1 and Rh2 increased. Total phenol content increased to 43.8%, whereas flavonoid content decreased to 19.8%. The DPPH radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant activity increased to 27.2 and 19.4%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2006

L-Ascorbic acid (AsA) is an essential nutrient for prevention of scurvy in humans, primates and guinea pigs that lack $L-gulono-\gamma-lactone$ oxidase which is required for the final step of AsA biosynthesis. AsA participates in various hydroxylation reactions involved in the biosynthesis of collagen. The purpose of this study is to clarify the role of AsA on collagen synthesis in 3T6 fibroblasts and primary cultured cells of chondrocytes. Cells were cultured in medium supplemented with catalase and AsA at various concentration. Supplement of AsA induced collagen synthesis in 3T6 fibroblasts and primary cultured cells of chondrocytes. The most remarkable induction of collagen synthesis by AsA was found in primary cultured chondrocytes. The content of collagen representing the amounts of extracellular matrix significantly increased in the cells of which growth was stimulated by AsA, while it decreased with increasing passage numbers of subculture in cells. It showed that the content of collagen decreased in the medium which contained AsA at the concentration higher than 5.0 mM. However, the contents of collagen to DNA were not different among various AsA concentrations. Supplementing with AsA resulted in enhancement of collagen formation and extracellular matrix. Therefore, there might be a Positive correlation between the activity of catalase and the AsA concentration. Moreover, it can be assumed that AsA stimulates the collagen synthesis by optimizing the cell-culture environment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.202-209
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• 2022

The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a unicellular haploid eukaryote, has long been used by researchers and industries as a cell factory to produce high value-added microalgae substances using genetic modification. Microalga K01, presumed to be Chlamydomonas, was isolated from 12 freshwater samples from the Chungcheong and Jeolla regions to replace C. reinhardtii, an introduced species currently used in most basic and industrial research. The isolated K01 strain was identified as C. reinhardtii through morphological and phylogenetic studies of the 18S rDNA gene sequence (NCBI accession number KC166137). The growth and lipid content of the isolated C. reinhardtii K01 were compared with three wild and four mutant strains in TAP medium, and it was found that the K01 strain could produce 1.74×10⁷ cells/ml by the third day of culture. The growth rate of C. reinhardtii K01 was 1.5 times faster than UTEX2244, which showed the highest number of cells (1.20×10⁷ cells/ml) among the compared strains. The lipid content of the isolated C. reinhardtii K01 (20.67%) was similar to those of the wild strains, although the fatty acid oleate C18:1 was not detected in the isolated strain but was identified in the seven others. The cell density of the isolated strain increased to 0.87 g/l during a six-day culture in BG11 medium, where nitrate (NaNO₃) was introduced as a nitrogen source, while the seven acquired strains showed almost no cell proliferation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.822-828
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• 2012

Organic fruit production has increased due to consumer's interest and government's political support for environmentally-friendly agriculture. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cover plants on soil microbial community and establish the fruit cultivation method by organic farming techniques. Cover plants used as an organic nutrient source in an apple orchard were rye and barley, the Gramineae and red clover and hairy vetch, the Leguminosae. In the effects of cover plants on the soil chemical characteristics, the soil pH values were higher than that of conventional organic pear orchard. The content of P showed no significant difference between control and cover plant plots. Organic matter level was similar in control and Gramineae cover plant plots, while organic matter content in cover plants belong to Leguminosae was lower than that of control plot. K content was lower in the plots treated with rye and red clover than control plot, while K content in hairy vetch treated plot was higher than control plot. Ca content was lower in control plot than in cover plant treated plots. Concentrations of Mg in the plots treated with barley and hairy vetch was lower than control plot. In August rye and red clover covered soil showed higher bacterial community density than that of control soil and barley treated soil showed highest Actinomycetes community density among treatments. Barley and hairy vetch soils showed higher level of fungi community density than that of control soil in August. In pyrosequencing analysis barley treated soil showed highest distribution ratio of Actinomycetes among treatment. Our findings might be used as basic data for choosing cover plant with effective organic matter decomposition and nutrition supply capacity.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.120-129
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• 2024

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a significant risk factor in the global disease burden. The stem bark of the Betulaceae plant Alnus japonica, which is indigenous to Korea, has been used as a popular folk medicine for hepatitis and cancer. However, the preventive effect of Alnus japonica leaf extracts on alcohol-related liver damage has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of the extracts of Alnus japonica leaf (AJL) against ethanol-induced liver damage in HepG2/2E1 cells. Treatment with AJL significantly prevented ethanol-induced cytotoxicity in HepG2/2E1 cells by reducing the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). This protective effect was likely associated with antioxidant potential of AJL, as evidenced by the attenuation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) production and restoration of the depleted glutathione (GSH) levels in ethanol-induced HepG2/2E1 cells. Our findings suggest that FCC might be considered as a useful agent in the prevention of liver damage induced by oxidative stress by increasing the antioxidant defense mechanism.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1025-1038
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• 2010

Carrot ($Daucus$ $carota$ L. var. $sativa$) is one of the most widely used crops in the world. Moreover it is an important crop because of its high content of ${\beta}$-carotene, well-known as the precursor of vitamin A carotenoid. However, seed-hair which is generated in epidermal cell of seeds inhibits absorption and germination. For that reason, carrot seeds are commercialized after mechanical hair removal process. To overcome such cumbersome weaknesses, new breeding program for developing hairless-seed carrot cultivar has been needed. Therefore, in this study, cDNA libraries from seeds of short-hair seed phenotype CT-ATR615 OP 666-13line and hairy seed CT-ATR615 OP-CK1-9 line were constructed and expression patterns related to generation of seed-hair were analyzed by comparison of EST sequences. Differential EST sequence results between two lines were classified into FunCat functional categories based on the results of BlastX search. Higher expression quantities belonging to metabolic category were shown on short-hair seed line than hairy-seed one. Differential expression quantities between those two lines in the protein folding and stabilization, subcellular localization categories were supposed to contribute variously on the generation of seed-hair. We confirmed 50 and 59 SSR sites, and 2 SNP sites by analyzing EST sequences in two lines; thereafter, we designed SNP and SSR primer sets from these EST sequence information as a molecular marker. These markers are thought to be used in research of molecular markers for classification of carrot family and related to various traits, as well as seed-hair characteristic.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.113-123
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• 1996

It has been well known that polyamines ensure the stability of chromatin structure and the fidelity of DNA transcription. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of polyamines on the apoptosis of mouse thymocytes induced by dexamethasone and polyamine synthesis inhibitors. 1) In the histological death findings of thymocytes double-stained with acridine orange and ethidium bromide, the apoptotic and the necrotic fractions (AF; NF) in the control group were $9.4{\pm}4.2%$ and $4.5{\pm}5.3%$, respectively. Dexamethasone $(3\;{\times}\;10^{-8}\;M:\;DX)$ in creased AF upto $52.0{\pm}8.1%$ and did not change NF, but A23187 $(5\;{\times}\;10^{-7}\;M:\;A2)$ increased AF and NF upto $45.0{\pm}8.9%$ and $20.5{\pm}10.6%$, respectively. 2) The thymocyte viability was significantly reduced by DX, DHEA $(1\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;M)$, A2, DFMO $(1\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;M)$, and $MGBG\;(1\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;M)$, respectively. It was, however, little affected by $aminoguanidine\;(1\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;M:\;AG)$, $putrescine\;(1\;{\times}\;10^{-5}\;M:\;PT)$, $spermidine\;(1\;{\times}\;10^{-5}\;M:\;SD)$, and $spermine\;(1\;{\times}\;10^{-5}\;M:\;SM)$. 3) The genomic DNA of mouse thymocyte was markedly fragmented by DX and A2, respectively, and to a lesser extent, by DHEA, but was little affected by MGBG, DFMO, AG, and each of polyamines. 4) The DX induced reduction of thymocyte viability was moderately attenuated by DHEA, but little affected by DFMO, MGBC, and AG. However, SM significantly attenuated the viability reduction induced by A2 as well as DX. 5) The thymocyte viability reduction by MGBG and DFMO was significantly attenuated by only SM among three polyamines applied in this study. 6) The thymocyte viability redution by combined treatments of DX with DFMO and MGBG, respectively, was significantly attenuated by SM, and moderately by PT. But the viability reduction by combined treatment of DX with AG or DHEA was not affected by polyamines. These results suggest that polyamines, particularly spermine, might play the inhibitory role in thymocyte apoptosis and the inhibitory effect can be ascribed in part to the increase of polyamine uptake by thymocytes pretreated with DFMO and MGBG.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.483-490
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• 2008

Several tartaric acid-degrading bacteria were isolated from Korean grape wine pomace after enrichment culture at $30^{\circ}C$ for 10 days in liquid media containing tartaric acid Among them, strains KMBL 5777 and KMBL 5778 exhibited the highest level in the growth and tartaric acid degradability in a medium containing 0.2%(w/v) tartaric acid as a sole carbon source. They were identified as Acetobacter tropicalis based on their morphological and physiological characteristics as well as their 16S rDNA sequences. Blast search of the 16S rDNA sequences revealed that the isolated strains are closest to Acetobacter tropicalis. Homologies of the sequences of KMBL 5777 and KMBL 5778 were 96.0 and 98.9%, respectively with those of A. tropicalis LMG 1663. Both the two bacteria showed higher tartaric acid degradation at $25^{\circ}C$ that those at 20 and $30^{\circ}C$. They could degrade tartaric acid at a wide range of pH between 4.0 and 7.0 with the most rapid degradability at pH 7.0. However, when the bacteria were grown for 8 days, the same level of tartaric acid degradation was observed at pH 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0, which was 90.0% of degradation of the acid.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.25 no.2 s.81
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• pp.143-151
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• 1997

Interspecific hybrids between Aspergillus niger and Penicillium notatum (Tyr-), hyperlipolytic enzyme-producing fungi, were obtained by nuclear transfer technique. Optimal conditions for formation of intergeneric hybrids were investigated. Maximum production of protoplasts was obtained by 1% Novozyme 234 at $30^{\circ}C$ for 3 hrs and the most effective osmotic stabilizers for the isolation of protoplasts were 0.6 M KCl. Frequencies of hybrid formation by nuclear transfer were $3.8{\times}10^{-3}{\sim}1.3{\times}10^{-3}$. From the observation of genetic stability, conidial size, DNA content, and nuclear stain, it was suggested that their karyotypes are aneuploid. The hybrids showed $1.2{\sim}1.7$ fold higher lipase activities than parental strains. It was strongly supported by results of this study that nuclear transfer technique is much more efficient in the formation of intergeneric hybrids than protoplast fusion and is very useful for the improvement of strains.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.88-92
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• 2015

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a useful root crop for food, animal feed and various industrial materials including biofuel. Despite of its importance as an industrial crop, the genetic engineering approaches to manipulate transgenic plant development in cassava are limited. In this study, to develop new cultivar with high level of carotenoids and enhanced tolerance to environmental stresses, sweetpotato IbOr gene involved in accumulation of carotenoids was introduced into an Indonesian IDB high-yielding cassava cultivar under the control of oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of friable embryogenic calli. The 19 transgenic lines were successfully generated on the basis of gDNA-PCR and IbOr transcript levels for further characterization in terms of carotenoid contents and environmental stresses. Therefore, IbOr transgenic cassava plants may be developed for enhanced biomass production with high levels of carotenoids on marginal lands.