• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.25-33
• /
• 2011

Three morphospecies of the genus Uronychia, i.e. U. setigera Calkins, 1902, U. binucleata Young, 1922, and U. multicirrus Song, 1997, were collected from the coastal waters of Gumjin-ri on the East Sea and the public waterfront of Incheon on the Yellow Sea in Korea, respectively. These species are described based on live observation, protargol impregnation, silver nitrate impregnation, and their morphometrics. Diagnostic keys for these species are also provided. In addition, their small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences were compared with previously known sequences of Uronychia species. Diagnostics of three Uronychia species are as follows: U. setigera: $50-80\;{\mu}m$ long in vivo, oval-shaped, 2 macronuclear nodules (Ma), 1 spur on the left margin, 11 adoral membranelles (AM) 1, 4 AM2, 1 buccal cirrus (BC), 4 frontal cirri (FC), 3 left marginal cirri (LMC), 2 ventral cirri (VC), 5 transverse cirri (TC), 3 caudal cirri (CC), 6 dorsal kineties (DK), and approximately 23 cilia in the leftmost kinety. U. binucleata: $70-110\;{\mu}m$ long in vivo, oval to slightly rectangular shaped, 2 Ma, 1 micronucleus (Mi), 2 spurs on the posterior region, 11 AM1, 4 AM2, 1 BC, 4 FC, 3 LMC, 2 VC, 5 TC, 3 CC, 6 DK, and approximately 37 cilia in the leftmost kinety. U. multicirrus: $140-200\;{\mu}m$ long in vivo, oval to slightly rectangular shaped, ca. 7 Ma, 1 Mi, 11 AM1, 4 AM2, 1 BC, 4 FC, 3 LMC, approximately 8 VC, 5 TC, 3 CC, and 6 DK. This study presents the first record of this genus in Korea.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.279-290
• /
• 2012

Plecoglossus altivelis (ayu) is an amphidromous fish widely distributed in Northeastern Asia from the East China Sea to the northern Japanese coastal waters, encompassing the Korean Peninsula within its range. The shore lines of northeastern region in Asia have severely fluctuated following glaciations in the Quaternary. In the present study, we investigate the population genetic structure and historical demographic change of P. altivelis at a population level in East Asia. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) based on 244 mitochondrial control region DNA sequences clearly showed that as the sampling scope extended to a larger geographic area, genetic differentiation began to become significant, particularly among Northeastern populations. A series of hierarchical AMOVA could detect the genetic relationship of three closely located islands between Korea and Japan that might have been tightly connected by the regional Tsushima current. Neutrality and mismatch distribution analyses revealed a strong signature of a recent population expansion of P. altivelis in East Asia, estimated at 126 to 391 thousand years ago during the late Pleistocene. Therefore it suggests that the present population of P. altivelis traces back to its approximate demographic change long before the last glacial maximum. This contrasts our a priori expectation that the most recent glacial event might have the most crucial effect on the present day demography of marine organisms through bottleneck and subsequent increase of effective population size in this region.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.173-179
• /
• 1999

As a result of PCR-RFLP, the isolates used in this study were classified into five groups. Isolates 1 and 3 were included in AG-5 with 97% genetic similarity. Isolates 12 and 13 were included in AG-1 wilh 100% genetic similarily. Isolates 10 and AG-2-2 showed 97% similarity Isolates 7, 8, 11. 13, and 15 were included in AG-1. When isolates of 4, 5, 7 and 8 were restricted with Hae I. there was a single 700 bp fragment matched with AG-1. A 517 bp restriction fragment of isolate 9 was matched with AG-2-1. Based on the result of southem hybridization of genomic DNAs, all isolates restricted with Msp I showed more variable restriction differences than those restricted with Hae Ill. Isolates AG-2-1 and 9 showed 200 bp restriction fragment, and isolates 3 and AG-1 showed 1 kb restriction fragments.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.136-143
• /
• 2013

The collared scops owl that occurs in Korea is a protected species but its exact specific status has been questioned. To resolve the species status, a molecular phylogenetic analysis was conducted using two fragments of mitochondrial DNA, cytochrome b (cyt b, 891 bp) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2, 627 bp) genes. Phylogenetic trees of cyt b revealed that all Korean specimens formed a monophyletic group with Japanese scops owl Otus semitorques with very low sequence divergence (d=0.008). We obtained a similar ND2 tree as well (d=0.003); however, the genetic distance between Korean individuals and O. lempiji from GenBank (AJ004026-7, EU348987, and EU601036) was very high and sufficient enough to separate them as species (cyt b, d=0.118; ND2, d=0.113). We also found that Korean species showed high differentiation from O. bakkamoena (AJ004018-20 and EU601034; cyt b, d=0.106; ND2, d=0.113) and O. lettia (EU601109 and EU601033, cyt b, d=0.110; ND2, d=0.117) as well. Therefore, we suggest that the Korean collared scops owl should be designated as Otus semitorques.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.237-246
• /
• 2009

Inter-specific relationships among six species and two varieties, belonging to Scrophularia (Scrophulariaceae), in Korea were re-examined based on both morphological and molecular data. Scrophularia takesimensis, a Korean endemic species, should be separated from S. grayana as an independent species based upon unique morphological characters such as non-winged stems, thickened leaves and glabrous surfaces of leaves, even though they share a lot of other features. It was found that S. grayana is distributed in Sokcho in Korea and along the coast of the East Sea north to far eastern Russia. Although some morphologies of three taxa, S. cephalantha, S. koraiensis var. velutina and S. kakudensis var. microphylla appeared to differ from each other, their ITS DNA sequence data was similar to that of S. kakudensis, suggesting that they might better be designated with the later species. The taxonomic position of S. koraiensis, only found in Korea, has been ambiguous, but ITS DNA sequence data in this study revealed that this species is distinct from S. kakudensis. Consequently, we conclude that the genus Scrophularia in Korea includes five species.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.260-277
• /
• 2018

The evolution of chromosome numbers and the karyotype structure is a prominent feature of plant genomes contributing to or at least accompanying plant diversification and eventually leading to speciation. Polyploidy, the multiplication of whole chromosome sets, is widespread and ploidy-level variation is frequent at all taxonomic levels, including species and populations, in angiosperms. Analyses of chromosome numbers and ploidy levels of 252 taxa of Korean non-commelinid monocots indicated that diploids (ca. 44%) and tetraploids (ca. 14%) prevail, with fewer triploids (ca. 6%), pentaploids (ca. 2%), and hexaploids (ca. 4%) being found. The range of genome sizes of the analyzed taxa (0.3-44.5 pg/1C) falls well within that reported in the Plant DNA C-values database (0.061-152.33 pg/1C). Analyses of karyotype features in angiosperm often involve, in addition to chromosome numbers and genome sizes, mapping of selected repetitive DNAs in chromosomes. All of these data when interpreted in a phylogenetic context allow for the addressing of evolutionary questions concerning the large-scale evolution of the genomes as well as the evolution of individual repeat types, especially ribosomal DNAs (5S and 35S rDNAs), and other tandem and dispersed repeats that can be identified in any plant genome at a relatively low cost using next-generation sequencing technologies. The present work investigates chromosome numbers (n or 2n), base chromosome numbers (x), ploidy levels, rDNA loci numbers, and genome size data to gain insight into the incidence, evolution and significance of polyploidy in Korean monocots.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.245-251
• /
• 1994

Ten strains of 7 species from the genus Ganoderma, G. lucidum ATCC 64251, FP-103561-T, and ES70701, G. applanatum ATCC 44053 and FP-57035-T. G. lobatum ATCC 42985, G. resinaceum ATCC 52416, G. subamboinense var. laevisporum ATCC 52420, G. meredithae ATCC 64492, and G. microsporum ATCC 76024, were studied to discuss their phylogenetic relationships by utilizing restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs). Six restriction enzymes, BamHI, BglII, EcoRI, HindIII, PvuII, and XbaI which digested mtDNAs into adequate numbers of restriction fragments for cluster analysis, were used in this study. Restriction profiles of strains for each restriction enzyme were treated as analysis characters to calculate similarity coefficients, which were converted into nucleotide sequence divergence values whose mean values were then arranged in a matrix table. This table was utilized for a phylogenetic analysis using the Neighborjoining method of the PHYLIP package to construct phylogenetic tree. Three strains of G. lucidum and two strains of G. applanatum exhibited different lineages each but one of G. applanatum strains showed a close relationship with G. lobatum, which reflected the species complexity of these species whose strains were phenotypically indistinguishable but genetically distinct. The present results suggest that the natural classification of Ganoderma needs to be considered from the viewpoints of molecular biology-based systematics as well as morphological classifications and cultural identifications for better phylogenetic conclusions.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.288-293
• /
• 2013

A single specimen of the genus Sillago, collected from Gwangyang, Korea, in May 2009, is characterized by XI first dorsal fin spines, 3 or 4 rows of melanophore pattern along the second dorsal fin membrane, and a darkish posterior margin of the caudal fin. Our specimen was identified as Sillago sinica reported as a new species; this identification is confirmed by mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequences, which show that our specimen corresponds to S. sinica (d=0.000) and differs from the congeneric species Sillago parvisquamis (d=0.170). Comparisons of Korean specimens previously reported as S. parvisquamis with specimens of S. sinica show that the S. parvisquamis specimens are actually S. sinica. We propose the new Korean name "buk-bang-jeom-bo-ri-myeol" for S. sinica.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.272-278
• /
• 2013

Accurate identification of fish and fish products, from eggs to adults, is important in many areas. Grey mullets of the family Mugilidae are distributed worldwide and inhabit marine, estuarine, and freshwater environments in all tropical and temperate regions. Various Mugilid species are commercially important species in fishery and aquaculture of many countries. For the present study we have chosen two Mugilid genes with different phylogenetic signals: relatively variable mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and conservative nuclear rhodopsin (RHO). We examined their diversity within and among 9 Mugilid species belonging to 4 genera, many of which have been examined from multiple specimens, with the goal of determining whether DNA barcoding can achieve unambiguous species recognition of Mugilid species. The data obtained showed that information based on COI sequences was diagnostic not only for species-level identification but also for recognition of intraspecific units, e.g., allopatric populations of circumtropical Mugil cephalus, or even native and acclimatized specimens of Chelon haematocheila. All RHO sequences appeared strictly species specific. Based on the data obtained, we conclude that COI, as well as RHO sequencing can be used to unambiguously identify fish species. Topologies of phylogeny based on RHO and COI sequences coincided with each other, while together they had a good phylogenetic signal.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.36-41
• /
• 2012

The larvae of Chaoborus are widely distributed in lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. These omnivorous Chaoborus larvae are crucial predators and play a role in structuring zooplankton communities, especially for small-sized prey. Larvae of Chaoborus are commonly known to produce predator-induced polyphenism in Daphnia sp. Nevertheless, their taxonomy and molecular phylogeny are very poorly understood. As a fundamental study for understanding the role of Chaoborus in predator-prey interactions in a freshwater ecosystem, the molecular identification and phylogenetic relationship of Chaoborus were analyzed in this study. A molecular comparison based on partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) between species in Chaoborus was carried out for the identification of Chaoborus larvae collected from 2 localities in Korea. According to the results, the Chaoborus species examined here was identified as C. flavicans, which is a lake-dwelling species. Furthermore, partial mitochondrial genome including COI, COII, ATP6, ATP8, COIII, and ND3 were also newly sequenced from the species and concatenated 5 gene sequences excluding ATP8 with another 9 dipteran species were compared to examine phylogenetic relationships of C. flavicans. The results suggested that Chaoborus was more related to the Ceratopogonidae than to the Culicidae. Further analysis based on complete mitochondrial DNA sequences and nuclear gene sequences will provide a more robust validation of the phylogenetic relationships of Chaoborus within dipteran lineages.