• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2009

A cDNA clone for a transcript preferentially expressed during an early phase of flooding was isolated from Nicotiana tabacum. Nucleotide sequencing of the cDNA clone identified an open reading frame that has high homology to the previously reported glycine-rich RNA-binding proteins. The open reading frame consists of 157 amino acids with an N-terminal RNA-recognition motif and a C-terminal glycine-rich domain, and thus the cDNA clone was designated as Nicotiana tabaccum glycine-rich RNA-binding protein-1 (NtGRP1). Expression of NtGRP1 was upregulated under flooding stress and also increased, but at much lower levels, under conditions of cold, drought, heat, high salt content, and abscisic acid treatment. RNA homopolymer-binding assay showed that NtGRP1 binds to all the RNA homopolymers tested with a higher affinity to poly r(G) and poly r(A) than to poly r(U) and poly r(C). Nucleic acid-binding assays showed that NtGRP1 binds to ssDNA, dsDNA, and mRNA. NtGRP1 suppressed expression of the fire luciferase gene in vitro, and the suppression of luciferase gene expression could be rescued by addition of oligonucleotides. Collectively, the data suggest NtGRP1 as a negative modulator of gene expression by binding to DNA or RNA in bulk that could be advantageous for plants in a stress condition like flooding.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.95-101
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• 2009

Tea leaves are major source of catechins—antioxidant flavonoids. Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR, EC 1.1.1.219) is one of the important enzymes that catalyzes the reduction of dihydroflavonols to leucoanthocyanins, a key ''late'' step in the biosynthesis of catechins. This manuscript reports characterization of DFR from tea (CsDFR) that comprised 1,413 bp full-length cDNA with ORF of 1,044 bp (115-1,158) and encoding a protein of 347 amino acids. Sequence comparison of CsDFR with earlier reported DFR sequences in a database indicated conservation of 69-87% among amino acid residues. In silico analysis revealed CsDFR to be a membrane-localized protein with a domain (between 16 and 218 amino acids) resembling the NAD-dependent epimerase/dehydratase family. The theoretical molecular weight and isoelectric point of the deduced amino sequence of CsDFR were 38.67 kDa and 6.22, respectively. Upon expression of CsDFR in E. coli, recombinant protein was found to be functional and showed specific activity of 42.85 nmol $min^{-1}$ mg $protein^{-1}$. Expression of CsDFR was maximum in younger rather than older leaves. Expression was down-regulated in response to drought stress and abscisic acid, unaffected by gibberellic acid treatment, but up-regulated in response to wounding, with concomitant modulation of catechins content. This is the first report of functionality of recombinant CsDFR and its expression in tea.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 2010

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) was transposed into Irish law by Statutory Instrument Nos. 722 of 2003, 413 of 2005 and 218 of 2009, which set out a new strategy and process to protect and enhance Ireland's water resources and water-dependent ecosystems. The Directive requires a novel, holistic, integrated, and iterative process to address Ireland's natural waters based on a series of six-year planning cycles. Key success factors in implementing the Directive include an in-depth and balanced treatment of the ecological, economic, institutional and cultural aspects of river basin management planning. Introducing this visionary discipline for the management of sustainable water resources requires a solemn commitment to a new mindset and an overarching monitoring and management regime which hitherto has never been attempted in Ireland. The WFD must be implemented in conjunction with a myriad of complimentary directives and associated legislation, addressing such key related topics as flood/drought management, biodiversity protection, land use planning, and water/wastewater and diffuse pollution engineering and regulation. The critical steps identified for river basin management planning under the WFD include: 1) characterization and classification of water bodies (i.e., how healthy are Irish waters?), 2) definition of significant water pressures (e.g., agriculture, forestry, septic tanks), 3) enhancement of measures for designated protected areas, 4) establishment of objectives for all surface and ground waters, and 5) integrating these critical steps into a comprehensive and coherent river basin management plan and associated programme of measures. A parallel WFD implementation programme critically depends on an effective environmental management system (EMS) approach with a plan-do-check-act cycle applied to each of the evolving six-year plans. The proactive involvement of stakeholders and the general public is a key element of this EMS approach.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.1299-1305
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• 2014

For evaluating the effect of various artificial planting soil properties on the Euonymus fortunei 'Emelad'n Gold' growth, a container green wall system experiment was conducted in a wall of greenhouse at Konkuk University, Glocal campus. The experimental artificial planting grounds were prepared with different organic soil conditioner ratios (Control, $A_4O_1$, $A_2O_1$ and $A_1O_1$) and with drought tolerance and an ornamental value Euonymus fortunei 'Emelad'n Gold' was planted. The soil and plant characteristics were investigated from April to Jun 2010. The volumetric soil moisture contents were significantly increasing order as the amount of organic soil conditioner level increased in order to $A_1O_1$ > $A_2O_1$ > $A_4O_1$ > Control. At 4 treatment, soil chemical properties were inversely related to organic soil container ratios increase. The differences of root collar caliper, number of branch, and survival rate between the organic soil conditioner ratio were not significantly affected by organic soil conditioner. But, plant height, internode length, leaf length and leaf width were significantly shorter on plants planted $A_1O_1$ than plants planted other treatments. Therefore, Euonymus fortunei 'Emelad'n Gold' had good growth response regardless of organic soil conditioner ratio and the plant is expected to be a highly valuable shrub for the green wall system if it should be considered in integration with stormwater retention or as a soil conditioner for increasing soil water contents in artificial planting soil.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2015

Pennisetum aloperculoides is a key revegetation species mixed with other plants species and used for revegetating cut-slopes. The purpose of this research is to identify the effects of mixed seeding of revegetation plants on cut-slope revegetation with respect to the quantity of Pennisetum aloperculoides seeds. The coverage ratio and appearance frequency of Pennisetum aloperculoides, and other revegetation species were measured to assess the cut-slope revegetation. We divided Pennisetum treatments into four groups with different Pennisetum seed quantities of $0g/m^2$, $5g/m^2$, $10g/m^2$, and $15g/m^2$. For each treatment group, we mixed identical quantities of seeds from herbaceous flowers (bird's-boot trefoil, aster, chrysanthemums, golden coreopsis and china pink), cool-season turfgrasses, and woody plants (korean lespedeza, indigo and silk tree). The increase in the quantity of the Pennisetum seeds resulted in the higher coverage ratio for Pennisetum, but in the lower coverage ratio for herbaceous flowers, cool-season turfgrasses, and woody plants. We observed a short-term succession process in which the dominant species shifted in the following order: the initial species Pennisetum, herbaceous flowers, and then lastly woody plants. In case of the appearance frequency, we also observed the higher appearance frequency for Pennisetum and the lower appearance frequency for the other plants due to the increase in the quantity of Pennisetum seeds. Pennisetum, bird's-foot trefoil and china pink showed the tendency to decrease the appearance frequency from one month after seeding while cool-season turfgrasses became extinct due to summer drought. In the woody plants, the appearance frequencies of korean lespedeza and indigo were high due to the decrease in quantity of Pennisetum seeds. The silk trees were damaged from winter frost and none emerged at all in 2013 (the following year after the seeding). Korean lespedeza and indigo appeared to have the short-term rapid dominance over other treated revegetation plants.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.693-698
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• 2008

The full-length cDNA of LebZIP2 (Lycopersicon esculentum bZIP2) encodes a protein of 164 amino acids and contains a N-terminal basic-region leucine zipper domain. Analysis of the deduced tomato LebZIP2 amino acid sequence revealed that it shares 85% sequence identity with both tobacco bZIP and pepper CcbZIP. LebZIP2 mRNA is expressed at a high level exclusively in flowers. Presently, LebZIP2 was strongly increased also following NaCl and mannitol treatments. No significant LebZIP2 expression was evident following cold treatment. Transient LebZIP2 overexpression resulted in increased NbNOA1 and NbNR transcript levels in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Our results indicate that LebZIP2 might play roles as an abiotic stress-signaling pathway and as a transcriptional regulator of the NbNOA1 or NbNR genes.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.612-616
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• 2006

In recent years, there has been increasing concerns in gene flow from GM crops to wild or weedy relatives as a potential risk in the commercialization of GM crops. To access the possibility of the environmental impacts by GM rice, small-scale experiments of gene transfer were carried out. Herbicide and drought stress resistant GM rice and non-GM rice Nakdongbyeo, wild rice Oryza nivara, and weedy rice Sharebyeo were used for artificial pollination experiments and bar gene was used as a tractable marker after pollination. The harvested putative hybrid seeds after artificial pollination were germinated and true hybrid plants were selected by basta treatment. The hybrid plants were verified again by PCR amplification of bar and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP) genes and RAPD PCR analysis.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2015

As livestock manure treatment is becoming a problem, manure application in forest plantation is recommended as an alternative. In this study, to investigate the impact due to liquid manure application in forest plantation, soil, soil water and shallow groundwater quality had been monitored in poplar experimental site where the liquid manure (LM) was applied. Water samples were collected weekly during growing season (April to October) from 2008 to 2011. From the monitoring results, phosphorus concentration in the soil and soil water had no significant difference between LM and control plots. $NO_3$-N concentration of soil water in LM, however, showed higher concentration (13.6 mg/l at 40 cm, 35.1 mg/l at 80 cm) than control plot (1.5 mg/l at 40 cm, 0.5 mg/l at 80 cm). In case of shallow groundwater quality, pH, heavy metal, etc. were satisfied to the national agricultural water quality standard of groundwater and there were no significant difference between upstream and downstream. The $NO_3$-N concentration of shallow groundwater was also not exceeded the national drinking water standard. However, $NO_3$-N concentration in soil water and downstream of shallow groundwater had increased in 2011 when non-composted LM was applied mostly in non-growing season of tree (September). From the results, it is important to control nitrogen source, application time and decomposed or not when LM is applied. In addition, to investigate nitrate source, further long-term monitoring and modelling could be necessary.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.130-130
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• 2021

The increasing effect of urbanization has been more apparent through flooding and downstream water quality especially from heavy rainfalls. In response, stormwater runoff management solutions have focused on runoff volume reduction and treatment through infiltration. However, there are areas with low infiltration soils or are experiencing more dry days and even drought. In this study, a lab-scale infiltration system was used to compare the applicability of two types of soil as base layer in gravel-filled infiltration systems with emphasis on runoff capture and suspended solids removal. The two types of soils used were sandy soil representing a high infiltration system and clayey soil representing a low infiltration system. Findings showed that infiltration rates increased with the water depth above the gravel-soil interface indicating that the available depth for water storage affects this parameter. Runoff capture in the high infiltration system is more affected by rainfall depth and inflow rates as compared to that in the low infiltration system. Based on runoff capture and pollutant removal analysis, a media depth of at least 0.4 m for high infiltration systems and 1 m for low infiltration systems is required to capture and treat a 10-mm rainfall in Korea. A maximum infiltration rate of 200 mm/h was also found to be ideal to provide enough retention time for pollutant removal. Moreover, it was revealed that low infiltration systems are more susceptible to horizontal flows and that the length of the structure may be more critical that the depth in this condition.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 1992

For elucidating effective methods of restoration of forest recreational sites where management goals are maintaining naturalness and conserving natural ecosystem, seeding, fertilization and soil surface treatment were used for four years at the devastated forest-floor. For restoration of forest-floor vegetation, factorial experiment was used with a split plot design(main plot : fertilization, subplot : soil surface${\times}$seeding) and a randomized complete block design (fertilization${\times}$seeding) at the Kwanaksan Aboretum, Anyang, Kyonggido. Results were summarized as follows : Soil surface softening with tipping and ripping and straw-mat mulching (70% coverage) treatment was effective on germination, survival and growth of seeded vegetation at devastated forest-floor. Especially, straw-mat mulching treatment was effective on soil surface stabilization and seedling's survival at eroded soil surface, while complete soil surface softening treatment was effective on germination, survival and early growth of tree species of late-successional series. Introducing seeds of native species of pioneer or early-successional series, with good growth capability in barren soil was effective on rapid restoration in devastated forest-floor with its soil surface previously compacted and its surviving seeds washed away. When the seeding and straw-mat mulching after partial soil surface softening with tipping and ripping treatment were employed, it took about three years to restore the devastated forest-floor where surface erosion had been undertaken for an extended period of time and where naturally surviving seeds of native species had been washed away. Softening treatment of soil surface was effective for about two years, and seeding and soil surface treatment increased number of seedlings and improved soil surface environment through fixing of movement of the fallen leaves. Fertilizing effect was not oberserved, mainly due to seeding exposure and poor physical condition including soil surface erosion, low soil water potential and drought, etc, at the field experimental site. However, application of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers was effective on seedling survival of the species in late-successional series, while lime application adversely affected the seedling survival.