• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.25.1-25.5
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• 2017

An economic marine alga, which is considered to be an important source of carrageenan, was collected from Jindo of the southern coast of Korea. This species shares the vegetative and female reproductive features of Ahnfeltiopsis and is characterized mostly by its small size (up to 8 cm), terete to subterete thalli at the lower portion, cartilaginous in texture, dichotomous branches, rarely produced proliferations, and an absence of hypha-like filaments in the medulla. It is distinguished from other Korean species within the genus by the thallus feature. In a phylogenetic tree based on the molecular data, this alga nests in the same clade with A. concinna from Japan but forms a sister clade to A. concinna from Mexico and Hawaii (type locality). However, the genetic distance among those sequences was calculated as 0.1-1.3% for rbcL and 1.1% for COI sequences, considered to be intraspecific variation within the genus. Based on the morphology and molecular analysis, this alga is identified as A. concinna originally described from Hawaii. This is the first record of the species in the Korean marine algal flora.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.31.1-31.7
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• 2018

Three economic marine algae that have been used as food and carrageenan sources were collected from Korea during a survey of marine algal flora. They share the generic features of Hypnea, and three major clades supported by the sectional features were confirmed in a phylogenetic tree based on rbcL sequences. The first species, which belongs to a species group corresponding to the sect. Spinuligerae, nests in the same clade with Hypnea yamadae in a genetic distance of 0%. It is morphologically characterized by an entangled base, subcompressed or subterete to terete axes, somewhat percurrent main axis, irregularly alternately branching with wide angle, and rarely hooked spinous branchlets. The second one is also referred to the sect. Spinuligerae and formed the same clade as Hypnea cenomyce. The genetic distance between both sequences was calculated as 0.0-0.1%, which is considered to be intraspecific. This species is distinct by somewhat entangled thallus at the basal part, percurrent axis, short spine-like branchlets densely covering the axis, and medullary lenticular thickenings. The third alga, which forms a species group corresponding to the sect. Pulvinatae, nests in the same clade as Hypnea nidulans (no intraspecific divergence). It shows occasionally epiphytic habitat rather than epilithic habitat of low mat-forming growth and percurrent erect main axes with dense lateral branchlets. Based on these morphological and molecular data, the three Korean species are identified as H. yamadae, H. cenomyce, and H. nidulans. This is the first record of the Hypnea species in Korea.

• ALGAE
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2024

Red macroalga Pyropia yezoensis is a high valuable cultivated marine crop. Its acclimation to cold stress is especially important for long cultivation period across winter in coasts of warm temperate zone in East Asia. In this study, the response of P. yezoensis thalli to low temperature was analyzed on physiology and transcriptome level, to explore its acclimation mechanism to cold stress. The results showed that the practical photosynthesis activity (indicated by Φ_PSII and qP) was depressed and pigment allophycocyanin content was decreased during the cold stress of 48 h. However, the F_v/F_m and non-photochemical quenching increased significantly after 24 h, and the average growth rate of thalli also rebounded from 24 to 48 h, indicating a certain extent of acclimation to cold stress. On transcriptionally, the low temperature promoted the expression of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to carbohydrate metabolism and energy metabolism, while genes related to photosynthetic system were depressed. The increased expression of DEGs involved in ribosomal biogenesis and lipid metabolism which could accelerate protein synthesis and enhance the degree of fatty acid unsaturation, might help P. yezoensis thallus cells to cope with cold stress. Further co-expression network analysis revealed differential expression trends along with stress time, and corresponding hub genes play important roles in the systemic acquired acclimation to cold stress. This study provides basic mechanisms of P. yezoensis acclimation to cold temperature and may aid in exploration of functional genes for genetic breeding of economic macroalgae.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.732-738
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• 2018

Novel carbon-based solid acid catalysts were synthesized through a sustainable route from lipid-extracted microalgal residue of Dunaliella tertiolecta, for biodiesel production. Two carbon-based solid acid catalysts were prepared by surface modification of bio-char with sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$) and sulfuryl chloride ($SO_2Cl_2$), respectively. The treated catalysts were characterized and their catalytic activities were evaluated by esterification of oleic acid. The esterification catalytic activity of the $SO_2Cl_2$-treated bio-char was higher ($11.5mmol\;Prod.{\cdot}h^{-1}{\cdot}gCat.\;^{-1}$) than that of commercial catalyst silica-supported Nafion SAC-13 ($2.3mmol\;Prod.{\cdot}h^{-1}{\cdot}gCat.^{-1}$) and $H_2SO_4$-treated bio-char ($5.7mmol\;Prod.{\cdot}h^{-1}{\cdot}gCat.^{-1}$). Reusability of the catalysts was examined. The catalytic activity of the $SO_2Cl_2$-modified catalyst was sustained from the second run after the initial activity dropped after the first run and kept the same activity until the fifth run. It was higher than that of first-used Nafion. These experimental results demonstrate that catalysts from lipid-extracted algae have great potential for the economic and environment-friendly production of biodiesel.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.64-71
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• 2020

Gloiopeltis tenax is one of the most economically useful species in China and Japan that has been applied to glue and food since ancient times. The material used in the experiment was a large quantity of basal crusts obtained from the culture of tetraspores that were released from the mature tetrasporophytes collected at Gyeokpori, Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do in Korea. The basal crusts were cut into quadrisect under a dissecting microscope so as to monitor the process of regeneration and growth. The cut crusts were cultured under varying conditions, where the photoperiod was 16:8 h L:D; the temperature range was 10, 15, 20, and 25℃; the irradiance range was 30 and 85 µmol photons m^-2s^-1. The quadrisect basal crusts grew to an oval shape, then formed a vertical axis of cylindrical shape. The maximum growth of basal crusts was 9.61±3.59 mm² under the condition of 15℃ temperature and 85 µmol photons m^-2s^-1 irradiance, after 12-weeks culture. The mean relative growth rate after 12-weeks culture showed the maximum rate of 5.15±0.80 %day^-1 at 15℃ and the minimum growth rate was 3.15±0.94 %day^-1 at 10℃, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). In conclusion, it has shown the possibility that growth of basal crusts of G. tenax is one of the good farming method of potential alga.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sargassum horneri is an edible brown alga that grows in the subtidal zone as an annual species along the coasts of South Korea, China, and Japan. Recently, an extreme amount of S. horneri moved into the coasts of Jeju Island from the east coast of China, which made huge economic and environmental loss to the Jeju Island. Thus, utilization of this biomass becomes a big issue with the local authorities. Therefore, the present study was performed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of crude polysaccharides (CPs) extracted from S. horneri China strain in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: CPs were precipitated from S. horneri digests prepared by enzyme assistant extraction using four food-grade enzymes (AMG, Celluclast, Viscozyme, and Alcalase). The production levels of nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ and interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$ were measured by Griess assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were measured by using western blot. The IR spectrums of the CPs were recorded using a fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectrometer. RESULTS: The polysaccharides from the Celluclast enzyme digest (CCP) showed the highest inhibition of NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells ($IC_{50}$ value: $95.7{\mu}g/mL$). Also, CCP dose-dependently down-regulated the protein expression levels of iNOS and COX-2 as well as the production of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$, compared to the only LPS-treated cells. In addition, CCP inhibited the activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ p50 and p65 and the phosphorylation of MAPKs, including p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase, in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, FT-IR analysis showed that the FT-IR spectrum of CCP is similar to that of commercial fucoidan. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CCP has anti-inflammatory activities and is a potential candidate for the formulation of a functional food ingredient or/and drug to treat inflammatory diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.920-926
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• 2010

Marine alga, Chlorella vulgaris, was extracted by chloroform-methanol (2:1, v/v) solvents for lipid extraction at $35^{\circ}C$ for five hours (HCM-35) and its process was compared with conventional lipid extraction condition such as chloroform-methanol (2:1, v/v) at $65^{\circ}C$ for one hour (CM-65). This low temperature extraction process showed that 80% of total lipid was extracted and its residues contained relatively unchanged amounts of intact proteins and other minerals as well as amino acid profiles. Interestingly enough, the weight fraction of carbohydrate in the residues slightly increased due to less denaturation at low process temperature. The biological activities of the residues such as cytotoxicity and immune cell growth activation were not much changed after being extracted. The sensory evaluation were found to be very favorable for being used as a food additive and/or food supplement. This result could also help to maintain the economic feasibility of utilizing marine resources in food and other relevant industries.