• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1.1-1.7
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• 2012

Background: The F-box proteins represent one of the largest families of proteins in eukaryotes. Apart from being a component of the ubiquitin (Ub)/26 S proteasome pathways, their regulatory roles in other cellular and developmental pathways have also been reported. One interesting feature of the genes encoding the proteins of this particular family is their variable selection patterns across different lineages. This resulted in the presence of lineage specific F-box proteins across different species. Findings: In this study, 48 non-redundant F-box proteins in E. siliculosus have been identified by a homology based approach and classified into three classes based on their variable C-terminal domains. A greater number of the F-box proteins have domains similar to the ones identified in other species. On the other hand, when the proteins having unknown or no C-terminal domain (as predicted by InterProScan) were analyzed, it was found that some of them have the polyglutamine repeats. To gain evolutionary insights on the genes encoding the F-box proteins, their selection patterns were analyzed and a strong positive selection was observed which indicated the adaptation potential of the members of this family. Moreover, four lineage specific F-box genes were found in E. siliculosus with no identified homolog in any other species. Conclusions: This study describes a genome wide in silico analysis of the F-box proteins in E. siliculosus which sheds light on their evolutionary patterns. The results presented in this study provide a strong foundation to select candidate sequences for future functional analysis.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.368-378
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• 1983

The community structure of intertidal benthic marine algae were studied seasonally at Odongdo, southern coast of Korea, from June 1982 to May 1983. Algal coverage in $50{\times}50\;cm$ quadrat were recorded for each species by line transect method. The vertical zonation investigated by line transects is recognized into three groups : Upper, middle, and lower zones. The representative species are Gelidium divaricatum, Enteromorpha linza, Porphyra yezoensis, Scytosiphon lomentaria, Blidingia nana, Ectocarpus confervoides in the upper, Ulva pertusa, Chondria crassicaulis in the middle, and Sargassum sagamianum, S. thunbergii, Undaria pinnatifida, Gelidium amansii and various other red algae in the lower zone. The number of algal species and coverage were generally highest in April and lowest in August. Species which appear dominant at least once a year were all of the spring type and the others were autumn type. According to the cluster analysis by similarity index community coefficient(SICC) among 5 transects, the algal communities are divided into two groups, i. e. open-sea group and inland-sea group.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5615-5622
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• 2012

Seasonal distributions of the viral abundance and physicochemical parameters were analyzed at three different regions in Gwangyang Bay. Morphological structure of marine virus was observed using transmission electron microscopy. Most of marine virus had bacteriophage-like structure, but some were similar with eukaryotic microalgal virus, Ectocarpus siliculosus virus (EsV). Viral abundance at Group 1 (closed eutrophic region) was higher than viral abundances at Group 2 (closed oligotrophic region) and Group 3 (open oligotrophic region). Seasonal abundances of marine virus at Group 1 were dynamically changed. The viral density was variably changed from maximum $7.33{\times}10^8ml^{-1}$ in August to minimum $0.3{\times}10^8ml^{-1}$ in December and maintained middle value in spring and autumn. The concentration of nitrogen and phosphate sources was correlated with viral abundance. Particularly, seasonal change of dissolved oxygen concentration was opposite to the variation of viral abundance. These results showed that viral abundances were closely related with fluctuation of marine physicochemical environment in Gwangyang bay.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.609-618
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• 2014

We have been studied for geographic distribution, dominance and inhabitation characteristics of marine algal species at intertidal zones of Geojin in the northern part of east coast of Korea, Jukbyeon in the middle part and Gampo in the southern part in May and August 2014. For the geographic distribution, the three areas (Geojin, Jukbyeon and Gampo) were a characteristic of the temperate region. Geojin dominated with Ulva pertusa and Chaetomorpha moniligera, Jukbyeon dominated with C. moniligera and Chondria crassicaulis, Gampo dominated with Sargassum thunbergii, U. pertusa and Ectocarpus species. C/P, R/P and (R+C)/P, which can represent the marine algal flora, were 0.85, 2.10, 2.94 in Geojin, 0.58, 3.15, 3.73 in Jukbyeon and 0.80, 3.91, 4.71 in Gampo. As a result of cluster analysis, Those regions were divided in two groups, which were a group A of Geojin and group B of Jukbyeon and Gampo. This result was well matched with Jukbyeon and Gampo shared their temperate region character in the geographic distribution study.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 2012

We performed qualitative and quantitative surveys on the distribution of seaweed species and dominant species with their standing crop and temporal variations in Hauido tidal flats in order to understand the role of seaweeds in a coastal wetland ecological system that may be used for conservation and management of coastal wetland ecological system. A total of 9 species were found at 7 stations of the study area; 4 species of Chlorophyta (Ulva compressa, U. prolifera, U. pertusa and Ulothrix flacca), 3 species of Phaeophyta (Ectocarpus arctus, Scytosiphon lomentaria and Myelophycus simplex) and 2 species of Rhodophyta (Gracilaria verrucosa and Caulacanthus okamurae). Major dominant species were U. compressa, U. prolifera and U. pertusa (Chlorophyta), Scytosiphon lomentaria (Phaeophyta) and Gracilaria verrucosa (Rhodophyta). Standing crops of U. compressa and U. prolifera were $2.94{\sim}45.25g{\cdot}dw{\cdot}m^{-2}$ and $6.19{\sim}91.9g{\cdot}dw{\cdot}m^{-2}$, respectively, in spring. Seaweed habitat was characterized by textural differences that the percentage of coarse particles and organic material were a little higher in seaweed flourishing areas than in seaweed barren areas.

• ALGAE
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2012

We report an oxidative burst triggered by prostaglandin $A_2(PGA_2)$ in the brown algal kelp Laminaria digitata, constituting the first such discovery in an alga and the second finding of an oxidative burst triggered by a prostaglandin in a living organism. The response is more powerful than the oxidative burst triggered by most other chemical elicitors in Laminaria. Also, it is dose-dependent and cannot be inhibited by diphenylene iodonium, suggesting that another source than NAD(P)H oxidase is operational in the production of reactive oxygen species. Despite the very strong oxidative response, rather few effects at other levels of signal transduction pathways could be identified. $PGA_2$ does not increase lipolysis (free fatty acids) in Laminaria, and only one oxylipin (15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid; 15-HETE) was found to be upregulated in Laminaria. In a subsequent set of experiments in the genome model Ectocarpus siliculosus, none of 5 selected candidate genes, all established participants in various stress responses, showed any significant differences in their expression profiles.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2020

Iodine exists as a trace element in seawater, with total iodine being generally constant at about 0.45-0.55 μM. Almost all of this iodine occurs in two main forms: iodate and iodide. Iodate is the thermodynamically stable form under normal seawater conditions, and thus should be the only iodine-containing species in the water column. However, iodate concentrations are found to vary considerably, being generally greater at depth and lower at the surface, while iodide concentrations follow the reverse pattern, being anomalously accumulated in the euphotic zone and decreasing with depth. The fact that iodide concentrations follow a depth dependence corresponding to the euphotic zone suggests that biological activity is the source of the reduced iodine. Nonetheless, the nature and source of iodate reduction activity remains controversial. Here, using a combination of field and laboratory studies, we examine some of the questions raised in our and other previous studies, and seek further correlations between changes in iodine speciation and the presence of marine macro- and microalgae. The present results indicate that microalgal growth per se does not seem to be responsible for the reduction of iodate to iodide. However, there is some support for the hypothesis that iodate reduction can occur due to release of cellular reducing agents that accompany cell senescence during phytoplankton bloom declines. In addition, support is given to the concept that macroalgal species such as giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) can take up both iodide and iodate from seawater (albeit on a slower time scale). We propose a mechanism whereby iodate is reduced to iodide at the cell surface by cell surface reductases and is taken up directly as such without reentering the bulk solution.

• ALGAE
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.127-139
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• 2023

Cryptic stages of diverse macroalgae present in natural substrata, "the bank of microscopic forms", were isolated into clonal cultures and identified based on both morphological characteristics and DNA barcoding. Approximately 120 clonal isolates from 308 natural substratum samples were collected from the entire coastline of Kuwait. Amongst these isolates, 77 (64%) were identified through DNA barcoding using the nuclear ribosomal small subunit, RuBisCO spacer (ITS2, tufa, rbcL, psaA, and psbA) and sequencing. Twenty-six isolates (34%) were identified in the division Chlorophyta, 18 (23%) as Phaeophyceae, and 33 (43%) as Rhodophyta. For all DNA sequences in this study, species-level cut off applied was ≥98% homology which depend entirely on the markers used. Three putative new records of Chlorophyta new for the Arabian Gulf were made: Cladophora laetevirens (Dillwyn) Kützing, Ulva torta (Mertens) Trevisan and Ulvella leptochaete (Huber) R. Nielsen, C. J. O'Kelly & B. Wysor in Nielsen, while Cladophora gracilis Kützing and Ulva ohnoi M. Hiraoka & S. Shimada are new records for Kuwait. For Phaeophyceae, Ectocarpus subulatus Kützing and Elachista stellaris Areschoug were new records for the Gulf and Kuwait. In the Rhodophyta, Acrochaetium secundatum (Lyngbye) Nägeli in Nägeli & Cramer, Ceramium affine Setchell & N. L. Gardner, Gelidium pusillum var. pakistanicum Afaq-Husain & Shameel and Dasya caraibica Børgesen are new records for the Gulf and Kuwait, while the red alga Stylonema alsidii (Zanardini) K. Drew is a new record for Kuwait. Several isolates identified corresponded to genera not previously reported in Kuwait and / or the Arabian Gulf, such as Porphyrostromium Trevisan, a new genus from the Bangiales, and two unidentified species for the Planophilaceae Škaloud & Leliaert. The isolates cultivated from substrata enhance understanding of the marine macroalgal diversity in the region and confirmed that the Germling Emergence Method is suitable for determining the actual diversity of a given study area through isolation from cryptic life-history phases.