• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 2022

BACKGROUND: The Geomunoreum Lava Tube System (GLTS) is both vast and culturally valuable. The Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes, which are partly composed of the GLTS, have been declared as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. Exploration of the caves is strictly regulated to conserve these vulnerable environments. Photographs provide limited information and do not describe the entire environment comprehensively. Therefore, we created several illustrations of the lava tubes to display their environmental features. METHODS AND RESULTS: We explored six lava caves (upstream and downstream) in the GLTS and photographed their geological features and yellow walls, the colors of which are influenced by microbial mats. We compared the hex codes of the wall colors using the Clip Studio v1.10.5 software and created illustrations that accurately represent the scale and features of the caves. CONCLUSION(S): Upstream and downstream caves of the GLTS differ in scale and volcanic features. We illustrated various characteristics of the caves including lava cave features, vegetation, and microbial mats. We also described the internal and external cave environments.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.215-220
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• 2005

Background: Transforming growth factor-${\beta}$ (TGF-${\beta}1$) directs class switch recombination (CSR) to IgA isotype, which is a predominant antibody in mucosal surfaces. Although IgA is preferentially committed in mucosal lymphoid tissues, it is not definitely established whether hallmarks of IgA CSR such as IgA germ-line transcripts (GLT ${\alpha}$), post-switch transcripts (PST ${\alpha}$) and circle transcripts (CT ${\alpha}$) are readily expressed in such tissues. Therefore, we compared the expression of these transcripts among mouse Peyer's patches (PP), mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), and spleen. Methods: Levels of GLTs, PSTs and CTs were measured by RT-PCR in isolated PPs, MLNs and spleen cells. Results: GLT ${\alpha}$ and PST ${\alpha}$ were well expressed in PP and MLN cells but in spleen cells. Similar patterns were observed in the expression of GL ${\gamma}$2b and PST ${\gamma}$2b. On the other hand, these transcripts were only inducible in spleen cells upon stimulated with LPS and TGF-${\beta}1$. In addition, CT${\alpha}$ and CT${\gamma}$2b were detected in PP cells. Conclusion: PP B cells readily express IgA GLT, PST, and CT. Overall expression patterns of these transcripts were similar in MLN cells. Thus, these results suggest that microenvironment of PP and MLN influences spontaneous IgA CSR, which lacks in systemic lymphoid tissues such as spleen.