• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 1975

In 1963, a severe epidemic of cereal scab caused by Gibberella zeae occurred in southern Korea and to a less extent in central and northern Korea. In some areas losses were $80{\sim}100$ percent. The epiphytotic was due to heavy rainfall during the heading and flowering season which provided a favorable environment for this severe epidemic. Yield losses resulted a great social problem because of the resultant food and feed grain shortage, lose of seeds for planting the following crops and mycotoxicoses to man and animals. In the same year, a nationwide research committee was organized including plant pathologists, microbiologists, agronomists and biochemists under the juristiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The committee initiated research on etiology, epidemiology, and control of the disease and on the toxic effect of infected grains to man and animals. The present paper will review some research carried out in Korea on cereal scab with special reference to epidemiology and mycotoxicoses to animals and man. In addition, the present status of research in Korea on aflatoxins in foods and toxic moldy rice will be briefly reviewed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.82-84
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• 1964

It has been pointed out that various substances such as "toxoalbumin", glycoside, choline or readily hydrolysable choline derivatives, alkaloid, lysolecithine etc. are associated with the toxicity of the infected grain. But animal tests and analysis of paper chromatography by author's indicated that a basic substance present in the concentrated extracts from the grain may neither be acetylcholine, betaine, nor choline. This problem still have to be examine further.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.78-81
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• 1964

In this report, some practical problems that are concerned with the infected barley were examined. Most of the toxic substance is present in the bran. It was almost impossible to remove the toxic substance with water or methanol completly, however, we found it is effectively eliminated by soaking the whole grain with 2%, calcium hydroxide suspension for 24 hours. As a detoxifying agent, kieselguhr was very effective; the grain mixed with little amounts (0.4-0.5%) of kieselguhr may be used as an animal feed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2013

The studies were conducted to investigate real condition of mycotoxin contamination in the fields before harvest and by the storages of rice straw used as roughage in Korea. It was found mycotoxin contamination before harvest of rice straw that the rice plants were detected deoxynivalenol at the initial growth, ochratoxin A and deoxynivalenol at the middle growth, and deoxynivalenol and zearalenone at the harvest periods in the fields. Also, the rice plants were contaminated by various fungi such as Fusarium sp., Fusarium proliferatum, Penicillium sp., Gibberella sp., Gibberella zeae, Mucor circinelloides and Aspergillus oryzae. The levels of fungal contamination were $10^{3-4}$ cfu/g at the initial growth, and $10^{4-5}$ cfu/g at the middle growth and harvest periods. All storage types of rice straw were contaminated with zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and ochratoxins A. The samples of rice straw contaminating mycotoxins were account for 3% in bundle rice straw, and 38% in both types of square rice straw and rice round bale silage, respectively. When 105 samples of rice bale silage were analyzed for mycotoxins depending on the regional area, mycotoxin contamination was found in 46% of total samples in Korea. Regional contaminations of mycotoxins were respectively 48, 33, 40, 50 and 57% of samples in Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungcheng, Yeongnam and Honam area. Rice round bale silage was contaminated by three kinds of mycotoxins (zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and ochratoxinsA) in the all of area without Chungcheong area where was contaminated zearalenone and deoxynivalenol. Ochratoxins A, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone were respectively determinated with the average levels of 2.6, 413 and $338{\mu}g/kg$ in rice round bale silage for the overall area, even if it was some difference depending on each regional area. Therefore, the above results clearly show that the rice straws were exposed to the contamination by mycotoxin and mycotoxigenic fungi before harvest in the fields, and mycotoxin contamination was not dependent on the regional area or the storage types such as bundle rice straw, square rice straw and rice round bale silage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.123.2-124
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• 2003

Fusarium graminearum (telomorph：Gibberella zeae), an important fungal pathogen of cereal crops with ubiquitous geographic distribution, produces mycotoxins on diseased crops that has threaten human and animal health. Recently severe epidemics of scab diseases of barley and rice by this fungus occurred in Korea, causing serious economic losses. To determine genetic diversity of F. graminearum from rice in Korea, a total of 269 isolates were obtained from Southern part of Korea during 2001-2002. A phylogenetic tree of the isolates was constructed by using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). Population structure of the rice isolates consists of a single lineage (lineage 6). Frequency of female fertility among these Isolates was relatively low (37％) compared to that among lineage 7 isolates from Korean corn. PCR amplification using chemotype specific primers derived from Tri7 and Tri13 genes at the trichothecene biosynthesis gene cluster revealed that most isolates (260) were NIV chemotype；9 isolates were identified as DON chemotype by Tri13 but as either NIV chemotype or unknown by Tri7. The result of chemical analysis also supported the chemotype determination；all of the NIV chemotype isolates produced NIV, whereas the 9 isolates produce either DON or no toxin.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.349-353
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• 2011

The ascomycete fungus Fusarium graminearum is an important plant pathogen responsible for Fusarium head blight in small grains and ear rot on maize. This fungus also produces the estrogenic metabolite, zearalenone (ZEA) that causes estrogenic disorders in humans and animals. Previously, we developed a conditional gene expression system for this fungus using a ZEA-inducible promoter (Pzear). In the present study, four other estrogenic compounds, including ${\beta}$-estradiol, estriol, estrone, and secoisolariciresinol, were screened as possible substitutes for ZEA in this system. Among them, ${\beta}$-estradiol was able to successfully induce the expression of a gene controlled by Pzear, while estrone was only able to partially induce its expression but the other two compounds were not effective. In combination, these results demonstrate that ${\beta}$-estradiol can replace ZEA in this conditional gene expression system, thereby eliminating the need to use the more expensive reagent, ZEA, and facilitating high-throughput functional analyses of F. graminearum in future studies.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1221-1226
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• 2008

A variety of fungal species are known to degrade cyanide through the action of cyanide hydratase, a specialized nitrilases which hydrolyze cyanide to formamide. This work is a report on two unknown and un-characterized members from Neurospora crassa and Aspergillus nidulans. Recombinant forms of three cyanide hydratases (CHT) originated from N. crassa, Gibberella zeae, and A. nidulans were prepared after their genes were cloned with N-terminal hexahistidine purification tags, expressed in E. coli and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. These enzymes were compared according to their pH activity profiles, and kinetic parameters. Although all three were similar, the N. crassa CHT has the widest pH range of activity above 50% and highest turnover rate ($6.6{\times}10^8min^{-1}$) among them. The CHT of A. nidulans has the highest Km value of the three nitrilases evaluated in here. Expression of CHT in both N. crassa and A. nidulans were induced by the presence of KCN, regardless of any presence of nitrogen sources. These data can be used to determine optimal procedures for the enzyme uses in the remediation of cyanide-containing wastes.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2001

A disease survey on the carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) wilt was conducted during the high temperature period (June through August) and the low temperature period (February through May) in 58 greenhouses of its major cultivation areas, including Pusan, Kimhae, and Changwon in Korea from 1998 to 1999. The disease incidence was averaged 5.4% and 11.9% in the low and high temperature periods, respectively. Severe damage was found in summer with high incidences of around 50% in some greenhouses. Close examination of the symptoms and isolation of the causal agent revealed that there was a new disease different from Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. dianthi, which was determined as the stub dieback caused by F. was cetermined as the stub dieback caused by F. graminearum (teleomorph : Gibberella zeae). The stub dieback symptoms involved brown rot of stem that started usually from the portion of cutting without discoloration of inner vascular tissues. Seven out of 38 isolates from the wilted plants were identified as F. graminearum, while the others as F. oxysporum f. sp. dianthi. Mycological characteristics of the stub dieback pathogen including colony color, absence of microconidia, and the shape of macroconidia, were consistent with F. graminearum previously described. This is the first report of the carnation stub dieback in Korea.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 1972

1. Continuous light induced more conidia than alternating light and darkness treatment in isolate Chinju 1. Isolate Suwon 3 produced much more conidia on synthetic medium than Chinju 1 in light. Conidial formation in Suwon 3 increased remarkably with alternate light and darkness in 8 days incubation. 2. Light was essential for perithecial formation in Chinju 1. No matured perithecia were observed in Suwon 3 with any treatment. Abundant perithecia were produced in Chinju 1 but only perithecial initiation occurred in Suwon 3. Suwon 3 produced significantly more conidia than Chinju 1, while perithecial formation was reversed. 3. Conidial numbers in soil decreased significantly through the winter at 10, 30 and 50 per cent soil moisture, with the most striking decrease at 10 per cent levels, but the number recovered again beginning in March, regardless of the soil moisture. The above results provide us a useful clue to support the possbility the conidia may serve as a primary inoculum.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.236-244
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• 2014

The plant pathogen Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight in cereal crops and produces mycotoxins that are harmful to animals and humans. For the initiation and spread of disease, asexual and sexual reproduction is required. Therefore, studies on fungal reproduction contribute to the development of new methods to control and maintain the fungal population. Screening a previously generated transcription factor mutant collection, we identified one putative $C_2H_2$ zincfinger transcription factor, pcs1, which is required for both sexual and asexual reproduction. Deleting pcs1 in F. graminearum resulted in a dramatic reduction in conidial production and a complete loss of sexual reproduction. The pathways and gene ontology of pcs1-dependent genes from microarray experiments showed that several G-protein related pathways, oxidase activity, ribosome biogenesis, and RNA binding and processing were highly enriched, suggesting that pcs1 is involved in several different biological processes. Further, overexpression of pcs1 increased conidial production and resulted in earlier maturation of ascospores compared to the wild-type strain. Additionally, the vegetative growth of the overexpression mutants was decreased in nutrient-rich conditions but was not different from the wild-type strain in nutrient-poor conditions. Overall, we discovered that the pcs1 transcription factor positively regulates both conidiation and sexual reproduction and confers nutrient condition-dependent vegetative growth.