• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.140-140
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• 2005

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.93-112
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• 2008

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are important sources for plant secondary metabolites, which are important for human healthcare. Improvement of the yield and quality of these natural plant products through conventional breeding is still a challenge. However, recent advances in plant genomics research has generated knowledge leading to a better understanding of the complex genetics and biochemistry involved in biosynthesis of these plant secondary metabolites. This genomics research also concerned identification and isolation of genes involved in different steps of a number of metabolic pathways. Progress has also been made in the development of functional genomics resources (EST databases and micro-arrays) in several medicinal plant species, which offer new opportunities for improvement of genotypes using perfect markers or genetic transformation. This review article presents an overview of the recent developments and future possibilities in genetics and genomics of MAP species including use of transgenic approach for their improvement.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.360-370
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• 2020

Background: Sophora flavescens AIT root is used as a herbal medicine in Asian culture. This study was aimed at selecting the best cultivars, by comparing growth characteristics, active ingredients, and antioxidant activities. Methods and Results: A total twenty nine accessions of S. flavescens were collected from five different regions in Korea. Plant height, leaf length, peduncle length, fresh root weight, and seed weight were the growth characteristics selected. Antioxidant activity was determined by measuring the total polyphenol (TPC) and total flavonoid contents (TFC) as well as the radical scavenging activity of DPPH, ABTS and FRAP. Oxymatrine and matrine, active ingredients in S. flavescens were analyzed by HPLC. Results indicated that accession YS-11 had the highest plant height (152.5 cm) and peduncle length (54.0 cm). The fresh root weight was highest in JA-01 at 4.9 kg, while the highest total seed weight was recorded in accession BH-04 at 77.7 g. The YS-03 accession contained the highest oxymatrine and matrine total contents (0.9616% and 0.9638%, respectively). Accessions BH-02, YS-11, YS-05, and MJ-03 had the highest levels of antioxidant activity (p < 0.05). Oxymatrine showed a high correlation with TPC and FRAP. TPC showed high correlations with TFC, DPPH, ABTS and FRAP. TFC showed a high correlation with DPPH. Conclusions: The superior lines can be selected for use as standard variety breeding material by comparing the growth characteristics of the accessions.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 2001

Peony has been cultivated as medicinal plant in East and also its beautiful flower was acknowledged over the world. In West, numerous peony varieties were developed for ornamental use but not in the country. Ninety two varieties of ornamental peony were introduced from U.S.A. and investigated in Uisong Medicinal Plant Experiment Station during $1997{\sim}1999$. For most of them, their growth habit were good in the country. Their flower colors were clearer and stems were thicker and stronger than domestic peonies. Some of them showed vigorous growth and made very high yield of root. Most of varieties showed proper content of paeoniflorin, medicinal component of peony, for medicinal use.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.773-783
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• 2023

Background: Gray mold, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is one of the major fungal diseases in agriculture. Biological methods are preferred over chemical fungicides to control gray mold since they are less toxic to the environment and could induce the resistance to pathogens in plants. In this work, we try to understand if ginseng defense to B. cinerea could be induced by fungal hypovirulent strain △BcSpd1. BcSpd1 encodes Zn(II)₂Cys₆ transcription factor which regulates fungal pathogenicity and we recently reported △BcSpd1 mutants reduced fungal virulence. Methods: We performed transcriptomic analysis of the host to investigate the induced defense response of ginseng treated by B. cinerea △BcSpd1. The metabolites in ginseng flavonoids pathway were determined by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS and the antifungal activates were then performed. Results: We found that △BcSpd1 enhanced the ginseng defense response when applied to healthy ginseng leaves and further changed the metabolism of flavonoids. Compared with untreated plants, the application of △BcSpd1 on ginseng leaves significantly increased the accumulation of p-coumaric acid and myricetin, which could inhibit the fungal growth. Conclusion: B. cinerea △BcSpd1 could effectively induce the medicinal plant defense and is referred to as the biological control agent in ginseng disease management.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.95-99
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• 2007

The cost of conventional cultivation of ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is very expensive, because shadow condition should be maintained during cultivation periods owing to inherently weak plant for high-temperature. Therefore, application of plant biotechnology may be possible to overcome these difficulties caused by conventional breeding of ginseng. Transgenic plants were produced via Agrobacterium tumefaciens Gv3101, both carrying the binary plasmid pBI121 mLPISO with nptII and Iso (isoprene synthase) gene. Integration of the transgenes into the P. ginseng nuclear genome was confirmed by PCR analysis using nptII primers and Iso primers. RT-PCR result also demonstrated the foreign isoprene synthase gene in three transgenic plant lines (T1, T3, and T5) which was expressed at the transcriptional level. When whole plants of transgenic ginseng were exposed to high temperature at $46^{\circ}C$ for 1 h, a non-transformed plant was wilted from heat shock, whereas a transgenic plant appeared to remain healthy. We suggest that the introduction of exogenous isoprene synthase is considered as alternative methods far generating thermotolerance ginseng.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.303-313
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• 2002

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.547-553
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of branch extracts of Vaccinium oldhamii (VOB) on melanin synthesis in B16F10 cells. VOB promoted melanin production in absence or presence of ${\alpha}$-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (${\alpha}-MSH$) in B16F10 cells. However, VOB did not affect the expression of tyrosinase and TRP-1 associated with melanin synthesis at the mRNA and protein levels in B16F10. But, VOB decreased TRP-2 protein level and induced tyrosinase activation in B16F10 cells. Inhibition of tyrosinase activity and tyrosinase knockdown attenuated VOB-mediated melanin synthesis. In conclusion, VOB may stimulate melanin synthesis through activating tyrosinase activity.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.162-164
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• 2006

The roots of Codonopsis lanceolata afforded tangshenoside I(1) and $\beta$-adenosine (2) as $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitors. Their structures were unambiguously determined by 1D and 2D NMR data including HMQC and HMBC experiments. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited weak $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitory activities in vitro with $IC_{50}$ of 1.4 and 9.3 mM, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.06a
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• pp.40-56
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• 1995

During the past two decades, China has seen her great progress in plant biotechnology. Since the Chinese market of herb medicine is huge, while the plant resources are shrinking, particular emphasis has been placed in plant tissue and cell cultures of medicinal plants, this includes fast propagation, protoplast isolation and regeneration, cell suspension cultures and large scale fermentation. To optimize culture conditions for producing secondary compounds in vitro, various media, additives and elicitors have been tested. Successful examples of large scale culture for the secondary metabolite biosynthesis are quite limited : Lithospermum ery throrhizon and Arnebia euchroma for shikonin derivatives, Panax ginseng, P. notoginseng, P. quinquefolium for saponins, and a few other medicinal plants. Recent development of genetic transformation systems of plant cells offered a new approach to in vitro production of secondary compounds. Hairy root induction and cultures, by using Ri-plasmid, have been reported from a number of medicinal plant species, such as Artemisia annua that produces little artemisinin in normal cultured cells, and from Glycyrrhiza uralensis. In the coming five years, Chinese scientists will continue their work on large scale cell cultures of a few of selected plant species, including Taxus spp. and A. annua, for the production of secondary metabolites with medicinal interests, one or two groups of scientists will be engaged in molecular cloning of the key enzymes in plant secondary metabolism.