• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.160-167
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• 2021

The determinant factors of an organism's size during animal development have been explored from various angles but remain partially understood. In Caenorhabditis elegans, many genes affecting cuticle structure, cell growth, and proliferation have been identified to regulate the worm's overall morphology, including body size. While various mutations in those genes directly result in changes in the morphological phenotypes, there is still a need for established, clear, and distinct standards to determine the apparent abnormality in a worm's size and shape. In this study, we measured the body length, body width, terminal bulb length, and head size of mutant worms with reported Dumpy (Dpy), Small (Sma) or Long (Lon) phenotypes by plotting and comparing their respective ratios of various parameters. These results show that the Sma phenotypes are proportionally smaller overall with mild stoutness, and Dpy phenotypes are significantly stouter and have disproportionally small head size. This study provides a standard platform for determining morphological phenotypes designating and annotating mutants that exhibit body shape variations, defining the morphological phenotype of previously unexamined mutants.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.25 no.4 s.83
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• pp.320-329
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• 1997

Botrytis cinerea isolates obtained from infected plants of cucumber, tomato, and strawberry were divided into three groups (sporing, sclerotial, and mycelial types). Of which sclerotial types were the major group. There were no correlations between morphological phenotypes and responses to benzimidazole and dicarboximide fungicides. External structure of conidia of three phenotypes by scanning electron microscope was the same with verrucose surface. Mycelial type was the most virulent on fruits of eggplants. Comparative tests were carried out to examine correlations between the virulence and production of fungal enzymes such as phenol oxidases, pectin methyl esterases (PME), amylases, cellulases, ureases, ${\beta}-glucosidases$, and proteinases. There was no correlation among the phenotypes in production of phenol oxidases and ${\beta}-glucosidases$. However, there were significantly different from each other in PME, amylase, cellulase, urease, and protease activity.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.273-282
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• 2020

In Vietnam, Celastrus hindsii Benth, a medicinal plant rich in secondary metabolites, has been used to alleviate distress caused by ulcers, tumors, and inflammation for generations. The occurrence of two phenotypes, Broad Leaf (BL) and Narrow Leaf (NL), has raised questions about the selection of appropriate varieties for conservation and crop improvement to enhance medicinal properties. This study examined molecular differences in C. hindsii by comparing protein profiles between the NL and BL types using 2D-PAGE and MS. Peptide sequences and proteins were identified by matching MS data against the MSPnr100 databases and verified using the MultiIdent tool on ExPASy and the Blast2GO software. Our results revealed notable variations in protein abundance between the NL and BL proteomes. Selected proteins were confidently identified from 12 protein spots, thereby highlighting the molecular variation between NL and BL proteomes. Upregulated proteins in BL were found to be associated with flavonoid and amino acid biosynthesis as well as nuclease metabolism, which probably attributed to the intraspecific variations. Several bioactive proteins identified in this study can have applications in cancer therapeutics. Therefore, the BL phenotype characterized by healthier external morphological features has higher levels of bioactive compounds and could be better suited for medicinal use.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.144-153
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• 2021

Astrocytes play various important roles such as maintaining brain homeostasis, supporting neurons, and secreting inflammatory mediators to protect the brain cells. In aged subjects, astrocytes show diversely changed phenotypes and dysfunctions. But, the study of aged astrocytes or astrocytes from aged subjects is not yet sufficient to provide a comprehensive understanding of their important processes in the regulation of brain function. In this study, we induced an in vitro aged astrocyte model through late passage cultivation of rat primary cultured astrocytes. Astrocytes were cultured until passage 7 (P7) as late passage astrocytes and compared with passage 1 (P1) astrocytes as early passage astrocytes to confirm the differences in phenotypes and the effects of serial passage. In this study, we confirmed the morphological, molecular, and functional changes of late passage astrocytes showing aging phenotypes through SA-β-gal staining and measurement of nuclear size. We also observed a reduced expression of inflammatory mediators including IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, iNOS, and COX2, as well as dysregulation of wound-healing, phagocytosis, and mitochondrial functions such as mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate. Culture-conditioned media obtained from P1 astrocytes promoted neurite outgrowth in immature primary cultures of rat cortices, which is significantly reduced when we treated the immature neurons with the culture media obtained from P7 astrocytes. These results suggest that late passage astrocytes show senescent astrocyte phenotypes with functional defects, which makes it a suitable model for the study of the role of astrocyte senescence on the modulation of normal and pathological brain aging.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.348-355
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• 2006

Phenotypes of panicle, hull and seed of mutant rice (Oryza sativa L.) were characterized. Panicle mutants were classified in 4 groups with their internode length of main rachis, primary rachis, secondary rachis and pedicel. Hull and seed mutants were grouped into 12 based on their mutant characters in shape, size and color of seeds. These natural and spontaneous mutant collections showed distinct phenotypes to wild type rice. This might be useful for the identification of the functions of genetic factors in the Mendelian inheritance.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.240-246
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• 2011

The principal objective of this study was to estimate the availability of morphological data on the basis of the guidelines of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) with regard to the identification of the rose germplasm. The correlation of morphological traits and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker data among 44 rose cultivars was assessed via a mantel test. Thirty eight phenotypes were employed for morphological analysis. Sixteen primers were utilized for RAPD analysis, and these generated 225 polymorphic bands. The dendrogram based on the RAPD markersgrouped 44 rose cultivars according to their horticultural types. No significant correlation was observed between the morphological and RAPD marker data. We concluded that current UPOV traits could not be applied to study genetic variation. Further studies on morphological traits are required for the analysis of genetic variation among cultivars.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2022

Roots play important roles in water and nutrient uptake and in response to various environmental stresses. Investigating diversification of cultivars through root phenotyping is important for crop improvement in adzuki beans. Therefore, we analyzed the morphological and architectural root traits of 22 adzuki bean cultivars using 2-dimensional (2D) root imaging. Plants were grown in plastic tubes [6 cm (diameter) × 40 cm (height)] in a greenhouse from July 25^th to August 28^th. When the plants reached the 2^nd or 3^rd trifoliate leaf stage, the roots were removed and washed with tap water to remove soil particles. Clean root samples were scanned, and the scanned images were analyzed using the WinRHIZO Pro software. The cultivars were analyzed based on six root phenotypes [total root length (TRL), surface area (SA), average diameter (AD), and number of tips (NT) were included as root morphological traits (RMT); and link average length (LAL) and link average diameter (LAD) were included as root architectural traits (RAT)]. According to the analysis of variance (ANOVA), a significant difference was observed between the cultivars for all root morphological traits. Distribution analysis demonstrated that all root traits except LAL followed a normally distributed curve. In the correlation test, the most important morphological trait, TRL, showed a strong positive correlation with SA (r = 0.97^***) and NT (r = 0.94^***). In comparison, between RMT and RAT, TRL showed a significantly negative correlation with LAL (r = -0.50^***); however, TRL did not show a correlation with LAD. Based on RMT and RAT, we identified the cultivars that ranked 5% from the top and bottom. In particular, the cultivar "IT 236657" showed the highest TRL, SA, and NT, while the cultivar "IT 236169" showed the lowest values for TRL, SA, and NT. In addition, the coefficient of variance for the six tested root traits ranged from (14.26-40%) which suggested statistical variability in root phenotypes among the 22 adzuki bean varieties. Thus, this study will help to select target root traits for the adzuki bean breeding program in the future, generating climate-resilient adzuki beans, especially for drought stress, and may be useful for developing biotic and abiotic stress-tolerant cultivars based on better root trait attributes.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.483-493
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• 2022

It is important to improve the efficiency of plant breeding and crop yield to fulfill increasing food demands. In plant phenotyping studies, the capability to correlate morphological traits such as plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, leaf angle and size of panicle of the plants has an important role. However, manual phenotyping of plants is prone to human errors and is labor intensive and time-consuming. Hence, it is important to develop techniques that measure plant phenotypic traits accurately and rapidly. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of point cloud data based on a 3D light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system for plant phenotyping. The obtained results were then verified through manually acquired data from the sorghum samples. This study measured the plant height, plant crown diameter and the panicle height and diameter. The R² of each trait was 0.83, 0.94, 0.90, and 0.90, and the root mean square error (RMSE) was 6.8 cm, 1.82 cm, 5.7 mm, and 7.8 mm, respectively. The results showed good correlation between the point cloud data and manually acquired data for plant phenotyping. The results indicate that the 3D LiDAR system has potential to measure the phenotypes of sorghum in a rapid and accurate way.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.615-623
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• 2020

Brassica rapa is one of the most valuable vegetable crops worldwide. Cultivated varieties of B. rapa exhibit diverse developmental and morphological appearances, which includes important vegetables, oilseeds, and fodder crops. In this study, various phenotypes of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of B. rapa were investigated, including their responses to five different pathogenic Botrytis cinerea isolates, responses to aphid and thrips during flowering stages, days to flowering, and plant heights. Responses of 113 RILs to five different B. cinerea isolates showed variations, suggesting that genetic factors controlling resistance or tolerance against each isolate were dependent on isolate/genotype pairs. Correlation analysis was performed to understand the nature of genetic factors and the relationship among these phenotypes. Although high levels of correlation were not detected between phenotypes assessed in this study, statistically significant correlation was detected for several combinations. Significant positive correlations were found for different B. cinerea isolates, supporting that certain levels of commonality could exist in genetic components controlling resistance against different B. cinerea isolates. Based on correlation analysis using numbers of insects counted on plants, it was speculated that genetic factors responsible for aphid tolerance or repellence might be also involved in the response against thrips. Relationship between vegetative growth and tolerance against B. cinereal or insects is rather more complicated. However, it was observed that shorter plants appeared to have a certain level of tolerance or repellence against both aphids and thrips. Data presented in this study could be used to assist further genetic studies and breeding efforts to obtain Botritis and insect resistance for B. rapa.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.270-280
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• 2017

Selection of superior phenotypes of fruit trees and products based on established criteria by local people is a prerequisite for future species domestication and conservation. Thus the study objective was to identify the local people's perceptions and preferences on baobab trees and products. A sample of 142 respondents was randomly selected using structured interviews in Blue Nile and North Kordofan, Sudan in 2013. Descriptive analysis was employed using SPSS and Excel programs. The study results indicated that local people use the morphological characteristics of the tree (leaves, fruits, seeds, kernels and bark) to differentiate individual trees. Based on the perceptions, local people recorded trees with delicious leaves, white pulp color, big fruit size and mature capsule size, and high pulp yield as criteria for differentiating between baobab trees in the study areas. In contrast, the undesirable traits were connected to trees with acidic pulp, slimy pulp, bitter leaves, and low pulp yield. The study concluded that the ethnobotanical knowledge of the baobab tree and its products may play an important role in tree domestication and improvement in Sudan. However, further research on tree genetics is needed to complement the ethnobotanical knowledge for baobab resources domestication and conservation.