• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2020

A fungal isolate US-18-11 was isolated from the soil in Uiseong, Korea. The mycelium growth measured after 7 days of incubation at 22℃ on malt extract agar (MEA) and oatmeal agar (OA) media was 42-43 mm and 41-44 mm in diameter, respectively. The fungal colony formed white to dull green aerial mycelia that were floccose with regular margins and olivaceous black with leaden gray patches on the reverse side. The conidia were hyaline to brown in color, ellipsoidal to ovoid, guttulate, abundant, globose, solitary, or confluent measuring 3.2-7.2×1.1-2.3 ㎛. A BLAST search of the large subunit (LSU), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, second largest subunit of DNA-directed RNA polymerase II (RPB2) and β-tubulin (TUB2) gene sequences revealed that the isolate US-18-11 has similarities of 99, 100, 97, and 99% with those of Epicoccum draconis CBS 186.83, respectively. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree constructed based on the concatenated dataset of above-mentioned sequences showed that isolate US-18-11 clustered with Epicoccum draconis CBS 186.83 in the same clade. Based on the results of morphological, cultural, and phylogenetic analysis, the isolate US-18-11 was identical to the previously described E. draconis CBS 186.83. To our knowledge, this is the first report of E. draconis in Korea.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.123-135
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• 2016

U.S. cotton production is suffering from the yield loss caused by the reniform nematode (RN), Rotylenchulus reniformis. Management of this devastating pest is of utmost importance because, no upland cotton cultivar exhibits adequate resistance to RN. Nine populations of RN from distinct regions in Alabama and one population from Mississippi were studied and thirteen morphometric features were measured on 20 male and 20 female nematodes from each population. Highly correlated variables (positive) in female and male RN morphometric parameters were observed for body length (L) and distance of vulva from the lip region (V) (r = 0.7) and tail length (TL) and c' (r = 0.8), respectively. The first and second principal components for the female and male populations showed distinct clustering into three groups. These results show pattern of sub-groups within the RN populations in Alabama. A one-way ANOVA on female and male RN populations showed significant differences ($p{\leq}0.05$) among the variables. Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) of 18S rRNA sequences (421) showed lengths of 653 bp. Sites within the aligned sequences were conserved (53%), parsimony-informative (17%), singletons (28%), and indels (2%), respectively. Neighbor-Joining analysis showed intra and inter-nematodal variations within the populations as clone sequences from different nematodes irrespective of the sex of nematode isolate clustered together. Morphologically, the three groups (I, II and III) could not be distinctly associated with the molecular data from the 18S rRNA sequences. The three groups may be identified as being non-geographically contiguous.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.235-241
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• 2008

Taeniasis has been known as one of the prevalent parasitic infections in Korea. Until recently, Taenia saginata had long been considered a dominant, and widely distributed species but epidemiological profiles of human Taenia species in Korea still remain unclear. In order to better understand distribution patterns of human Taenia tapeworms in Korea, partial nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cox1 and ITS2 (internal transcribed spacer 2) were determined, along with morphological examinations, on 68 Taenia specimens obtained from university museum collections deposited since 1935. Genomic DNA was extracted from formalin-preserved specimens. Phylogenetic relationships among the genotypes (cox1 haplotype) detected in this study were inferred using the neighbor-joining method as a tree building method. Morphological and genetic analyses identified 3 specimens as T. solium, 51 specimens as T. asiatica, and 14 specimens as T. saginata. Our results indicate that all 3 Taenia tapeworms are sympatrically distributed in Korea with T. asiatica dominating over T. saginata and T. solium.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.225-229
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• 2015

Echinochloa colona is one of the most problematic weeds in the paddy fields of the world. In recent years, this species is likely to be introduced in Korea due to global warming, the expansion of international trade including agricultural products, and increasing tourists. We tried to identify the species from Korean Echinochloa crus-galli and E. oryzicola in order to establish the control measures in case of the initial influx. For this study, Echinochloa colona collected from the National Plant Germplasm System, USA were examined and E. crus-galli and E. oryzicola were collected in Korea. It is, however, very difficult to identify for Echinochloa species using morphological characters because of numerous interspecific and intraspecific types found in nature. Thus, we barcoded the species using rbcL, matK, and ITS. All three markers identified E. colona very well from the others. ITS alone may be enough as a DNA barcode for E. colona identification, when considering cost and effectiveness. The barcode sequences were deposited to the National Center for Biotechnology Information database for public use.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.593-607
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• 2004

The nucleotide sequence for a nuclear-encoded small subunit rDNA (SSU rDNA) was determined for 43 species of the class Dinophyceae, including harmful algae Cochlodinium polykrikoides and Gyrodinium aureolum. These sequences and data analyses were performed by parsimony, distances and maximum likelihood methods in PHYLIP (Phylogenetic Inference Package) version 3.573c. The species Noctiluca scintillans, Gonyaulax spinifern and Crypthecodinium cohnii occupied a basal position within the Dino- phyceae in our analyses. The genera Alexandrium and Symbiodinium were monophyletic (supported by a bootstrap value of >70%), whereas the genera Gymnedinium and Gyrodinium formed polyphyletic nodes, for which bootstrap support was strong (>70%) in the neighbor-joining and maximum likelihood methods except for the PHYLIP parsimony analysis (=59%). The sequence divergence between G. aureolum and G. dorsum/ G. galathenum was the largest at 7.4% (45 bp), whereas G. aureolum and G. mikimotoi showed an extremely low value of genetic divergence of 0.9% (5 bp). The genetic divergence between C. polykrikoides and G. aureolum was a low value of 5.2% (31 bp). In the phylogenetic analysis, the placement of G. aureolum and C. polykrikoides was closer to the genus Gymnodinium than to the genus Gyrodinium, which was supported by a moderate bootstrap value.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.126-134
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• 2001

The phylogenetic tree displayed the presence of five groups in the Phellinus genus, which were distinguished based on their morphology. Most of the p. linteus appeared a cluster which was highly significant with the exception of P. linteus KACC 500122 and KACC 500411. They formed the sister taxa of P 1inteus where P. baumii, Phellinus sp. MPNU 7003, MPNU 7007, and MPNU 7010 had similar morphological characteristics. Also, P. nigricans IMSNU 32024 and P. pini var, carniformans IMSNU 32031 were grouped in the same cluster with P. igniarius KCTC 6227, KCTC 6228, and P. chrysoloma KCTC 6225 extracted from the Gen-Bank database. P. torulosus IMSNU 32028 and Phellinus sp. MPNU 7011 formed a closed group, however, these species had a distant taxa when compared with the other Phellinus species. The nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) including the 5.85 rDNA were determined from 24 strains of the Phellinus genus in order to analyze their phylogenetic relationship. These fungi were divided into two basic groups based on their ITS length, however, this grouping was different from that based on their morphological characteristics. Although various ITS sequences were ambiguously aligned, conserved sites were also identified. Accordingly, a neighbor-joining tree was constructed using the nucleotide sequence data of the conserved sites of the ITS regions and the 5.8S rDNA.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.482-488
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• 2010

Three specimens of Cynoglossidae larvae were collected from the southern Korean Sea in May and August of 2009, and were identified using morphological and molecular analysis. Specimens were divided into two groups based on the number of elongated dorsal fin rays on the top of the head: Cynoglossidae sp. A was defined as having two elongated dorsal fin rays, while Cynoglossidae sp. B possessed a single elongated dorsal fin ray. One specimen of Cynoglossidae sp. A, a post-larva with a notochord length (NL) of 5.8 mm was thought to be a Cynoglossus joyneri larva based on the presence of 115 dorsal pterogiophores, 85 anal pterogiophores, and 50 myomeres. Two specimens of Cynoglossidae sp. B, a 4.1 mm NL larva and a 11.3 mm NL juvenile, were thought to be Cynoglossus abbreviatus based on the presence of yolk in the former and 133 dorsal fin rays, 105 anal fin rays, and 63 myomeres in the latter. To test this morphology-based identification, molecular analysis was conducted using 419-422 bp of mitochondrial DNA 16S rRNA. Cynoglossidae sp. A was clearly matched to a Cynoglossus joyneri adult (d=0.000) and Cynoglossidae sp. B clustered closely with Cynoglossus abbreviatus adults (d=0.002). A neighbor-joining tree supported this robust relationship (bootstrap value=100%). Therefore, these molecular data validate the morphological identification of the two Cynoglossidae larval species.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.419-427
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• 2009

The Minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, is the smallest baleen whale in the suborder Mysticeti. Because this species inhabits coastal areas, it became a main target species of coastal small-type whaling in the North Atlantic and the Northwest Pacific Oceans, and the species' population size dramatically decreased because of over-exploitation. As a result, the International Whaling Commission declared a global moratorium on whaling and launched the development of a management procedure for protecting the whales. Morphological studies, whaling history analysis, and genetic studies conducted mainly by Japanese scientists showed the existence of one unique "E" stock that inhabits the waters around the Korean peninsula and mixes with the "O" stock in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk. We used the mitochondrial DNA control region polymorphism of 348 Minke whales bycaught or stranded in Korean waters from 30 October 1998 to 25 June 2005 to assess the whale population structure by year. The frequency of the 10 major haplotypes from the 40 identified haplotypes was not significantly different among groups, suggesting that a subpopulation was not present. A comparison of the genetic distances calculated with Tamura-Nei's method showed that the distances between groups were lower than those within groups, which suggests that there was no genetic difference in the Minke whale populations. The Fst comparison between groups and the phylogenetic tree constructed using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and Neighbor Joining (NJ) method also detected no obvious sub-stock structure.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.243-246
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• 2001

Human endoqenous retroviral long terminal repeats (LTRs) have been found to be coexpressed with sequences of genes closely located nearby. It has been suggested that the LTR elements have contributed to structural changes or genetic variations of human genome connected to various diseases and evolution. Using cDNA library derived from placenta tissue, we performed PCR amplification and identified five new HERV-W LTR elements. Those LTR elements showed a high degree of sequence similarity (98-99%) with HERV-W LTR (AF072500). A phylogenetic tree obtained by the neighbor-joining method revealed that HERV-W LTR elements could be mainly divided into two groups through evolutionary divergence. Five new HERV-W LTR elements (pla-1, 4, 5, 6, 7) belonged to the group I with AX000960, AF072504, and AF072506 from GenBank database. The data suggest that several copy numbers of the HERV-W LTR elements are transcribed in placenta and may contribute to the understanding of biological function such as human placental morphogenesis.

• Mycobiology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2002

Species of Phellinus were known to harmful fungi causing white pocket rot and severe plant disease such as canker or heartrot in living trees in the West, but some species have been used to traditional medicines in the Orient for a long time. In this study the partial D1-D2 nucleotide sequences of 28S ribosomal DNA from 13 Phellinus strains were determined and compared with the sequences of 21 strains obtained from GenBank database. According to the neighbor-joining(NJ) method comparing the sequence data the phylogenetic tree was constructed. The phylogenetic tree displayed the presence of four groups. Group I includes P. ferreus, P. gilvus and P. johnsonianus, Group II contains P. laevigatus, P. conchatus and P. tremulae, Group III possesses P. linteus, P. weirianus, P. baumii, P. rhabarbarinus and P. igniarius, and Group IV comprises P. pini, P. chrysoloma. P. linteus and P. baumii, which were used mainly in traditional medicine, belong to the same group, but exactly speaking both were split into two different subgroups. To detect P. linteus only, we developed the PCR primer, D12HR. The primer showed the specific amplification of P linteus, which is permitted to medicinal mushroom in the East. The results make a potential to be incorporated in a PCR identification system that could be used for the rapid identification of this species from its related species, P. linteus especially.