• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1784-1795
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• 2017

Objective: The study examined the effect of intravenous administration of bacterial endotoxin-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -on the nocturnal secretion of melatonin and on the expression of enzymes of the melatonin biosynthetic pathway in the pineal gland of ewes, taking into account two different photoperiodic conditions: short-night (SN; n = 12) and long-night (LN; n = 12). Methods: In both experiments, animals (n = 12) were randomly divided into two groups: control (n = 6) and LPS-treated (n = 6) one. Two hours after sunset, animals received an injection of LPS or saline. Blood samples were collected starting one hour after sunset and continuing for 3 hours after the treatment. The ewes were euthanized 3 hours after LPS/saline treatment. The concentration of hormones in plasma was assayed by radioimmunoassay. In the pineal gland, the content of serotonin and its metabolite was determined by HPLC; whereas the expression of examined genes and protein was assayed using real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western Blot, respectively. Results: Endotoxin administration lowered (p<0.05) levels of circulating melatonin in animals from LN photoperiod only during the first hour after treatment, while in ewes from SN photoperiod only in the third hour after the injection. Inflammation more substantially suppressed biosynthesis of melatonin in ewes from SN photoperiod, which were also characterised by lower (p<0.05) cortisol concentrations after LPS treatment compared with animals from LN photoperiod. In the pineal gland of ewes subjected to SN photoperiod, LPS reduced (p<0.05) serotonin content and the expression of melatonin biosynthetic pathway enzymes, such as tryptophan hydroxylase and arylalkylamine-N-acetyltransferase. Pineal activity may be disturbed by circulating LPS and proinflammatory cytokines because the expression of mRNAs encoding their corresponding receptors was determined in this gland. Conclusion: The present study showed that peripheral inflammation reduces the secretion of melatonin, but this effect may be influenced by the photoperiod.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.556-563
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• 1997

The endogenous gibberellin(GA) levels of sorghum grown under different photoperiodic conditions were measured by GC-MS-SIM. The effect of photoperiods on the diurnal GA levels of the 13-hydroxylation pathway was investigated by sampling every 6 h for 1 day. Levels of $GA_12$, $GA_53$, $GA_19$, $GA_20$, $GA_1$ and $GA_8$ were not constant throughout sampling times but rather rhythmic in productions. Wild-type seedlings grown under short photoperiod contained more $GA_20$ and $GA_1$ than those of long photoperiod. Although plant height of phyB-l(phytochrome B mutant) was taller than wild-type under all photoperiods tested, $GA_1$ concentration of wild-type grown under 10 h photoperiod was higher than that of phyB-l grown under the same photoperiod. These results are compatible with the idea that phytochrome B changed seedling responsiveness to GAs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.100-100
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• 2017

FT is one of the major floral activator in plant flowering. FT determines the changing point of time from vegetative stage to reproductive stage. To understand the role of FT homologs in short-day plant soybean, we identified 10 soybean FT homologous genes and named GmFTs. We figured out that 10 GmFT genes were further categorized into three subclades through phylogenetic analysis. Expression analysis of GmFT genes indicated that they might have different functions in photoperiod-dependent soybean flowering. Most of GmFTs, for example, GmFT2a, GmFT2b, GmFT5a and GmFT6 mainly expressed in soybean leaves at short-day condition. However, interestingly GmFT1a and GmFT4 represented opposite expression pattern to other GmFTs. Arabidopsis transgenic plants overexpressing GmFT2a and GmFT5a exhibited extremely early flowering. In contrast, overexpression of GmFT4 delayed flowering of Arabidopsis transgenic plants. The results suggest that GmFT4 has antagonistic role to other GmFTs in soybean flowering. Interestingly, mRNA level of GmFT2a is higher in early flowering soybean accessions than in late flowering ones. Moreover, the highest point of mRNA level of GmFT2a showed the positive correlation with the timing of flowering of soybean accessions. But that of GmFT4 showed opposite pattern. Here, we report that soybean FT homologs might acquire different functions in photoperiod-dependent flowering through the functional diversification during evolution.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.368-372
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• 2008

Recent molecular and genetic studies in rice, a short-day plant, have elucidated both conservation and divergence of photoperiod pathway genes and their regulators. However, the biological roles of rice genes that act within the autonomous pathway are still largely unknown. In order to better understand the function of the autonomous pathway genes in rice, we conducted molecular genetic analyses of OsFVE, a rice gene homologous to Arabidopsis FVE. OsFVE was found to be ubiquitously expressed in vegetative and reproductive organs. Overexpression of OsFVE could rescue the flowering time phenotype of the Arabidopsis fve mutants by up-regulating expression of the SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO1 (SOC1) and down-regulating FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) expression. These results suggest that there may be a conserved function between OsFVE and FVE in the control of flowering time. However, OsFVE overexpression in the fve mutants did not rescue the flowering time phenotype in in relation to the response to intermittent cold treatment.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.163-164
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• 2018

CONSTANS (CO) induces the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) in the photoperiodic pathway, and thereby regulates the seasonal timing of flowering. CO expression is induced and CO protein is stabilized by FLAVIN-BINDING KELCH REPEAT F-BOX PROTEIN 1 (FKF1) in the late afternoon, while CO is degraded by CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1) during the night. These regulatory cascades were thought to act independently. In our study, we investigated the relationship between FKF1 and COP1 in the regulation of CO stability in response to ambient light conditions. A genetic analysis revealed that FKF1 acts as a direct upstream negative regulator of COP1, in which cop1 mutation is epistatic to fkf1 mutation in the photoperiodic regulation of flowering. COP1 activity requires the formation of a hetero-tetramer with SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA-105 (SPA1), [$(COP1)_2(SPA1)_2$]. Light-activated FKF1 has an increased binding capacity for COP1, forming a FKF1-COP1 hetero-dimer, and inhibiting COP1 homo-dimerization at its coiled-coil (CC) domain. Mutations in the CC domain result in poor COP1 dimerization and misregulation of photoperiodic floral induction. We propose that FKF1 represses COP1 activity by inhibiting COP1 dimerization in the late afternoon under long-day conditions, resulting in early flowering.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.04a
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• pp.17-17
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• 2018

Panax ginseng Meyer is a perennial medicinal plant, the roots of which has been used in the traditional formulations in Oriental countries. To understand its floral transition, we isolated Flowering Locus T (FT) from ginseng, the bioinformatics analysis of PgFT has revealed a considerable homology to the higher plants, with the essential amino acids for FT function are conserved. The phylogenetic analysis has shown that the PgFT is belonged to the shrub classes of plants and closest kin to Jatropha curcas FT. The expression profiling from juvenile (2-year-old) were abundant in leaves as well as in root and was concentrated in the secondary leaflet and stem bottom in adult (4-year-old) ginseng plant tissues, moreover PgFT transcript displayed photoperiod dependent oscillation. The ectopic expression of PgFT in Arabidopsis thaliana, exhibit precocious flowering and several floral pathway integrators were up-regulated, interestingly their root length was increased in the transgenic seedlings. Therefore, we could conclude that PgFT encodes a florigen that acts as a key regulator in the flowering pathway in ginseng and hypothesize that, it might involve in the underground organ development as well. We believe our finding could provoke future studies on the physiology and development in P. ginseng.