• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.76-88
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• 2011

The flora of vascular plants in the mountains located in the Uiryeong-gun area, in the South province of the Korean Peninsula, such as Jagul-san(897.1 m), 676 Highland(676 m), Byeokhwa-san(522 m), and the Bangeo-san(530.4 m), was investigated between April 2008 and August 2009. These investigations found 580 taxa consisting of 496 species, 1 subspecies, 77 varieties, and 6 forms, found within 319 genera under 103 families. The count totaled at 744 taxa(16.2% of all vascular plant taxa in Korea), which was made up of 648 species, 3 subspecies, 81 varieties, and 12 forms, found within of 362 genera under 109 families, when voucher specimens from the previous research studies were added. Forests of the investigated areas were generally composed of mixed Pinus densiflora and Quercus sp. The areas with comparatively excellent vegetation were the valley neighboring Baekun-sa(temple) (in the eastern slope of Mt. Jagul-san), the southwest slope of Mt. 676 Highland, the eastern slope of Mt. Byeokhwa-san, and the northern slope of Mt. Bangeo-san. 10 families were collected in abundance: Compositae, Graminae, Leguminosae, Liliaceae, Rosaceae, Cyperaceae, Labiatae, Polygonaceae, Ranunculaceae, and Violaceae these families made up 50% of all collected taxa. 19 taxa were endemic to the area, including Salix hallaisanensis H.Lev, S. koriyanagi Kimura, Aconitum austrokoreense Koidz, A. pseudolaeve Nakai, Clematis trichotoma Nakai, Thalictrum uchiyamai Nakai, Stewartia pseudocamellia Maxim, Philadelphus schrenkii Rupr., Lespedeza ${\times}$ robusta Nakai, Vicia chosenensis Ohwi, Euonymus trapococca Nakai, and Angelica cartilagino-marginata var. distans(Nakai) Kitag. Eight of the taxa were rare and endangered plants, as designated by the Korea Forest Service, including Jeffersonia dubia(Maxim.) Baker & S. Moore and Viola diamantiaca Nakai. 38 taxa of alien plants were found. Vegetation of the surveyed areas falls in the South province of the Korean Peninsula. Of all the taxa collected, 463 taxa(10.06% of all vascular plants in Korea) are considered useful plants, 231 taxa are edible, 193 taxa have medicinal uses, 65 taxa are used ornamentally, 234 taxa are important forage, 3 taxa are used as an industrial raw material, 17 taxa are used for timber, 18 taxa contain useful dyes, and 7 taxa are used for fiber.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.125-131
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• 2015

Currently, taxol is mainly extracted from the bark of yews; however, this method can not meet its increasing demand on the market because yews grow very slowly and are a rare and endangered species belonging to first-level conservation plants. Recently, increasing efforts have been made to develop alternative means of taxol production; microbe fermentation would be a very promising method to increase the production scale of taxol. To determine the activities of the taxol extracted from endophytic fungus N. sylviforme HDFS4-26 in inhibiting the growth and causing the apoptosis of cancer cells, on comparison with the taxol extracted from the bark of yew, we used cellular morphology, cell counting kit (CCK-8) assay, staining (HO33258/PI and Giemsa), DNA agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometry (FCM) analyses to determine the apoptosis status of breast cancer MCF-7 cells, cervical cancer HeLa cells and ovarian cancer HO8910 cells. Our results showed that the fungal taxol inhibited the growth of MCF-7, HeLa and HO8910 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner. IC50 values of fungal taxol for HeLa, MCF-7 and HO8910 cells were $0.1-1.0{\mu}g/ml$, $0.001-0.01{\mu}g/ml$ and $0.01-0.1{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The fungal taxol induced these tumor cells to undergo apoptosis with typical apoptotic characteristics, including morphological changes for chromatin condensation, chromatin crescent formation, nucleus fragmentation, apoptotic body formation and G2/M cell cycle arrest. The fungal taxol at the $0.01-1.0{\mu}g/ml$ had significant effects of inducing apoptosis between 24-48 h, which was the same as that of taxol extracted from yews. This study offers important information and a new resource for the production of an important anticancer drug by endofungus fermentation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.4
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• pp.609-615
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• 2011

Forsythia saxatilis is a Korean endemic plant designated as rare and endangered by the Korea Forest Service (KFS). Growth and physiological characteristics of F. saxatilis were investigated under two different light intensities in order to figure out an appropriate growth environment for conservation and restoration of the species in its natural habitat. Shoot length, leaf size and weight, photosynthetic pigment content and photosynthetic parameters were measured for F. saxatilis grown at two experimental plots under relative light intensities (RLI) of 20% and 60% of the full sun, respectively. Fresh leaf weight of plants grown under high relative light intensities (RLI-60) exceeded that of plants grown at 20% RLI. The ratio of fresh leaf weight to leaf size at RLI-60 was 1.47 times superior comparing to that recorded at RLI-20. The content of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid were higher in plants grown at RLI-60, whereas the ratio of total chlorophyll to carotenoid content was higher in the leaves at RLI-20. Photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate at RLI-60 were, respectively, 2.5, 2.65 and 1.79 times higher comparing to those recorded at RLI-20. Water use efficiency, however, was higher at RLI-20. The chlorophyll/nitrogen ratio was 1.83 times higher at RLI-20 than at RLI-60. In contrast, the ratio of net photosynthesis to chlorophyll content at RLI-60 was 2.58 times higher than that of RLI-20. In conclusion, light intensity might be the major factor affecting growth and physiological characteristics of F. saxatilis grown under canopy of tall tree species.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2008

Effects of light generated by LEDs on shoot growth and rooting of Tsuru-rindo(Tripterospermum japonicum) were evaluated. Apical shoots(one or two node with 3-4 leaves) were cultured on MS basal medium with 3% sucrose and maintained for four weeks under five different light qualities: fluorescent lamp(F), 100% red LED(R), 70% red LED+30% blue LED(R7B3), 50% red LED+50% blue(R5B5), or 100% blue LED(B). Rooting was promoted by both red light and fluorescent lamp, and the effect was further promoted under the ventilation. Red light enhanced shoot node elongation, whereas blue light appeared to suppress it. Growth of shoots and leaves were enhanced under the ventilation irrespective of the different light qualities. Under the ventilated condition, total fresh weight of plants was highest in R7B3 LED as 257.7 mg per plant. Dry matters, which are used for index of plant growth, were lowest under red light, whereas it was highest under blue light. The dry matter was inclined to getting higher by ascending the ratio of blue light and red light. Total chlorophyll content was highest in both R7B3 LED and R5B5 LED under ventilation as 29.5 and 31.2, respectively. Above results suggest that light quality optimization could be an important factor to foster in vitro growth of the species. Ventilation treatment appeared to be another important factor to induce normal shoot growth and rooting.