• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.622-633
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• 2018

Chinese cabbage grown during autumn season is confronted with drought conditions for a certain period, especially during the early growth stage. In this study, we investigated the effects of drought stress on plant growth characteristics, as well as free amino acid, carotenoid, and proline in Chinese cabbage. Chinese cabbage seeds (Bulam Plus) were germinated, and all the seedlings were transplanted into plastic containers (28 cm diameter ${\times}$ 22 cm high) containing a commercial growth medium. The soil water content was measured and maintained at 10% for the drought-stressed plants and at 30% for the control plants, for three weeks. The results revealed that plant growth parameters were lower in the drought-stressed plants than in the control plants. The total free amino acid content tended to decrease in both drought-stressed and control plants with time. The total free amino acid content was found to be lower in the drought-stressed plants than in the control plants and the proline content was unaffected. Moreover, at three weeks after treatment, carotenoid content in drought stressed plants was significantly higher than that in the untreated plants. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to the literature because the effects of drought stress on plant growth parameters, free amino acid, carotenoids, and proline accumulation in autumn growing cultivar of Chinese cabbage have not been widely studied in Korea, and our study provides valuable information in this regard, as Chinese cabbage is consumed throughout the year in Korea.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.22-33
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• 2006

This paper deals mainly with chemical and biological investigations, recently effected in the authors' laboratory, of Chinese tropical marine plants and invertebrates on three topics: 1) an unusual macrocyclic polydisulfide from the Chinese mangrove Bruguiera gymnorrhiza; 2) polyhydroxylpolyene compounds from marine dinoflagellate Amphidinium sp.; 3) two new series of uncommon steroids from marine in vertebrates.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.231-241
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• 2008

Indole glucosinolates (IG) play important roles in plant defense, plant-insect interactions, and stress responses in plants. In an attempt to metabolically engineer the IG pathway flux in Chinese cabbage, three important Arabidopsis cDNAs, CYP79B2, CYP79B3, and CYP83B1, were introduced into Chinese cabbage by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Overexpression of CYP79B3 or CYP83B1 did not affect IG accumulation levels, and overexpression of CYP79B2 or CYP79B3 prevented the transformed callus from being regenerated, displaying the phenotype of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) overproduction. However, when CYP83B1 was overexpressed together with CYP79B2 and/or CYP79B3, the transformed calli were regenerated into whole plants that accumulated higher levels of glucobrassicin, 4-hydroxy glucobrassicin, and 4-methoxy glucobrassicin than wild-type controls. This result suggests that the flux in Chinese cabbage is predominantly channeled into IAA biosynthesis so that coordinate expression of the two consecutive enzymes is needed to divert the flux into IG biosynthesis. With regard to IG accumulation, overexpression of all three cDNAs was no better than overexpression of the two cDNAs. The content of neoglucobrassicin remained unchanged in all transgenic plants. Although glucobrassicin was most directly affected by overexpression of the transgenes, elevated levels of the parent IG, glucobrassicin, were not always accompanied by increases in 4-hydroxy and 4-methoxy glucobrassicin. However, one transgenic line producing about 8-fold increased glucobrassicin also accumulated at least 2.5 fold more 4-hydroxy and 4-methoxy glucobrassicin. This implies that a large glucobrassicin pool exceeding some threshold level drives the flux into the side chain modification pathway. Aliphatic glucosinolate content was not affected in any of the transgenic plants.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.255-260
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• 2015

We investigated influence of three commercial antibiotics viz., oxolinic acid, streptomycin, and validamycin A, on biocontrol and plant growth promoting activities of Bacillus vallismortis EXTN-1 and BS07M in Chinese cabbage. Plants were pre-drenched with these strains followed by antibiotics application at recommended and ten-fold diluted concentration to test the effect on biocontrol ability against soft rot caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum SCC1. The viability of the two biocontrol strains and bacterial pathogen SCC1 was significantly reduced by oxolinic acid and streptomycin in vitro assay, but not by validamycin A. In plant trials, strains EXTN-1 and BS07M controlled soft rot in Chinese cabbage, and there was a significant difference in disease severity when the antibiotics were applied to the plants drenched with the two biocontrol agents. Additional foliar applications of oxolinic acid and streptomycin reduced the disease irrespective of pre-drench treatment of the PGPRs. However, when the plants were pre-drenched with EXTN-1 followed by spray of validamycin A at recommended concentration, soft rot significantly reduced compared to untreated control. Similarly, strains EXTN-1 and BS07M significantly enhanced plant growth, but it did not show synergistic effect with additional spray of antibiotics. Populations of the EXTN-1 or BS07M in the rhizosphere of plants sprayed with antibiotics were significantly affected as compared to control. Taken together, our results suggest that the three antibiotics used for soft rot control in Chinese cabbage could affect bacterial mediated biocontrol and plant growth promoting activities. Therefore, combined treatment of the PGPRs and the commercial antibiotics should be carefully applied to sustain environmental friendly disease management.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2007

To develop an efficient screening method for detection of the transgene in Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa spp. pekinensis) utilizing Basta spray, optimal conditions for Basta application were examined in this study. Two transgenic Chinese cabbage lines were obtained through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and used as transgenic positive controls in the Basta screening experiment. Differential concentrations of glufosinate-ammonium were sprayed into three different growth stages of 12 commercial Chinese cabbage cultivars. The results showed that no plants could survive higher than 0.05% glufosinate-ammonium, and plants at the 2-3 leaf stage were most vulnerable to glufosinate-ammonium. On the other hand, no damage was observed in the transgenic control plants. Reliability of the Basta spray method was proven by showing perfect co-segregation of the tolerance to glufosinate-ammonium and the presence of the bar gene in T₁ segregating populations of the transgenic lines, as revealed by both PCR and Southern blot analyses. Using the developed Basta screening method, we tried to investigate the transgene flow through pollen dispersal, but failed to detect any transgene-containing non-transgenic Chinese cabbages whose parents had been planted adjacent to transgenic Chinese cabbages in field conditions. However, the transgene was successfully detected using Basta spray from the non-transgenic plants bearing the transgene introduced by hand-pollination. Since the Basta spray method developed in this study is easy to apply and economical, it will be a valuable tool for understanding the mechanism of gene flow through pollen transfer and for establishing a biosafety test protocol for genetically modified (GM) Chinese cabbage cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.209-215
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• 1994

Absorption, translocation, and metabolism of the herbicide alachlor in soybean, Chinese cabbage, and barnyard grass seedlings were examined and compared with each other using [phenyl-U-$^{14}C$] alachlor in search of a primary factor contributing to the selectivity of alachlor. When root of each seedling was immersed into the solution containing [$^{14}C$]alachlor, the amount of absorbed radioactivity/mg dry matter of seedling which was suggested to be correlated with the susceptibility of plants to alachlor decreased in the order of soybean ${\gg}$ Chinese cabbage ${\geq}$ barnyard grass and the rate of translocation to shoot was Chinese cabbage ${\geq}$ barnyard grass ${\gg}$ soybean. These orders did not consistently explain the selective phytotoxicity of alachlor. Analyses of extracts by reverse phase chromatography showed that alachlor was detoxified by conjugation with glutathione in all three plants and the rate of glutathione conjugation of soybean, the resistant species to alachlor, was the greatest, while that of barnyard grass, the susceptible, was the lowest among three plants. This result explained well the selective phytotoxicity of alachlor. Both absorption and translocation contribute undoubtedly to the selectivity by influencing the active internal concentration of alachlor. However, neither of them appeared to be a primary factor. It was concluded that the most important primary factor was the rate of glutathione conjugation, which detoxifies alachlor and plays an important role in selectivity.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.81-85
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• 2018

Chinese artichoke (Stachys sieboldii Miq.) belongs to herbaceous perennial plants of Labiatea and is cultivated as edible and medicinal crops in China, Japan and Korea. A Chinese artichoke plant showing virus-like symptoms was collected in Chungju, Korea. Plant sap of the sample was inoculated in Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi-nc, Chenopodium quinoa and Chenopodium amaranticolor. Necrotic local lesions were observed in the inoculated leaves of N. tabacum cv. Xanthi-nc and C. amaranticolor, C. quinoa with systemic chlorotic spots and mosaic symptoms on the upper leaves. The disease reactions on indicator plants suggested that the collected Chinese artichoke sample was mixed-infected with different viruses. We detected three viruses by RT-PCR analysis using genus- and species-specific primer sets for Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). This study is the first report of a mixed infection of three viruses in Chinese artichoke in Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.275-284
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• 2014

This study was orchestrated with the purpose of uncovering new nutraceutical resources possessing biological activities in the plant kingdom. To fulfill our objective, we analyzed several Chinese plants and selected three possessing powerful anti-oxidative activities. The anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects these three Chinese plants, Malus hupehensis, Ophiorrhiza cantonensis, and Psychotria rubra ethanol extracts were then evaluated. First of all, they possessed potent scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl, similar with that of ascorbic acid, used as a positive control. Moreover, they inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and hydrogen peroxide-induced reactive oxygen species, in a dose-dependent manner, in RAW 264.7 cells. Also, they induced the expression of an anti-oxidative enzyme, heme oxygenase 1, and its upstream transcription factor, nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2. Furthermore, they suppressed LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) formation, without cytotoxicity. The inhibition of NO formation was the result of the down regulation of inducible NO synthase (iNOS). The suppression of NO and iNOS by the three extracts might be the result of modulation by the upstream transcription factors, nuclear factor ${\kappa}B$ and activator protein-1. Taken together, these results indicate that these three Chinese plants possess potent anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, they might be utilized as promising materials in the field of nutraceuticals.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2018

Purpose: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of cultivation conditions on the growth and glucosinolate content of Chinese cabbage and kale. Methods: Chinese cabbage and kale were grown in three different cultivation conditions, including a plant factory, greenhouse, and open field. Samples were collected at two harvesting times (10 d and 20 d after transplanting the seedlings). Nine growth parameters (plant height, plant width, number of leaves, petiole diameter, SPAD readout, leaf length, leaf width, stem diameter, and plant weight) were measured immediately after harvesting, and the samples were freeze-dried and stored until the glucosinolate content was analyzed. Mean values of the growth parameters and glucosinolate contents were evaluated using Duncan's multiple range tests. Results: The results indicated that the plant parameters of the Chinese cabbage and kale were greater for plants grown in the plant factory and greenhouse. The plant height, width, and weight showed significant differences in the Duncan's multiple range tests at a 5% level. The plant factory also produced greater contents of most of the glucosinolates. Conclusions: Three different cultivation conditions significantly affected the growth and glucosinolate contents of Chinese cabbage and kale. Further study is necessary to investigate other functional components and different vegetable varieties.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.383-390
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• 2016

To determine whether FT-IR spectral analysis based on multivariate analysis could be used to discriminate Chinese cabbage breeding line at metabolic level, whole cell extracts of nine different breeding lines (three paternal, three maternal and three $F_1$ lines) were subjected to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). FT-IR spectral data of Chinese cabbage plants were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). The hierarchical dendrograms based on PLS-DA from two of three cross combinations showed that paternal, maternal, and their progeny $F_1$ lines samples were perfectly separated into three branches in breeding line dependent manner. However, a cross combination failed to fully discriminate them into three branches. Thus, hierarchical dendrograms based on PLS-DA of FT-IR spectral data of Chinese cabbage breeding lines could be used to represent the most probable chemotaxonomical relationship among maternal, paternal, and $F_1$ plants. Furthermore, these metabolic discrimination systems could be applied for rapid selection and classification of useful Chinese cabbage cultivars.