• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.108-114
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• 2007

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade is critical for regulating plant defense systems against various kinds of pathogen and environmental stresses. One component of this cascade, the MAP kinase kinases (MAPKK), has not yet been shown to be induced in plants following biotic attacks, such as those by insects and fungi. We describe here a gene coding for a blast (Magnaporthe grisea)- and insect (Nilaparvata lugens)-responsive putative MAPK kinase, OmMKK1 (Oryza minuta MAPKK 1), which was identified in a library of O. minuta expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Two copies of OmMKK1 are present in the O. minuta genome. They encode a predicted protein with molecular mass 39 kDa and pI of 6.2. Transcript patterns following imbibition of plant hormones such as methyl jasmonic acid (MeJA), ethephone, salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA), as well as exposure to methyl viologen (MV), revealed that the expression of OmMKK1 is related to defense response signaling pathways. A comparative analysis of OmMKK1 and its O. sativa ortholog OsMKK1 showed that both were induced by stress-related hormones and biotic stresses, but that the kinetics of their responses differed despite their high amino acid sequence identity (96%).

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.48-48
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• 2009

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2011

Tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix Scop.) is resistant to abiotic and biotic stresses through a symbiotic relationship with Neotyphodium coenophialum. However, this endophyte has been considered detrimental since it produces toxic alkaloids to animals. It is vital to understand mutuality between these two to maximize positive impact of the endophyte on agri-ecosystem. Little research has been conducted on endophyte transmission mechanism in planta. To provide basic information related to endophyte transmission, an experiment was conducted to examine the effect of endophyte genotype and water stress on endophyte transmission by imposing soil moisture deficits at different stages of panicle development. There was water stress effect on endophyte frequency but not on concentration, whereas endophyte genotype significantly influenced endophyte concentration in pseudostem of tall fescue at boot stage. Reproductive tillers showed greater endophyte frequency and concentration. Endophyte frequency in florets or seeds depended on position within panicle. There was no drought effect on endophyte concentration, but showed the effect of endophyte genotype on endophyte concentration in florets and seeds. Overall endophyte concentration in seeds was higher. From this study, we may conclude that although water stress reduced endophyte frequency in vegetative tiller, water stress does not have effect on endophyte transmission, suggesting that drought is not an important factor controlling the endophyte transmission from plant to seed. Endophyte genotype and seed position in a panicle affected endophyte transmission, indicating that these two factors are involved in endophyte transmission and may determine seed transmission of endophyte in tall fescue.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 1999

Hypersensitive cell death of plants during incompatible plant-pathogen interactions is one of the efficient defense mechanisms of plants against pathogen infections. For better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the plant hypersensitive response (HR), TMV-induced biotic plant cell death and CuSO4-induced abiotic plant cell death were compared in terms of expression patterns of ten different defense-related genes as molecular markers. The genes include five pathogenesis-related protein genes, two plant secondary metabolite-associated genes, two oxidative stress-related genes and one wound-inducible gene isolated from tobacco. Northern blot analyses revealed that a same set of defense-related genes was induced during both biotic and abiotic cell death but with different time and magnitude. The expression of defense-related genes in tobacco plants was temporarily coincided with the time of cell death. However, when suspension cell cultures was used to monitor the expression of defense-related genes, different patterns of the gene expression were detected. This result implies that three are common and, in addition, also different branches of signaling pathways leading to the induced expression of defense-related genes in tobacco during the pathogen- and heavy metal-induced cell death.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.220-228
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• 2017

Many crops including cereals, tuber crops, feeds, and turf grasses are often damaged by various environmental stresses such as drought, salt, cold, and high temperature, causing the reduction of their productivity. Plants are sessile and cannot escape from environmental stresses. Thus, plants evolve in the direction of overcoming the environmental stresses. Some plant genes such as ARF, ABI3, NAC, HSF, and WRKY are known to respond to environmental stresses as they transcriptionally regulate the stress response pathways. For example, the OsWRKY76 gene contributes to the enhanced resistance to low temperatures and pathogenic infections. The AtWRKY28 also plays a role in environmental stresses. Zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) is popularly grown for gardens and golf courses. However, the function of the WRKY gene, another environmental stress-related gene, is not known in zoysiagrass. In this study, the ZjWRKY3 and ZjWRKY7 genes with one shared WRKY domain have been isolated in zoysiagrass. The expression of these genes increased in response to low temperature, drought, and salt stresses. Furthermore, the infection of the brown patch-causing Rhozoctonia solani induced the expression of ZjWRKY3 and ZjWRKY7. The corresponding proteins bind to the W-box of the Zjchi promoter, possibly regulating their transcriptions. The researchers suggest that the ZjWRKY3 and ZjWRKY7 genes transcriptionally regulate abiotic and biotic stress related downstream genes.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.179-183
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• 2010

Ethylene is a key gaseous hormone that controls various physiological processes in plants including growth, senescence, fruit ripening, and responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. In spite of some of these positive effects, the gas usually inhibits plant growth. While chemical fertilizers help plants grow better by providing soil-limited nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate, overusage often results in growth inhibition by soil contamination and subsequent stress responses in plants. Therefore, controlling ethylene production in plants becomes one of the attractive challenges to increase crop yields. Some soil bacteria among plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) can stimulate plant growth even under stressful conditions by reducing ethylene levels in plants, hence the term "stress controllers" for these bacteria. Thus, manipulation of relevant genes or gene products might not only help clear polluted soil of contaminants but contribute to elevating the crop productivity. In this article, the beneficial soil bacteria and the mechanisms of reduced ethylene production in plants by stress controllers are discussed.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2012

To elucidate the role of silicon in biotic stress such as pests and diseases, standard chrysanthemum was grown in pots filled with soil without application of pesticide and fungicide. Si treatment was largely composed of three groups: $K_2SiO_3$ (50, 100, and $200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$), three brands of silicate fertilizer (SiF1, SiF2, and SiF3) and tap water as a control. Si sources were constantly drenched into pots for 14 weeks. Application high concentration $K_2SiO_3$ ($200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$) and three commercial Si fertilizers for 14 weeks improved growth parameters such as plant height and the number of leaves. In the assessment of disease after 4 weeks of Si treatment, percentage of infected leaves was not significantly different from that of control. After 14 weeks of Si treatment, however, the infected leaves were significantly reduced with a 20-50% decrease in high concentration ($200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$) of potassium silicate and all commercial silicate fertilizers. Colonies of aphid insect (Macrosiphoniellas anborni) were also reduced in Si-treated chrysanthemum, showing 40-57% lower than those of control plants. Accumulation of silicon (approximately $5.4-7.1mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$ dry weight) in shoots of the plants was higher in Si-supplemented chrysanthemum compared to control plants ($3.3mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$ dry weight). These results indicate that using potassium silicate or silicate fertilizer may be a useful for management of disease and aphid insect in soil-cultivated chrysanthemum.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.271-291
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• 2022

Pectin methylesterase (PME) plays an important role in vegetative and reproductive development and biotic/abiotic stress responses by regulating the degree of methyl-esterification of pectic polysaccharides in the plant cell wall. PMEs are encoded by a large multigene family in higher land plant genomes. In general, the expression of plant PME genes shows tissue- or cell-specific patterns and is induced by endogenous and exogenous stimuli. In this study, we identified PME multigene family members (CsPMEs) from the sweet orange genome and report detailed molecular characterization and expression profiling in different citrus tissues and two fruit developmental stages. We also discussed the possible functional roles of some CsPME genes by comparing them with the known functions of PMEs from other plant species. We identified 48 CsPME genes from the citrus genome. A phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the identified CsPMEs were divided into two groups/types. Some CsPMEs showed very close phylogenetic relationships with the PMEs whose functions were formerly addressed in Arabidopsis, tomato, and maize. Expression profiling showed that some CsPME genes are highly or specifically expressed in the leaf, root, flower, or fruit. Based on the phylogenetic relationships and gene expression profiling results, we suggest that some CsPMEs could play functional roles in pollen development, pollen tube growth, cross incompatibility, root development, embryo/seed development, stomata movement, and biotic/abiotic stress responses. Our results shed light on the biological roles of individual CsPME isoforms and contribute to the search for genetic variations in citrus genetic resources.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.242-249
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• 2021

Forage crop management is severely challenged by global warming-induced climate changes representing diverse a/biotic stresses. Thus, screening of valuable genetic resources would be applied to develop stress-tolerant forage crops. We isolated two NAC (NAM, ATAF1, ATAF2, CUC2) transcription factors (ANAC032 and ANAC083) transcriptionally activated by multi-abiotic stresses (salt, drought, and cold stresses) from Arabidopsis by microarray analysis. The NAC family is one of the most prominent transcription factor families in plants and functions in various biological processes. The enhanced expressions of two ANACs by multi-abiotic stresses were validated by quantitative RT-PCR analysis. We also confirmed that both ANACs were localized in the nucleus, suggesting that ANAC032 and ANAC083 act as transcription factors to regulate the expression of downstream target genes. Promoter activities of ANAC032 and ANAC083 through histochemical GUS staining again suggested that various abiotic stresses strongly drive both ANACs expressions. Our data suggest that ANAC032 and ANAC083 would be valuable genetic candidates for breeding multi-abiotic stress-tolerant forage crops via the genetic modification of a single gene.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.41-47
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• 2002

Adverse environmental conditions such as drought, high salt and cold/freezing are major factors that reduces crop productivity worldwide. According to a survey, $50-80\%$ of the maximum potential yield is lost by these 'environmental or abiotic stresses', which is approximately ten times higher than the loss by biotic stresses. Thus, Improving stress-tolerance of crop plants is an important way to improve agricultural productivity. In order to develop such stress-tolerant crop plants, we set out to identify key stress signaling components that can be used to develop commercially viable crop varieties with enhanced stress tolerance. Our primary focus so far has been on the identification of transcription factors that regulate stress responsive gene expression, especially those involved in ABA-mediated stress response. Be sessile, plants have the unique capability to adapt themselves to the abiotic stresses. This adaptive capability is largely dependent on the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA), whose level increases under various stress conditions, triggering adaptive response. Central to the response is ABA-regulated gene expression, which ultimately leads to physiological changes at the whole plant level. Thus, once identified, it would be possible to enhance stress tolerance of crop plants by manipulating the expression of the factors that mediate ABA-dependent stress response. Here, we present our work on the isolation and functional characterization of the transcription factors.