• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2008

International conferences to block the spread of Avian bird flu occurred in Beijing, 2006 and others warned of the seriousness of the H5N1 strain. The meetings succeeded in generating billions of dollars from USA, EU and World Bank. Migratory birds seem to play a major role in the spread of the aggressive strain globally from Asia to Europe and Africa. Experiences of tolerance breeding of maize (Zea mays L.) for four decades against 20 biotic stresses suggest that the prime cause of the occurrence of H5N1 strain was due to the human beings' counter-efforts against nature. Excessive use of chemicals (spray and injection) in the commercial poultry farms had created high selection pressure on virus. The new strain had mutated for survival. Attempting to eliminate the virus by chemicals for 100% control is a dangerous way to control biotic stresses. This can create more aggressive strains. A solution would be to build up tolerability of the commercial animals against the virus. Improvement of poultry cage environments and respect for nature must be integrated. Potential foes must be watched.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.107-110
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• 2001

Variations in protein and nucleic acid concentrations were observed in 24 hrs old eggs and hatched larvae of Nistari strain, Bombyx mori, exposed to starvation. Three starvation treatments of 24,48 and 60 hrs were given separately from 0 hr old fifth instar larvae. Biochemical variations were studied in the resultant hatched larvae of one time starved parent, while the eggs obtained from parents receiving starvation in two successive generations were considered for the study. In hatched larvae, protein levers in 24 hrs starvation groups remained significantly higher over control (never starved) while the same was found to be lower in 48 and 60 hrs starvation individuals. The RNA concentration remained significantly higher in all the treated lots. However, DNA content was not found to be significantly altered in hatched larvae after exposure to feeding stress. Protein, RNA and DNA concentration of 24 hrs old eggs produced by all the starved groups of Nistari, which had deceived two consecutive starvation during parental generations, showed higher concentrations of these biomolecules over control. Hence, starvation induced alterations in protein and nucleic acids in eggs and hatched Iarvae are indicative of a preparatory phase adopted by the insect to acclimatise itself and its progeny to stress situations.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.197-206
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• 2006

In March 2003, classical swine fever (CSF) infection was reported in a piggery located at Iksan city, Jeollabuk-do in Korea. Subsequently, a total of 72 infected farms were confirmed between March and December, 2003. Based on epidemiological investigation of the earlier confirmed infected farms, the source of infection was shown to be from a breeding farm. Targeted surveillance of 82 piggeries that had acquired pigs from this breeding farm showed 44 piggeries were infected with CSF virus. CSF virus was introduced into this breeding farm by movement of selected breeder pigs from its 12 contracted farms which were located in areas that had been affected by CSF epidemic in late 2002. CSF had then spread through out the country mainly by direct transmission through the sale and movement of pigs from this breeding farm. Consequently, 47 (62%) among 72 CSF affected farms were associated, directly and indirectly, with this breeding farm. This study showed that inadequate control for breeding farms and transport restriction in CSF outbreak areas resulted in the nationwide spread of CSF and the failure of the eradication campaign that has been underway for several years by the Korean animal hygiene authority as well as the fanners. Improvements of control policy through further research of the 2003 CSF epidemic will be needed to reestablish the Korean CSF eradication program in the future.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1123-1133
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• 2021

Objective: Shandong indigenous pig breeds are important Chinese pig resources. Their progressive population decline in recent decades has attracted attention towards their conservation. Conservation genetics of these indigenous breeds are essential for developing a conservation and utilization scheme. Methods: A high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (HD-SNP) chip-based comparative analysis of genetic characteristics was performed for seven Shandong indigenous pig breeds in the context of five Western commercial breeds. Results: The results showed that Shandong indigenous pig breeds varied greatly in genetic diversity, effective population size, inbreeding level, and genetic distance with the Western commercial breeds. Specifically, Laiwu and Dapulian displayed low genetic diversity, and had a genetically distant relationship with the Western commercial breeds (average F statistics [F_ST] value of 0.3226 and 0.2666, respectively). Contrastingly, the other five breeds (Yantai, Licha, Yimeng, Wulain, and Heigai) displayed high genetic diversity within breed and had some extent of mixture pattern with the Western commercial breeds, especially Duroc and Landrace (F_ST values from 0.1043 to 0.2536). Furthermore, intensive gene flow was discovered among the seven Shandong indigenous breeds, particularly Wulian, Licha, and Heigai, as indicated by the large cluster formed in the principal component analysis scatterplot and small population differentiation (average of 0.1253) among them. Conclusion: Our study advances the understanding of genetic characteristics of Shandong indigenous breeds and provides essential information for developing an appropriate conservation and utilization scheme for these breeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2020

Objective: Considering the physiological and clinical importance of leptin receptor (LEPR) in regulating obesity and the fact that porcine LEPR expression is not known to be controlled by lncRNAs and miRNAs, we aim to characterize this gene as a potential target of SSC-miR-323 and the lncRNA TCONS_00010987. Methods: Bioinformatics analyses revealed that lncRNA TCONS_00010987 and LEPR have SSC-miR-323-binding sites and that LEPR might be a target of lncRNA TCONS_00010987 based on cis prediction. Wild-type and mutant TCONS_00010987-target sequence fragments and wild-type and mutant LEPR 3'-UTR fragments were generated and cloned into pmiRRB-REPORT^TM-Control vectors to construct respective recombinant plasmids. HEK293T cells were co-transfected with the SSC-miR-323 mimics or a negative control with constructs harboring the corresponding binding sites and relative luciferase activities were determined. Tissue expression patterns of lncRNA TCONS_00010987, SSC-miR-323, and LEPR in Anqing six-end-white (AQ, the obese breed) and Large White (LW, the lean breed) pigs were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; backfat expression of LEPR protein was detected by western blotting. Results: Target gene fragments were successfully cloned, and the four recombinant vectors were constructed. Compared to the negative control, SSC-miR-323 mimics significantly inhibited luciferase activity from the wild-type TCONS_00010987-target sequence and wild-type LEPR-3'-UTR (p<0.01 for both) but not from the mutant TCONS_00010987-target sequence and mutant LEPR-3'-UTR (p>0.05 for both). Backfat expression levels of TCONS_00010987 and LEPR in AQ pigs were significantly higher than those in LW pigs (p<0.01), whereas levels of SSC-miR-323 in AQ pigs were significantly lower than those in LW pigs (p<0.05). LEPR protein levels in the backfat tissues of AQ pigs were markedly higher than those in LW pigs (p<0.01). Conclusion: LEPR is a potential target of SSC-miR-323, and TCONS_00010987 might act as a sponge for SSC-miR-323 to regulate LEPR expression.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.126-131
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• 2017

This study investigated the incidence rate of umbilical hernia (UH) in pig farms and examined the effect of using them as breeding pigs on reproductive traits. The occurrence of UH ranged from 0.1% to 3.0% in pig farms investigated. UH pigs were found in almost all farms except for a single farm in Jeju Island. Spontaneously occurring UH pigs were selected and used for cross breeding tests. UH-related crosses and their progeny showed significant (P < 0.05) differences in gestation period, the numbers of piglets born and alive, and body weights at birth and $21^{st}$ day comparing to those of the control population. UH-related crosses showed longer gestation period, reduced numbers of piglets, and lighter body weights than those from the control population. Interestingly, reduced number of piglets was about one fourth, suggesting that UH inheritance might play a critical role as a lethal gene during embryogenesis. In addition, UH incidence rate in UH-related crosses was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that in the control except for UH-cross3. However, in the progeny of control cross, a pig also had UH appearance, indicating that porcine UH might be inherited in recessive inheritance mode. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that UH is one of recessively inherited genetic defect that occurs at ordinary times in pig farms, suggesting that the use of UH animals as sire and/or dam may lead to economic losses due to increased gestation period, reduced numbers of piglets born and alive, and lower growth rates after birth of pigs.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2005

This paper suggests a control method for an efficient topology/parameter evolution in a bond graph-based GP design framework that automatically synthesizes designs for multi-domain, lumped parameter dynamic systems. We adopt a hierarchical breeding control mechanism with fitness-level-dependent differences to obtain better balancing of topology/parameter search - biased toward topological changes at low fitness levels, and toward parameter changes at high fitness levels. As a testbed for this approach in bond graph synthesis, an eigenvalue assignment problem, which is to find bond graph models exhibiting minimal distance errors from target sets of eigenvalues, was tested and showed improved performance for various sets of eigenvalues.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.861-868
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• 2023

Objective: Loin muscle area (LMA) is an important target trait of pig breeding. This study aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genes associated with LMA in the Duroc×(Landrace×Yorkshire) crossbred pigs (DLY). Methods: A genome-wide association study was performed using the Illumina 50K chip to map the genetic marker and genes associated with LMA in 511 DLY pigs (255 boars and 256 sows). Results: After quality control, we detected 35,426 SNPs, including six SNPs significantly associated with LMA in pigs, with MARC0094338 and ASGA0072817 being the two key SNPs responsible for 1.77% and 2.48% of the phenotypic variance of LMA, respectively. Based on previous research, we determined two candidate genes (growth hormone receptor [GHR] and 3-oxoacid Co A-transferase 1 [OXCT1]) that are associated with fat deposition and muscle growth and found further additional genes (MYOCD, ARHGAP44, ELAC2, MAP2K4, FBXO4, FBLL1, RARS1, SLIT3, and RANK3) that are presumed to have an effect on LMA. Conclusion: This study contributes to the identification of the mutation that underlies quantitative trait loci associated with LMA and to future pig breeding programs based on marker-assisted selection. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of the identified candidate genes in the physiological processes involved in LMA regulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.506-512
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• 1996

Community structure and soil properties of larch forest which are used for breeding site by herons were studied at Apgogri, Hoengsung, Kangwon Province. This site has been protected as a Natural Monument(No. 248) from 1973, in Korea. Herons have used this habitat from February to October every year. In 1995, more than 700 herons were observed in this habitat. Most of the larches died due to group breeding of herons, and no larch saplings were found at forest floor. Nutrient contents of soil in this habitat were much higher than those in control plot(non-breeding site). This must be due to the addition of faeces from herons and of thin twigs and other organic materials from the canopy and bird nests. Species composition of herb layer in this habitat was quite different from that in control plot. Breeding site was dominated by Humulus japonicus, Persicaria fauriei, Persicaria perfoliata, Commelina communis, Chelidonium majus var. asiaticum, Digitaria sanguinalis, Bidens bipinnata. Dioscorea batatas which are indicator species of soil eutrophication. Similarity index of shrub and herb layer between the breeding site and control site was 0.36 and 0.07, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.199.2-200
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• 2000

No Abstract, See Full Text