• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.944-953
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• 2021

Lignin is a complex phenylpropanoid polymer abundant in the cell walls of vascular plants. It is mainly presented in conducting and supporting tissues, assisting in water transport and mechanical strength. Lignification is also utilized as a defense mechanism against pathogen infection or wounding to protect plant tissues. The monolignol precursors of lignin are synthesized by cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). CAD catalyzes cinnamaldehydes to cinnamyl alcohols, such as p-coumaryl, coniferyl, and sinapyl alcohols. CAD exists as a multigenic family in angiosperms, and CAD isoforms with different functions have been identified in different plant species. Multiple isoforms of CAD genes are differentially expressed during development and upon environmental cues. CAD enzymes having different functions have been found so far, showing that one of its isoforms may be involved in developmental lignification, whereas others may affect the composition of defensive lignins and other wall-bound phenolics. Substrate specificity appears differently depending on the CAD isoform, which contributes to revealing the biochemical properties of CAD proteins that regulate lignin synthesis. In this review, details regarding the expression and regulation of the CAD family in lignin biosynthesis are discussed. The isoforms of the CAD multigenic family have complex genetic regulation, and the signaling pathway and stress responses of plant development are closely linked. The synthesis of monolignol by CAD genes is likely to be regulated by development and environmental cues as well.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.475-481
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• 1999

The study of lignin, a major component of secondary cell wall, has been partly focused on its removal from the woody part in the kraft pulping industry. Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD; EC 1.1.l95) catalyzes the synthesis of cinnamyl alcohols from corresponding cinnamaldehydes. A cDNA clone, MdCADl, encoding putative CAD from apples (Malus domestica Borkh. cv Fuji) was characterized in this study. The clone contains an open reading frame of 325 amino acid residues, which shows a greater than 80％ identity with Eucalyptus CADl. MdCADl mRNA was detectable in vegetative tissues and was strongly expressed in the fruit. The expression pattern of MdCADl mRNA in the fruit peel after light exposure was also examined. The mRNA was rapidly increased until 1 day after light exposure and remained stable thereafter, suggesting that MdCADl is light inducible. The inducibility of the MdCADl gene was examined using several environmental stresses. Mechanical wounding of leaves increased the MdCADl mRNA level and the induction was further increased by salicylic acid. Southern blot hybridization showed that there is either one or a few copies of CAD genes in apples. To our knowledge, it is believed that MdCADl is the first CAD clone expressed predominantly in fruit.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.266-272
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• 2009

Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD, EC 1.1.1.95), catalyzes the reduction of hydroxycinnamaldehydes to give hydroxycinnamyl alcohols, or "monolignols," the monomeric precursors of lignin. Lignins are important components of cell walls and lignified secondary cell walls play crucial roles in long distance transport of water and nutrients during plant growth and development and in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. Here a cDNA clone containing a CAD gene, named as PgCAD, was isolated from a commercial medicinal plant Panax ginseng. PgCAD is predicted to encode a precursor protein of 177 amino acid residues, and its sequence shares high homology with a number of other plant CADS. The expression of PgCAD in adventitious roots and hairy roots of P. ginseng was analyzed using reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR under various abiotic stresses such as salt, salicylic acid, wounding and chilling treatment that triggered a significant induction of PgCAD at different time points within 2-48 h post-treatment. This study revealed that PgCAD may help the plants to survive against various abiotic stresses.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.442-450
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• 2019

Despite its potential as a renewable source for fuels and chemicals, lignin valorization still faces technical challenges in many aspects. Overcoming such challenges associated with the chemical recalcitrance of lignin can provide many opportunities to innovate existing and emerging biorefineries. In this work, we leveraged a biomass genetic engineering technology to produce phenolic aldehyde-rich lignin structure via downregulation of cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). The structurally altered lignin obtained from the Arabidopsis thaliana CAD mutant was pyrolyzed to understand the effect of structural alteration on thermal behavior of lignin. The pyrolysis was conducted at 400 and $500^{\circ}C$ using an analytical pyrolyzer connected with GC/MS and the products were systematically analyzed. The results indicate that aldehyde-rich lignin undergoes fragmentation reaction during pyrolysis forming a considerable amount of C6 units. Also, it was speculated that highly reactive phenolic aldehydes facilitate secondary repolymerization reaction as described by the lower yield of overall phenolic compounds compared to wild type (WT) lignin. Quantum mechanical calculation clearly shows the higher electrophilicity of transgenic lignin than that of WT, which could promote both fragmentation and recondensation reactions. This work provides mechanistic insights toward biomass genetic engineering and its application to the pyrolysis allowing to establish sustainable biorefinery in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.207-207
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• 2004

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.87 no.3
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• pp.334-340
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• 1998

This research was conducted to identify plant regulatory regions by gene tagging method. A promoterless GUS coding sequence was introduced to Populus nigra ${\times}$ P. maximowiczii via Agrobacterium strains(LBA4404/EHA101), and putative transgenic poplars were selected by culturing on medium containing G418($60mg/{\ell}$) and by GUS assay. Among them one positive plant was to amplify the native sequences flanking to the introduced GUS gene in plant genome by inverse PCR method and from this 730 by DNA product was obtained. After subcloning and sequencing, it has 88% homology to the Eucalyptus gunnii CAD(cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase) gene. The GUS gene fused with the putative promoter reinserted into poplar leaves by particle bombardment method to test the funtional promoter activity. Upon staining with X-gluc, many blue spots appeared on the leaf segments bombarded by the chimeric gene 2-3 days, thus the isolated DNA fragment contain some possible coding region as well as a putative regulatory sequences of poplar CAD gene.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.403-411
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• 2018

This study takes strawberry-fruits as the test material and discusses the effect of Burkholderia contaminans B-1 on preventing postharvest diseases and inducing resistance-related substances in strawberry-fruits. Soaking and wound inoculating is performed to analyze the inhibitory effects of different treatment solutions on the gray mold of postharvest strawberry-fruits. The count of antagonistic bacteria colonies in the wound is found, and the dynamic growth of antagonistic bacteria and the pathogenic fungus is observed by electron microscopy. The results indicated that, either by soaking/wound-inoculating, the fermentation and suspension of antagonistic bacteria significantly reduced the incidence of postharvest diseases of strawberry-fruits. With wound inoculation, the inhibition rate of antagonist fermentation and suspension ($1{\times}10^{10}cfu/ml$) respectively reached 77.4% and 66.7%. It also led to a significant increase in the activity of resistance-related enzymes, i.e., phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), 4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase (4CL), cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H) and chalcone isomerase (CHI). On 1 d and 2 d post-treatment, the activity of 4CL was respectively 3.78 and 6.1 times of the control, and on 5 d, the activity of PAL was increased by 4.47 times the control. The treatment of antagonistic bacteria delayed the peaking of cinnamyl-alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) activity and promoted the accumulation of lignin and total phenols. The antagonistic bacteria could be well colonized in the wounds. On 4-5 d post-inoculation, the count of colonies was $10^8$ times of that upon inoculation. Electronmicroscopy indicated that the antagonistic bacteria delayed the germination of pathogenic spores in the wounds, and inhibited further elongations of the mycelia.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.277-277
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• 2022

Lignin modification has been a breeding target for the improvements of forage digestibility and fermentation in whole crop silage(WCS) rice. In rice, gold hull and internode 2 (gh2) was identified as a lignin-deficient mutant. gh2 exhibits a reddish-brown pigmentation in the hull and the internode is located on the short arm of chromosome 2 and codes for cinnamyl-alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). To develop WCS rice variety improved digestibility and fermentation, we measured acid detergent fiber (ADF), lignin and total digestible nutrient (TDN) calculated from ADF (TDN=88.9-(0.79% × ADF) and performed marker-assisted selection using CAD(Os2g0187800) gene first intron region specific marker with 55 Jungmo1038/J.collection lines. Those lines had lignin content range from 0.82 to 6.61%, ADF from 15.8 to 45.8%, TDN from 52.7 to 78.8 compared to 'Jungmo1038'(1.53,20.7,72.6), 'J.collection'(0.98,12.8,78.8%) and gh2 were introgressed into 44 lines. Considering on these genotype and low-lignin phenotype, we finally selected 2 elite lines(Suweon668, Suweon669). Suweon668 and Suweon669 line are high biomass-low lignin lines that the ADF content is relatively low, even though the dry matter weight is high. Also they have lodging and shattering resistance and glabrous leaf and hull important to improve cattle palatability. Our results will provide that rice can be improved for forage digestibility and fermentation with low lignin concentration.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2017

Our previous study for developing seeds of Iksan 526 (I.526), an inbred line of resveratrol-producing transgenic rice line, showed that, in 20 days after heading (DAH) seeds, resveratrol was almost saturated and accumulation of piceid was highest though the expression of Arachis hypogaea resveratrol synthase 3 (AhRS3, GenBank DQ124938) was highest in 31 DAH seeds. In this study, it was investigated how the overexpression of AhRS3 affects phenylpropanoid pathway genes. p-Coumaroyl-CoA is derived from phenylpropanoid pathway and used as a substrate of AhRS3 reaction for resveratrol production. In 6, 13, 20, 31 and 41 (45 for Dongjin) DAH seeds of I526 and Dongjin, a wild type of I.526, respectively, the expression pattern of phenylpropanoid pathway genes, including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL: LOC_Os02g41630.2, LOC_Os04g43760.1), cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H: LOC_Os05g25640.1), 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL: LOC_Os02g08100.1), cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (CCR: LOC_ Os09g25150.1, LOC_Os08g34280.1), hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT: LOC_Os04g42250.2, LOC_Os02g39850.1) and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD: LOC_Os02g09490.1), was examined using real time (RT)-PCR. Compared to developing seeds of Dongjin, RT-PCR results showed that the expression pattern of phenylpropanoid pathway genes was modified in developing seeds of I.526. In most genes, except for CAD, of I.526 developing seeds, the gene expression was highest in 20 DAH corresponding to biosynthesis of resveratrol and piceid, i.e. the expression of phenylpropanoid pathway genes was gradually increased by 20 DAH and decreased as seeds develop. Especially, in Dongjin, the highest expression of PALs and 4CL was in 6 DAH and their expression was gradually decreased as seeds develop. These genes expression data also exhibited that, in developing seeds of I.526, phenylpropanoid pathway genes were slightly or significantly (in some genes) upregulated compared to Dongjin. Therefore, the overexpression of AhRS3 changed the expression pattern of phenylpropanoid pathway genes in I.526 developing seeds and this modification for gene expression is closely related to biosynthesis of resveratrol and piceid.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.105-105
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• 2017

Our previous study for developing seeds of Iksan 526 (I.526), an inbred line of resveratrol-producing transgenic rice line, showed that, in 20 days after heading (DAH) seeds, resveratrol was almost saturated and accumulation of piceid was highest though the expression of Arachis hypogaea resveratrol synthase 3 (AhRS3, GenBank DQ124938) was highest in 31 DAH seeds. In this study, it was investigated how the overexpression of AhRS3 affects phenylpropanoid pathway genes. p-Coumaroyl-CoA is derived from phenylpropanoid pathway and used as a substrate of AhRS3 reaction for resveratrol production. In 6, 13, 20, 31 and 41 (45 for Dongjin) DAH seeds of I526 and Dongjin, a wild type of I.526, respectively, the expression pattern of phenylpropanoid pathway genes, including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL: LOC_Os02g41630.2, LOC_Os04g43760.1), cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H: LOC_Os05g25640.1), 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL: LOC_Os02g08100.1), cinnamoyl-CoA reductase (CCR: LOC_Os09g25150.1, LOC_Os08g34280.1), hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT: LOC_Os04g42250.2, LOC_Os02g39850.1) and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD: LOC_Os02g09490.1), was examined using real time (RT)-PCR. Compared to developing seeds of Dongjin, RT-PCR results showed that the expression pattern of phenylpropanoid pathway genes was modified in developing seeds of I.526. In most genes, except for CAD, of I.526 developing seeds, the gene expression was highest in 20 DAH corresponding to biosynthesis of resveratrol and piceid, i.e. the expression of phenylpropanoid pathway genes was gradually increased by 20 DAH and decreased as seeds develop. Especially, in Dongjin, the highest expression of PALs and 4CL was in 6 DAH and their expression was gradually decreased as seeds develop. These genes expression data also exhibited that, in developing seeds of I.526, phenylpropanoid pathway genes were slightly or significantly (in some genes) upregulated compared to Dongjin. Therefore, the overexpression of AhRS3 changed the expression pattern of phenylpropanoid pathway genes in I.526 developing seeds and this modification for gene expression is closely related to biosynthesis of resveratrol and piceid.