• Plant Resources
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.170-174
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• 2003

The important component for medical effect in ginseng is ginsenoside. Korea Ginseng & Tobacco Research Institute contains approximately 200 lines produced by inbred selection. It is assumed that ginseng lines containing high level of ginsenoside should be included in those lines. Besides, new breeding methods such as cell line selection in vitro and hairy root were recently developed. Therefore, this study was carried out to detect genes related to ginsenoside, and to use it for selection marker to select and distribute lines containing high level of ginsenoside. DNA was extracted from both ginseng roots and hairy roots, and the difference between the line containing high ginsenoside(KG101) and normal ginsenoside(KG103) were analysed. As a result, 28 out of 36 primers showed bands, and many primers showed band difference between ginseng lines. It is considered that the bands should be analysed using DNA sequence comparison to check if those are related to ginsenoside. In case of hairy roots of ginseng, almost no differences were found between two lines.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.186-192
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• 2021

The roots of Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng) have a long history of usage as a medicinal drug. Ginsenosides, a group of triterpenioid saponins in ginseng, have been reported to show important pharmacological effects. Many studies have attempted to identify the ginsenoside synthesis pathways of P. ginseng and to increase crop productivity. Recent studies have shown that exogenous gibberellin (GA) treatments promote storage root secondary growth by integration of the modulating cambium stem cell homeostasis with a secondary cell wall-related gene network. However, the dynamic regulation of ginsenoside synthesis-related genes and their contents by external signaling cues has been rarely evaluated. In this study, we confirmed that GA treatment not only enhanced the secondary growth of P. ginseng storage roots, but also significantly enriched the terpenoid biosynthesis process in RNA-seq analysis. Consistently, we also found that the expression of most genes involved in the ginsenoside synthesis pathways, including those encoding methylerythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) and mevalonate (MVA), and the saponin content in both leaves and roots was increased by exogenous GA application. These results can be used in future development of biotechnology for ginseng breeding and enhancement of saponin content.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.995-1002
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• 2018

Hairy root culture of ginseng is industrially prospected because the cultivation period of ginseng is relatively long. In this study, the effect of medium concentration and sucrose concentration on hairy root culture of ginseng was evaluated. The optimization of ginseng hairy roots transformed by Agrobacterium rhizogene were performed liquid medium. The MS(Murashinge & Skoog basal medium) concentration was selected with 1/2 strength MS and the optimal sucrose concentration was determined at 2-3%(w/v). At the optimum culture condition, The yield (the ratio of weight of grown hairy root cultures to weight of fresh ginseng hairy roots) and production rate of ginseng root were 19.42 times and 5.73 g/l-day. The major ginsenosides were Rb group, Re and Rg1. The produced total ginsenoside content in the solid medium was 9.87 (mg/g) and increased 1.34 times in the liquid medium (13.23 mg/g). In solid culture, the contents of ginsenosides Rb, Re and Rg1 were 2.14, 3.65 and 1.87 mg/g, respectively. In liquid culture, the contents of ginsenosides Rb, Re and Rg1 were 3.54, 4.12 and 2.63 mg/g, respectively.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.196-200
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• 2004

This study was conducted to compare the root weight, yield, quality of fresh and red ginseng roots and crude saponin content in roots between fixing light transmittance(Control) and changing light transmittance(C.L.T.) during the ginseng growing seasons. The root weight in C.L.T. was higher than control by $35{\%}$ in early growth stage, $28{\%}$ in middle growth stage and $26{\%}$ in late growth stage in 6 years old ginseng plant. Root yield per 10a in C.L.T. was increased about $40{\%}$ as compared with that of control, also 1st and 2nd grade of fresh ginseng roots in C.L.T. was higher $(50.3{\%})$ compared with that $(12.9{\%})$ of control. The specific gravity of ginseng roots grown under the C.L.T. was exhibited the sig­nificant difference than control during the growing season in 4 and 6 years old ginseng plants. Red ginseng quality in C.L.T. was not only improved remarkably due to the increasement of heaven and earth grade red ginseng but also increased in crude saponin content than control. Therefore it needs to change the light transmittance(increasing light dur­ing low temperature periods and decreasing light during high temperature period) during the growing season for high yield and good qualities of ginseng roots.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.51-55
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• 2005

To investigate the acute toxicity of adventitious roots extract derived from wild ginseng, it was orally administered to beagle dogs with a single dose. In acute toxicity test, three groups (9 beagle dogs of male) were administered with different dosages of adventitious roots extract (prepared by Biopia Corp.) 500 mg/kg (G2), 1,000 mg/kg (G3), 2,000 mg/kg (G4) and one group (G1, 2 beagle dogs of male) were received by only capsule without the extract according to the Regulation on Korea Food and Drug Administration (1999. 12. 22). There were vomitus for a time and mucous stool at the day, and anorexia and mucous stool at the first day in the group of 2,000 mg/kg administration. There were mucous stool in one and anorexia for a while in two beagle dogs at the first day in the 1,000 mg/kg administration. But no death or abnormal clinical sign was observed through the study period. Therefore, the adventitious roots extract derived from wild ginseng is considered not to have the acute toxicity in the beagle dogs. These results suggest that LD/sub 50/ value of the test substance was considered to be more than 2,000 mg/kg in the beagle dogs.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.173-177
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• 2003

The effect of IBA and NAA on adventitious root cultures of Panax ginseng C.A. Mater were investigated. Results indicated differences in growth and development of the roots according to 5mg/L IBA and 2mg/L NAA. IBA resulted in a normal root development and a higher growth compared to NAA. The roots formed on NAA-containing media were shorter and thicker than those in IBA, showing a hypertrophy of the root tip. NAA induced more than 1.6 times higher ethylene production compared to IBA, which caused inhibition of the root growth. Under the ventilation, in the other hand, on difference was observed in ethylene concentration and the root growth between IBA and NAA treatments. Under ventilation ethylene production was not detected until 10 days of culture, while detected from the initial stage under on ventilation. The results suggested the importance of ventilation during the culture for the growth and development of ginseng adventitious roots.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.145-252
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• 1987

Isolated rat adipocytes are well known to possess opposite pathways of lipid metabolism: lipolysis and ipogenesis. Both of the metabolism respond to various biologically active substances such as epinephrine, ACTH and insulin. Epinephrine and ACTH stimulate lipolysis and insulin accelerates lipogenesis. Recently, Korean red ginseng powder was found to contain adenosine and an acidic poptide which inhibited epinephrine-induced lipolysis and sl imulated insulin-mediated lipogenesis from added glucose. The acidic peptide is consisted mainly of glutamic acid and glucose. Ginsenosides Rb1 and Re inhibited ACTH-induced lipolysis in isolated rat adipocytes, while they did not affect insulinstimulated lipogenesis, Thus, all these substances extracted from Korean red ginseng exhibited selective modulations toward the opposite metabolic pathways in rat adipocyte; They inhibited the lipolysis but not the lipogenesis. We call these substances"selective modulators". Recently, we isolated a toxic substance named "toxohormone-L " from ascites fluid of patients with various malignant tumors. The toxohormone-L stimulated lipolysis in rat adipocytes and induced anorexia in rats. Both the lipolytic and the anorexigenic actions of toxohormone-L were found to be inhibited by ginsenoside Rb2 in Korean red ginseng. Based on these results, physiological signifi¬cances of these substances in Korean red ginseng were discussed. Pan ax ginseng is a medicinal plant long used in treatment of various pathological states including general complaints such as head ache, shoulder ache, chilly constitution and anorexia in cancer patients, There have been many pharmacological studies on Panax ginseng roots. Petkovllreported that oral administration of an aqueous alcoholic extract of ginseng roots decreased the blood sugar levtl of rabbits. Saito2lreported that Panax ginseng suppressed hyperglycemia induced by epinephrine and high carbohydrate diets. These findings suggest that Panax ginseng roots contain insulin-like substances. Previously, we demonstrated that gin¬seng roots contain an insulin-like peptide which inhibits epinephrine-induced lipolysis and stimulated insulin-mediated lipogenesis. In 1984, we suggested that such an insulin-like substance should be called a selective modulator4). Present investigation describes the details of the selective modulators in ginseng roots. During progressive weight loss in patients with various neoplastic disease, depletion of fat stores have been observed. The depletion of body fat during growth of neoplasms is associated with increase in plasma free fatty acids. Recently, we found that the ascites fluid from patients with hepatoma or ovarian tumor and the pleural fluid from patients with malignant lymphoma elicited fatty acid release in slices of rat adipose tissue in vitro. The lipolytic factor, named"toxohormone-L". was purifed from the ascites fluid of patients with hepatoma. The isolated preparation gave a single band on both disc gel electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS)-acrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of ${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol. Its molecular weight was determined to be 70,000-75,000 and 65,000 by SDS-acrylamide gel electrophoresis and analytical ultracentrifugation, respectively. Injection of toxohormone-L into the lateral ventricle of rats significantly suppressed food and water intakes. There was at least 5 hr delay between its injection and appearance of its suppressive effect. In the present study, we also tried to find a inhibitory substance toward toxohormone-L from root powder of ginseng.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.332-338
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• 2018

In August of 2011, a wilting disease of ginseng was observed at Bongwha, Gyeongbuk province, Korea. Affected plants initially show withering symptoms on leaves of ginseng. As the disease progresses, withering leaves spread downward, eventually encompassing the whole plant. Leaves lose vigor but remain pale green. Symptoms of roots were brown, and soft rots characterized by moist and watery decay of the whole ginseng root, which initiated as small brown, water-soaked lesions of hairy roots and enlarged to the entire roots. The causal organism isolated from the infected roots was identified as Serratia plymuthica based on its physiological and biochemical characteristics, by cellular fatty acid composition (GC-FAME), the utilization of carbon sources (BioLog System), and 16S rRNA sequence of the isolated bacterium were 99% homologous to those of Serratia plymuthica strains. Artificial inoculation of the bacterium produced the same brown or soft rot symptoms on the ginseng roots, from which the same bacterium was isolated. This is the first report of bacterial root rot caused by the Serratia plymuthica in ginseng in Korea. Serratia plymuthica has been used as antagonistic microorganism for biological control on several crop plants. But it was proved pathogen of ginseng at humid condition in this study.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.654-665
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• 2019

Background: Panax ginseng Meyer has widely been used as a traditional herbal medicine because of its diverse health benefits. Amounts of ginseng compounds, mainly ginsenosides, vary according to seasons, varieties, geographical regions, and age of ginseng plants. However, no study has comprehensively determined perturbations of various metabolites in ginseng plants including roots and leaves as they grow. Methods: Nuclear magnetic resonance ($^1H$ NMR)-based metabolomics was applied to better understand the metabolic physiology of ginseng plants and their association with climate through global profiling of ginseng metabolites in roots and leaves during whole growing periods. Results: The results revealed that all metabolites including carbohydrates, amino acids, organic acids, and ginsenosides in ginseng roots and leaves were clearly dependent on growing seasons from March to October. In particular, ginsenosides, arginine, sterols, fatty acids, and uracil diphosphate glucose-sugars were markedly synthesized from March until May, together with accelerated sucrose catabolism, possibly associated with climatic changes such as sun exposure time and rainfall. Conclusion: This study highlights the intrinsic metabolic characteristics of ginseng plants and their associations with climate changes during their growth. It provides important information not only for better understanding of the metabolic phenotype of ginseng but also for quality improvement of ginseng through modification of cultivation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.589-594
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• 2012

Paclitaxel is produced by various species of yew trees and has been extensively used to treat tumors. In our research, a taxadiene synthase (TS) gene from Taxus brevifolia was used to transform the roots of cultured ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) to produce taxadiene, the unique skeletal precursor to taxol. The TS gene was successfully introduced into the ginseng genome, and the de novo formation of taxadiene was identified by mass spectroscopy profiling. Without any change in phenotypes or growth difference in a TS-transgenic ginseng line, the transgenic TSS3-2 line accumulated $9.1{\mu}g$ taxadiene per gram of dry weight. In response to the treatment of methyl jasmonate for 3 or 6 days, the accumulation was 14.6 and $15.9{\mu}g$ per g of dry weight, respectively. This is the first report of the production of taxadiene by engineering ginseng roots with a taxadiene synthase gene.