• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.404-411
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• 2019

Background: In September 2017, wilting and rhizome rot symptoms were observed on Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. in Jecheon-si and Eumseong-gun. This study was carried out to isolate hitherto unidentified pathogenic fungi from A. macrocephala and to test the pathogenicity of isolated fungi against Atractylodes spp. genus such as A. macrocephala, A. japonica, and their interspecific hybrids. Methods and Results: The diseased plants were washed with running tap water, and the boundary between the healthy area and the diseased area was cut while the pathogens were isolated by growing cultures from the diseased areas on Phytophthora semi-selective medium. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the isolates was used in this study for identification. Test plants were cultivated in the glasshouse at 20℃ - 30℃ for 4 months and then used for pathogenicity test. The pots with plants inoculated with mycelial plugs and zoospores were placed at 25℃ for 48 h in a dew chamber where relative humidity was above 95%, and then moved into the glasshouse at 20℃ - 30℃. The presence or absence of pathogenicity of the strains was determined by evaluating the symptom of plant wilting. The inoculation test was performed in three replicates with a non-treated control. Conclusions: On the basis of results of ITS sequence analysis, the strains isolated from the diseased plants was identified as Phytophthora sansomeana. Biological assay using test plants confirmed the pathogenicity of P. sansomeana against Atractylodes macrocephala. This is the first report of rhizome rot in A. macrocephala caused by P. sansomeana.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.142-151
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• 2020

Background: Suppressive soil inhibits soil-borne diseases if pathogens are present, and ginseng does not show injury even if replanted in the same field. Methods and Results: Soil chemical properties and microbial community of soil were investigated in soil suppressive and conducive to ginseng root rot. Root rot disease in 2-year-old ginseng was tested by mixing conducive soil, with suppressive or sterilized suppressive soil. The root rot ratio in suppressive soil was 43.3% compared to 96.7% in conducive soil. Biological factors acted to inhibit the root rot because disease ratio was increased in the sterilized suppressive soil compared to that in non-suppressive soil. The suppressive soil had lower pH, nitrate nitrogen and sodium than the conducive soil. Dominat bacteria and fungi (more than 1.0%) were 3 and 17 species in conducive soil and 7 and 23 species in suppressive soil, respectively. The most predominant fungi were Pseudaleuria sp. HG936843 (28.70%) in conducive soil and Pseudogymnoascus roseus (7.52%) in suppressive soil. Conclusion: Microbial diversity was more abundant in the suppressive soil than in the conducive soil, and the proportion of pathogens (Nectriaceae sp.) causing root rot was significantly lower in the suppressive soil than in the conducive soil.

• Mycobiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.303-310
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• 2015

The increasing emergence of lead drugs for the resistance produced by the pathogenic strains and arrival of new diseases have initiated the need for searching novel metabolites with best anticancer and antimicrobial properties than the existing one. With this view, the investigation was conducted for the isolation, identification, and biological evaluation of potential endophytic fungi of Aegle marmelos, a medicinal tree used for more than three decades, for curing various disorders. A total of 169 endophytic fungal strains obtained from sampling and among those 67 were pigmented strains. Upon antagonistic screening, five endophytic fungal strains exhibited antagonistic potentiality by inhibiting the pathogens. These five potent strains were characterized at molecular level by sequencing the amplified internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 and ITS 4 regions of rDNA and they were grouped under order Pleosporales, Eurotiales, and Capnodiales. The metabolites from the respective strains were produced in fungal culturing media and extracted using polar solvents. Further, the extracts of five endophytes manifested antimicrobial activity against tested clinical pathogens and Alternaria alternata (FC39BY), Al. citrimacularis (FC8ABr), and Curvularia australiensis (FC2AP) exhibited significant antimicrobial profile against 9 of 12 tested pathogens, showing broad spectrum activity. The antioxidant levels of all the five endophytes revealed the highest activity at least concentrations, and major activity was unveiled by the members of order Pleosporales FC2AP and FC8ABr. This research explains the value of endophytic fungal extracts and its significance of antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.86-95
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• 2022

Inflammaging in male reproductive organs covers a wide variety of problems, including sexual dysfunction and infertility. In this study, the beneficial effects of cordycepin (COR), isolated from potential medicinal fungi Cordyceps militaris, in aging-associated testicular inflammation and serum biochemical changes in naturally aged rats were investigated. Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into young control (YC), aged control (AC), and COR (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) treated aged rat groups. Aging-associated serum biochemical changes and inflammatory parameters were analyzed by biochemical assay kits, Western blotting, and real-time RT-PCR. Results showed a significant (p < 0.05) alteration in the total blood cell count, lipid metabolism, and liver functional parameters in AC group when compared with YC group. However, COR-treated aged rats ameliorated the altered biochemical parameters significantly (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 at 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg, respectively). Furthermore, the increase in the expression of inflammatory mediators (COX-2, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tissue necrosis factor-alpha) in aged rat testis was significant (p < 0.05) when compared with YC group. Treatment with COR at 20 mg/kg to aged rats attenuated the increased expression of inflammatory mediators significantly (p < 0.05). Mechanistic studies revealed that the potential attenuating effects exhibited by COR in aged rats was mediated by regulation of NF-κB activation and MAPKs (c-Jun N-terminal kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, and p38) signaling. In conclusion, COR restored the altered serum biochemical parameters in aged rats and ameliorated the aging-associated testicular inflammation proving the therapeutic benefits of COR targeting inflammaging-associated male sexual dysfunctions.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.366-374
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• 2002

Pen-tsao-kang-mu(Bon-cho-kang-mok), chinese medicinal plant book, was written by Lee sijin(1578), China. The subject of this study were 158 articles of vegetable part in Pen-tsao-kang-mu. Among them only 139 articles were able to be identified by authority of several references. By Engler's system they were classified into 8 divisions, 10 classes, 6 subclasses, 31 orders, 22 suborders, 52 families, 85 genera, 99 species, 12 varieties and 2 forma, and were confirmed 113 kinds of original plants. Among the divisions, Angiospermae was the most numerous division with 92 kinds(80.70%) and the second division was Fungi with 12 kinds(10.53%). The next was Rhodophyta with 4(3.51%) kinds. Other 19 articles were unable to be classified because of their ambiguous name.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1729-1739
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of fermented medicinal herbs. A search of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), PubMed databases and Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine in 2000-2011 located 11 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the clinical efficacy of fermented medicinal herbs. Domestic RCTs reported clinical efficacy on improvement of immune responses and clinical safety on usage of fermented medicinal herbs in subjects suffering from cerebral hemodynamics. Countries other than Chinareported studies on the cause of esophageal cancer and on local inflammatory reactions. In China, studies were reported on the effectiveness of fermented medicinal herbs on scapulohumeral periarthritis of the stasis type, chronic superficial gastritis, dysuria induced by benign prostatic hyperplasia of deficiency of kidney yang, diabetic nephropathy, essential hypertension, and benign prostate hyperplasia. These results indicate that fermented medicinal herbs have obvious clinical effects in some diseases and no adverse reactions. Therefore, we need to initiate more fermentation research with useful bacteria, fungi, and mushrooms to produce fermented medicinal herbs. Both governments and research authorities should focus on research involving fermentation of medicinal herbs.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.102-105
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• 2002

A strain of Acremonium strictum, the mycoparasite of Botrytis cinerea, showed strong antifungal activities both in vitro and in vivo against several phytopathogenic fungi. An antifungal substance was purified from the liquid cultures of A. strictum and identified as verlamelin by instrumental analyses. Verlamelin exhibited in vitro antifungal activity against some phytopathogenic fungi such as Magnaporthe grisea, Bipolaris maydis, and Botrytis cinerea, while it was net active against all the bacteria tested. In viva, verlamelin exhibited strong protective and curative activities, particularly against barley powdery mildew. At 100 μg/ml, it inhibited the development of barley powdery mildew with control values of more than 90% in 7-day protective and 2-day curative applications. This is the first report on the production of verlamelin by Acremonium species.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.268-277
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• 1998

The production of Korean ginseng, one of the most important medicinal root crops, is limited by many factors including soil sickness, root rots in fields as well as during storage prior to consumption. Although much research has been conducted on the diseases in field condition, little information is available on the control of postharvest roots rots. To obtain better management strategy of postharvest root rots in ginseng, biological control using antagonistic bacteria was attempted. Of 208 bacteria obtained form suppressive soil samples, 4 were selected based on the inhibitory effect on mycelial growth of two major causal fungi for postharvest root rots in ginseng, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium solani. The culture filtrates of these bacterial antagonists greatly inhibited the conidial germination of both pathogenic fungi and produced abnormal morphology such as swollen germ tubes in F. solani and vacuolation of nongerminated conidia in B. cinerea. The population levels of bacterial antagonists on the ginseng roots were gradually increased up to 8 days of incubation. Postharvest root rots of ginseng caused by f. solani and B. cinerea were controlled in dipping tests in the ranges of 60∼80% by antagonistic Bacillus spp. obtained from suppressive soil. These results suggest that biological control using these antagonistic bacteria would be an alternative strategy to control postharvest root rots in ginseng.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.58-60
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• 2007

Root of Asarum sieboldii has been used in chinese medicine. It was been known that the extract of A. sieboldii has medicinal effect such as antifebrile, anodyne, and anti-inflammatory. Antifungal activity of the essential oil extracted from A. sieboldii against various epiderman and opportunistic human pathogenic fungi was investigated. Steam-distillated essential oil demonstrated very high antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Candida albicans. MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of the essential oil against C. albicans was 5 ul/ml, indicating that the essential oil may be used as natural preserves for cosmetic and nutritional products.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.248-253
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• 2018

Background: Dazomet are widely used as soil fumigant to solve soilborne problems, and the degradation intermediates are toxic to nematodes, fungi, bacteria, insects and weeds. Methods and Results: The effects of cultivation of green manure crop, maize before and after soil fumigation on the control of ginseng root rot disease were compared using soil where 6-years-old ginseng was harvested. Fumigant (dazomet) were used for soil fumigation in May and September, respectively. Maize was grown for soil management before and after soil fumigation. After May fumigation, the sowing date of maize was delayed by 15 days and thus its dry weight was decreased significantly. Maize cultivation after May fumigation increased pH but decreased EC, $NO_3$, $P_2O_5$, and K significantly. Maize cultivation after May fumigation decreased fungi population and the ratio of fungi and bacteria. Growth of 2-years-old ginseng was improved and the incidence of ginseng root rot was significantly decreased by maize cultivation after May fumigation. After harvesting 2-years-old ginseng, the population of Cylindrocarpon destructans was not different between treatment of May and September, but Fusarium solani showed a significant increase in September fumigation after maize cultivation. Conclusions: Maize cultivation after soil fumigation was effective in inhibiting ginseng root rot by the amendment of mineral composition and microorganism in fumigated soil.