• Mycobiology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.183-187
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• 2021

The Shine Muscat is a table grape, popular in South Korea for its unique mango-flavor taste. Flyspeck is a disease that is characterized by small, black, and circular specks on the grape cuticle was first observed in several commercial orchards in Sangju, South Korea, in August 2019. Here we identified the causal agent of flyspeck based on an advanced diagnosis approach, comprised of both morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological characteristics of the cultures isolated from grape flyspeck were identical to the fungus Cladosporium perangustum. The concatenated sequences of ITS, ACT, and EF1-α were used for molecular phylogenetic analysis, BLAST searches along with Bayesian inference-based phylogeny, confirmed that the causal agent of grape flyspeck is C. perangustum. The cultured fungal isolates also produced flyspeck symptoms on healthy fruits in pathogenicity tests. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first documented evidence of any Cladosporium sp. producing flyspeck symptoms on any plant.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.164-171
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• 2005

Toxicological studies have an object of detecting adverse effects of a chemical on an organism based on observed toxicity marker (i.e., serum biochemical markers and chemical-specific gene expression) or phenotypic outcome. To date, most toxicogenomic studies concentrated on hepatic toxicity. cDNA microarray analysis enable discrimination of the responses in animals exposed to different classes of hepatotoxicants. In an effort to further characterize the mechanisms of 2, 3, 7, 8,-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD or dioxin)-mediated toxicity, comprehensive temporal-responsive microarray analyses were performed on hepatic tissue from Sprague-Dawley rats treated with TCDD. Hepatic gene expression profiles were monitored using custom DNA chip containing 490 cDNA clones related with toxicology. Gene expression analysis identified 26 features which exhibited a significant change. In this study, we observed that the genes related with oxidative stress in rats exposed to Dioxin, such as CYPIIA3 and glutathione S-transferase, were up-regulated at 24hr after exposure. In this study, we carried out to discover novel evidence for previously unknown gene expression patterns related to mechanism of hepatic toxicity in rats exposed to dioxin, and to elucidate the effects of dioxin on the gene expression after exposure to dioxin.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.233-238
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• 2014

Polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 (PTBP1) and its brain-specific homologue, PTBP2, are associated with pre-mRNAs and influence pre-mRNA processing, as well as mRNA metabolism and transport. They play important roles in neural differentiation and glioma development. In our study, we detected the expression of the two proteins in glioma cells and predicted that they may be sumoylated using SUMOplot analyses. We confirmed that PTBP1 and PTBP2 can be modified by SUMO1 with co-immunoprecipitation experiments using 293ET cells transiently co-expressing SUMO1 and either PTBP1 or PTBP2. We also found that SUMO1 modification of PTBP2 was enhanced by Ubc9 (E2). The mutation of the sumoylation site (Lys137) of PTBP2 markedly inhibited its modification by SUMO1. Interestingly, in T98G glioma cells, the level of sumoylated PTBP2 was reduced compared to that of normal brain cells. Overall, this study shows that PTBP2 is posttranslationally modified by SUMO1.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.595-606
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• 2006

Metallothioneins are a group of low molecular mass and cysteine-rich metal-binding proteins, ubiquitously found in most living organisms. They play an important role in maintaining intracellular metal homeostasis, eliminating metal toxification and protecting against intracellular oxidative damages. Analysis of complete rice genome sequences revealed eleven genes encoding putative metallothionein (OsMT), indicating that OsMTs constitute a small gene family in rice. Expression profiling revealed that each member of the OsMT gene family differs not only in sequence but also in their tissue expression patterns, suggesting that these isoforms may have different functions they perform in specific tissues. On the basis of OsMT structural and phylogenetic analysis, the OsMT family was classified as two classes and class I was subdivided into four types. Additionally, in this paper we also present a complete overview of this family, describing the gene structure, genome localization, upstream regulatory element, and exon/intron organization of each member in order to provide valuable insight into this OsMT gene family.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.647-654
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• 2015

A prostrate species of Codium (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) was collected from Daejin on the eastern coast of Korea. This alga is morphologically characterized by a prostrate, adherent or pulvinate, dark green thallus that is tightly attached to substratum. The utricles are strongly grouped and cylindrical to slightly clavate. Their apex is rounded to capitated, and it frequently has an alveolate ornament. Hair scars are found in the upper portion of the utricle. The gametangia grow on a short pedicel in the upper part of the utricle. In the phylogenetic tree based on molecular data, this alga is placed in the same clade as C. mozambiquense in UPGMA analysis, and nests in a sister clade of C. lucasii subsp. capense and C. mozambiquense in ML and NJ analyses. However, the genetic distance between the sequences of the Korean alga and the two species is 1.3-1.9%, while that between the Korean alga and C. lucasii from Japan is 1.1% within intraspecific range. The divergence value between the Korean alga and C. lucasii from the type locality (Australia) is 2.7% considered to be interspecific range. As based on this genetic divergence value, the Korean alga together with Japanese C. lucasii can be separated from genuine C. lucasii from the type locality. However, the Korean alga is identified as C. lucasii until those entities are morphologically characterized in species level. This is the first record of C. lucasii in Korea

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.395-410
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• 2014

The genus Callophyllis is recorded as six separate species with imprecise species delimitation in Korea. To elucidate the species boundaries of Korean Callophyllis, we performed morphological observations and molecular analyses, and included three Japanese Callophyllis species from the type locality. From the results of molecular analyses using plastid rbcL and mitochondrial COI-5P genes, we confirmed ten Callophyllis species, including five cryptic ones: C. adhaerens, C. adnata, C. crispata, and C. japonica from Korea and Japan; C. hayamensis as an unrecorded species from Korea; C. cartilaginea, C. mollitia, C. repens, C. serratifolia, and C. undulata as new species from Korea. There were no Korean specimens that matched C. adnata or C. crispata from Japan, except Korean C. japonica, which formed a genetic group with the Japanese species. We obtained the interspecific divergences among the five cryptic species as 0.6-4.5% in rbcL and 2.8-8.4% in COI-5P. We recognized that the species diversity of Callophyllis has been underestimated from the northwestern Pacific region. The species boundary of Callophyllis from Korea and Japan will be a cornerstone to revealing the phylogenetic affinity of the genus distributed in both hemispheres of the western Pacific.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.599-606
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• 2004

Gram-positive antagonistic bacilli were isolated from agricultural soils for possible use in biocontrol of plant pathogenic fungi, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, and/or Pythium ultimum. Among the 65 antagonistic Gram-positive soil isolates, 22 strains were identified as Bacillus species by 16S rDNA sequence analyses. Four strains, including DF14, especially exhibited multiple antagonistic properties against the three damping-off fungi. Genotypic properties of the Bacillus isolates were characterized by rapid molecular fingerprinting methods using repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (REP-PCR), ribosomal intergenic spacer-length polymorphisms (RIS-LP), 16S rDNA PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP), and strain-specific PCR assays. The results indicated that the REP-PCR method was more valuable than the RIS-LP and 16S rDNA PCR-RFLP analyses as a rapid and reliable approach for bacilli typing and identification. The use of strain-specific primers designed based on 16S rDNA sequence comparisons enabled it to be possible to selectively detect a strain, DF14, which is being used as a biocontrol agent against damping-off fungi.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.68-68
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• 2017

The status of corn genetic diversity in the uplands of Sarangani in Southern Philippines was investigated using 12 morphological traits subjected to multivariate statistical analyses. Information about traditional farming, post-harvest and storage practices were also elicited especially in relation to losses of traditional varieties, a phenomenon known as genetic erosion. While a handful of farmers still plant traditional corn varieties in the remotest areas, a significant number had already shifted to genetically modified corn. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) reduced the 12 morphological traits into 5 principal components and identified ear length and ear weight to be major contributors to variation. Cluster Analysis, on the other hand, formed two distinct groups but failed to give information about intra-cluster variability among the 32 collected corn accessions. These results warrant that more informative morphological traits and that molecular markers will be used to obtain a better picture of genetic diversity in Sarangani upland corn. Molecular analysis is also needed to establish genetic identities of these cultivars and to detect gene introgression from GM varieties into the gene pool of farmers' corn varieties. These analyses are imperative for the conservation of traditional corn varieties before they disappear in the Sarangani uplands because of shifting priorities of upland farmers.

• ALGAE
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.417-423
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• 2006

Morphology and molecular phylogeny of a red algal species, Hypnea flexicaulis that is recently described from Japan, were investigated based on 23 collections from Korea (21), Taiwan (1), and the Philippines (1). Hypnea flexicaulis has percurrent axes with flexuous, antler-like branches which have wide branching angles, and abaxially curved ultimate branchlets. In order to study DNA divergence and phylogenetic relationships of the species, we determined plastid rbcL and mitochondrial cox1 sequences from the 23 collections. All 21 specimens from five different locations in Korea were almost identical to H. flexicaulis from Japan in rbcL sequences. Although there was a difference of three to five base pairs (bp) between samples from Korea and the Philippines or between the Philippines and Taiwan, Bayesian analyses of the rbcL data showed that all specimens from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan were strongly monophyletic. However, it is interesting that specimens from the Philippines differed by 31-34 base pairs in mitochondrial cox1 gene from those of materials from Korea and Taiwan, which differed by one to seven bp in rbcL between them. Although H. boergesenii is different from H. flexicaulis in having many antler-like branchlets, both appeared as sisters in all analyses of the rbcL data. This is the first report of H. flexicaulis from Korea based on morphology, rbcL, and cox1 gene sequences.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

Molecular and biological characteristics of an isolate of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) from Glycine soja (wild soybean), named as CMV-209, was examined in this study. Comparison of nucleotide sequences and phylogenetic analyses of CMV-209 with the other CMV strains revealed that CMV-209 belonged to CMV subgroup I. However, CMV-209 showed some genetic distance from the CMV strains assigned to subgroup IA or subgroup IB. Infectious full-genome cDNA clones of CMV-209 were generated under the control of the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Infectivity of the CMV-209 clones was evaluated in Nicotiana benthamiana and various legume species. Our assays revealed that CMV-209 could systemically infect Glycine soja (wild soybean) and Pisum sativum (pea) as well as N. benthamiana, but not the other legume species.