• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.34-45
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• 2013

The Polygonum amphibium complex (Poygonaceae) is a highly polymorphic taxon that can grow in aquatic environments as well as in moist terrestrial habitats. Aquatic and terrestrial plants of the P. amphibium complex vary significantly in morphology and exhibit very complicated patterns of morphological variation, resulting in the description of numerous infra-specific taxa. Principal components analysis of 107 individuals of the P. amphibium complex from Asia and North America using 11 morphological characters showed that the aquatic plants can be discerned from the terrestrial plants by leaf size, shape, and petiole length. In contrast, both aquatic and terrestrial plants collected from the same population or locality shared identical sequences in the matK, psbA-trnH IGS, rbcL-accD IGS and trnL-trnF regions of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), suggesting that aquatic and terrestrial forms of the P. amphibium complex are not genetically diverged; morphological differences between the two forms are probably due to the differences in environmental conditions of the habitats. In addition, results from the morphological analysis and the maximum parsimony analysis of the cpDNA data set revealed that the plants from Asia including Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia and Russia Far East are diverged from those in North America and Europe, suggesting that the Asian populations should be recognized as a distinct variety, P. amphibium var. amurense Korsh.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.445-454
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• 2012

The present study aims to investigate the long-term channel morphological changes derived from channelization, embankment and levee construction works in unregulated fluvial channel of the Jiseock River. Analyses of aerial photographs taken past (Year 1966) and recent (Year 2002) showed the temporally remarkable changes in channel planform such as channel shape, bar migration, vegetation encroachment in bar. During the period, the natural single threading changed into braided types together with decreasing sinuosity by 9.2%, increasing vegetation occupied bar ranged 97% of total bars area. Because such channel morphological changes are closely similar to those in dam downstream channels, we assume that both/either flow regime alteration and/or sediment transport discontinuity may be critical for the fixed channel and spread of vegetated bars even in unregulated river without dam reservoir upstream. We found more reduced frequency and magnitude of flooding water level comparing with past, but no significant alteration of inter annual water level variation. Bed material has been coarsened by 4~5 times and the riverbed has been degraded in overall channel but aggraded locally in conjunction reach of tributaries. The results indicates that reduced sediment dynamics in fluvial channel which derived by bed material coarsening, river bed degradation and unbalanced sediment transport capacity between tributary and mainstem can be a causal factor to trigger channel morphological changes even in unregulated rivers.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.477-502
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• 2007

The Aconitum alboviolaceum Kom. complex includes four controversial species described from Korea; A. albouiolaceum, A. pseudolaeue, A. longecassidatum, and A. quelpaertense. The main objective of this study was to determine the taxonomic identities and systematic relationships among the species in the A. albouiolaceum complex based on morphology, numerical analyses and DNA sequence analysis. In the present study, variations in the principal morphological characters and chloroplast DNA noncoding region sequences (psbA-trnH IGS, trnL intron, and trnL-trnF IGS) were examined for 95 individuals from 20 populations. Also, neighbor-joining analysis was adopted to infer their relationships. Morphological variation appeared to be considerably high but not to be related to geographic distribution. These morphological results suggest that reevaluation of key morphological characters are needed for the proper taxonomic treatment of the complex. The length of psbA-trnH IGS region ranged from 241 to 250 bp, that of the trnL intron from 526 to 532 bp, and that of the trnL-trnF IGS region from 466 to 472 by in all taxa. Nine haplotypes were recognized from the analysis. Seven populations shared more than two haplotypes, while other thirteen populations shared only one haplotype. In the phylogenetic analysis, the nine haplotypes formed four groups, separated A. sibiricum, one of the sister groups of the complex. There also was no distinct grouping pattern supporting the species and populations observed. These results suggest that introgression or speciation might have been involved in the formation of taxa of A. alboviolaceum complex.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 2012

The NE Asiatic Solidago virgaurea complex in Korea has been reported on 5 taxa (S. virgaurea subsp. asiatica, S. virgaurea var. taquetii, S. virgaurea var. coreana, S. virgaurea subsp. leiocarpa, and S. virgaurea subsp. gigantea). However, the broad morphological variations and a lack of diagnostic characteristics have made it difficult to distinguish these taxa and have thus resulted in a complicated taxonomy in the complex. Therefore, to clarify the classification and delimitation of each taxon, the morphological characteristics of the S. virgaurea complex were investigated by examining the original descriptions and type specimens. Field work was also conducted to investigate the morphological and geographic features. In conclusion, S. japonica Kitam., as a legitimate name, was distributed all over the country except for the Is. Ulleung-do in Korea, as distinguished from S. virgaurea L. Both S. virgaurea var. taquetii and S. virgaurea var. coreana were considered as synonyms of S. japonica, as their morphological characteristics were within the variation range of those of S. japonica. Furthermore, S. virgaurea subsp. leiocarpa does not occur in Korea. Additional investigations are required to clarify the classification of S. virgaurea subsp. gigantea, whose populations were not found during the investigation in this study. S. dahurica, meanwhile, was distributed in the northern part of North Korea.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.339-345
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• 2007

Field performance and morphological characterization was conducted on seven transgenic lines of Codonopsis lanceolata expressing ${\gamma}-TMT$ gene. The shoots were obtained from leaf explants after co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tume-faciens strain LBA 4404 harboring a binary vector pYBI 121 that carried genes encoding ${\gamma}-Tocopherol$ methyltransferase gene (${\gamma}-TMT$) and a neomycin phosphotransferase II gene (npt II) for kanamycin resistance. The transgenic plants were transferred to a green house for acclimation. Integration of T-DNA into the $T_0\;and\;T_1$ generation of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata genome was confirmed by the polymerase chain reaction and southern blot analysis. The progenies of transgenic plants showed phenotypic differences within the different lines and with relative to control plants. When grown in field, the transgenic plants in general exhibited increased fertility, significant improvement in the shoot weight, root weight, shoot height and rachis length with relation to the control plants. However, all seven independently derived transgenic lines produced normal flower with respect to its shape, size, color and seeds number at its maturity. Indicating that the addition of a selectable marker gene in the plant genome does not effect on seed germination and agronomic performance of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata. $T_1$ progenies of these plants were obtained and evaluated together with control plant in a field experiment. Overall, the agronomic performance of $T_1$ progenies of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata showed superior to that of the seed derived non-transgenic plant. In this study, we report on the morphological variation and agronomic performance of transgenic Codonopsis lanceolata developed by Agrobacterium transformation.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.217-222
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• 2002

Barley varieties collected from 1940 to 1951 allover the Korean peninsula by Dr. Takahashi Ryuhei were reintroduced from the Research Institute for Bioresouces in Okayama University, Japan, and the evaluation of morphological characteristics and RAPD analysis were performed. Totally, 493 varieties of Korean barley landraces were planted in the green house, from which seeds of 491 varieties were harvested and conserved in the seedbank of the Rural Development Administration. Majority of the naked barley varieties showed dense spikes with long awn, late heading, winter habits, and long plant height. However, variants having various phenotypes such as short awn, blue aleurone color, brachytic type and waxyness were also identified. Plant height, spike length, and cold-tolerance in the varieties were also highly variable among them. Homogeneity tests on the variation of growth habits, spike density, anthocyanin pigmentation on the seed coat, and hairiness on leaf sheath between naked and covered barley showed that the variations of naked barley were similar to those of covered barley. It maybe indicate that the most of naked barley landraces were mutated from the covered barley landraces. Korean landraces of naked barley were broadly divided into 4 groups by the dendrogram produced by morphological characteristics; however, the identities of the group were rather indistinct. Many varieties, belonged to the same group, were showed different band patterns in RAPD analysis using 5 different primer sets. These results indicate that the 112 varieties of naked barley landraces were different genotypes.

• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 1996

The major morphological characteristics of 97 lines selected from 1,510 local collection lines of Paeonia spp. were studied and classified into some groups according to their Q correlation. The Coefficient of Variation of 8 characteristics in 97 lines varied greatly with the range from 21.3% to 127.1%. The 22 lines with useful morphological characteristics selected from 97 lines had 2n=10 chromosomes, in which there were no difference among the number of chromosomes of 22 lines. The 97 lines were classified into 14 groups based upon the results of Q correlation analysis obtained from data with 16 quantitative factors; Group III and group VI were divided into two sub-groups. Group I was large flowered lines with a single flower, Group IIIa, doubled flowered lines, Group VII, late maturing lines and Group IX, early maturing lines flowering in 17th May. Group VIII were dwarf type lines which has the shortest stem length and leaf length among 14 groups, which are suitable for potted plants. Group XIII had a lot of stems per plant and a large type leaf with leaf length and width. A needle-type leaf was found in Group X, whereas a wide and oval-type leaf in group XII.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.373-386
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• 2003

Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA were determined for 14 individuals representing eight taxa from Scopolia s. str. and related genera, Anisodus and Atropanthe. We found that the ITS sequences of Korean endemic species, S. parviflora, are significantly different from its allied species, S. japonica. This is contradictory to traditional taxonomic treatments in which those species are regarded as conspecific. S. parviflora exhibited closer relationship to S. carniolica, which is disjunctly distributed in Europe. In spite of substantially high sequence divergence between S. japonica and S. parvlflora/S. carniolica clade, morphological resemblance is evident among the species. Morphological stasis concept (retardation of morphological differentiation or evolution of similar characters among the disjuncts in a similar ecological habitat) was referred to understand this rather unusual evolutionary feature. S. lutescens, another Korean endemic species, shared almost identical ITS sequences with S. parviflora. Lack of diagnostic character distinguishing the taxa suggests that they are conspecific. Anisodus carniolicoides, which was originally described in Scopolia, was grouped with A. luridus and A. tanguticus. The monophyletic Anisodus formed a sister group relationship with a monotypic genus Atropanthe.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.121-149
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• 2008

Taxonomic treatment and the identification key for 6 species and 4 varieties from the genus Asarum (Aristolochiaceae) in Korea were presented on the basis of the morphological analyses. Recently the taxonomy of the genus Asarum in Korea is controversial in the definition of species and the establishment of variation range. Our morphological studies supported that the species A. patens, A. misandrum and A. versicolor should be recognized as independent species by the unique morphological characters such as calyx lobes, stylar protuberance and leaf variegation. Second, A. sieboldii var. cornutum, A. koreanum, A. maculatum and A. sonunsanense, regarded as species or variety by different scholars, showed a close relationship with A. sieboldii by the similar calyx characters. Thus, new combinations, such as A. sieboldii for. cornutum, A. sieboldii for. koreanum, A. sieboldii for. maculatum and A. sieboldii for. sonunsanense, are proposed. And A. heterotropoides var. seoulense and A. heterotropoides var. mandshuricum also had a close relationship, thus, new combinations, A. mandshuricum for. seoulense, A. mandshuricum for. mandshuricum, are proposed. Furthermore, it is appropriate that A. heterotropoides var. heterotropoides, only distributed in Japan, is revised into A. heterotropoides as independent species by the unique character from the 2 varieties above. Consequently, the genus Asarum in Korea is classified into 3 species and 7 forma.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.187-195
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• 2011

The gesneriaceous perennial plant Titanotrichum oldhamii has beautiful foliage and attractive bright yellow flowers. However, breeding of T. oldhamii by conventional sexual hybridization may be difficult because sexual reproduction of this species is very rare. In the present study, plant regeneration systems via both direct and indirect formation of adventitious shoots from leaf explants were established as the first step toward breeding T. oldhamii by using biotechnological techniques. Adventitious shoots were formed efficiently on medium containing $0.1mg\;l^{-1}$ benzyladenine. Histological observation showed that shoot formation on this medium occurred directly from leaf epidermal cells without callus formation. On the other hand, leaf explants formed calluses on medium containing $0.1mg\;l^{-1}$ 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The calluses could be maintained by monthly subculturing to fresh medium of the same composition. When the calluses were transferred to plant growth regulator-free medium, they formed adventitious shoots. Directly and indirectly formed shoots rooted well on medium containing $0.1mg\;l^{-1}$ indole-3-butyric acid. Plantlets thus obtained were successfully acclimatized and grew vigorously in the greenhouse. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that no variation in the ploidy level was observed in plants regenerated via direct shoot formation, whereas chromosome doubling occurred in several plants regenerated via indirect shoot formation. Regenerated plants with the same ploidy level as the mother plants showed almost the same phenotype as the mother plants, whereas chromosome-doubled plants showed apparent morphological alterations: they had small and crispate flowers, and round and deep green leaves.