• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.171-177
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• 2017

A callus-mediated regeneration protocol for sea-milkwort, an endangered coastal plant species in South Korea, is reported here. The explants of in vitro-plantlets generated from a node culture revealed distinguishable responses in callus induction depending on genotype, explant source, light condition, and 2,4-D concentration. Especially, continuous darkness exclusively facilitated callus induction from explants prior to other treatments. The calli initiated on the media with 2,4-D ranging from 0.1 mg/L to 3.0 mg/L in the dark vigorously proliferated when subcultured on the same media in continuous darkness. Given 1.0 mg/L zeatin in addition to darkness to the calli of the 'Pistachio' genotype, normal adventitious shoots were only regenerated from nodular structures that formed earlier from the calli at the frequency of 24.4 percent. Regenerated shoots easily grew into plantlets with roots and green color on a phytohormone-free MS medium under lighted condition, that were used for node culture as plant materials. Node culture effectively multiplied plantlets in accordance with protocol by Bae et al. (2016). Acclimatized plantlet clusters developed mature plant clusters under inland environment, followed by flowering the following April. Results were merged with node culture protocol suggested by Bae et al. (2016), which, as an in vitro propagation system for sea-milkwort, may contribute to natural habitat restoration.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.135-139
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• 2018

This study was conducted to evaluate the forage production and feed value of Sasa borealis (S. borealis) in Jeju Island in order to improve the utilization of Sasa borealis and to help mitigate the problem of reduced plant species diversity caused by S. borealis in Hanlla Mountain. To investigate the forage production, three quadrat structures were installed in the S. borealis natural community in the middle part of Hanlla Mountain. From May to October 2017, S. borealis in quadrats was cut at a fixed time of each month, and then forage production and regenerated acidity per kg/ha were evaluated. For the evaluation of feed value, compositional analysis was performed on the monthly samples. In vitro digestion experiments were carried out using cannula mounted Hanwoo. In vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility(IVNDFD) and in vitro acid detergent fiber digestibility(IVADFD) were measured after the experiment. Forage production of S. borealis showed relatively good regeneration ability in May and June, but the regeneration ability decreased as the cutting was repeated. In order to use S. borealis as a forage, it is considered efficient to feed black goats with good fiber decomposition or horses good palatability to S. borealis and relatively good digestibility.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.681-687
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• 2018

Recently, several researchers have been developing cosmetics from natural ingredients for skin whitening and anti-aging products. The red sea cucumber (RSC), Apostichopus japonicas, is a species of sea cucumber in the family stichopodiae, which is widely distributed in China, Japan, and Korea. To use Red Sea Cucumber as a cosmetic ingredient, its inhibitory effects on melanogenesis and the anti-aging effects of RSC extracts were investigated. First, a tyrosinase activity assay was performed, which showed that RSC inhibited tyrosinase activity at a concentration of $200{\mu}g/ml$. An MTT assay was carried out to evaluate cell toxicity, and the results showed that RSC extract has no cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase related protein 2 (TRP-2), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) genes treated with RSC extract in B16F10 and HaCaT cells decreased. Moreover, a wound-healing assay was performed to identify the cell regeneration effect of RSC extracts. Also, a skin turnover effect was confirmed by creating a three-dimensional cell culture with HaCaT and human fibroblasts. Altogether, the results suggested that Red Sea Cucumber may possess a high ability to induce whitening and anti-wrinkle effects as a cosmeceutical ingredient.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.207-216
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• 2015

The study was conducted to determine the effects of forest restoration methods and stand structure on solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature, and soil water content, based on volume, in forest stand after forest fire. The changes of the micro-climate elements in naturally and artificially restored forest after forest fire were measured in Goseong and Samcheok, Gangwon province. Pinus spp. were commonly appeared in ridges, barren lands or planted areas of the study sites while the other areas were dominated by Quercus spp. In the early stage, trees in the naturally regenerated site grow better than the trees in artificially rehabilitated site. However, the growth ratio rapidly decreased by time passed in natural regeneration area. The environmental conditions (solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature and soil water content) were significantly different by the regions and the methods (p<.05). However, the coefficients of variations of the environmental conditions were not significantly different at 95% confidence level. As the coverage and tree height in crown layer increased, the relative humidity and soil water content were increased while the temperature and solar radiation were decreased. Especially, the relative humidity, solar radiation, and soil water content were clearly affected by the tree height and coverage ratio ($R^2$ means from 0.628 to 0.924). Even though the data should have collected at least more than 5 years in meteorological analysis, the two year results show some clear relationship between forest structure and microclimate elements.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.89 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2000

This study was carried out to research structure of forest vegetation and site condition, and supply basic data for conservation of pine forest and ecologically sustainable forest management and control in Anmyondo area. The forest of Anmyondo were largely classified as four forest community : Pinus densiflora community, Pinus thunbergii community, Pinus rigida community, and Quercus variabilis community. Organic matter, total nitrogen, and other nutrients in soil of the study area were relatively low, and average soil pH was 4.9. Soil texture was sandy clay or heavy clay and so the aeration and permeability could be poor. In this study site, the methods such as the promotion of germination of pine seeds through removal of forest floor and inducement of natural regeneration through such method as regeneration under shelter wood would be better than the method such as afforestation after clear-cutting for conservation the pine forests. Also, it will be a good method to practice tending for hardwood species in the dominant areas by hardwood species.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.326-341
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• 2023

Background and Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease that leads to the progressive destruction of articular cartilage. Current clinical therapeutic strategies are moderately effective at relieving OA-associated pain but cannot induce chondrocyte differentiation or achieve cartilage regeneration. We investigated the ability of wedelolactone, a biologically active natural product that occurs in Eclipta alba (false daisy), to promote chondrogenic differentiation. Methods and Results: Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemical staining, and immunofluorescence staining assays were used to evaluate the effects of wedelolactone on the chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). RNA sequencing, microRNA (miRNA) sequencing, and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation analyses were performed to explore the mechanism by which wedelolactone promotes the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs. We found that wedelolactone facilitates the chondrogenic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs and rat bone-marrow MSCs. Moreover, the forkhead box O (FOXO) signaling pathway was upregulated by wedelolactone during chondrogenic differentiation, and a FOXO1 inhibitor attenuated the effect of wedelolactone on chondrocyte differentiation. We determined that wedelolactone reduces enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2)-mediated histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation of the promoter region of FOXO1 to upregulate its transcription. Additionally, we found that wedelolactone represses miR-1271-5p expression, and that miR-1271-5p post-transcriptionally suppresses the expression of FOXO1 that is dependent on the binding of miR-1271-5p to the FOXO1 3'-untranscribed region. Conclusions: These results indicate that wedelolactone suppresses the activity of EZH2 to facilitate the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs by activating the FOXO1 signaling pathway. Wedelolactone may therefore improve cartilage regeneration in diseases characterized by inflammatory tissue destruction, such as OA.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.595-602
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• 2014

Styela Clava tunic (SCT) has found some applications in many areas of medical treatment including as an anti-inflammatory compound, a wound healing film, in guided bone regeneration, and as a food additive. The protective effect of SCT aqueous extract (AE-SCT) on cell death induced by $H_2O_2$ treatment was investigated by measuring the changes in cell viability in HepG2 cells after AE-SCT treatment. High concentrations of antioxidant compounds including flavonoids (3.3 mg/g) and phenolics (32.3 mg/g) were detected in AE-SCT but no significant cytotoxicity was observed in HepG2 cells treated with AE-SCT. The viability of HepG2 cells was also not changed by treatment with different concentrations of AE-SCT after $H_2O_2$ treatment. However, cell viability was significantly increased in cells treated with three different concentrations of AE-SCT before $H_2O_2$ treatment. The greatest increase in cell viability was observed in the group treated with $50{\mu}g/ml$ AE-SCT, when compared with vehicle-treated group. FACS and DAPI staining analysis indicated that the decrease in number of dead cells was dependent on the concentration of AE-SCT. Alterations in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio after $H_2O_2$ treatment were significantly restored by treatment with different concentrations of AE-SCT. These results indicate that AE-SCT, which contains high levels of antioxidants, may protect cells against death induced by $H_2O_2$ treatment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.146-155
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• 1992

The natural mixed stand in Jindong-Ri, according to a recent study, showed the possibility of selection cutting as a silvicultural system based on the stand structure such as DBH distribution and height distribution. However, volume structure per DBH class of this stand had not a mature stand of selection cutting. In this study, wherefore, the rate of increment for DBH and volume was used to predict the future stand structure including volume distribution per DBH class. The possibility of selection cutting was then discussed using the future stand structure. From the prediction of future stand structure for 30 years per every 10 years, it could be concluded that the stand will be induced to selection cutting forest because of enough number of trees in objective DBH class and above, total volume per hectare, and the volume of large DBH class which can be harvested every year. However, this stand still did not show the structure of typical selection cutting which has the rate of 1 : 2 : 7 in the number of trees per hectare and the volume rate of 5 : 3 : 2 for large, medium, and small DBH class. This problem could be improved by appropriate silvicultural treatments.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2011

We investigated moth communities in Samcheok, Korea, to elucidate the influence of the East Coast Fire in 2000. Moths were collected with UV light traps 4 times a year from 2006 to 2009 at 3 sites: Unburned area (Site 1), Surface fire area (Site 2), and Crown fire area (Site 3) sites, respectively. A total of 3,804 individuals belonging to 727 species from 30 families were captured at the 3 study 1,727 individuals of 505 species (27 families) at Site 1, 1,193 individuals of 353 species (24 families) at Site 2, and 885 individuals of 340 species (25 families) at Site 3. Species richness and individuals of Noctuidae, Pyralidae, Geometridae, and Tortricidae were the highest at all 3 sites. All of species richness, individuals, and species diversity (H') were the highest in Site 1 for 4 years. The index of similarity (${\alpha}$-Index) was higher between Site 2 and 3 in 2006, while higher between Site 1 and 2 in 2009. Moths were grouped into 16 categories by hosts of the larval stage. Individuals of moths of herbaceous feeding habit continuously decreased at Site 3, but proportion of individuals of tree feeding habits continuously increased. The present results showed that moth communities was relatively recovered according to vegetation change after forest fire and regeneration of moth communities in surface fire area was more faster than in crown fire area.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 1989

To enhance the capability of starch fermentation of the transformant TSD-14, the heat treated protoplasts of TSD-14 were fused with the protoplasts of C. tropicalis (lys$^-$) in the presence of 30% (w/ v) PEG and 20 mM CaC1$_2$. Fusants were selected by nutritional complementation on minium medium and the fusion frequency was 4.4$\times$10$^{-5}$. All fusants tested were possessed of complemented traits concerning carbon compound assimilation, and the cell volumes of the fusants were approximately 1.5 times larger than the parental strains. The fusants were genetically very stable, and were able to hydrolyze alpha 1,4-glucosidic linkage as well as alpha 1,6-linkage of starch contrary to one of parents TSD-14, The most promising fusant FSC-14-75 produced 8.7% (v/v) of ethanol from 15% liquefied potato starch medium, but the result was enhanced to 9.3% (v/v) by addition of 0.3% peptone. The corresponding fermentation efficiency was 86.0%.