• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2008

RNA interference (RNAi) was performed on several essential genes in the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, which causes pine wilt disease. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was delivered to larvae or adult worms by soaking, electroporation, or microinjection. Soaking and electroporation of L2-L3 stage worms in solutions containing dsRNA for essential genes induced over 25% lethality after 5 days, and gene-specific phenotypes were observed. This lethality agreed with significant reductions of the targeted transcripts, as assayed by reverse-transcription coupled with real time PCR. Microinjection was the most efficient route as measured by the hatching rate of F1 embryos, which was reduced by 46%. When adult worms were soaked in dsRNA, lethality was induced in the F1 larvae, revealing the persistence of knockdown phenotypes. The penetrance of the RNAi phenotypes for essential genes was relatively low but consistent, indicating that RNAi should be useful for studying the in vivo functions of B. xylophilus gene products.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2008

Pinewood nematode (PWN) trapping by nematophagous fungi, Arthrobotrys conoides, A. dactyloides and A. oligospora and the fungal growth were characterized. The three Arthrobotrys species each was inoculated into the PWN cultured on Botrytis cinera fungal colony on potato dextrose agar (PDA). The effects of temperature, pH, PWN inoculation density and nutrients on the growth of the three Arthrobotrys spp were measured. A. conoides grew fast, 13.9 mm/day while A. dactyloides grew slow, 3 mm/day. PDA medium was the best for the fungal growth at $25^{\circ}C$ and pH 4.5. The Arthrobotrys spp growth was stimulated by 500 nematodes inoculation but not by 1000 inoculation. A. dactyloides did not grow below pH 4.5 and at high PWN density. A. conoides and A oligospora formed trapping organs with thick constricting hyphal network only when PWN present, while A. dactyloides formed the organ with circular hyphae constitutively. A. conoides formed trapping organs faster than A. oligospora did. The nematode trapping hyphae of the fungi penetrated into PNW inside to form many tiny infection bulbs and to digest the nematode. However, A. dactyloides formed a few trapping organs but no trapping was observed. Infection rate of PWN was 95% by A. conoides, 80% by A. oligospora and 92% by the combination inoculation of A. conoides and A. oligospora. In contrast A. dactyloides increased PWN density without infecton. There was no interaction effect in any combination inoculation of the three Arthrobotrys spp. A. conoides enhanced PWN infection rate by rapid hyphal growth and early trapping, while A. oligospora did it by increasing hyphal density. In conclusion A. conoides is the most effective in both hyphal growth and infection, and thus these characteristics can be utilized as a biological control of PWN.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.241-246
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• 2009

Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.), a five-needle pine, has recently been suffering pine wilt disease caused by non-native pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Three-year-old Korean pine seedlings were inoculated with 10,000 pathogenic nematodes in a greenhouse to investigate disease development, water content and the density of nematodes in stems. Needle dehydration, xylem drying and pith browning started 20 days after inoculation (DAI). There were significant differences between seedlings inoculated with nematodes and control seedlings in the relative water content of stems and leaves at 20 and 30 DAI. At 60 DAI, all remaining seedlings inoculated with nematodes had died, but control seedlings all remained alive. The average number of nematodes recovered from stems of Korean pine dramatically increased from 10 to 20 DAI, and then decreased at the end of the experiment at 60 days. This study suggests that the relative water content of stems and leaves in current-year branches could be used as a useful physiological indicator for early diagnosis of pine wilt disease.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1445-1449
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• 2015

The pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae) poses a serious threat to pine forests in Europe and East Asia, leading to a debilitating pine wilt disease. Infected pine trees in Korea are generally fumigated or crushed to small wood chips after felling. Although pine wilt disease often recurs in pest management sites, there are no adequate means to monitor the effectiveness of pest control measures in those sites. Recently, a male-produced aggregation pheromone, 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol, was shown to be useful for attracting several Monochamus species, which are vectors for the pinewood nematodes. In this study, we investigated the abilities of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol at three different doses (175, 350, and 700 mg), as well as host plant volatiles (α-pinene and ethanol), to attract M. alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) at a pine forest in Pohang, Korea where infected pine trees had been cut down and fumigated. Twenty-seven M. alternatus were captured in cross-vane panel traps made of polyethylene terephthalate bottles and acrylic sheets. The results indicate that a high dose of 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol (700 mg per trap) is the most effective for attracting M. alternatus. The aggregation pheromone could be used to monitor the effectiveness of pest control measures as well as M. alternatus populations.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2016

Pine wood nematode, Bursaphlenchus xylophilus is a fatal damaging pest, infecting pinewood trees and is one of the serious forest pest in Korea. Trunk injection is one of the most effective method to protect the live pine trees from nematode infection. The aim of this research was to reveal the efficacy of the nematicidal materials from 46 Kyrgyzstan, 88 Vietnam plant materials and 21 active materials (${\alpha}$-terpinene, ${\alpha}$-pinene, ${\beta}$-thujaplicin, cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, emodin, geraniol, limonone, methyl palmitate, matrine, myrcene, methyl gallate, nicotine, quassin, resveratrol, rotenone, thymol, thujaplicin, terthiophene, tuberstemonine, ${\gamma}$-terpinene) isolated from plants for using as trunk injection agents. Eclipta prostrata extract was highly effective against pine wood nematode in plant extracts and terthiophene has the best nematicidal activity from active materials isolated from plants. Foliar spray of terthiophene on Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) tree reduced proliferation of inoculated pine wood nematode at 22 days after treatment, however no efficacy was found over 22 days. Eclipta prostrata extract and terthiophene can be used as nematicide for further nematicidal efficacy test against any other plant parasitic nematodes and trunk injection efficacy against pine wood nematode.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.240-246
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• 2016

During a survey of the activities of fungi in steamed sweet potato, stored garlic, agricultural by-products for mushroom cultivation media, and pinewood chips from a pinewood nematode-infected tree, numerous fungal samples were isolated and identified. This study identified five species that have not been previously reported in Korea, namely Geomyces pannorum, Neopestalotiopsis javaensis, Penicillium allii, Penicillium chermesinum, and Ophiognomonia setacea. For all identified species, the cultural features of colonies formed on growth media, their morphological characteristics observed by a light microscope, and their molecular phylogenetic relationships based on nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA region or calmodulin gene were described.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.315-321
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• 2003

Larval entrance and adult emergence holes of Japanese pine sawyer (Monochamus alternatus), primary vector of pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), were measured in dead pine logs from 1999 to 2002. Their distributions within pine log were also analyzed. More numbers of entrance and emergence holes were distributed on crown than trunk part as 56.2 and 27.7 holes/m$^2$, respectively Higher proportions of entrance (27.5％) and emergence holes (22.4%) were distributed on the log with 8 to 10 cm diameter; the larger or the smaller logs had fewer holes. Surface area of entrance hole was 65.8 $\textrm{mm}^2$ and diameter of emergence holes was 7.0 mm in average. Average depth of pupal chamber was 24.8 mm from surface to the bottom of the chamber, and its volume ranged from 200 to 2.000 ㎣ Average distance between entrance and emergence holes on bark surface was 3.3 cm. Gallery length from the beginning of entrance hole to the end of emergence hole was 46.2 mm.

• Entomological Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.448-452
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• 2018

The aggregation pheromone of Monochamus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) beetles, 2-(undecyloxy) ethanol (hereafter referred to as monochamol), has gained considerable attention because of its usefulness in monitoring and population control of pine sawyer beetles. The hydroxyether structural motif is conserved in pheromones of the subfamily Lamiinae of the Cerambycidae. In this study, we investigated the effects of C10- and C12-chain length alkyl analogs of monochamol, 2-(decyloxy) ethanol and 2-(dodecyloxy) ethanol, on attracting M. saltuairus in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. The C10 and C12 analogs attracted M. saltuarius when used in combination with ${\alpha}$-pinene and ethanol, but the responses of these alkyl chain analogs were lower than those of monochamol. Furthermore, the addition of either C10 or C12 analog to the use of monochamol with ${\alpha}$-pinene and ethanol had no effect on attraction of M. saltuarius, indicating high sensitivity of M. saltuarius to monochanol. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that chemical communication within a Monochamus species depends not only on monochamol, but also on other semiochemicals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.3
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• pp.337-343
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to understand water stress development in pine seedlings inoculated with Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Leaf water potentials of four years old Pinus densiflora seedlings inoculated with the nematode were measured with a plant moisture system at predawn and midday. The midday leaf water potentials on the 35th day after the inoculation were -1.04 MPa in the infected seedlings, while -0.94 MPa in the non-infected seedlings. The predawn water potentials on the 56th day were -0.71 MPa in the infected, while -0.26 MPa in the non-infected. At this time the leaves of the infected seedlings became yellow and resin did not exude on the cut basal stem. Density of the nematode was maximum on the 28th day, but dropped sharply on the 68th day. The phloem and pith tissues became brown and the resin exudation reduced in the infected seedlings. In conclusion, pinewood nematode inoculation developed water stress in pine seedlings in a month.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.05a
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• pp.41-41
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• 2014

Pinewood nematode (PWN, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) is a serious pathogenic worm that quickly dry pine trees to death. Recently, PWN has been devastating huge amounts of conifer trees in Korea. As a first step to explore the association and ecological roles of fungi in PWN life cycle in Korea, in this study we first isolated and indentified fungi from PWN-infested Korean pine and Japanese black pine wood sampled in Jinju, Sacheon, Pocheon, Chuncheon, Gwangju, and Hoengseong in Korea. A total of 144 fungal isolates were obtained from Japanese black pine wood and 264 fungal isolates from Korean pine wood. Their morphology and nucleotide sequences of the ITS rDNA and ♌-tubulin gene were examined for species identification. Ophiostoma ips, Botrytis anthophila, Penicillium sp., Hypocrea lixii, Trichoderma atroviride, O. galeiforme, Fusarium proliferatum were identified from Japanese black pine wood. Leptographium koreanum, L. pini-densiflorae, Ophiostoma ips, Penicillium raistrick, Trichoderma sp. were isolated from Korean pine wood. O. ips and L. koreanum were the major species on the two different PWN-infected pine tree. The cultivation of PWN on fungal mat of the identified species did some enhance PWN reproduction. The ambrosia beetle, Platypus koryoensis, is a serious pest of oak trees in Korea. In this study we investigated filamentous fungi present in the body of the beetle. Fourteen genera of filamentous fungi belonging to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were isolated. All the obtained genera were isolated in the mitosporic state. The identified fungi were classified in 11 distinct orders including the Ascomycota (Eurotiales, Hypocreales, Microascales, Ophiostomatales, Pleosporales, and Sordiales) and Basidiomycota (Agaricales, Corticiales, Polyporales, and Russulales Xylariales). Within Ascomycota, 13 species were found. Meanwhile five species were found within Basidiomycota. The results showed the presence of diverse fungi in P. koryoensis. Among the isolated fungi, some were able to produce wood degrading enzymes. Further fungal isolation was performed with P. koryoensis infested Quercus mongolica trees sampled at Kumdan mountain in Hanam-Si, Gyeonggi province from June of 2009 to June of 2010. Penicillin spp. and Trichoderma spp. were the major species of mold fungi group. Pichia guilliermondii was the major species of mold yeast group. Raffaelea quercus-mongolicae was also isolated, but its isolation frequency was not high. Other species identified were Ambrosiella xylebori, Fusarium solani, Cryphonectria nitschke, Chaetomium globosum, and Gliocladium viride, Candida kashinagacola, C. maritima, C. vanderkliftii, Saccharomycopsis crataegensis.