• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.287-296
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• 2017

In order to check host plant diversity and to confirm the potential risk to be invaded, we documented host plant flora and plant part of C. pentagona, an invasive parasitic plant in field survey and induced parasitic infection by them in the laboratory experiment. Parasitic interaction(12% of total tree species) was found in twig and leaf of tree such as Quercus mongolica and Abies holophylla that was not developed into ligninfication. There were most host plant species belong to Compositae, but the species parasitic rate of family was higher in Cyperaceae, Polygonaceae and Leguminoceae. Through the inducible infection experiment with C. pentagona, all species except one species show parasitic interaction between host plan and C. pentagona. These result means that the limiting stage for invading area is dispersion process for invading other area in Korea. Infection plant part by C. pentagona was dominantly both shoot and leaf, rather than only leaf or only shoot. We found newly 12 families and 45 host plant species including 33 herbacious one and 12 woody one. Crop plant such as Setaria italica and 6 endangerd one such as Scrophularia takesimensis, especially the later rare endemic plant was to death by parasitic infection of C. pentagona. These results indicate that C. pentagona is potential risk to both wild and cultivated plant in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.125-131
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• 2015

Currently, taxol is mainly extracted from the bark of yews; however, this method can not meet its increasing demand on the market because yews grow very slowly and are a rare and endangered species belonging to first-level conservation plants. Recently, increasing efforts have been made to develop alternative means of taxol production; microbe fermentation would be a very promising method to increase the production scale of taxol. To determine the activities of the taxol extracted from endophytic fungus N. sylviforme HDFS4-26 in inhibiting the growth and causing the apoptosis of cancer cells, on comparison with the taxol extracted from the bark of yew, we used cellular morphology, cell counting kit (CCK-8) assay, staining (HO33258/PI and Giemsa), DNA agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometry (FCM) analyses to determine the apoptosis status of breast cancer MCF-7 cells, cervical cancer HeLa cells and ovarian cancer HO8910 cells. Our results showed that the fungal taxol inhibited the growth of MCF-7, HeLa and HO8910 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner. IC50 values of fungal taxol for HeLa, MCF-7 and HO8910 cells were $0.1-1.0{\mu}g/ml$, $0.001-0.01{\mu}g/ml$ and $0.01-0.1{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The fungal taxol induced these tumor cells to undergo apoptosis with typical apoptotic characteristics, including morphological changes for chromatin condensation, chromatin crescent formation, nucleus fragmentation, apoptotic body formation and G2/M cell cycle arrest. The fungal taxol at the $0.01-1.0{\mu}g/ml$ had significant effects of inducing apoptosis between 24-48 h, which was the same as that of taxol extracted from yews. This study offers important information and a new resource for the production of an important anticancer drug by endofungus fermentation.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.397-403
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• 2019

Background: Oplopanax elatus is widely distributed at high altitudes (about 1,100 m) in China, Russia and Korea. It is hard to propagate, breed, and difficult to grow. Hence, it has been designated as a rare and endangered medicinal plant. A study was conducted to establish a system for large scale seedling production of Oplopanax elatus in vitro and to find the ideal environment for its seedling growth. Methods and Results: In this study, the explants produced under in vitro conditions during our previous study were grouped into three categories (under 10 mm, 10 mm - 30 mm and above 30 mm) based on plant height and were transferred to the growth-chamber and greenhouse for two weeks in each setting for acclimatization. The plantlet category of above 30 mm showed good performance, and was further evaluated under three acclimatization methods as follows: three different growth media (commercial soil, commercial soil + perlite, commercial soil + sand), four shading levels (0%, 50%, 70%, 90%) and four altitude levels (157 m, 218 m, 601 m, 870 m) in Gangwon province of South Korea. As results, O. elatus seedlings showed better growth characteristics at 870 m of altitude, 70% shading level and in the commercial soil compared to other treatments. Conclusions: The regenerated seedlings of Oplopanax elatus obtained through plant tissue culture would be advantageous for use in large scale seedling production systems paired with a good acclimation method. For obtaining optimal results, it is recommended that seedling be acclimatized in a high altitude environment.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.455-472
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• 2003

The period from 1946 until his retirement from Department of Forest Resources, Seoul National University was a time of research and professional activity on many fronts for Korean Plant Taxonomy. From 1952 to 1984, he travelled south Korea and collected more than 70,000 specimens. Working out of this project, Dr. Lee developed the SNUA herbarium (Herbarium of The Arboretum of Seoul National University) as the best University herbarium in Korea for the modem floristic work. Dr. Lee's first interest rests on his contributions to our understanding of the twig identification in early 1950. Asian deciduous oak taxa have attracted particular focus to him late 1950 and early 1960. Accordingly Dr. Lee has been one of the specialists on systematic study of Asian oak which is a basis of identification in eastern Asia now. Dr. Lee's contributions concerning rare and endangered plants in Korea provide a tremendous information after a Japanese taxonomist, T. Nakai did in early 1920 to late 1930 in Korea. During his fourteen year career from 1970 to 1984, Dr. Lee spent time to investigate flora of many local and National Park sites. Much of his effort was directed to the voucher specimens for which he worked for the Illustrated Flora of Korea and also served as a field collector. These collections at SNUA enabled us to extend our educational outreach from the local to the national flora research. Although Dr. Lee has been and continues to be the soul of SNUA, collection records about his purpose and aim for each trip are not well documented except date and field studied sites. This lesson enables us to tackle the same issue of balancing quantity and quality with well documented specimens now.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.49-99
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• 2021

Gwangdeoksan Mountain (699.3 m) is the highest border mountain between the two cities of Chungcheongnamdo Province, Cheonan and Asan, Korea. In this study, we investigated the flora of Gwangdeoksan Mt. from April of 2015 to October of 2017. Through 20 independent field investigations, we identified and tallied a total of 428 species, 9 subspecies, 30 varieties, and a forma in 287 genera and 97 families. Of a total of 468 taxa, 128 taxa in 112 genera and 58 families were found to be Korean endemic species (7 taxa), floristic regional indicator species (45 taxa), rare or endangered species (3 taxa), species subject to the approval of outbound transfer (73 taxa), and alien or ecosystem disturbing species (32 taxa). The flora of Gwangdeoksan Mt. can be divided into four distinct floristic subregions, with higher diversity in the north-facing subregion. The complex flora of Gwangdeoksan Mt., emerging at the edge of two floristic regions of the Korean peninsula, may represent a significant conservation priority and a topic for future ecological and geographical studies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.100 no.4
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• pp.609-615
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• 2011

Forsythia saxatilis is a Korean endemic plant designated as rare and endangered by the Korea Forest Service (KFS). Growth and physiological characteristics of F. saxatilis were investigated under two different light intensities in order to figure out an appropriate growth environment for conservation and restoration of the species in its natural habitat. Shoot length, leaf size and weight, photosynthetic pigment content and photosynthetic parameters were measured for F. saxatilis grown at two experimental plots under relative light intensities (RLI) of 20% and 60% of the full sun, respectively. Fresh leaf weight of plants grown under high relative light intensities (RLI-60) exceeded that of plants grown at 20% RLI. The ratio of fresh leaf weight to leaf size at RLI-60 was 1.47 times superior comparing to that recorded at RLI-20. The content of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid were higher in plants grown at RLI-60, whereas the ratio of total chlorophyll to carotenoid content was higher in the leaves at RLI-20. Photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate at RLI-60 were, respectively, 2.5, 2.65 and 1.79 times higher comparing to those recorded at RLI-20. Water use efficiency, however, was higher at RLI-20. The chlorophyll/nitrogen ratio was 1.83 times higher at RLI-20 than at RLI-60. In contrast, the ratio of net photosynthesis to chlorophyll content at RLI-60 was 2.58 times higher than that of RLI-20. In conclusion, light intensity might be the major factor affecting growth and physiological characteristics of F. saxatilis grown under canopy of tall tree species.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2008

Effects of light generated by LEDs on shoot growth and rooting of Tsuru-rindo(Tripterospermum japonicum) were evaluated. Apical shoots(one or two node with 3-4 leaves) were cultured on MS basal medium with 3% sucrose and maintained for four weeks under five different light qualities: fluorescent lamp(F), 100% red LED(R), 70% red LED+30% blue LED(R7B3), 50% red LED+50% blue(R5B5), or 100% blue LED(B). Rooting was promoted by both red light and fluorescent lamp, and the effect was further promoted under the ventilation. Red light enhanced shoot node elongation, whereas blue light appeared to suppress it. Growth of shoots and leaves were enhanced under the ventilation irrespective of the different light qualities. Under the ventilated condition, total fresh weight of plants was highest in R7B3 LED as 257.7 mg per plant. Dry matters, which are used for index of plant growth, were lowest under red light, whereas it was highest under blue light. The dry matter was inclined to getting higher by ascending the ratio of blue light and red light. Total chlorophyll content was highest in both R7B3 LED and R5B5 LED under ventilation as 29.5 and 31.2, respectively. Above results suggest that light quality optimization could be an important factor to foster in vitro growth of the species. Ventilation treatment appeared to be another important factor to induce normal shoot growth and rooting.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.154-163
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• 2021

This study was carried out to present the habitat distribution status and the habitat distribution prediction of Sophora koreensis, which is the Korean Endemic Plant included in the EN (Endangered) class of the IUCN Red List. The habit distribution survey of Sophora koreensis confirmed 19 habitats in Gangwon Province, including 13 habitats in Yanggu-gun, 3 habitats in Inje-gun, 2 habitats in Chuncheon-si, and 1 habitat in Hongcheon-gun. The northernmost habitat of Sophora koreensis in Korea was in Imdang-ri, Yanggu-gun; the easternmost habitat in Hangye-ri, Inje-gun; the westernmost habitat in Jinae-ri, Chuncheon-si; and the southernmost habitat in Sungdong-ri, Hongcheon-gun. The altitude of the Sophora koreensis habitats ranged from 169 to 711 m, with an average altitude of 375m. The area of the habitats was 8,000-734,000 m², with an average area of 202,789 m². Most habitats were the managed forests, such as thinning and pruning forests. The MaxEnt program analysis for the potential habitat of Sophora koreensis showed the AUC value of 0.9762. The predictive habitat distribution was Yanggu-gun, Inje-gun, Hwacheon-gun, and Chuncheon-si in Gangwon Province. The variables that influence the prediction of the habitat distribution were the annual precipitation, soil carbon content, and maximum monthly temperature. This study confirmed that habitats of Sophora koreensis were mostly found in the ridge area with rich light intensity. They can be used as basic data for the designation of protected areas of Sophora koreensis habitat.