• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.49-52
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• 2010

A DNA extraction method using Chelex 100 is widely used for bacteria, Chlamydomonas, and animal cell lines, but only rarely for plant materials due to the need for additional time-consuming and tedious steps. We have modified the Chelex 100 protocol and successfully developed a rapid and simple method of DNA extraction for efficient PCR-based detection of transgenes from a variety of transgenic plant and algal species. Our protocol consists of homogenizing plant tissue with a pestle, boiling the homogenized tissue in a microfuge tube with 5% Chelex 100 for 5 min, and centrifuging the boiled mixture. The supernatant, which is used for PCR analysis, was able to successfully amplify transgenes in transgenic tobacco, tomato, potato, Arabidopsis, rice, strawberry, Spirodela polyrhiza, Chlamydomonas, and Porphyra tenera. The entire DNA extraction procedure requires <15 min and is therefore comparable to that used for bacteria, Chlamydomonas, and animal cell lines.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2003

In an attempt to evaluate the current research status of genetically modified (GM) plants, the scientific research publications in Korea as well as in international SCI journals were screened. About 190 research articles related to the development of GM plants were searched from 10 different domestic journals in the last 12 years (Jan. 1990 to Sept. 2002), The researches in 65 articles were carried out with tobacco plant, 20 with rice, 19 with potatoes, and less then 9 articles from each other plant species, respectively, In total, 38 different plant species were being subjected for the development of GM plants. In particular, there was only one article for each major staple grains such as wheat, barley, soybean, and maize. In more than 47% of total published articles, scientists mainly focused on the basic research such as developing transformation system (46 articles), gene expression study in transgenic plants (34), and vector constructions (10). In addition, 28 articles which main authors are Korean scientists were searched from 11 different international SCI journals. Again, major plants for GM research were tobacco (10) and rice (7). More than 50% of published articles were focused on the basic research, gene expression study with transgenic plants (16). The publications on the research of disease-resistant plants were 7 articles, 3 for the development of stress-resistant and 2 for the herbicide-resistant plants, respectively. It is believed that the last 10 year's investment through government organizations has just strengthen the capacity for the next big stride on agricultural biotechnology in Korea.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2020

Many benefits of silk protein fibroin (SPF) have been suggested in biomedical applications; and notably, significant SPF effects have been observed for metabolic syndromes that are directly linked to insulin resistance, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Based on our previous findings, we believe that SPF from spiders exhibits outstanding glucose-lowering effects in diabetic BKS.Cg-m+/+Lepr^db mice. In order to evaluate the dietary effects of SPF in diabetic animals, we generated several lines of transgenic rice (TR) that expresses SPF, and the feeding of TR-SPF to diabetic animals decreased blood glucose levels, but did not change insulin levels. Western blot analyses of hepatic proteins showed that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) expression and phosphorylation both decreased in TR-SPF-fed groups, compared with controls. This finding suggests that the glucose-lowering effects in this diabetic animal model might be AMPK-independent. In contrast, six-transmembrane protein of prostate 2 (STAMP2) was upregulated after TR-SPF exposure. Together with STAMP2, the Akt protein phosphorylation increased after TR-SPF exposure, which indicates that STAMP2 leads to Akt phosphorylation and thus increases insulin sensitivity in hepatocytes. Importantly, the hepatic steatosis that was seen in the liver of diabetic mice was remarkably alleviated in TR-SPF-fed mice. Hepatocytes that were immunopositive for STAMP2 were overwhelmingly observed in hepatic tissues from TR-SPF-fed mice compared to the control. Taken together, these results suggest that feeding diabetic mice with TR-SPF upregulates STAMP2 expression and increases Akt phosphorylation in hepatic tissues and thus potentially alleviates insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.202-208
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• 2009

The genetically modified leaffolder-resistant (Cry1Ac1) rice plant was evaluated for the changes of resistance by comparing the occurrence of major diseases with a japonica type Korean rice variety, Nakdong which was the mother plant of the transgenic rice event, in greenhouse and field conditions. There was no difference in the occurrence of sheath blight and Helminthosporium blight between the two varieties in the fields. We couldn't find any difference of resistance for fungal blast and bacterial leaf blight by artificial inoculation in greenhouse. There was also no difference in the susceptibility to sheath blight in artificial inoculation tests confirming the results in the fields. The possibility of gene transfer of Bar and Cry1Ac1 from the genetically modified rice plant to naturally infected pathogens such as Fusarium moniliforme and Pyricularia oryzae in the field conditions was tested by PCR. And the possible transfer of those genes by continuous inoculation of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and Rhizoctonia solani was also tested. However, we couldn't find any possibility of transfer of the genes in natural and artificial conditions.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2009

Oryza grandiglumis Chitinase IVa (OgChitIVa) cDNA encoding a class IV chitinase was cloned from wild rice (Oryza grandiglumis). OgChitIVa cDNA contains an open reading frame of 867 nucleotides encoding 288 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 30.4 kDa and isoelectric point of 8.48. Deduced amino acid sequences of OgChitIVa include the signal peptide and chitin-binding domain in the N-terminal domain and conserved catalytic domain. OgChitIVa showed significant similarity at the amino acid level with related monocotyledonous rice and maize chitinase, but low similarity with dicotyledoneous chitinase. Southern blot analysis showed that OgChitIVa genes are present as two copies in the wild rice genome. It was shown that RNA expression of OgChitIVa was induced by defense/stress signaling chemicals, such as jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and ethephon or cantharidin and endothall or wounding, and yeast extract. It was demonstrated that overexpression of OgChitIVa in Arabidopsis resulted in mild resistance against the fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, by lowering disease rate and necrosis size. RT-PCR analysis showed that PR-1 and PR-2 RNA expression was induced in the transgenic lines. Here, we suggest that a novel OgChitIVa gene may play a role in signal transduction process in defense response against B. cinerea in plants.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.809-817
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• 2009

The phenotypes associated with a gene function are often the best clue to its role in the plant. Transgenic plants ectopically expressing or suppressing a gene can provide useful information related to the gene function. In this study, we constructed three vectors - pFGL571, pFGL846 and pFGL847 - for the Agrobacterium-mediated ectopic expression of plant genes using pPZP211 and modified CaMV 35S, UBQ3 or UBQ10 promoters. The three vectors have several merits such as small size, high copy in bacteria, enough restriction enzyme sites in multi cloning sites and nucleotide sequence information. Analysis of transgenic plants containing GUS or sGFP reporter genes under the control of modified CaMV 35S, UBQ3 or UBQI0 promoter revealed that all of the three promoters showed high activities during most developmental stages after germination and in floral organs. Furthermore, we generated a RNAi module vector, pFGL727, to suppress plant gene expressions and confirmed that pFGL727 is useful for the suppression of a gene expression using rice transgenic plants. Taken together, our new vectors would be very useful for the ectopic expression or the suppression of plant genes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.163-163
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• 2017

A deletion analysis of the Oryza sativa dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) promoter defined a 25 bp region (-386 to -362) sufficient to confer pericarp-specific expression of ${\beta}$ -glucuronidase(GUS) reporter gene in transgenic rice. Site-specific mutagenesis of these conserved sequences and subsequent expression analysis in calli which transiently expressed the mutated promoter::GUS gene showed that both bHLH (-386 to -381) and Myb (-368 to -362) binding sites in the DEL3 (-440 to 70) promoter were necessary for complete expression of the GUS gene including the tissue-specific expression of DFR::GUS gene. The GUS gene was expressed well in the mutated Myb (-368 to -362) binding site, but not as strong as in normal condition, implying that the Myb is also necessary to express GUS gene fully. Also, we found the non-epistatic relation between Rc and DFR. There were no changes of expression patterns GUS under the Rc and rc genotypes. Thus, DFR expression might be independent of the presence of functional Rc gene and suggested that Rc and Rd (DFR) share the same pathway controlling the regulation of flavonoid synthesis but not a direct positive transcriptional regulator of DFR gene.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.332-340
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• 2016

Seed size traits are controlled by multiple genes in crops and determine grain yield, quality and appearance. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling the size of plant seeds remain unclear. We performed functional analysis of BrPATL4 encoding Sec14-like protein to determine the genetic architecture of seed size, shape and their association analyses. We used 60 $T_3$ transgenic rice lines to evaluate seed length, seed width and seed height as seed size traits, and the ratios of these values as seed shape traits. Pleiotropic effects on general architecture included small seed size, erect panicles, decreased grain weight, reduced plant height and increased sterility, which are common to other mutants deficient in gibberellic acid (GA) biosynthesis. To test whether BrPATL4 overexpression is deleterious for GA signal transduction, we compared the relative expression of GA related gene and the growth rate of second leaf sheath supplied with exogenous $GA_3$. Overexpression of BrPATL4 did not affect GA biosynthesis or signaling pathway, with the same response shown under GA treatment compared to the wild type. However, the causal genes for the small seed phenotype (D1, SRS1, and SRS5) and the erection of panicles showed significantly decreased levels in mRNA accumulation compared to the wild type. These results suggest that the overexpression of BrPATL4 can control seed size through the suppression of those genes related to seed size regulation. Although the molecular function of BrPATL4 is not clear for small seed and erect panicles of BrPALT4 overexpression line, this study provides some clues about the genetic engineering of rice seed architecture.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 2018

This study was conducted to develop environmental risk assessments and biosafety guides for insect-resistant genetically modified rice in an LMO (Living Modified Organism) isolation field. In the LMO quarantine area of Kyungpook National University, the species diversities and population densities of non-target insects found on insect-resistant genetically modified rice (Bt-T), rice resistant to Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, and non-GM rice (Dongjin-byeo and Ilmi-byeo) were investigated. The Bt-T plants were, therefore, evaluated under field conditions to detect possible impacts on above ground insects and spiders. In 2016 and 2017, the study compared transgenic rice and two non-GM reference rice, namely Dongjin-byeo and Ilmi-byeo, at Gunwi. A total of 9,552 individuals from 51 families and 11 orders were collected from the LMO isolation field. From the three types of rice fields, a total of 3,042; 3,212; and 3,297 individuals from the Bt-T, Dongjin-byeo, and Ilmi-byeo were collected, respectively. There was no difference between the population densities of the non-target insect pests, natural enemies, and other insects on the Bt-T compared to non-GM rice. The data on insect species population densities were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) without distinguishing between the three varieties, namely GM, non-GM, and reference cultivar, in all cultivation years. However, the PCA clearly separated the samples based on the cultivation years. These results suggest that insect species diversities and population densities during plant cultivation are determined by environmental factors (growing condition and seasons) rather than by genetic factors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.98-98
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• 2017

Leaf senescence is the process of aging in plants. Chlorophyll degradation during leaf senescence has the important role translocating nutrients from leaves to storage organs. The functional stay-green with slow leaf yellowing and photosynthesis activity maintenance has been considered one of strategy for increasing crop productivity. Here, we have identified two QTLs on chromosome 9 and 10 for leaf senescence with chlorophyll content of RIL population derived from a cross between Hanareum 2, early leaf senescence Indica-type variety, and Unkwang, delayed leaf senescence Japonica variety. Among these QTLs, we chose qPLS1 QTL on chromosome 9 for further study. qPLS1 was found to explain 14.4% of the total phenotypic variation with 11.2 of LOD score. Through fine-mapping approach, qPLS1 QTL locus was narrowed down to about 25kb in the marker interval between In/del-4-7-9 and In/del-5-9-4. There are 3 genes existed within 25kb of qPLS1 locus: LOC_Os09g36200, LOC_Os09g36210, and LOC_Os09g36220. Among these genes, transcript level of LOC_Os09g36200 was increased during the leaf senescence stage and the expression level of LOC_Os09g36200 in Indica was higher than in Japonica. Finally, we chose LOC_Os09g36200 as candidate gene and renamed it as OsPLS1-In and OsPLS1-Jp from Indica- and Japonica-type rice, respectively. OsPLS1-In and OsPLS1-Jp overexpressing transgenic plants showed both early leaf senescence phenotype. These results indicate that OsPLS1 functions in chlorophyll degradation and the difference of expression level of OsPLS1 cause the difference of leaf senescence between Indica and Japonica in rice.