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Abstract : Gene edited crops can be classified as SDN-1, SDN-2 and SDN-3 group depending on their mutation’s range and the usage of donor DNA. The SDN-1 and SDN-2 crops, in particular, could be developed as 100% transgene-free, which do not contain any DNA fragment of the vector or guide RNA used for gene editing such as CRISPR Cas9 system. Therefore, there are no scientific methods available for the detection of these crops and differentiation with the one produced by conventional cross breeding techniques. Additionally, it would be impossible to properly implement the existing GMO regulation law, in particular, the national legislation for “GMO labelling”. In this regard, Australia has announced that SDN-1 crops will not be subjected to the existing GMO regulation. Furthermore, Argentina and Brazil have established a new policy that GE crops with no transgene (100% transgene-free crops) should be exempted from the scope of the GMO. In addition, Japan has also announced that “an organism that has no remnants of inserted nucleic acid processed extracellularly is not subjected to the Cartagena Act”. It means that SDN-2 crops can also be exempted from the scope of GMO. In this trend, in South Korea, I suggested that gene edited crops with no remnants of inserted foreign DNA fragments should be excluded from the existing GMO regulation. Thus, I expect that diverse elite crop lines should be developed by using advanced gene editing technologies.

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Abstract : Medicinal plants are high-value natural resources that have been used as precautionary drugs by many people globally. The increasing global demand for bioactive compounds from medicinal plants has led to the overexploitation of many valuable species. One widely used approach to overcome this problem is the use of adventitious root cultures as a propagation strategy. This review examines the scientific research published globally on the application of adventitious root cultures for many medicinal plants. Adventitious roots generated under aseptic environments in suitable phytohormone-augmented medium exhibit high growth rates and production of important secondary metabolites. Parameters such as medium properties and composition, growth hormone type, and elicitation strategies for in vitro grown adventitious roots of medicinal plants, are the main topics discussed in this review. We also examine current developments in bioreactor system cultivation for plant bioactive compounds using adventitious root cultures, a technology with possible commercial applications, via several studies on adventitious root culture of medicinal plants in which bioreactor systems play a role. In conclusion, the development of adventitious root cultures for medicinal plants is highly useful because of their capability for vegetative propagation and germplasm preservation.

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Abstract : Molecular characterization of different genotypes reveals accurate information about the degree of genetic diversity that helps to develop a proper breeding program. In this study, a total of 30 EST-based simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers derived from trumpet lily (Lilium longiflorum) were used across 11 native lily species for their genetic relationship. Among these 30 markers, 24 SSR markers that showed polymorphism were used for evaluation of diversity spectrum. The allelic number at per locus ranged from 1 at SSR2 locus to 34 alleles at SSR15 locus, with an average of 11.25 alleles across 24 loci observed. The polymorphic information content, PIC, values ranged from 0.0523 for SSR9 to 0.9919 for SSR2 in all 24 loci with an average of 0.3827. The allelic frequency at every locus ranged from 0.81% at SSR2 locus to 99.6% at SSR14 locus. The pairwise genetic dissimilarity coefficient revealed the highest genetic distance with a value of 81.7% was in between L. dauricum and L. amabile. A relatively closer genetic distance was found between L. lancifolium and L. dauricum, L. maximowiczii and L. concolor, L. maximowiczii and L. distichum (Jeju), L. tsingtauense and L. callosum, L. cernuum and L. distichum (Jeju ecotype), of which dissimilarity coefficient was 50.0%. The molecular fingerprinting based on microsatellite marker could serve boldly to recognize genetically distant accessions and to sort morphologically close as well as duplicate accessions.

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Abstract : Marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) is useful for selecting an offspring with a highly recovered genetic background for a recurrent parent at early generation to various crops. Moreover, marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) along with marker-assisted selection (MAS) contributes immensely to overcome the main limitation of the conventional breeding and it accelerates recurrent parent genome (RPG) recovery. In this study, we were employed to incorporate rin gene(s) from the donor parent T13-1084, into the genetic background of HK13-1151, a popular high-yielding tomato elite inbred line that is a pink color fruit, in order to develop a rin HK13-1084 improved line. The recurrent parent genome recovery was analyzed in early generations of backcrossing using SNP markers obtained from genotyping-by-sequencing analysis. From the BC₁F₁ and BC₂F₁ plants, 3,086 and 4868 polymorphic SNP markers were obtained via GBS analysis, respectively. These markers were present in all twelve chromosomes. The background analysis revealed that the extent of RPG recovery ranged from 56.7% to 84.5% and from 87.8% to 97.8% in BC₁F₁ and BC₂F₁ generations, respectively. In this study, No 5-1 with 97.8% RPG recovery rate among BC₂F₁ plants was similar to HK13-1151 strain in the fruit shape. Therefore, the selected plants were fixed in BC₂F₂ generation through selfing. MAS allowed identification of the plants that are more similar to the recurrent parent for the loci evaluated in the backcross generations. MABC can greatly reduce breeding time as compared to the conventional backcross breeding. For instance, MABC approach greatly shortened breeding time in tomato.

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Abstract : The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of yeast extract (YE) and salicylic acid (SA) on the expression of curcuminoid-biosynthesis genes (CzDCS and CURS1-3), and accumulation of curcumin in Curcuma zedoaria cell cultures. The results showed that, in cells treated with YE or SA, the expression levels of curcuminoid genes were 1.14-to 3.64-fold higher than the control (untreated cells), in which the YE exhibited a stronger effect in comparison with SA. Curcumin accumulation also tended to be similar to gene expression, curcumin contents in YE-or SA-treated cells were 1.61-to 2.53-fold higher than the control. The SA treatment at the fifth day of culture stimulated the curcumin accumulation and expression in all four genes compared to that at the beginning. While the YE treatments gave different results, the CzCURS1 and CzCURS3 genes were expressed strongly in cells that were treated at the beginning. However, the CzDCS and CzCURS2 genes showed the opposite expression pattern, they were activated strongly in the treatments at day five of the culture. However, the content of curcumin reached its maximum value on the fifth day of culture in all investigations.

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Abstract : Auxin plays a crucial regulatory role in plant growth and development processes. Three major classes of auxin-responsive transcription factors controlled by the Auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA), Gretchen Hagen 3 (GH3), and small auxin up RNA (SAUR) genes regulate auxin signaling. Aux/IAA, in particular, encodes short-lived nuclear proteins that accumulate rapidly in response to auxin signaling. In this study, we isolated a PagAux/IAA1 gene from poplar (Populus alba × P. glandulosa) and investigated its expression characteristics. The PagAux/IAA1 cDNA codes for putative 200 amino acids polypeptide containing four conserved domains and two nuclear localization signals (NLSs). Utilizing Southern blot analysis, we confirmed that a single copy of the PagAux/IAA1 gene was present in the poplar genome. The expression of this gene is specific to leaves and flowers of the poplar. PagAux/IAA1 expressed in the early exponential growth phase of cell-cultured in suspension. PagAux/IAA1 expression level reduced in drought and salt stress conditions, and the presence of plant hormones such as abscisic acid. However, expression enhanced in cold stress, cambial cell division, and presence of plant hormones such as gibberellic acid and jasmonic acid. Thus, these results suggest that PagAux/IAA1 participates in cold stress response as well as developmental processes in the poplar.

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Abstract : In this study, we analyzed the changes in glucosinolate content and gene expression in TO1000DH3 and Early big seedling upon methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. Analysis of glucosinolate contents after MeJA treatment at 200 μM concentration showed that the total glucosinolate content increased by 1.3-1.5 fold in TO1000DH3 and 1.3-3.8 fold in Early big compared to those before treatment. Aliphatic glucosinolates, progoitrin and gluconapin, were detected only in TO1000DH3, and the changes in the content of neoglucobrassicin were the greatest at 48 hours after MeJA treatment in TO1000DH3 and Early big. The transcriptomic analysis showed that transcripts involved in stress or defense reactions, or those related to growth were specifically expressed in TO1000DH3, while transcripts related to nucleosides or ATP biosynthesis were specifically expressed in Early big. GO analysis on transcripts with more than two-fold change in expression upon MeJA treatment, corresponding to 12,020 transcripts in TO1000DH3 and 13,510 transcripts in Early big, showed that the expression of transcripts that react to stimulus and chemical increased in TO1000DH3 and Early big, while those related to single-organism and ribosome synthesis decreased. In particular, the expression increased for all transcripts related to indole glucosinolate biosynthesis, which is associated with increase in glucobrassicin and neoglucobrassicin contents. Upon MeJA treatment, the expression of AOP3 (Bo9g006220, Bo9g006240), TGG1 (Bo14804s010) increased only in TO1000DH3, while the expression of Dof1.1 (Bo5g008360), UGT74C1 (Bo4g177540), and GSL-OH (Bo4g173560, Bo4g173550, Bo4g173530) increased specifically in Early big.

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Abstract : Since the RNA interference (RNAi) had been discovered in many organisms, small non-coding RNA-mediated gene silencing technology, including RNAi have been widely applied to analysis of gene function, as well as crop improvement. Despite the usefulness of RNAi technology, RNAi transgenic crops have various potential environmental risks, including off-target and non-target effects. In this study, we developed methods that can be effectively applied to environmental risk assessment of RNAi transgenic crops and verified these methods in 35S::dsRNAi_eGFP rice transgenic plant we generated. Off-target genes, which can be non-specifically suppressed by the expression of dsRNAi_eGFP, were predicted by using the published web tool, pssRNAit, and verified by comparing their expressions between wild-type (WT) and 35S::dsRNAi_eGFP transgenic rice. Also, we verified the non-target effects of the 35S:: dsRNAi_eGFP plant by evaluating horizontal and vertical transfer of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) produced in the 35S::dsRNAi_eGFP plant into neighboring WT rice and rhizosphere microorganisms, respectively. Our results suggested that the methods we developed, could be widely applied to various RNAi transgenic crops for their environmental risk assessment.

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Abstract : Production of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) using a plant platform has been considered an alternative to the mammalian cell-based production system. A plant-derived mAb CO17-1AK (mAb^P COK) can specifically bind to various types of cancer cell lines. The target protein of mAb^P COK is the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) highly expressed in human epithelial cancer cells, including breast and colorectal cancer cells. It has been hypothesized that its overexpression supports tumor growth and metastasis. A ganglioside is extended well beyond the surfaces of the various cell membranes and has roles in cell growth, inflammation, differentiation, and carcinogenesis. However, the regulation of EpCAM gene expression in breast cancers and the role of gangliosides in oncogenesis are unclear. Here, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of mAb^P COK on human breast cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, and ganglioside expression patterns. Our results show that treatment with mAb^P COK suppressed the growth of breast cancer cells and induced apoptotic cell death. It also upregulated the expression of metastasis-related gangliosides in breast cancer cells. Thus, treatment with mAb^P COK may have chemo-preventive therapeutic effects against human breast cancer.

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Abstract : Apple (Malus pumila) is one of the most economically important fruits in Korea. but virus infection has decreased the sustainable production of apples and caused serious problems such as yield loss and poor fruit quality. Virus or viroid infection including apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV), apple stem pitting virus (ASPV), apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), apple mosaic virus (ApMV) and apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd) have been also reported in Korea. In many cases, as apple gets infected with virus and viroid with no specific symptoms, the damage and symptoms caused by the viruses are not detected. In our research, viruses in the rootstock were eliminated for a virus-free apple dwarfing rootstock of M.9 and M.26. The virus elimination methods were apical meristem culture, thermotherapy (37°C, 6 weeks) and chemotherapy(Ribavirin^®). The detection of apple viruses was accomplished by Enzyme-linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELlSA) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RT-PCR method was 10~30% more sensitive than the ELISA method. The efficiency of virus elimination was enhanced in apical meristem culture method. The acquisition rate of virus-free apple dwarfing rootstocks was 30~40% higher in apical meristem culture. After the meristem culturing of M.9, the infection ratio of ACLSV, ASPV and ASGV was 45%, 60% and 50%, respectively. In the apple dwarfing rootstock of M.26, the infection ratio of ACLSV, ASPV and ASGV was 40%, 55% and 55%, respectively. Based on this study, the best method for the production of virus-free apple dwarfing rootstocks was the apical meristem culture.