• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.616-624
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• 2020

International trade is one of the primary ways that non-native species spread worldwide. Korea and China are geographically close and have a large mutual trade volume. To investigate the population movement of the invasive whitefly(Bemisia tabaci Gennadius) between the two countries, we compared the biotype distribution, insecticidal response, and the TYLCV(tomato yellow leaf curl virus) viruliferous rate of local populations collected in 2019. Based on the mitochondrial DNA COI sequences of B. tabaci, only the Q biotype was found in all populations in Korea, whereas the B biotype (14.3%) and Q biotype (85.7%) were found in China. In the haplotype composition of the B. tabaci Q biotype, only the Q1 group[Q1H1(79.8%) and Q1H2(20.2%)] was observed in China, but the Q1 group [Q1H1(1.7%) and Q1H2(97.5%)] and the Q2 group(only one individual) were found in Korea. The Korean populations showed high mortality(more than 80%) from 15 commercial insecticides, but the Chinese populations showed significantly low mortality from eight insecticides. No TYLCV infections were observed in the Korean populations while the average TYLCV viruliferous rate was 21.4% in the Chinese populations. Taken together, the results suggest that the population structures of B. tabaci in the two countries are different and may have different immigration histories.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.650-657
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• 2020

We conducted a phylogeographic analysis of Korean endemic Zacco koreanus populations inhabiting the East-flowing river (Gangneung Yeongokcheon; GY, Yangyang Namdaecheon; YN), the Han River (Seomgang; SG, Soksacheon; SS), and the Nakdong River(Gilancheon; GA) using the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene (619 bp). Population genetic analysis was further performed to assess the population connectivity for the GY river where there is a large number of human-made artificial weirs with several fishways. The phylogeographic analysis revealed that while the populations of the East-flowing river and those of the Han River formed a monophyletic lineage, the Nakdong River individuals represented a distinct lineage with 3.7-4.2% (mean=4.0%) genetic distance from the other lineages. The population genetic analysis of the GY showed that a mid-stream population harbored relatively higher mitochondrial diversity relative to up- and down-stream populations, and there was no genetic differentiation between these three populations. The latter findings might suggest high genetic connectivity between the populations via genetic flow along the fishways. However, an analysis using faster-evolving genetic markers, such as microsatellites, is needed to confirm the findings of high population connectivity. Our study suggests the possibility of the presence of cryptic species in Z. koreanus in the Nakdong River basin. However, further study with more individual samples as well as additional markers or even more advanced genomic tools is required to test our hypothesis. Ecological or phenotypic analyses should be conducted to test whether the observed Nakdong River lineage represents a different or cryptic species, or simply hidden, but excessive, intraspecific diversity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.345-363
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• 2023

The genus Desmodesmus (Chodat) S.S. An, T. Friedl & E. Hegewald is ubiquitous in freshwater ecosystems, such as rivers, ponds, and wetlands. The actual species diversity and distribution of the genus is unknown because of morphological plasticity affected by habitats. Currently, 38 Desmodesmus species have been reported in Korea most of which transferred from the genus Scenedesmus recently, however, no phylogenetic relationships have been studied yet. Despite the challenges in analyzing relationships among Desmodesmus species through the morphology, ecology, and original description, this study focused on examining species-level relationships using the FBCC culture strains isolated from Korea. A total of 299 sequences (66 of 18S rRNA, 47 of atpB, 67 of petA, 52 of rbcL, and 67 of tufA) were newly determined and used for phylogenetic analysis. Four plastid genes tend to have higher variation than 18S rRNA in the variable sites and P-distance. From the combined phylogeny, the Desmodesmus included six clades such as Clade-1: D. pseudoserratus and D. serratus, Clade-2: D. communis, D. dispar, D. maximus, D. pannonicus, unidentified Desmodesmus sp., Clade-3: D. bicaudatus and D. intermedius, Clade-4: D. microspina, D. multivariablis, D. pleiomorphus, D. subspicatus, Clade-5: D. abundans, D. kissii, and D. spinosus, and Clade-6: D. armatus, D. armatus var. longispina, D. opoliensis, unidentified Desmodesmus spp. The new sequence data from FBCC strains will be used to identify species and study the molecular ecology of scenedesmacean green algae in freshwater ecosystems. The phylogenetic information from this study will expand our understanding of Desmodesmus species diversity in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.119-135
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• 2021

Korea has stepped up efforts to investigate and catalog its flora and fauna to conserve the biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula and secure biological resources since the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits (ABS) in 2010. Thus, after its establishment in 2007, the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) of the Ministry of Environment of Korea initiated a project called the Korean Indigenous Species Investigation Project to investigate indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula. For 15 years since its beginning in 2006, this project has been carried out in five phases, Phase 1 from 2006-2008, Phase 2 from 2009-2011, Phase 3 from 2012-2014, Phase 4 from 2015-2017, and Phase 5 from 2018-2020. Before this project, in 2006, the number of indigenous species surveyed was 29,916. The figure was cumulatively aggregated at the end of each phase as 33,253 species for Phase 1 (2008), 38,011 species for Phase 2 (2011), 42,756 species for Phase 3 (2014), 49,027 species for Phase 4 (2017), and 54,428 species for Phase 5(2020). The number of indigenous species surveyed grew rapidly, showing an approximately 1.8-fold increase as the project progressed. These statistics showed an annual average of 2,320 newly recorded species during the project period. Among the recorded species, a total of 5,242 new species were reported in scientific publications, a great scientific achievement. During this project period, newly recorded species on the Korean Peninsula were identified using the recent taxonomic classifications as follows: 4,440 insect species (including 988 new species), 4,333 invertebrate species except for insects (including 1,492 new species), 98 vertebrate species (fish) (including nine new species), 309 plant species (including 176 vascular plant species, 133 bryophyte species, and 39 new species), 1,916 algae species (including 178 new species), 1,716 fungi and lichen species(including 309 new species), and 4,812 prokaryotic species (including 2,226 new species). The number of collected biological specimens in each phase was aggregated as follows: 247,226 for Phase 1 (2008), 207,827 for Phase 2 (2011), 287,133 for Phase 3 (2014), 244,920 for Phase 4(2017), and 144,333 for Phase 5(2020). A total of 1,131,439 specimens were obtained with an annual average of 75,429. More specifically, 281,054 insect specimens, 194,667 invertebrate specimens (except for insects), 40,100 fish specimens, 378,251 plant specimens, 140,490 algae specimens, 61,695 fungi specimens, and 35,182 prokaryotic specimens were collected. The cumulative number of researchers, which were nearly all professional taxonomists and graduate students majoring in taxonomy across the country, involved in this project was around 5,000, with an annual average of 395. The number of researchers/assistant researchers or mainly graduate students participating in Phase 1 was 597/268; 522/191 in Phase 2; 939/292 in Phase 3; 575/852 in Phase 4; and 601/1,097 in Phase 5. During this project period, 3,488 papers were published in major scientific journals. Of these, 2,320 papers were published in domestic journals and 1,168 papers were published in Science Citation Index(SCI) journals. During the project period, a total of 83.3 billion won (annual average of 5.5 billion won) or approximately US $75 million (annual average of US $5 million) was invested in investigating indigenous species and collecting specimens. This project was a large-scale research study led by the Korean government. It is considered to be a successful example of Korea's compressed development as it attracted almost all of the taxonomists in Korea and made remarkable achievements with a massive budget in a short time. The results from this project led to the National List of Species of Korea, where all species were organized by taxonomic classification. Information regarding the National List of Species of Korea is available to experts, students, and the general public (https://species.nibr.go.kr/index.do). The information, including descriptions, DNA sequences, habitats, distributions, ecological aspects, images, and multimedia, has been digitized, making contributions to scientific advancement in research fields such as phylogenetics and evolution. The species information also serves as a basis for projects aimed at species distribution and biological monitoring such as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Moreover, the species information helps bio-industries search for useful biological resources. The most meaningful achievement of this project can be in providing support for nurturing young taxonomists like graduate students. This project has continued for the past 15 years and is still ongoing. Efforts to address issues, including species misidentification and invalid synonyms, still have to be made to enhance taxonomic research. Research needs to be conducted to investigate another 50,000 species out of the estimated 100,000 indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2013

With increasing environmental issues from synthetic chemical herbicides, microbe-originated herbicides could be a fascinating alternative in current agriculture. We isolated Streptomyces strains that produced herbicidal active metabolite(s) against a grass weed Digitaria sanguinalis. According to the result from 16S rDNA sequence comparison with the close strains, the best isolate (Code name MS-80673) was identified as Streptomyces scopuliridis KR-001. The closest type strain was Streptomyces scopuliridis RB72 which was previously reported as a bacteriocin producer. The optimal culture condition of S. scopuliridis KR-001 was $28^{\circ}C$, pH 7.0 and culture period 4 to7 days. Both of soil and foliar application of the crude culture broth concentrate was effective on several troublesome or noxious weed species such as a Sciyos angulatus in a greenhouse and field condition. Phytotoxic symptoms of the culture broth concentrate of S. scopuliridis KR-001 by foliar application were wilting and burndown of leaves, and stems followed by discoloration and finally plant death. In crops such as rice, wheat, barley, hot pepper and tomato, growth inhibition was observed. These results suggest that the new S. scopuliridis KR-001 strain producing herbicidal metabolites may be a new bio-herbicide candidate and/or may provide a new lead molecule for a more efficient herbicide.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.833-847
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• 2016

Drought stress is a major agricultural limitation to crop productivity worldwide, especially by which leafy vegetables, plant leaves eaten as vegetable, could be more lethal. The study was carried out to know the effect of drought tolerance plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) on water stress of kale seedlings. A total of 146 morphologically distinct bacterial colonies were isolated from bulk soil and rhizosphere soil of leafy vegetables and screened for plant growth promoting microbioassay in greenhouse. Out of them the isolate SB19 significantly promoted the growth of kale seedlings in increasement of about 42% of plant height (14.1 cm), 148% of leaf area ($19.0cm^2$) and 138% of shoot fresh weight (1662.5 mg) attained by the bacterially treated plants compared to distilled water treated control (9.9 cm, $7.7cm^2$, 698.8 mg). Shoot water content of SB19 treated kale seedlings (1393.8 mg) was also increased about 152% compared with control (552.5 mg). The SB19 isolated from bulk soil of kale plant in Iksan, Korea, was identified as species of Bacillus based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. We evaluated the effect of drought tolerance by the Bacillus sp. SB19 on kale seedlings at 7th and 14th days following the onset of the water stress and watering was only at 7th day in the middle of test. In the survey of 7th and 14th day, there were mitigation effect of drought stress in kale seedlings treated with $10^6$ and $10^7cell\;mL^{-1}$ of SB19 compared to distilled water treated control. Especially, there were more effective mitigation of drought damage in kale seedlings treated with $10^7cell\;mL^{-1}$ than $10^6cell\;mL^{-1}$. Further, although drought injury of bacterially treated kale seedlings were not improved at 14th day compared with 7th day, drought injury of $10^7cell\;mL^{-1}$ of SB19 treated kale seedlings were not happen rapidly but developed over a longer period of time than $10^6cell\;mL^{-1}$ of SB19 or control. The diffidence of results might be caused by the concentration of bacterial suspension. This study suggests that beneficial plant-microbe interaction could be a important role of enhancement of water availability and also provide a good method for improving quality of leafy vegetables under water stress conditions.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2013

The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, is an economically important pest for greenhouse crops because they cause direct damage by feeding on plant nutrients and indirect damage as transmits many virus vectors. It has recently become a serious problem because of the continuous use of insecticide resulting in resistance among greenhouse whitefly population. To overcome these problems, in this study, the biological characteristics and virulence of an entomopathogenic fungus isolated from the cadaver of nymph greenhouse whitefly were investigated. Isolated fungus was identified as Isaria fumosorosea by morphological examinations and genetic identification using sequences of the ITS, ${\beta}$-tubulin, and EF1-${\alpha}$ regions. This fungus was named as I. fumosorosea SDTv and tested for the virulence against nymphs T. vaporariorum and the cold activity, the thermotolerance and the stability of UV-B irradiation on conidia. Mortality rate of greenhouse whitefly showed from 84 to 100% and the virulence increased with increasing conidial concentrations, $1{\times}10^5$ to $10^8$ conidia/ml. Conidia were stable at $35^{\circ}C$, 0.1 $J/cm^2$ of UV irradiation and germinated after 8 days at $4^{\circ}C$. Additionally, the activities of chitinases and proteases produced by I. fumosorosea SDTv were varied according to the medium. In conclusion, I. fumosorosea SDTv which showed high mortality rate against greenhouse whitefly will be used effectively in the integrated pest management programs against the greenhouse whitefly.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2005

Corynebacterial clones which exert regulatory effects on the expression of the glyoxylate bypass genes were isolated using a reporter plasmid carrying the enteric lacZ fused to the aceB promoter of Corynebacterium glutamicum. Some clones carried common fragments as turned out by DNA mapping technique. Subcloning analysis followed by the measurement of $\beta-galactosidase$ activity in Escherichia coli identified the region responsible for the aceB-repressing activity. Sequence analysis of the DNA fragment identified two independent ORFs of ORF1 and ORF2. Among them, ORF2 was turned out to be responsible for the aceB-repressing activity. ORF1 encoded a 23,216 Da protein composed of 206 amino acids. Sequence similarity search indicated that the ORF may encode a ECF-type $\sigma$ factor and designated sigH. To identify the function of sigH, C. glutamicum sigH mutant was constructed by gene disruption technique and the sigH mutant showed growth retardation as compared to the wild type strain. In addition, the mutant strain showed sensitivity to oxidative-stress generating agent plumbagin. This result imply that sigH is probably involved in the stress response occurring during normal cell growth.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.227-235
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• 2016

Plant disease caused by root-knot nematode is a major problem in crop production. Using of chemical pesticides, one of the most efficient methods to control nematodes, have raised issues in toxicity to humans and animals and environmental pollution. In this study, to select actinomycete strains that have potential to serve as a microbial agent for control of nematodes, we investigated nematicidal activity of culture broth from 670 Streptomyces isolates. A culture filtrate of KRA15-528 isolate that was identified as S. flavogriseus on the basis of 16S rRNA sequence analysis, showed strong nematicidal activity against second stage of juveniles of Meloidogyne incognita and inhibited egg hatching; exposure to 10% of culture filtrate resulted in 71% juvenile mortality at 48 hours afters treatment and suppressed egg hatching by 54% at 9 days after treatment. When the KRA15-528 culture filtrate was partitioned with ethyl acetate and butanol, ethyl acetate layer exclusively showed strong activity; 91%, 53%, 30% of mortality at 1,000, 500, $250{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. Additionally, the culture filtrate suppressed gall formation on cucumber plant by M. incognita with no phytotoxicity. These results suggest that S. flavogriseus KRA15-528 has potential to serve as a microbial nematicide for the control of root-knot nematode disease.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.215-224
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• 2013

We clarified the background for establishment of vegetation by comparing the spatial distribution maps of vegetation and substrate on a gravel bar in the Bangtae stream located on Inje-gun of Gangwon-do, the central eastern Korea. The total vegetation coverage was higher in the interior and lower in the marginal parts of the gravel bar. Spatial distribution of vegetation on the longitudinal section of the gravel bar tended to be arranged in the order of shrub, subtree, and tree dominated vegetation types from the front (upstream) toward the rear (downstream) parts. Coverage of the herbaceous plants was higher in the central and rear parts and lower in the front and right parts of the gravel bar. Vegetation height was higher in the rear part and became lowered as move toward the front part. Substrate was distributed in the order of boulder, gravel, sand, and boulder from the front toward the rear parts. Ordination of stands based on vegetation data was arranged in the order of annual plant, perennial herb, shrub, and tree dominated vegetation as move from the right to the left parts on the axis I. Species richness was higher in the order of Pinus densiflora community, Phragmites japonica community, Salix gracilistyla community, Fraxinus rhynchophylla community, annual plant dominated vegetation, and Prunus padus for. padus community based on the species rank-abundance curve. The order based on the Shannon's index was some different; diversity of Phragmites japonica community and Salix gracilistyla community, which showed higher dominance degree, were low differently from species richness. In conclusion, it was evaluated that the gravel bar newly established toward the upstream and vegetation dynamics of the gravel bar seemed to follow ecosystem mechanisms of succession. As were shown in the above results, the Bangtae stream corresponded to the upstream and thereby particle size of substrate was big. Therefore, they move by rolling and are accumulated for the upstream. Vegetation types were arranged in the order of woodland, shrub-land and grassland from the rear toward the front parts of the gravel bar and thereby reflected the formation process of the bar. However, the gravel bar is disturbed frequently by not only the running water but also the suspended sand as the dynamic space. Such disturbances cause habitat diversity and consequently led to high biodiversity.