• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2013

Genome-wide association study was performed on data from 266 Hanwoo steers derived from 66 sire using bovine 10K mapping chip in Hanwoo (Korean Cattle). SNPs were excluded from the analysis if they failed in over 5% of the genotypes, had median GC scores below 0.6, had GC scores under 0.6 in less than 90% of the samples, deviated in heterozygosity more than 3 standard deviations from the other SNPs and were out of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for a cutoff p-value of $1^{-15}$. Unmapped and SNPs on sex chromosomes were also excluded. A total of 4,522 SNPs were included in the analysis. To test an association between SNP and QTL, GWAS for five genetic mode (additive, dominant, overdominant, recessive and codominant) was implemented in this study. Three SNPs (rs29018694, ss46526851 and rs29018222) at a threshold p< $1.11{\times}10^{-5}$ were detected on BTA12 and BTA21 for dressing percentages in codominant and recessive genetic mode. The G allele for rs29018694 has 4.9% higher dressing percentage than A allele, while the T allele for ss46526851 has 2.57 % higher dressing percentage than C allele. Therefore, rs29018694 SNP showed a bigger effect than the other two SNPs (ss46526851 and rs29018222) in this study. In conclusion, this study identifies three loci with moderate effects and many loci with infinitesimally small effect across genome in Hanwoo.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2018

Norovirus infection is a leading cause of nonbacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks. New variants of GII.4 have emerged approximately every 2~3 years and have caused norovirus gastroenteritis pandemics globally. In this study, analysis and molecular genetic characteristics of the norovirus gastroenteritis outbreaks 2,917 samples in Gyeonggi-Do from 2014 to 2015. As a result, 247 samples out of 2,917 samples are positive for norovirus. Norovirus molecular genetic characteristics of the GI 8 types (GI-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14), GII 10 types (GII - 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17). Genome sequences of isolated noroviruses were similar to those of new GII.17 Kawasaki 2014 variants with 96.6 identity, suggesting that these viruses were imported from overseas. 44% of virus incidence was originated from school meal service. Therefore, a continuous monitoring and school sanitation should be required for preventing a massive virus outbreak.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2021

In this study, of the imported shrimps between 2017 and 2020, we investigated white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), covert mortality nodavirus (CMNV) and decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV-1). Of the imported shrimps (a total of 29 groups), WSSV was detected as 31% (9/29) by nested PCR assay. And CMNV and DIV-1 were not identified in this study. To investigate the genetic relatedness of WSSV identified from imported shrimp, VR 14/15 region showed WSSV genomic variable loci was compared with reference isolates. Among the nine WSSV-positive samples, VR 14/15 region was amplified in only a sample (20-CH-1 isolate, imported from China in 2020). And the 20-CH-1 isolate showed 99.8% identity with WSSV-IN-05-01 which was reported in India in 2005, suggesting that those of WSSV have been spread from India to China. Furthermore, although the pathogenicity of WSSV identified from frozen shrimp was not evaluated, the international trade of diseased frozen shrimps could be led to the potential risk of virus transmission.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.118-126
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• 2019

The taxonomic rank of the tiny-leaved terrestrial orchid Cephalanthera subaphylla Miyabe & $Kud{\hat{o}}$ has been somewhat controversial, as it has been treated as a species or as an infraspecific taxon, under C. erecta (Thunb.) Blume [C. erecta var. subaphylla (Miyabe & $Kud{\hat{o}}$) Ohwi and C. erecta f. subaphylla (Miyabe & $Kud{\hat{o}}$) M. Hiro]. Allozyme markers, traditionally employed for delimiting species boundaries, are used here to gain information for determining the taxonomic status of C. subaphylla. To do this, we sampled three populations of five taxa (a total of 15 populations) of Cephalanthera native to the Korean Peninsula [C. erecta, C. falcata (Thunb.) Blume, C. longibracteata Blume, C. longifolia (L.) Fritsch, and C. subaphylla]. Among 20 putative loci resolved, three were monomorphic (Dia-2, Pgi-1, and Tpi-1) across the five species. Apart from C. longibracteata, there was no allozyme variation within the remaining four species. Of the 51 alleles harbored by these 17 polymorphic loci, each of the 27 alleles at 14 loci was unique to a single species. Accordingly, we found low average values of Nei's genetic identities (I) between ten species pairs (from I = 0.250 for C. erecta versus C. longifolia to I = 0.603 for C. falcata vs. C. longibracteata), with C. subaphylla being genetically clearly differentiated from the other species (from I = 0.349 for C. subaphylla vs. C. longifolia to 0.400 for C. subaphylla vs. C. falcata). These results clearly indicate that C. subaphylla is not genetically related to any of the other taxa of Cephalanthera that are native to the Korean Peninsula, including C. erecta. In a principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), C. subaphylla was positioned distant not only from C. falcata, C. longibracteata, and C. longifolia, but also from C. erecta. Finally, K = 5 was the best clustering scheme using a Bayesian approach, with five clusters precisely corresponding to the five taxa. Thus, our allozyme results strongly suggest that C. subaphylla merits the rank of species.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2021

The phylogenetic relationships among thirty-two strains (P1~P32; including Cordyceps sp., Paecilomyces sp., Beauveria sp., Aranthomyces sp., Isaria sp. and Himenostilbe sp.) in Miryang region located in the southern part of Korea, were investigated based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of ribosomal DNA. A fragment of ITS region was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the specific primer pairs ITS1 and ITS4. After obtained same size of PCR products from various strains, we cloned them into a pGEM-T easy vector to determine their sequences. BLAST analyses of the nucleotide sequence ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 gene fragments revealed the identity and their phylogenetic relationship. Among 32 strains isolated from Miryang region, Cordyceps militaris was shared 100% sequences with Genbank (AY49191, EU825999, AY491992), while some species are not shared perfectly with reported sequences. For example, strain P17 (P. tenuipes in Ulju-gun Gaji Mountain) has some differences among the other strains of P. tenuipes (Miryang-si Jocheon-eup, Miryang-si Gaji Mountain) and those of gene bank. We conclude that ITS analyses with strains in the suburbs of Miryang in this study can be effectively used as a tool for classification, evaluation and collection of the natural eco-type genetic resources.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 2023

Objective: In this study, we aimed to position the Hungarian Merino among other Merinoderived sheep breeds, explore the characteristics of our sampled animals' genetic similarity network within the breed, and highlight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with daily weight-gain. Methods: Hungarian Merino (n = 138) was genotyped on Ovine SNP50 Bead Chip (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) and positioned among 30 Merino and Merino-derived breeds (n = 555). Population characteristics were obtained via PLINK, SVS, Admixture, and Treemix software, within-breed network was analysed with python networkx 2.3 library. Daily weight gain of Hungarian Merino was standardised to 60 days and was collected from the database of the Association of Hungarian Sheep and Goat Breeders. For the identification of loci associated with daily weight gain, a multi-locus mixed-model was used. Results: Supporting the breed's written history, the closest breeds to Hungarian Merino were Estremadura and Rambouillet (pairwise F_ST values are 0.035 and 0.036, respectively). Among Hungarian Merino, a highly centralised connectedness has been revealed by network analysis of pairwise values of identity-by-state, where the animal in the central node had a betweenness centrality value equal to 0.936. Probing of daily weight gain against the SNP data of Hungarian Merinos revealed five associated loci. Two of them, OAR8_17854216.1 and s42441.1 on chromosome 8 and 9 (-log₁₀P>22, false discovery rate<5.5e-20) and one locus on chromosome 20, s28948.1 (-log₁₀P = 13.46, false discovery rate = 4.1e-11), were close to the markers reported in other breeds concerning daily weight gain, six-month weight, and post-weaning gain. Conclusion: The position of Hungarian Merino among other Merino breeds has been determined. We have described the similarity network of the individuals to be applied in breeding practices and highlighted several markers useful for elevating the daily weight gain of Hungarian Merino.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.169-175
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• 2014

There are 60 species of blood-feeding land leeches, 50 species belonging to the family Haemadipsidae and 10 species belonging to the family Xerobdellidae. Despite recent papers on the land leeches, their taxonomic identification is not fully understood, especially at a species level. In Korea, there have been no historical records of the terrestrial leeches, but recently an unrecorded blood-feeding land leech was discovered at Gageo-do (Island), Korea. Molecular analysis was used to identify the species of 29 leeches collected from Mt. Dock-Sil in Gageo-do. Conventional PCR was conducted using nuclear 18S rRNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) genetic marker. The 18S rRNA sequences revealed that the leeches share 99.9% identity with Haemadipsa rjukjuana (inhabiting Taiwan), and the CO1 sequences revealed that the leeches are very close to H. rjukjuana (inhabiting Taiwan). The CO1 sequences were separated into 2 categories, 1 with 94.6% and the other with 94.3% similarity to the H. rjukjuana L00115A (inhabiting Taiwan). This new finding of the land leech is the first record in Korea. In addition, the north range of the distribution of the blood-feeding leech (Hirudiniformes: Haemadipisidae) should be reconsidered including Korea.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.782-792
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• 2016

As the most common neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are two of the main health concerns for the elderly population. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been used as biomarkers of infectious, genetic, and metabolic diseases in humans but they have not been well studied in domestic animals. Here we describe a computational biology study in which human AD- and PD-associated miRNAs (ADM and PDM) were utilized to predict orthologous miRNAs in the following domestic animal species: dog, cow, pig, horse, and chicken. In this study, a total of 121 and 70 published human ADM and PDM were identified, respectively. Thirty-seven miRNAs were co-regulated in AD and PD. We identified a total of 105 unrepeated human ADM and PDM that had at least one 100% identical animal homolog, among which 81 and 54 showed 100% sequence identity with 241 and 161 domestic animal miRNAs, respectively. Over 20% of the total mature horse miRNAs (92) showed perfect matches to AD/PD-associated miRNAs. Pigs, dogs, and cows have similar numbers of AD/PD-associated miRNAs (63, 62, and 59). Chickens had the least number of perfect matches (34). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses suggested that humans and dogs are relatively similar in the functional pathways of the five selected highly conserved miRNAs. Taken together, our study provides the first evidence for better understanding the miRNA-AD/PD associations in domestic animals, and provides guidance to generate domestic animal models of AD/PD to replace the current rodent models.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.129-138
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• 1999

If rumen bacteria can be manipulated to utilize nutrients (i.e., ammonia and plant cell wall carbohydrates) more completely and efficiently, the need for protein supplementation can be reduced or eliminated and the digestion of fiber in forage or agricultural residue-based diets could be enhanced. However, these approaches require a complete and accurate description of the rumen community, as well as methods for the rapid and accurate detection of microbial density, diversity, phylogeny, and gene expression. Molecular ecology techniques based on small subunit (SSU) rRNA sequences, nucleic acid probes and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can potentially provide a complete description of the microbial ecology of the rumen of ruminant animals. The development of these molecular tools will result in greater insights into community structure and activity of gut microbial ecosystems in relation to functional interactions between different bacteria, spatial and temporal relationships between different microorganisms and between microorganisms and reed panicles. Molecular approaches based on SSU rRNA serve to evaluate the presence of specific sequences in the community and provide a link between knowledge obtained from pure cultures and the microbial populations they represent in the rumen. The successful development and application of these methods promises to provide opportunities to link distribution and identity of gastrointestinal microbes in their natural environment with their genetic potential and in situ activities. The use of approaches for assessing pupulation dynamics as well as for assessing community functionality will result in an increased understanding and a complete description of the gastrointestinal communities of production animals fed under different dietary regimes, and lead to new strategies for improving animal growth.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.662-671
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• 2015

To enrich the genetic resource of microbial xylanases with high activity and stability under alkaline conditions, a xylanase gene (xynSL4) was cloned from Planococcus sp. SL4, an alkaline xylanase-producing strain isolated from the sediment of soda lake Dabusu. Deduced XynSL4 consists of a putative signal peptide of 29 residues and a catalytic domain (30-380 residues) of glycosyl hydrolase family 10, and shares the highest identity of 77% with a hypothetical protein from Planomicrobium glaciei CHR43. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that deduced XynSL4 is closely related with thermophilic and alkaline xylanases from Geobacillus and Bacillus species. The gene xynSL4 was expressed heterologously in Escherichia coli and the recombinant enzyme showed some superior properties. Purified recombinant XynSL4 (rXynSL4) was highly active and stable over the neutral and alkaline pH range from 6 to 11, with maximum activity at pH 7 and more than 60% activity at pH 11. It had an apparent temperature optimum of 70℃ and retained stable at this temperature in the presence of substrate. rXynSL4 was highly halotolerant, retaining more than 55% activity with 0.25-3.0 M NaCl and was stable at the concentration of NaCl up to 4M. The enzyme activity was significantly enhanced by β-mercaptoethanol and Ca²⁺ but strongly inhibited by heavy-metal ions and SDS. This thermophilic and alkaline- and salt-tolerant enzyme has great potential for basic research and industrial applications.