• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 1980

The distribution pattern of mineral nutrients, among various Parts of Korea ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) was investigated to understand ginseng nutrition by simple correlation analysis. Five·year old ginseng plants grown under four different nutritional environments were sampled and separated into leaf, petiole, stem, rhizome, cortex and epidermis of tap foot, central part of tap root, cortex and epidermis of lateral root, central part of lateral root, fine root in the middle of truly, for chemical analysis. Between mineral nutrients in root, N and P showed highly significant positive correlation each other and with Mg and Cu while all other elements (K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B) showed highly significant positive correlation each other. In shoot, number of mineral nutrient pairs haying significant relation was much less than in root. (Negative: P with Ca or B, K with N, Fe, Mn or Cu, Positive: N with Mg, Fe, Mn or Cu, K with Zn, Ca with Mg, Zn, or B, Fe Mn Cu each other, Mn with B.) The number of pairs having significant correlation in whole plant was approximately the same as the number in root but three of them showed significant negative correlation. The distribution pattern similarity of mineral contents among various parts was also discussed in relation to physiological significance in Korea ginseng plant.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 1996

In order to study effects of Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) saponin fraction on polyamine metabolism in rat organs, Korean ginseng saponin fraction was administrated to rats for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 months and brain, liver, prostate, spleen and testis were removed from these rats. Two enzyme activities were measured from those organs; ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), which is a regulatory enzyme of putrescence biosynthesis and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC), which is also a regulatory enzyme of spermidine and spermine biosynthesis. The amounts of polyamine were also determined. As for prostate and testis organs, Korean ginseng saponin fraction was innocuous for ODC and SAMDC activities from rats fed for 1 and 2 months. However, after 3 months, the stimulatory effect on the activities of two enzyme gradually increased in test groups and reached its maximum in 12 months. The contents of spermidine and spermlne of test groups in prostate and testis were also much higher than those of control groups. Another stimulatory effect on the activities of two enzymes was observed in liver and reached its maximum in 6 months. In the other organs such as brain and spleen, the enzymes were turned out to be not affected by feeding Korean ginseng saponin fraction. From the cumulative results, the stimulatory effect of Korean ginseng saponin fraction on polyamine metabolism was observed in prostate, testis and liver.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.167-170
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• 2001

Experiments were conducted to study the optimum chilling period for breaking physiological dormancy of dehisced ginseng(Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) seed. Embryo of ginseng seed is too small to be noticed with naked eyed on harvesting time. Embryo grew to half size of endosperm after seeds were stratified for 3 months. It takes 6 months for this embryo to reach the size enough for germination. And it grew faster indoors than outdoors. Dehisced ginseng seed with full-size embryo did not germinate at room temperature and required chilling treatment for 75days in outdoors and 90 days in cold chamber. While seed receiving sufficient chilling treatment were left to be in room temperature, the chilling effect decreased remarkably.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.146.1-146.1
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• 2003

A major protein was isolated from ginseng root (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) using a combination of ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration chromatography, ion-exchange FPLC. Electrophoretic and gel permeation chromatographic studies revealed that the major protein, GMP, is composed of two subunits of approximately 28 kDa. In this, investigated the ability of GMP to inhibit the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). GMP inhibited $Cu^{2+}$ (5$\mu$M)-promoted oxidation of LDL (125$\mu$g protein/mL) in a dose-dependent mamer (0~5 $\mu$M), with a maximal inhibitor at GMP/copper ratio of 1:10 and an $IC_{50}$ value of 0.2 $\mu$M, as determined by measurement TBARS. (omitted)

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 1995

Molecular cloning and restriction mapping on ATPase $\alpha$-subunit gene (atpA) were carried out to obtain genomic information concerned with the gene structure and organization in Korean ginseng mitochondria. Two different clones containing the homologous sequence of atpA gene were selected from SalI and PstI libraries of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Korean ginseng. The sizes of mtDNA fragments inserted in SalI and PstI clones were 3.4 kb and 13 kb, respectively. Southern blot analysis with [$^{32}P$] labelled Oenothera atPA gene probe showed that atpA gene sequence was located in 2.0 kb XkaI fragment in PstI clone and in 1.7 kb XbaI fragment in SalI clone. A partial sequening ascertained that the SalI clone included about 1.2 kb fragment from SalI restriction site to C-terminal sequence of this gene but about 0.3 kb N-terminal sequence of open reading frame was abscent. The PstI fragment was enough large to cover the full sequence of atpA gene. The same restriction pattern of the overlapped region suggests that both clones include the same fragment of atiA locus. Data of Southern blot analysis and partial nucleotide sequencing suggested that mtDNA of Korean ginseng has a single copy of atpA gene. Key words ATPase a-subunit, mitochondrial DNA, Panax ginseng.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.174-179
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• 2006

A cDNA library was constructed from leaf samples of 4-year-old Panax ginseng cultured in a field. 3,000 EST from a size selected leaf cDNA library were analyzed. The 349 of 2,896 cDNA clones has related with energy metabolism genes. The 349 known genes were categorized into nine groups according to their functional classification, aerobic respiration(48.4%), accessory proteins of electron transport and membrane associated energy conservation(17.2%), glycolysis and gluconeogenesis(3.4%), electron transport and membrane associated energy conservation(2.9%), respiration(2.0%), glycolysis methylglyoxal bypass(1.7%), metabolism of energy reserves(0.6%) and alcohol fermentation(0.3%).

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1984.09a
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• pp.63-74
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• 1984

Preventive effect of the saponin fraction extracted from Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer against ethanol intoxication of the liver has been investigated biochemically and morphologically. Previous work in this laboratory showed that the moderate amounts of ginseng sponins stimulated several enzymes including mitochondrial dehydrogenases and transaminases so far examined in vitro. It was also realized that the half life of the saponin in the liver was estimated approximately five hours and the saponin concentration in the liver was around $10^{-5}\%$ level at two hours after the saponin (1mg) administration orally. In this study, it was confirmed that ginseng saponins stimulated alcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase and microsomal ethanol oxidizing system in vivo as well as in vitro. It seemed likely that toxic aldehyde formed during ethanol oxidation in the body might be removed relatively quickly from the liver and the excess hydrogen was used for the biosynthetic work in the presence of the saponin, resulting in the liver protection from alcohol intoxication. Electron microscopic observation demonstrated that the hepatocytes of rats doses with $12\%$ ethanol instead of water for six days were found severely damaged while those of the ginseng saponin administered rats were not impaired suggesting that the sapcnin protected the liver against ethanol intoxication.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 1999

To elucidate the relationship between in vitro flowering and the structure of cytokinins in ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer), zygotic embryos, seedlings, and cotyledonary nodes were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 5 $\mu$M of various cytokinins (BA, kinetin, 2-iP, and zeatin) with or without GA$_3$ (5 $\mu$M). The frequency of in vitro flowering was the highest when explants were cultured on the medium containing BA regardless of the kinds of explants, followed by kinetin, 2-iP, and zeatin. Flowering frequency of cotyledonary node explants was significantly increased by the combined treatment of cytokinin and GA$_3$. Flowering frequency was highly correlated with the logP of cytokinins, indicating that the lipophilicity of each cytokinin may involved in the in vitro flowering of ginseng.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.215-219
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• 2006

This study was carried out to obtain the basic information for non-saponin contents that can be used to index fresh ginseng roots (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) cultivated in the Republic of Korea and China. Non-saponin components in fresh gingeng roots which were cultivated in various areas and ages in Korea were determined. Acidic polysaccharide, total polysaccharide, crude polyacetylene were quantitatively analyzed by using the method of spectrophotometric determination, while the total protein was analyzed by using Lowry method. The results show that there were no statistically significant differences for the average contents of four non-saponins among 4-years-old, 5-years-old, and 6-years-old fresh ginseng roots. Additionally, this study assessed the average contents of non-saponin components in 4-years-old fresh ginseng roots (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) which were cultivated in Korea and China. The result showed that the average contents of crude polyacetylene and acidic polysaccharide were statistically significant. Four-years-old fresh ginseng roots cultivated in Korea had the higher average contents of crude polyacetylene and acidic polysaccharide than those cultivated in China. However the average contents of total polysaccharide and total protein had no statistically significant difference.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.114-119
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• 2008

Terpene synthase plays a key role in biosynthesis of triterpene saponins (ginsenosides) and is intermediate in the biosynthesis of a number of secondary metabolites. A terpene synthase (PgTPS) cDNA was isolated and characterized from the root of Panax ginseng c.A. Meyer. The deduced amino acid sequence of PgTPS showed a similarity with A. deliciosa (AAX16121) 61%, V. vinifera (AAS66357) 61%, L. hirsutum (AAG41891) 55%, M. truncatula (AAV36464) 52%. And the segment of a terpene synthase gene was amplified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR). We studied expression of terpene synthase under stressful conditions like chilling, salt, UV, and heavy metal stress treatment. Expression of PgTPS was increased gradually after exposure to stresses such as chilling, salt, and UV illumination. But its transcription seems to be reduced by cadmium and copper treatment.