• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.171-174
• /
• 1985

Panax ginseng root has been widely used as an important drug for thousands years in China, Korea and Japan. The main effective components of ginseng have been believed to be saponins. However, ginseng cultivation is very difficult and needs many years for growth. It has already been shown that Panax ginseng callus produces a considerable amount of the same kinds of saponins as in intact plants. Various culture conditions were examined for increased production of ginseng saponins by cell culture. The saponin contents and the growth rates in two cell lines of ginseng callus were compared in static and suspension cultures, rotary and reciprocal shaking cultures. It was shown that the growth rate in rotary shaking cultures of D5-B2K-B2K callus was the highest and ginseng saponin production was most effective in reciprocal cultures of D5-B2K-B2K callus. The saponin content per fresh weight of the culture was 1.03 times higher than that of the fresh ginseng root.

• Journal of Plant Biology
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.295-315
• /
• 1986

Structure and differentiation mechanism of the seed coat of Panax ginseng are studied with light and electron microscopes to clarify the developmental processes of seed coat and the structural changes during the differentiation of the seed. The seed coat of ginseng is differentiated from the inner cell layers of ovary wall, which can be compared with the seed coat differentiated from integument(s) in other plants. The single integument is differentiated into endothelium, which is degenerated to one layer of 4${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in thickness, composed of remants of cell wall components in fully ripened seed. The ripened seed coat is composed of three layers; fringe layer, inner layer and palisade layer, and all of the them are crossed at right angles with one another. This may be the cause of protection of the kernel from other mechanical injuries. The thickness of fully ripened seed coat is about 300~600 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and arrangements of sclereids are irregular. However, the raphe region of seed coat is thin about 200 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in thickness and sclereids in that region are arranged regularly. This is the important cause for the cleavage of the seed coat during post-maturation process. The vascular bundles on the raphe are still remaining after sarcocarps are removed, and one of the branches of vascular bundles entered into the seed coat through the hilum and extended to chalazal region. During post-maturation process, the supply of water being necessary for growth of embryo may be accompolished by the vascular bundles entered into the seed coat through the opened hilum.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.47-50
• /
• 2010

The common DNA extraction methods are indispensable for genotyping by molecular marker analysis. However, genotyping a large number of plants is painstaking. A modified 'NaOH-Tris' method used in this study reduces the extraction time while keeping the cost low and avoiding the use of hazardous chemicals. The endpoint analysis by realtime PCR tends to be fast and effective for the development of SNP markers linked to the 'Chunpoong' cultivar of Panax ginseng. The 'Chunpoong' marker was developed by a major latex-like protein gene sequence. From our results, we suggest that this method is successful in distinguishing 'Chunpoong' from a large number of ginseng cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.261-267
• /
• 2008

Malate dehydrogenase is a ubiquitous enzyme in plants, involving in a range of metabolic processes depending on its subcellular location. A malate dehydrogenase (PgMDH) cDNA was isolated and characterized from the root of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer. The deduced amino acid sequence of PgMDH showed high similarity with the NAD-dependent mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase from Glycinemax (P17783), Eucalyptus gunnii (P46487), and Lycopersicon esculentum (AAU29198). And the segment of a malate dehydrogenase gene was amplified through RT-PCR. The expression of PgMDH was increased after treatments of chilling, salt, UV, cadmium or copper treatment.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.171-177
• /
• 2022

The precise homeostatic regulation of local auxin accumulation in xylem precursors of cambium stem cell tissues is one of the most important mechanisms for plant vascular patterning and radial secondary growth. Walls are thin (WAT1), a novel intracellular auxin transporter, contributes directly to the auxin accumulation maxima in xylem precursors. According to recent research, the auxin signaling activated pathway-related gene network was significantly enriched during the secondary growth of Panax ginseng storage roots. These imply that during P. ginseng root secondary growth, specific signaling mechanisms for local auxin maxima in the vascular cambial cells are probably triggered. This study identified four WAT1-like genes, PgWAT1-1/-2 and PgWAT2-1/-2, in the P. ginseng genome. Their expression levels were greatly increased in nitratetreated storage roots stimulated for secondary root growth. PgWAT1-1 and PgWAT2-1 were similar to WAT1 from Arabidopsis and tomato plants in terms of their subcellular localization at a tonoplast and predicted transmembrane topology. We discovered that overexpression of PgWAT1-1 and PgWAT2-1 was sufficient to compensate for the secondary growth defects observed in slwat1-copi loss of function tomato mutants. This critical information from the PgWAT1-1 and PgWAT2-1 genes can potentially be used in future P. ginseng genetic engineering and breeding for increased crop yield.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.50
• /
• pp.225-231
• /
• 2023

Cold stress is one of the most vulnerable environmental stresses that affect plant growth and crop yields. With the recent advancements in genetic approaches using Arabidopsis and other model systems, genes involved in cold-stress response have been identified and the key cold signaling factors have been characterized. Exposure to low-temperature stress triggers the activation of a set of genes known as cold regulatory (COR) genes. This activation process plays a crucial role in enhancing the resistance of plants to cold and freezing stress. The inducer of the C-repeatbinding factor (CBF) expression 1-CBF module (ICE1-CBF module) is a key cold signaling pathway regulator that enhances the expression of downstream COR genes; however, this signaling module in Panax ginseng remains elusive. Here, we identified cold-signaling-related genes, PgCBF1, PgCBF3, and PgICE1 and conducted functional genomic analysis with a heterologous system. We confirmed that the overexpression of cold- PgCBF3 in the cbf1/2/3 triple Arabidopsis mutant compensated for the cold stress-induced deficiency of COR15A and salt-stress tolerance. In addition, nuclearlocalized PgICE1 has evolutionarily conserved phosphorylation sites that are modulated by brassinsteroid insensitive 2 (PgBIN2) and sucrose non-fermenting 1 (SNF1)-related protein kinase 3 (PgSnRK3), with which it physically interacted in a yeast two-hybrid assay. Overall, our data reveal that the regulators identified in our study, PgICE1 and PgCBFs, are evolutionarily conserved in the P. ginseng genome and are functionally involved in cold and abiotic stress responses.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
• /
• v.3
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2021

Panax ginseng (Ginseng or Korean ginseng) is one of the most important medicinal herbs in the world. We made a high-quality whole genome sequence of P. ginseng using 'Chunpoong' cultivar, which is the first cultivar registered in Korea Seed and Variety Service (KSVS) with relatively similar genotypes and superior phenotypes, representing approximately 3 Gbp and 60,000 genes. Genome sequence analyses of P. ginseng and related speciesrevealed the origin of Korean ginseng and the ecological adaptation of 18 Panax species around the world. Korean ginseng and American ginseng (P. quinquefolius) are tetraploid species having 24 chromosome pairs, while the other 16 species are diploid species with 12 chromosome pairs. Panax and Aralia are the closest genera belonging to the Araliaceae family that diverged approximately 8 million years ago (MYA). All Panax species evolved as shade plants adapting to cool climates and low light conditions under the canopy of deep forests from Southeast Asia such as Vietnam to Northeast Asia such as Russia approximately 6 MYA. However, through recurrent ice ages and global warming, most diploid Panax species disappeared due to the freezing winter, while tetraploid P. ginseng may have appeared by allotetraploidization, which contributed to the adaptation to cold temperaturesin Northeast Asian countries including the Korea peninsula approximately 2 MYA. American ginseng evolved by the adaptation of P. ginseng in Northeast America after the intercontinental migration 1 MYA. Meanwhile, most of diploid Panax species survived in high-altitude mountains over 1,600 meters in Southeast Asia because they could not endure the hot temperature and freezing cold. The genome sequence provides good basisto unveil the origin and evolution of ginseng and also supports practical gene chips which is useful for breeding and the ginseng industry.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.125-129
• /
• 2009

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and Parkinson's disease, are caused by neuronal cell death. Apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, excitotoxicity or ischemia are discussed to play a role of neuronal cell death. In order to find the candidate of neuroprotective agent, neuroprotective activity of some medicinal plants was investigated with in vitro assay system using glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in primary cultures of rat cortical cells. The aqueous methanolic extracts of twenty-seven medicinal plants were evaluated the protective effects against glutamate-injured excitotoxicity in rat cortical cells at the concentration of 50 $\mu$g/ml and 100 $\mu$g/ml, respectively. Among them, extracts of Lonicera japonica, Taraxacum platycarpum, Polygonum aviculare, Gardenia jasminoides, Forsythia viridissima, Lygodium japonicum, Panax notoginseng, Akebia quinata, Anemarrhena asphodeloides and Phellodendron amurense showed significantly neuroprotective activities against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in primary rat cortical cells.

• Plant Resources
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 2001

Many plant species are used in China in tradtional medicine for the prevention and treatment of cancer. This paper presents some of these species with defals on other pharmacologic evaluation and its tradional Chinese meditional uses. The known bioaktivities and some chemical constituents of each of the species given. Information on bioactivities of each species resulting from tests on experimental animals are given. Many of the known chemical constituents of each species are given. Various species of plants elective for various types. In this meeting I will present on some antitumor of the plants which are as follows ; (1) Akebia trifoliata(Thunb.)Koidz. ((2) Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F, H, Chen ., (3)Ziziphus jujuba Mill., (4)coriotus versicolor(Fr.) Quel., (5) Trich osanthes kirilowii Maxim., (6) Ficus carica Linnaeus., (7) Acanthopanax senticosus(Rupr. et Maxim.)Harms.,(5) Hibiscus mutabilis Linnaeus.,(9) Arctium lappa Linnaeus., (11) Agrimonia pilose Ledebour and (12) Hedyotis diffusa Willd.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.152-159
• /
• 1999

A CAB cDNA clone(pKGCAB) encoding the light harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein of the semi-shade plant, Korean ginseng(Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) was isolated by the one-way path random sequencing of ginseng cDNA library clones and transgenic tobacco plants(Nicotiana tabacum NC82) were produced by the transformation of this ginseng CAB gene in use of Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404. The CAB gene showed type 1 structure of LHCP-II, 84% similarity in nucleotide sequence and 92% in amino acid sequence to that of Nicotiana tabacum CAB40, respectively. Seed germination and initial growth of the transgenic tobacco plants transformed with the cDNA fragment were accelerated under low light intensity compared with those of normal tobacco plant, that may result from the higher light sensitivity of the transgenic plants than that of the normal.