• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the effect of water extract from rice bran (RB) on ADP ($20{\mu}M$)-stimulated platelet aggregation. RB dose-dependently inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation, and its $IC_{50}$ value was $224.0{\mu}g/mL$, which was increased by adenylate cyclase inhibitor SQ22536 and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS. RB elevated the phosphorylation of VASP ($Ser^{157}$) which was also inhibited by SQ22536 and Rp-8-Br-cAMPS. It is thought that RB-elevated cAMP contributed to the phosphorylation of VASP ($Ser^{157}$) to inhibit ADP-induced platelet aggregation. Therefore, we demonstrate that RB has an antiplatelet effect via cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of VASP ($Ser^{157}$), and RB may have preventive or therapeutic potential for platelet aggregation-mediated diseases, such as thrombosis, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, and ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2004

Obesity is one of causes of the all adult diseases. We investigated the body weight decrease effect of the selected plants by digestive enzyme activity inhibition test. In a preliminary test, Inonotus obliquus and Rubus coreanus Miq. were found to be effective. Based on this result & previous result, we manufactured the mixture of plant extracts named as Misol$^{TM}$. Misol is applied anti-obesity beverage and rice. When we administered Miso/ sub TM/ to rats, it was found to be effective in body weight decrease. Result that is experimented during 20 weeks, is effective body weight and total cholesterol, triglyceride decrease. In case of human, anti-obesity beverage administered group showed 5.65% body weight decrease, 4% waist length decrease and 6% abdomen length decrease respectively. And anti-obesity rice administered group showed 2.3 kg body weight decrease, 2.9 cm waist length decrease and 3.74 cm abdomen length decrease respectively. This body control effect was supported by plant extracts in the Misol, anti-obesity beverage and rice - administered group. From these results, we suggest that this functional food could be helpful for body weight controlling obesity.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.75-92
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• 2003

Organic livestock farming in northern European regions has been expanded with the major animals of large ruminants using pastures and grass silages. Organic livestock farming in some European countries has been in rather short of productivity compared to the conventional livestock farming, however since the gap of productivity between organic and conventional livestock farming has been reported to be reduced when the efficiency of management would improve, organic livestock farming has a potential to develop as a clean livestock farming in the future. We expect that organic livestock farming be propelled to a future model of livestock farming in Korea too. As the schemes for realization of organic livestock farming in Korea, firstly a system for the consistent supply of organic feed should be established. Mountainous areas that represents 63 % of total area of Korea could be utilized for the production of organic forages. Uncultivated rice paddy and upland agricultural field could also be used for this purpose. The active application of organic agricultural by-products such as organic rice straw, organic rice bran and SO forth can be considered for organic livestock farming. Secondly, the replacement of anti-biotics for the management of animal diseases should be developed using natural products. Plants and microbes would be good sources of natural products. Thirdly, the realization of organic livestock farming may require a system for certification of the organic farms and consequently the experts to work on.

• Mycobiology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.138-142
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• 2006

Soil cyanobacteria isolated from the rice paddy fields of 10 different locations across Korea were evaluated by agar plate diffusion test for antifungal activity. Aqueous, petroleum ether, and methanol extracts from one hundred and forty two cyanobacterial strains belonging to the 14 genera were examined for antifungal properties against seven phytopathogenic fungi causing diseases in hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L). Of total cyanobacteria, nine cyanobacteria (6.34%) exhibited antifungal effects. The nine cyanobacteria selected with positive antifungal activities were two species of Oscillatoria, two of Anabaena, three of Nostoc, one of Nodularia, and one of Calothrix. Alternaria alternata and Botrytis cinerea were inhibited by nine and eight species of cyanobacteria, respectively. Rhizopus stolonifer was suppressed by only methanol extract of Nostoc commune FK-103. In particular, Nostoc commune FK-103 and Oscillatoria tenuis FK-109 showed strong antifungal activities against Phytophthora capsici. Their antifungal activity at the late exponential growth phase is related to the growth temperature and not associated with the growth parameters such as cell biomass and $chlorophyll-{\alpha}$ concentration. The high inhibition levels of antibiotics were 22.5 and 31.8 mm for N. commune FK-103 and O. tenuis FK-109, respectively. The optimal temperature for antibiotic productivity was $35^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.41-44
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• 1999

Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr (anamorph: Pyricularia grisea) is a typical heterothallic Ascomycete and the causal agent of rice blast, one of the most destructive diseases on rice (Oryza sativa L.) worldwide. The interactions between cells of the pathogen and those of the host involve a complex of biological influences which can lead to blast disease. The early stages of infection process in particular may be viewed as a sequence of discrete and critical events. These include conidial attachment, gemination, and the formation of an appressorium, a dome-shaped and melanized infection structure. Disruption of this process at any point will result in failure of the pathogen to colonize host tissues. This may offer a new avenue for developing innovative crop protection strategies. To recognize and capture such opportunities, understanding the very bases of the pathogenesis at the cellular and molecular level is prerequisite. Much has been learned about environmental cues and endogenous signaling systems for the early infection-related morphogenesis in M. grisea during last several years. The study of signal transduction system in phytopathogenic filamentous fungi offers distinct advantages over traditional mammalian systems. Mammalian systems often contain multiple copies of important genes active in the same tissue under the same physiological processes. Functional redundancy, alternate gene splicing, and specilized isoforms make defining the role of any single gene difficult. Fungi and animals are closely related kingdoms [3], so inferences between these organisms are often justified. For many genes, fungi frequently possess only a single copy, thus phenotype can be attributed directly to the mutation or deletion of any particular gene of interest.

• Biodesign
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.35-37
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• 2019

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a plant pathogen, which causes a bacterial blight of rice. The bacterial blight is one of the most devastating diseases of rice in most of the rice growing countries and there is no effective pesticide against bacterial blight. The β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III (FabH) plays a key role in fatty acid synthesis (FAS) and is a promising drug target for the development of antibacterial agents. Xoo0878 gene, a fabH gene, from Xoo was cloned and its gene product Xoo0878 was expressed, purified and crystallized. Xoo0878 crystal diffracted to 2.1Å resolution and belonged to the triclinic space group P1, with unit-cell parameters a = 57.3Å, b = 64.7Å, c = 104.2Å and α = 81.6°, β = 84.7°, γ = 74.4°. There are four monomers in the asymmetric unit, with a corresponding crystal volume per protein weight of 2.65 ų Da^-1 and a solvent content of 53.6%. Xoo0878 structure will be useful to develop new antibacterial agents against Xoo.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2022

Greenhouse gas emissions are one of the critical factors that drive change in rice cropping systems. Within this changing system, less water irrigation and chemical fertilizer are seriously considered, as well combining precision farming technologies with irrigation control. Water and phosphorus (P) fertilizer are two of the most critical inputs in rice cultivation. Due to the lack of water availability in the system, P fertilizer is not available, especially in acidic soil conditions. Moreover, the various types of abiotic stresses, such as drought, high temperature, salinity, submergence, and limited fertilizer result in significant yield loss in the system. Even in the late stage of growth, the waves caused by diseases and insects make the field more unfruitful. Therefore, agronomists and breeders need to identify the secondary phenotypes to estimate the yield loss of when stress appears. The prediction will be clearer if we have a set of markers tagging the causal variation and the associated precise phenotype indices. Although there have been various studies for abiotic stress tolerance, we still lack functional molecular markers and phenotype indices. This is due to the underlying challenges caused by environmental factors in highly unpredictable regional and yearly environmental conditions in the field system. Pupl (phosphorus uptake 1) is still known as the first QTL associated with phosphorus uptake and have been validated in different field crops. Interestingly, some pyramiding lines of Pupl and other QTLs for other stress tolerances showed preferable phenotypes in the yield. Precise physiological studies with the help of genomics are on-going and some results will be discussed.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.184-191
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• 2004

Methanol extracts of fresh materials of 57 plants were screened for in vivo antifungal activity against Magna-porthe grisea, Corticium sasaki, Botrytis cinerea, Phyto-phthora infestans, Puccinia recondita, and Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei. Among them, seven plant extracts showed disease-control efficacy of more than 90％ against at least one of six plant diseases. None of the plant extracts was highly active against tomato gray mold. The methanol extracts of Chloranthus japonicus (roots) (CjR) and Paulownia coreana (stems) (PcS) displayed the highest antifungal activity; the CjR extract controlled the development of rice blast, rice sheath blight, and wheat leaf rust more than 90％, and tomato gray mold and tomato late blight more than 80％. The PcS extract displayed control values of more than 90 ％ against rice blast, wheat leaf rust, and barley powdery mildew and more than 80％ against tomato gray mold. The extract of PcS also had a curative activity against rice sheath blight and that of CjR had a little curative activity against rice blast. On the other hand, the extract of Rumex acetocella roots reduced specifically the development of barley powdery mildew. Further studies on the characterization of antifungal substances in antifungal plant extracts are underway and their disease-control efficacy should be examined under greenhouse and field conditions.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.216-222
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• 2010

Fusarium proliferatum is the causal agent of stalk and root rot disease of maize, foot rot disease of rice, basal and root rot disease of onion and knife cut disease of sugarcane in Iran. In recent years, incidence and severity of these diseases have been increased in Iran. Fifty seven F. proliferatum single-spore isolates collected from diseased maize, rice, onion and sugarcane plants at different areas were used to study genetic diversity by determination of vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs). Chlorate-resistant nitrate non-utilizing (nit) mutants were recovered from selected isolates of F. proliferatum and used in complementation tests. All isolates in which both nit1 and NitM (or nit3) mutants were recovered, demonstrated self-compatibility. Vegetative compatibility tests by pairing nit mutants identified 30 VCGs among 57 isolates. Twenty-three isolates belonged to singlemember VCGs and the remaining 34 isolates, belonged to other seven multimember VCGs. Segregation of F. proliferatum isolates obtained from various area and host plants into different VCGs in Iran is reported for the first time. In this study, none of isolates obtained from rice complemented with any other isolates from onion and sugarcane and, non complementation occurred between onion and sugarcane isolates. Also, only one complementation occurred between one isolate of maize and one isolate of sugarcane and rice. Thus, a correlation between VCGs grouping and host preferences was founded. It is concluded that natural populations of F. proliferatum in Iran are probably genetically divergent and include isolates representing a potential risk for disease development.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.356-366
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• 2018

The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, is one of the most common and economically important pests of stored cereal products worldwide. Furthermore, these beetles can act as vectors for several fungal post-harvest diseases. In this study, we collected T. castaneum from 49 rice processing complexes (RPCs) nationwide during 2016-2017 and identified contaminating fungal species on the surface of the beetles. Five beetles from each region were placed on potato dextrose agar media or Fusarium selection media after wet processing with 100% relative humidity at $27^{\circ}C$ for one week. A total of 142 fungal isolates were thus collected. By sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region, 23 fungal genera including one unidentified taxon were found to be associated with T. castaneum. The genus Aspergillus spp. (28.9%) was the most frequently present, followed by Cladosporium spp. (12.0%), Hyphopichia burtonii (9.2%), Penicillium spp. (8.5%), Mucor spp. (6.3%), Rhizopus spp. (5.6%), Cephaliophora spp. (3.5%), Alternaria alternata (2.8%) and Monascus sp. (2.8%). Less commonly identified were genera Fusarium, Nigrospora, Beauveria, Chaetomium, Coprinellus, Irpex, Lichtheimia, Trichoderma, Byssochlamys, Cochliobolus, Cunninghamella, Mortierella, Polyporales, Rhizomucor and Talaromyces. Among the isolates, two known mycotoxin-producing fungi, Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium spp. were also identified. This result is consistent with previous studies that surveyed fungal and mycotoxin contamination in rice from RPCs. Our study indicates that the storage pest, T. castaneum, would play an important role in spreading fungal contaminants and consequently increasing mycotoxin contamination in stored rice.