• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2019

The genus Ochrolechia is a widespread, lichen genus in Korea. Despite being common, little is known about the species diversity and geographical distribution of Ochrolechia. In this study, we detailed the identification procedure of the genus Ochrolechia in a Korean collection and provided the description of each species. Using 104 specimens collected from 2003 to 2017, we identified four species of the genus Ochrolechia via morphological and/or molecular phylogenetic analysis: O. parellula, O. trochophora, O. yasudae and O. akagiensis. Among them, O. akagiensis had not been previously reported in Korea. Moreover, the species identified as O. frigida and O. tartarea in past studies were corrected as O. yasudae and O. parellula, respectively, based on morphological and/or molecular evidence. Phylogenetic analysis using the internal transcribed spacer regions including 5.8S rRNA gene showed that the four species separated clearly, indicating that the morphological identification corresponds to the phylogenetic identification. We provide a taxonomic key for the four species of the genus Ochrolechia.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.346-361
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• 2022

Food poisoning accidents caused by poisonous plants occur every year. As certain poisonous plants are mistaken for edible plants causing food poisoning, accurate species identification of poisonous plants is required. DNA barcodes suitable for species identification of poisonous plants and database that can be used for accurate species identification are necessary for their use in forensic cases. In this study, species identification of 19 poisonous plants native to Jeju Island using seven DNA barcodes (trnH-psbA, trnL-trnF, trnL intron, rbcL, matK, ITS1-ITS4, 18S rRNA) was performed to construct a database containing sequence information and DNA barcode universality. trnL-trnF barcode and ITS1-ITS4 barcode were the easiest markers for PCR amplification and sequence retrieval, and the combination of the two barcodes enabled single species identification in 18 out of 19 plants. Therefore, when an investigation of unknown poisonous plants is requested, combination of trnL-trnF and ITS1-ITS4 barcodes is considered as a primary marker for species identification. The database of recommended DNA barcodes for each poisonous plant presented in this study will be helpful in plants poisoning cases.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-55
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• 1987

This study was executed to offer the basic data needed to plywood industry in Korea for the future based on microscopic wood features as our previous paper reported by the macroscopic features. Microscopic wood characteristics for 50 species selected by the viewpoint of possible utility in future were examined and described by the species. Also, keys for the identification based on microscopic features were briefly prepared and presented by gymnosperm and angiospenn respectively.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.238-244
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• 2007

Nowadays many people are concerned about being healthy, and many dairy products are taken as health supplementary foods. Among dairy products, kefir, also called as Tibet mushroom, is a yogurt fermented by kefir grain, which is a mixture of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. Although there are many empirical evidences that kefir is very influential for human body, the exact reason is not definitively discovered. Therefore, it would be useful to understand characteristics of a kefir grain and to categorize bacteria in a kefir grain. In this paper, molecular biological apparatus such as PCR, electrophoresis, PCR purification, DNA sequencing were used to identify and classify the species of lactic acid bacteria and yeast in a kefir grain. We used PCR-based identification method using 16S rRNA primer and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) primer. We identified 6 different species which were selected on different medium. In addition, observation with scanning electron microscope (SEM) enabled us to grasp an external shape of the kefir grain. Although we found a limited number of microbial species, more intensive research are needed for extensive identification of microorganism species in Korean kefir grain.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.391-397
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• 2005

Molecular identification techniques are used where morphological characters are not useful for distinguishing species that resemble each other closely. The example studied here is the Adoxophyes species complex, in which A. orana (Fischer von $R{\ddot{o}}sslerstamm$) is officially the only known Korean species in the genus Adoxophyes (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). However there have been suspicions that at least two types of A. orana exist in Korea based on the distribution and range of the host, with A. orana attacking apples and peaches, and another Adoxophyes sp. attacking tea and pears. The latter is presumed to be A. honmai (Yasuda), but the two have remained confused because of their extreme morphological similarity, despite several Asian studies of pheromonal and morphological characteristics. To confirm the occurrence of an Adoxophyes species other than A. orana in Korea, we compared 940 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene from 16 samples of Adoxophyes and found that there is a second Adoxophyes species different from A. orana. Comparison of the different sequences to that of Japanese A. honmai confirmed that they belong to the latter. From the sequence difference between the two Korean species, we were able to develop new PCR primer sets that distinguish them. This molecular identification technique with no enzyme digestion or sequencing step is a convenient and rapid way of differentiating between species that are hard to distinguish morphologically.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.52-61
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• 1998

We studied behaviour pattern of anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) shoal by a method of shoal echo integration and tested species identification by a method of artificial neural network using the acoustic data collected in the East China Sea in March 1994 and in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea of Korea in March 1995. Between areas, frequency distribution of 10 shoal descriptors was different, which showed characteristics of shoal behaviour in size, bathymetric position and acoustic strength. The range and mean of shoal size distribution in length and height was wider and bigger in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea than in the East China Sea. Relative shoal size of China Sea. Fractal dimension of shoal was almost same in both areas. Mean volume reverbration index of shoal was 3 dB higher in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea than in the East China Sea. The depth layer of shoal distribution was related to bottom depth in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea, while it was between near surface and central layer in the East China Sea. Principal component analysis of shoal descriptors showed the correlation between shoal size and acoustic strength which was higher in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea, than in the East China Sea. Correlation was also found among the bathymetric positions of shoal to some degree higher in the southern coastal waters of the East Sea than in the East China Sea. The anchovy shoal of two areas was identified by artificial neural network. The contribution factor index (Cio) of the shoal descriptors between two areas were almost identical feature. The shoal volume reverberation index (Rv) was showed the highest contribution to the species identification, while shoal length and shoal height showed relatively high negative contribution to the species identification.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.430-434
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• 2018

Candida glabrata is the second most prevalent causative agent for candidiasis following C. albicans. The opportunistic yeast, C. glabrata, is able to cause the critical bloodstream infections in hospitalized patients. Conventional identification methods for yeasts are often time consuming and labor intensive. Therefore, recent studies on sequence-based identification have been conducted. Recently, sequencing the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene and the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) 1 and ITS2 regions of the ribosomal DNA has proven useful for DNA-based identification of most species of fungi. In the present study, therefore, fungal ITS and D1/D2 domain regions were targeted and analyzed by DNA sequencing for the accurate identification of C. glabrata clinical isolates. A total of 102 C. glabrata clinical isolates from various clinical samples including bloodstream, catheterized urine, bile and other body fluids were used in the study. The results of the DNA sequence analysis showed that the mean standard deviation of species identity percent score between ITS and D1/D2 domain regions was $97.8%{\pm}2.9$ and $99.7%{\pm}0.46$, respectively. These results revealed that the D1/D2 domain region might be a better target for identifying C. glabrata clinical isolates based on DNA sequences than the ITS1 and ITS2 regions. However, in order to evaluate the usefulness of D1/D2 domain region for species identification of all Candida species, other Candida species such as C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. dubliniensis, and C. krusei should be verified in further studies additionally.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.314-318
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• 2008

Korean long-tailed goral (Nemorhaedus caudatus) is one of the most endangered species in South Korea. However, detailed species distribution and sex ratio data on the elusive goral are still lacking due to difficulty of identification of the species and sex in the field. The primary aim of this study was to develop an economical PCR-RFLP method to identify species using invasive or non-invasive samples from five Korean ungulates: goral (N. caudatus), roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), feral goat (Capra hircus), water deer (Hydropotes inermis) and musk deer (Moschus moschiferus). The secondary aim was to find more efficient molecular sexing techniques that may be applied to invasive or non-invasive samples of ungulate species. We successfully utilized PCR-RFLP of partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (376 bp) for species identification, and sex-specific amplification of ZFX/Y and AMELX/Y genes for sexing. Three species (goral, goat and water deer) showed distinctive band patterns by using three restriction enzymes (Xbal, Stul or Sspl). Three different sexing primer sets (LGL331/335 for ZFX/Y gene; SE47/48 or SE47/53 for AMELX/Y gene) produced sex-specific band patterns in goral, goat and roe deer. Our results suggest that the molecular analyses of non-invasive samples might provide us with potential tools for the further genetic and ecological study of Korean goral and related species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2206-2213
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• 2016

Recently, several studies have revealed that commercial microbial identification systems do not accurately identify the uncommon causative species of candidiasis, including Candida famata, Meyerozyma guilliermondii, and C. auris. We investigated the accuracy of species-level identification in a collection of clinical isolates previously identified as C. famata (N = 38), C. lusitaniae (N = 1 2), and M. guilliermondii (N = 5) by the Vitek 2 system. All 55 isolates were re-analyzed by the Phoenix system (Becton Dickinson Diagnostics), two matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry analyzers (a Vitek MS and a Bruker Biotyper), and by sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions or 26S rRNA gene D1/D2 domains. Among 38 isolates previously identified as C. famata by the Vitek 2 system, the majority (27/38 isolates, 71.1%) were identified as C. tropicalis (20 isolates) or C. albicans (7 isolates) by ITS sequencing, and none was identified as C. famata. Among 20 isolates that were identified as C. tropicalis, 17 (85%) were isolated from urine. The two isolates that were identified as C. auris by ITS sequencing originated from ear discharge. The Phoenix system did not accurately identify C. lusitaniae, C. krusei, or C. auris. The correct identification rate for 55 isolates was 92.7% (51/55 isolates) for the Vitek MS and 94.6% (52/55 isolates) for the Bruker Biotyper, as compared with results from ITS sequencing. These results suggest that C. famata is very rare in Korea, and that the possibility of misidentification should be noted when an uncommon Candida species is identified.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2004

The definitive identification of ciliate species by morphological characteristics relies on time-consuming and laborious staining techniques. Therefore, in this study, we discriminated 3 scuticociliatosis causing species - Pseudocohnilembus persalinus, Uronema marinum and Philasterides dicentrarchi - in cultured olive flounder by multiplex PCR. The multiplex PCR based on the species-specific amplification of small subunit ribosomal RNA (SS rRNA) gene sequence enabled us to distinguish the 3 scuticociliate species in a simple and rapid manner, even in the sample containing the three species simultaneously. These data suggest that the multiplex PCR strategy would make it possible to avoid the cumbersome and time-consuming procedures of morphological analysis for the definitive identification of scuticociliates.