• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.175-184
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to isolate and identify algicidal bacterium that tends to kill the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella, and to determine the algicidal activity. METHODS AND RESULTS: Among of four algicidal bacteria isolated in this study, NH-12 isolate was the strongest algicidal activity against A. catenella. NH-12 isolate was identified on the basis of biochemical characteristics and analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. The isolate showed 97.67% homology with Pseudoalteromonas prydzensis ACAM $620^T$ (U85855), and was designated Pseudoalteromonas sp. NH-12. The optimal culture conditions of this isolate were $25^{\circ}C$, initial pH 8.0, and 3.0% (w/v) NaCl concentration. The algicidal activity of NH-12 was significantly increased to maximum value in the late of logarithmic phase of bacterial culture. As a result of 'cell culture insert' experiment, NH-12 is assumed to produce secondary metabolites, as an indirect attacker. When 10% culture filtrate of NH-12 was applied to A. catenella, over 99% of algal cells were destroyed within 24 h. In addition, the killing effects were increased in dose and time dependent manners. CONCLUSION(S): Taken together, our results suggest that Pseudoalteromonas sp. NH-12 could be a candidate for controlling of toxic algal blooms.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.536-544
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• 2017

Abeliophyllum distichum Nakai is deciduous shrubs of flowering plant in Oleaceae. It is important plant resources and consists of one species in the world. Also the endemic plant of A. distichum has been protected and designed endangered plant in Korea. For this reason, study on the immature seeds of A. distichum (ADS) hasn't progressed. In the present study, we evaluated the antioxidant activity and inhibitory effects on proteins and mRNA levels were related in the whitening effect in B16F10 cells. ADS was effective for reaction oxygen species (ROS). ROS causes various diseases such as aging, inflammation, cancer, and etc. Antioxidant properties were evaluated DPPH, ABTS radical scavenging activity and Reducing power. Plants were known that contained phenolic compounds were related in antioxidant activity. Phenolic compounds were phytochemicals commonly named natural polyphenols. These are secondary metabolites of plants involved in the defense against different types of stresses. In results, ADS suppressed the expression and transcription of Tyrosinase, TRP-1, TRP-2, and Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). Tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-2) are known to play an important role in melanin biosynthesis. MITF regulated the expression and transcription of Tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2. In conclusion, ADS was effective in both antioxidant activities and whitening effects. Also, they were associated with the content of phenolic compounds. We suggested that ADS can be use antioxidants and skin-whitening functional cosmetics material derived from natural plant resources.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.270-277
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• 2014

Background: The effect of methyl jasmonate (MJ) on ginsenoside production in different organs of ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) was evaluated after the whole plant was dipped in an MJ-containing solution. MJ can induce the production of antioxidant defense genes and secondary metabolites in plants. In ginseng, MJ treatment in adventitious root resulted in the increase of dammarenediol synthase expression but a decrease of cycloartenol synthase expression, thereby enhancing ginsenoside biosynthesis. Although a previous study focused on the application of MJ to affect ginsenoside production in adventitious roots, we conducted our research on entire plants by evaluating the effect of exogenous MJ on ginsenoside production with the aim of obtaining new approaches to study ginsenoside biosynthesis response to MJ in vivo. Methods: Different parts of MJ-treated ginseng plants were analyzed for ginsenoside contents (fine root, root body, epidermis, rhizome, stem, and leaf) by high-performance liquid chromatography. Results: The total ginsenoside content of the ginseng root significantly increased after 2 d of MJ treatment compared with the control not subjected to MJ. Our results revealed that MJ treatment enhances ginsenoside production not in the epidermis but in the stele of the ginseng root, implying transportation of ginsenosides from the root vasculature to the epidermis. Application of MJ enhanced protopanaxadiol (PPD)-type ginsenosides, whereas chilling treatment induced protopanaxatriol (PPT)-type ginsenosides. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the production of PPD-type and PPT-type ginsenosides is differently affected by abiotic and biotic stresses in the ginseng plant, and they might play different defense mechanism roles.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2008

Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is very difficult to obtain stable production of qualified ginseng roots because of variable stresses in soil environments. High salt concentrations in the ginseng nursery soil environment of Korea is one of important reducing factors for the stable production of quality ginseng. These studies were accomplished to identify the growth rate and production of ginsenoside from ginseng hairy root against NaCI. In the MS liquid culture, the highest contents and productivity of ginsenosides were appeared at 4 week after onset of the treatment of 0.1 M NaCI. And 0.24 M NaCI was more effective on the growth of ginseng hairy root under light condition than dark condition. Plants generally produce secondary metabolites in nature as a defense mechanism against pathogenic and insect attack. In this study, NaCI acts as a kind of stress as well as elicitor for production of ginsenosides.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.476-481
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• 2017

Polyphenols are secondary metabolites produced by higher plants and have been used as antiallergic, anticancer, antihypertensive, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant agents. They are generally divided into flavonoids and non-flavonoids. The antimicrobial activity of flavonoids are stronger than that of non-flavonoids. The skeleton structures of flavonoids possessing antimicrobial activity are chalcone, flavan-3-ol (catechin), flavanone, flavone, flavonol and proanthocyanidin. The flavonols are shown antibacterial activity against several gram-positive bacteria (Actinomyces naeslundii, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella melaninogenica and Prevotella oralis). Among of non-flavonoids, caffeic acids, ferulic acids and gallic acids showed antimicrobial activity against gram-positive (Listeria monocytogenes and S. aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). These are found to be more efficient against the E. coli, L. monocytogenes, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus than antibiotics such as gentamicin and streptomycin. The kaempferol and quercetin showed synergistic effect with ciprofloxacin and rifampicin against S. aureus and methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) acts synergistically with various ${\beta}-lactam$ antibiotics against MRSA. In particular, the epicatechin, epigallocatechin (EGC), EGCG and gallocatechin gallate from Korean green tea has antibacterial activity against MRSA clinical isolates and the combination of tea polyphenols and oxacillin was synergistic for all the clinical MRSA isolates.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 2010

Investigation of secondary bioactive metabolites from the fruiting bodies of Lactarius hatsudake led to the isolation of four azulene derivatives by means of repeated column chromatography and preparative HPLC, and they were identified as 1-formyl-4-methyl-7-isopropyl azulene (1), lactaroviolin (2), 4-methyl-7-isopropyl-azulene-1-carboxylic acid (3), and 1-formyl-4-methyl-7-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl) azulene (4) by their physico-chemical properties and spectroscopic analysis. The isolated compounds were evaluated for the effects on modulation of cytokines in natural killer cell line (NK92 cells). Compounds 1 and 4 strongly inhibited IFN-$\gamma$ production in a dose-dependent manner, corresponding to 101.3 % and 92.7 % inhibition at 400 ${\mu}M$, and 11.9 % and 24.1 % at 100 ${\mu}M$, respectively, whereas compounds 2 and 3 showed weak inhibitory effect on INF-$\gamma$ production, corresponding to 45.9 % and 18.0 % inhibition at 400 ${\mu}M$.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.1004-1011
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• 2016

Flavonoids, non-nutrient secondary metabolites of plants, are widely distributed in commonly consumed agro-food resources. Flavonoids include aglycones, and their glycosides are reported to have potential health-promoting compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate flavonoid glycosides in the fruit and leaves of Zizyphus jujuba var. inermis (Bunge) Rehder (jujube). A total of six flavonoids (five flavonols and one chalcone) were identified in jujube fruit and leaves by using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry along with chemical library and an internal standard. In positive ion mode, six flavonoids were linked to the C- and O-glycosides which were conjugated with sugar moieties based on kaempferol, quercetin, and phloretin aglycones. Total flavonoid contents of leaves (8,356.5 mg/100 g dry weight (DW)) was approximately 900-fold higher than that of fruit (fresh fruit, 13.6 mg/100 g dry DW; sun-dried fruits, 9.2 mg/100 g dry DW). Quercetin 3-O-rutinoside (rutin) and quercetin 3-O-robinobioside were the predominant flavonols in fruit and leaves of jujube. In particular, rutin had the highest content (6,735.2 mg/100 g DW) in leaves, and rutin is a widely reported bioactive compound. Phloretin 3',5'-di-C-glucoside (chalcone type) was detected only in leaves. The leaves of jujube contain a high content of flavonoids and the results of this study indicate that jujube leaves may be a source of bioactive flavonoids.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.165-176
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• 2010

Soybean seeds contain many biologically active secondary metabolites, such as proteins, saponins, isoflavones, phytic acids, trypsin inhibitors and phytosterols. Among them, saponins in soybeans have attracted considerable interest because of their health benefits. Soyasaponin A and B are the most abundant types of saponins found in soybeans along with soyasapogenol (aglycone), which is a precursor of soyasaponin. The main purpose of this experiment was to determine the concentration of soyasapogenol in soybean seeds and sprouts as a function of seed size, usage, seed coat color and seed cotyledon color. The 79 Korean soybean varieties were cultivated at Yesan of Chungnam in 2006 for the analysis of soyasapogenol using HPLC with Evaporative Light Scattering Detection (ELSD). The total average concentration of soyasapogenol was $1313.52{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$ in soybean seeds and $1377.22{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$ in soybean sprouts. Soybean sprouts were about 5% higher than soybean seeds in average total soyasapogenol concentration. In the process of sprouting, the average soyasapogenol A content decreased by approximately 1.6%, but soyasapogenol B and total soyasapogenol increased by 8.31% and 4.88%, based on the content of soybean seeds. When classified according to the size of seeds, the total soyasapogenol concentration of soybean seeds were not significantly different (p<0.05) On average, small soybean seeds were increased by as much as $103.14{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$ in sprouting process. As a function of the use of the seeds, The total soyasapogenol in soybean seeds were significantly different (p<0.05). While, the soybean sprouts were not significant different (p<0.05). Altogether, sprout soybean seeds show the greatest change in content during the germination process. When seeds with different coat colors were compared, the total soyasapogenol concentration of soybean with yellow seed coats ($1357.30\mu g\;g^{1}$) was slightly higher than that of soybean with black ($1260.30{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$) or brown ($1263.62{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$) seed coats. For the color of the cotyledon, the total soyasapogenol concentration was significantly increased in green cotyledon during the germination and seedling process. The results of this study suggest the functional characteristics of soybeans through quantitative analysis of soyasapogenol. In addition, the concentration of soyasapogenol exhibited a change during the germination process, which was evaluated by the nutritional value of the soybean sprouts.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.103-111
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• 2014

A1E is an extract from traditional Asian medicinal plants that has therapeutic activities against cancers, metabolic disease, and other intractable conditions. However, its mechanism of action on cervical cancer has not been studied. In order to ascertain if A1E would have pronounced anti-cervical cancer effect, cervical cancer cells were incubated with A1E and apoptosis was detected by nuclear morphological changes, annexin V-FITC/PI staining, cell cycle analysis, western blotting, Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, and measurement of mitochondrial membrane potential. Expression of human papiloma virus E6 and E7 oncogenes was down-regulated in A1E-treated cervical cancer cells, while p53 and retinoblastoma protein levels were enhanced. A1E also perturbed cell cycle progression at sub-G1 and altered cell cycle regulatory factors in SiHa cervical cancer cells. A1E activated apoptotic intrinsic pathway markers such as caspase-9, caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase, and down-regulated expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl. A1E induced mitochondrial membrane potential collapse and cytochrome c release, and inhibited phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt, key factors involved in cell survival signaling. Taken all these results, A1E induced apoptosis via activation of the intrinsic pathway and inhibition of the PI3K/Akt survival-signaling pathway in SiHa cervical cancer cells. In conclusion, A1E exerts anti-proliferative action growth inhibition on cervical cancer cells through apoptosis which demonstrates its anti-cervical cancer properties.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.431-439
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• 2009

Rice Oryza sativa accelerated cell death and resistance 1 (OsACDR1) encodes a putative Raf-like mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK). We had previously reported upregulation of the OsACDR1 transcript by a range of environmental stimuli involved in eliciting defense-related pathways. Here we apply biochemical, gain and loss-of-function approaches to characterize OsACDR1 function in rice. The OsACDR1 protein showed autophosphorylation and possessed kinase activity. Rice plants overexpressing OsACDR1 exhibited spontaneous hypersensitive response (HR)-like lesions on leaves, upregulation of defense-related marker genes and accumulation of phenolic compounds and secondary metabolites (phytoalexins). These transgenic plants also acquired enhanced resistance to a fungal pathogen (Magnaporthe grisea) and showed inhibition of appressorial penetration on the leaf surface. In contrast, loss-of-function and RNA silenced OsACDR1 rice mutant plants showed downregulation of defense-related marker genes expressions and susceptibility to M. grisea. Furthermore, transient expression of an OsACDR1:GFP fusion protein in rice protoplast and onion epidermal cells revealed its localization to the nucleus. These results indicate that OsACDR1 plays an important role in the positive regulation of disease resistance in rice.