• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.267-270
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• 2008

We have successfully used the low-pressure BioWare gene gun, developed for gene transfer in animal cells, for plant tissues. The BioWare device is easy to manipulate. Just 50 psi helium pressure was sufficient to transfer foreign genes into the aleurone layer and embryo of maize without causing tissue damage in the impact area. As shown by expression signals from invasive histochemical ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ (GUS) activity, the foreign reporter gene expressed well in bombarded tissues. This successful GUS-transient expression extends the application of this low-pressure gene gun from animal cells to plant tissues.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.29.1-29.11
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• 2020

Maize seed pigmentation is one of the important issue to develop maize seed breeding. The differently gene expression was characterized and compared for three inbred lines, such as the pigment accumulated seed (CM22) and non-pigmented seed (CM5 and CM19) at 10 days after pollination. We obtained a total of 63,870, 82,496, and 54,555 contigs by de novo assembly to identify gene expression in the CM22, CM5, and CM19, respectably. In differentially expressed gene analysis, it was revealed that 7,044 genes were differentially expressed by at least two-fold, with 4,067 upregulated in colored maize inbred lines and 2,977 upregulated in colorless maize inbred lines. Of them,18 genes were included to the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways, while 15 genes were upregulated in both CM22/5 and CM22/19. Additionally, 37 genes were detected in the metabolic pathway concern to the seed pigmentation by BINs analysis using MAPMAN software. Finally, these differently expressed genes may aid in the research on seed pigmentation in maize breeding programs.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.645-652
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• 2023

The aleurone layer in maize is crucial as it contains essential nutrients such as minerals, vitamins, and high-quality proteins. While most of the maize varieties are known to possess a single aleurone layer, several multi-aleurone layer mutants and landraces have been suggested for hierarchical genetic control of aleurone development. Conventional microscopy analysis often involves using immature seeds or sampling only a portion of the kernel sample, and whole kernel section analysis using a microtome is technically difficult and time-consuming. Additionally, the larger size of maize kernels posed challenges for comprehensive cross-sectional analysis compared to other cereal crops. Consequently, this study aimed to develop an efficient method to comprehensively understand the aleurone layer characteristics of the entire cross-section in maize. Through observations of diverse maize genetic resources, we confirmed irregular aleurone layer patterns in those with multiple aleurone layers, and we discovered a landrace having multiple aleurone layers. By selectively identifying genetic resources with multiple aleurone layers, this method may contribute to efficient breeding processes in maize.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.978-987
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• 2015

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is one of the greatest limitations to agriculture in acid soils, particularly in tropical regions. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can supply plants with nutrients and give protection against Al toxicity. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of soil liming (i.e., reducing Al saturation) on the AMF community composition and structure in the roots of maize lines contrasting for Al tolerance. To this end, we constructed four 18S rDNA cloning libraries from L3 (Al tolerant) and L22 (Al sensitive) maize lines grown in limed and non-limed soils. A total of 790 clones were sequenced, 69% belonging to the Glomeromycota phylum. The remaining sequences were from Ascomycota, which were more prominent in the limed soil, mainly in the L3 line. The most abundant AM fungal clones were related to the family Glomeraceae represented by the genera uncultured Glomus followed by Rhizophagus and Funneliformis. However, the most abundant operational taxonomic units with 27% of the Glomeromycota clones was affiliated to genus Racocetra. This genus was present in all the four libraries, but it was predominant in the non-limed soils, suggesting that Racocetra is tolerant to Al toxicity. Similarly, Acaulospora and Rhizophagus were also present mostly in both lines in non-limed soils. The community richness of AMF in the non-limed soils was higher than the limed soil for both lines. The results suggest that the soil Al saturation was the parameter that mostly influences the AMF species composition in the soils in this study.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.429-433
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• 1996

A Giemsa C-banding method was used for the identification of somatic chromosomes of Korean indigenous maize(Zea mays L.). Two Korean indigenous maize stocks and an American hybrid maize for comparison were examined. Ten deeply stained heterochromatic knobs whose position and size were different between the genotypes, two satellites and interstitial bands were observed. The length of homologous chromosomes compared by the relative lengths of chromosomes presented as a percentage of the length of chromosome 10 were different between the genotypes. The Giemsa method proved to be useful for the identification of somatic chromosomes and for the characterization of different stocks of Korean indigenous maize.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.287-293
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• 1996

The effect of taxol and ethyl-N-phenylcarbamate (EPC) on the growth and gravitropism of maize roots and coleoptiles was studied. Taxol is known to promote the assembly of microtubules (MTs) and stabilizes MTs by preventing depolymerization. EPC, on the contrary, is an anti-microtubule drug that promotes disassembly of MTs. Taxol, at 1 $\mu$M, inhibited gravitropic response of maize roots to about 40%, but did not inhibit growth; at 10 $\mu$M, it inhibited the gravitropic response of coleoptile segments of maize by approximately 50%, but did not inhibit growth, while 0.5 mM EPC inhibited both the gravitropic response and growth of maize roots by approximately 50%. Taxol, which inhibited the gravitropic response of maize roots and coleoptile segments, had no effect on either the polar or the bilateral transport of auxin. These results indicated that MT polymerization could not occur normally with taxol or EPC, so that if there was any abnormal rearrangement of MT, the gravitropic response was inhibited, which resulted from the inhibition of neither growth nor auxin transport. This results suggested that gravitropic response was related to the MT arrangement, and that both straight growth and the differential growth in gravitropic response could be regulated by different mechanisms.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.77-82
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• 2018

In South Korea, LM crops are not allowed to grow locally, but have been allowed to be imported as food and feed purposes. Currently, the typical LMO imports are continuously increasing in the region of South Korea. In 2014, we carried out a review of the environmental release monitoring of LM maize (Zea mays L.) in Gyeonggi-do of South Korea, and analyzed volunteer samples using strip test kits and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. We thereby collected 44 volunteers of released LM maize in 169 locations around ports, from roadsides, feed factories and stockbreeding farmhouses. We found 4 positive samples at 3 sites using strip test kits. Based on the PCR analysis, the LM maize plants were found using event-specific primers. These results suggested that our monitoring is necessary to detect the presence of released LM maize in the natural environment of South Korea.

• Plant Resources
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2001

Major characteristics of new Waesungri maize inbred line has multi-tiller and ears: five to six tillers and seven to eight ears per plant and flowering date of Waesungri was delayed about 18 and 24 days compared to Mo17 U.S line and IK$_4$ Korean local lines, respectively. Number of ears, fresh and dry weight per plant were significantly different among all tested hybrids including Waesungri/Sinkihong hybrid under different planting times and densities. Especially, both fresh and dry weight of IK$_1$/FR140//Waesungri F$_1$hybrid were significantly higher at high planting density. In kernel weight per unit area, Wnesungri/Sinkihong hybrid was high at high density and IK$_1$/FR140//Waesungri hybrid was high at low planting density. As results of analysis of variance, flowering date was shown a significantly different both planting times and varieties, while other characters including stem height were shown very variable in interactions with enviromental factors.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2015

The photochemical characteristics were analyzed in the context of sowing time and different levels of fertilized nitrogen during the maize (Zea mays L.) growth. When maize was early sawn, the fluorescence parameters related with electron-transport, in photosystem II (PSII) and PSI, were effectively enhanced with the higher level of fertilized nitrogen. Highest values were observed in maize leaves grown in double N-fertilized plot. The photochemical parameters were declined in the progress of growth stage. In early growth stage, the fluorescence parameters were highest, and then reduced to about half of the parameters related with electron transport on PSII and PSI at middle and late growth stages. In 1/2 N plot, the photochemical energy dissipation was measured to 13% in term of active reaction center per absorbed photon resulting in decrease in performance index and driving force of electron. This decrease induced to lower the photochemical effectiveness. In 2 N plots, the electron transport flux from $Q_A$ to $Q_B$ per cross section and the number of active PSII RCs per cross section were considerably enhanced. It was clearly indicated that the connectivity between photosynthetic PSII and PSI, i.e. electron transport, was far effective.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.237-241
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• 2017

Drought is one of the detrimental factors that impair plant growth and productivity. In this study, we applied annealing control primer (ACP)-based reverse transcriptase PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in maize leaves in response to drought stress. Two-week-old maize seedlings were exposed to drought (DT) by suspending water supply. DEGs were screened after 3 days of DT-treated samples using the ACP-based technique. Several DEGs encoding 16.9 protein, antimicrobial protein, hypothetical protein NCLIV_068840, thioredoxin M-type were identified in maize leaves under drought stress. These genes have putative functions in plant defense response, growth and development. These identified genes would be useful for predictive markers of plant defense, and growth responses under drought stress in plants.