• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2007

The effect of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on photosynthesis was studied by the simultaneous measurements of $O_2$ evolution and chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence in tobacco leaves. When the tobacco leaves were teated with UV-B (1 $W{\cdot}m^{-2}$), the maximal photosynthetic $O_2$, evolution (Pmax; 4.60 ${\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) at 200 ${\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) was decreased with increasing time of UV-B treatment showing 80% decline after 4 h treatment. Chl fluorescence parameters were also affected by ultraviolet-B. Fo was increased while both Fm and Fv were decreased, resulted in the decreased of photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm). Non-radiative dissipation of absorbed light as heat as estimated as NPQ (Fm/Fm' - 1) was also decreased with increasing time of UV-B treatment while the extent of photochemical quenching (qP) was not changed. Thus, the ratio of (1-qP)/NPQ parameter was also increased with increasing time of UV-B treatment indicating PSII is under the threat of photoinhibition. The result indicate that UV-B primarily decreases the capacity to dissipate excitation energy by trans-thylakoid pH, which in turn inhibits PSII activity.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1999.07a
• /
• pp.51-56
• /
• 1999

Plastids, which are organelles unique to plant cells, bear their own genome that is organized into DNA-protein complexes (nucleoids). Regulation of gene expression in the plastid has been extensively investigated because this organelle plays an important role in photosynthesis. Few attempts, however, have been made to characterize the regulation of plastid gene expression at the chromosomal structure, using plastid nucleoids. In this report, we summarize the recent progress in the characterization of DNA-binding proteins in plastids, with special emphasis on CND41, a DNA binding protein, which we recently identified in the choloroplast nucleoids from photomixotrophically cultured tobacco cells. CND41 is a protein of 502 amino acids which consisted of a transit peptide of 120 amino acids and a mature protein of 382 amino acids. The N-terminal of the 'mature' protein has lysine-rich region which is essential for DNA-binding. CNA41 also showed significant identities to some aspartyl proteases. Protease activity of purified CND41 has been recently confirmed and characterized. On the other hand, characterization of accumulation of CND41 both in wild type and transgenic tobacco with reduced amount of CND41 suggests that CND41 is a negative regulator in chloroplast gene expression. Further investigation indicated that gene expression of CND41 is cell-specifically and developmentally regulated as well as sugar-induced expression. The reduction of CND41 expression in transgenic tobacco also brought the stunted plant growth due to the reduced cell length in stem. GA3 treatment on apical meristem reversed the dwarf phenotype in the transformants. Effects of CND41 expression on GA biosynthesis will be discussed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.917-924
• /
• 2010

The practicability of transgenic tobacco engineered to express bacterial native mercuric reductase (MerA), responsible for the transport of $Hg^{2+}$ ions into the cell and their reduction to elemental mercury ($Hg^0$), without any codon modification, for phytoremediation of mercury pollution was evaluated. Transgenic tobacco plants reduce mercury ions to the metallic form; take up metallic mercury through their roots; and evolve the less toxic elemental mercury. Transformed tobacco produced a large amount of merA protein in leaves and showed a relatively higher resistance phenotype to $HgCl_2$ than wild type. Results suggest that the integrated merA gene, encoding mercuric reductase, a key enzyme of the bacterial mer operon, was stably integrated into the tobacco genome and translated to active MerA, which catalyzes the bioconversion of toxic $Hg^{2+}$ to the least toxic elemental $Hg^0$, and suggest that MerA is capable of reducing the $Hg^{2+}$, probably via NADPH as an electron donor. The transgenic tobacco expressing merA volatilized significantly more mercury than wild-type plants. This is first time we are reporting the expression of a bacterial native merA gene via the nuclear genome of Nicotiana tabacum, and enhanced mercury volatilization from tobacco transgenics. The study clearly indicates that transgenic tobacco plants are reasonable candidates for the remediation of mercurycontaminated areas.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.449-460
• /
• 2012

Plants have versatile detoxification systems to encounter the phytotoxicity of the wide range of natural and synthetic compounds present in the environment. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) is an enzyme that detoxifies natural and exogenous toxic compounds by conjugation with glutathione (GSH). Recently, several roles of GST giving stress tolerance in plants have demonstrated, but little is known about the role of ginseng GSTs. Therefore, this work aimed to provide further information on the GST gene present in Panax ginseng genome as well as its expression and function. A GST cDNA (PgGST) was isolated from P. ginseng cDNA library, and it showed the amino acid sequence similarity with theta type of GSTs. PgGST in ginseng plant was induced by exposure to metals, plant hormone, heavy metals, and high light irradiance. To improve the resistance against environmental stresses, full-length cDNA of PgGST was introduced into Nicotiana tabacum. Overexpression of PgGST led to twofold increase in GST-specific activity compared to the non-transgenic plants, and the GST overexpressed plant showed resistance against herbicide phosphinothricin. The results suggested that the PgGST isolated from ginseng might have a role in the protection mechanism against toxic materials such as heavy metals and herbicides.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.146-152
• /
• 1997

Development of shoot and root, leaf water potential and photosynthetic rate affected by water stress in early growing stage of tobacco were surveyed to interpret stress response in terms of plant physiological and agricultural aspects. The growth of shoot and root was highly suppressed by water stress and the difference in dry weight by rewatering was smaller in root than in shoot. The total root length was highly decreased by water stress and the lengths of root for water stress and non-stress were 74m and 84m, respectively, after rewatering. The root growth treated by water stress was increased between 2nd and 3rd day after treatment indicating that temporary water stress at early growing stage might have increased of root zone activity for early growth stage. The leaf water potentials were decreased to -7.63MPa, -9.47MPa, -11.89MPa, -13MPa at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th day by water stress. The relative water contents were 75%, 62% and 57% at the 3rd, 4th and 5th day after treatment. Photosynthesis was reduced largely by water stress. The photosynthetic rate after treatment at 2nd day and 3rd day was dropped to 18.15$\mu$mol. $CO_2$/$m^2$ㆍsec$^{-1}$ and 9.35$\mu$mol. $CO_2$/$m^2$ㆍsec$^{-1}$. It was never recovered to the normal, even after rewatering. Stomatal conductance had been reduced since 2nd day after treatment and increased after rewatering.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.143-149
• /
• 1986

Anatomical changes in the forming and germinating processes of tobacco seeds were investigated to obtain basic information on the ecological characteristics of tobacco seeds. Seed development studied through the longitudinal section of the fertilized ovule clarified that the cell division of the zygote was initiated after 7 days of flowering. After 12 days of flowering, perfect seed constituents such as cotyledon, epicotyle and radicle were formed and those were expressed to recognizable level of germinability. After 15 days of flowering germination rate reached higher than 30% and 17 and 21 days after flowering a perfect seed which have 70% or higher germinability were produced. Seed size was ranged between 0.3-0.6 mm and varietal differences were noted in the given seed size range. Under the light treatment, the morphological changes were observed by elongation of radicle after 2 days of imbibition and apparent germination after 3 days of imbibition. But no responses of the seeds imbibed 6 days under the dark condition were observed.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.382-392
• /
• 2017

This study reports the findings of a distinct Potato virus Y (PVY) isolate found in Northeast China. One hundred and ten samples (leaves and tubers) were collected from potato plants showing mosaic symptoms around the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province of China. The collected tubers were planted and let to grow in a greenhouse. New potato plants generated from these tubers showed similar symptoms, except for one plant. Subsequent serological analyses revealed PVY as the causing agent of the disease. A novel PVY isolate (referred to as HLJ-C-44 in this study) was isolated from this sample showing unique mild mosaic and crisped leaf margin symptoms. The complete genome of this isolate was analyzed and determined. The results showed that HLJ-C-44 is a typical PVY isolate. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that this isolate belongs to the N-Wi strain group of PVY recombinants ($PVY^{N-Wi}$) and also shared the highest overall sequence identity (nucleotide and amino acid) with other members of this strain group. However, recombination analysis of isolate HLJ-C-44 revealed a recombination pattern that differed from that of other $PVY^{N-Wi}$ isolates. Moreover, biological assays in four different potato cultivars and in Nicotiana tabacum also revealed a different phenotypic response than that of a typical $PVY^{N-Wi}$ isolate. This data, combined, suggest that HLJ-C-44 is a novel PVY recombinant with distinct biological properties.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.103-107
• /
• 1998

Tobacco proembryos were irradiated with 100 Gy of heavy-ion beams($^{14}\textrm{N}$, $^{20}\textrm{Ne}$: 135 Mev/u) after 24 to 96 hours of pollination as a mutagen and screened $\textrm{M}_{1}$ generation for morphological mutants and salt-tolerant plants. Morphological and physiological characteristics of the salt-tolerant plants derived from the irradiated proembryo are discussed in this report. Mutants irradiated proembryos with the beams after pollination produced various kinds of morphological variation. A total of 17 salt-tolerant plants were selected from tobacco cultivar (BY-4) by treatment with $^{14}\textrm{N}$ beam. Shapes of filament and pollen grain of most salt-tolerant plants were abnormal compared with non-irradiated wild type, and seeds weight and fertility obviously decreased. The germination rates of the several $\textrm{M}_{2}$ lines on the saline and the mannitol condition were higher than that of wild type.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.169-173
• /
• 2000

A 1,183bp cDNA, AmA1, encoding the seed storage protein of Amaranthus hypochondriacus was isolated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and characterized. AmA1 gene was subcloned into plant binary vector under Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV) 35S promoter and nopaline synthase terminator (3'NOS). The recombinant binary vector was used to transform Nicotiana tabacum using Agrobacterium tumefacien -mediated transformation procedure. Shoots were induced on MS medium with 0.1 mg/L NAA, 1.0 mg/L BA, 100 mg/L kanamycin and 250 mg/L cefotaxime. Transgenic plants were selected on rooting medium based on MS medium containing 200 mg/L kanamycin and 250 mg/L cefotaxime without phytoregulators. The presence of AmA1 gene in the transgenic plants was confirmed by PCR followed by DNA hybridization. The expression of AmA1 gene in the transgenic plant was observed by RT-PCR method.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.546-552
• /
• 2022

Epidermal cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a tumor-associated antigen (TAA), which has been considered as a cancer vaccine candidate. The EpCAM protein fused to the fragment crystallizable region of immunoglobulin G (IgG) tagged with KDEL endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention signal (EpCAM-FcK) has been successfully expressed in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi) and purified from the plant leaf. In this study, we investigated the ability of the plant-derived EpCAM-FcK (EpCAM-FcK^P) to elicit an immune response in vivo. The animal group injected with the EpCAM-FcK^P showed a higher differentiated germinal center (GC) B cell population (~9%) compared with the animal group injected with the recombinant rhEpCAM-Fc chimera (EpCAM-Fc^M). The animal group injected with EpCAM-FcK^P (~42%) had more differentiated T follicular helper cells (Tfh) than the animal group injected with EpCAM-Fc^M (~7%). This study demonstrated that the plant-derived EpCAM-FcK fusion antigenic protein induced a humoral immune response in mice.