• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2011

Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) play pivotal roles in plant defense to different abiotic and biotic stresses. In order to understand the function of ginseng spermidine synthase gene, a key gene involved in biosynthesis of polyamines, transgenic plant was generated in Arabidopsis. The transgenic plants exhibited high levels of polyamines compared to the untransformed control plants. We investigated the tolerance capacity of transgenic plants to abiotic stresses such as salinity and copper stress. In addition, transgenic plants also showed increased resistance against one of the important fungal pathogens of ginseng, the wilt causing Fusarium oxysporum and one of important bacteria, bacterial blight causing Pseudomonas syringae. However, an activity of the polyamine catabolic enzyme, diamine oxidase (DAO) was increased significantly in F. oxysporum and P. syringae infected transgenic plant. Polyamine catabolic enzymes which may trigger the hypersensitive response (HR) by producing hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) seem act as an inducer of PR proteins, peroxidase and phenyl ammonium lyase activity. The transgenic plants also contained higher antioxidant enzyme activities, less MDA and $H_2O_2$ under salt and copper stress than the wild type, implying it suffered from less injury. These results strongly suggest an important role of spermidine as a signaling regulator in stress signaling pathways, leading to build-up of stress tolerance mechanisms.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.883-890
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• 2015

The soilborne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lilii (Fol) is a serious threat to all lily cultivars, especially infecting bulbs and flowers. It has become increasingly important to develop varieties resistant against the bulb rot disease. Genetic diversity of cultivars and reliable screening methods are required for this purpose. Here, an efficient in vitro screening system for evaluating resistance to Fol in 38 in vitro-grown lily plants was investigated. Various factors including culture conditions of Fol, inoculum density, appropriate plant materials, inoculation method and duration, and incubation period of plant materials after inoculation were combined to optimize the screening method. As a result, we suggest optimal conditions for an in vitro screening system for the selection of Fol-resistant lily cultivars as follows. Fol was grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium for 6 days at $25^{\circ}C$ in darkness and used as working inoculation. Spore suspensions were prepared (inoculum density: $1.0{\times}10^4$ $spores{\cdot}mL^{-1}$), and then leaf segments $1.5{\times}2.0cm^2$ were inoculated by dipping for 22 hours at $25^{\circ}C$ in dark. Later, leaves were cultured on 0.6% agar plates at $25^{\circ}C$ and 50% humidity with a photoperiod of 16 hours light/8 hours dark (fluence rate of $40{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) to examine the progress of bulb rot. After 7 days, disease levels were classified into indices 1 (no symptom) to 6 (serious bulb rot). Soil inoculation of Fol carried out with resistant or susceptible lily cultivars that had been selected through in vitro screening confirmed the reproducibility of results. Therefore, the in vitro screening method established in this study is efficient and reliable for selection of lily cultivars resistant against bulb rot disease.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2011

This study describes an efficient protocol for Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of two subgroups of genotype AAA bananas (Musa acuminata cv. Pei Chiao and Musa acuminata cv. Gros Michel). Instead of using suspension cells, cauliflower-like bud clumps, also known as multiple bud clumps (MBC), were induced from sucker buds on MS medium containing $N^6$-Benzylaminopurine (BA), Thidiazuron (TDZ), and Paclobutrazol (PP333). Bud slices were co-cultivated with A. tumefaciens C58C1 or EHA105 that carry a plasmid containing Arabidopsis root-type ferredoxin gene (Atfd3) and a plant ferredoxin-like protein (pflp) gene, respectively. These two strains showed differences in transformation efficiency. The EHA105 strain was more sensitive in Pei Chiao, 51.3% bud slices were pflp-transformed, and 12.6% slices were Atfd3-transformed. Gros Michel was susceptible to C58C1 and the transformation efficiency is 4.4% for pflp and 13.1% for Atfd3. Additionally, gene integration of the putative pflp was confirmed by Southern blot. Resulting from the pathogen inoculation assay, we found that the pflp transgenic banana exhibited resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4. This protocol is highly advantageous to banana cultivars that have difficulties in setting up suspension cultures for the purpose of quality improvement through genetic transformation. In addition, this protocol would save at least 6 months in obtaining explants for transformation and reduce labor for weekly subculture in embryogenic cell suspension culture systems.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.507-509
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• 2009

New standard carnation cultivar "Jasujung" was bred from the cross of red standard cultivar "Francesco" and purple standard cultivar "Saturn" at the National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science. It was crossed in 1996 and finally selected in 2000 after investigation of the characteristics for 4 years from 1997 to 2000. "Jasujung", purple standard cultivar for cut flower, has good fragrance and long stem. Especially, it is strong resistance against Fusarium wilt. This cultivar is recommended to grow over $8^{\circ}C$ at night and under $25^{\circ}C$ at days.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.275-282
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• 2009

The effect of two plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on plant growth and systemic protection against soft rot disease and stem rot disease of canola (Brassica napus), caused by Erwinia carotovora and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum was investigated in a laboratory and a greenhouse. Selected PGPR strains C4 and D8 were treated to canola seeds by soaking. Strains C4 and D8 significantly not only increased plant height and root length about 74% and 40.3% and also reduced disease severity of soft rot disease by 80% by C4 and D8 respectively, compared to the control. Especially strain C4 showed antifungal activity against 6 fungal pathogens, S. sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, Phytophthora capsici and Colletotrichum acutatum. In greenhouse experiment, the seed treatment of both of them increased plant height, leaf width and leaf length of canola plant to 19.5% and 24.9%, 11.3% and 15.3%, and 14.1% and 20.7% by C4 and D8, respectively, and reduced disease severity of S. sclerotiorium. These results indicate that these two PGPR strains can decrease disease severity and increased plant growth under greenhouse condition. Therefore, these two bacteria have a potential in controlling Sclerotinia stem rot of canola. These strains have to investigate under field condition to determine their role of antibiosis, induced systemic resistance and plant growth promotion on canola.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.393-398
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to verify the antifungal properties of various herbal medicines belonging to the Ranunculaceae family and to find an extraction method effective in inhibiting fungal growth. When antifungal activity was measured in a liquid medium with extracts obtained by either hot water extraction or organic solvent extraction of the herbal medicines Clematis apiifolia, Coptis chinensis, and Pusatilla chinensis, effective results were obtained from the chloroform extract. In addition, fungal growth inhibition experiments were performed on unicellular fungi, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Candida lusitaniae, and on filamentous fungi, such as Pythium ultimum, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Fusarium oxysporum, using disk diffusion experiments on solid media. It was confirmed that P. chinensis extract has excellent antifungal properties against Candida spp. and C. apiifolia extract against filamentous mold. Finally, GC-MS analysis was performed to explore the useful antifungal substances present in the extract. As a result of the study, thurbergenone from C. apiifolia and 16-hydroxycleroda-3, 13(14)-dien-15, 16-olide (16-HCDO) from C. chinensis were confirmed as antifungal candidates. In conclusion, it was confirmed that C. apiifolia, C. chinensis, and P. chinensis have antifungal activity against various fungi, and in GC-MS analysis, all herbal medicines were confirmed to have different antifungal candidates. These results indicate that the Ranunculaceae family has evolved in several directions for fungal resistance traits.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2016

This study was conducted to develop the disinfection system using electric shock for recycled nutrient solution in recycling soilless culture. Stainless steel (SUS 316) was found as the most appropriate electrode material for electrical disinfection system from the view of high electrical conductivity, low electric resistance, and low price. There were no changes in nutritional elements when the electric shock passed through the nutrient solution by stainless steel electrode. The amount of electric current increased with width than thickness of the electrode. The farther the distance between the electrodes was increased the time to reach out the aimed amount of current. The electric shock was applied to Ralstonia solanacearum and Fusarium oxysporum as representative bacteria and also fungi. Any of those pathogens were killed with the percentage of higher than 97% in the condition of 15VDC or 24VDC.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.333-343
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• 2009

Here, we show that an endophytic bacterial strain, Enterobacter asburiae B1 exhibits the ability to elicit ISR in cucumber, tobacco and Arabidopsis thaliana. This indicates that strain B1 has a widespread ability to elicit ISR on various host plants. In this study, E. asburiae strain B1 did not show antifungal activity against tested major fungal pathogens, Colletotrichum orbiculare, Botrytis cinerea, Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani, and Fusarium oxysporum. Moreover, the siderophore production by E. asburiae strain B1 was observed under in vitro condition. In greenhouse experiments, the root treatment of strain B1 significantly reduced disease severity of cucumber anthracnose caused by fungal pathogen C. orbiculare compared to nontreated control plants. By root treatment of strain B1 more than 50% disease control against anthracnose on cucumber was observed in all greenhouse experiments. Simultaneously, under the greenhouse condition, the soil drench of strain B1 and a chemical inducer benzothiadiazole (BTH) to tobacco plants induced GUS activity which is linked with activation of PR promoter gene. Furthermore, in Arabidopsis thaliana plants the soil drench of strain B1 induced the defense gene expression of PR1 and PDF1.2 related to salicylic acid and jasmonic acid/ethylene signaling pathways, respectively. In this study, for the main focus on root colonization by strain B1 associated with defense responses, bacterial cells of strain B1 was tagged with the gfp gene encoding the green fluorescent protein in order to determine the colonization pattern of strain B1 in cucumber. The gfp-tagged B1 cells were found on root surface and internal colonization in root, stem, and leaf. In addition to this, the scanning electron microscopy observation showed that E. asburiae strain B1 was able to colonized cucumber root surface.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2006

The calmodulin as a Ca$^{2+}$-binding protein mediates cellular Ca$^{2+}$ signals in response to a wide array of stimuli in higher eukaryotes. Plants produce numerous calmodulin isoforms that exhibit differential gene expression patterns and sense different Ca$^{2+}$ signals. SCaM-5 is a soybean calmodulin that is involved in plant defense signaling. Here, we constructed a SCaM-5 CDNA under control of CaMV 35S promoter and transformed it into tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The constitutive over-expression of SCaM-5 in tomato plants exhibited a high levels of pathogenesis-related (PR) gene expression, and conferred an enhanced resistance to two fungal pathogen (Phytophthora capsici, Fusarium oxysporum), and a bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Thus, this results collectively suggest that SCaM-5 plays an important role in plant defense of tomato.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.268-275
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• 2008

In order to develop the multi-functional rhizobacteria that can exert positive effect on the growth of plants growing in the coastal sand dune located along East Coast of Korea, rhizospheral bacteria of 11 different plants from this area were isolated 1,330 rhizobacteria. Among these, 23 strains were able to produce auxin and had spectrum of antagonism toward various phytopathogenic microbes. To know the mechanism of this antifungal activity, these 23 strains were subjected to further analyses; 19 strains of these produced siderophore as determined by color reaction on CAS-blue plate, 4 strains produced antifungal cellulase as judged by color change on CMC-Congo red plate, 17 strains were able to utilized insoluble phosphate salts, also determined by clear zone formation on PVK medium. Identification of the strain was assigned to all 23 strains by l6s rDNA sequence analysed, and all were identified to be in the genus of Bacillus and Pseudomonas. One strain of these, denoted Pseudomonas fluorescens IB4-14, showed ACC deaminase activity which is known to be involved in the resistance of environmental stress such as salt and drought. Also, P. fluorescens IB4-l4 showed the germination stimulation and roots growth promoting activity on the in vivo assay of Lysimachia mauritiana Lam. (spoonleaf yellow loosestrife).