• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2013

Objective: Panax ginseng is one of the most medicinally used herbal medicines in the world. Wild ginseng is widely accepted to be more active than cultivated ginseng in chemoprevention. However, little has actually been reported on the differences between wild ginseng and cultivated ginseng. Method: To identify wild ginseng-specific genes, we used suppressive subtraction hybridization. Results: We report that one of the clones isolated in this screen was the GAPDH (glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase) gene (designated pGAPDH-w). DNA BLAST sequence analysis revealed that this pGAPDH-w gene contained novel sequences of 94 bp. RT-PCR results showed that the expression of the pGAPDH-w gene was significantly up-regulated in the wild ginseng as compared with the cultivated ginseng. Conclusion: The pGAPDH-w gene may be one of the important markers of wild ginseng.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2012

Panax ginseng is a well-known herbal medicine in traditional Asian medicine. Although wild ginseng is widely accepted to be more active than cultivated ginseng in chemoprevention, little has actually been reported on the difference between wild ginseng and cultivated ginseng. Using suppressive subtraction hybridization, we cloned the p-psbB gene as a candidate target gene for a wild ginseng-specific gene. Here, we report that one of the clones isolated in this screen was the chloroplast p-psbB gene, a chlorophyll a-binding inner antenna protein in the photosystem II complex, located in the lipid matrix of the thylakoid membrane. Real-time results showed that the expression of the p-psbB gene was significantly up-regulated in wild ginseng as compared to cultivated ginseng. Thus, the p-psbB gene may be one of the important markers of wild ginseng.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.637-643
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• 2020

Background: Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is one of the world's most valuable medicinal plants with numerous pharmacological effects. Ginseng has been cultivated from wild mountain ginseng collections for a few hundred years. However, the genetic diversity of cultivated and wild ginseng populations is not fully understood. Methods: We developed 92 polymorphic microsatellite markers based on whole-genome sequence data. We selected five markers that represent clear allele diversity for each of their corresponding loci to elucidate genetic diversity. These markers were applied to 147 individual plants, including cultivars, breeding lines, and wild populations in Korea and neighboring countries. Results: Most of the 92 markers displayed multiple-band patterns, resulting from genome duplication, which causes confusion in interpretation of their target locus. The five high-resolution markers revealed 3 to 8 alleles from each single locus. The proportion of heterozygosity (H_e) ranged from 0.027 to 0.190, with an average of 0.132, which is notably lower than that of previous studies. Polymorphism information content of the markers ranged from 0.199 to 0.701, with an average of 0.454. There was no statistically significant difference in genetic diversity between cultivated and wild ginseng groups, and they showed intermingled positioning in the phylogenetic relationship. Conclusion: Ginseng has a relatively high level of genetic diversity, and cultivated and wild groups have similar levels of genetic diversity. Collectively, our data demonstrate that current breeding populations have abundant genetic diversity for breeding of elite ginseng cultivars.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2009

This study was performed to investigate the cell growth inhibitory effect of tissue cultured root of wild Panax ginseng C.A. Mayer (tcwPG). The human stomach carcinoma cell line, MKN 74, was incubated with 70% EtOH extract of tcwPG or Panax ginseng C.A. Mayer (PG) for 24 hrs. tcwPG inhibited cell growth at a concentration of $250{\mu}g/ml$. However, Panax ginseng extract did not inhibit cell growth at the same concentration. We also tested the ethyl acetate and $H_2O$ fractions of tcwPG. The inhibitory effect of the ethyl acetate fraction on cell proliferation in MKN 74 cells was more potent than that of the crude extract, and the inhibitory effect of the $H_2O$ fraction was less than that of the ethyl acetate fraction. When we separated tcwPG into polar and non-polar saponin fractions and then measured cell growth inhibition, the non-polar saponin in tcwPG exhibited cytotoxicity. To compare the effects of tcwPG on various cancer cell lines, we measured cytotoxicity in MKN 74 (stomach cancer cell line), SW 620 (colon cancer cell line) and PC 3 (prostate cancer cell line). All three cell lines showed cell growth inhibition, and the cell growth inhibitory effects were not quite different in the various cell lines. The non-polar saponins of tcwPG arrested PC 3 cells at G1-phase as did Panax ginseng.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.349-354
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• 2007

The objectives of this study were to systemically identify phenolic compounds in roasted wild ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) leaves and investigate their radical scavenging activities. Seven phenolic compounds were identified by NMR (H, C, COSY, HMQC, HMBC) and mass (EI-MS, FAB-MS) analyses: 5-caffeoylquinic acid, kaempferol, quercetin, 3,4-dihydroxy-benzoic acid, 4-hydroxy-benzoic acid, 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-propenoic acid, and 3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-propenoic acid. Their concentrations ranged from 0.4 (3,4-dihydroxy-benzoic acid) to 7.5 mg (kaempferol) per 100 g of roasted leaves. Among these compounds, 5-caffeoylquinic acid, kaempferol, and quercetin were found exclusively in the leaf portions of the ginseng plants. When their antioxidant activities were measured by DPPH and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity, quercetin, and kaempferol were most effective.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.220-225
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• 2014

An efficient in vitro protocol has been established for somatic embryogenesis and plantlet conversion of Korean wild ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer). Wild-type and mutant adventitious roots derived from the ginseng produced calluses on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 0.3 mg/L kinetin; 53.3% of the explants formed callus. Embryogenic callus proliferation and somatic embryo induction occurred on MS medium containing 0.5 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The induced somatic embryos further developed to maturity on MS medium with 5 mg/L gibberellic acid, and 85% of them germinated. The germinated embryos were developed to shoots and elongated on MS medium with 5 mg/L gibberellic acid. The shoots developed into plants with well-developed taproots on one-third strength Schenk and Hildebrandt basal medium supplemented with 0.25 mg/L 1-naphthaleneacetic acid. When the plants were transferred to soil, about 30% of the regenerated plants developed into normal plants.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.69-79
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• 2009

Objective: In this study, the immunomodulatory activity of a mixture of wild Panax ginseng and red-mold rice extracts (MPR) on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells in the presence and absence of methotrexate (MTX), an anti-cancer drug, was investigated. Methods and Results: In the cell viability, MPR showed a significant cell proliferation and inhibited cell regression by red-mold rice (RMR) alone or MTX alone. MPR induced moderate increase in nitric oxide (NO) production. NO production and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression by LPS decreased after MPR treatment. In addition, MPR slightly induced COX-2 mRNA expression, but it did not affect the expression of COX-2 mRNA by LPS treatment. In RT-PCR analyses, MPR induced IL-$1{\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, and TNF-$\alpha$ mRNA expression, but had no effect on IL-10 and TGF-$\beta$, regardless of MTX treatment. Furthermore, MPR did not interfere with the cytotoxicity of MTX against MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells. Conclusions: MPR is efficacious in protecting against MTX-induced cell regression as a result of macrophage activation, resulting in induction of cytokine expression, implying that MPR could be considered an adjuvant in MTX-chemotherapy.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2018

The usage of wild ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) has been limited due to short supply and high price. Therefore, sufficient production as well as efficient extraction of mountain ginseng are required for the development as products. In this study, wild ginseng adventitious root cultures were prepared for efficient production with advantages of fast growth and stable production. Treatment of methyl jasmonate (MJ) to wild ginseng adventitious root cultures increased the extraction yield and antioxidative activity. Further investigation on effect of extraction conditions suggested the importance of ethanol concentration on antioxidative activity and extraction yield of MJ-treated wild ginseng adventitious root cultures. Optimized extraction condition of MJ-treated wild ginseng adventitious root cultures for maximum extraction yield and antioxidative activity was determined using response surface methodology with three-level-three-factor Box-Behnken design (BBD). Extraction of 1 g MJ-treated wild ginseng adventitious root culture with 30 ml of 9% ethanol at $30^{\circ}C$ produced 310.2 mg extract with 71.0% antioxidative activity at $100{\mu}g/ml$. Taken together, MJ-treated wild ginseng adventitious root culture is valuable source for wild ginseng usage and optimized extraction condition can be used for the development of functional products or folk remedies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.176-184
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• 2016

Background: Wild ginseng, Panax ginseng Meyer, is an endangered species of medicinal plants. In the present study, we analyzed variations within the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) cluster to gain insight into the genetic diversity of the Oriental ginseng, P. ginseng, at artificial plant cultivation. Methods: The roots of wild P. ginseng plants were sampled from a nonprotected natural population of the Russian Far East. The slides were prepared from leaf tissues using the squash technique for cytogenetic analysis. The 18S rDNA sequences were cloned and sequenced. The distribution of nucleotide diversity, recombination events, and interspecific phylogenies for the total 18S rDNA sequence data set was also examined. Results: In mesophyll cells, mononucleolar nuclei were estimated to be dominant (75.7%), while the remaining nuclei contained two to four nucleoli. Among the analyzed 18S rDNA clones, 20% were identical to the 18S rDNA sequence of P. ginseng from Japan, and other clones differed in one to six substitutions. The nucleotide polymorphism was more expressed at the positions 440-640 bp, and distributed in variable regions, expansion segments, and conservative elements of core structure. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed conspecificity of ginseng plants cultivated in different regions, with two fixed mutations between P. ginseng and other species. Conclusion: This study identified the evidences of the intragenomic nucleotide polymorphism in the 18S rDNA sequences of P. ginseng. These data suggest that, in cultivated plants, the observed genome instability may influence the synthesis of biologically active compounds, which are widely used in traditional medicine.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.380-388
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• 2019

The studies regarding soil bacterial community and correlation analysis of wild-simulated ginseng cultivation area are insufficient. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between soil bacterial community and growth characteristics of wild-simulated ginseng for selection of suitable cultivation area. The bacterial community was investigated by high throughput sequencing technique (Illumina platform). The correlation coefficient between soil bacterial community and growth characteristics were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation. The soil bacterial community from soil samples of 8 different wild-simulated ginseng cultivated area exhibited two distinct clusters, cluster 1 and cluster 2. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria (35.4%) and Alphaproteobacteria(24.4%) was observed to be highest in all soil samples. The lower soil pH and higher abundance of Acidobacteria resulted in increased growth of wild-simulated ginseng. Additionally, abundance of Acidobacteriia (class) and Koribacteraceae (family) demonstrated significant positive correlation with fresh weight of wild-simulated ginseng. The results of this study clearly state the correlation between growth characteristic and soil bacterial community of wild-simulated ginseng cultivation area, thereby offering effective insight into selection of suitable cultivation area of wild-simulated ginseng.