Genetic diversity and population structure of Raffaelea quercus‐mongolicae,a fungus associated with oak mortality in South Korea

Raffaelea quercus‐mongolicae is a fungus associated with oak wilt and deemed to cause extensive oak mortality in South Korea. Since the discovery of this fungus on a dead Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica) in 2004, the mortality continued to spread southwards in South Korea. Despite continued expansion of the disease and associated significant impacts on forest ecosystems, information is lacking about the origin and genetic diversity of R. quercus‐mongolicae. Restriction‐site‐associated DNA (RAD) sequencing was used to assess genetic diversity and population structure among five populations (provinces) of R. quercus‐mongolicae in South Korea. In total, 179 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified among 2,639 RAD loci across the nuclear genome of the 54 R. quercus‐mongolicae isolates (0.0012 SNPs per bp), which displayed an overall low expected heterozygosity and no apparent population structure. The low genetic diversity and no apparent population structure among South Korean populations of this ambrosia beetle‐vectored fungus support the hypothesis that this fungus was introduced to South Korea.     

Bordetella bronchiseptica aroA mutant as a live vaccine vehicle for heterologous porcine circovirus type 2 major capsid protein expression

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infections cause important respiratory diseases in the pig industry and are associated with many bacterial, mycoplasmal, and viral complications. In this study, a heterologous PCV2 major capsid protein (MCP) was expressed in the Bordetella bronchiseptica aroA mutant strain (BBS-MCP) and used as a live vaccine vehicle. Mice and pigs were immunized with live BBS-MCP via the intranasal route. The antibodies against MCP were induced successfully in the serum as determined by ELISA. In the PCV2 challenge experiment, viral DNA was removed successfully from the lymph nodes of pigs vaccinated with live BBS-MCP. Overall, BBS-MCP is believed to be a good candidate for the development of a live-attenuated vaccine against PCV2 infections.     

Estimation of productivity growth,technical progress,and efficiency changes in the Korean offshore fisheries

In this study, changes in total factor productivity of 12 Korean offshore fisheries between 1997 and 2009 were estimated through the Malmquist productivity index, which is a nonparametric method. Also, the cause of such changes in productivity of each fishery was analyzed more specifically by segmenting into factors for technological progress and technical efficiency. As a result of this analysis, the total factor productivity change of the entire offshore fisheries was −6.0 %. Changes in the technical efficiency and technological level factors, respectively, contributed 0.2 and −6.2 % to this rate of decrease in total factor productivity; that is, inactivity of technological progress led to the decrease in productivity of the offshore fisheries. In addition, technological progress and technical efficiency were found to differently influence the change in total factor productivity of each fishery. In order for each fishery to improve productivity, better rational fisheries management policies by the government and efforts by the fishing industry and individual fishing business units must accompany factors that promote productivity increase.     

Involvement of a vascular hypersensitive response in quantitative resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum on tomato rootstock cultivar LS‐89

Ralstonia solanacearum causes bacterial wilt disease in Solanaceae spp. Expression of the Phytophthora inhibitor protease 1 (PIP1) gene, which encodes a papain‐like extracellular cysteine protease, is induced in R. solanacearum‐inoculated stem tissues of quantitatively resistant tomato cultivar LS‐89, but not in susceptible cultivar Ponderosa. Phytophthora inhibitor protease 1 is closely related to Rcr3, which is required for the Cf‐2‐mediated hypersensitive response (HR) to the leaf mould fungus Cladosporium fulvum and manifestation of HR cell death. However, up‐regulation of PIP1 in R. solanacearum‐inoculated LS‐89 stems was not accompanied by visible HR cell death. Nevertheless, upon electron microscopic examination of inoculated stem tissues of resistant cultivar LS‐89, several aggregated materials associated with HR cell death were observed in xylem parenchyma and pith cells surrounding xylem vessels. In addition, the accumulation of electron‐dense substances was observed within the xylem vessel lumen of inoculated stems. Moreover, when the leaves of LS‐89 or Ponderosa were infiltrated with 10⁶ cells mL^?1 R. solanacearum, cell death appeared in LS‐89 at 18 and 24 h after infiltration. The proliferation of bacteria in the infiltrated leaf tissues of LS‐89 was suppressed to approximately 10–30% of that in Ponderosa, and expression of the defence‐related gene PR‐2 and HR marker gene hsr203J was induced in the infiltrated tissues. These results indicated that the response of LS‐89 is a true HR, and induction of vascular HR in xylem parenchyma and pith cells surrounding xylem vessels seems to be associated with quantitative resistance of LS‐89 to R. solanacearum.     

Protective potential of an attenuated Pasteurella multocida,which expresses only the N-terminal truncated fragment of P. multocida toxin

Pasteurella multocida serogroup D causes progressive atrophic rhinitis in pigs and produces a potent, intracellular, mitogenic toxin known as P. multocida toxin (PMT), which is encoded by the toxA gene. Highly toxic to cells, PMT is a poor antigen and becomes more immunogenic after its native structure has been destroyed. Previously, we found that the N-terminal fragment of PMT (N-PMT) can induce a strong immune response that is protective against wild-type challenge. Here, an attenuated P. multocida mutant expressing only N-PMT was developed and its protective effect was evaluated. The mutant provides protective immune responses against bacterial and toxin challenges, and so is a good live vaccine candidate.     

An antibiotic fusaricidin: a cyclic depsipeptide from Paenibacillus polymyxa E681 induces systemic resistance against Phytophthora blight of red-pepper

In this study fusaricidin, a cyclic depsipeptide isolated from Paenibacillus polymyxa E681 (E681), was demonstrated to control Phytophthora blight infection caused by Phytophthora capsici in red-pepper. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of fusaricidin was found to be 16 ppm against P. capsici. The disease severity of P. capsici was 40% at 0.1 ppm of fusaricidin when compared with water-treated control (81.7%) on post-treatment, whereas the disease severities on pre-treatment were 45% and 83.3% in fusaricidin (0.1 ppm) and water-treated control, respectively, in red-pepper plants. Significant (P?<?0.05) disease suppression was observed on treatment with fusaricidin (0.1 ppm) by foliar spray and soil drench. The disease severity was drastically reduced to 3.3% by soil drench of fusaricidin (1.0 ppm), whereas in water-treated control, the disease severity was 83.3% in the first experiment. Fusaricidin at 0.1 ppm reduced disease severity of P. capsici to 27.5% when compared with positive control (43.1%) and water-treated control (66.2%) in the second experiment. Soft rot disease in tobacco was suppressed upon treatment with fusaricidin at 1.0 ppm by leaf infiltration. RT-PCR analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana revealed that there was an up-regulation of pathogenesis-related (PR) gene expression in wild type A. thaliana (Col-0), while there was no accumulation of PR genes, which implies that the mechanism of protection might be based on a salicylic acid-dependent pathway. This is the first report that fusaricidin exhibits protection against plant pathogens in addition to activity as an antibiotic agent. Hence, E681 can play a role in plant protection by secretion of ISR elicitors including fusaricidin.     

Effect of different planting times on the quantitative variation of total seed isoflavone content and composition in Korean soybean cultivars (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - There is great interest in the enhancement of isoflavones as one of the functional ingredients in soybean. This study aimed to investigate the effects of...     

基于小区育种的收获机智能测产系统

摘要：目前,中国境内大部分育种单位产量测试主要采用人工抽检方式完成,劳动强度大,工作效率低,测试数据的质量与发达国家所采用的测产系统相距甚远。为解决这一问题,该文设计研制了一种基于小区育种的收获机测产系统。该测产系统包括上位机和下位机两部分。下位机采用美国TI公司的MSP430单片机,通过粮食水分传感器,重量传感器,环境温湿度传感器,GPS模块,获取收获机的产量、粮食水分含量、环境温湿度及GPS地理位置等信息。上位机采用能够运行MCGS组态软件的嵌入式触摸屏作为人机交互界面。下上位机通过RS-232串口及Modbus协议实现通讯,完成数据的传输。该系统可以自动实现地块号与产量相关数据的准确对应关系,并利用U盘实现海量数据的导入、导出等数据管理功能。并利用虚拟试验验证了该收获机测产系统方案正确和可行,并且可明显提高育种测产的工作效率和数据的准确性。