Biotechnology Research Center Research Articles

한반도 주변 해역으로부터 혐기성 미생물의 분리 및 분리 미생물의 특성 분석

Marine Biotechnology Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Ansan 15627, Republic of Korea(Received February 26, 2016; Revised March 30, 2016; Accepted April 8, 2016)ABSTRACT: Marine bacteria have represented unique physiologies and products which are not discovered from terrestrial organisms. There has been great interest to utilize and develop marine bacteria in many industrial sectors. Recently, we isolated and characterized anaerobic bacteria from various marine environments in Korea to search organic acids fermenting strains. From our enrichment performed under anaerobic condition, 65 strains were isolated and identified by the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Among them, eleven strains were selected for phylogenetical and biochemical analysis. All tested strains were affiliated with Class Clostridia except one with Class Bacteroidia . Most of strains produce acetate (6 strains) with butyrate (2 strains) and/or formate (4 strains). Strain MCWD5 transformed 40% of glucose to extracellular polymeric substances. These results indicate that many novel anaerobic microorganisms which have great potential in commercial application are distributed in the marine environments of Korean Peninsula.Key words: anaerobic marine bacteria, Clostridia, enrichment culture, organic acid production*For correspondence.

International Conference on Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering

The 5th International Conference on Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering (ICCBPE) was organized by the Chemical Engineering Programme of the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The primary purpose of ICCBPE 2015 was to discuss bridging technologies from laboratory and pilot scales to commercial scales for manufacturing advanced products by involving innovative processing of biomass and feedstock suitable for SME's.This event serves as a platform for researchers, engineers, academicians as well as industrial professionals from countries such as the United State of America, Taiwan, Korea, Iran, Thailand and Malaysia to present their research and development activities in chemical engineering sciences and applications. During the conference, a total of 81 manuscripts under the Oil and Gas, Waste, Biomass and Biofuels, and Environment categories were presented and discussed in a series of parallel presentations.We are honoured to have distinguished keynote speakers participating in this event. They were Prof. Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, the founding Director of Advanced Membrane Technology Research Center (AMTEC) (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), Prof. Dr. Ghasem D. Najafpour (Chairman of the Biotechnology Research Center, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Iran) and Prof. Dr. Shizhong Li (Executive Director of MOST-USDA Joint Research Center for Biofuels, China).Last but not least, we are grateful to all of the reviewers for maintaining the standards and quality of the manuscripts throughout the reviewing process.Kota Kinabalu, Sabah April 2016Chairman : Professor Ir. Dr. Rosalam SarbatlyChief Editor : Professor Dr. Awang BonoEditorial Team : Associate Professor Dr. Chu Chi MingDr. Tham Heng JinDr. Noor Maizura IsmailMs. Zykamilia KaminUniversiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)

SERUM MARKERS FOR ASSESSING LIVER FIBROSIS IN EGYPTIAN PA- TIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS B AND C CO-INFECTION VERSUS CHRONIC HEPATITIS C.

Chronic hepatitis B and C can progress to hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis. The stage of liver fibrosis is critical for decision of treatment and prediction of outcomes, as life threatening complications highly develop in cirrhotic patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive serum markers in the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with combined chronic hepatitis B and C versus those with chronic hepatitis C. This study included 2 groups; Gl: combined chronic hepatitis B & C, which included 71 patients and G2: chronic hepatitis C, which included 70 patients. Liver biopsy results from both groups were recorded. Three validated blood indices Fibro Q, Fibro alpha, and Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) were tested for optimal cut off values for assessing liver fibrosis in both groups. The results showed that the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) for Fibro Q in differentiating significant fibrosis (> F2) from non-significant fibrosis (≤ F2) was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.60-0.89) in the first group and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.71-0.98) in the second group. AUROC for BRC was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.63-0.89) in the first group and 0.75 (CI: 0.60-0.89) in the second group. Fibro alpha performed less in both groups based on AUROC 0.69 and 0.68 in the first and second group respectively.

IMPLEMENTASI NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION (NAT) MENGGUNAKAN KERIO CONTROL VERSI 7.4.1 DI PUSAT PENELITIAN BIOTEKNOLOGI – LIPI

Biotechnology Research Center as an institution engaged in the research, the need for data and updated information is an absolute thing. This requirement can be met one of them is the use of information technology either by using the internet. With the increasing number of Internet users in Biotechnology Research Center and order for all users who are members of the Local Area Network (LAN) can utilize the internet needed a good network management. While, during the network management Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), under the supervision of the Joint Network Team (TGJ – LIPI ) only provide one local IP segment which is limited to only 250 users. While number of internet users in Biotechnology Research Center and more than that number will continue to grow. To overcome these problems, then the LAN network at the Research Center for Biotechnology service facility utilizes Network Address Translation (NAT) contained in Kerio Control software version 7.4.1. The subject of this article is limited to the implementation and configuration of NAT using Kerio Control 7.4.1 version. From these results, we concluded that the implementation of NAT helps all users in the network LAN Biotechnology Research Center get Public IP, so that it can connect to the internet properly.

USEING OF COMET ASSAY FOR DETECTION OF THE DAMAGE IN DNA DUE TO THE INFECTION BY BLOOD PARASITES IN CYRUS GOAT KIDS

This study was carried out at the Ruminants Researches Station (20 km west of Baghdad) /State Board for Agriculture Researches / Ministry of Agriculture, and Biotechnology Research Center of AL-Nahrain University during 1/8/213 to 1/8/2014. The aim of this study was to identify the damage in DNA according to comet assay procedure, after testing of 50 infected goat kids with blood parasites. Most of traits affected significantly by infection, as most of traits showed a depression due to infection. The results revealed that the effect of type on the traits of comet assay was significant (P < 0.01) in this research. The infected goat kids were surpassed the corresponding healty goat kids for all measures of comet, whereas, the healty goat kids surpassed the corresponding infected goat kids

Special issues and regional congresses, chapters and associations

© 2015. The Libyan Authority of Scientific Research and Technologyand the Libyan Biotechnology Research Center. All rights reserved. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License,permitting copying and reproductionso long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, oradapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Identification of Undifferentiated Embryonic Cell Transcription Factor 1 as a Potential Substrate of Carboxyl-Terminal Domain Small Phosphatases

Division of Applied Life Science, Systems and Synthetic Agrobiotech Center, Plant Molecular Biology and BiotechnologyResearch Center, Research Institute of Natural Science, Gyeongsang National University,501 Jinju-daero, Jinju 660-701, Korea(Received January 24, 2015; Accepted February 26, 2015)Key words: Protein phosphatase, Stem cell regulation, Protein dephosphorylation, Enzyme kinetics, Molecular docking

Detection of Molecular Variation Among Maize Lines and Their Hybrids Using RAPD Markers

A laboratory experiment was carried out at the Biotechnology Research Center – Nahrain University – Baghdad for the year 2013 at the aim of assessing the extent of genetic divergence among seven inbred lines of maize and the twelve single hybrids results from Line X Tester crossing among these lines. Ten of RAPD molecular markers have been used for this purpose (OPA-07, OPA-09, OPA-11, OPA-13, OPC-12, OPD-20, OPI-01,OPO-04, OPN-16 and GB8), just five of these (OPA-09, OPC-12, OPD-20, OPN-16 and GB8) were succeeded in distinguishing among parent lines per se and their F1 hybrids by showing different pattern of DNA fragmentation. The results of genetic similarity analysis and dendrogram tree revealed that the inbred lines T1 and T6 were the most genetic divergent lines as they gained the minimum value of genetic similarity reached 68.6%, which indicates their important role in the future studies and to produce elite hybrids.

Substantiation of 25 kGy radiation sterilization dose for banked air dried amniotic membrane and evaluation of personnel skill in influencing finished product bioburden

Preparation of amniotic membrane (AM) by air drying method followed by radiation sterilization is simple and valuable approach; sterility and quality of the final AM product are depending on the quality management system at the tissue bank. Validation and substantiation of radiation sterilization dose (RSD) for tissue allografts is an essential step for the development and validation of the standard operating procedures (SOP). Application of SOP is perfectly relying on trained staff. Skills differences among personnel involved in AM preparation could have an effect on microbiological quality of the finished product and subsequently on the RSD required. AM were processed by four different couples of the tissue bank technicians. The AM grafts were randomly selected and subjected to bioburden test to validate and substantiate the 25 kGy RSD. Bioburden test for AM grafts were also useful to evaluate the skill of the tissue bank technicians and thus, to validate the current SOP for air dried AM. Moreover, the effect of placental source on bioburden counts on AM grafts was assessed. Substantiation of the 25 kGy RSD at a sterility assurance level of 10−1, and sample item portion = 1, was carried out using Method VDmax25 of the International Organization for Standardization, document no. 11137-2 (ISO in Sterilization of healthcare products—radiation—part 2: establishing the sterilization dose, Method VDmax—substantiation of 25 kGy or 15 kGy as the sterilization dose, International Standard Organization, 2006). The results showed that there were no significant differences in the bioburdens of the four batches (α = 1 %), this means no significant differences in the skill of the four couples of the tissue bank technicians in terms of their ability to process AM according to the air dried AM SOP. The 25 kGy RSD was validated and substantiated as a valid sterilization dose for the AM prepared with the current established SOP at the Biotechnology Research Center experimental tissue bank. The donor’s type of delivery, normal or caesarean, showed no significant effect on the levels of microbial counts on the tested AMs (α = 1 %).

Noninvasive Diagnosis of Liver Fibrosis and Cirrhosis in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

We aimed to derive a simple noninvasive test for liver-fibrosis staging and then estimate its performance against four simple noninvasive tests in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. CHC patients were divided into two cohorts: an estimation set (n = 324) and a validation set (n = 524). Liver fibrosis was staged according to the METAVIR scoring system. Statistical analysis was done using stepwise linear discriminant analysis and area under receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUCs). Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) score was constructed combining several blood markers that proved useful to stage liver fibrosis. Aspartate aminotransferase /alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI), Fibro-α, King, and BRC scores correlated with the histological fibrosis stages with correlation coefficient 0.26, 0.36, 0.58, 0.45, and 0.73, respectively. BRC score produced AUCs 0.87, 0.83, and 0.89 for significant (F2-F4), advanced fibrosis (F3-F4), and cirrhosis (F4), respectively. These results were reproduced in the validation study with no significant difference yielding AUCs 0.85 for F2-F4, 0.82 for F3-F4, and 0.88 for F4. BRC score, a novel noninvasive test, is a useful and easy tool to evaluate liver fibrosis in CHC patients and seems more efficient than AAR, APRI, Fibro-α score, and King's score in this group of Egyptian patients.

Neuroprotective and Neurotherapeutic Effects of Bee Venom on Neurodegenerative Diseases

Event Abstract Back to Event Neuroprotective and Neurotherapeutic Effects of Bee Venom on Neurodegenerative Diseases Miran K. Rakha1* 1 Suez Canal University, Biotechnology Research Center, Egypt Acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases are illnesses associated with high morbidity and mortality, and few or no effective options are available for their treatment. A characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases — which include stroke, brain trauma, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease — is neuronal cell death. Given that central nervous system tissue has very limited, if any, regenerative capacity, it is of utmost importance to limit the damage caused by neuronal death. Bee venom, which is also known as apitoxin, consists of several biologically active peptides, including melittin, adolapin, mast cell degranulating peptide and phospholipase A2. Moreover, bee venom contains a variety of bioamines, such as apamin, histamine, procamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, which facilitate nerve transmission and healing in a variety of nerve disorders. This gives bee venom the ability to travel along the neural pathways from the spine to various trigger points and injured areas to help repair nerve damage and restore mobility. This review overviews; (1) causes and mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases which pertains to neuronal cell death, (2) evidence linking composition comprising bee venom to its substantial potential for preventing and treating of neurodegenerative diseases associated with neuronal cell death, and (3) how improving our knowledge of the mechanisms mediating neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic activities of bee venom against neuronal cell death may led to novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Future challenges remaining will be to elucidate signaling responses activated by bee venom in neurons. In other words, bee venom inhibits neuronal cell death and activation of proapoptotic signaling in neurons. These findings emphasize the clinical importance of bee venom for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Further investigation is necessary to elaborate the mechanisms involved and to permit full exploitation of neuroprotective and neurotherapeutic potentials of bee venom. References Doo AR et al. (2012): Bee venom protects SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells from 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium-induced apoptotic cell death. Brain Res, 1429: 106-115. Lee SM et al. (2012): Effects of Bee Venom on Glutamate-Induced Toxicity in Neuronal and Glial Cells. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012: 368196, doi:10.1155/2012/368196. Rakha MK (2011): Impact of Beehive Products on the Cardiovascular Neurophysiology Expands Novel Horizons in Apitherapy. Conference Abstract: 10th Meeting of the Société des Neurosciences, May 24-27, 2011, Marseille, France. Yang EJ et al. (2011): Melittin restores proteasome function in an animal model of ALS. J Neuroinflammation, 8: 69, doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-8-69. Yang EJ et al. (2010): Bee venom attenuates neuroinflammatory events and extends survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis models. J Neuroinflammation, 7: 69, doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-7-69. Keywords: Bee Venom, Neuroprotective Activity, Neurotherapeutic Potential, Neuronal Cells, Neurodegenerative Diseases. Conference: 4th Conference of the Mediterrarnean Neuroscience Society, Istanbul, Turkey, 30 Sep - 3 Oct, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Abstracts Citation: Rakha MK (2013). Neuroprotective and Neurotherapeutic Effects of Bee Venom on Neurodegenerative Diseases. Conference Abstract: 4th Conference of the Mediterrarnean Neuroscience Society. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.210.00057 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 Jan 2013; Published Online: 11 Apr 2013. * Correspondence: Dr. Miran K Rakha, Suez Canal University, Biotechnology Research Center, Ismailia, Egypt, mirankhalil@hotmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract Supplemental Data The Authors in Frontiers Miran K Rakha Google Miran K Rakha Google Scholar Miran K Rakha PubMed Miran K Rakha Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Kandungan Lipid Beberapa Jenis Sianobakteria Laut Sebagai Bahan Sumber Penghasil Biodiesel

Microalgae are an organism that contains of chlorophyll, so it can make the process of photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis is the content of lipid producing microalgae as a potential feedstock biodiesel producer. Microalgae have the ability to generate huge natural oils (lipids). The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristic of morfologi and growth of microalgae marine cyanobacteria of Indonesian water that have the most lipid content, so it can be used as raw material for biodiesel. The research was carried out in September 2011 - February 2012. The implementation of the research carried out at the Laboratory of Bioprocess, Biotechnology Research Center Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Cibinong, Bogor. Result microalga identification done using Nikon SE light microskop with identification book whareas lipid content ekstraction microalga done with Bligh and Dyer method (1959). The results showed that the microalgae sianobacteria had base of morfologi characteristic is the type of Oscillatoria sp.1, Oscillatoria sp.2, Nostoc sp., Synecococcus sp. and Lyngbya sp.. The highges growth OD marine cyanobacteria is type of Nostoc sp. and the lowest growth is type of Oscillatoria sp.2. Lipid content on Oscillatoria sp.1 4,2 mg/25 ml, Oscillatoria sp.2 3,7 mg/ 25 ml, Nostoc sp. 3,3 mg/25 ml, Synecococcus sp. 4 mg/25 ml and Lyngbya sp. 7,1 mg/25 ml.

Dominant intertidal crustacean and gastropod species in Qeshm Island, Iran, northern Persian Gulf

Qeshm Island is the largest island of the Persian Gulf. It is located in the north-eastern part, near the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. Between 2007 and 2010 by support of the Persian Gulf Biotechnology Research Center a collection of the two most dominant macrobenthic fauna groups (Gastropoda and Crustacea) was gathered around the island. A total of 28 intertidal stations were investigated, including four basic habitat types (rocky, sandy, mud flats and mangrove forests), which resulted in a large diversity of species encountered. The present report provides a summary of the collected taxa. A total of 123 taxa belonging to Crustacea and Gastropoda are recorded in the present study. Identification of the species up to the lowest possible level was attempted; about 88% were identified up to species level. In total, 109 species have been identified. Rocky sites were the most diverse intertidal habitats in the island.

Correction: Combined Phytochemistry and Chemotaxis Assays for Identification and Mechanistic Analysis of Anti-Inflammatory Phytochemicals in Fallopia japonica

The affiliations of the fourteenth author, Wen-Chin Yang, are incorrect. Wen-Chin Yang is affiliated with 1,2, and the Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica and Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.

The Flower CRES-T project

flowers by applying CRES-T to torenia using the chimeric repressors AGAMOUS (AG)-SRDX and TCP3-SRDX. Following this, we launched a project termed the Flower CRES-T project through collaboration among those research institutes deemed to have researchers with the necessary expertise and the facilities for production and analysis of transgenic flowers. It was really a leap in the dark for us (we Japanese often express such an attempt as “Jumping off the Kiyomizu Temple’s stage”) because at that time little information was available on the application of this method to other plant species, although the members of the project team were experienced specialists in this field. This special issue provides an insight into recent progress in the Flower CRES-T project. While positive results against a background of lack of information might have been achieved solely by the professional endeavors of the team, we believe that the excitement felt through the creation of novel flower forms was a great motivating force that acted as a catalyst in setting the team wholeheartedly behind this project. We hope that you too will be inspired by the findings reported in this issue. Please refer to the following project review for more information on details of the concepts and research strategies used for the project and for an overview of the contents of this issue. I would like to acknowledge the following people: President Dr. Hiroshi Ezura, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Taku Demura, Treasurer Dr. Chiaki Matsukura, Editorial Assistant Ms. Kuniko Yasumi, and the staff of the Japanese Society for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology (JSPCMB); Mr. Kiyotaka Takeuchi of International Academic Printing Co., Ltd. for assistance in publishing this issue; the reviewers for participating in improving the manuscripts; the Program Officer Dr. Shigeru Kuroda and Evaluation Committee member Dr. Hiromichi Morikawa (Professor emeritus at Hiroshima university) of the Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (BRAIN) for their helpful and encouraging advice on research promotion; and all those involved in the promotion of this project. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid, “Research Project for Utilizing Advanced Technologies in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries,” from the Research Council, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan (grant no. 1782) and the Programme for Promotion of Basic and Applied Researches for Innovations in Bio-oriented Industry from BRAIN. Seven members of the project, Dr. Masaru OhmeTakagi and Dr. Nobutaka Mitsuda of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Dr. Masahiro Nishihara of Iwate Biotechnology Research Center, Dr. Michiyuki Ono of the University of Tsukuba Gene Research Center, Mr. Teruhiko Terakawa of Hokko Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Dr. Yoshikazu Tanaka of the Institute of Plant Science, Suntory Holdings Ltd., and I, who were invited at the request of the editorial office of JSPCMB, mainly edited this issue. Dr. Ohme-Takagi, Dr. Nishihara, and I also played central roles in the editorial process. The Flower CRES-T project

EXTREMOPHILE CULTURE COLLECTION FROM EXTREME AREA OF IRAN

The number of studies on extremophilic organisms has grown exponentially in the last few years. These exotic organisms (extremoplilees) are adapted to living at 100 c. In volcanic springs, at low temperatures in the cold polar seas, at high pressure in the deep sea, at very low and high ph values (ph 0-1 or ph 10-11) or at hight salt concentration (35%). Recent developments clearly show that cell components of extremoplilic archaea and bacteria are unique and deliver a valuable source of new biocatalysts and compounds. Since many industrial enzymes are required to function under extreme conditions, there is also a considerable commercial pressure to discover stable biocatalists in modern biotechnology. Extremophiles and their cell components, therefore are expected to play an important role in the chemical, food, pharmaceutical, paper and textile industries as well as environmental biotechnology. The Iranian plateau has a very remote past which even history does not remember the sculptures and images of persepolis say of its glory. The iranian plateau, has been a stage to unique events within the spectrum of world transformations.throughout this immense and long lasting immigration from the north of africa tothe south of asia and durind all these geographical and climatic changes plants, animals and microorganisms become widely extinct. The better adapted and more efficient one appeared to substitute the extinct species, finally leading to the present form of the country. Scientists geobotanically divide the northern hemisphere of the earth into four main regions, Iran his like a connecting stretch at the intersection of these four botanic regions and situation and factors from each of these regions influence the biodiversity of Iran. Research on marine and terestrial extremopliles microorganisms was started in Persian Gulf biotechnology research center to provide high quality lab and pilot plant service for isolation, identification, maintenance and screening of new active metabolites from microorganisms of different extreme area of Iran. The results of this study will be presented in this conference.

GERMPLASM CONSERVATION AND USE OF GENEBANKS FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS IN BRAZIL

Fruit crop is an important industry Brazil, being one of the first fruit production the world. Brazil is also one of the most important centers of genetic diversity for several important tropical fruits. The Brazilian plant genetic resources conservation model is composed by a National Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Research Center - CENARGEN, Brasilia-DF, and a network of genebanks spread out over the country's Research Units, Universities and State Institutions. CENARGEN is one of the 39 Research Units of the Brazilian Agriculture Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). At EMBRAPA the conservation of tropical and subtropical fruits genetic resources comprise 24 field genebanks. Along with several other germplasm collections this system has about 300 species and more than 10000 accessions under conservation, including duplications. All materials are maintained the field, except a small collection of banana and pineapple germplasm which is maintained in vitro. Brazil has a strong collecting program for native species, such as pineapple, cashew and passion-fruit, and for exotic species, such as banana, mango and citrus a good exchange program is maintained. Morphological and molecular characterization, and evaluation of the most important tropical and subtropical fruit germplasm is progress the active genebanks and at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotecnology Research Center. The germplasm documentation has been updated through a national information system named Brazilian Genetic Resources Information System - SIBRARGEN. Tropical and subtropical fruits genetic resources, such as pineapple, banana, citrus, mango and cashew are being used breeding programs and correlated research. In this paper, the number of accessions per species, and the location where the collections are maintained are presented as well as other important data on conservation of tropical and subtropical fruits are discussed.

Abstracts of Nippon Dojo-Hiryogaku Zasshi

Abstracts of Nippon Dojo-Hiryogaku Zasshi

First Report of Black Spot Caused by Alternaria alternata on Grafted Cactus

Chemical Biotechnology Research Center, KRICT, Daejeon 305-605, Korea(Received on June 25, 2009; Accepted on November 25, 2009)A stem spot disease was observed on Gymnocalyciummihanovichii (Korean name: Bimoran), a scion of graft-cactus, in major growing areas of Goyang and Eum-seong, Korea during 2008 and 2009. Typical symptomswere initial blackish brown lesions produced mainly onareoles and scars of injured stem tissues, graduallybecoming large black spots. A causal organism isolateCD2-7A isolated from the infected stems was identifiedas Alternaria alternata based on its morphologicalcharacteristics and confirmed by the DNA sequencinganalysis of ITS, glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydro-genase (gpd), and allergen Alt a1 (Alt a 1) genes.Artificial inoculation of the fungal isolate CD2-7Aproduced the same rot symptoms on the cactus stems,from which the same fungus was isolated and identified.This is the first report of the black spot caused by A.alternata in the grafted cactus.Keywords : Alternaria alternata, graft-cactus, Gymnocaly-cium mihanovichii, pathogenicityMost cactuses are stem succulents, having fleshy stems. Agrafted cactus, which is composed of stock and scioncactuses, is a major commercial product in Korea and oneof the most important exporting ornamental plants due to itshigh quality in the world market. The most widely culti-vated stock cactus is a three-angled cactus (Hylocereustrigonus), while two scion cactuses commonly used inKorea are Gymnocalycium mihanovichii and Chamaecereussilvestrii, of which the Korean common names are Bimoranand Sanchui, respectively. G. mihanovichii is more popular-ly cultivated in Korea than C. silvestrii.One of the limiting factors for cultivating grafted cactusesin greenhouses is due to stem rot diseases especially causedby fungi. They include stem rots caused by Fusariumoxysporum (Chang et al., 1998), Bipolaris cactivora (Hyunet al., 1998; Kim et al., 2004), and Glomerella cingulata(Kim et al., 2000). In our surveys of cactus diseases during2008 and 2009, however, we often observed some stemdiseases of G. mihanovichii with no fungi belonging to theabove reported genera. Therefore, we report the occurrence of a fungal stemdisease of G. mihanovichii and the identification andcharacterization of the fungal pathogen.Disease occurrence and symptoms. Occurrence of a stemdisease was observed frequently on G. Mihanovichii inmajor growing areas of Goyang and Eumseong, Koreaduring 2008 and 2009. Symptoms were characterized byblackish brown lesions produced mainly on areoles andscars of injured stem tissues (Fig. 1A, B). Sometimes largeportions of the cactus stems were diseased with large blackspots at advanced infection stages. Fungal isolation and pathogenicity. Pathogen isolationwas conducted using infected G. mihanovichii stems. Smallstem tissues were cut from the edge of the diseased areawith flame-sterilized razor blade and surface-sterilized with75% ethanol for 30 sec and 1% sodium hypochlorite for 60sec, and rinsed with sterile water. The stem tissues wereplaced on potato-dextrose agar (PDA) supplemented with0.1% lactic acid, incubating at 25

TISSUE CULTURE STORAGE OF BRAZILIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS GERMPLASM

Modern agriculture depends on a coordinated system to evaluate, introduce, distribute and maintain germplasm, since plant germplasm is the base for a productive agriculture. It is estimated that 90% of the germplasm collections are stored as seeds, of which 40% are cereals. Medicinal plants are particularly difficult to store as seeds, due to the lack of knowledge of their reproduction biology and seed behavior. Besides, there are a large number of important tropical and subtropical medicinal plants species which produce recalcitrant seeds that quickly lose viability and do not survive desiccation, hence conventional seed storage strategies are not possible. There is also a number of other import species that are sterile or do not easily produce seeds, or seeds are highly heterozygous and clonal propagation is preferred to conserve elite genotypes. Although field genebanks provide easy access to conserved material for use, they have a risk of destruction by natural calamities, pest and diseases. For this reason, safety duplicates of the living collections are established using alternate strategies of conservation and it is in this area that biotechnology contributed significantly by providing complementary in vitro conservation options through tissue culture techniques. In vitro conservation also offers other distinct advantages. For example, the material can be maintained in a pathogen-tested state, thereby facilitating safer distribution and germplasm exchange. Further, the cultures are not subject to environmental disturbance. The National Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Research Center (CENARGEN), was created by the Brazilian Organization for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA), an institution linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to coordinate and organize all activities related to genetic resources in Brazil, including genetic resources of medicinal plants. The in vitro collection of medicinal plants of CENARGEN is constituted by at least 395 accessions of five genus: Mentha (74), Lippia (47), Pfaffia (15), Stevia (16) and Cochlospermum (10). Experiments have shown that in vitro shoot cultures stored at temperature in the range of 18-20°C on half strength Murashige and Skoog medium nutrient with 2% sucrose reduce the plant growth and significantly extend the subculture intervals of accessions to fresh medium. We conclude that this in vitro conservation system can be greatly useful for conservation and exchange of genetic resources of these medicinal plants.