A novel lectin was isolated and characterized from Bryopsis plumosa (Hudson) Agardh and named BPL-3. This lectin showed specificity to N-acetyl-D-galactosamine as well as N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and agglutinated human erythrocytes of all blood types, showing slight preference to the type A. SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF MS data showed that BPL-3 was a monomeric protein with molecular weight of 11.5 kDa. BPL-3 was a non-glycoprotein with pI value of ∼7.0. It was stable in high temperatures up to 70°C and exhibited optimum activity in pH 5.5-10. The N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences of the lectin were determined by Edman degradation and enzymatic digestion, which showed no sequence homology to any other reported proteins. The full sequence of the cDNA encoding this lectin was obtained from PCR using cDNA library, and the degenerate primers were designed from the N-terminal amino acid sequence. The size of the cDNA was 622 bp containing single ORF encoding the lectin precursor. This lectin showed the same sugar specificity to previously reported lectin, Bryohealin, involved in protoplast regeneration of B. plumosa. However, the amino acid sequences of the two lectins were completely different. The homology analysis of the full cDNA sequence of BPL-3 showed that it might belong to H lectin group, which was originally isolated from Roman snails.

Nuclear SSU and ITS1 rDNA and plastid rbcL sequences were determined to identify the seven samples of Porphyra cultivated by means of natural seeding on the southwest coast of Korea and analyzed to access the phylogenetic relationships of them with the natural populations of P. tenera and P. yezoensis from Korea and Japan. SSU, rbcL and ITS1 data from 18, 21 and 31 samples, respectively, including previously published sequences were investigated in the study. Results from our individual and combined data indicated that the seven samples were all P. yezoensis and the entities except one from Muan 2 aquafarm strongly grouped together with the natural populations of P. yezoensis from the south and the west coast of Korea. The sample from Muan 2 seems to be derived from a strain of P. yezoensis introduced from Japan by Porphyra farmers, based on DNA sequence data.

Three species of marine algae, two browns and one red were newly reported from the eastern and the southern coast of Korea including Cheju Island. Their vegetative and reproductive structures were described. Colpomenia phaeodactyla Wynne et J.N. Norris (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) commonly occurred in middle to lower intertidal zone of southern coast. Plants consisted of clusters of elongated and hollow sacs arising from an adherent colpomenioid base. Plurilocular sporangia were multiseriate, forming dense, extensive sori over the erect sacs. Cutleria adspersa (Mertens ex Roth) De Notaris (Cutleriaceae, Phaeophyceae) was collected from subtidal region of Cheju Island. It was characterized by broadly fan-shaped habits with golden brown colour and hair-fringed margins, attached by rhizoids along undersurface. Halarachnion latissimum Okamura (Furcellariaceae, Rhodophyceae) was found adrift from several areas of southern coast. Plants were brownish red, filmy and delicate, membranaceous roundish fronds. Cystocarps were globular and formed under the cortical layer. Tetrasporangia were oblong and zonately divided.

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