• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.216-227
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• 2016

Biological control agents (BCAs) from different microbial taxa are increasingly used to control bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. However, a quantitative research synthesis has not been conducted on the role of BCAs in disease suppression. Therefore, the present study aimed to meta-analyze the impacts of BCAs on both Ralstonia wilt disease suppression and plant (host) growth promotion. The analysis showed that the extent of disease suppression by BCAs varied widely among studies, with effect size (log response ratio) ranging from -2.84 to 2.13. The disease incidence and severity were significantly decreased on average by 53.7% and 49.3%, respectively. BCAs inoculation also significantly increased fresh and dry weight by 34.4% and 36.1%, respectively on average. Also, BCAs inoculation significantly increased plant yield by 66%. Mean effect sizes for genus Pseudomonas sp. as BCAs were higher than for genus Bacillus spp. Among antagonists tested, P. fluorescens, P. putida, B. cereus, B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens were found to be more effective in general for disease reduction. Across studies, highest disease control was found for P. fluorescens, annual plants, co-inoculation with more than one BCA, soil drench and greenhouse condition were found to be essential in understanding plant responses to R. solanacearum. Our results suggest that more efforts should be devoted to harnessing the potential beneficial effects of these antagonists, not just for plant growth promoting traits but also in mode of applications, BCAs formulations and their field studies should be considered in the future for R. solanacearum wilt disease suppression.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.110-114
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• 2004

Through in vitro screening for biocontrol agents (BCAs) against Streptomyces scabiei causing potato (Solanum tuberosum) common scab, 19 streptomycete and 17 fungal isolates with antagonistic activity were selected as BCA candidates. For the selection of BCA candidates which are highly resistant to 10 kinds of antibiotics or pesticides, chemical susceptibility testing was initially performed in vitro. A remarkable degree of variation in susceptibility to antibiotics or pesticides was observed among the isolates tested. Streptomycete A020645 isolate was highly resistant to all the tested chemicals except neomycin up to 5,000 ppm. On the other hand, out of 36 antagonistic microbes subjected to in vivo pot tests using cultivar Daejima, four streptomycete isolates namely, A020645, A010321, A010564, and A020973, showed high antagonistic activity with >60% and 55% control value, respectively, and high chemical resistance to 10 kinds of chemicals. Therefore, these isolates were selected as potential BCAs for the control of potato common scab.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.382-390
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• 2015

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) supports and amine additives were investigated to adsorb $CO_2$. PMMA supports were fabricated by using different ratio of pore forming agents (porogen) to control the BET specific surface area, pore volume and distribution. Toluene and xylene are used for porogens. Supported amine sorbents were prepared by wet impregnation of tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) on PMMA supports. So we could identify the effect of the pore structure of supports and the quantity of impregnated TEPA on the adsorption capacity. The increased amount of toluene as pore foaming agent resulted in the decreased average pore diameter and the increased BET surface area. Polymer supports with huge different pore distribution could be fabricated by controlling the ratio of porogen. After impregnation, the support with micropore structure is supposed the pore blocking and filling effect so that it has low $CO_2$ capacity and kinetics due to the difficulty of diffusing. Macropore structure indicates fast adsorption capacity and low influence of amine loading. In case of support with mesopore, it has high performance of adsorption capacity and kinetics. So high surface area and meso-/macro- pore structure is suitable for $CO_2$ capture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1621-1629
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• 2008

Harmful algal blooms (HABs), commonly called red tides, are caused by some toxic phytoplanktons, and have made massive economic losses as well as marine environmental disturbances. As an effective and environment-friendly strategy to control HAB outbreaks, biological methods using marine bacteria capable of killing the harmful algae or algicidal extracellular compounds from them have been given attention. A new member of the $\gamma$-Proteobacteria, Hahella chejuensis KCTC 2396, was originally isolated from the Korean seashore for its ability to secrete industrially useful polysaccharides, and was characterized to produce a red pigment. This pigment later was identified as an alkaloid compound, prodigiosin. During the past several decades, prodigiosin has been extensively studied for its medical potential as immunosuppressants and antitumor agents, owing to its antibiotic and cytotoxic activities. The lytic activity of this marvelous molecule against Cochlodinium polykrikoides cells at very low concentrations ($\sim$l ppb) was serendipitously detected, making H. chejuensis a strong candidate among the biological agents for HAB control. This review provides a brief overview of algicidal marine bacteria and their products, and describes in detail the algicidal characteristics, biosynthetic process, and genetic regulation of prodigiosin as a model among the compounds active against red-tide organisms from the biochemical and genetic viewpoints.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.21-30
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• 2003

The effect of hand hygiene was measured by hand culture before and after hand hygiene for 86 nurses, doctors, and nurses aide/housekeepers in Surgical Intensive Care Unit. The subjects were asked to press their dominant hand in hand-shaped Mannitol salt agar immediately after patient contact and then washed their hand by preferred hand hygiene agents [soap and water, waterless alcohol gel, or 4% chlorhexidine gluconate detergent (CHG)], and cultured one hand again Amount of isolated microorganism was calculated by counting the number of divided areas ($1{\times}1cm$) which is culture positive in hand culture plate. The amount of microorganisms were significantly reduced from 58.1(${\pm}38.59$) to 27.4(${\pm}30.4$) cells after hand hygiene. The staff nurse's hand hygiene was more effective compared to medical doctors and nurses aide/housekeepers. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) was isolated in 41(47.1%) subjects ; but only removed 100% in 28(32.2%) subjects. When the amount of hand microorganisms was compared by subject's preferred hand hygiene agents, it was decreased in order of 4% CHG, waterless alcohol solution, soap and water, and water. The hand hygiene practice was inadequate to reduce hand microorganisms and significantly different by occupations. Further research and development of hand hygiene improvement program which emphasize the quality of hand hygiene is recommended.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.27-27
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• 2017

Biocompatible capsules have recently been highlighted as novel delivery platforms of any "materials" (e.g., drug, food, agriculture pesticide) to address current problems of living systems such as humans, animals, and plats in academia and industry for agriculture, biological, biomedical, environmental, food applications. For example, biocompatible alginate capsules were proposed as a delivery platform of biocontrol agents (e.g., bacterial antagonists) for an alternative to antibiotics, which will be a potential strategy in future agriculture. Here, we proposed a new platform based on biocompatible alginate capsules that can control the movements as an active target delivery strategy for various applications including agriculture and biological engineering. We designed and fabricated large scale biocompatible capsules using alginates and custom-made nozzles as well as gelling solutions. To develop the active target delivery platforms, we incorporated the iron oxide nanoparticles in the large scale alginate capsules. It was found that the sizes of large scale alginate capsules could be controlled via various working conditions such as concentrations of alginate solutions and iron oxide nanoparticles. As a proof of concept work, we showed that the iron oxide particles-incorporated large scale alginate capsules could be moved actively by the magnetic fields, which would be a strategy as active target delivery platforms for agriculture and biological engineering (e.g., controlled delivery of agriculture pesticides and biocontrol agents).

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 2001

The insecticidal activities of 30 aromatic plant extracts against four insect pests were examined by direct contact application. Against Nilaparvata lugens female adults, Myzus persicae female adults, and Plutella xylostella larvae, at 5,000 ppm, >90% mortality was achieved in the methanol extracts of the rhizomes from Cnidium officinale, Acorus gramineus, Acorus calamus var. angustatus and Curcuma Ionga, the whole plant from Agastache rugosa, the fruits from Illicium verum and Piper nigrum, and the flower bud from Eugenia caryophyllata as well as Cinnamomum camphora steam distillate. Against Spodoptera litura larvae, all test plant extracts were ineffective. The plants described merit further study as potential insect-control agents against insect pests.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.28-35
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• 2020

Entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae are well-known biological control agents worldwide, and have high potential in industrialization. However, their thermo-susceptibility limits long-term storage under high temperature conditions and insecticidal activity after application in target pests. The virulences of M. anisopliae JEF-003 and JEF-004, and B. bassiana JEF-006 and JEF-007 against bean bug (Riptortus pedestris), and the thermotolerance of conidia produced on three kinds of grains, sorghum, millet and Italian millet as substrates for solid cultures were investigated. Of the three grains, Italian millet was the suitable grains in the production of thermotolerant conidia, and a significant relationship between conidial thermotolerance and the media was demonstrated. This work suggests that biological characteristics of entomopathogenic fungi are altered by culture media, and these results will be a chance to understand the factors in the media which make such changes.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.457-466
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• 2022

Epicoccum nigrum is a saprophytic or endophytic fungus that is found worldwide. Because of the antagonist effects of E. nigrum on many plant pathogens, current studies on E. nigrum have focused on the development of biological control agents and the utilization of its various metabolites. In this study, E. nigrum was collected from a wheat field, and its genetic diversity was analyzed. Phylogenetic analyses identified 63 isolates of E. nigrum divided into seven groups, indicating a wide genetic diversity. Isolates antagonized the wheat pathogen Fusarium graminearum, and reduced disease symptoms caused by F. graminearum in wheat coleoptiles. Moreover, pretreatment of wheat coleoptiles with E. nigrum induced the upregulation of pathogen-related (PR) genes, PR1, PR2, PR3, PR5, PR9, and PR10 in wheat coleoptiles responding to F. graminearum invasion. Overall, this study indicates that E. nigrum isolates can be used as biological pathogen inhibitors applied in wheat fields.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.317-321
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• 2012

Plants are the promising reservoirs for natural products with their diverse secondary metabolites. Many invasive plants have been introduced in Korea, which adversely affect on the native ecosystem but holds difficulty removing them due to their proliferation. In this study, we evaluated disease control efficacy of methanol extracts from four invasive plant species against 7 representative crop pathogens. Methanol extract of Phytolacca americana effectively suppressed rice blast, tomato gray mold, and tomato late blight in a dose dependent manner. The methanol extract of Amorpha fruticosa also exhibited potent antifungal activity against pepper anthracnose in a concentration dependent way. These data suggest that the extracts of P. americana and A. fruticosa can be developed as plant disease protection agents against rice blast, tomato gray mold, tomato late blight, and pepper anthracnose. Furthermore, more extensive research will be required to identify and isolate active compounds from problematic invasive plant species to develop valuable agrochemicals.