• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.248-254
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• 2006

Pear black necrotic leaf spot (PBNLS) on pear trees (Pyrus pyrifolia) is caused by a Korean isolate of Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV-K). Yellow spots were detected in Phaseolus vulgaris (kidney bean) and Chenopodium quinoa which were grown near the diseased pears in year 2000 through 2003. The ASGV-K, the causative agent of PBNLS, was detected from the symptoms of the diseased kidney bean plant and C. quinoa. ASGV-harboring fungi were also isolated from symptomatic plants and from soils surrounding the infected plants. The ASGV-harboring fungus was identified and characterized as Talaromyces flavus. Ecopathological studies showed that the number of ASGV-harboring fungi on the pear leaves was not correlated with differences in temperature or severity of symptoms. Additionally, there was no difference in fungus frequency among the orchard locations or different host plants. Although the frequency of fungi isolated from the soil was not affected by changes in temperature or location, the fungi occurred at higher densities in the rhizosphere than in the plants themselves.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.74 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2013

Background: Aiming to improve outcome of lung transplantation (LTx) patients, we reviewed risk factors and treatment practices for the LTx recipients who experienced respiratory infection in the late post-LTx period (>1 month after LTx). Methods: We analyzed the clinical data of 48 recipients and donors from 61 LTx, who experienced late respiratory infections. Late respiratory infections were classified according to the etiology, time of occurrence, and frequency of donor-to-host transmission or colonization of the recipient prior to transplantation. Results: During the period of observation, 42 episodes of respiratory infections occurred. The organisms most frequently involved were gram (-) bacteria: Acinetobacter baumannii (n=13, 31.0%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=7, 16.7%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=4, 10.0%). Among the 42 episodes recorded, 14 occurred in the late post-LTx period. These were bacterial (n=6, 42.9%), fungal (n=2, 14.3%), viral (n=4, 28.5%), and mycobacterial (n=2, 14.3%) infections. Of 6 bacterial infections, 2 were from multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii and one from each of MDR P. aeruginosa, extended spectrum ${\beta}$-lactamase (+) K. pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infection-related death occurred in 6 of the 14 episodes (43%). Conclusion: Although the frequency of respiratory infection decreased sharply in the late post-LTx period, respiratory infection was still a major cause of mortality. Gram (-) MDR bacteria were the agents most commonly identified in these infections.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2016

Exosomes are homogenous vesicles of 40-100 nm diameter produced endogenously. Exosomes are generated by inward budding into multi-vesicular bodies (MVB) and then released to extracellular space. Exosomes contain various nucleic acid and protein cargoes from their cells of origin and this endosomal cellular molecules are used for intracellular communication and for both promotion and suppression of immune responses. Recently, they are also considered as delivery vehicle for therapeutic proteins due to their characteristics of stability in body fluids and ability for target uptake. Also, they show less immune reactivity because the isolated exosome harboring therapeutic proteins can be from the same host. White-spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis is one of the major insect commercially reared in Korea. There are bacterial and fungal pathogens causing diseases in the beetle, and these diseases incur economic loss to the larva-rearing farms. Due to their endosomal cargoes, exosomes are good candidates in use of disease diagnosis. In this study, we isolated insect exosome from the hemolymph of P. brevitarsis, and verified it by analysis of the exosome-specific surface proteins and RNA.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2001

Colletotrichum species are important fungal pathogens that cause great damages on various host plant species worldwide. In Korea, Colletotrichum species cause massive economic losses on apple, peach, grape, and especially, sweet persimon productions. In the past, identification of the pathogen and the studies on the genetic relationships among the pathogenic isolates were mainly based on morphology, cultural characteristics, and the difference in pathogenicity. However, in recent years, these traditional methods have been replaced with molecular methods including AFLP. AFLP method with the merits of both RAPD and RFLP has been widely used for the genetic relationship studies of various organisms. Therefore, in this study, AFLP method was employed for the studies of genetic relationships among the different isolates of Colletotrichum species collected from various parts of sothern Korea. As a result, two specific band pattern groups were observed among different isolates of Colletotrichum species.

• ALGAE
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.217-222
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• 2015

Pythium species (Pythiales, Oomycetes) are well known as the algal pathogen that causes red rot disease in Pyropia / Porphyra species (Bangiales, Rhodophyta). Accurate species identification of the pathogen is important to finding a scientific solution for the disease and to clarify the host-parasite relationship. In Korea, only Pythium porphyrae has been reported from Pyropia species, with identifications based on culture and genetic analysis of the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. Recent fungal DNA barcoding studies have shown the low taxonomic resolution of the ITS region and suggested the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene as an alternative molecular marker to identify Pythium species. In this study, we applied an analysis of both the ITS and cox1 regions to clarify the taxonomic relationships of Korean Pythium species. From the results, the two closely related Pythium species (P. chondricola and P. porphyrae) showed the same ITS sequence, while the cox1 marker successfully discriminated P. chondricola from P. porphyrae. This is the first report of the presence of P. chondricola from the infected blade of Pyropia yezoensis in Asia. This finding of the algal pathogen provides important information for identifying and determining the distribution of Pythium species. Further studies are also needed to confirm whether P. chondricola and P. porphyrae are coexisting as algal pathogens of Pyropia species in Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.522-528
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• 2000

A total of about 300 fungal isolates from forest havitats were screened for inhibitors of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection using its local lesion host, Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi nc. Ine of the isolates, 14T, showed a strong activity against TMV infection, and was identified as an Apiocrea sp. based on its morphological characterstics. Rice was an optimum culture medium for its fermentation, and two antiviral compounds, KGT 141 and KGT 142, were resolved from the rice culture through column chromatography, TLC, and HPLC. By NMR and FAB-MS, the two compounds were identified as chrysospermins B (KGT 141) and D (KGT 142), both of which are peptaibols with 19-mer amino acids possessing an acetylated N-terminus and a hydroxy-amino acid (tryptophanol) at the C-terminus. Both compounds showed inhibitory activities against TMV infection, but chrysospermin D showed the stronger activity than chrysospermin B. The former of $100{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ and 54.7% at $10{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$, respectively. Furthermore, the chrysospermins were highly cytotoxic toward cancer cell lines of PC-3 (prostrate) and K562 (leukemia), and inhibited growth of the Gram-positive bacteria tested, especially the plant pathogenic bacterium Corynebacterium lilium. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the inhibition of plant virus infection by antimicrobial peptaibols.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.450-456
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• 2006

Pseudomonas fluorescens MC07 is a growth-promoting rhizobacterium that suppresses mycelial growth in fungi such as Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, Fusarium oxysporum, and Phytophthora capsici. To determine the role of the bacterium's antifungal activity in disease suppression, we screened 2,500 colonies generated by Tn5lacZ insertions, and isolated a mutant 157 that had lost antifungal activity. The EcoRI fragment carrying Tn5lacZ was cloned into pBluescript II SK(+) and used as a probe to isolate wild-type clones from a genomic library of the parent strain, MC07. Two overlapping cosmid clones, pEH4 and pEH5, that had hybridized with the mutant clone were isolated. pEH4 conferred antifungal activity to the heterologous host P.fluorescens strain 1855.344, whereas pEH5 did not. Through transposon mutagenesis of pEH4 and complementation analyses, we delineated the 14.7-kb DNA region that is responsible for the biosynthesis of an antifungal compound. DNA sequence analysis of the region identified 11 possible open reading frames (ORF), ORF1 through ORF11. A BLAST search of each putative protein implied that the proteins may be involved in an antifungal activity similar to polyketides.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.928-937
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• 2016

S-Nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) metabolizes S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) and has been shown to play important roles in regulating cellular signaling and formulating host defense by modulating intracellular nitric oxide levels. The enzyme has been found in bacterial, yeast, mushroom, plant, and mammalian cells. However, to date, there is still no evidence of its occurrence in filamentous fungi. In this study, we cloned and investigated a GSNOR-like enzyme from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. The enzyme occurred in native form as a homodimer and exhibited low thermal stability. GSNO was an ideal substrate for the enzyme. The apparent K_m and k_cat values were 0.55 mM and 34,100 min^-1, respectively. Substrate binding sites and catalytic center amino acid residues based on those from known GSNORs were conserved in this enzyme, and the corresponding roles were verified using site-directed mutagenesis. Therefore, we demonstrated the presence of GSNOR in a filamentous fungus for the first time.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.439-447
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• 2018

The aromatic compound p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBA) is an important material with multiple applications, including as a building block of liquid crystal polymers in chemical industries. The cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes are beneficial monooxygenases for the synthesis of chemicals, and CYP53A15 from fungus Cochliobolus lunatus is capable of executing the hydroxylation from benzoate to PHBA. Here, we constructed a system for the bioconversion of benzoate to PHBA in Escherichia coli cells coexpressing CYP53A15 and human NADPH-P450 oxidoreductase (CPR) genes as a redox partner. For suitable coexpression of CYP53A15 and CPR, we originally constructed five plasmids in which we replaced the N-terminal transmembrane region of CYP53A15 with a portion of the N-terminus of various mammalian P450s. PHBA productivity was the greatest when CYP53A15 expression was induced at $20^{\circ}C$ in $2{\times}YT$ medium in host E. coli strain ${\Delta}gcvR$ transformed with an N-terminal transmembrane region of rabbit CYP2C3. By optimizing each reaction condition (reaction temperature, substrate concentration, reaction time, and E. coli cell concentration), we achieved 90% whole-cell conversion of benzoate. Our data demonstrate that the described novel E. coli bioconversion system is a more efficient tool for PHBA production from benzoate than the previously described yeast system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety Conference
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• 1992.07a
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• pp.7-19
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• 1992

Fish pathology is one of the main scientific bases upon which this expansion in aquaculture has been dependent and requires a wide knowledge of the environmental constraints, the physiology and characteristics of the various pathogens, the responses of the host and the methods by which they may be controlled. The primary disease and parasite problems in aquaculture animals relate to viral, bacterial, fungal and protozoan epizootics. Parasitic nematodes, trematodes and cestodes are commonly found in aquaculture animals, but seldom are they present in concentrations sufficinet to cause significant problems. When an epizootic does occur and chemical treatment is indicated, the appropriate chemical must be selected and properly applied. We have antibiotics, sulfa, nitrofuran and other chemicals for treatment of fish diseases. Some may be mixed with the fred during formulation, added to the pellets of feed as a surface coating, given in the dorm of an injection or used as a bath. Even though a drug or chemical has been officially approved for use in aquaculture, the substance should never be used unless there is a clear need. Some of the reasions for this view are as follows: (1) the constant use of antibiotics can lead to the development of resistant strains of bacteria, (2) biofilter efficiency may be impaired or destroyed by chemicals added to closed recirculating water systems, and (3) the injudicious use of chemicals can have a damaging effect on the environment as well as on human.