• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.72 no.1
• /
• pp.44-49
• /
• 2012

Background: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is an increasing public health problem and poses a serious threat to global TB control. Fluoroquinolone (FQ) and aminoglycoside (AG) are essential anti-TB drugs for MDR-TB treatment. REBA MTB-FQ$^{(R)}$ and REBA MTB-KM$^{(R)}$ (M&D, Wonju, Korea) were evaluated for rapid detection of FQ and kanamycin (KM) resistance in MDR-TB clinical isolates. Methods: M. tuberculosis (n=67) were isolated and cultured from the sputum samples of MDR-TB patients for extracting DNA of the bacilli. Mutations in genes, gyrA and rrs, that have been known to be associated with resistance to FQ and KM were analyzed using both REBA MTB-FQ$^{(R)}$ and REBA MTB-KM$^{(R)}$, respectively. The isolates were also utilized for a conventional phenotypic drug susceptibility test (DST) as the gold standard of FQ and KM resistance. The molecular and phenotypic DST results were compared. Results: Sensitivity and specificity of REBA MTB-FQ$^{(R)}$ were 77 and 100%, respectively. Positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the assay were 100 and 95%, respectively, for FQ resistance. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of REBA MTB-KM$^{(R)}$ for detecting KM resistance were 66%, 94%, 70%, and 95%, respectively. Conclusion: REBA MTB-FQ$^{(R)}$ and REBA MTB-KM$^{(R)}$ evaluated in this study showed excellent specificities as 100 and 94%, respectively. However, sensitivities of the assays were low. It is essential to increase sensitivity of the rapid drug resistance assays for appropriate MDR-TB treatment, suggesting further investigation to detect new or other mutation sites of the associated genes in M. tuberculosis is required.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2013

All tested Korean populations of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, are known to be resistant especially against pyrethroid insecticides by mutation in its molecular target, para-sodium channel. Moreover, P. xylostella is able to develop resistance against most commercial insecticides. This study was performed to develop an efficient control technique against P. xylostella by a combined treatment of an endoparasitoid wasp, Cotesia plutellae, and a microbial insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis. To investigate any parasitism preference of C. plutellae against susceptible and resistant P. xylostella, five different populations of P. xylostella were compared in insecticide susceptibilities and parasitism by C. plutellae. These five P. xylostella populations showed a significant variation against three commercial insecticides including pyrethroid, organophosphate, neonicotinoid, and insect growth regulator. However, there were no significant differences among five P. xylostella populations in their parasitic rates by C. plutellae. Moreover, parasitized larvae of P. xylostella showed significantly higher susceptibility to B. thuringiensis. As an immunosuppressive agent, viral ankyrin genes (vankyrins) encoded in C. plutellae were transiently expressed in nonparasitized larvae. Expression of vankyrins significantly enhanced the efficacy of B. thuringiensis against the third instar larvae of P. xylostella. Thus an immunosuppression induced by C. plutellae enhanced the insecticidal efficacy of B. thuringiensis. These results suggest that a combined treatment of C. plutellae and B. thuringiensis may effectively control the insecticide-resistant populations of P. xylostella.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.67-71
• /
• 1982

Mutant strans of Salmonella typhimurium which require histidine for their growth sensitively, were easily revertant and lost the histidine requirement, when the strains contacted with some new mutagen. This work was carried out to determine the mutagenicity of kojic acid and emodin for the mutant strains of Salmonella typhimurium TA 98, TA 100, TA 1535, TA 1537, and TA 1538. Through the metabolic activation with liver microsome enzyme system of rat (S-9), kojic acid was recognized as a strong mutagen for the strain of TA 98, while it responsed weakly for the strain of TA 100. Without S-9 metabolic activation, kojic acid could not induce the mutation for the both strains of TA 98 and TA 100. Emodin was also recogniged as a strong mutagen for the strain of TA 1537 through the metabolic activation with S-9 mix.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.43-53
• /
• 1986

Among many microbial pesticides, Bacillus thuringiensis is one of the most hopeful pesticide and some commercial products have been appearing on the market. Because these commercial products contain living spores and toxins of the organism, there is a danger that living spores of B. thuringiensis may be scattered by wind and cause a great damage in the sericulture areas. In order to avoide these risks it is desirable to select the strain which has low pathogenicity to the silkworm, and at the sometime being highly pathogenic to the pest insects. Thus this study has been carried out to acquire some basic informations about the procedure of desicable strain selection. Three strains of B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki, var. dendrolimus and var. aizawai were used for the pathogenicity test on the silkworm, Bombux mori and the fall webwarm, Hyphantria cunea. Those strains were investigated by the agarose gel electrophoresis patterns of plasmid DNA determine whether mutation had occured. Pathogenicity tests were carried out of using isolated crystal proteins and spore-crystal protein to mixtures of each strain, seperatively. In case of using spore-crystal protein mixture, the order of pathogenicity in varities of B. thuringiensis against B.mopri and H.cunea were kurstaki, aizawai, dendrolimus and kurstaki, dendrolimus, aizawai, respectively. But using isolated crystal proteins, dendrolimus had the highest toxicity to H. cunea and the lowest toxicity to B. mori among tested three strains. From the above results, dendrolimus was presumed the most desirable straing for using microbial pesticide.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.13-19
• /
• 1995

In order to produce phenylalanine without tyrosine co-production, we constructed various temperature-controllable expression vectors by insertion of lower expression of the tyrA gene into the plasmid pSY130-14. And tyrosine revertant to cultivate without addition of tyrosine, was selected from Escherichia coli strain AT2471[tyrA , thi ] by spontaneous mutation. The strain AT2471 harbouring plasmid pSY146A and the tyrosine revertant 5 harbouring plasmid pSY111-14 produced 12 g/l and 15 g/l of phenylalanine respectively in a 2.5 l jar fermenter at a constant temperature of $39^{\circ}C$ after 55 hours cultivation.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.611-615
• /
• 2008

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism for gene silencing. In Arabidopsis, MET1 is the primary DNA methyltransferase that maintains CG DNA methylation. Plants having an overall reduction of MET1 activity, caused by a met1 mutation or a constitutively expressed MET1 antisense gene, display genome hypomethylation, inappropriate gene and transposon transcription, and developmental abnormalities. However, the effect of a transient reduction in MET1 activity caused by inhibiting MET1 expression in a restricted set of cells is not known. For this reason, we generated transgenic plants with a MET1 antisense gene fused to the DEMETER (DME) promoter (DME:MET1 a/s). Here we show that DME is expressed in leaf primordia, lateral root primoridia, in the region distal to the primary root apical meristem, which are regions that include proliferating cells. Endogenous MET1 expression was normal in organs where the DME:MET1 a/s was not expressed. Although DME promoter is active only in a small set of cells, these plants displayed global developmental abnormalities. Moreover, centromeric repeats were hypomethylated. The developmental defects were accumulated by the generations. Thus, not maintaining CG methylation in a small population of proliferating cells flanking the meristems causes global developmental and epigenetic abnormalities that cannot be rescued by restoring MET1 activity. These results suggest that during plant development there is little or no short-term molecular memory for reestablishing certain patterns of CG methylation that are maintained by MET1. Thus, continuous MET1 activity in dividing cells is essential for proper patterns of CG DNA methylation and development.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.582-588
• /
• 1999

A Brevibacterium lactofermentum gene coding for a glucose-specific permease of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) was cloned, by complementing an Escherichia coli mutation affecting a ptsG gene with the B. lactofermentum genomic library, and completely sequenced. The gene was identified as a ptsG, which enables an E. coli transformant to transport non-metabolizable glucose analogue 2-deoxyglucose (2DG). The ptsG gene of B. lactofermentum consists of an open reading frame of 2,025 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide of 674 amino acid residues and a TAA stop codon. The 3' flanking region contains two stem-loop structures which may be involved in transcriptional termination. The deduced amino acid sequence of the B. lactofermentum enzyme $II^{GIe}$ specific to glucose ($EII^{GIe}$) has a high homology with the Corynebacterium glutamicum enzyme $II^{Man}$ specific to glucose and mannose ($EII^{Man}$), and the Brevibacterium ammoniagenes enzyme $II^{GIc}$ specific to glucose ($EII^{GIc}$). The 171-amino-acid C-terminal sequence of the $EII^{Glc}$ is also similar to the Escherichia coli enzyme $IIA^{GIc}$ specific to glucose ($IIA^{GIc}$). It is interesting that the arrangement of the structural domains, IIBCA, of the B. lactofermentum $EII^{GIc}$ protein is identical to that of EIIs specific to sucrose or $\beta$-glucoside. Several in vivo complementation studies indicated that the B. lactofermentum $EII^{Glc}$ protein could replace both $EII^{ Glc}$ and $EIIA^{Glc}$ in an E. coli ptsG mutant or crr mutant, respectively.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.79-86
• /
• 2007

The isolated plantamajoside from Plantago asiatica that is often used as a marker compound in chemotaxonomic studies has various bioactivites such as the inhibitions of cyclic AMP phosphodi-esterase and 5-lipoxygenase, microbial growth and inflammation, and currently demands the generation of toxicity data. The purpose of this study was to examine the toxicities of the single and 14 days repeated dose toxicity in Sprague-Dawley rats orally administrated with plantamajoside at dose levels of 0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg of dried material/kg body weight/day. The results showed that there was no difference in body weight change, food intake, water consumption, or relative organ weight among different dose groups. Also we observed no death and abnormal clinical signs were observed during the experimental period. Between the groups orally administered Plantago asiatica and the control group, there was no statistical significance in hematological test or serum biochemical values. There were no gross findings at final sacrifice. There was no evidence of histopathological alteration mediated by 14 days treatment with Plantago asiatica. These results suggest that no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of the oral application was considered to be more than 2000 mg/kg in rats under the conditions employed in this study. Another observation was performed to investigate the safety of Plantago asiatica in respect of genotoxicity. This substance was examined that Salmonella typhimurium reversion assay (Ames test) in strain TA98, TA100, TA1535. In the reverse mutation test, Plantago asiatica did not induce mutagenicity in Samonella typhimurium with and without metabolic activation. These results indicated that Plantago asiatica had no genotoxicity.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.303-309
• /
• 2003

This study was performed to investigate the antimutagenic and antioxidative activities of pine pollen with respect to the microbial mutation induced by various mutagens such as 1-NP, daunomycin, 2-NF, MNNG, NaN$_3$, 4NQO, 4-NOPD, AFB$_1$, Trp-P-1, 2-AF and oxidative mutagens such as t-BOOH, H$_2$O$_2$. Pine pollen, originally extracted with hexane, was reextracted with 70% methanol. The results obtained using the methanol extract, in terms of the antimutagenicity observed in relation to ten kinds of mutagens, showed that it exhibited 17.8, 82.2 and 80.9% inhibitory effects against daunomycin, AFB$_1$, and Trp-P-1, respectively, in Salmonella. typhimurium TA98 and a 72.3% inhibitory effect against AFB$_1$in S. tyPhimurium TA100. In terms of the antimutagenicity exhibited in relation to t-BOOH, a 72.3% inhibitory effect was observed, but no antimutagenicity was observed in relation to the other mutagens and strains. The methanol extract was further fractionated by chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol. In S. typhimurium TA98, the chloroform(150 $\mu\textrm{g}$/plate) fraction showed strong antimutagenic effects of 55.6%, 93.7% and 93.5%, while the ethyl acetate(100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/plate) fraction showed 11.4%, 74.3% and 85.2% in relation to the mutagenicity induced by daunomycin, AFB$_1$and Trp-P-1, respectively. In S. typhimurium TA100, the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions showed antimutagenic effects of 95.1% and 62.5%, respectively, on the mutagenicity induced by AFB$_1$. In S. typhimurium TA102, the chloroform fraction showed an antimutagenic effect of 93.6% on the mutagenicity induced by t-BOOH.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.33 no.10
• /
• pp.808-819
• /
• 2023

This study was conducted to develop a selection marker for the identification of the Bacillus licheniformis K12 strain in microbial communities. The strain not only demonstrates good growth at moderate temperatures but also contains enzymes that catalyze the decomposition of various polymer materials, such as proteases, amylases, cellulases, lipases, and xylanases. To identify molecular markers appropriate for use in a microbial community, a search was conducted to identify variable gene regions that show considerable genetic mutations, such as recombinase, integration, and transposase sites, as well as phase-related genes. As a result, five areas were identified that have potential as selection markers. The candidate markers were two recombinase sites (BLK1 and BLK2), two integration sites (BLK3 and BLK4), and one phase-related site (BLK5). A PCR analysis performed with different Bacillus species (e.g., B. licheniformis, Bacillus velezensis, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus cereus) confirmed that PCR products appeared at specific locations in B. licheniformis: BLK1 in recombinase, BLK2 in recombinase family protein, and BLK3 and BLK4 as site-specific integrations. In addition, BLK1 and BLK3 were identified as good candidate markers via a PCR analysis performed on subspecies of standard B. licheniformis strains. Therefore, the findings suggest that BLK1 can be used as a selection marker for B. licheniformis species and subspecies in the microbiome.