• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.221-226
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• 2022

A filarial nematode was found in a blood sample of an Anas falcata individual collected in South Korea in 2018. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences placed the nematode as a novel genus of the family Onchocercidae and as closely related to Mansonella species, Chandlerella quiscali, and filarial nematodes recently reported in avian species. However, different phylogenetic relationship was observed in the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 and 12S rRNA-based phylogenetic trees, which might indicate the filarial nematode found in this study was not defined to belong to the known specific genera of the family Onchocercidae. The screening of 105 additional avian blood samples retrieved only one 12S rRNA-targeting polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive sample, which indicates that filarial nematode infection is rare in wild birds or that it occurs below the detection limit of PCR in blood samples. Nevertheless, considering the recent findings about ancient interactions between birds and human pathogenic filarial nematodes and their pathogenic potential in several avian species, additional exploration of novel filarial nematodes in wild birds remains necessary.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.126-131
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• 2012

Physiological activities of hot water (BRW) and 80% ethanol (BRE) extracts from brown rice were investigated in this study. The highest activity (94.9%) of nitrite reductase was observed for BRE at 1 mg/ml at pH 1.2, while the activity for BRW was about 75.4% under the same conditions. The inhibitory effects of BRW and BRE on xanthine oxidase activity were about 39.0 and 72.9% at 10 mg/ml, respectively. The digestibility of starch was lower for brown rice than for milled rice and the highest inhibition (93.1%) of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase activity occurred with BRE. Superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activities of BRW and BRE were weakly increased in a dose-dependent manner and were about 56.4 and 44.9% at 10 mg/ml, respectively. The influences of BRW and BRE on alcohol metabolizing activity were determined by measuring the generation of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Increases in ADH and ALDH activities were only detected with BRE.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.979-984
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• 2006

Although iron is essential for many physiological processes, excess iron can lead to tissue damage by promoting the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). There is increasing evidence that ROS might play an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. However, the effects of iron excess on platelet function and the thrombotic response to vascular injury are not well understood. We examined the effects of iron excess-induced oxidative stress and the antioxidants on platelet aggregation. Oxidative stress was accessed by either free iron $(Fe^{+2})$ or hydrogen peroxide $(H_2O_2)$, as well as their combination on washed rabbit platelets (WPs) in vitro. When WPs were stimulated with either $Fe^{+2}$ alone or a subthreshold concentration of collagen, which gave an aggregatory curve with a little effect, and a dose dependent increase in platelet aggregation was observed by increasing concentrations of $Fe^{+2}$ with $H_2O_2$. This aggregation was associated with the iron-catalyzed formation of hydroxyl radicals from $H_2O_2$, and were inhibited by NAD/NADP (proton acceptor), catalase $(H_2O_2\;scavenger)$, tiron (iron chelator), mannitol (hydroxyl radical scavenger), and indomethacin (cyclooxygenase inhibitor), but not by NADH/NADPH (proton donor), superoxide mutase, and aspirin. However, NADH/NADPH, an essential cofactor for the antioxidant capacity by the supply of reducing potentials, showed the effect of an enhanced radical formation, suggesting a role for NADH/NADPH-dependent oxidase. These results suggest that iron $(Fe^{+2})$ can directly interact with washed rabbit platelets and this aggregation be mediated by OH formation as in the Fenton reaction, inhibited by radical scavengers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.992-1000
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• 2005

Campylobacter is one of the emerging foodborne pathogens, and its worldwide incidence rate is extremely high. This study was undertaken to isolate and identify Campylobacter strains from chicken carcasses in the local markets, and analyze their characteristics regarding oxygen tolerance. They were isolated after aerobic enrichment and identified by biochemical, physiological, and morphological characteristics, PCR, and 16S rDNA sequencing. Their oxygen tolerances were analyzed in terms of the cell surface hydrophobicity, cell fatty acid composition, and oxidoreductase. Five strains of C. jejuni were isolated and identified from 61 isolates from 50 chickens. Among them, C. jejuni IC21 grew well in Brucella broth and commercial milk under aerobic condition. However, in the aerobic exposure, the cell surface hydrophobicity of C. jejuni IC21 was almost the same as the other isolates, even though its morphology changed from the spiral-bacilli form into the coccoid form. Fatty acid analyses showed that all Campylobacter strains had a high composition of $C_{19:1}$, cyclopropane fatty acid, and that the amount of the other fatty acids were very similar between them. Interestingly, however, only oxidoreductase activities of C. jejuni IC21 increased highly under aerobic exposure even though its activities were almost the same as the other C. jejuni strains just after microaerobic culture. It had 11.8 times higher catalase activity, 4.4 times higher for SOD, and 2.0 times higher for NADH oxidase activities. Therefore, in the case of the aero-adaptive C. jejuni IC21, expression of oxidoreductase significantly increased under oxidative stressed condition, which might allow it to survive for a longer time and grow on food under aerobic exposure. Such new strain might be one of the explanations for the increase of campylobacteriosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.101-109
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• 2010

Efficient L-lactic acid production from Jerusalem artichoke tubers, by Lactobacillus casei G-02, using simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) in a fed-batch culture, is demonstrated. A kinetic analysis of the SSF revealed that the inulinase activity was subjected to product inhibition, whereas the fermentation activity of G-02 was subjected to substrate inhibition. It was also found that the intracellular NADH oxidase (NOX) activity was enhanced by the citrate metabolism, which dramatically increased the carbon flux of the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway, along with the production of ATP. As a result, when the SSF was carried out at $40^{\circ}C$ after an initial hydrolysis of 1 h and included a sodium citrate supplement of 10 g/l, an L-lactic acid concentration of 141.5 g/l was obtained after 30 h, with a volumetric productivity of 4.7 g/l/h. The conversion efficiency and product yield were 93.6% of the theoretical lactic acid yield and 52.4 g lactic acid/l00 g Jerusalem artichoke flour, respectively. Such a high concentration of lactic acid with a high productivity from Jerusalem artichokes has not been reported previously, making G-02 a potential candidate for the economic production of L-lactic acid from Jerusalem artichokes on a commercial scale.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.16-16
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• 2001

Apoptosis로 일컬어지는 예정된 세포사멸(programmed cell death)은 개별 세포의 입장에서는 곧바로 사멸을 의미하지만, 정상적인 고등 생물의 입장에서는 개체의 발생과 분화하는데 프로그램된 과정이다. 자발적 세포사멸은 다른 조직에 비해 생식 조직인 난소나 정소에서 복잡한 apoptosis 기작들을 가지리라 사료된다. 본 연구는 Bcl-2 family중 apoptotic protein인 Bax에 대해 suppression하는 유전자를 yeast system을 활용하여 돼지 정소와 난소로부터 각각 cDNA library를 구축한 후 탐색하였다. 탐색에 활용된 cDNA library는 돼지의 정소와 난소로부터 mRNA를 분리하여 yeast vector인 pAD-GAL4-2.1에 구축하였고, 마우스 bax 유전자는 gal 1 promoter의 조절 하에 glucose 배지에서는 유도되지 않고, galactose 배지에서만 선택적으로 Bax를 발현할 수 있는 효모 vector(pL19-bax)를 구축하였다. Bax에 의한 apoptosis suppressor를 탐색하기 위해 우선 효모 W303에 pL19-bax를 transform하여 glucose 배지에서 Bax의 발현을 억제하였다. pL19-bax를 가진 효모에 정소와 난소로부터 구축된 cDNA library를 transform 시키고, transform된 효모는 각각 Bax에 의한 toxicity를 저해하는 유전자를 찾기 위해 스크린되었다. 이러한 방법으로 정소 cDNA library 탐색에서는 5 $\times$ $10^{6}$ transformant중 39개, 난소cDNA library 탐색에서는 2 $\times$ $10^{6}$ transformant중 26개의 콜로니가 생존하였다. 이들 콜로니로부터 유전자를 분리하여 분석해 본 결과 여러 그룹으로 분류할 수 있었다. 각 그룹의 관련 유전자는 protein synthesis/degradation 12종, oxidation/reductation 5종, detoxin/ cell cycle promoter 3종, signal transduction/growth factor 5종, 그리고 알려지지 않은 유전자 9종이었다. 그 중, bax-toxicity inhibition에 강력한 survival phenotype을 가지는 유전자(pSEDL)를 동정하였다. 이것은 T3-4-1 콜로니로부터 분리하였는데 140개 아미노산으로 이루어진 인간 SEDL(GenBank, XM_013096) 유전자와 매우 유사한 homology를 가지며, bax와 관련된 기능은 밝혀져 있지 않다. 이외에도 분리된 유전자에는 NADH, thioreduction, 그리고 cytochrome oxidase와 같은 positive 유전자 군이 크로닝되어, Bax를 이용한 효모에서 apoptosis suppressor에 관련된 유전자를 손쉽게 스크린하는 것이 가능하고, 분리된 유전자의 기능을 예측할 수 있어 지금까지 보고된 유전자 크로닝법 보다는 강력한 수단으로 활용될 수 있다는 사실을 시사하였다. 그러나, ORF에 관계없이 Bax 발현에 저항하는 유전자군이 선발된다든지 하는 문제점은 금후 검토가 필요하리라 사료된다.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.503-507
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• 2016

The genus Spirometra belongs to the family Diphyllobothriidae and order Pseudophyllidea, and includes intestinal parasites of cats and dogs. In this study, a plerocercoid labeled as Spirometra mansonoides from the USA was examined for species identification and phylogenetic analysis using 2 complete mitochondrial genes, cytochrome c oxidase I (cox1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 (nad3). The cox1 sequences (1,566 bp) of the plerocercoid specimen (USA) showed 99.2% similarity to the reference sequences of the plerocercoid of Korean Spirometra decipiens (GenBank no. KJ599679), and 99.1% similarity in regard to nad3 (346 bp). Phylogenetic tree topologies generated using 4 analytical methods were identical and showed high confidence levels with bootstrap values of 1.00, 100%, 100%, and 100% for Bayesian inference (BI), maximum-likelihood (ML), neighbor-joining (NJ), and maximum parsimony (MP) methods, respectively. Representatives of Diphyllobothrium and Spirometra species formed a monophyletic group, and the sister-genera status between these species was well supported. Trapezoic proglottids in the posterior 1/5 region of an adult worm obtained from an experimentally infected cat were morphologically examined. The outer uterine loop of the uterus coiling characteristically consisted of 2 complete turns. The results clearly indicated that the examined Spirometra specimen from the USA matched to S. decipiens very well, and indicated possible presence of the life cycle of this species in this region.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.601-618
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• 2022

The genus Semisulcospira is an economically and ecologically valuable freshwater resource. Among the species, Semisulcospira coreana, Semisulcospira forticosta and Semisulcospira tegulata are endemic to the Korean peninsula and Semisulcospira gottschei is widespread in Asia. Therefore, maintenance and conservation of wild populations of these snails are important. We investigated the genetic diversity and population structure of Semisulcospira based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4), and combined mitochondrial DNA (COI + ND4) sequences. All four species and various genetic makers showed a high level of haplotype diversity and a low level of nucleotide diversity. In addition, Fu's Fs and Tajima's D neutrality tests were performed to assess the variation in size among populations. Neutrality tests of the four species yielded negative Fu's Fs and Tajima's D values, except for populations with one haplotype. The minimum spanning network indicated a common haplotype for populations of S. coreana, S. tegulata and S. gottschei, whereas S. forticosta had a rare haplotype. Also, genetic differences and gene flows between populations were assessed by analysis of molecular variance and using the pairwise fixation index. Our findings provided insight into the degree of preservation of the species' genetic diversity and could be utilized to enhance the management of endemic species.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2019

This study analyzed genetic variation of the Oriental fruit fly (OFF), Bactrocera dorsalis, which is designated to be a quarantine insect pest in Korea. OFF samples endemic to Taiwan were collected at three different locations (Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung) for three days from July 30 to August 1 in 2018 and assessed in their age and mitochondrial DNA sequence variations. In these places, 1,085 OFF males were collected using methyl eugenol lure while 30 males of Zeugodacus cucurbitae and one male of Bactrocera tau were collected using Cuelure. A protein diet lure attracted 6 flies including one OFF and 5 flies of Z. cucurbitae. Male heads of OFF contained pterin, which increased in contents with age from 32 to $59{\mu}g/head$. There was a local variation in pterin amounts in OFF heads, in which Kaohsiung population had lower amounts of pterin than Taipei and Taichung populations. Genetic distance among these three populations were measured by random amplified polymorphic DNA and showed that Taipei population was separated from Taichung/Kaohsiung cluster. Genetic variation was also analyzed in sequence variations in cytochrome oxidase I (CO-I) and NADH dehydrogenase I (ND-I). There was 7.8% variation in CO-I sequence (360 residues) and 6.6% variation in ND-I sequence (213 residues). These polymorphic sites are proposed to be used to develop SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers characteristic to Taiwan OFF populations.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2012

The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is one of the most important pest species devastating many horticultural and ornamental crops and fruit trees. Difficulty in managing this mite is largely attributed to its ability to develop resistance to many important acaricides. Development of 3,700-folds resistance to etoxazole was found in the population of T. urticae collected from rose greenhouses in Buyeo, Chungnam Province in August 2000. This population has been selected for eleven years with etoxazole (over 500 times), and increased over 5,000,000-folds in resistance as compared with susceptible strain. Also, etoxazole-resistant strain was shown to be maternally inherited. The objective of this study was to determine whether resistance of T. urticae to etoxazole was linked with point mutations in the mitochondrial gene. DNA sequencing of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1), COX2, COX3, cytochrome b (CYTB), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1), ND2, ND3, ND4, ND5, and ND6 were analyzed by comparing two etoxazole-susceptible and etoxazole-resistant strains. As a result, differences were not detected between the nucleotide sequences of two strains within a mitochondrial gene.