• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 2022

Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial agent used in various human personal care products against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of TCS-resistant bacteria in sewage water in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, for the first time. TCS-supplemented Luria Bertani (LB) agar was used to isolate TCS-tolerant bacteria. A total of 17 TCS-resistant isolates were randomly selected from a large pool of bacteria that showed growth on TCS-supplemented LB agar. Based on gram staining and physiochemical characteristics, the isolated strains were identified as Salmonella typhi (n = 6), Escherichia coli (n = 4), Citrobacter freundii (n = 4), Proteus mirabilis (n = 1), Enterobacter cloacae (n = 1), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 1). The Triclosan mean minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for the isolates of Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 23.66 ㎍ ml^-1, 18.75 ㎍ ml^-1, 42 ㎍ ml^-1, 32 ㎍ ml^-1, 64 ㎍ ml^-1, and 128 ㎍ ml^-1, respectively. The antibiogram revealed that all isolates were resistant to penicillin G (100%) and linezolid (100%), followed by ampicillin (94%), tetracycline (76%), tazobactam (76%), sulbactam/cefoperazone (64%), polymyxin PB (58%), amikacin (29.41%), aztreonam (29.41%), imipenem (5%), and gentamicin (5%). This is the first known study regarding the isolation of TCS-tolerant bacteria from sewage water in Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan. It was concluded that all the TCS-resistant isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR) gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria, mostly belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2006

An antagonistic bacterial isolate, that inhibits the growth of plant pathogens, was selected and identified from 5,000 isolates screened from the rhizosphere of various crop plants. An isolate Bacillus sp. N32, tested against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides causing anthracnose disease in hot pepper, produced both a heat resistant antifungal protein and a heat sensitive antifungal protein. The heat resistant protein was partially purified by Ammonium sulfate fractionation and gel filtration chromatography. The bioautography showed that the proteins possessed high antifungal activity. The biosynthetic gene cluster responsible for the heat resistant antifungal protein was cloned from cosmid library using DNA probe obtained from PCR product with the primers targeting the conserved nucleotide sequence of the synthetic genes reported earlier, Most of the clones obtained showed higher homology to fengycin antibiotic synthetic gene family reported earlier. On the other hand, the heat sensitive protein was isolated from SDS-PAGE and electroblotting to determine the N-terminal amino acid sequences. The heat sensitive antifungal protein gene was cloned from the ${\lambda}-ZAP$ libraries using a DNA probe based on the N-terminal amino acid sequences of the heat sensitive protein. We are contemplating to clone and sequence the whole gene cluster encoding the heat sensitive protein for further analysis.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.25-25
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• 2016

Biological control has many advantages as a disease control method, particularly when compared with pesticides. One of the most important benefits is that biological control is an environmental friendly method and does not introduce pollutants into the environment. Another great advantage of this method is its selectivity. Selectivity is the important factor regarding the balance of agricultural ecosystems because a great damage to non target species can lead to the restriction of natural enemies' populations. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of several different bacterial isolates on the efficacy of biological control of soil borne diseases. White rot caused by Sclerotium cepivorum was reported to be severe disease of garlic and chive. The antifungal bacteria Burkholderia pyrrocinia CAB08106-4 was tested in field bioassays for its ability to suppress white rot disease. In field tests, B. pyrrocinia CAB08106-4 isolates suppressed white rot in garlic and chive, with the average control efficacies of 69.6% and 58.9%, respectively. In addition, when a culture filtrate of B. pyrrocinia CAB08106-4 was sprayed onto wounded garlic bulbs after inoculation with a Penicillium hirstum spore suspension in a cold storage room ($-2^{\circ}C$), blue mold disease on garlic bulbs was suppressed, with a control efficacy of 79.2%. These results suggested that B. pyrrocinia CAB08106-4 isolates could be used as effective biological control agents against both soil-borne and post-harvest diseases of Liliaceae. Chinese cabbage clubroot caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae was found to be highly virulent in Chinese cabbage, turnips, and cabbage. In this study, the endophytic bacterium Flavobacterium hercynium EPB-C313, which was isolated from Chinese cabbage tissues, was investigated for its antimicrobial activity by inactivating resting spores and its control effects on clubroot disease using bioassays. The bacterial cells, culture solutions, and culture filtrates of F. hercynium EPB-C313 inactivated the resting spores of P. brassicae, with the control efficacies of 90.4%, 36.8%, and 26.0%, respectively. Complex treatments greatly enhanced the control efficacy by 63.7% in a field of 50% diseased plants by incorporating pellets containing organic matter and F. hercynium EPB-C313 in soil, drenching seedlings with a culture solution of F. hercynium EPB-C313, and drenching soil for 10 days after planting. Soft rot caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum was reported to be severe disease to Chinese cabbage in spring seasons. The antifungal bacterium, Bacillus sp. CAB12243-2 suppresses the soft rot disease on Chinese cabbage with 73.0% control efficacy in greenhouse assay. This isolate will increase the utilization of rhizobacteria species as biocontrol agents against soft rot disease of vegetable crops. Sclerotinia rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum has been reported on lettuce during winter. An antifungal isolate of Pseudomonas corrugata CAB07024-3 was tested in field bioassays for its ability to suppress scleritinia rot. This antagonistic microorganism showed four-year average effects of 63.1% of the control in the same field. Furthermore, P. corrugata CAB07024-3 has a wide antifungal spectrum against plant pathogens, including Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Sclerotium cepivorum, Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Phytophotra capsici, and Pythium myriotylum.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.101.1-101
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• 2003

Lipopolysaccharide, siderophore, and cyclic dipeptide have been shown to be necessary for ISR induction by pseudomnads. However, there is no report on cloning of genes or generating specific mutants involving in ISR activity. A biological control bacteium P. chlororaphis O6 induces resistance to Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovara SCCI in tobacco and induces drought resistance in Arabidopsis. To isolate genes involved in ISR activity and induction of drough resistance of O6, we constructed Tn5 mutants and were used to screen for ISR activity and drought resistance activity using microtiter assay with tobacco and Arabidopsis. Thirty-three ISR-deficient mutants were selected, and the nine ISR-deficient mutants were also lost activity of drought resistance. The flanking sequence analysis of the ISR and drought resistance-deficient mutants showed that a gacS gene encoding a two-component sensor kinase, and a mce gene encoding a protein involved in mycobacterial cell entry were mutated. The flanking sequence of each Tn5 mutant altered ISR activity is currently under investigation. These results indicate that gacS and mce are important genes in induction of ISR activity and drought resistance of P. chlororaphis O6. Our works will open opportunities for identification of bacterial genes or traits that are involved in ISR activity and induced drought resistance of P. chlororaphis O6.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.296-303
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• 2005

A strain named as HJ35 was isolated from the skin of sixty-five men and fourteen women for acne therapy, in order to find an effective antimicrobial agent against Propionibacterium acnes. Isolate HJ35 was identified as Enterococcus faecium based on 16 rDNA sequence and produced enterocin HJ35 having antimicrobial activities against most lactic acid bacteria, En­terococcus spp., Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Clostridium perfringens, some bacilli, Mi­crococcus flavus, Listeria monocytogenes, L. ivanovii, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Propionibacterium acnes, in the modified well diffusion method. Especially, enterocin HJ35 showed a bactericidal activity against Propionibacterium acnes P1. The antimicrobial activity of enterocin HJ35 was disappeared completely with the use of protease XIV. But enterocin HJ35 activity is very stable at high temperature (up to $100^{\circ}C$ for 30 min), in wide range of pH (3.0${\~}$9.0), and by treatment with organic solvents. The apparent molecular mass of enterocin HJ35 was estimated to be approximately 4${\~}$4.5 kDa on detection of its bactericidal activity after SDS-PAGE. In batch fermentation of E. faecium HJ35, enterocin HJ35 was produced at the mid­log growth phase, and its maximum production was obtained up to 2,300 AU/mL at the late stationary phase. By employing fed-batch fermentation, the enhanced production of enterocin HJ35 was achieved up to 12,800 AU/mL by feeding with 10 g/L glucose or 6 g/L lactate.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2010

Emerging of antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria is now a very serious problem in the clinics to treat the diseases, which have been easy to cure by antibiotic treatments before. Unfortunately, antibiotics developed till now are not effective any more against the resistant bacteria. Lots of efforts to discover new antibiotics having novel and unique structures and functions are really urgent and undergoing in the whole world. In this study, we tried to screen and isolate Same unique bacterial strains producing antibacterial substances from the sea water, which is the poor environment for bacteria 10 make their growing. Three bacterial strains among 916 strains isolated showed inhibition clear zone on the marine agar plate growing pathogenic bacteria including Acinetobacter baumannii, Edwardsiella tarda, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica. One of them, which was identified as Bacillus sp. DH-9 from 16S rRNA gene analysis, showed especially considerable antibacterial activity against S. aureus which is notorious for methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The growth of S. aureus was totally inhibited when the supernatant of Bacillus sp. DH-9 culture was treated on.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 2012

Biocontrol microbes have mainly been screened among large collections of microorganisms $via.$ nutrient-rich $in$ $vitro$ assays to identify novel and effective isolates. However, thus far, isolates from only a few genera, mainly spore-forming bacilli, have been commercially developed. In order to isolate field-effective biocontrol microbes, we screened for more than 200 oligotrophic bacterial strains, isolated from rhizospheres of various soil samples in Korea, which induced systemic resistance against the soft-rot disease caused by $Pectobacterium$ $carotovorum$ SCC1; we subsequently conducted in $planta$ bioassay screening. Two oligotrophic bacterial strains were selected for induced systemic disease resistance against the $Tobacco$ $Mosaic$ $Virus$ and the gray mold disease caused by $Botrytis$ $cinerea$. The oligotrophic bacterial strains were identified as $Pseudomonas$ $manteilii$ B001 and $Bacillus$ $cereus$ C003 by biochemical analysis and the phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence. These bacterial strains did not exhibit any antifungal activities against plant pathogenic fungi but evidenced several other beneficial biocontrol traits, including phosphate solubilization and gelatin utilization. Collectively, our results indicate that the isolated oligotrophic bacterial strains possessing induced systemic disease resistance could provide useful tools as effective biopesticides and might be successfully used as cost-effective and preventive biocontrol agents in the field.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1614-1623
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• 2010

Bacteria were isolated from roots of sugarcane varieties grown in the fields of Punjab. They were identified by using API20E/NE bacterial identification kits and from sequences of 16S rRNA and amplicons of the cpn60 gene. The majority of bacteria were found to belong to the genera of Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Klebsiella, but members of genera Azospirillum, Rhizobium, Rahnella, Delftia, Caulobacter, Pannonibacter, Xanthomonas, and Stenotrophomonas were also found. The community, however, was dominated by members of the Pseudomonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae, as representatives of these genera were found in samples from every variety and location examined. All isolates were tested for the presence of five enzymes and seven factors known to be associated with plant growth promotion. Ten isolates showed lipase activity and eight were positive for protease activity. Cellulase, chitinase, and pectinase were not detected in any strain. Nine strains showed nitrogen fixing ability (acetylene reduction assay) and 26 were capable of solubilizing phosphate. In the presence of 100 mg/l tryptophan, all strains except one produced indole acetic acid in the growth medium. All isolates were positive for ACC deaminase activity. Six strains produced homoserine lactones and three produced HCN and hexamate type siderophores. One isolate was capable of inhibiting the growth of 24 pathogenic fungal strains of Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Pythium, and Rhizoctonia spp. In tests of their abilities to grow under a range of temperature, pH, and NaCl concentrations, all isolates grew well on plates with 3% NaCl and most of them grew well at 4 to $41^{\circ}C$ and at pH 11.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1574-1582
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• 2014

Bacteria recognize changes in their population density by sensing the concentration of signal molecules, N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs). AHL-mediated quorum sensing (QS) plays a key role in biofilm formation, so the interference of QS, referred to as quorum quenching (QQ), has received a great deal of attention. A QQ strategy can be applied to membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for advanced wastewater treatment to control biofouling. To isolate QQ bacteria that can inhibit biofilm formation, we isolated diverse AHL-degrading bacteria from a laboratory-scale MBR and sludge from real wastewater treatment plants. A total of 225 AHL-degrading bacteria were isolated from the sludge sample by enrichment culture. Afipia sp., Acinetobacter sp. and Streptococcus sp. strains produced the intracellular QQ enzyme, whereas Pseudomonas sp., Micrococcus sp. and Staphylococcus sp. produced the extracellular QQ enzyme. In case of Microbacterium sp. and Rhodococcus sp., AHL-degrading activities were detected in the whole-cell assay and Rhodococcus sp. showed AHL-degrading activity in cell-free lysate as well. There has been no report for AHL-degrading capability in the case of Streptococcus sp. and Afipia sp. strains. Finally, inhibition of biofilm formation by isolated QQ bacteria or enzymes was observed on glass slides and 96-well microtiter plates using crystal violet staining. QQ strains or enzymes not only inhibited initial biofilm development but also reduced established biofilms.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.453-464
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• 2014

The current research was focused on the extracellular biosynthesis of bactericidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using cell-free supernatant of a local isolate previously identified as a novel Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102. The biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102 was quite fast and required far less time than previously published strains. The produced particles showed a single surface plasmon resonance peak at 400 nm by UV-Vis spectroscopy, which confirmed the presence of AgNPs. Response surface methodology was chosen to evaluate the effects of four process variables ($AgNO_3$ concentration, incubation period, pH levels, and inoculum size) on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102. Statistical analysis of the results showed that the linear and quadratic effects of incubation period, initial pH, and inoculum size had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by Streptomyces aegyptia NEAE 102. The maximum silver nanoparticles biosynthesis (2.5 OD, at 400 nm ) was achieved in runs number 5 and 14 under the conditions of 1 mM $AgNO_3$ (1-1.5% (v/v)), incubation period (72-96 h), initial pH (9-10), and inoculum size (2-4% (v/v)). An overall 4-fold increase in AgNPs biosynthesis was obtained as compared with that of unoptimized conditions. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized using UV-VIS spectrophotometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, in addition to antimicrobial properties. The biosynthesized AgNPs significantly inhibited the growth of medically important pathogenic gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and yeast (Candida albicans).