• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.104.1-104.1
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• 2007

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• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.193-201
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• 2010

A specific and rapid real-time PCR assay for detecting Ralstonia solanacearum in horticultural soil and plant tissues was developed in this study. The specific primers RSF/RSR were designed based on the upstream region of the UDP-3-O-acyl-GlcNAc deacetylase gene from R. solanacearum, and a PCR product of 159 bp was amplified specifically from 28 strains of R. solanacearum, which represent all genetically diverse AluI types and all 6 biovars, but not from any other nontarget species. The detection limit of $10^2\;CFU/g$ tomato stem and horticultural soil was achieved in this real-time PCR assay. The high sensitivity and specificity observed with field samples as well as with artificially infected samples suggested that this method might be a useful tool for detection and quantification of R. solanacearum in precise forecast and diagnosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1692-1700
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• 2017

Ralstonia solanacearum causes bacterial wilt in a wide variety of host plant species and produces a melanin-like blackish-brown pigment in stationary phase when grown in minimal medium supplemented with tyrosine. To study melanin production regulation in R. solanacearum, five mutants exhibiting overproduction of melanin-like pigments were selected from a transposon (Tn) insertion mutant library of R. solanacearum SL341. Most of the mutants, except one (SL341T), were not complemented by the original gene or overproduced melanins. SL341T showed Tn insertion in a gene containing a conserved domain of eukaryotic transcription factor. The gene was annotated as a hypothetical protein, given its weak similarity to any known proteins. Upon complementation with its original gene, the mutant strains reverted to their wild-type phenotype. SL341T produced 3-folds more melanin at 72 h post-incubation compared with wild-type SL341 when grown in minimal medium supplemented with tyrosine. The chemical analysis of SL341T cultural filtrate revealed the accumulation of a higher amount of homogentisate, a major precursor of pyomelanin, and a lower amount of dihydroxyphenylalanine, an intermediate of eumelanin, compared with SL341. The expression study showed a relatively higher expression of hppD (encoding hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase) and lower expression of hmgA (encoding homogentisate dioxygenase) and nagL (encoding maleylacetoacetate isomerase) in SL341T than in SL341. SL341 showed a significantly higher expression of tyrosinase gene compared with SL341T at 48 h post-incubation. These results indicated that R. solanacearum produced both pyomelanin and eumelanin, and the novel hypothetical protein is involved in the negative regulation of melanin production.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.48-52
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• 2005

Six stains of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria were selected through germinating seed assay and root colonization assay. Among them, SKU-78 strain induced significant suppression of bacterial wilt disease in tomato and pepper plants. Seed treatment followed by soil drench application with this strain resulted in over 60% reduction of bacterial wilt disease compared with the control. It was suggested that SKU-78 strain activated the host defense systems in plants, based on lack of direct antibiosis against pathogen. According to Bergey's Manual of Systemic Bacteriology and 16S rDNA sequence data, SKU-78 stain was identified as Bacillus sp. SKU-78.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2017

Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) causes bacterial wilt, and it is one of the most important soil-borne plant pathogenic bacteria. RSSC has a large host range of more than 50 botanical families, which represent more than 200 plant species, including tomato. It is difficult to control bacterial wilt due to following reasons: the bacterial wilt pathogen can grow inside the plant tissue, and it can also survive in soil for a long period; moreover, it has a wide host range and biological diversity. In most previous studies, scientists have focused on developing biological control agents, such as antagonistic microorganisms and botanical materials. However, biocontrol attempts are not successful. Plant-derived metabolites and extracts have been promising candidates to environmentally friendly control bacterial wilt diseases. Therefore, we review the plant extracts, essential oils, and secondary metabolites that show potent in vivo antibacterial activities (in potted plants or in field) against tomato bacterial wilt, which is caused by RSSC.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2000

Bacterial wilt(Ralstonia solanacearum) is one of the major diseases of flue-cured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) in the world. This study was conducted to investigate degree of dominance, selection, and correlation between leaf shape and degree of bacterial wilt resistance in flue-cured tobacco. The degree of disease caused by bacterial wilt was evaluated in parents, F$_1$, F$_2$ and F$_3$ populations of two crosses, BY 4 x NC 95 and BY 4 x Coker 86, in the infected field. The leaf shape index was also measured in parents and F$_2$ population of BY 4 x NC 95. The incidence of bacterial wilt was observed in the middle of June and peaked in late July, when the highest value of pathogen density reached 1.0 x 10$^{6}$ colony forming unit per gram. It was concluded that the inheritance mode of risestance to bacterial wilt in the above two crosses of susceptible and resistant varieties was recessive and polygenic. The resistance to bacterial wilt was significantly correlated with leaf shape in F2 generation of BY 4 x NC 95. But certain plants having narrower leaves were also resistant to bacterial wilt. It is considered that the bacterial wilt resistant lines having narrower leaves could be selected. The selection for bacterial wilt resistance in the F$_2$ population might be effective.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.136-139
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• 2018

The inhibitory compound (Compound S) against Ralstonia solanacearum and its conversion product (Compound S') were isolated from the culture filtrate of Bacillus subtilis JW-1 using a series of chromatography procedures. The structures were elucidated as alanyl-L-${\beta}$-(2,3-epoxycyclohexyl-4-one)alanine and alanyl-L-${\beta}$-(2,3-dihydroxycyclohexyl-4-one)alanine, respectively on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance spectral data, including $^1H$, $^{13}C$, $^1H-^1H$ correlation spectroscopy and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation spectroscopy. The compound S exhibited a broad antimicrobial activity against $G^+$, $G^-$ bacteria, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans. The activity loss of the conversion product revealed that the epoxy function was essential for activity of Compound S.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum has become a severe problem on tobacco in Korea. No effective single control measure is available at present time. One of the most potential way for controlling the bacterial wilt on tobacco is growing tobacco cultivars resistant to the bacterial wilt. In this study, optimal conditions for screening tobacco cultivars resistant to the bacterial wilt were examined to provide reproducible and efficient methods in growth chamber testing and field experiments for evaluating plant disease resistance. For this, already-known inoculation methods, inoculum densities, and incubation temperature, and plant growth stages at the time of inoculation were compared using tobacco cultivars resistant (Nicotiana tabacum cv, NC95), moderately resistant (N. tabacum cv. SPG70), and susceptible (N. tabacum BY4) to the bacterial disease. It was determined that root-dipping of tobacco seedlings at six true leaf stage into the bacterial suspension with inoculum level of $10^8$ colony-forming units (CFU)/ml for 20 min before transplanting was simple and most efficient in testing for resistance to the bacterial wilt of tobacco caused by R. solanacearum, for which disease incidences and severities were examined at 2 weeks of plant growth after inoculation at $20{\sim}25^{\circ}C$ in a growth chamber. These experimental conditions could discriminate one tobacco cultivar from the others by disease severity better than any other experimental conditions. In field testing, the optimum time for examining the disease occurrence was late June through early July. These results can be applied to establishing a technical manual for the screening of resistant tobacco cultivars against the bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.355-363
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• 2020

Bacterial traits for virulence of Ralstonia solanacearum causing lethal wilt in plants were extensively studied but are not yet fully understood. Other than the known virulence factors of Ralstonia solanacearum, this study aimed to identify the novel gene(s) contributing to bacterial virulence of R. solanacearum. Among the transposon-inserted mutants that were previously generated, we selected mutant SL341F12 strain produced exopolysaccharide equivalent to wild type strain but showed reduced virulence compared to wild type. In this mutant, a transposon was found to disrupt the murI gene encoding glutamate racemase which converts L-glutamate to D-glutamate. SL341F12 lost its motility, and its virulence in the tomato plant was markedly diminished compared to that of the wild type. The altered phenotypes of SL341F12 were restored by introducing a full-length murI gene. The expression of genes required for flagella assembly was significantly reduced in SL341F12 compared to that of the wild type or complemented strain, indicating that the loss of bacterial motility in the mutant was due to reduced flagella assembly. A dramatic reduction of the mutant population compared to its wild type was apparent in planta (i.e., root) than its wild type but not in soil and rhizosphere. This may contribute to the impaired virulence in the mutant strain. Accordingly, we concluded that murI in R. solanacearum may be involved in controlling flagella assembly and consequently, the mutation affects bacterial motility and virulence.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.374-385
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• 2013

Environmental stresses induce several plant pathogenic bacteria into a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state, but the basis for VBNC is largely uncharacterized. We investigated the physiology and morphology of the copper-induced VBNC state in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum in liquid microcosm. Supplementation of $200{\mu}M$ copper sulfate to the liquid microcosm completely suppressed bacterial colony formation on culture media; however, LIVE/DEAD BacLight bacterial viability staining showed that the bacterial cells maintained viability, and that the viable cells contain higher level of DNA. Based on electron microscopic observations, the bacterial cells in the VBNC state were unchanged in size, but heavily aggregated and surrounded by an unknown extracellular material. Cellular ribosome contents, however, were less, resulting in a reduction of the total RNA in VBNC cells. Proteome comparison and reverse transcription PCR analysis showed that the Dps protein production was up-regulated at the transcriptional level and that 2 catalases/peroxidases were present at lower level in VBNC cells. Cell aggregation and elevated levels of Dps protein are typical oxidative stress responses. $H_2O_2$ levels also increased in VBNC cells, which could result if catalase/peroxidase levels are reduced. Some of phenotypic changes in VBNC cells of R. solanacearum could be an oxidative stress response due to $H_2O_2$ accumulation. This report is the first of the distinct phenotypic changes in cells of R. solanacearum in the VBNC state.