• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.144-151
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• 2013

Two marine hypotrichous ciliates, Anteholosticha petzi and Ponturostyla enigmatica, were collected from the Yellow Sea and the Korea Strait, respectively, and described using live observation and protargol-impregnated specimens. Furthermore, the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA gene of each was sequenced and compared to previously annotated sequences retrieved from the GenBank. Anteholosticha petzi is characterized by 3 frontal cirri (FC), 2 frontoterminal cirri (FTC), 8-12 transverse cirri (TC), 1 buccal cirrus (BC), 9-12 midventral pairs (MP), 3 bipolar dorsal kineties (DK), and 3 types of colorless cortical granules. Ponturostyla enigmatica is characterized by 8 FC, 5 ventral cirri (VC), 5-7 TC, 6-7 marginal rows (MR) on each side, 4 complete and 2-3 partial DK, and greenish cortical granules. This is the first identification and description of these 2 species, A. petzi and P. enigmatica, in South Korea.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 2006

In previous study, scuticociliate P. dicentrachi was isolated from farmed flounder during the december 2004 to april 2005. Pathogenicity, mortality and infection symptom were studied using 3 cm and 5 cm groups of juvenile flounder. The ciliates were exponentially increased from bottom layer of the experimental tanks, which propagated within 2000 cells/ml (1.4 × 103 cell ㎖-1 ～ 2.5 × 103 cell ㎖-1) after 6 days of inoculation. The middle layer was maintained within 300 cells/ml. Both 3 cm and 5 cm groups were infected with ciliates, mainly 3 cm group showed high mortality during the experimental period. The death of 3 cm group was started from 5 days and showed 95.6% of mortality after 28 days of first inoculation. The control group showed 4.4% of mortality however, we could not observed any ciliates. The death of 5 cm group was started later than 3 cm group after 18 days of first inoculation. The total mortality was 71% during 28 days. No mortality and infection symptoms were observed in the control. We also studied SSU rRNA gene of ciliates which, re-isolated from infected flounder of experimental groups. When SSU rRNA in this study compared with previous data showed that the identified strain of both previous and present study was same.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.22-26
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• 2002

There are a number of ways in which environmental microbiology and microbial ecology will benefit from DNA micro array technology. These include community genome arrays, SSU rDNA arrays, environmental functional gene arrays, population biology arrays, and there are clearly more different applications of microarray technology that can be applied to relevant problems in environmental microbiology. Two types of the applications, bacterial identification chip and functional gene detection chip, will be presented. For the bacterial identification chip, a new approach employing random genome fragments that eliminates the disadvantages of traditional DNA-DNA hybridization is proposed to identify and type bacteria based on genomic DNA-DNA similarity. Bacterial genomes are fragmented randomly, and representative fragments are spotted on a glass slide and then hybridized to test genomes. Resulting hybridization profiles are used in statistical procedures to identify test strains. Second, the direct binding version of microarray with a different array design and hybridization scheme is proposed to quantify target genes in environmental samples. Reference DNA was employed to normalize variations in spot size and hybridization. The approach for designing quantitative microarrays and the inferred equation from this study provide a simple and convenient way to estimate the target gene concentration from the hybridization signal ratio.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.129-138
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• 1999

If rumen bacteria can be manipulated to utilize nutrients (i.e., ammonia and plant cell wall carbohydrates) more completely and efficiently, the need for protein supplementation can be reduced or eliminated and the digestion of fiber in forage or agricultural residue-based diets could be enhanced. However, these approaches require a complete and accurate description of the rumen community, as well as methods for the rapid and accurate detection of microbial density, diversity, phylogeny, and gene expression. Molecular ecology techniques based on small subunit (SSU) rRNA sequences, nucleic acid probes and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can potentially provide a complete description of the microbial ecology of the rumen of ruminant animals. The development of these molecular tools will result in greater insights into community structure and activity of gut microbial ecosystems in relation to functional interactions between different bacteria, spatial and temporal relationships between different microorganisms and between microorganisms and reed panicles. Molecular approaches based on SSU rRNA serve to evaluate the presence of specific sequences in the community and provide a link between knowledge obtained from pure cultures and the microbial populations they represent in the rumen. The successful development and application of these methods promises to provide opportunities to link distribution and identity of gastrointestinal microbes in their natural environment with their genetic potential and in situ activities. The use of approaches for assessing pupulation dynamics as well as for assessing community functionality will result in an increased understanding and a complete description of the gastrointestinal communities of production animals fed under different dietary regimes, and lead to new strategies for improving animal growth.

• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.174-180
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• 2014

We analyzed the genetic diversity of Cylindrocarpon destructans isolates obtained from Korean ginseng (i.e., Panax ginseng) roots by performing virulence tests and nuclear ribosomal gene internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and mitochondrial small subunit (mt SSU) rDNA sequence analysis. The phylogenetic relationship analysis performed using ITS DNA sequences and isolates from other hosts helped confirm that all the Korean C. destructans isolates belonged to Nectria/Neonectria radicicola complex. The results of in vivo and ex vivo virulence tests showed that the C. destructans isolates could be divided into two groups according to their distinctive difference in virulence and the genetic diversity. The highly virulent Korean isolates in pathogenicity group II (PG II), together with foreign isolates from P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius, formed a single group. The weakly virulent isolates in pathogenicity group I, together with the foreign isolates from other host plants, formed another group and exhibited a greater genetic diversity than the isolates of PG II, as confirmed by the mt SSU rDNA sequence analysis. In addition, as the weakly virulent Korean isolates were genetically very similar to the foreign isolates from other hosts, they were likely to originate from hosts other than the ginseng plants.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.423-429
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• 2016

Cryptosporidium is an important pathogen causing gastrointestinal disease in snakes and is distributed worldwide. The main objectives of this study were to detect and identify Cryptosporidium species in captive snakes from exotic pet shops and snake farms in Thailand. In total, 165 fecal samples were examined from 8 snake species, boa constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor), corn snake (Elaphe guttata), ball python (Python regius), milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum), king snake (Lampropeltis getula), rock python (Python sebae), rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria), and carpet python (Morelia spilota). Cryptosporidium oocysts were examined using the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-modified acid-fast staining and a molecular method based on nested-PCR, PCR-RFLP analysis, and sequencing amplification of the SSU rRNA gene. DMSO-modified acid-fast staining revealed the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in 12 out of 165 (7.3%) samples, whereas PCR produced positive results in 40 (24.2%) samples. Molecular characterization indicated the presence of Cryptosporidium parvum (mouse genotype) as the most common species in 24 samples (60%) from 5 species of snake followed by Cryptosporidium serpentis in 9 samples (22.5%) from 2 species of snake and Cryptosporidium muris in 3 samples (7.5%) from P. regius.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.16-24
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• 2016

A new strain of Pseudomonas sp. was isolated from mercury (Hg)-contaminated sites in Taiwan. This bacterium removed more than 80% of Hg present in the culture medium at 12 h incubation and was chosen for further analysis of the molecular mechanisms of Hg tolerance/removal abilities in this Pseudomonas sp. We used RNA-seq, one of the next-generation sequencing methods, to investigate the transcriptomic responses of the Pseudomonas sp. exposed to 60 mg/L of Hg²⁺. We de novo assembled 4,963 contigs, of which 10,533 up-regulated genes and 5,451 down-regulated genes were found to be regulated by Hg. The 40 genes most altered in expression levels were associated with tolerance to Hg stress and metabolism. Functional analysis showed that some Hg-tolerant genes were related to the mer operon, sulfate uptake and assimilation, the enzymatic antioxidant system, the HSP gene family, chaperones, and metal transporters. The transcriptome were analyzed further with Gene Ontology (GO) and Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COGs) of proteins and showed diverse biological functions and metabolic pathways under Hg stress.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2011

The morphology of the two marine hypotrichous ciliates Apokeronopsis bergeri and A. ovalis, isolated from the Yellow Sea, Korea, are described based on live and protargol-impregnated specimens. It is the first time that these species have been recorded in Korea. In addition, the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene was sequenced for comparison with the public database. The genus Apokeronopsis has recently been established in the family Pseudokeronopsidae, and the two congeners of the Korean population share the following characteristics: one row of one or more buccal cirri; usually two frontoterminal cirri; midventral complex composed of two distinctly separated rows; one left and one right marginal row; number of transverse cirri, more than eight; absence of caudal cirri; two types of cortical granules. Apokeronopsis bergeri differs from A. ovalis primarily in body shape (fusiform vs. oval form), size (usually $260{\times}80{\mu}m$ vs. $160{\times}55{\mu}m$), type II cortical granules (oval vs. round shape; yellow-green vs. mostly colourless and only a few yellow-green in colour), and morphometric data (75-106 vs. 53-70 in adoral membranelles; 37-47 vs. 24-36 in frontal cirri; 9-15 vs. 1-2 in buccal cirri), as well as molecular data (2.87% of pairwise distance).

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 1996

Twelve isolates of Accnthamoebc app. assigned to either A. castellanii or A. poIMphoSa, and type strains of A. culbefsoni, A. henIWi, A. pqkestinefiE, and A. astronyxi,s were examined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of a conserved region of small subunit ribosomal RMh gene (ssu rDNA) amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products of the isolates measured approximately 910-930 bp, except for that of A. astronyxis which was extraordinarily long, approximately 1,170 bp. Average of estimated sequence divergence of the amplified DNA among the isolates assigned to A. castellanii was 9.8% whereas that among the isolates assigned to A. polvphusn 9.6%. The maximum intraspecific sequence divergence among the isolates assigned to A. costellanii was observed between the Chang and Ma strains (17.3%) while that among the isolates assigned to A. poIWphosa was observed between KA/S3 and KA/S7 strains (16.1%). The both maximum sequence divergences were much greater than the minimum interspecific sequence divergence between A. cnstellnnii and A. polwphasa (2.6%) which appeared between the Castellani (or CCAP 1501/12 g) and KA/S3 strains. The PCR-RFLP patterns of A. culbertsoni, A. healyi, A. palestinensis, and A. ostronvxis were quite diverse from one another and from those of isolates assigned to either A. castellanii or A. polyphoga. It is suggested that taxonomic validity of the isolates assigned to either A. castellnnii or A. polyphoga should be reevaluated.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.281-289
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• 2019

Since 2013, more than 100 Entoloma (Entolomataceae, Agaricales) collections have been made during field investigations of mushroom flora in Korea. Among these collections, three Entoloma species were identified as new records from Korea. Morphological examinations were made based on the macro- and micro-morphological features of the isolates collected during field visits. To ensure the identity of the isolates at the species level, DNA sequences from four gene regions (rpb2, ITS, 28S, and mtSSU) were compared. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first records of E. aprile, E. chytrophilum, and E. hirtipes in Korea. Comprehensive descriptions, photographs, and phylogenetic examinations are presented here.