• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1972-1982
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• 2016

Influenza A virus is a single-stranded RNA virus with a genome of negative polarity. Owing to the antigenic diversity and cross concrete shift, an immense number of novel strains have developed astronomically over the years. The present work deals with the codon utilization partialness among five different influenza A viruses isolated from human hosts. All the subtypes showed the homogeneous pattern of nucleotide utilization with a little variation in their utilization frequencies. A lower bias in codon utilization was observed in all the subtypes as reflected by higher magnitudes of an efficacious number of codons. Dinucleotide analysis showed very low CpG utilization and a high predilection of A/T-ending codons. The H5N1 subtype showed noticeable deviation from the rest. Codon pair context analysis showed remarkable depletion of NNC-GNN and NNT-ANN contexts. The findings alluded towards GC-compositional partialness playing a vital role, which is reflected in the consequential positive correlation between the GC contents at different codon positions. Untangling the codon utilization profile would significantly contribute to identifying novel drug targets that will pacify the search for antivirals against this virus.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2009

Salmonella enterica serovar Gallinarum is the causative agent of fowl typhoid (FT) and Salmonella enterica serovar Pullorum is pullorum disease (PD), a severe systemic disease of chick and it has the same antigenic fomula, the close relation but distinct pathogen. The traditional bacteriologic and serologic methods routinely used but tedious, time consuming. some of biochemical differences are helpful in differentiating the two organisms, however variation in the characteristics of some strains can be observed. During 2006 to 2008, there was isolated 30 strains. The biochemical characteristics of S. Gallinarum was nonmotile, fermentation of dulcitol, maltose but positive arginine (6.6%), lysine (83.3%) and arabinose (20.0%). The antimicrobial susceptibility test showed 100% sensitive to amikacin, ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and florfenicol, but resistant to penicillin (100%) and erythromycin (60.0%). This PCR method can be applied in the diagnosis between S. Gallinarum and S. Pullorum.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-86
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• 1988

The sensitivity and specificity of crude and affinity-purified antigens of Clcnorchis sinensis obtained from the infected rabbits were studied. Stage-specific antigenic proteins from the eggs, metacercariae and adult worms were characterized by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent astray (ELISA). The results were as follows: 1. The antibody.binding antigen (ABA) purified from whole worm crude antigen (IVWA) by CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography made :l specific bands against rabbit antisera on Ouchterlony gel diffusion plate, while WWA made 7 bands. Major WWA protein bands by SDS-PAGE were found at 16, 300~18, 500 and 28, 000~29, 000 daltons, while major ABA protein bands were at 18, 000~21, 000 and 29, 000~31, 000 daltons. The reactivity of ABA with rabbit anti-sera in ELISA was remarkably less sensitive than that of WWA. 2. Molecular weights of egg antigen (EGA), metacercarial antigen (MEA) and adult worm antigen (WWA) of C. sinensis ranged from 15, 000-200, 000 daltons, 15, 000-100, 000 daltons and 11, 000~80, 000 daltons, respectively. Major WWA proteins consisted mainly of polypeptide bands of low molecular weight, less than 31, 000 daltons, while those of EGA and MEA consisted of higher molecular T.eights than 30, 000 daltons. 3. The ELISA reactivities of WWA to rabbit anti.sera were remarkably greater than those of MEA. EGA showed negative reaction throughout the experiments. WWA showed higher optical density (O.D.) than 1.0, when reacted with rabbit anti-sera obtained at 4~6 weeks after the infection. In the rabbit anti-sera later than 12 weeks after the infection, the O.D. reacting witll WWA showed a plateau without variation. MEA shoT.ed relatively low O.D. values (<0.6), when reacted with anti-sera from lightly in(ected groups throughout the experiments, althougll there were some wealth positive cases (O.D.>0.6) ill heavily infected groups. MEA reacted with rabbit anti-sera showed negative results on Ouchterlony gel diffusion plates. Summarizing the above results, it is suggested that the whole worm antigen prepared from the adult worms of C. sinensis is most highly antigenic. However, this antigen might reveal cross reactions with other trematodes such as Paragonimus westermani, therefore, purification of antigenic proteins from the crude antigen is essential 18 increase the sensitivity and specificity for the immuncdiagnosis of clonorchiasis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2008

Bordetella pertussis is pathogenic bacteria causing pertussis, a infectious respiratory disease for the infants. The incidence rate of pertussis was significantly decreased after introduction of vaccine. However, increased pertussis cases are recently reported in several countries with high vaccine coverage. One of the inferred reasons is genotype or serotype variation between circulating strains and vaccine strains. Therefore, it is required to confirm the variation status of the isolates by genotype or serotype analysis and the possibility of pertussis outbreak in Korea should be estimated. For this, the serotype variations of the isolates from $1999\sim2006$ were investigated in agglutinogen and fimbriae. As the result, the most frequent serotype in the isolated strains was agglutinogen 1 and fimbriae 2 serotypes. Moreover, serotype transition from vaccine serotypes to non-vaccine serotypes was observed. Especially, the transition pattern of agglutinogen serotype was directed to increase a different type (agg 1) from the vaccine type (agg 1,2). However, in case of fimbriae, the same type (fim 2) with vaccine strain was increased. These results were also observed in other countries with increasing incidence of pertussis. For more predictable results to know increasing possibility of pertussis incidence in Korea, the studies on genetic variations of antigenic determinant genes and prevalence of antibody titer in normal population should be performed in the further.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.89-99
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• 2010

Newcastle disease (ND), caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), has caused periodic epidemics in Korea at an interval of 3 to 5 years until the early 2000s. At least five distinct genotypes of NDV have been responsible for epizootic episodes in Korea; genotype III virus (before the 1970s), genotype V (the mid-1980s), genotype VI (the late 1980s to early 1990s), genotype VIIa (the mid-1990s), and genotype VIId viruses (the late 1990s to present). Recent epidemic strains of NDV (VIId viruses) shared geographical features with neighboring countries such as China and Japan. These VIId viruses as well as genotypes III and V viruses were viscerotropic and highly virulent for chickens. Antigenic variation occurred between VIId field viruses and LaSota vaccine strain, as found in other epidemic strains in past in Korea. Nevertheless the commercial vaccine was considered to effectively protect vaccinated birds from mortality against VIId viruses as well as other viruses belonging to genotypes III and V.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.513-522
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• 2002

Antigenic ompC genes of S. gallinarum, S. pullorum and S. dublin were characterized among Salmonella spp. isolated from chickens and other animals to identify genetic variation. Salmonella ompC gene fragment (1,027 bp) was amplified by PCR and the amplicons were cloned for comparison of nucleotide sequences. The identity of the sequences between S. gallinarum and S. pullorum, S. gallinarum and S. dublin, S. pullorum and S. dublin was 99.8%, 97.6% and 97.8%, respectively. Also, we found that ompC has some diversity between S. gallinarum and S. pullorum, and other Salmonella spp. which may be useful to type the organisms. Similar to diagnosis in other organisms, the TaqMan PCR method can be applied to rapid and accurate diagnosis of salmonellosis in chickens and other animals. We designed PCR primers and TaqMan probe for flagellin gene (fliC) for detection of Salmonella spp. by TaqMan PCR. The TaqMan PCR method was 10,000 times more sensitive than conventional PCR.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2011

Theileria (T.) buffeli (formerly T. sergenti/T. orientalis) is the major hemo-protozoan distributed in the Far East Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan. It is responsible for the clinical symptoms of anorexia, ateliosis, anemia, fever and icterus. It also causes abortion and sudden death under severe cases, resulting in economic losses for many livestock farms. The objective of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity of the major surface protein (Msp) gene in T. buffeli in Holstein in Korea, and we characterized the association of the diversification of the Msp gene and its relationship with the pathogenicity of Theileria. For this, complete blood counts and Theileria PCR sequence analysis were performed from 57 Holstein in Jeju Island. A total of 26 PCR positive Holstein (16 anemic and 10 non-anemic) were then randomly selected based on 18s rRNA sequence typing of the Theileria Msp gene. The DNA sequence of the T. buffeli Msp gene in Holstein showed 99.0%, 99.2%, 99.9%, 99.5%, 98.7%, 98.4% and 98.4% homology with T. sergenti, Theileria spp., T. sergenti, Theileria spp., Theileria spp., Theileria spp. and Theileria spp., respectively. The result showed a genetic variation of 57.7% (type I), 3.8% (type II), 15.4% (type III), 7.7% (type IV), 13.5% (type V) and 1.9% (type VI). Type I is the most frequent type in both anemic and non-anemic Holstein while type II was found in only non-anemic Holstein. This results of our study help confirm the diversity of Msp gene types and demonstrate that the gene type distribution of Msp genes varies among Theileria-infected Holstein in Jeju Island.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2017

Variant surface antigens (VSAs) encoded by pir families are considered to be the key proteins used by many Plasmodium spp. to escape the host immune system by antigenic variation. This attribute of VSAs is a critical issue in the development of a novel vaccine. In this regard, a population genetic study of vir genes from Plasmodium vivax was performed in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Eighty-five venous blood samples and 4 of the vir genes, namely vir 27, vir 21, vir 12, and vir 4, were selected for study. The number of segregating sites (S), number of haplotypes (H), haplotype diversity (Hd), DNA diversity (${\pi}$ and ${\Theta}_w$), and Tajima's D test value were conducted. Phylogenetic trees of each gene were constructed. The vir 21 (S=143, H=22, Hd=0.827) was the most genetically diverse gene, and the vir 4 (S=6, H=4, Hd=0.556) was the opposite one. Tajima's D values for vir 27 (1.08530, P>0.1), vir 12 (2.89007, P<0.01), and vir 21 (0.40782, P>0.1) were positive, and that of vir 4 (-1.32162, P>0.1) was negative. All phylogenetic trees showed 2 clades with no particular branching according to the geographical differences and cluster. This study is the first survey on the vir genes in ROK, providing information on the genetic level. The sample sequences from vir 4 showed a clear difference to the Sal-1 reference gene sequence, whereas they were very similar to those from Indian isolates.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.9-22
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• 1996

Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV) is an important cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in human, with infants and young children being particularly susceptible. In the temperate zones, sharp annual outbreaks of RSV occur during the colder months, in both the northern and the southern hemisphere. RSV is unusual in that it can repeatedly reinfect individuals throughout life and infect babies in the presence of maternal antibody. RSV isolates can be divided into two subgroups, A and B, on the basis of their reactions with monoclonal antibodies, and the two subgroups are also distinct at the nucleotide sequence level. The specific diagnosis of RSV infection was best made by isolation of virus in tissue culture, identification of viral antigen, or by specific serologic procedures. Recently, rapid detection of RSV and analysis of RSV strain variation became possible by development of methods of reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction amplification. In this study, to determine the genetic diversity of RSV found in Korea, 173 bp and 164 bp spanning selected regions of the RSV F and SH genes were enzymatically amplified and sequenced, respectively. Eight for F gene and three for SH gene were detected in 66 nasopharyngeal swap samples tested. Two major antigenic subgroups, A and B were confirmed from Korean samples (seven for subgroup A and one for subgroup B). At the nucleotide level of the F gene region, Korean subgroup A strains showed 95-99% homologies compared to the prototype A2 strain of subgroup A and 93-100% homologies among Korean subgroup A themselves. For the SH gene region, Korean subgroup A strain showed 97.5% homology compared to the prototype A2 strain of subgroup A, and Korean subgroup B strain showed 97% homology compared to the prototype 18537 strain of subgroup B. Most of base changes were transition and occured in codon position 3, which resulted in amino acid conservation. Using the maximum parsimony method, phylogenetic analysis indicated that Korean RSV strains formed a group with other RSV strains isolated from the United States, Canada, the Great Britain and Australia.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 1995

In red seabream, Pagrus major the female specific protein in the vitellogenic female serum was identified by Ouchterlony's immunodiffusion test and immunoelectrophoresis. The female specific serum protein might be vitellogenin based on the results of the immunological analysis for the male and vitellogenic female sera and crude egg extracts. Also, it was identified by the immunodiffusion test that the purified yolk protein from ovarian egg extracts has antigenic identities shared with the female specific serum protein. To study the relationship between the maturational stages of gonad and plasma levels of vitellogenin, these were measured from the late resting period (January) to the vitellogenic preiod (April) by the modified enzymeimmunoassay (EIA) using antiserum against yolk protein. The level of plasma vitellogenin began to increase in February (previtellogenesis stage) and continuously increased with the ovarian growth during the vitellogenesis period (March to April). The plasma vitellogenin levels were significantly different between the females and the males in February. Validation for the modified EIA system. was tested .The absorbance curve of serial dilutions of serum from the vitellogenic female was paralleled to the standard curve of yolk protein; $109\pm5.6\%$ recovery was achieved by the modified EIA. And the intraassay coefficients of variation were less than 10% within the concentration ranging from 31.3 ng/ml to 1,000 ng/ml. These findings suggest that the sex determination in adult red seabreams could be possible by using the modified EIA as early as in February.