• 한국미생물생명공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국미생물생명공학회 2000년도 Proceedings of 2000 KSAM International Symposium and Spring Meeting
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• pp.94-99
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• 2000

Bioluminescence is being used as a prevailing reporter of gene expression in microorganisms and mammalian cells. Bacterial bioluminescence draws special attention from environmental biotechnologists since it has many advantageous characteristics, such as no requirement of extra substractes, highly sensitive, and on-line measurability. Using bacterial bioluminescence as a reporter of toxicity has replaced the classical toxicity monitoring technology of using fish or daphnia with a cutting-edge technology. Fusion of bacterial stress promoters, which control the transcription of stress genes corresponding to heat-shock, DNA-, or oxidative-damaging stress, to the bacterial lux operon has resulted in the development of novel toxicity biosensors with a short measurement time, enhanced sensitivity, and ease and convenient usage. Therefore, these recombinant bioluminescent bacteria are expected to induce bacterial bioluminescence when the cells are exposed to stressful conditions, including toxic chemicals. We have used these recombinant bioluminescent bacteria in order to develop toxicity biosensors in a continuous, portable, or in-situ measurement from for air, water, and soil environments. All the data obtained from these toxicity biosensors for these environments were found to be repeatable and reproducible, and the minimum detection level of toxicity was found to be ppb (part per billion) levels for specific chemicals.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.248-255
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• 1992

S. typhimurium의 세포내생존을 가능케하는 유전자가 다른 세균에서도 존재하는지를 조사하기 위해 8주의 세균주를 사용하였다. phoP-PhoQ operon은 세포내 환경의 자극을 인지하고 그 환경의 적응에 관여하는 유전자의 유전자표현을 조절한다고 알려져 있다. S. typhimurium의 phoP region의 514 basepairs EcoRV DNA fragment를 probe로 dot blot hybridization을 실시하였다. K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, S. marscescens, E. cloacae, S. typhimurium의 phoP/phoQ gene과 유사한 DNA sequence를 가지지 않았으며 E. coli, S. dysenteriae, E. cloacae에서는 세포내 생존가능세균이 아님에도 불구하고 positive signal을 나타내었다. 이상의 결과에서 S. typhimurium외의 세포내 생존가능세균에는 phoP/PhoQ operon이 없다는 것을 알게 되었고 세포내 생존이 가능하지는 않지만 S. typhimurium과 계통발생학적으로 가까운 세균주에서 phoP/phoQ operon이 발견되었다. L. monocytogenes의 세포내 생존에는 phoP/phoQ에 의존하지 않는 어떤 다론 기전이 존재할 것으로 사료된다.

• 식물병연구
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.111-120
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• 2011

A bacterial artificial chromosome library of Pectobacterium carotovorum 35 was constructed to characterize the genome and to sequence its hrp region. The hrp cluster of P. carotovorum 35 consisted of 26 open reading frames in five operons. A promoter-based green fluorescent protein technology was used to identify the genes regulated by the alternative sigma factor, HrpL, in P. carotovorum 35. The majority of the selected clones contained the hrpJ operon promoter sequence, which harbors a hrp box, but no putative hrp boxes were detected within the promoter sequences of two other hrpL-regulated genes encoding for pectate lyase and large repetitive protein. Although the promoters of five other hrp operons also contained hrp boxes, their expression was not HrpL-dependent in the promoter-based selection in E. coli. However, transcriptional analysis showed that expression from all operons harboring hrp boxes, except for the hrpN operon, was reduced significantly in the hrpL mutant. The severity of soft-rot symptoms when the hrpL mutant was applied to the surface of tobacco leaves, mimicking natural infection, was greatly attenuated. These results indicate that the hrpL gene of P. carotovorum 35 may be involved in the development of soft-rot symptoms.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.771-781
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• 2015

To examine if the molecular chaperone DnaK operon proteins of Streptococcus suis type 2 (SS2) are involved in adhesion to host cells, the abundance values of these proteins from the surface of two SS2 strains of different adhesion capability were compared. Their roles in growth and adhesion to human laryngeal epithelial cell line HEp-2 cells were investigated on SS2 strain HA9801 and its mutants with DnaK operon genes partially knocked-out (PKO mutant) under heat stress. The major difference was that DnaJ was more abundant in strain HA9801 than in strain JX0811. Pretreatment of the bacteria with hyperimmune sera to DnaJ, but not with those to other proteins, could significantly reduce SS2 adhesion to HEp-2 cells. PKO of dnaJ g ene resulted in decreased SS2 growth at 37℃ and 42℃, and reduced its adhesion to HEp-2 cells. The wild-type strain stressed at 42℃ had increased expression of DnaJ on its surface and elevated adhesion to HEp-2 cells, which was also inhibitable by DnaJ specific antiserum. These results indicate that the DnaJ of S. suis type 2 is important not only for thermotolerance but also for adhesion to host cells. Because DnaJ expression is increased upon temperature upshift with increased exposure on the bacterial surface, the febrile conditions of the cases with systemic infections might help facilitate bacterial adhesion to host cells. DnaJ could be one of the potential candidates as a subunit vaccine because of its good immunogenicity.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.571-576
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• 2002

수환경에 영향을 미치는 독성물질을 확인하기 위한 생물학적 경보장치로 현재 상용화된 Lumistox의 단점을 보안하기위해, Photohabdus luminescence의 lux CDABE 유전자가 응합되어 기질첨가의 번거러움이 없는 재조합 E. coli DH5$\alpha$/pSB311을 제조하였다. 적정 생장 상태와 생균수, 발광 측정 완충용액들을 중심으로 재조합 S. coli DH5$\alpha$/pSB311의 발광 안정화 조건을 조사한 결과, 적정 세포수가 유지되면 측정 완충용액은 그 종류에 크게 영향을 받지 않으며, O $D_{660nm}$ 0.6~0.7 정도의 middle-exponential stage까지의 cell age를 가지고 $10^{6}$-$10^{7}$ 정도 희석한 세포수가 가장 안정화된 발광량을 보여 주는 것으로 확인되었다. 온도에 따른 재조합 E. coli와 Lumistox의 발광량의 변화를 살펴보면, Lumistox는 15$^{\circ}C$에서는 안정하나 실온(25 ~ 3$0^{\circ}C$)에서는 급격하게 발광량이 감소하는 현상을 보이는 반면, E. coli DH5$\alpha$/pSB311은 Photohabdus luminescence의 lux operon을 함유함으로써 온도에 대한 영향을 많이 받지 않음을 확인하였다. 그리고 재조합 E. coli와 Lumistox의 중금속에 대한 독성정도를 EC값으로 산출하였다. Cd, Cu, Hg, Zn에 대해서 E. coli DH5$\alpha$/pSB311은 Lumistox보다 더 민감하거나 유사한 반응을 보였다. 이는 Lumistox의 성장과 발광을 안정화시켜 주는 고농도의 salt에 의한 민감도의 저하에 따른 현상으로, 광산이나 공장폐수와 같은 수계의 중금속 독성도를 측정하기 위한 생물경보장치로 사용하기에는 해양 발광 미생물을 이용하기보다는 재조합 E. coli가 더 효과적임을 알 수 있었다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제29권8호
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• pp.1299-1309
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• 2019

As an opportunistic bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 contains two phenazine-producing gene operons, phzA1B1C1D1E1F1G1 (phz1) and phzA2B2C2D2E2F2G2 (phz2), each of which is independently capable of encoding all enzymes for biosynthesizing phenazines, including phenazine-1-carboxylic acid and its derivatives. Other previous study reported that the RpoS-deficient mutant SS24 overproduced pyocyanin, a derivative of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid. However, it is not known how RpoS mediates the expression of two phz operons and regulates pyocyanin biosynthesis in detail. In this study, with deletion of the rpoS gene in the $PA{\Delta}phz1$ mutant and the $PA{\Delta}phz2$ mutant respectively, we demonstrated that RpoS exerted opposite regulatory roles on the expression of the phz1and phz2 operons. We also confirmed that the phz1 operon played a critical role and especially biosynthesized much more phenazines than the phz2 operon when the rpoS gene was knocked out in P. aeruginosa. By constructing the translational reporter fusion vector lasR'-'lacZ and the chromosomal fusion mutant $PA{\Delta}lasR::lacZ$, we verified that RpoS deficiency caused increased expression of lasR, a transcription regulator gene in a first quorum sensing system (las) that activates overexpression of the phz1 operon, suggesting that in the absence of RpoS, LasR might act as an intermediate in overproduction of phenazine biosynthesis mediated by the phz1 operon in P. aeruginosa.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제28권11호
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• pp.1896-1907
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• 2018

Salmonellosis is commonly associated with meat and poultry products, but an increasing number of Salmonella outbreaks have been attributed to contaminated vegetables and fruits. Enteric pathogens including Salmonella enterica spp. can colonize diverse produce and persist for a long time. Considering that fresh vegetables and fruits are usually consumed raw without heat treatments, Salmonella contamination may subsequently lead to serious human infections. In order to understand the underlying mechanism of Salmonella adaptation to produce, we investigated the transcriptomics of Salmonella in contact with green vegetables, namely cabbage and napa cabbage. Interestingly, Salmonella pathogenicity island (SPI)-1 genes, which are required for Salmonella invasion into host cells, were up-regulated upon contact with vegetables, suggesting that SPI-1 may be implicated in Salmonella colonization of plant tissues as well as animal tissues. Furthermore, Salmonella transcriptomic profiling revealed several genetic loci that showed significant changes in their expression in response to vegetables and were associated with bacterial adaptation to unfavorable niches, including STM14_0818 and STM14_0817 (speF/potE), STM14_0880 (nadA), STM14_1894 to STM14_1892 (fdnGHI), STM14_2006 (ogt), STM14_2269, and STM14_2513 to STM14_2523 (cbi operon). Here, we show that nadA was required for bacterial growth under nutrient-restricted conditions, while the other genes were required for bacterial invasion into host cells. The transcriptomes of Salmonella in contact with cabbage and napa cabbage provided insights into the comprehensive bacterial transcriptional response to produce and also suggested diverse virulence determinants relevant to Salmonella survival and adaptation.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.195-201
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• 2003

Aromatic hydrocarbons are of major concern among genotoxic chemicals due to their toxicity and persistence. Some microorganisms can utilize aromatic hydrocarbons as carbon and energy sources by inducing expression of catabolic operon(s). The XylR regulatory protein activates transcription of the catabolic enzymes to degrade BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) from its cognate promoters, Pu and Ps upon exposure of the cells to the aromatic hydrocarbons. The activity of XylR on the promoters was previously monitored using luciferase luc reporter system. The xylR, its promoter Pr and the promoter Po for the phenolic compound catabolic operon were introduced upstream of firefly luciferase luc in the pGL3b vector to generate about 7.1 kb of pXRBTEX. Here E. coli harboring the plasmid was freeze-dried under various conditions to fin,d optimal conditions for storage and transport. The cell viability and luciferase activity were maintained better, when the cells were freeze-dried at -7$0^{\circ}C$ in the addition of the 10% skim milk or 12% sucrose. However, coaddition of protectants such as 10% skim milk plus 10% glucose or 12% sucrose plus 10% glucose, resulted in much better viability and bioluminescence activity compared with the effect of single addition of each protectant. In addition, it was shown that the freeze-dried cells maintained almost intact bioluminescent activities and cell viability for at least 1 week after freeze-drying. This work demonstrated that the properly freeze-dried recombinant bacterial cells could be utilized as a whole-cell biosensor for simple and rapid monitoring of BTEX in the environment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제29권6호
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• pp.962-972
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• 2019

Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) is one of the most frequent causes of bacterial foodborne illnesses. Considering that the main reservoir of NTS is the intestinal tract of livestock, foods of animal origin are regarded as the main vehicles of Salmonella infection. In particular, poultry colonized with Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium), a dominant serotype responsible for human infections, do not exhibit overt signs and symptoms, thereby posing a potential health risk to humans. In this study, comparative genomics approaches were applied to two S. Typhimurium strains, ST1539 and ST1120, isolated from a duck slaughterhouse and a pig farm, respectively, to characterize their virulence and antimicrobial resistance-associated genomic determinants. ST1539 containing a chromosome (4,905,039 bp; 4,403 CDSs) and a plasmid (93,876 bp; 96 CDSs) was phylogenetically distinct from other S. Typhimurium strains such as ST1120 and LT2. Compared to the ST1120 genome (previously deposited in GenBank; CP021909.1 and CP021910.1), ST1539 possesses more virulence determinants, including ST64B prophage, plasmid spv operon encoding virulence factors, genes encoding SseJ effector, Rck invasin, and biofilm-forming factors (bcf operon and pefAB). In accordance with the in silico prediction, ST1539 exhibited higher cytotoxicity against epithelial cells, better survival inside macrophage cells, and faster mice-killing activity than ST1120. However, ST1539 showed less resistance against antibiotics than ST1120, which may be attributed to the multiple resistanceassociated genes in the ST1120 chromosome. The accumulation of comparative genomics data on S. Typhimurium isolates from livestock would enrich our understanding of strategies Salmonella employs to adapt to diverse host animals.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.28-34
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• 2008

Biofilm formation in association with the intercellular adhesion (icaADBC) gene cluster is a serious problem in nosocomial infections of Staphylococcus aureus. In all 112 S. aureus strains tested, the ica genes were present, and none of these strains formed biofilms. The biofilm formation is known to be changeable by environmental factors. We have found about 30% of phase variation in these strains with treatment of tetracycline, pristinamycin, and natrium chloride. However, this phenotype disappeared without these substances. Therefore, we have constructed stable biofilm-producing variants through a passage culture method. To explain the mechanism of this variation, nucleotide changes of ica genes were tested in strain S. aureus 483 and the biofilm-producing variants. No differences of DNA sequence in ica genes were found between the strains. Additionally, molecular analysis of three regulatory genes, the accessory gene regulator (agr) and the staphylococcal accessory regulator (sarA), and in addition, alternative transcription factor ${\sigma}^B$ (sigB), was performed. The data of Northern blot and complementation showed that SigB plays an important role for this biofilm variation in S. aureus 483 and the biofilm-producing variants. Sequence analysis of the sigB operon indicated three point mutations in the rsbU gene, especially in the stop codon, and two point mutations in the rsbW gene. This study shows that this variation of biofilm formation in S. aureus is deduced by the role of sigB, not agr and sarA.