• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.130-136
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• 2023

In this study, the anti-bacterial activity of three medicinal herbs such as Dioscorea batatas, Morus alba, and Tagetes erecta, have been applied in oriental medicine against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The antibacterial activity of Dioscorea batatas ethanol extract (DBEE), Morus alba ethanol extract (MAEE), and Tagetes erecta ethanol extract (TEEE) was analyzed by disk diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) assays. As a result, three medicinal herbs exhibited antibacterial activity in a dose-dependent manner as well as MAEE and TEEE showed the most potent antibacterial activity followed by disk diffusion assay against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. MIC against E. coli and S. aureus was 1.6 mg/mL of MAEE and TEEE as well as 0.2 mg/mL of TEEE. MBC against both strains was 5 mg/mL of DBEE and 2.5 mg/mL of TEEE. Consequently, three medicinal herbs in this study showed potent antibacterial activity through the inhibited growth of E. coli and S. aureus, which is considered as a potential candidate for cosmeceutic agents to attenuate the pruritus. In addition, antibacterial and antihistamine effects followed by the extraction solvents should be analyzed in future studies.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1395-1400
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• 2024

The antimicrobial activity of the natural compounds from plant and food have well discovered since the interest on the beneficial effect of the natural compounds was risen. Quercetin, a flavonoid derived from vegetables, including onions, red leaf lettuces and cherries has been studied for diverse biological characteristics as anti-cancer and anti-microbial activities. The aim of current study is to investigate the specific antibacterial modes of action of quercetin against Escherichia coli. Quercetin decreased the E. coli cell viability and induced the severe damages (oxidative stress, DNA fragmentation) leading to cell death. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was observed during the process, which we confirmed that oxidative stress was the key action of antibacterial activity of quercetin exerting its influence potently. Based on the results of Annexin V and Caspace FITC-VAD-FMK assay, the oxidative damage in E. coli has led to the bacterial apoptosis-like death in E. coli. To sum up, the contribution of ROS generation exerts crucial impact in antibacterial activity of quercetin.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.162-170
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• 2011

In order to assess the inorganic and organic pollutents characteristics in marine water, we investigated COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), Chlorophyll a and Escherichia coli during four seasons at 20 stations of Gwangyang Bay and at 23 stations of Jinhae Bay, Korea. The bay is divided into three zones in Gwangyang and four zones in Jinhae respectively, based on the pollutent levels. In Gwangyang Bay, the high concentration (mean 4.7 mg $L^{-1)$) of COD was recorded during spring season at Zone I, which can be characterized as a semi-enclosed eutrophic area (St. 1~9). Also, Chl. a concentrations were high at Zone I (mean 14.0 ${\mu}g\;L^{-1}$). The colony of E. coli were detected during summer season at Zone II, which is influenced by Seomjin River water. The E. coli may have been entered from the river water in a large pulse during rainy season. On the other hand, E. coli was kept low levels during four seasons at the Zone III, which is influenced indirectly by surface water currents from offshore of the bay. In Jinhae Bay, the high COD and Chl. a were shown during all seasons at Zone I, which is characteristed by semi-enclosed eutrophic area of Masan and Haengam bays. The Zone I also had been shown relatively high E. coli concentration in all seasons. In constrast, other three zones did not show seasonal characteristics of the E. coli concentrations. The present study suggests that E. coli concentrations can be significantly elevated in eutrophic semi-enclosed area.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.329-334
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• 2010

Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes hemolytic uremic syndrome and hemorrhagic colitis in humans. The objectives of this study were to produce monoclonal antibody(MAb) against E. coli O157:H7 and to develop an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) for the rapid detection of E. coli O157:H7 in agri-stockbreeding. The characterization of MAb produced from hybridoma cell (HKEC 4G8-5) was validated by ELISA and Western blot. The produced MAb was specific to E. coli O157:H7 and showed weak cross-reaction to Staphylococcus aureus. The detection limit of ELISA based on 4G8-5 MAb was $10^5\;cell/mL$. Although the ELISA could not detect E. coli O157:H7 in the meat and sprout samples inoculated with $1{\times}10^1\;cell$/10 g without enrichment, the same samples after enrichment for 6 hr were confirmed to be positive by ELISA. These results indicated that the ELISA combined with short enrichment (6 hr) is useful tool for rapid screening of E. coli O157:H7 in various samples.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.296-301
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• 2011

This study was to evaluate the growth potential of E. coli O157:H7 in lettuce leaf extracts and on lettuce leaf surface at various temperatures. The pathogen can survive and multiply in the extracts and leaf surface of lettuce. The population of E. coli O157:H7 in the lettuce extracts reached to 4.79 log CFU/mL at $37^{\circ}C$. The multiplication of pathogen in lettuce extracts initiated within 10 hours of inoculation over $15^{\circ}C$ conditions. And it can survive in the lettuce leaf extracts at $4^{\circ}C$ for 100 hours at least. And this pathogen can multiply on lettuce leaf surface and the population of pathogen on the lettuce leaf surface increased to 1.82 log CFU/g at $25^{\circ}C$. At $37^{\circ}C$, the pathogen density increased to 1.53 CFU/g within 3 days after inoculation. At all temperature, irrespective of the inoculation level, similar trends in growth of E. coli O157:H7 were observed. These results emphasize the growth potential of E. coli O157:H7 in lettuce leaf extract and on lettuce leaf surface. To reduce the risk of outbreak, it is important to maintain the cold chain system during storage before the consumption.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.257-264
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• 2018

The YrdC superfamily is a group of proteins that are highly conserved in almost all organisms sequenced so far. YrdC in Escherichia coli was suggested to be involved in ribosome biogenesis, translation termination, cold adaptation, and threonylcarbamoyl adenosine formation in tRNA. In this study, to unambiguously demonstrate that yrdC is essential in E. coli, we constructed two yrdC mutant strains of E. coli and examined their phenotypes. In the temperature-sensitive yrdC mutant strain, cell growth stopped almost immediately under nonpermissive conditions and it appeared to accumulate 16S ribosomal RNA precursors without significant accumulation of 30S ribosomal subunits. We also cloned yeast and human homologs and demonstrated that they complement the E. coli yrdC-deletion strain. By mutational study, we demonstrated that the concave surface in the middle of the YrdC protein plays an important role in E. coli, yeast, and human versions. By comparison of two yrdC-deletion strains, we also unambiguously demonstrated that yrdC is essential for viability in E. coli and that the functions of its yeast and human homologs overlap with that of E. coli YrdC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.2141-2150
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• 2017

This study was conducted to develop a screening method using Colilert-18 and a device for the detection of E. coli from agri-food production environments and fresh vegetables. The specificity and sensitivity of Colilert-18 by temperature ($37^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$) were evaluated with 38 E. coli and 78 non-E. coli strains. The false-positive rate was 3.8% (3/78) and 0% (0/78) at $37^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$, respectively. The detection limit of E. coli at $37^{\circ}C$ at <1.0 log CFU/250 ml was lower than that at $44^{\circ}C$. The efficiency of the developed device, which comprised an incubator equipped with a UV lamp to detect E. coli in the field, was evaluated by measuring the temperature and UV lamp brightness. The difference between the set temperature and actual temperature of the developed device was about $1.0^{\circ}C$. When applying the developed method and device to various samples, including utensils, gloves, irrigation water, seeds, and vegetables, there were no differences in detection rates of E. coli compared with the Korean Food Code method. For sanitary disposal of culture samples after experiments, the sterilization effect of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) tablets was assessed for use as a substitute for an autoclave. The addition of one tablet of NaDCC per 50 ml was sufficient to kill E. coli cultured in Colilert-18. These results show that the developed protocol and device can efficiently detect E. coli from agri-food production environments and vegetables.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.591-594
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• 2019

Some strains of Escherichia coli are categorized as pathogenic bacteria and alternative antimicrobials including bacteriophages for controlling these bacteria have been studied. In this study we screened antimicrobial candidates that present synergistic inhibition of the growth of E. coli DH5α as a model when co-treated with the bacteriophage ECP27 to target the bacteria. As candidates, CaCl₂, lactic acid, and citric acid were tested. CaCl₂ showed a synergistic inhibition against the strain by dose-dependent manner at 6 h of incubation but the viable cell count was recovered at 12 h. However, lactic acid and citric acid at 30 mM concentration showed synergistic inhibitions at 6 h of incubation and cleared the viable cells of E. coli DH5α at 12 h when co-treated with the bacteriophage even though lactic acid or citric acid alone was effective. Therefore, co-treatment using the bacteriophage and organic acids such as lactic acid and citric acid can be a solution for synergistic inhibition of the growth of E. coli.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2003

Objectives : Two related cases of Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome (HUS) were reported to the Korea National Institute of Health in May, 2001. Shiga toxin 2 genes were detected in both stool samples. We suspected an enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection as the cause of the HUS, and conducted an investigation to find the source of the infection and its route of transmission. Methods : We peformed case investigations on these two related HUS cases, and obtained interviews and rectal swabs form the family members and other close contacts. Additionally, we peformed rectal swabs on the cattle raised by the household of the index patient. Results : We found a 20 month old index patient and a 6 year-old cousin had developed HUS, where there had been a 2 day history of contact with the index, and bacteriological examinations for these two patients revealed, indistinguishably, the same E. coli O171. The grandmother of the index patient was found to be asymptomatic, but E. coli O26 was isolated. We also found a probable case in the mother of the cousin. She reported a history of contact with the index, and developed bloody diarrhea of 3 days duration. The test results for the cattle revealed E. coli O26 in one cow, and E. coli O26 and O55 in another. E. coli O26, which was isolated in both cows and the grandmother of the index, were indistinguishably the same. Conclusions : We found that the E. coli O26 in the grandmother had originated from the cows, and that the E. coli O171 found in the index patient had been transmitted to the cousin through person-to-person contact.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 1982

Enterotoxigenk E. coli is one of the major causative agents of the infantile diarrhea and traveler's diarrhea. The heat-labile enterotoxin is thought to be a virulence factor in the pathogenesis of the diarrhea and to be a marker for identification of the enterotoxigenic E. coli from non pathogenic E. coli. Therefore knowledge about the heat-labile enterotoxin is essential not only for understanding the pathogenesis but also for the diagnosis of the diarrhea. However the in-vitro heat-labile enterotoxin production is reported to be greatly affected by the cultural condition. In this regards, this study was designed to know the optimal conditions for the production of the heat-labile enterotoxin by assaying the permeability factor in the 18 hours culture supernatant of E. coli 08K25(B2) H9 and of E. coli 015 H11. Results obtained were summerized as follows: 1. Amounts of heat-labile enterotoxin produced were greater at initial pH 8.5 than at 7.0 of CYES-2 broth culture. However, the bacterial growth itself was more abundant at 7.0 than at 8.5. 2. Heat-labile enterotoxin per unit volume of culture supernatant was greater at shaking culture than at standing culture condition, but ratio of the enterotoxin produced over the unit mass of E. coli calculated was greater at standing culture than shaking culture condition, indicating that the greater yields of the toxin produced at shaking culture was due to increase in E. coli cell mass compared to the standing culture condition: 3. The enterotoxin produced in the lincomycin(128 microgram/ml) supplemented media was 5 or 11 times greater on the basis of enterotoxin per unit mass of E. coli, compared to the lincomycin-non-supplemented media, indicating that lincomycin itself increases the enterotoxin production. 4. Treatment of 18 hours culture of E. coli with polymyxin B(0.2 mg/ml) for 1 hour increased the yields of enterotoxin amounting to 2 or 5 times of the non-treated control cultures.