• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.26 no.12
• /
• pp.1446-1457
• /
• 2016

Wetlands exhibit intermediate characteristics of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and the biodiversity is rich in these unique biological habitats. The symbiotic relationships between plants and fungi that inhabit these wetlands play an important role in natural resource management, biodiversity, and conservation. Accordingly, the mujechi, having academic value for the study of the natural environment, was investigated in terms of genetic diversity of endophytic fungi, which inhabit the roots of wild plants. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was amplified to identify fungal strains. In total, 226 strains were isolated and categorized into three phyla, seven classes, 10 orders, 22 families, and 31 genera. In plants by endophytic fungi were classified in Isachne globosa (Ig) to 19 genera, Scirpus karuisawensis (Sk) to 11 genera, Utricularia racemosa (Ur) to 19 genera, and one incertae sedis, Eriocaulon decemflorum (Ed) to 11 genera. The fungal taxa was identified the genera Acephala (19.9%), Tolypocladium (16.3%), Neopestalotiopsis (11.5%), and Perenniporia (7.1%). The fungal group isolated from Isachne globosa (Ig) grew the largest number of isolated fungal strains. After comprehensive evaluation, the endophytic fungal group from Utricularia racemosa (Ur) ranked highest in diversity analyses. From the roots of wild plant in mujechi-neup, it confirmed the distribution and diversity of endophytic fungi. This study provides the basic data to understand fungal community structure in peat wetlands.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.281-285
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted to examine changes in the fungal community on fallen leaves of pear by treatment with lime sulfur. Although the lime sulfur could reduce the primary inoculum of several pathogens on spring season, the effect of lime sulfur has not been well determined scientifically. Fallen leaves infected by pear diseases in pear orchards in Naju were collected and treated with lime sulfur or water as a control. To determine the fungal diversity from each treatment, rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were analyzed after extraction of fungal genomic DNA from lime sulfur-treated or water-treated fallen leaves, respectively. The most common fungal species were Ascomycota and Basidiomycota in both treated leaves. However, the population dynamics of several fungal species including Alternari sp., Cladosporium sp., and Phomopsis sp., which are known as pear pathogens for skin sooty dapple disease, were quite different from each treated leaves. These results indicated that lime sulfur treatment led to changes of fungal communities on pear fallen leaves and could be applicable as a dormant spray.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.11-11
• /
• 2014

Fungal pathogens have huge impact on health and economic wellbeing of human by causing life-threatening mycoses in immune-compromised patients or by destroying crop plants. A key determinant of fungal pathogenesis is their ability to undergo developmental change in response to host or environmental factors. Genetic pathways that regulate such morphological transitions and adaptation are therefore extensively studied during the last few decades. Given that epigenetic as well as genetic components play pivotal roles in development of plants and mammals, contribution of microbial epigenetic counterparts to this morphogenetic process is intriguing yet nearly unappreciated question to date. To bridge this gap in our knowledge, we set out to investigate histone modifications among epigenetic mechanisms that possibly regulate fungal adaptation and processes involved in pathogenesis of a model plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. M. oryzae is a causal agent of rice blast disease, which destroys 10 to 30% of the rice crop annually. Since the rice is the staple food for more than half of human population, the disease is a major threat to global food security. In addition to the socioeconomic impact of the disease it causes, the fungus is genetically tractable and can undergo well-defined morphological transitions including asexual spore production and appressorium (a specialized infection structure) formation in vitro, making it a model to study fungal development and pathogenicity. For functional and comparative analysis of histone modifications, a web-based database (dbHiMo) was constructed to archive and analyze histone modifying enzymes from eukaryotic species whose genome sequences are available. Histone modifying enzymes were identified applying a search pipeline built upon profile hidden Markov model (HMM) to proteomes. The database incorporates 22,169 histone-modifying enzymes identified from 342 species including 214 fungal, 33 plants, and 77 metazoan species. The dbHiMo provides users with web-based personalized data browsing and analysis tools, supporting comparative and evolutionary genomics. Based on the database entries, functional analysis of genes encoding histone acetyltransferases and histone demethylases is under way. Here I provide examples of such analyses that show how histone acetylation and methylation is implicated in regulating important aspects of fungal pathogenesis. Current analysis of histone modifying enzymes will be followed by ChIP-Seq and RNA-seq experiments to pinpoint the genes that are controlled by particular histone modifications. We anticipate that our work will provide not only the significant advances in our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms operating in microbial eukaryotes but also basis to expand our perspective on regulation of development in fungal pathogens.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.103-108
• /
• 2012

Nuruk is a fermented ingredient used for production of traditional Korean rice wine. In this study, quality characteristics of mixed-grain nuruk was made by brewing with different fungal strains was analyzed. Quality elements including enzyme activity and organic acids constituents were measured. The fermentation time of the nuruk did not make a significant difference in terms of its pH, but the acidity and amino acid content for nuruk made from a mixture of two fungal strains was higher than that seen with a single fungal strain. Overall, the enzyme activity for two fungal strain nuruk was higher than that observed for single fungal strain nuruk, with ${\alpha}$-amylase and acidic protease activity in the mixed strain nuruk observed to be more than twice that of the single strain. The major organic acids observed in the manufactured nuruk were identified as acetic, citric, formic, fumaric, lactic, malic and oxalic acids. The total amount of organic acids contained in the nuruk made with the two fungal strain was (2,116.3 mg%). The fungal strains used were A. kawachii SC60 nuruk (1,608.5 mg%) and A. oryzae RIB1353 nuruk (1,146.7 mg%).

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.313-320
• /
• 2010

Genetic instability of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae has been suggested as a major factor underlying the rapid breakdown of host resistance in the field. However, little information is available on the mechanism of genetic instability. In this study, we assessed the stability of repetitive DNA elements and several key phenotypic traits important for pathogenesis after serially transferring two isolates though rice plants and an artificial medium. Using isolate 70-15, we obtained a total of 176 single-spore isolates from 10 successive rounds of culturing on artificial medium. Another 20 isolates were obtained from germ tubes formed at the basal and apical cells of 10 three-celled conidia. Additionally, 60 isolates were obtained from isolate KJ201 after serial transfers through rice plants and an artificial medium. No apparent differences in phenotypes, including mycelial growth, conidial morphologies, conidiation, conidial germination, appressorium formation, and virulence, or in DNA fingerprints using MGR586, MAGGY, Pot2, LINE, MG-SINE and PWL2 as probes were observed among isolates from the same parent isolate. Southern hybridization and sequence analysis of two avirulence genes, AVR-Pita1 and AVR-Pikm, showed that both genes were also maintained stably during 10 successive generations on medium and plants. However, one reversible loss of restriction fragments was found in the telomere-linked helicase gene (TLH1) family, suggesting some telomere regions may be more unstable than the rest of the genome. Taken together, our results suggest that phenotype and genotype of M. oryzae isolates do not noticeably change, at least up to 10 successive generations on a cultural medium and in host plants.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.376.1-376
• /
• 2001

• The Microorganisms and Industry
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.10-13
• /
• 1990

Fungal Virus에 대한 연구는 60년대말 double-stranded RNA(dsRNA)가 interferon의 생성을 촉진시킨다는 보고가 나온 이후 dsRNA를 많이 얻을수 있는 재료로써 이 virus에 대한 연구가 본격적으로 진행되었다. 현재까지 60여종 이상의 genus와 200가지 이상의 species에서 virus의 존재가 분리 또는 확인되어 있다. 여기서는 Ustilago maydis의 killer activity를 유발하는 virus에 대한 일반적인 특징과 이 virus의 transcription 과정에 대해 설명하고자 한다.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 2001

Entomopathogenic fungus, Paecilomyces japonicus, has been commercially used as medicinal purpose . The silkworm, Bombyx mori, as an optimal host for the fungi, has been selected and used for the production of the fungal fruit bodies. In current method, newly molted fifth instal larvae should be exposed to the adverse stress environment of high temperature (3$0^{\circ}C$), high relative humidity ( 90%), and starvation for 24h for better fungal inoculation to the host insects. In this study, an alternative method using chemical agent, dexamethasone (DEX: an eicosanoid biosynthesis inhibitor), was tried to get the immunodepressive effect on the larvae to elevate the inoculation rate of the fungi to the silkworm without any harsh rearing environment. DEX (100$\mu\textrm{g}$) showed significantly synergistic effect on the hemocyte lethality of the fungus, and was effective to decrease cellular immune responses measured by the number of hemocyte microaggregation and phenoloxidase activity of the fifth instar larvae in response to the fungal injection. A detergent of 0.05% Triton-X was effective to increase the in- oculation rate of the fungi to the larvae and used in all fungal spraying solutions. Without any environ- mental stress treatment, only DEX (100$\mu\textrm{g}$) injection to the fifth instar larvae followed by the fungal spray was effective to get the inoculation rate equivalent to the current fungal spray method requiring harsh rearing environment. These results suggest that the inoculation of P. japonicus can be elevated by the help of DEX and that the silkworms use eicosanoids to elicit cellular immune response against fungal pathogen.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2018.05a
• /
• pp.33-33
• /
• 2018

Air-borne plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum and seed-borne plant pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia glumae are cause similar disease symptoms in rice heads. Here we showed that two pathogens frequently co-isolated in rice heads and F. graminearum is resistant to toxoflavin produced by B. glumae while other fungal genera are sensitive to the toxin. We have tried to clarify the resistant mechanism of F. graminearum against toxoflavin and the ecological reason of co-existence of the two pathogens in rice. We found that F. graminearum carries resistance to toxoflavin as accumulating lipid in fungal cells. Co-cultivation of two pathogens resulted in increased conidia and enhanced chemical attraction and attachment of the bacterial cells to the fungal conidia. Bacteria physically attached to fungal conidia, which protected bacterium cells from UV light and allowed disease dispersal. Chemotaxis analysis showed that bacterial cells moved toward the fungal exudation compared to a control. Even enhanced the production of phytotoxic trichothecene by the fungal under presence of toxoflavin and disease severity on rice heads was significantly increased by co-inoculation rather than single inoculation. This study suggested that the undisclosed potentiality of air-born infection of bacteria using the fungal spores for survival and dispersal.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2015.05a
• /
• pp.20-20
• /
• 2015

Endophytic fungi are microorganisms inhabiting living plant tissues without causing apparent harm to the host. They are drawing increasing attention due to their ability to produce various bioactive compounds as well as their effects on host growth and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. As a first step to assess biodiversity of plant associated fungi in Korea and the following evaluation on diverse biological activities, we are collecting endophytic fungi from plant in wild followed by systematic long-term storage in liquid nitrogen. Molecular identification using ITS sequences was also incorporated for pure culture by hyphal tip isolation. As of April 2015, about 1,400 fungal strains had been isolated from about 170 plant taxa. Fungal isolates belonging to Pleosporales, Diaporthales, Glomerellales, Hypocreales, and Xylariales were the most abundant. These collections are being used for several complementary researches, including screening of isolates with novel bioactive compounds or conferring drought stress resistance, phylogenetic and genomic study. Genome sequencing was performed for 3 isolates, one Xylaria sp. strain JS573 producing griseofulvin, an antifungal compound, and two Fusarium spp. strains JS626 and JS1030, which are assumed to be new species found in Korea. More detailed analysis on these genomes will be presented. These collections and genome informations will serve as invaluable resources for identifying novel bioactive materials in addition to expand our knowledge on fungal biodiversity.