• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.129-135
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• 1999

We describe unusual manifestations of congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (C.C.A.M.) of the lung, such as movable fungal ball-like intracystic blood clots and hemoptysis, which were detected in previously healthy 23 years-old woman. We identified blood clots only after left upper lobectomy and could not distinguish from fungal ball with radiographic methods. CCAM of the lung, rare and lethal form of congenital pulmonary cystic disease, was initially introduced by Ch, in and Tang in 1949. The histogenesis of this lesion is characterized by polypoid glandular tissue proliferation and overgrowth of mesenchymal elements due to cessation of bronchiolar maturation which occurred in after 16weeks intrauterine period. In 80-95% of reported cases, the lesion was confined to a single lobe and there was no lobe and right and left lung predilection The clinical presentation may be widely variable, ranging from intrauterine fetal death to late discovery in childhood with recurrent pulmonary infection. But there,s no reports which were misdiagnosed with intracystic fungal ball. The treatment choice is lobectomy of affected lobe. There,s a few case reports with rhabdomyosarcoma, bronchiolar cell carcinoma and myxosarcoma arising in CCAM patients. Therefore, early resection is recommended even if asymtomatic cases. We experienced a rare case of CCAM of the lung in 23 years old female, and there were intracystic fungal ball-like movable blood clots in lower portion of left lung. After left upper lobectomy was performed, now she is discharged and followed up without any complications.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2016

Major diseases in grafted cacti have been reported and Fusarium oxysporum, Bipolaris cactivora, Phytophthora spp. and Collectotrichum spp. are known as causal pathogens. These pathogens can lead to plant death after infection. Therefore, some European countries have quarantined imported cacti that are infected with specific fungal pathogens. Consequently, we developed PCR detection methods to identify four quarantined fungal pathogens and reduce export rejection rates of Korean grafted cacti. The pathogen specific primer sets F.oF-F.oR, B.CF-B.CR, P.nF-P.nR, and P.cF-P.CR were tested for F. oxysporum, B.cactivora, P. nicotinae, and P. cactorum, respectively. The F.oF-F.oR primer set was designed from the Fusarium ITS region; the B.CF-B.CR and P.nF-P.nR primers respectively from Bipolaris and Phytophthora ITS1; and the P.cF-P.CR primer set from the Ypt1protein gene region. The quarantine fungal pathogen primer pairs were amplified to the specific number of base pairs in each of the following fungal pathogens: 210-bp (F. oxysporum), 510-bp (B. cactivora), 313-bp (P. nicotinae), and 447-bp (P. cactorum). The detection limit for the mono- and multiplex PCR primer sets was 0.1 ng of template DNA under in vitro conditions. Therefore, each primer set successfully diagnosed contamination of quarantine pathogens in export grafted cacti. Consequently, our methodology is a viable tool to screen contamination of the fungal pathogen in exported grafted cacti.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.323-334
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• 2020

Lysin motif (LysM) proteins are reported to be necessary for the virulence and immune response suppression in many herbaceous plant pathogens, while far less is documented in woody plant pathogens. In this study, we preliminarily characterized the molecular function of a LysM protein LtLysM1 in woody plant pathogen Lasiodiplodia theobromae. Transcriptional profiles revealed that LtLysM1 is highly expressed at infectious stages, especially at 36 and 48 hours post inoculation. Amino acid sequence analyses revealed that LtLysM1 was a putative glycoprotein with 10 predicted N-glycosylation sites and one LysM domain. Pathogenicity tests showed that overexpressed transformants of LtLysM1 displayed increased virulence on grapevine shoots in comparison with that of wild type CSS-01s, and RNAi transformants of LtLysM1 exhibited significantly decreased lesion length when compared with that of wild type CSS-01s. Moreover, LtLysM1 was confirmed to be a secreted protein by a yeast signal peptide trap assay. Transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana together with protein immunoblotting confirmed that LtLysM1 was an N-glycosylated protein. In contrast to previously reported LysM protein Slp1 and OsCEBiP, LtLysM1 molecule did not interact with itself based on yeast two hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation assays. These results indicate that LtLysM1 is a secreted protein and functions as a critical virulence factor during the disease symptom development in woody plants.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.35.2-35
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• 2000

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.638-645
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• 2019

Objectives: For the risk management of airborne fungal diseases, our aim was to evaluate airborne fungi and study the toxicity associated with fungal allergic diseases using fungal species native to Korea. Methods: Fungi were isolated from outdoor air samples collected from Seoul, Incheon, Cheonan, Gwangju, Ulsan, Busan, and Jeju and tested for their cytotoxicity potential and their ability to induce proliferation and secretion of macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC) in human mast cells (HMC-1). Results: More than 18 species of fungi were collected from outdoor air in Korea over one year, and the strains were identified and systematically analyzed. The results showed that the Cladosporium (59%) and Alternaria (22%) strains are the most common in outdoor air. Three of the collected strains (Fusarium, Trichoderma, and Penicillium) showed mild toxicity in cells involved in allergic inflammation, and twelve induced cell proliferation in HMC-1 cells. More importantly, many strains (Edgeworthia, Trametes, Emmia, Irpex, Talaromyces, Penicillium, Periconia, Epicocum, Bipolaris) induced the MDC protein in activated HMC-1 cells. Conclusion: Nineteen percent of the tested strains caused cytotoxicity in mast cell lines, whereas, most of the non-toxic strains contributed to cell activity. Among the tested strains, more than 80% increased the expression of MDC protein, which contributes to the severity of atopic dermatitis, asthma, and rhinitis. It is, in fact, one of the markers for these conditions. Therefore, airborne fungus could be considered as an important marker for environmental risk management for allergic diseases in Korea.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2020

Recently, the severe dieback of apple trees resulting from soil-borne diseases has occurred in South Korea. The casual agents of dieback were surveyed on 74 apple orchards that had been damaged nationwide in 2016-2019. The number of apple orchards affected alone by Phytophthora rot, violet root rot, and white root rot was 31, 34, and 3, respectively. Also, the total number of mixed infection orchards was 6. Out of 9,112 apple trees affected by dieback, the trees damaged by Phytophthora rot, violet root rot, and white root rot were 3,332, 3,831, and 44, respectively. Moreover, the total number of mixed infection apple trees was 1,905. The provinces mainly affected were Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Chungbuk, and Jeonbuk. The survey on these infected apple orchards will be available to form management strategy for the dieback that had been increased by soil-borne fungal pathogens.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 1994.06a
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• pp.50-61
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• 1994

Biological control of important fungal diseases such as Phytophthora blight of red pepper, gary mold rot of vegetables, and powdery mildew of many crops was attempted using an antagonistic bacterium, Bacillus sp. AC-1 in greenhouses and fields. The antagonistic bacterium isolated from the rhizosphere soils of healthy red pepper plant was very effective in the inhibition of mycelial growth of plant pathogenic fungi in vitro including Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani, Pyricularia oryzae, Botrytis cinerea, Valsa mali, Fusarium oxysporum, Pythium ultimum, Alternari mali, Helminthosporium oryzae, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Culture filtrate of antagonistic Bacillus sp. AC-1 applied to pot soils infested with Phytophthora capsici suppressed the disease occurrence better than metalaxyl application did until 37 days after treatment in greenhouse tests. Treatments of the bacterial suspension on red pepper plants also reduced the incidence of Phytophthora blight in greenhouse tests. In farmers' commercial production fields, however, the controlling efficacy of the antagonistic bacteria was variable depending on field locations. Gray mold rot of chinese chives and lettuce caused by Botrytis cinerea was also controlled effectively in field tests by the application of Bacillus sp. AC-1 with control values of 79.7% and 72.8%, respectively. Spraying of the bacterial suspension inhibited development of powdery mildew of many crops such as cucumber, tobacco, melon, and rose effectively in greenhouse and field tests. The control efficacy of the bacterial suspension was almost same as that of Fenarimol used as a chemical standard. Further experiments for developing a commercial product from the antagonistic bacteria and for elucidating antagonistic mechanism against plant pathogenic fungi are in progress.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.637-644
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• 2021

Malassezia is the most abundant genus in the fungal microflora found on human skin, and it is associated with various skin diseases. Among the 18 different species of Malassezia that have been identified to date, M. restricta and M. globosa are the most predominant fungal species found on human skin. Several studies have suggested a possible link between Malassezia and skin disorders. However, our knowledge on the physiology and pathogenesis of Malassezia in human body is still limited. Malassezia is unable to synthesize fatty acids; hence, it uptakes external fatty acids as a nutrient source for survival, a characteristic compensated by the secretion of lipases and degradation of sebum to produce and uptake external fatty acids. Although it has been reported that the activity of secreted lipases may contribute to pathogenesis of Malassezia, majority of the data were indirect evidences; therefore, enzymes' role in the pathogenesis of Malassezia infections is still largely unknown. This review focuses on the recent advances on Malassezia in the context of an emerging interest for lipases and summarizes the existing knowledge on Malassezia, diseases associated with the fungus, and the role of the reported lipases in its physiology and pathogenesis.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.61-61
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• 2015

Rice blast, caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most destructive diseases of rice worldwide. The rice - M. oryzae pathosystem has become a model in the study of plant - fungal interactions due to its economic importance and accumulating knowledge. During the evolutionary arms race with M. oryzae, rice plants evolved a repertoire of Resistance (R) genes to protect themselves from diseases in a gene-for-gene fashion. M. oryzae secretes a battery of small effector proteins to manipulate host functions for its successful infection, and some of them are recognized by host R proteins as avirulence effectors (AVR), which turns on strong immunity. Therefore, the analysis of interactions between AVRs and their cognate R proteins provide crucial insights into the molecular basis of plant - fungal interactions. Rice blast resistance genes Pik, Pia, Pii comprise pairs of protein-coding ORFs, Pik-1 and Pik-2, RGA4 and RGA5, Pii-1 and Pii-2, respectively. In all three cases, the paired genes are tightly linked and oriented to the opposite directions. In the AVR-Pik/Pik interaction, it has been unraveled that AVR-Pik binds to the N-terminal coiled-coil domain of Pik-1. RGA4 and RGA5 are necessary and sufficient to mediate Pia resistance and recognize the M. oryzae effectors AVR-Pia and AVR1-CO39. A domain at the C-terminus of RGA5 characterized by a heavy metal associated domain was identified as the AVR-binding domain of RGA5. Similarly, physical interactions among Pii-1, Pii-2 and AVR-Pii are being analyzed.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2019

Fungi produce various secondary metabolites that have beneficial and harmful effects on other organisms. Those bioactive metabolites have been explored as potential medicinal and antimicrobial resources. However, the activities of the culture filtrate (CF) and metabolites of whiterot fungus (Schizophyllum commune) have been underexplored. In this study, we assayed the antimicrobial activities of CF obtained from white-rot fungus against various plant pathogens and evaluated its efficacy for controlling anthracnose and gray mold in pepper plants. The CF inhibited the mycelial growth of various fungal plant pathogens, but not of bacterial pathogens. Diluted concentrations of CF significantly suppressed the severity of anthracnose and gray mold in pepper fruits. Furthermore, the incidence of anthracnose in field conditions was reduced by treatment with a 12.5% dilution of CF. The active compound responsible for the antifungal and disease control activity was identified and verified as schizostatin. Our results indicate that the CF of white-rot fungus can be used as an eco-friendly natural product against fungal plant pathogens. Moreover, the compound, schizostatin could be used as a biochemical resource or precursor for development as a pesticide. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the control of plant diseases using CF and active compound from white-rot fungus. We discussed the controversial antagonistic activity of schizostatin and believe that the CF of white-rot fungus or its active compound, schizostatin, could be used as a biochemical pesticide against fungal diseases such as anthracnose and gray mold in many vegetables.