• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.449-457
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• 2021

The aim of the present study was to survey the frequency of inducible and constitutive phenotypes and inducible cross-resistant genes by regulating the methylation of 23S rRNA (ermA, ermB, and ermC) and macrolide efflux-related msrA gene in Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis strains. A total of 172 bacterial isolates (identified based on standard tests), were examined in this study. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the disk diffusion method, and all isolates were evaluated with respect to inducible and constitutive phenotypes. The presence of ermA, ermB, ermC, and msrA genes was investigated by a PCR assay. The constitutive resistance phenotypes showed a higher distribution among the isolates. R phenotype was detected more among S. epidermidis isolates (46.25%). ermB, ermC, and msrA genes were detected more in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis (MRSE) isolates that had R and HD phenotypes (>77% strains). The ermA gene had the lowest frequency among MRSA, MRSE, MSSA, and MSSE strains (<14% isolates). Distribution of inducible resistance genes in MRSA and MRSE strains, and possibly other species, leads to increased constitutive resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin, and other similar antibiotics. Therefore, it can be challenging to treat infections caused by these resistant strains.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 1990

Two macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLS) antibiotic resistance genes, one expressed inducibly and the other expressed constitutively were recognized from a single Staphylococcus aureus DH1 strain. The inducible MLS resistance gene was isolated and cloned from the R-plasmid pDE1(7.4kb) and the constitutive gene was from chromosomal DNA. Base sequence of the inducible MLS resistance gene (1.2kb) was determined and found as same that of pE194. The restriction map of the cloned constitutive MLS resistance gene was compared with that of the inducible gene. Two genes have same restriction map except leader region. In the constitutive gene there is no leader region which is doing major role in inducible expression.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.282-290
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• 1985

Small size antibiotic resistance plasmids having molecular weights less than 10 Mdal were isolated and characterized from ten clinically isolated multiple resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Agarose gel electrophoresis profiles and antibiotic resistance patterns divided these strains into four groups. Strain 2-23-6, the representative strain of a group of five strains conferred two plasmids of molecular weights $1.6{\times}10^6\;dal\;and\;2.0{\times}10^6$ dal. The small plasmid (pSBK 112) specified macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramin type B (MLS) resistance gene which are expressed constitutively. Lage plasmid (pSBK 125) specified chloramphenicol resistance gene which is inducible. Strain 10-5 conferred a $3.0{\times}10^6$ dal plasmid (pSBK 141) which carry an inducible ampicillin resistance gene and strain P-H-2 conferred and $1.6{\times}10^6$ dal plasmid (pSBK 190) which carry a constitutive MLS resistance gene. Strain D-H-1 conferred four plasmids of molecular weights $0.8{\times}10^6$ dal (pSBK 201), $1.6{\times}10^6$ dal (pSBK 202), $2.5{\times}10^6$ dal (pSBK 203), and $1.2{\times}10^7$ dal (pDBK 204), respectively. Among those four plasmids, only pSBK 203 specified chloramphenicol resistance gene. Curing of constitutive MLS resistance using acriding orange or ethidium bromide in 2-23-6 and P-H-2 strains produced 'inducible' MLS resistance strains which are less resistant to MLS than the wild type strains, suggesting that there are two resistance genes in both strains; one is constitutive and the other is inducible.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.286-290
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and genetic mechanisms of erythromycin resistance in staphylococci. A total of 102 erythromycin resistant non-duplicate clinical isolates of staphylococci [78. coagulase negative stapylococci (CNS), 24 Staphylococcus aureus] were collected between October 2003 and August 2004 in Istanbul Faculty of Medicine in Turkey. The majority of the isolates were from blood and urine specimens. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined by the agar dilution procedure and the resistance phenotypes by the double disk induction test. A multiplex PCR was performed, using primers specific for erm(A), erm(B), erm(C), and msrA genes.. Among the 78 CNS isolates, 57.8% expressed the $MLS_{B}-constitutive$, 20.6% the $MLS_{B}-inducible$, and 21.6% the $MS_B$ phenotypes. By PCR, 78.2% of these isolates harbored the erm(C) gene, 8.9% erm(A), 6.4% erm(B), and 11.5% msrA genes. In S. aureus, the constitutive $MLS_B$ (58.3 %) was more common than the inducible phenotype (20.8%). erm(A) was detected in 50% and erm(C) in 62.5% of the isolates, while 37.5% contained both erm(A) and erm(C). erm(C)-associated macrolide resistance was the most prevalent in CNS, while ermC) and erm(A, C) was the most prevalent in S. aureus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2001

Three Pseudomonas strains (Bk8, Bk9, Bk10) selected from soil for their ability to degrade herbicide diuron were tested for their heavy metal resistance. The growth of these catabolic strains on a minimal medium with various concentrations of $Cd^{2+},\;Zn^{2+},\;Ni^{2+}$, and $Hg^{2+}$ revealed a minimal effect on the carbon source for the inhibitory effect of the metals. One of these strains, namely, Bk8, exhibited a high resistance to the heavy metals as compared to the two other strains. This strain harbors plasmid pBk8 (110 kb) and contains at least fur determinants encoding heavy metal resistance. Nickel and zinc resistance are encoded by genes located on the chromosome, while cadmium and mercury resistance are on plasmid pBk8. Accordingly, the characteristics of strain Bk8 suggest that it would be useful in the bioremediation of aromatic compounds in the presence of toxic heavy metals as co-contaminants.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2005

We cloned cDNA of the PGH(porcine growth hormone) gene and constructed retrovirus vector designed to express PGH gene under the regulation of CMV (cytomegalovirus) promoter. To maximize the expression, WPRE(woodchuck hepatitis virus posttranscriptional regulatory element) sequence was placed at the downstream of the PGH gene. After infection with recombinant viruses, approximately 1×10/sup 6/ PFF(porcine fetal fibroblast) cells released PGH protein into the media as much as 1,400 ng. In a subsequent experiment, a modifications of the retrovirus vector was made to express the PGH gene in a teracycline-inducible manner. In PFF cells carrying these viral vector sequences, addition of doxycycline to the media resulted in 2∼6 fold increase in PGH synthesis. In the modified retrovirus vectors, the WPRE sequence also played a role in boosting the effect of the tetracycline induction. This result indicates that our tetracycline-inducible expression system might be a promising candidate in alleviating the complicate physiological problems caused by constitutive expression of the exogenous genes in the transgenic animals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.79.2-80
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• 2003

To better understand plant defense responses against pathogen attack, we identified the transcription factor-encoding genes in the hot pepper Capsicum annuum that show altered expression patterns during the hypersensitive response raised by challenge with bacterial pathogens. One of these genes, Ca1244, was characterized further. This gene encodes a plant-specific Type IIIA - zinc finger protein that contains two Cys$_2$His$_2$zinc fingers. Ca1244 expression is rapidly and specifically induced when pepper plants are challenged with bacterial pathogens to which they are resistant. In contrast, challenge with a pathogen to which the plants are susceptible only generates weak Ca1244 expression. Ca1244 expression is also strongly induced in pepper leaves by the exogenous application of ethephon, an ethylene releasing compound. Whereas, salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate had moderate effects. Pepper protoplasts expressing a Ca1244-smGFP fusion protein showed Ca1244 localizes in the nucleus. Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing Ca1244 driven by the CaMV 355 promoter show increased resistance to challenge with a tobacco-specific bacterial pathogen. These plants also showed constitutive upregulation of the expression of multiple defense-related genes. These observations provide the first evidence that an Type IIIA - zinc finger protein, Ca1244, plays a crucial role in the activation of the pathogen defense response in plants.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.231-238
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• 2007

Evaluation of potentials of chemicals to alter expression of genes that are involved in carcinogenesis may serve useful tools in toxicological research. In this investigation, we developed reporter cell lines that expressed luciferase in response to transactivation of hypoxia inducible factor-1, P53 tumor suppressor and Nur77 of which roles have been well established in cancer development and progression. Whereas these reporter cell lines displayed low constitutive backgrounds, the reporter activities were significantly enhanced in response to $desferriosamine/CoCl_2$, adriamycin or 6-mercaptopurine, which are hypoxia mimicking chemicals, P53 activator or Nur77 inducer, respectively. The activation of the reporter was time- and dose-dependent. Known tumor initiators and promoters, such as phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and phorbol 12, 13-dicaprinate induced the reporter activity at as low as 10nM in these stable cell lines. Further, known anti-tumor promoters, such as ascorbic acid and ${\beta}-carotene$ repressed the reporter activities. These results indicate that our stable reporter cell lines could serve as a useful system for rapid assessment of carcinogenicity of toxic chemicals.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2006

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) RTA transcription factor is recruited to its responsive elements through interaction with RBP-Jk that is a downstream transcription factor of the Notch signaling pathway that is important in development and cell fate determination. This suggests that KSHV RTA mimics cellular Notch signal transduction to activate viral lytic gene expression. Here, I demonstrated that unlike other B lymphoma cells, KSHV -infected primary effusion lymphoma BCBL1 cells displayed the constitutive activation of ligand-mediated Notch signal transduction, evidenced by the Jagged ligand expression and the complete proteolytic process of Notch receptor I. In order to investigate the effect of Notch signal transduction on KSHV gene expression, human Notch intracellular (hNIC) domain that constitutively activates RBP-Jk transcription factor activity was expressed in BCBL1 cells, TRExBCBL1-hNIC, in a tetracycline inducible manner. Gene expression profiling showed that like RTA, hNIC robustly induced expression of a number of viral genes including KS immune modulatory gene resulting in downregulation of MHC I and CD54 surface expression. Finally, the genetic analysis of KSHV genome demonstrated that the hNIC-mediated expression of KS during viral latency consequently conferred the downregulation of MHC I and CD54 surface expression. These results indicate that cellular. Notch signal transduction provides a novel expression profiling of KSHV immune deregulatory gene that consequently confers the escape of host immune surveillance during viral latency.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2000

In previous study, both constitutive expression and 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC)-mediated elevation of CYP1A2 mRNA were demonstrated in human hepatoma HepG2 cells by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), suggesting that HepG2 cells would be appropriate for the study of human CYP1A2 regulation(Chung and Bresnick, 1994). Further studies were conducted to determine the basis of this induction phenomenon that is observed in HepG2 cells. Since CYP1A1 gene, another polycyclic hydrocarbon(PH)-inducible gene, is regulated by PHs through their interactions via receptors with cis-elements, the 5'-flanking region of human CYP 1A2 gene was analyzed to search such responsive elements. The promoter activity of various lengths of CYP1A2 gene sequence (-3203/+58bp) was measured in transiently-transfected HepG2 cells by fusion constructs containing the CAT, hGH or luciferase genes as a reporter. This region of the CYP1A2 gene, although containing a XRE, was only weakly responsive (less than 2 fold induction) to 10 nM of TCDD or 1 $\mu$M 3 MC treatment. This small enhancement of promoter activity is inconsistent with the previous observation, i.e., 12 to 14 fold-enhanced CYP1A2 mRNA from 1 $\mu$M 3 MC treated HepG2 cells, suggesting that additional mechanisms would exist for PH-mediated induction of CYP1A2 in these cells.