• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.67.1-67.11
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• 2022

Background: Budgerigar fledgling disease polyomavirus (BFDV) is the pathogen that causes budgerigar fledgling disease in psittacine species. The clinical signs of PBFV infection include ascites, hepatitis, and crop stasis. BFDV is associated with a high mortality rate in nestling birds. In contrast, adult birds only have mild symptoms such as feather dystrophy. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, genetic characteristics, and phylogenetic analysis of BFDV in pet parrots in Korea. Methods: Fecal and tissue samples were collected from 217 pet parrots from 10 veterinary hospitals including Chungbuk National University Veterinary Hospital. The molecular screening was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the small t/large T antigen gene segment. Full-length genome sequencing with the Sanger and phylogenetic analysis were performed on BFDV-positive samples. Results: The PCR results based on the small t/large T antigen gene marker indicated that BFDV DNA was present in 10 out of 217 screened samples. A whole-genome sequence was obtained from six strains and phylogenetic analysis revealed no significant relationship existed between the species and geographical locations amongst them. Conclusions: The prevalence of BFDV infection in South Korea is not high when compared to the prevalence of BFDV in other parts of the world, however, it has been reported sporadically in various species and geographic locations. The whole-genome analysis revealed 0.2%-0.3% variation in intragenomic homogeneity among the six strains analyzed. Korean strains are separately on the phylogenetic tree from their counterparts from China and Japan which might reflect the substantial genetic variation.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.107-114
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• 2021

During a disease survey on weeds and minor cultivated crops in Korea, a brown leaf spot disease was observed on Sonchus asper. Leaf lesions were round or irregular in shape, and grayish brown to brown with a purple margin. In severe infection, lesions enlarged and coalesced, resulting in blighting of the leaves. The isolates from these leaf lesions were identified as Alternaira sonchi based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of Internal transcribed spacer region, Alternaria allergen a1, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, RNA polymerase II, and translation elongation factor genes. This study provides a comprehensive description of the morphological characteristics and phylogenetical traits of A. sonchi causing brown leaf spot on S. asper in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.293-298
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• 2002

In order to investigate the ecological aspect of bacteria on groundwater, water samples were collected from various regions. Total of 318 strains were isolated from diluted nutrient broth (DNB) agar medium, and investigated their growth pattern on nutrient broth (NB) medium. As a result, all the isolated strains were divided into two groups, NB and DNB organisms. Growth of DNB organisms were suppressed in full strength NB medium but not in DNB medium, which were called oligotrophic bacteria in this study. Proportion of DNB organisms occurred in the frequency of 50-98% in potable groundwaters (CW, CJ, DPG, CJG1), however, it was 23,46% in polluted site (TJ, NPG1). One hundred and two strains were identified as oligotrophic bacteria and their phylogenetic characteristics were determined by using 16S rDNA sequencing. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, they were found to fall into three major phylogenetic groups: belonging to the Proteobacteria $\alpha$-(49 strains), $\beta$-(50 strains), $\gamma$ -(3 strains) subdivisions. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that microbial diversity of potable groundwater is more complex than that obtained in the past investigation.

• ALGAE
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.267-275
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• 2019

Three new species of the genus Micractinium were collected from five localities on the South Shetland Islands in maritime Antarctica, and their morphological and molecular characteristics were investigated. The vegetative cells are spherical to ellipsoidal and a single chloroplast is parietal with a pyrenoid. Because of their simple morphology, no conspicuous morphological characters of new species were recognized under light microscopy. However, molecular phylogenetic relationships were inferred from the concatenated small subunit rDNA, and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence data indicated that the Antarctic microalgal strains are strongly allied to the well-supported genus Micractinium, including M. pusillum, the type species of the genus, and three other species in the genus. The secondary structure of ITS2 and compensatory base changes were used to identify and describe six Antarctic Micractinium strains. Based on their morphological and molecular characteristics, we characterized three new species of Micractinium: M. simplicissimum sp. nov., M. singularis sp. nov., and M. variabile sp. nov.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2017

The prevalence of cercarial infection in freshwater snails and their evolutionary trends were studied in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand. A total of 2,869 individual snails were examined for parasitic infections. The results showed that 12 snail species were found to host larval stages of trematodes with an overall prevalence of 4.7%. The infected specimens included 7 types at the cercarial stage; cercariae, megalurous cercariae, echinostome cercariae, furcocercous cercariae, parapleurolophocercous cercariae, virgulate cercariae, and xiphidiocercariae. Regarding molecular identification, ITS2 sequence data of each larval trematode were analyzed, and a dendrogram was constructed using the neighbor-joining method with 10,000 replicates. The dendrogram was separated into 6 clades (order/family), including Echinostomatida/Echinostomatidae, Echinostomatida/Philophthalmidae, Opisthorchiida/Heterophyidae, Plagiorchiida/Prosthogonimidae, Plagiorchiida/Lecithodendriidae, and Strigeatida/Cyathocotylidae. These findings were used to confirm morphological characteristics and evolutionary trends of each type of cercariae discovered in Nakhon Nayok province. Furthermore, this investigation confirmed that the ITS2 data of cercariae could be used to study on phylogenetic relationships or to determine classification of this species at order and/or family level when possible.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.152-156
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• 2003

Through enrichment on two nutrient agars, 57 Thermus isolates were recovered from 15 hot spring samples taken from the Rehai geothermal area, Tengchong, China. Unique growth characteristics were observed when the strains were transferred from YIM14 medium to Thermus medium. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the 16S rDNA sequences of the isolates and clones from the Rehai geothermal area farmed a monophyletic group on the phylogenetic tree. A secondary structure comparison showed that their 16S rRNAs have unique secondary structure characteristics.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.187-195
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• 2020

Two unreported fungal isolates, KNU-GW1901 and KNU-AP100C, were collected from soil sample in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. Their cultural and morphological characteristics were examined after 4 weeks of incubation at 25℃ on potato dextrose agar (PDA), malt extract agar (MEA), and oatmeal agar (OA). The conidial shape of KNU-GW1901 was aseptate, hyaline, globose to ellipsoidal, oblong, and reniform to pyriform and 2.61-4.97×1.93-3.61 ㎛ in size, whereas no conidial structures were observed in KNU-AP100C. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, large subunit (LSU), and small subunit (SSU) sequences were used to determine the taxonomic positions of the strains using the maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree. The isolate KNU-GW1901 was closely clustered with Plenodomus sinensis MFLUCC 17-0767, and KNU-AP100C was closely matched with P. collinsoniae CBS 120227. Based on the findings of morphological, cultural, and phylogenetic analysis, the isolates KNU-GW1901 and KNU-AP100C were identical to the previously described P. sinensis and P. collinsoniae isolates, respectively, which are first reported in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2019

A fungal isolate, designated KNU-JJ-1824, was isolated from a soil sample collected from a field on Jeju, Korea. Colonies of the isolates cultured on PDA, MEA and CMAD for 14 days grew to diameters of 49~51 mm, 60~63 mm, and 47~50 mm, respectively. The colonies of this fungal isolate were dark green in color on both sides, and had irregular margins on the PDA media. Mycelia submerged and exhibited clear lines from the center to the edge on MEA media. On CMAD media, they were dark brown to greenish-brown, with narrow white margins. The shape of the conidia was guttulate, fusiform or clavate, and $1.9{\sim}3.4{\times}6.5{\sim}10.2{\mu}m$ in size. A molecular phylogenetic tree was constructed using dataset from small subunit (SSU) rDNA and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, and the isolate was found to cluster with Scleroconidioma sphagnicola UAMH 9731. Based on the results of the phylogenetic tree analysis and the cultural and morphological characteristics, the isolate was identified as Scleroconidioma sphagnicola. We report S. sphagnicola for the first time in Korea.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.66.1-66.9
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• 2021

Background: Maedi/Visna virus (MVV) is a contagious viral pathogen that causes considerable economic losses to the sheep industry worldwide. Objectives: In China, MVV has been detected in several regions, but its molecular characteristics and genetic variations were not thoroughly investigated. Methods: Therefore, in this study, we conducted next-generation sequencing on an MVV strain obtained from northwest China to reveal its genetic evolution via phylogenetic analysis. Results: A MVV strain obtained from Inner Mongolia (NM) of China was identified. Sequence analysis indicated that its whole-genome length is 9193 bp. Homology comparison of nucleotides between the NM strain and reference strains showed that the sequence homology of gag and env were 77.1%-86.8% and 67.7%-75.5%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the NM strain was closely related to the reference strains isolated from America, which belong to the A2 type. Notably, there were 5 amino acid insertions in variable region 4 and a highly variable motif at the C-terminal of the surface glycoprotein (SU5). Conclusions: The present study is the first to show the whole-genome sequence of an MVV obtained from China. The detailed analyses provide essential information for understanding the genetic characteristics of MVV, and the results enrich the MVV library.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.97-108
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• 2024

In this study, three fungal isolates belonging to the phylum Ascomycota under classes Leotiomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, and Sordariomycetes were isolated from soil in Korea. These species were designated as KNUF-22-003, KNUF-22-005, and KNUF-20-NI016, respectively, and identified based on their phylogenetic relationships and morphological characteristics. The isolates were confirmed through molecular phylogenetic analyses of their internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, 28S rDNA large subunit (LSU), and actin (ACT1 ) gene sequences. Cultural and morphological characteristics of strains KNUF-22-003, KNUF-22-005, and KNUF-20-NI016 were matched with Chaetomella oblonga CBS110.78^T, Oidiodendron chlamydosporicum CBS403.69^T, and Sarocladium subulatum CBS217.35^T, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on C. oblonga, O. chlamydosporicum, and S. subulatum in Korea.