• ALGAE
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.217-228
• /
• 2019

The marine brown algal genus Colpomenia has a worldwide distribution, with five species reported in Korea and Japan. However, no studies to date attempted to identify the number of species and geographical distribution of Colpomenia along Chinese coast. To fill the biodiversity knowledge gap, we analyzed 63 mitochondrial cox3 and 62 mitochondrial atp6 sequences of Colpomenia specimens collected from 30 localities along the Chinese coast. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference trees suggest the presence of at least three Colpomenia species (i.e., C. peregrina, C. claytoniae, and C. sinuosa) in China. C. peregrina and C. claytoniae are documented for the first time. C. sinuosa was only found in the South China Sea and its distribution didn't overlap with that of C. peregrina which was found in the Yellow-Bohai Sea and the East China Sea. C. claytoniae appears to be confined to three isolated islands in the East and the South China Sea, where it occurs in sympatry with, respectively, C. peregrina and C. sinuosa. Future study can focus on comparing eco-physiological differences of Colpomenia species in response to environmental variables and exploring possible genetic hybridization / introgression at inter-specific contact zones.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.46-60
• /
• 2022

The genetic variability and population structure of apple mosaic virus (ApMV) have been studied; however, synonymous codon usage patterns influencing the survival rates and fitness of ApMV have not been reported. Based on phylogenetic analyses of 52 ApMV coat protein (CP) sequences obtained from apple, pear, and hazelnut, ApMV isolates were clustered into two groups. High molecular diversity in GII may indicate their recent expansion. A constant and conserved genomic composition of the CP sequences was inferred from the low codon usage bias. Nucleotide composition and relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) analysis indicated that the ApMV CP gene is AU-rich, but G- and U-ending codons are favored while coding amino acids. This unequal use of nucleotides together with parity rule 2 and the effective number of codon (ENC) plots indicate that mutation pressure together with natural selection drives codon usage patterns in the CP gene. However, in this combination, selection pressure plays a more crucial role. Based on principal component analysis plots, ApMV seems to have originated from apple trees in Europe. However, according to the relative codon deoptimization index and codon adaptation index (CAI) analyses, ApMV exhibited the greatest fitness to hazelnut. As inferred from the results of the similarity index analysis, hazelnut has a major role in shaping ApMV RSCU patterns, which is consistent with the CAI analysis results. This study contributes to the understanding of plant virus evolution, reveals novel information about ApMV evolutionary fitness, and helps find better ApMV management strategies.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.488-500
• /
• 2022

Most fungal infections by opportunistic yeast pathogens such as Candida spp. are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with lowered immune. Previous studies have reported that some strains of Candida secret secondary metabolites play an important role in the decreasing of immunity in the infected patient. In this study, 110 Candida spp. were isolated from different clinical specimens from Baghdad hospitals. Candida isolates were identified by conventional methods, they were processed for Candida speciation on CHROMagar. The results of identification were confirmed by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing. Phylogenetic trees were analyzed with reference strains deposited in GenBank. Antifungal susceptibility testing was evaluated by the disc diffusion method and performed as recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) M44-A document. Candida isolates investigated produce secondary metabolites gliotoxin with HPLC technique and quantification. Out of 110 Candida isolates, C. albicans (66.36%) was the most frequent isolate, followed by the isolates of C. tropicalis (10.9%) and C. glabrata (6.36%) respectively. Concerning the antifungal susceptibility test, Candida isolates showed a high level of susceptibility to Miconazole (70.9%), Itraconazole (68.2%), and Nystatine (64.5%). The ability of obtained isolates of Candida spp. to produce gliotoxin on RPMI medium was investigated, only 28 isolates had the ability to secret this toxin in culture filtrates. The highest concentrations were detected in C. albicans (1.048 ㎍/ml). Gliotoxin productivity of other Candida species was significantly lower. The retention time for gliotoxin was approximately 5.08 min.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.563-573
• /
• 2022

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) is a globally important bacterial pathogen of walnut trees that causes substantial economic losses in commercial walnut production. Although prophages are common in bacterial plant pathogens and play important roles in bacterial diversity and pathogenicity, there has been limited investigation into the distribution and function of prophages in Xaj. In this study, we identified and characterized 13 predicted prophages from the genomes of 12 Xaj isolates from around the globe. These prophages ranged in length from 11.8 kb to 51.9 kb, with between 11-75 genes and 57.82-64.15% GC content. The closest relatives of these prophages belong to the Myoviridae and Siphoviridae families of the Caudovirales order. The phylogenetic analysis allowed the classification of the prophages into five groups. The gene constitution of these predicted prophages was revealed via Roary analysis. Amongst 126 total protein groups, the most prevalent group was only present in nine prophages, and 22 protein groups were present in only one prophage (singletons). Also, bioinformatic analysis of the 13 identified prophages revealed the presence of 431 genes with an average length of 389.7 bp. Prokka annotation of these prophages identified 466 hypothetical proteins, 24 proteins with known function, and six tRNA genes. The proteins with known function mainly comprised prophage integrase IntA, replicative DNA helicase, tyrosine recombinase XerC, and IS3 family transposase. There was no detectable insertion site specificity for these prophages in the Xaj genomes. The identified Xaj prophage genes, particularly those of unknown function, merit future investigation.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.61 no.3
• /
• pp.507-512
• /
• 2022

The Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) is a serious pest that attacks forest as well as fruit trees. We sequenced the 15,548 bp long complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of this species. It consists of a typical set of genes (13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes) and one major non-coding A + T-rich region. The orientation and gene order of the L. dispar mitogenome are identical to that of the ancestral type found in majority of the insects. Phylogenetic analyses using concatenated sequences of 13 PCGs and 2 rRNAs (13,568 bp including gaps) revealed that the L. dispar examined in our study, together with other geographical samples of L. dispar in a group forming the family Erebidae and consistently supported the monophyly of each family (Erebidae, Euteliidae, Noctuidae, Nolidae and Notodontidae), generally with the highest nodal supports.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.50 no.5
• /
• pp.389-398
• /
• 2022

Endophytic fungi are promising sources for the production of podophyllotoxin-an important anticancer compound, replacing depleted medical plants. In this study, the endophytes associated with Dysosma difformis-an ethnomedicinal plant species were isolated to explore novel sources of podophyllotoxin. Fifty-three endophytic fungi were isolated and identified by morphological observation and ITS-based rDNA sequencing, assigning them to 27 genera in 3 divisions. Fusarium was found the most prevalent genus with a colonization frequency of 11.11%, followed by Trametes (9.26%) and Penicillium (7.41%). Phylogenetic trees were constructed for the endophytic fungi community in two collection sites, Ha Giang and Lai Chau, revealing the adaptation of the species to the specific tissues and habitats. Cytotoxic activity of endophytic fungal extracts was investigated on cancer cell lines such as SK-LU-1, HL-60, and HepG2, demonstrating strong anti-cancer activity of six isolates belonging to Penicillium, Trametes, Purpureocillium, Aspergillus, and Ganoderma with IC₅₀ value of lower than 10 ㎍/mL. The presence of podophyllotoxin was indicated in Penicillium, Trametes, Aspergillus and for the first time in Purpureocillium and Ganoderma via high-performance liquid chromatography, which implied them as a potential source of this anticancer compound.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.191-206
• /
• 2023

Ground cherry (Physalis pubescens) is the most prominent species in the Solanaceae family due to its nutritional content, and prospective health advantages. It is grown all over the world, but notably in northern China. In 2019 firstly bacterial leaf spot (BLS) disease was identified on P. pubescens in China that caused by both BLS pathogens Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. euvesicatoria resulted in substantial monetary losses. Here, we compared whole genome sequences of X. euvesicatoria to other Xanthomonas species that caused BLS diseases for high similarities and dissimilarities in genomic sequences through average nucleotide identity (ANI) and BLAST comparison. Molecular techniques and phylogenetic trees were adopted to detect X. euvesicatoria on P. pubescens using recQ, hrpB1, and hrpB2 genes for efficient and precise identification. For rapid molecular detection of X. euvesicatoria, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and real-time PCR techniques were used. Whole genome comparison results showed that the genome of X. euvesicatoria was more closely relative to X. perforans than X. vesicatoria, and X. gardneri with 98%, 84%, and 86% ANI, respectively. All infected leaves of P. pubescens found positive amplification, and negative controls did not show amplification. The findings of evolutionary history revealed that isolated strains XeC10RQ, XeH9RQ, XeA10RQ, and XeB10RQ that originated from China were closely relative and highly homologous to the X. euvesicatoria. This research provides information to researchers on genomic variation in BLS pathogens, and further molecular evolution and identification of X. euvesicatoria using the unique target recQ gene through advance molecular approaches.

• ALGAE
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.93-110
• /
• 2023

Progress in phylogenomic analysis has led to a considerable re-evaluation of former cyanobacterial system, with many new taxa being established at different nomenclatural levels. The family Geminocystaceae is among cyanobacterial taxa recently described on the basis of polyphasic approach. Within this family, there are six genera: Geminocystis, Cyanobacterium, Geminobacterium, Annamia, Picocyanobacterium, and Microcrocis. The genus Geminocystis previously encompassed two species: G. herdmanii and G. papuanica. Herein, a new species G. urbisnovae was proposed under the provision of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN). Polyphasic analysis was performed for five strains from the CALU culture collection (St. Petersburg State University, Russian Federation), and they were assigned to the genus Geminocystis in accordance with high 16S rRNA gene similarity to existing species, as well as because of proximity to these species on the phylogenetic trees reconstructed with RaxML and Bayes methods. Plausibility of their assignment to a separate species of the genus Geminocystis was substantiated with smaller cell size; stenohaline freshwater ecotype; capability to complementary chromatic adaptation of second type (CA2); distinct 16S rRNA gene clustering; sequences and folding of D1-D1' and B box domains of the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer region. The second objective pursued by this communication was to provide a survey of the family Geminocystaceae. The overall assessment was that, despite attention of many researchers, this cyanobacterial family has been understudied and, especially in the case of the crucially important genus Cyanobacterium, taxonomically problematic.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.224-239
• /
• 2019

Species identification for the Korean tribe Desmodieae was conducted using the DNA barcoding genes rbcL, matK (from chloroplast DNA) and ITS (from nuclear ribosomal DNA). A total of 25 taxa (n = 75) in five genera were sequenced, and neighbor-joining trees were constructed using different combinations of DNA barcodes. When comparing these phylogenetic trees, a tree with all loci combined (rbcL + matK + ITS) showed the highest rate of identification success (72%). On this tree, two subtribes and five genera within the tribe were supported as monophyletic. In the Desmodiinae clade, Desmodium and Hylodesmum were more closely related to each other than to Ohwia. In the Hylodesmum clade, H. oldhamii was found to be a sister to H. podocarpum complex, and all taxa within the complex were identified successfully. Subsp. fallax, regarded as a variety of subsp. oxyphyllum, is closely clustered with subsp. podocarpum. Although var. mandshuricum has been regarded as a synonym of var. oxyphyllum, this taxon is supported as a distinct variety. For the Lespedezinae clade, all species of Kummerowia were monophyletic, while nine of 16 Lespedeza taxa were identified successfully. In particular, the resolution of Macrolespedeza (28.5%) was lower than that of Junceae (77.8%). Among the Lespedeza taxa, L. cuneata was distinguishable from L. lichiyuniae, despite morphological similarities. It has been suggested that both L. maritima and L. inschanica are hybrids. The former is thought to be an independent species. While it is difficult to determine whether the latter originated via hybridization, this study showed that it is closely related to L. juncea.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.112-117
• /
• 2013

Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), a member of the genus Tritimovirus in Potyviridae, severely impacts wheat and corn seed worldwide, but has yet to be detected in Korea, and hence, every effort should be made to prevent its introduction. To prevent WSMV from entering the country, it is necessary to prepare a specific, sensitive, simple, and fast detection method for routine application to plant quarantine procedures. For this reason, a two-step diagnosis system consisting of RT-PCR and nested PCR is being used for WSMV detection. In addition, a novel positive control was developed for use with the system. WSMV has been detected in seed sweet corn from Japan and seed wheat from USA by a two-step diagnosis system, the details of which are described in this study. After sequence analysis, similarities of 80.6 and 100.0% with other isolates were determined by BLAST. They showed the same topology, which was classified as 4 genotypes by various phylogenetic trees, using a poly protein encoding sequence amplification. In this analysis, WSMV-JSweet-corn2868 (JX845574) is classified as clade B, while WSMV-Uwheat1944-1 (KC754959) and WSMV-Uwheat1944-2 (KC754960) belong to clade D.