• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2021

Cyanobium is a genus of picoprokaryotic cyanophytes, which includes species worldwide. The present study investigated the morphology, ultrastructure, and molecular phylogeny of the unrecorded genus Cyanobium Rippka & Cohen-Bazire 1983 and species Cyanobium gracile Rippka & Cohen-Bazire 1983. A C. gracile culture from a freshwater sample collected from the Adongji pond was established by single-cell isolation. Morphological data were analyzed using light and transmission electron microscopy. C. gracile lives as solitary cells without gelatinous envelopes and is ovate, oval, or shortly rod-shaped. Thylakoids are laid along the cell walls, with three thylakoid membranes parallel to each other. Nucleoplasm was observed in the center of the cell. Molecular phylogeny performed with data from 16S small subunit ribosomal DNA gene (SSU rDNA) sequences showed that the three strains of C. gracile, including the type strain (PCC6307) and a newly recorded strain (Adong101619), formed a distinct clade with a high supporting value (maximum-likelihood=100, pp=1.00). Based on morphology and molecular data, we report the newly recorded C. gracile in Korea.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2017

Background: Species in the heterokont genus Synura are colonial and have silica scales whose ultrastructural characteristics are used for classification. We examined the ultrastructure of silica scales and molecular data (nuclear SSU rDNA and LSU rDNA, and plastid rbcL sequences) to better understand the taxonomy and phylogeny within the section Petersenianae of genus Synura. In addition, we report the first finding of newly recorded Synura species from Korea. Results: We identified all species by examination of scale ultrastructure using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). Three newly recorded species from Korea, Synura americana, Synura conopea, and Synura truttae were described based on morphological characters, such as cell size, scale shape, scale size, keel shape, number of struts, distance between struts, degree of interconnections between struts, size of base plate pores, keel pores, base plate hole, and posterior rim. The scales of the newly recorded species, which belong to the section Petersenianae, have a well-developed keel and a characteristic number of struts on the base plate. We performed molecular phylogenetic analyses based on sequence data from three genes in 32 strains (including three outgroup species). The results provided strong statistical support that the section Petersenianae was monophyletic, and that all taxa within this section had well-developed keels and a defined number of struts on the base plate. Conclusions: The phylogenetic tree based on sequence data of three genes was congruent with the data on scale ultrastructure. The resulting phylogenetic tree strongly supported the existence of the section Petersenianae. In addition, we propose newly recorded Synura species from Korea based on phylogenetic analyses and morphological characters: S. americana, S. conopea, and S. truttae.

• ALGAE
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.289-301
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• 2016

Floating debris provides substrates for dispersal of organisms by ocean currents, including algae that thrive on plastics. The 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tohuku, Japan resulted in large amounts of debris carried by the North Pacific Current to North America from 2012 to 2016. In 2015-2016, the plastics in the debris bore a complex biota including pink algal crusts. One sample (JAW4874) was isolated into culture and a three-gene phylogeny (psbA, rbcL, and SSU) indicated it was an unknown member of the red algal class Stylonematophyceae. It is a small pulvinate crust of radiating, branched, uniseriate filaments with cells containing a single centrally suspended nucleus and a single purple to pink, multi-lobed, parietal plastid lacking a pyrenoid. Cells can be released as spores that attach and germinate to form straight filaments by transverse apical cell divisions, and subsequent longitudinal and oblique intercalary divisions produce masses of lateral branches. This alga is named Tsunamia transpacifica gen. nov. et sp. nov. Sequencing of additional samples of red algal crusts on plastics revealed another undescribed Stylonematophycean species, suggesting that these algae may be frequent on drift oceanic plastics.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.355-367
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• 2019

Arthonia dokdoensis sp. nov., a lichenicolous fungus from the subcosmopolitan Arthonia molendoi complex growing on crustose thalli of species of the genus Orientophila (subfamily Xanthorioideae, Teloschistaceae), as well as the lichen species Rufoplaca toktoana sp. nov. (subfamily Caloplacoideae, Teloschistaceae) similar to Rufoplaca kaernefeltiana, both from Dokdo Islands, Republic of Korea, are described, illustrated, and compared with closely related taxa. In the phylogenetic tree of the Arthoniaceae based on 12S mtSSU and RPB2 gene sequences, the phylogenetic position of the A. dokdoensis and the relationship with the A. molendoi group are illustrated, while the position of the newly described R. toktoana is confirmed by phylogenetic tree based on ITS nrDNA data.

• ALGAE
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.193-208
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• 2006

Porphyra pulchella sp. nov. Ackland, West, Scott and Zuccarello was obtained at Mimosa Rock National Park, New South Wales; Westgate Bridge, Victoria, Australia; and Waihau Bay, North Island, New Zealand. It occurs mainly in mangrove habitats and is very small (± 1 mm) in field collections. In laboratory culture at 21 ± 2°C tiny blades (0.5-3.0 mm) reproduced exclusively by archeospores liberated from vegetative cells of the upper sector of the blades. The archeospores displayed amoeboid and gliding motility once discharged. At 14 ± 2°C the blades grew to 25 mm and produced longitudinal spermatangial streaks mixed with ‘phyllosporangial’ streaks. The discharged ‘phyllospores’ showed amoeboid motility and germinated forming asexual blades. A conchocelis phase with typical bangiophycidean pit connections was observed in blade cultures after 8-10 weeks at 14 ± 2°C. Conchocelis filaments produced conchosporangia and these released amoeboid conchospores that developed into archeosporangiate blades. Molecular data indicate that all 3 isolates are genetically identical.

• 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.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.161-170
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• 2001

We conducted both the small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA RFLP analyses for a genetic characterization of Acanthamoeba isolates from contact lens storage cases of students in Seoul, Korea. Twenty-three strains of Acanthamoeba from the American Type Culture Collection and twelve clinical isolates from Korean patients were used as reference strains. Thirty-nine isolates from contact lens storage cases were classified into seven types (KA/LS1 , KA/LS2, KA/LS4, KA/LS5, KA/LS7 KA/LS18, KA/LS31). Four types (KA/LS1 , KA/LS2, KA/LS5, KA/LS18) including 33 isolates were regarded as A. castellanii complex by riboprints. KA/LS1 type was the most predominant (51.3%) in the present survey area, followed by KA/LS2 (20.9%), and KA/LSS (7.7%) types. Amoebae of KA/LS1 type had the same mtDNA RFLP and riboprint patterns as KA/E2 and KA/E12 strains, clinical isolates from Korean keratitis patients. Amoebae of KA/LS2 type had the identical mtDNA RFLP patterns with A. castellanii Ma strain, a corneal isolate from an American patient as amoebae of KA/LS5 type, with KA/E3 and KA/E8 strains from other Korean keratitis patients. Amoebae of KA/LS 18 type had identical patterns with JAC/E1, an ocular isolate from a Japanese patient. Three types , which remain unidentified at species level, were not corresponded with any clinical isolate in their mtDNA RFLP and riboprint patterns. Out of 39 isolates analyzed in this study, mtDNA RFLP and riboprint patterns of 33 isolates (84.6%) were identical to already known clinical isolates, and therefore, they may be regarded as potentially keratopathogenic. These results suggest that contact lens wearers in Seoul should pay more attention to hygienic maintenance of contact lens storage cases for the prevention of Acanthamoeba keratitis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1028-1038
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• 2005

To elucidate phylogenetic relationships of Phellinus and its related genera, nuclear internal transcribed spacer and mitochondrial small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences from 65 strains were determined and compared. The combined dataset of two sequences increased informative characters and led to the production of trees with higher levels of resolution. Phylogenetic analysis of the combined dataset revealed thirteen evolutionary lineages and several unresolved species that were together subdivided into two large clusters consisting of oligonucleate species and binucleate species. These results coincided with previous cytological, morphological, and molecular studies. It is newly recognized that the Phellinus linteus complex forms a sister clade to Inonotus, and that Fulvifomes is somehow related to Inocutis. The Phellinus linteus complex of dimitic perennial taxa made an independent clade from Inonotus and suggested that hyphal miticity and fruitbody permanence had enough phylogenetic significance to keep the complex within the traditional genus Phellinus. Taxa lacking setae were clustered into Fulvifomes, Phylloporia, Inocutis, and Fomitiporia, and the first three were closely related sister groups, but Fomitiporia was a genus distantly related to them. Several taxa with branched setae were shown among distantly related genera. Molecular evidence indicated that the ancestral nuclear type could be a binucleate feature, and that there might be parallel gains of branched setae and parallel losses of setae in the Hymenochaetales.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2011

Three morphospecies of the genus Uronychia, i.e. U. setigera Calkins, 1902, U. binucleata Young, 1922, and U. multicirrus Song, 1997, were collected from the coastal waters of Gumjin-ri on the East Sea and the public waterfront of Incheon on the Yellow Sea in Korea, respectively. These species are described based on live observation, protargol impregnation, silver nitrate impregnation, and their morphometrics. Diagnostic keys for these species are also provided. In addition, their small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences were compared with previously known sequences of Uronychia species. Diagnostics of three Uronychia species are as follows: U. setigera: $50-80\;{\mu}m$ long in vivo, oval-shaped, 2 macronuclear nodules (Ma), 1 spur on the left margin, 11 adoral membranelles (AM) 1, 4 AM2, 1 buccal cirrus (BC), 4 frontal cirri (FC), 3 left marginal cirri (LMC), 2 ventral cirri (VC), 5 transverse cirri (TC), 3 caudal cirri (CC), 6 dorsal kineties (DK), and approximately 23 cilia in the leftmost kinety. U. binucleata: $70-110\;{\mu}m$ long in vivo, oval to slightly rectangular shaped, 2 Ma, 1 micronucleus (Mi), 2 spurs on the posterior region, 11 AM1, 4 AM2, 1 BC, 4 FC, 3 LMC, 2 VC, 5 TC, 3 CC, 6 DK, and approximately 37 cilia in the leftmost kinety. U. multicirrus: $140-200\;{\mu}m$ long in vivo, oval to slightly rectangular shaped, ca. 7 Ma, 1 Mi, 11 AM1, 4 AM2, 1 BC, 4 FC, 3 LMC, approximately 8 VC, 5 TC, 3 CC, and 6 DK. This study presents the first record of this genus in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.321-326
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• 2020

Blastocystis has recently been recognized as the most common eukaryotic microbe of the human gut. We investigated the prevalence of Blastocystis and their subtypes in diarrheal and non-diarrheal groups and the associated clinical parameters. A total of 324 stool samples were obtained from 196 diarrheal and 128 non-diarrheal subjects. Blastocystis subtypes were determined by sequencing the small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rRNA) gene. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed by diarrhea and Blastocystis status. The overall rate of Blastocystis positivity was 9.0% (29/324) but was significantly higher in the non-diarrheal group (18.0% vs. 3.1%, P<0.0001). Of the 6 Blastocystis-positive diarrheal patients, 3 (50.0%), none (0.0%), 2 (33.3%), and 1 (16.7%) were infected with subtypes ST1, ST2, ST3, and multiple subtypes, respectively. Of the 23 Blastocystis-positive non-diarrheal patients, 4 (17.4%), 1 (4.3%), and 18 (78.3%) were infected with subtypes ST1, ST2, and ST3, respectively. Blastocystis was less common in the diarrheal than the non-diarrheal group (odds ratio, 0.144; 95% confidence interval, 0.057-0.365, P<0.001). Of the 3 subtypes, ST3 was more frequently observed in the non-diarrheal than diarrheal group (78.3% vs. 33.3%, P=0.0341). Collectively, Blastocystis was found in both the diarrheal and non-diarrheal groups and ST3 was the most common subtype in Korea.