• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.11
• /
• pp.1510-1517
• /
• 2012

To evaluate the probiotic potential of Bacillus polyfermenticus CJ6 isolated from meju, a Korean traditional soybean fermentation starter, its functionality and safety were investigated. B. polyfermenticus CJ6 was sensitive to all antibiotics listed by the European Food Safety Authority. The strain was also non-hemolytic, carried no emetic toxin or enterotoxin genes, and produced no enterotoxins. The resistance of B. polyfermenticus CJ6 vegetative cells and spores to simulated gastrointestinal conditions was high (60-100% survival rate). B. polyfermenticus CJ6 produced high amounts (0.36 g as a purified lyophilized form) of ${\gamma}$-polyglutamic acid (PGA). We speculate that the improved cell viability and the production of ${\gamma}$-PGA have a significant correlation. Adhesion of the strain to Caco-2 and HT-29 cells was weaker than that of the reference strain (Lb. rhamnosus GG), but it was comparable to or stronger than those of reported Bacillus spp. When B. polyfermenticus CJ6 spores were given orally to mice, the number of cells excreted in the feces was 4-fold higher than the original inocula. This suggests the inoculated spores propagated within the intestinal tract of the mice. This idea was confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy, which revealed directly that B. polyfermenticus CJ6 cells germinated and adhered within the gastrointestinal tract of mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that B. polyfermenticus CJ6 has probiotic potential for both human consumption and use in animal feeds.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.564-574
• /
• 2019

Like many fungal pathogens, the conidium and appressorium play key roles during polycyclic dissemination and infection of Magnaporthe oryzae. Ran-binding protein microtubule-organizing center (RanBPM) is a highly conserved nucleocytoplasmic protein. In animalia, RanBPM has been implicated in apoptosis, cell morphology, and transcription. However, the functional roles of RanBPM, encoded by MGG_00753 (named MoRBP9) in M. oryzae, have not been elucidated. Here, the deletion mutant ΔMorbp9 for MoRBP9 was generated via homologous recombination to investigate the functions of this gene. The ΔMorbp9 exhibited normal conidial germination and vegetative growth but dramatically reduced conidiation compared with the wild type, suggesting that MoRBP9 is involved in conidial production. ΔMorbp9 conidia failed to produce appressoria on hydrophobic surfaces, whereas ΔMorbp9 still developed aberrantly shaped appressorium-like structures at hyphal tips on the same surface, suggesting that MoRBP9 is involved in the morphology of appressorium-like structures from hyphal tips and is critical for development of appressorium from germ tubes. Taken together, our results indicated that MoRBP9 played a pleiotropic role in polycyclic dissemination and infection-related morphogenesis of M. oryzae.

• Journal of Mushroom
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.82-87
• /
• 2014

Commonly known as the button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus is one of the most widely cultivated mushroom species of edible fungi. In the breeding of new button mushroom, Seolwon was developed by crossing two homokaryons. Because of the predominantly pseudohomothallic life cycle, only a small percentage of homokaryotic meiospores are produced, which do not fruit. Homokaryotic cultures derived from these types of single spores produce a vegetative mycelium that contain a variable number of genetically identical nuclei per cell. After crossing two homokaryons, hybrids were cultivated on a small scale and on a commercial scale at a farm. The spawn was made by a commercial spawn producer and the spawned compost by a commercial compost producer. Mycelial growth of Seolwon on CDA was better at $25^{\circ}C$ when it was compared with that of Seolgang. The mature cap shape of new strain Seolwon is oblate spheroid and the immature cap shape is round to oblate spheroid. The cap diameter was 39.7 mm on average. In comparison with white strain Seolgang, the strain had a yield that was 11% higher. It produced fruiting bodies which had a higher weight on average per fruiting body and were 9.7% firmer with a good shelf life. Days of fruiting body were 1-2 days later than those of Seolgang. The physical characteristics such as springiness, chewiness, adhesiveness, gumminess were better than that of Seolgang.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
• /
• 2017.06a
• /
• pp.168-168
• /
• 2017

Drought conditions during cultivation reduce agricultural production yield less than a theoretical maximum yield under normal condition. Plant specific NAC transcription factors in rice are known to play an essential roles in stress resistance transcriptional regulation. In this study, we report the rice (Oryza sativa L japonica) NAM, AFTF and CUC transcription factor OsNAC17, which is predominantly induced by abiotic stress in leaf, was contribute to the drought tolerance mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in transgenic rice plants. Constitutive (PGD1) promoter was introduced to overexpress OsNAC17 and produced the transgenic PDG1:OsNAC17. Overexpression of OsNAC17 throughout the whole plant improved drought resistance phenotype at the vegetative stage. Morphological characteristics such as grain yield, grain filling rate, and total grain weight improved by 22~64% over wild type plants under drought conditions during the reproductive stage. The improved drought tolerance in transgenic rice was involved in reducing stomatal density up to 15% than in wild type plants and in increasing reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzyme. DEG profiling experiment identified 119 up-regulated genes by more than twofold (P<0.01). These genes included UDP-glycosyltransferase family protein, similar to 2-alkenal reductase (NADPH-dependent oxireductase), similar to retinol dehydrogenase 12, Lipoxygenase, and NB-ARC domain containing protein related in cell death. Furthermore, OsNAC17 was act as a transcriptional activator, which has an activation domain in C-terminal region. These result demonstrate that the overexpression of OsNAC17 improve drought tolerance by regulating ROS scavenging enzymes and by reducing stomatal density

• ALGAE
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.205-217
• /
• 2016

Freshwater red tides due to dinoflagellates have caused spectacular and regular “summer reddening” in recent years in Baishihai Lake, a temperate, meromictic, meso- or oligotrophic, high-altitude, landslide-dammed, deep lake located at the eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau in China. Based on morphological and molecular analyses, the causative organism has been identified as a new woloszynskioid dinoflagellate, Tovellia diexiensis Q. Zhang et G. X. Liu sp. nov. The vegetative cells are 20-32 μm long and 16-24 μm wide. They have a hemispherical episome and a broadly rounded hyposome with a short characteristic antapical spine. Usually cells are bright red due to the presence of numerous red-pigmented bodies, which often masked the yellowish green discoid chloroplasts. The amphiesma of motile cells comprise mainly quadrilateral, pentagonal or hexagonal thin plates, arranged in 4-5 latitudinal series on the episome, 1 in the cingulum and 4 on the hyposome. Molecular phylogenies based on small subunit ribosomal DNA and large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU) indicate T. diexiensis from Baishihai Lake to belong to the family Tovelliaceae, which was monophyletic in our LSU phylogenies. During the bloom-forming period in 2005, cell density of T. diexiensis reached 9.15 × 10⁵ cells L⁻¹. Astaxanthin and its diester were found to be the major pigments in T. diexiensis, resulting in a characteristic blood-red color of the water in Baishihai Lake.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.40-45
• /
• 1998

An antagonistic fungus inhibiting growth of various phytopathogenic fungi was isolated from greenhouse soils and identified. Mophological features of fruiting structures on potato dextrose agar and colorless globose to ovate heavy walled hyaline cells from the vegetative mycelium grown on MY20 agar indicate that this antagonist is Aspergillus terreus. The antagonistic activity is due to the production of antifungal compounds. An antifungal compound was purified from its culture filtrate using chloroform extraction, column chromatography, and thin layer chromatography. The purified antibiotic was effective to various phytopathogenic fungi and identified as butyrolactone I. $ED_{50}$ values measured by petri-plate assay through effective dosage(ED)-probit analysis were 9.7, 13.7, 23.3, 42.6 and 102.7 ppm on Botrytis cinerea, Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, Phytophthora capsici, and Fusarium oxysporum, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.568-572
• /
• 2005

Saccharomyces yeast spores are more resistant to drying and storage than vegetative cells. For the mass production of yeast spores, compressed yeast was directly inoculated into a sporulation medium (SM). The effects of inoculum size and the addition of rice wine cake (RWC) into SM on the sporulation were examined using flasks. With $1\%$ inoculum of compressed yeast, $1.45{\times}10^8/ml$ of asci was obtained. The addition of $0.5\%$ RWC into SM improved the cell growth and spore yield, and the number of asci formed was $2.31{\times}10^8/ml$. The effects of culture temperature, temperature-shift, and concentrations of inoculum, potassium acetate, and RWC on the sporulation were also evaluated using a jar fermentor. The optimum temperature for spore formation was $22^{\circ}C$ where the number of asci formed was $2.46{\times}10^8/ml$. The shift of culture temperature from initial $30^{\circ}C$ for 1 day to $22^{\circ}C$ for 3 days increased the number of asci formed to $2.96{\times}10^8/ml$. The use of $2\%$ (w/v) inoculum of compressed yeast, $2\%$ potassium acetate, and $1\%$ (w/v) RWC in SM with the shift of culture temperature of initial $30^{\circ}C\;to\;22^{\circ}C$ resulted in $90\%$ sporulation ratio and formation of $6.18{\times}10^8\;asci/ml$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.7
• /
• pp.889-893
• /
• 2012

Appressorium is a specialized infection structure of filamentous pathogenic fungi and plays an important role in establishing a pathogenic relationship with the host. The Egh16/Egh16H family members are involved in appressorium formation and pathogenesis in pathogenic filamentous fungi. In this study, a homolog of Egh16H, Magas1, was identified from an entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium acridum. The Magas1 protein shared a number of conserved motifs with other Egh16/Egh16H family members and specifically expressed during the appressorium development period. Magas1-EGFP fusion expression showed that Magas1 protein was not localized inside the cell. Deletion of the Magas1 gene had no impact on vegetative growth, conidiation and appressorium formation, but resulted in a decreased mortality of host insect when topically inoculated. However, the mortality was not significant between the Magas1 deletion mutant and wild-type treatment when the cuticle was bypassed by injecting conidia directly into the hemocoel. Our results suggested that Magas1 may influence virulence by affecting the penetration of the insects' cuticle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
• /
• 2017.06a
• /
• pp.159-159
• /
• 2017

Drought, a common environmental constraint, induces a range of physiological, biochemical and molecular changes in plants, and can cause severe reductions in crop yield. Consequently, understanding the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance is an important step towards crop biotechnology. Here, we report that the rice (Oryza sativa) homeodomain-leucine zipper class IV transcription factor gene, ${\underline{R}ice}$ ${\underline{o}utermost}$ ${\underline{c}ell-specific}$ gene 10 (Roc10), enhances drought tolerance and grain yield by increasing lignin accumulation in ground tissues. Overexpression of Roc10 in rice significantly increased drought tolerance at the vegetative stages of growth and promoted both more effective photosynthesis and a reduction in water loss rate, compared with non-transgenic controls or RNAi transgenic plants. Importantly, Roc10 overexpressing plants had a higher drought tolerance at the reproductive stage of growth and a higher grain yield compared with the controls under field-drought conditions. Roc10 is mainly expressed in outer cell layers including the epidermis and the vasculature of the shoots, which coincides with areas of cell wall lignification. Roc10 overexpression elevated the expression levels of lignin biosynthetic genes in shoots, with a concomitant increase in the accumulation of lignin, while the overexpression and RNAi lines showed opposite patterns of lignin accumulation. We identified downstream target genes of Roc10 by performing RNA-seq and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-seq analyses of shoot tissues. Roc10 was found to directly bind to the promoter of PEROXIDASEN/PEROXIDASE38, a key gene in lignin biosynthesis. Together, our findings suggest that Roc10 confers drought stress tolerance by promoting lignin biosynthesis in ground tissues.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.177-225
• /
• 2011

Verdicts related to major medical litigation given by the Seoul Central District Court, the Seoul High Court and the Supreme Court in 2010 were analyzed. It's shown that in cases of the medical negligence regarding the occurrence of neonatal cerebral palsy, the plaintiff claims were dismissed using criteria proposed by associations of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics in US, and thereof the burden of plaintiffs to prove the medical negligence has increased. In addition, in case of that the expected survival period of infants gets longer, payments for treatment and nursing after survival period determined by judges are made and it was judged to compensate it as a periodical indemnity. In case for the explanation obligation the most frequently mentioned in the medical litigation, in addition to cases of invoking the existing theory of explanation obligation, verdicts to mention the instructions of theory regarding instruction explanation obligation and the possibility of compensation for damages on property are given. Particularly, in cases for a liability of reparation by exaggerating the effects and not disclosing the risks related to treatment with stem cells, even if the treatment not approved by Food and Drug Administration is in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, it's not illegal as violation in Pharmaceutical Affairs Law itself. But there is a certain verdict to present the possibility of an extension of the theory of explanation obligation by acknowledging the liability of reparation caused by illegal acts with no explanations of effects and risks of treatment with stem cell by doctors and pharmaceutical companies. In an incident in which a mental patient fell and died through the opened door of the roof at the hospital, a liability of reparation was acknowledged due to defects in structure installation management and this verdict drew an attention since the overall management responsibility about patients including structures was acknowledged to the hospital besides the obligations on medical practice. In case of the verdict without giving the opportunity to state the opinion with respect to the main legal issues, the responsibility of the court was emphasized since the court did not fulfill the explanation obligations. There were some cases in which payments for nursing and caring to a patient in vegetative state during the plastic surgery was admitted. However, in dental-related incidents, the proportion of cases in which plaintiff won was low since the difficulty of proving may be reflected. In the area of administrative litigation, unlike the existing position regarding arbitrary medical charge cover collected from patients in hospital, the verdict to admit the legitimacy of collection of medical treatment was given and attracted the attention of people. Verdict in which the expression related to medical advertisement was not exaggerated disposed the original verdict and pointed out the problem of excessive regulations on medical advertisement. The effort to analyze the trend of verdicts of court through reviewing the decisions and to organize should be continued, but the full decision should be disclosed as a base, and people and systems to enable the all time monitoring should be prepared.