• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1408-1414
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• 2015

In this study, to retain a stable bacterial inoculant, Bacillus strains showing antifungal activity were screened. The improved production, antifungal mechanism, and stability of the antifungal metabolite by a selected strain, AF4, a potent antagonist against phytopathogenic Botrytis cinerea, were also investigated. The AF4 strain was isolated from rhizospheric soil of hot pepper and identified as Bacillus subtilis by phenotypic characters and 16S rRNA gene analysis. Strain AF4 did not produce antifungal activity in the absence of a nitrogen source and produced antifungal activity at a broad range of temperatures (25-40℃) and pH (7-10). Optimal carbon and nitrogen sources for the production of antifungal activity were glycerol and casein, respectively. Under improved conditions, the maximum antifungal activity was 140±3 AU/ml, which was higher than in the basal medium. Photomicrographs of strain AF4-treated B. cinerea showed morphological abnormalities of fungal mycelia, demonstrating the role of the antifungal metabolite. The B. subtilis AF4 culture exhibited broad antifungal activity against several phytopathogenic fungi. The antifungal activity was heat-, pH-, solvent-, and protease-stable, indicating its nonproteinous nature. These results suggest that B. subtilis AF4 is a potential candidate for the control of phytopathogenic fungi-derived plant diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.296-304
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• 1994

Antibiotic substances were produced by Bacillus subtilis YB-70, a potential biocontrol agent found to suppress root-rot of eggplant (Solanum melonggena L) caused by Fusarium solani, in a dextrose glutamate medium and isolated by isoelectric precipitation. Partial purification was performed by column chromatography on silica gel with two solvent systems: chloroform-methanol and methanol-chloroform-water as eluting solvents, This active fraction YBS-1 s contained antifungal activity were soluble in ethanol, methanol, and water, but were not soluble in other solvents including acetone, butanol, ethyl ether, dimethylformamide, propanol, and etc. High performance liquid chromatography and thin layer chromatographic separation of YBS-1s showed that they have been composed of three biological active bands that were named YBS-1A, -1B, and -1C. The substances were stable to heat and resistant to protease. YBS-1s were active against a wide range of plant pathogenic fungi but did not inhibit the growth of bacteria and yeasts. They were not only fungicidal but also fungistatic against chlamydospores of F. solani. The $ED_{50}$ values for the chlamydospore germination and the germ-tube growth of F. solani were $O.725\mu\textrm{m}/ml\;and\;O.562\mu\textrm{m}/ml$, respectively. Microscopic observations proved the substances restricted the growth of phytopathogenic fungus F. solani by spore burst followed by dissolving of its germ-tube, and caused abnormal hyphal swelling after application to chlamydospores or growing hyphae. Cultural filtrate of B; subtilis YB-70 also suppressed the development of root-rot of eggplant in pot tests.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.790-800
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• 2022

Background: Panax ginseng Meyer is one of the most valuable medicinal plants which is enriched in anti-microbe secondary metabolites and widely used in traditional medicine. Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus that causes gray mold disease in a broad range of hosts. B. cinerea could overcome the ginseng defense and cause serious leaf and root diseases with unknown mechanism. Methods: We conducted simultaneous transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of the host to investigate the defense response of ginseng affected by B. cinerea. The gene deletion and replacement were then performed to study the pathogenic gene in B. cinerea during ginseng - fungi interaction. Results: Upon B. cinerea infection, ginseng defense responses were switched from the activation to repression, thus the expression of many defense genes decreased and the biosynthesis of antifungal metabolites were reduced. Particularly, ginseng metabolites like kaempferol, quercetin and luteolin which could inhibit fungi growth were decreased after B. cinerea infection. B. cinerea quercetin dioxygenase (Qdo) involved in catalyzing flavonoids degradation and ∆BcQdo mutants showed increased substrates accumulation and reduced disease development. Conclusion: This work indicates the flavonoids play a role in ginseng defense and BcQdo involves in B. cinerea virulence towards the P. ginseng. B. cinerea promotes disease development in ginseng by suppressing of defense related genes expression and reduction of antifungal metabolites biosynthesis.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.316-321
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• 2015

A small cationic peptide (JH8944) was tested for activity against a number of pathogens of agricultural crops. JH8944 inhibited conidium growth in most of the tested plant pathogens with a dose of $50{\mu}g/ml$, although one isolate of Fusarium oxysporum was inhibited at $5{\mu}g/ml$ of JH8944. Most conidia of Fusarium graminearum were killed within 6 hours of treatment with $50{\mu}g/ml$ of JH8944. Germinating F. graminearum conidia required $238{\mu}g/ml$ of JH8944 for 90% growth inhibition. The peptide did not cause any damage to tissues surrounding maize leaf punctures when tested at a higher concentration of $250{\mu}g/ml$ even after 3 days. Liposomes consisting of phosphatidylglycerol were susceptible to leakage after treatment with 25 and $50{\mu}g/ml$ of JH8944. These experiments suggest this peptide destroys fungal membrane integrity and could be utilized for control of crop fungal pathogens.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.302-310
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• 2011

Elsinoe fawcettii is one of major pathogenic fungi which cause citrus scab diseases, resulting in fruit blemishes that reduce the economic value of fruit. By increasing interest to safe products of crops, the alternative methods of disease control is highly required. We investigated whether the 215 bacterial strains isolated from Jeju Island possess antifungal effect or suppression effect on the symptom development by Elsinoe fawcettii on citrus. Among them, three bacterial strains THJ 609-3, MRL408-3, and TRH423-3 that exhibited antifungal capacity against Elsinoe fawcettii were selected. To illustrate the disease suppression mechanism, pre-inoculation with the selected bacterial strains was carried out whether could suppress the citrus crab on the leaves. The observation with a fluorescence microscope revealed that the selected bacteria could decrease the number of fungal spores. The ratio of germ tube formation was also decreased by the selected bacterial strains at one day after fungus challenge. The strain THJ 609-3 was identified as Pseudomonas putida as a result of analyzing the internal transcript spaces of the rhizobacterial rDNA. The strains MRL 408-3 and TRH 423-3 were identified as Burkholderia gladioli. Our results may be valuable when the selected rhizobacterial strains used as the environment-friendly microbe for biological control on citrus scab caused by Elsinoe fawcettii.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.234-247
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• 2021

We used a heterozygous gene deletion library of fission yeasts comprising all essential and non-essential genes for a microarray screening of target genes of the antifungal terbinafine, which inhibits ergosterol synthesis via the Erg1 enzyme. We identified 14 heterozygous strains corresponding to 10 non-essential [7 ribosomal-protein (RP) coding genes, spt7, spt20, and elp2] and 4 essential genes (tif302, rpl2501, rpl31, and erg1). Expectedly, their erg1 mRNA and protein levels had decreased compared to the control strain SP286. When we studied the action mechanism of the non-essential target genes using cognate haploid deletion strains, knockout of SAGA-subunit genes caused a down-regulation in erg1 transcription compared to the control strain ED668. However, knockout of RP genes conferred no susceptibility to ergosterol-targeting antifungals. Surprisingly, the RP genes participated in the erg1 transcription as components of repressor complexes as observed in a comparison analysis of the experimental ratio of erg1 mRNA. To understand the action mechanism of the interaction between the drug and the novel essential target genes, we performed isobologram assays with terbinafine and econazole (or cycloheximide). Terbinafine susceptibility of the tif302 heterozygous strain was attributed to both decreased erg1 mRNA levels and inhibition of translation. Moreover, Tif302 was required for efficacy of both terbinafine and cycloheximide. Based on a molecular modeling analysis, terbinafine could directly bind to Tif302 in yeasts, suggesting Tif302 as a potential off-target of terbinafine. In conclusion, this genome-wide screening system can be harnessed for the identification and characterization of target genes under any condition of interest.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 2009

Phospholipids are crucially important in a cell membrane function and could thereby influence antibiotic susceptibility. In order to investigate the antifungal mechanism the total lipid was extracted from C. albicans treated with citronellol or thymol in concentration of their minimum inhibiting concentration and the changes in phospholipids composition were analyzed using ketoconazole as control. The cell growth and total lipid synthesis in cell walls of C. albicans were inhibited by treatment with citronellol. The levels of total lipids were decreased by 35.85% compared to the control. They also showed a significant decrease in the contents of phospholipid, phosphatidylcholine(PC), phosphatidyl ethanolamine(PE) and phosphatidylinositol(PI). As the result of GC assay for total fatty acid methyl esters of PC, PE and PI in C. albicans treated with citronellol, it was found that the major fatty acid composed of three phospholipid were palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid. Moreover, the pattern of the fatty acid compositions of PC, PE and PI were changed by the oil. Based on the results, the anti-Candida mechanism of citronellol or thymol might be closely associated with disrupting the permeability barriers of the fungal cell wall composition or construction.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.289-296
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• 2010

Lectins are carbohydrate-binding and a cell-agglutinating proteins, and are concerted with a plants defence mechanism. In particular, chitin-binding lectins in locular fluid of cherry tomato fruit seemed to have a role in defending plants against fungi. The antifungal activity using lectin isolated from locular fluid of cherry tomato fruit was measured in the plant pathogen Cladosporium cucumerinum, Monosporascus cannonballus, Fusarium oxysporum, and Rhizoctonia solani. Amoung the four strains, a potent antifungal activity was detected in Cladosporium cucumerinum and Monosporascus cannonballus, not in Fusarium oxysporum, and Rhizoctonia solani. The molecular weight of this lectin isolated as double protein bands by SDS-PAGE was calculated to be 87 kDa and 47 kDa from the relative mobilities compared with those of reference molecular weight markers. The isolated lectin agglutinated human red blood cells (A, B, AB, O) treated with trypsin, and the most activity was found at B. The optimal temperature of isolated lectin was at $30^{\circ}C$. For the thermal stability, lectin was stable at $20-80^{\circ}C$. The optimal pH of this lectin was at 7.2, and showed complete loss below pH 9.0.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.122-129
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• 1998

It were reported that antifungal mechanism of Enterobacter cloacae is a volatile ammonia that produced by the strain in soil, and the production of ammonia is related to the bacterial urease activity. A powerful bacterium SH14 against soil-borne pathogen Fusarium solani, which cause root rot of many important crops, was selected from a ginseng pathogen suppressive soil. The strain SH14 was identified as Bacillus subtilis by cultural, biochemical, morphological method, and $API^{circledR}$ test. From several in vitro tests, the antifungal substance that is produced from B. subtilis SH14 was revealed as heat-stable and low-molecular weight antibiotic substance. In order to construct the multifunctional biocontrol agent, the urease gene of Bacillus pasteurii which can produce pathogenes-suppressive ammonia transferred into antifungal bacterium. First, a partial BamH I digestion fragment of plasmid pBU11 containing the alkalophilic B. pasteurii l1859 urease gene was inserted into the BamH I site of pEB203 and expressed in Escherichia coli JM109. The recombinant plasmid was designated as pGU366. The plasmid pGU366 containing urease gene was introduced into the B. subtilis SH14 with PEG-induced protoplast transformation (PIP) method. The urease gene was very stably expressed in the transformant of B. subtilis SH14. Also, the optimal conditions for transformation were established and the highest transformation frequency was obtained by treatment of lysozyme for 90 min, and then addition of 1.5 ${mu}g$/ml DNA and 40% PEG4000. From the in vitro antifungal test against F. solani, antifungal activity of B. subtilis SH14(pGu366) containing urease gene was much higher than that of the host strain. Genetical development of B. subtilis SH14 by transfer of urease gene can be responsible for enhanced biocontrol efficacy with its antibiotic action.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.332-336
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• 2000

Phenazine 1-carboxylic acid (PCA) is an antifungal antibiotic isolated from a culture filtrate of Bacillus sp. B-6 producing an acyl CoA synthetase inhibitor. This antibiotic is reported as an inhibitor of an acyl CoA synthetase from Pseudomonas sp.. Bacillus sp. B-6 was resistant to PCA up to 350 ${\mu}g/ml$. We investigated the mechanism of the resistance of Bacillus sp. B-6 to PCA. The rate of growth in a medium containing up to 100 ${\mu}g/ml$ was as rapid as the PCA-free medium. At a PCA concentration of 300 ${\mu}g/ml$, the growth rate was more than half that of the control. In this work, we purified acyl CoA synthetase from Bacillus sp. B-6 and found that this acyl CoA synthetase was much less sensitive to PCA than the acyl CoA synthetase from other source. These findings suggested that the insensitivity of Bacillus sp. B-6 acyl CoA synthetase plays an important role in the PCA resistance of this bacterium.