• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.312-318
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• 2016

Objectives: Bacterial resistant infections have become a global health challenge and threaten the society's health. Thus, an urgent need exists to find ways to combat resistant pathogens. One promising approach to overcoming bacterial resistance is the use of herbal products. Green tea catechins, the major green tea polyphenols, show antimicrobial activity against resistant pathogens. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of catechins, green tea extract, and methylxanthines in combination with gentamicin against standard and clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and the standard strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). Methods: The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of different agents against bacterial strains were determined. The interactions of green tea extract, epigallate catechin, epigallocatechin gallate, two types of methylxanthine, caffeine, and theophylline with gentamicin were studied in vitro by using a checkerboard method and calculating the fraction inhibitory concentration index (FICI). Results: The MICs of gentamicin against bacterial strains were in the range of $0.312-320{\mu}g/mL$. The MIC values of both types of catechins were $62.5-250{\mu}g/mL$. Green tea extract showed insufficient antibacterial activity when used alone. Methylxanthines had no intrinsic inhibitory activity against any of the bacterial strains tested. When green tea extract and catechins were combined with gentamicin, the MIC values of gentamicin against the standard strains and a clinical isolate were reduced, and synergistic activities were observed (FICI < 1). A combination of caffeine with gentamicin did not alter the MIC values of gentamicin. Conclusion: The results of the present study revealed that green tea extract and catechins potentiated the antimicrobial action of gentamicin against some clinical isolates of S. aureus and standard P. aeruginosa strains. Therefore, combinations of gentamicin with these natural compounds might be a promising approach to combat microbial resistance.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.96-103
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• 2007

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have the potential to be used as microbial inoculants to reduce disease incidence and severity and to increase crop yield. Some of the PGPR have been reported to be able to enter plant tissues and establish endophytic populations. Here, we demonstrated an approach to screen bacterial endophytes that have the capacity to promote the growth of pepper seedlings and protect pepper plants against a bacterial pathogen. Initially, out of 150 bacterial isolates collected from healthy stems of peppers cultivated in the Chungcheong and Gyeongsang provinces of Korea, 23 putative endophytic isolates that were considered to be predominating and representative of each pepper sample were selected. By phenotypic characterization and partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis, the isolates were identified as species of Ochrobacterium, Pantoea, Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Janthinobacterium, Ralstonia, Arthrobacter, Clavibacter, Sporosarcina, Acidovorax, and Brevundimonas. Among them, two isolates, PS4 and PS27, were selected because they showed consistent colonizing capacity in pepper stems at the levels of $10^6-10^7CFU/g$ tissue, and were found to be most closely related to Pseudomonas rhodesiae and Pantoea ananatis, respectively, by additional analyses of their entire 16S rDNA sequences. Drenching application of the two strains on the pepper seedlings promoted significant growth of peppers, enhancing their root fresh weight by 73.9% and 41.5%, respectively. The two strains also elicited induced systemic resistance of plants against Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.17 no.1 s.34
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• pp.37-40
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• 1978

The resistance to bacterial leaf blight of Conventional varieties (chodongi, Yongcheon etc.) cultivated from 1920 to 1956 in Korea were tested by means of 5 pathotypes of causal organism Xanthomonas oryzase (Uyeda et lshiyama) DOWSON. The results of this test are: 1. Among 74 varieties, 69 varieties including 'Chodongji, Yongcheon, Aedhal, Yongsang, Daegu, Mitdhari, pungok, etc' belong to the Kinmaze group that is highly susceptible to this disease. 2. 3 varieties: Heukbal, Doipnam, Whangphan belong to the Kogyoku group. 3. 2 varieties: Namgok, Gangbukdo, show unknown reaciton to differential varieties. 4. In 69 varieties belonging to the Kinmaze group $99.5\%$ of the plants were infected by bacterial group I. $99.6\%$ in bacterial group II. $100\%$ in group III, $99.7\%$ in group IV, and $99.8\%$ in group V. 5. In 3 varieties belong to Kyogyoku group, $1.7\%$ of the plants were infected in bacterial group I. $98.8\%$ in group II, $100\%$ in group III, IV and $1.4\%$ in group V.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.716-728
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• 1999

Whole oil and ketonic fraction (KF) of Leptospermum scoparium have been tested for their antimicrobial activity and combination effect with several antibiotics against various bacterial strains and fungi by using microbiological assay methods. Antibacterial activities of KF against a number of test strains were 2-3 fold stronger than those of whole oil. MICs of the KF were $65~125{\;}{\mu\textrm{g}}/ml$ against seven gram positive bacterial strains, $65~250{\;}{\mu\textrm{g}}/ml$ against 19 methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus strains, and $65~50{\;}{\mu\textrm{g}}/ml$ against 14 quinolone resistance strains. However, KF showed little or no activity against gram negative bacteria. MICs of the KF were $16~250{\;}{\mu\textrm{g}}/ml$ against more than 50% of the anaerobic bacterial strains tested. KF showed the higher antibacterial activity than bacitracin against 10 strains of Bacteroids thetaiotaomicron, or three strains of Bacteroides ovatus, and the more active than ciprofloxacin against one strain of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and three strains of Bacteroids ovatus. The MICs of KF was 63 and $250{\;}{\mu\textrm{g}}/ml$ against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans, respectively. Antibacterial activities of KF in combination with 19 antibiotics against 14 strains and with four antifungal agents against one fungal strain were determined by paper strip diffusion method. While most of combination showed additivity, KF showed synergism with bacitracin, exfadroxil, cephradin, and meropenem for 29~57% of the strains tested. However, ofloxacin, enoxacin, sparfloxacin showed antagonism with KF for 43~71% of the strains. KF alone and in combination with bacitracin, gentamycin, neomycin, itraconazole, fluconazole, terfinafine and ketoconazole against five bacterial strains or one fungus strain synergistic effect was demonstrated against 33% of strains examined with FIC index value below 0.5 by checkerboard study. Synergistic effect of KF with gentamicin against Staphylococcus epidermidis 329 (QRS) was found by time-kill study.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.73 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2012

Background: This study evaluates the bacterial pathogens of Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in a tertiary referral hospital. Methods: A total of 109 bacterial pathogens from 91 adult patients with VAP, who were admitted to the medical intensive care unit from January 2008 to December 2009, were examined. Clinical characteristics, bacterial pathogens, and resistance profiles were analyzed. Results: Staphylococcus aureus (44%) was the most frequently isolated. Acinetobacter baumanii (30%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12%), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (7%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (6%), and Serratia marcescens (2%) were isolated from the transtracheal aspirates or bronchoalveolar lavage in patients with VAP. There was no significant difference of bacterial pathogens between early and late onset VAP. All isolated S. aureus were methicillin resistant S. aureus; the imipenem resistance rate of A. baumanii was 69%. Conclusion: The two most frequent pathogens of VAP were S. aureus and A. baumanii. There were no pathogenic differences between early and late onset VAP.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.383-390
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• 2011

Near-isogenic lines (NILs) carrying bacterial blight resistance genes (Xa4, xa5 and Xa21) were developed in japonica rice using Suweon345 as genetic background. NILs were selected by gene specific DNA markers and inoculation of K1 or K3a race. NILs conferring Xa4 were resistant to K1, K2, K3, and moderately resistant to K3a. NILs conferring xa5 were resistant to K1, K2, K3, and K3a. NILs having Xa21 were susceptible to K1, while resistant to K2, K3 and K3a. Target genes of NILs with the genetic background of Suweon345 were also confirmed by using eleven Philippines races and International Rice Bacterial Blight (IRBB) NILs carrying Xa4, xa5 and Xa21. All NILs had no significant difference from their recurrent parents in the major agronomic traits except for panicle length and brown rice 1,000 grain weight. Heading date of NILs ranged from Aug. 10 to Aug. 11, which was similar to that of recurrent parent, Suweon345. Culm length, number of grains per panicle and ratio of ripened grain of NILs were similar to those of Suweon345. Milled rice of NILs was ranged from 4.82 to 4.93MT/ha. These NILs will be useful for improving resistance to K3a race of bacterial blight pathogens in Korean japonica cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2016

Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) produces enterotoxins known to be a virulence factor. Three isotypes of the B. fragilis toxin (BFT) gene have been identified: bft-1, bft-2, and bft-3. We investigated the presence of bft isotypes in clinical B. fragilis isolates and the antimicrobial resistance of BFT-negative and BFT-positive isolates. Overall, 537 B. fragilis isolates were collected from extraintestinal specimens over 8 years (2006~2013) from a university hospital in Korea. Samples were analyzed by multiplex PCR to identify the bft gene isotypes. Additionally, the antimicrobial susceptibility of 107 B. fragilis isolates (74 BFT-negative and 33 BFT-positive) was examined by the CLSI agar dilution method. PCR revealed a total bft gene detection rate of 30%, while 33% and 29% of blood and other extraintestinal isolates contained the gene, respectively. Among ETBF isolates, the most common isotype was bft-1 gene, followed by bft-2 and bft-3 (bft-1 77%, bft-2 14%, bft-3 9%). Resistance rates (%) for BFT-negative and positive isolates differed in response to various antimicrobial agents, with 3%, 5%, 1% and 38% of BFT-negative isolates and 3%, 6%, 3% an 42% of BFT-positive isolates being resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam, cefoxitin, imipenem, and clindamycin, respectively. Interestingly, neither BFT-negative nor positive isolates showed antimicrobial resistance to chloramphenicol and metronidazole. Overall, the proportion of ETBF from blood was similar to that of other extraintestinal sites and the bft-1 gene was the predominant isotype. Higher antimicrobial resistance rates were found in BFT-positive isolates than BFT-negative isolates, but these differences were not statistically significant.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.208.1-208
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• 2005

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.224-231
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• 2010

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, causal agent of bacterial leaf blight (BLB) of rice, had been collected and identified using Biolog and fatty acid analysis. Epidemics of BLB had been occurred all the times at several rice cultivating areas in Korea in 1999-2004. Most X. oryzae pv. oryzae isolated in 1999 and 2002 belonged to Korean race K1, but more than 50% of the pathogen isolated in 2003 belonged to Korean race K3. Especially, most pathogens isolated in Jeonnam and Joenbuk provinces belonged to Korean race K3. Inoculation test of near isogenic lines (NIL) of rice carrying single resistance genes against BLB showed that many isolates belonging to Korean race 1 reacted differently to diverse resistant monogenic lines of rice. Southern blot analysis also showed that the bacterial pathogens belonged to the same race had different numbers of avirulence genes. This results suggested that each Korean race type may respond to many resistance genes of rice. All the K3 races isolated in Jeonnam and Joenbuk provinces were able to cause disease on Xa3 monogenic lines of rice. Since most rice cultivars cultivated in Jeonnam and Jeonbuk were carrying Xa3 resistance genes, the bacterial pathogens isolated in Jeonnam and Jeonbuk were likely to develop to adapt to Xa3 resistance gene. Together with avirulence gene patterns of the bacterial isolates and the results of disease reaction of monogenic lines of rice to them, Korean X. oryzae pv. oryzae was classified into 19 pathotypes. This newly classified pathotypes should help the breeding of new resistance rice cultivars in Korea.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.228-233
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• 2017

Six commercial rootstock varieties were tested for resistance to bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) by dipping the roots of seedlings in the bacterial suspension at seedling stage. 'Shincheonggang' and 'B-Blocking' ranked top and second in resistance to bacterial wilt, respectively. For disease index of the grafted plants, 'Dotaerang' grafted onto 'Shincheonggang' was the least, followed by 'Ultra', 'Fighting', 'B-Blocking', 'Special', and 'Connection' grafts. Thus, disease development on the grafted plants was correlated with resistance of rootstocks. The effect of rootstocks on horticultural characteristics including days to flower of scion was minimum or negligible. In correlation between horticultural characteristics of rootstocks and scions grafted thereon, statistically significant negative correlation was observed in days to flower and fruit height but no significant correlation was observed in yield per plant, fruit diameter and soluble solid content in the fruits. Thus, selection of resistant rootstock varieties that support the growth and yield of scion well is necessary for effective control of the disease and yield increase.