• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.108-112
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• 2009

A simplified method for the purification of cholera toxin was developed. The 569B strain of Vibrio cholerae, a recognized hyper-producer of cholera toxin, was propagated in a bioreactor under conditions that promote the production of the toxin. The toxin was separated from the bacterial cells using 0.2-${\mu}m$ crossflow microfiltration, the clarified toxin was passed through the membrane into the permeate, and the bacterial cells were retained in the retentate. The 0.2-${\mu}m$ permeate was then concentrated 3-fold and diafiltered against 10 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.6, using 30-kDa crossflow ultrafiltration. The concentrated toxin was loaded onto a cation exchange column, the toxin was bound to the column, and most of the impurities were passed unimpeded through the column. The toxin was eluted with a salt gradient of phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, containing 1.0 M NaCl. The peak containing the toxin was assayed for cholera toxin and protein and the purity was determined to be 92%. The toxin peak had a low endotoxin level of $3.1\;EU/{\mu}g$ of toxin. The purified toxin was used to prepare antiserum against whole toxin, which was used in a $G_{M1}$ ganglioside-binding ELISA to determine residual levels of toxin in an oral inactivated whole-cell cholera vaccine. The $G_{M1}$ ganglioside-binding ELISA was shown to be very sensitive and capable of detecting as little as 1 ng/ml of cholera toxin.

• BMB Reports
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.611-621
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• 2020

Bacterial endoribonuclease toxins belong to a protein family that inhibits bacterial growth by degrading mRNA or rRNA sequences. The toxin genes are organized in pairs with its cognate antitoxins in the chromosome and thus the activities of the toxins are antagonized by antitoxin proteins or RNAs during active translation. In response to a variety of cellular stresses, the endoribonuclease toxins appear to be released from antitoxin molecules via proteolytic cleavage of antitoxin proteins or preferential degradation of antitoxin RNAs and cleave a diverse range of mRNA or rRNA sequences in a sequence-specific or codon-specific manner, resulting in various biological phenomena such as antibiotic tolerance and persister cell formation. Given that substrate specificity of each endoribonuclease toxin is determined by its structure and the composition of active site residues, we summarize the biology, structure, and substrate specificity of the updated bacterial endoribonuclease toxins.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.265-274
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• 2016

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are ubiquitous genetic modules that are evolutionally conserved in bacteria and archaea. TA systems composed of an intracellular toxin and its antidote (antitoxin) are currently classified into five types. Commonly, activation of toxins under stress conditions inhibits diverse cellular processes and consequently induces cell death or reversible growth inhibition. These effects of toxins play various physiological roles in such as regulation of gene expression, growth control (stress response), programmed cell arrest, persister cells, programmed cell death, phage protection, stabilization of mobile genetic elements or postsegregational killing of plasmid-free cells. Accordingly, bacterial TA systems are commonly considered as stress-responsive genetic modules. However, molecule screening for activation of toxin in TA system is available as development of antimicrobial agents. In addition, cytotoxic effect induced by toxin is used as effective cloning method with antitoxic effect of antitoxin; consequently cells containing cloning vector inserted a target gene can survive and false-positive transformants are removed. Also, TA system is applicable to efficient single protein production in biotechnology industry because toxins that are site-specific ribonuclease inhibit protein synthesis except for target protein. Furthermore, some TA systems that induce apoptosis in eukaryotic cells such as cancer cells or virus-infected cells would have a wide range of applications in eukaryotes, and it will lead to new ways of treating human disease. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on bacterial TA systems and their applications.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.323-325
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• 2002

Bacillus Anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax. The major virulence factors are a poly-D glutamic acid capsule and three-protein component exotoxin, which is collectively known as anthrax toxin, protective antigen (PA, 83 kDa), lethal factor (LF, 90 kDa), and edema factor (EF, 89 kDa). These three proteins individually have no known toxic activities, but in combination with PA form two toxins (lethal toxin and edema toxin), causing different pathogenic responses in animals and cultured cells. However, it remains to be elucidated for pathogenic mechanism of anthrax toxin. In this study, we constructed toxin component in bacterial overexpression system and purified the native toxin from Bacillus anthracis delta sterne F32 using FPLC system. Recombinant toxin showed high homogeneity and rapid purification processes. Also, this recombinant toxin was comparable to B. anthracis native toxin in terms of cytotoxic effects on cultured cell lines.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.320-326
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• 2006

Pasteurella multocida is an important veterinary and opportunistic human pathogen. In particular, strains of P. multocida serogroup D cause progressive atrophic rhinitis, and produce a potent, intracellular, mitogenic toxin known as P. multocida toxin (PMT), which is encoded by the toxA gene. To further investigate the toxigenic and pathogenic effects of PMT, a toxA-deleted mutant was developed by homologous gene recombination. When administrated to mice, the toxigenicity of the toxA mutant P. multocida was drastically reduced, suggesting that the PMT constributes the major part of the toxigenicity of P, multocida. Similar results were obtained in a subsequent experiment, while high mortalities were observed when toxA(+) P. multocida bacterial culture or culture Iysate were administrated. Mice immunized with toxA(-) P. multocida were not protected (none survived) following challenge with toxA(+) P. multocida or bacterial culture Iysate (toxin). These results suggest that the toxigenicity of P. multocida is mainly derived from PMT.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.731-737
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• 2013

Seventy-four Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates belonging to the serotype O91:H21 were isolated from 1,643 asymptomatic human carriers in a STEC outbreak at Gwangju in Korea. Although the isolates did not cause any symptoms, all of them produced Shiga toxins 1 (Stx1) and 2 (Stx2). In order to determine why these strains cause no symptoms, we explored the differences in virulence potential between the asymptomatic STEC O91:H21 isolates and symptomatic STEC O91:H21 strains (ATCC 51435 and ATCC 51434). The asymptomatic STEC O91:H21 isolates showed strongly reduced cytopathic effects compared with the symptomatic strains when intact bacterial cells were used as an inoculant. Moreover, we found a reduced adherence phenotype when testing asymptomatic strains on HeLa cells. Real-time quantitative PCR results suggest that transcriptional repression of the genes encoding type-1 fimbriae occurs in the asymptomatic isolates but not in the symptomatic strains.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2002

The case reports for clostridium type A enterotoxemia in Formosan deer have rarely been reported. This paper describes a natural case of type A enterotoxemia in farmed Formosan deer in Cheongwon-gun. A dead, male 10-month-old Formosan deer was submitted to Chungbuk Livestock and Veterinary Research Institute, March 24, 2001 and examined. That deer was fed with assorted grain feed, oak leaves, acorn and bean curd. Grossly there was no visible external change. Despite of the carcass being examined within 12 hours of death, there was a quite degree of posonortem decomposition. There was severe hemorrhage in the serosa of abomasum and small intestine. Much blood tinged and watery contents were contained in those organs. Also there were severe swelling of spleen, some red foci in hepatic parenchyma. Microscopically there were severe congestion and hemorrhage in mucosa submucosa, muscular layer, and serosa of abomasum and small intestine. Also spleen and pancreas showed severe Congestion and hemorrhage. There were multifocal hemorrhage with hepatic necrosis in periportal area and focal mononuclear cell deposition in sinusoid. In bacterial culture for small intestine, Cl perfringens was isolated. By toxin typing for the strain, that had $\alpha$ -toxin belonged to type A. In electronmicroscopy for feces, no vims particle was detected. Considering clinical signs, gross lesions, microscopic lesions, bacterial culture, and toxin typing of the isolate, this case was diagnosed as enterotoxemia by Cl perfringens type A.

• Journal of Science Criminal Investigation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2017

In the forensic microbiology laboratories, microorganism analyses from food are requested. There have been several cases of Bacillus cereus isolated from the samples requested to the National Forensic Service. B. cereus is an important pathogenic bacterium which can cause food-borne outbreaks. Therefore, we isolated B. cereus from anchovy aekjeot recently requested for microbial examination and identified using MSId based on the 16S rDNA sequence and real-time PCR method. We also conducted PCR for detection of diarrheal toxin genes and an emetic toxin gene and found the presence of nheABC, bceT and entFM diarrheal toxin genes in the B. cereus isolate. There are several clinically important food-poisoning bacteria that should be noted during inspection. In particular, B. cereus can cause food poisoning even when cooked foods are ingested, because B. cereus forms endo-spore which confers strong environmental resistance and heat resistance to the bacteria, and the bacterial emetic toxin also has heat resistance. Here we highlight the importance to distinguish clinically important bacteria such as B. cereus from food specimens, and we expect this study will provide procedures for identification of B. cereus and detection of the bacterial toxin genes for future cases in the forensic microbiology laboratories.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.546-551
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• 2014

The insecticidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry toxins involves toxin stabilization, oligomerization, passage across the peritrophic membrane (PM), binding to midgut receptors and pore-formation. The residues Arg-158 and Tyr-170 have been shown to be crucial for the toxicity of Bt Cry4Ba. We characterized the biological function of these residues. In mosquito larvae, the mutants R158A/E/Q (R158) could hardly penetrate the PM due to a significantly reduced ability to alter PM permeability; the mutant Y170A, however, could pass through the PM, but degraded in the space between the PM and the midgut epithelium. Further characterization by oligomerization demonstrated that Arg-158 mutants failed to form correctly sized high-molecular weight oligomers. This is the first report that Arg-158 plays a role in the formation of Cry4Ba oligomers, which are essential for toxin passage across the PM. Tyr-170, meanwhile, is involved in toxin stabilization in the toxic mechanism of Cry4Ba in mosquito larvae.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2019

Numerous studies have reported that enteric neurons involved in controlling neurotransmitter secretion and motility in the gut critically contribute to the progression of gut inflammation. Clostridium difficile toxins, which cause severe colonic inflammation, are also known to affect enteric neurons. Our previous study showed that C. difficile toxin A directly induces neural cell toxicities, such as viability loss and apoptosis. In the current study, we attempted to identify a potent inhibitor of toxin A-induced neural cell toxicity that may aid in managing toxin A-induced gut inflammation. In our recent study, we found that the Korea dung beetle-derived antimicrobial peptide CopA3 completely blocked neural cell apoptosis caused by okadaic acid or 6-OHDA. Here, we examined whether the antimicrobial peptide CopA3 inhibited toxin A-induced neural cell damage. In neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, CopA3 treatment protected against both apoptosis and viability loss caused by toxin A. CopA3 also completely inhibited activation of the pro-apoptotic factor, caspase-3. Additionally, CopA3 rescued toxin A-induced downregulation of neural cell proliferation. However, CopA3 had no effect on signaling through ROS/p38 $MAPK/p27^{kip1}$, suggesting that CopA3 inhibits toxin A-induced neural cell toxicity independent of this well-characterized toxin A pathway. Our data further suggest that ability of CopA3 to rescue toxin A-induced neural cell damage may also ameliorate the gut inflammation caused by toxin A.