• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.342-347
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• 2007

Bacteriophage ${\Phi}FC1$ integrase (MJ1) was previously shown to perform a site-specific recombination between a phage attachment site (attP) and a host attachment site (attB) in its host, Enterococcus faecalis, and also in a non-host bacterium, Escherichia coli. Here, we investigated biochemical features of MJ1 integrase. First, MJ1 integrase could perform in vitro recombination between attP and attB in the absence of additional factors. Second, MJ1 integrase interacted with att sites. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting revealed that MJ1 integrase could efficiently bind to all the att sites and that MJ1 integrase recognized relatively short sequences (${\sim}50bp$) containing an overlapping region within attB and attP. These results demonstrate that MJ1 integrase indeed catalyzes an integrative recombination between attP and attB, the mechanism of which might be simple and unidirectional, as found in serine integrases.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.225-230
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• 2012

Bacteriophages of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum which causes soft rot on diverse vegetables had been isolated from 6 major Chinese cabbage cultivation areas in Korea. In order to isolate bacteriophages, total 15 different strains of P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum isolated from nation-wide of Korea had been used as a host. When we tested 30 different soil samples individually from Pyeongchang and Taebaek with 15 different strains as a host, Taebek soil samples showed bacteriophage plaques with almost all different indicator strains but Pyeongchang soil samples showed plaques only with P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Pcc2 and Pcc3 strains. Especially, P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Pcc3 strain was able to produce plaques with almost all soil samples. Thus, this strain can be used as an indicator strain for P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum bacteriophage screening. Electron microscope observation revealed P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum bacteriophages isolated in Korea were belonged to three different families, Myoviridae, Siphoviridae and Podoviridae in order Caudovirales.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.348-355
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• 2021

Bacteriophages (phages) are known determinants of kimchi microbial ecology. Lactobacillus plantarum is related to kimchi over-acidification during the late stages of kimchi fermentation. A phage infecting Lac. plantarum was isolated from kimchi and characterized. The phage population for kimchi in a market was 2.3 log particles/mL, which corresponded to 32% of the bacterial population on a log scale. The isolated phage was designated as ΦLP12116. ΦLP12116 which belonged to the Siphoviridae family and has a very narrow host range, infecting only Lac. plantarum. The phage was stable at a lactic acid concentration of 1.0% and pH 4.0 at 4℃, indicating that it could survive in kimchi. In the kimchi extract broth treated by the phage, the growth of Lac. plantarum KCCM 12116 was inhibited by 2.2 log CFU/mL compared to the growth in non-phage-treated broth. Therefore, this study suggests that the growth of Lac. plantarum, which is known as an acid-producing strain during late fermentation in kimchi, may be controlled using the phage.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.60-64
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• 1994

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci produces tabtoxin and causes wildfire disease on tabacco and bean plants. In this study, bacteriophage of P. syringae pv. tabaci were isolated from sewage by top agar overlay method, and physiological and genetical characteristics of the phage were investigated. Plaques of isolated phage were turbid and ranged in size from 1 to 2 mm. The stability range of pH was between 6.0 and 9.0, and stability of temperature was up to 30${\circ}C$ and inactivated at 70${\circ}C$. The adsorption rate of phage was about 85% for 30min. The latent period and mean burst size as dertermined in one step growth experiments were 3 hrs and 200 PFU/bacterium, respectively. Genomic material of isolated phage was dsDNA of which size was about 30kb.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.710-716
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• 2021

A risk analysis of Shiga toxin (Stx)-encoding bacteriophage was carried out by confirming the transduction phage to non-Stx-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and subsequent expression of the Shiga toxin genes. The virulence factor stx1 was identified in five phages, and both stx1 and stx2 were found in four phages from a total of 19 phage isolates with seven non-O157 STEC strains. The four phages, designated as ϕNOEC41, ϕNOEC46, ϕNOEC47, and ϕNOEC49, belonged morphologically to the Myoviridae family. The stabilities of these phages to temperature, pH, ethanol, and NaClO were high with some variabilities among the phages. The infection of five non-STEC strains by nine Stx-encoding phages occurred at a rate of approximately 40%. Non-STEC strains were transduced by Stx-encoding phage to become lysogenic strains, and seven convertant strains had stx1 and/or stx2 genes. Only the stx1 gene was transferred to the receptor strains without any deletion. Gene expression of a convertant having both stx1 and stx2 genes was confirmed to be up to 32 times higher for Stx1 in 6% NaCl osmotic media and twice for Stx2 in 4% NaCl media, compared with expression in low-salt environments. Therefore, a new risk might arise from the transfer of pathogenic genes from Stx-encoding phages to otherwise harmless hosts. Without adequate sterilization of food exposed to various environments, there is a possibility that the toxicity of the phages might increase.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.510-518
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• 2021

Bacteriophages are considered excellent sensing elements for platforms detecting bacteria. However, their lytic cycle has restricted their efficacy. Here, we used the minor coat protein pIII domain (N1N2) of phage CTXφ to construct a novel surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor that could detect Vibrio cholerae. N1N2 harboring the domains required for phage adsorption and entry was obtained from Escherichia coli using recombinant protein expression and purification. SDS-PAGE revealed an approximate size of 30 kDa for N1N2. Dot blot and transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that the protein bound to the host V. cholerae but not to non-host E. coli K-12 cells. Next, we used amine-coupling to develop a novel recombinant N1N2 (rN1N2)-functionalized SPR biosensor by immobilizing rN1N2 proteins on gold substrates and using SPR to monitor the binding kinetics of the proteins with target bacteria. We observed rapid detection of V. cholerae in the range of approximately 10³ to 10⁹ CFU/ml but not of E. coli at any tested concentration, thereby confirming that the biosensor exhibited differential recognition and binding. The results indicate that the novel biosensor can rapidly monitor a target pathogenic microorganism in the environment and is very useful for monitoring food safety and facilitating early disease prevention.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 1996

Bacteriophage T7 gene 2.5 protein, a single-stranded DNA binding protein, is required for T7 DNA replication, recombination, and repair. T7 gene 2.5 protein has two distinctive domains, DNA binding and C-terminal domain, directly involved in protein-protein interaction. Gene 2.5 protein participates in the DNA replication of Bacteriophage T7, which makes this protein essential for the T7 growth and DNA replication. What gene 2.5 protein makes important at T7 growth and DNA replication is its binding affinity to single-stranded DNA and the protein-protein important at T7 DNA replication proteins which are essential for the T7 DNA synthesis. We have constructed pGST2.5(WT) encoding the wild-type gene 2.5 protein and pGST2.5$\Delta $21C lacking C-terminal 21 amino acid residues. The purified GST-fusion proteins, GST2.5(WT) and GST2.5(WT)$\Delta$21C, were used for whether the carboxyl-terminal domain participates in the protein-protein interactions or not. GST2.5(WT) and GST2.5$\Delta$21C showed the difference in the protein-protein interaction. GST2.5(WT) interacted with T7 DNA polymerase and gene 4 protein, but GST2.5$\Delta$21C did not interact with either protein. Secondly, GST2.5(WT) interacts with gene 4 proteins (helicase/primase) but not GST2.5$\Delta$21C. these results proved the involvement of the carboxyl-terminal domain of gene 2.5 protein in the protein-protein interaction. We clearly conclude that carboxy-terminal domain of gene 2.5 protein is firmly involved in protein-protein interactions in T7 replication proteins.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.333-337
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• 2002

Bacteriophage of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, a causal agent of citrus canker disease, was studied for its cultural characteristics. The relative efficiency of plat-ing (EOP) of 11 phages used to 13 strains off, axonopodis pv. citri tested ranged from 0.8 to 1, indicating that the phages are homogeneous. Homogeneity of the phages suggests that citrusphage belongs to a single group CPK as reported in a previous study. Typical one-step growth of a phage P5 selected from the citrusphages was observed. The EOP of the P5 was dependent upon the media, pH, and temperature. It was observed that multiplication of the phage cultured in Wakimotos potato semisynthetic media at $25^{\circ}C$ was more effective than that in other temperatures, regardless of the bacterial strains and media used. It was observed that pH 6.5 is optimal for multiplication of the phage. In comparison of the EOP among citrusphages $CP_1$, $CP_2$, and P5, multiplicative characteristic of phage P5 in the bacteria on time-course was similar with that of phage $CP_1$. Thus, it was concluded that citrusphage group CPK from Korea is $CP_1$ based on host specificity of the phage as described in a previous study, homogeneity, and its multiplication pattern.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 1992

In order to overexpress bacteriophage PRD1 DNA polymerase in E. coli cells, the 2 kb HaeII fragment was isolated from phage genomic DNA. This fragment was then cloned into pEMBL/sup ex/ 3-expression vector. A specific 57bp deletion was performed by using uracil containing ss DNA and oligonucleotide spanning each region to remove an unwanted non-coding region. After this deletion, the PRD1 DNA polymerase gene is totally under the control of the vector promoter and SD sequence. Upon heat induction, a protein with an apparent size of 68 kdal was overexpressed as an active PRD1 DNA polymerase. The expression of PRD1 DNA polymerase was about 1% of total E. coli protein.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1329-1333
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• 2004

To isolate the microsatellites from the chromosomal DNA of the Korean cattle (Hanwoo) and to use those for the genetic selection, four bacteriophage genomic libraries containing the chromosomal DNA of six Hanwoo steers showing the differences in meat quality and quantity were used. Screening of the genomic libraries using $^{32}P-radiolabeled 5'-({CA})_{12}-3$nucleotide as a probe, resulted in isolation of about 3,000 positive candidate bacteriophage clones that contain $(CA)_n$-type dinucleotide microsatellites. After confirming the presence of microsatellite in each positive candidate clone by Southern blot analysis, the DNA fragments that include microsatellite and flanking sequences possessing less than 2 kb in size, were subcloned into plasmid vector. Results from the analysis of microsatellite length polymorphism, using twenty-two PCR primers designed from flanking region of each microsatellite DNA, demonstrated that 208 and 210 alleles of HW-YU-MS#3 were closely related to the economic traits such as marbling score, daily gain, backfat thickness and M. longissimus dorsi area in Hanwoo. Interestingly, HW-YU-MS#3 microsatellite was localized in bovine chromosome 17 on which QTLs related to regulation of the body fat content and muscle ypertrophy locus are previously known to exist. Taken together, the results from the present study suggest the possible use of the two alleles as a DNA marker related to economic trait to select the Hanwoo in the future.