• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.746-757
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• 2020

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the major pathogenic E. coli that causes diarrhea and edema in post-weaning piglets. In this study, we describe the morphology and characteristics of ØCJ19, a bacteriophage that infects ETEC, and performed genetic analysis. Phage ØCJ19 belongs to the family Myoviridae. One-step growth curve showed a latent phase of 5 min and burst size of approximately 20 phage particles/infected cell. Phage infectivity was stable for 2 h between 4℃ and 55℃, and the phage was stable between pH 3 and 11. Genetic analysis revealed that phage ØCJ19 has a total of 49,567 bases and 79 open reading frames (ORFs). The full genomic sequence of phage ØCJ19 showed the most similarity to an Escherichia phage, vB_EcoS_ESCO41. There were no genes encoding lysogeny, toxins, virulence factors, or antibiotic resistance in this phage, suggesting that this phage can be used safely as a biological agent to control ETEC. Comparative genomic analysis in terms of the tail fiber proteins could provide genetic insight into host recognition and the relationship with other coliphages. These results showed the possibility to improve food safety by applying phage ØCJ19 to foods of animal origin contaminated with ETEC and suggests that it could be the basis for establishing a safety management system in the animal husbandry.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.160-170
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• 2016

The increasing spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has raised the interest in alternative antimicrobial treatments. In our study, the functionally active gram-negative bacterium bacteriophage CP933 endolysin was produced in Nicotiana benthamiana plants by a combination of transient expression and vacuole targeting strategies, and its antimicrobial activity was investigated. Expression of the cp933 gene in E. coli led to growth inhibition and lysis of the host cells or production of trace amounts of CP933. Cytoplasmic expression of the cp933 gene in plants using Potato virus X-based transient expression vectors (pP2C2S and pGR107) resulted in death of the apical portion of experimental plants. To protect plants against the toxic effects of the CP933 protein, the cp933 coding region was fused at its Nterminus to an N-terminal signal peptide from the potato proteinase inhibitor I to direct CP933 to the delta-type vacuoles. Plants producing the CP933 fusion protein did not exhibit the severe toxic effects seen with the unfused protein and the level of expression was 0.16 mg/g of plant tissue. Antimicrobial assays revealed that, in contrast to gram-negative bacterium E. coli (BL21(DE3)), the gram-positive plant pathogenic bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis was more susceptible to the plant-produced CP933, showing 18% growth inhibition. The results of our experiments demonstrate that the combination of transient expression and protein targeting to the delta vacuoles is a promising approach to produce functionally active proteins that exhibit toxicity when expressed in plant cells.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.189-194
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• 2020

In this study, we investigated the efficacy of Salmonella phage P22 combined with antibiotics to inhibit antibiotic-resistant S. Typhimurium CCARM 8009. The synergistic effect of phage P22 and antibiotics was evaluated by using disk diffusion and broth dilution assays. The development of Antimicrobial resistance was determined after time-kill assay. The antibiotic susceptibility assay showed the inhibition zone sizes around the antibiotic disks were increased up to 78.8% in the presence of phage (cefotaxime; 13.6%, chloramphenicol; 19.3%, ciprofloxacin; 12.7% and erythromycin; 78.8%). The minimum inhibitory concentration values of the combination treatment significantly decreased from 256 to 64 mg/mL for tetracycline, 8 to 4 mg/mL for chloramphenicol, 0.0156 to 0.0078 mg/mL for ciprofloxacin, 128 to 64 mg/mL for erythromycin and 512 to 256 mg/mL for streptomycin. The number of S. Typhimurium CCARM 8009 was approximately 4-log lower than that of the control throughout the combination treatment with phage P22 and ciprofloxacin delete at 37℃ for 20 h. The results indicate that the development of antimicrobial resistance in S. Typhimurium could be reduced in the presence of phage treatment. This study provides promising evidence for the phage-antibiotic combination as an effective treatment to control antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.287-292
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• 2019

Pseudomonas tolaasii causes brown blotch disease on the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). Various pathogenic strains of P. tolaasii were isolated and divided into three subtypes, $P1{\alpha}$, $P1{\beta}$, and $P1{\gamma}$. For phage therapy, bacteriophages against to these subtype strains were applied to mushroom cultivation and very successful to prevent from the disease. In this study, bacteriophages were isolated against the representative strains of subtype pathogens and their polyclonal antibodies were synthesized to investigate structural relationship among capsid proteins of phages. Phage preparations over $10^{10}pfu/mL$ were injected to rabbit thigh muscle and polyclonal antibodies were obtained after three times of boost injection. Titers of the antibodies obtained were over $2{\times}10^7Ab/mL$ for the phage ${\phi}6264$, $1{\times}10^6Ab/mL$ for the phage ${\phi}HK2$, and $1{\times}10^7Ab/mL$ for the phage ${\phi}HK19$ and phage ${\phi}HK23$. High specific activities were observed between antibodies and the corresponding bacteriophages. Some cross-reactivities between the antibodies and non-corresponding bacteriophages were also measured. Antibody $Ab{\phi}6264$ inactivated all phages of $P1{\alpha}$ subtype and only phage ${\phi}HK16$ among $P1{\beta}$ subtype phages. Antibody $Ab{\phi}HK23$ of $P1{\gamma}$ subtype neutralized all phages of $P1{\beta}$ subtype as well as the phage ${\phi}HK23$, showing the widest phage-inactivation range. When the structural-similarity studies of phages were investigated by using phage antibodies, closeness obtained by phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA genes of pathogenic strains were quite different from that of polyclonal antibody-specific structural similarity of phage capsid proteins. In conclusion, there is weak correlation between the host strain specificity of bacteriophage and its capsid structural similarity measured by phage antibodies.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.584-587
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• 2000

The invasion genes from Salmonella typhimurium were identified by the construction of a cosmid library and subcloning genes into a plasmid vector, pGEM-7Z. The 4.65 kb fragment of the invasion-conferring genomic region of the subclone, pSV6235 was sequenced in both direction. The three open reading frames, which were located at downstream of a promoter region, were designated as sir (Salmonella invasion region)A coding for the 36 amino acids, sirB coding for the 132 amino acids and sirC for the 82 amino acids, respectively. Interesingly, the genomic region of pSV6235 was highly homologous to Yersinia enterocolitica genomic DNA for a high pathogenicity island and Salmonella enteritidis insertion element IS1351 and IS200 DNA. These results show that there could be a significant relationship between S. typhimurium, Y. enterocolitica and S. enteritidis with respect to horizontal evolution process and acquisition of virulence determinants by means of transposon, plasmid or bacteriophage.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1916-1924
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• 2019

Outbreaks of staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) causing serious human diseases and economic losses have been reported globally. Furthermore, the spread of Staphylococcus aureus with increased resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents has become a major concern in the food industries and medicine. Here, we isolated an endolysin LysSAP8, as one of the peptidoglycan hydrolases, derived from the bacteriophage SAP8 infecting S. aureus. This endolysin was tagged with a 6×His at the C-terminal of the target protein and purified using affinity chromatography. LysSAP8 demonstrated lytic activity against a broad spectrum of bacteria, which included a majority of the staphylococcal strains tested in this study as well as the methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA); however, no such activity was observed against other gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria. Additionally, LysSAP8 could maintain bactericidal activity until 0.1 nM working concentration and after heat treatment at 37℃ for 30 min. The ability of LysSAP8 to lyse cells under varying conditions of temperature (4-43℃), pH (3-9), and NaCl concentrations (0-1,000 mM), and divalent metal ions (Ca²⁺, Co²⁺, Cu²⁺, Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺, Hg²⁺, and Zn²⁺) was examined. At the optimized condition, LysSAP8 could disrupt approximately 3.46 log CFU/ml of the planktonic cells in their exponential phase of growth within 30 min. In this study, we have suggested that LysSAP8 could be a potent alternative as a biocontrol agent that can be used to combat MRSA.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.398-403
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• 2007

The effectiveness of phage biocontrol depends on the activity of bacteriophage in a given environment. In order to investigate the infectivity and the stability of bacteriophages in representative environments, three virulent phages, Listeria phage A511, Salmonella phage Felix O1, and Escherichia coli phage T7, were subjected to different temperatures, pHs and salt concentrations (NaCl). Phage infectivity was also determined in the presence of divalent cations ($Mg^{2+}$ or $Ca^{2+}$). As a result, three phages exhibited a wide range of survival rates under various environments. Phage infectivity was directly correlated with bacterial growth under the applied conditions. One exception was Felix O1 that did not kill Salmonella grown in low pH (4.5). The failure was attributed to defective adsorption of Felix O1. This finding is significant as it provides an explanation for the inefficient phage biocontrol. Therefore, such information is crucial to improve phage biocontrol of pathogens.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.160-170
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• 2024

Erwinia amylovora is a plant pathogen that causes fire blight on apples and pears. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that selectively infect specific species of bacteria and are harmless to animal cells, have been considered as biological control agents for the prevention of bacterial pathogens. In this study, we aimed to use bacteriophages that infect E. amylovora as biocontrol agents against fire blight. We isolated bacteriophages Fifi044 and Fifi318 infecting E. amylovora, and characterized their morphology, plaque form, and genetic diversity to use as cocktails for disease control. The stabilities of the two phages were investigated at various temperatures and pH values and under sunlight, and long-term storage experiment was conducted for a year. To evaluate whether the two phages were suitable for use in cocktail form, growth curves of E. amylovora were prepared after treating the bacterial cells with single phages and a phage cocktail. In addition, a disease control test was conducted using immature apples and in vitro cultured apple plantlets to determine the biocontrol effects of the phage cocktail. The two phages were morphologically and genetically different, and highly stable up to 50℃ and pH value from 4 to 10. The phages showed synergistic effect when used as a cocktail in the inhibition of host bacterial growth and the disease control. This study demonstrated that the potential of the phage cocktail as a biocontrol agent for commercial use.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.9-12
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• 1985

As a part of the host cell development for a amplified recombinant trp operon, $aroP^-$ mutation was introduced in a E. coli host strain. $aroP^-$ mutation was induced by transposon Tn10 and transduced into the E. coli host cell by bacteriophage P1Kc. The effect of $aroP^-$ mutation on the excretion of tryptophan in E. coli $trpR^{-ts}/ColE_1 -trp^+$ cells was investigated. Mutant lacking the general aromatic transport system was resistant to ${\beta}-2-thienylalanine\;(2{\times}10^{-4}\;M)$, p-fluorophenylalanine $(2{\times}10^{-4}M)$, or 5-methyltryptophan $(2{\times}10^{-4}\;M.)[^3H]-tryptophan$ uptake of the $aroP^-$ mutant strain was reduced considerably as compared with $aroP^+$ counterpart. The rate of $[^3H]-tryptophan$ uptake of the $aroP^-$ mutant strain treated with $NaN_3(3{\times}10^{-2}\;M)$ was much less affected than that of $aroP^+$ counterpart. The $aroP^-$ transductants increased the tryptophan excretion from E. coli $trpR^{-ts}/ColE_1 -trp^+$ four times more than $aroP^+$ counterpart.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.14-17
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• 1995

Endoglucanase gene of Pseudomonas sp. LBC505 was previously cloned in pUC19 to yield plasmid pLCl. The Pseudomonas sp. LBC505 endoglucanase gene was subcloned in a temperature-regulated Es-cherichia coli expression vector, pAS1, containing the leftward promoter $P_L$ of bacteriophage lambda. The level of gene expression was controlled by the thermal inactivation of the heat-sensitive lambda cI857 repressor. Best yield of endoglucanase was obtained by lowering the incubation temperature to $37^{\circ}C$ after induction at $42^{\circ}C$ for 1h. Under these conditions enzyme production continued for about 5h at a gradually decreasing rate. Ecoli harboring recombinant plasmid pASC10 expressed 4.3 times as much CMCase activity as E.coli containing pLCl. To enhance the expression level of endogl, ucanase gene, we have also changed the presumptive Shine-Dalgamo sequence (AGAGGT) of the gene to consensus sequence (AGGAGGT) by site-directed mutagenesis. The genes mutated were subcloned in pASl resulting in the formation of recombinant plasmid pASS50. E.coli harboring the plasmid pASS50 expressed 6.2-fold higher levels of CMCase activity than that of E.coli harboring pLC1.