• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.28-36
• /
• 2021

Edwardsiella piscicida is a significant cause of hemorrhagic septicemia in fish and gastrointestinal infections in humans. Survival bacteria require specialized mechanisms to adapt to environmental fluctuations. Hence, to understand the mechanism through which E. piscicida senses and responds to environmental osmolarity changes, we determined the protein expression profile and physiological properties under various salinity conditions in this study. The OmpR protein is a part of the Env-ZOmpR two-component system that has been implicated in sensing salt stress in bacteria. However, the physiological role played by this protein in E. piscicida remains to be elucidated. Therefore, in this work, the function of the OmpR protein in response to salt stress was investigated. Phenotypic analysis revealed that, in the mutant, three of the biochemical phenotypes were different from the wild type, including, citrate utilization, hydrogen sulfide, and indole production. Introduction of the plasmid containing the entire ompR gene to the mutant strain returned it to its parental phenotype. The retarded growth rate also partially recovered. Furthermore, in our studies, OmpR was not found to be related to cell motility. Taken together, our results from the mutational analysis, the growth assay, MALDI-TOF MS, qRT-PCR, and the phenotype studies suggest that the OmpR of E. piscicida is implicated in osmoregulation, growth, expression of porins (ETAE_1826), virulence-related genes (EseC, EseD and EvpC), and certain genes of unknown function (ETAE_1540 and ETAE_2706).

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.563-573
• /
• 2022

This work aimed to develop a new equation for turbidity (Turb) simulation and prediction using statistical methods based on principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression (MLR). For this purpose, water samples were collected monthly over a five year period from Cheurfa dam, an important reservoir in Northwestern Algeria, and analyzed for 12 parameters, including temperature (T°), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity (Turb), dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonium (NH₄⁺), nitrate (NO₃^-), nitrite (NO₂^-), phosphate (PO₄^3-), total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The results revealed a strong mineralization of the water and low dissolved oxygen (DO) content during the summer period. High levels of TSS and Turb were recorded during rainy periods. In addition, water was charged with phosphate (PO₄^3-) in the whole period of study. The PCA results revealed ten factors, three of which were significant (eigenvalues >1) and explained 75.5% of the total variance. The F1 and F2 factors explained 36.5% and 26.7% of the total variance, respectively and indicated anthropogenic pollution of domestic agricultural and industrial origin. The MLR turbidity simulation model exhibited a high coefficient of determination (R² = 92.20%), indicating that 92.20% of the data variability can be explained by the model. TSS, DO, EC, NO₃^-, NO₂^-, and COD were the most significant contributing parameters (p values << 0.05) in turbidity prediction. The present study can help with decision-making on the management and monitoring of the water quality of the dam, which is the primary source of drinking water in this region.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.755-764
• /
• 2017

The current review seeks to highlight the concerns that have been raised on pre-slaughter stress, contributing factors and its consequent effects on cattle behavioural responses and the quality of beef; inter-linking the activities involved from birth to slaughter. Such information is crucial in light of the consumer concerns on overall animal welfare, quality of meat and food security. Slaughter animals are exposed to different conditions during production and transportation to abattoirs on a daily basis. However; the majority of studies that have been done previously singled out different environments in the meat production chain, while conclusions have been made that the welfare of slaughter animals and the quality of meat harvested from them is dependent on the whole chain. Behaviour is a critical component used to evaluate the animals' wellbeing and it has been reported to have an effect on product quality. Apart from the influence of on-farm, transportation and abattoir conditions, the genetic background of the animal also affects how it perceives and responds to certain encounters. Stress activates the animals' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity, triggering release of various stress hormones such as catecholamines and cortisol, thus glycogen depletion prior slaughter, elevated ultimate pH and poor muscle-meat conversion. Pre-slaughter stress sometimes results to cattle attaining bruises, resulting to the affected parts of the carcass being trimmed and condemned for human consumption, downgrading of the carcass and thus profit losses.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.182-187
• /
• 2015

Zerumbone is a major component of the essential oils of Zingiber zerumbet Smith and is known to have a number of effects on the functions of various cells, including immune cells. Many reports present the zerumbone's functions in various biological environments including cancer and inflammation. In this report, using a transwell system, we confirmed that zerumbone decreased the stromal cell-driven factor-$1{\alpha}$ (SDF-$1{\alpha}$), induced migration of Jurkat cells; about a 25% decrease in the case of 100 ng/mL SDF-$1{\alpha}$ treatment, 17% decrease in the case of 200 ng/mL. Whereas, no significant changes of basic cellular proliferation were observed after zerumbone treatment. These results are novel and promising functions of zerumbone on T cell physiology. At the same time, there is a great need to confirm the results using more physiological T cells and to proceed with cellular and biochemical mechanism studies, measuring apoptosis, CXCR4 expression and phosphorylation of ZAP-70 and Erk1/2.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.225-231
• /
• 2005

Acid-labile subunit (ALS) is a component of the 150-kDa insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) complex, which, by sequestering the majority of IGFs-I and -II and thereby prolonging the half-life of them in plasma, serves as a circulating reservoir of IGFs in mammalian species. A pGEX-2T plasmid and a baculovirus expression constructs harboring a coding sequence for glutathione-S transferase (GST)-porcine ALS (pALS) fusion protein were expressed in BL21(DE3) E. coli and Sf9 insect cells, respectively. The expressed protein was purified by glutathione or Ni-NTN affinity chromatography, followed by cleavage of the fusion protein using Factor Xa. In addition, pALS and hIGFBP-3 were also produced in small amounts in the Xenopus oocyte expression system which does not require any purification procedure. A 65-kDa pALS polypeptide was obtained following the prokaryotic expression and the enzymatic digestion, but biochemical characterization of this polypeptide was precluded because of an extremely low expression efficiency. The baculovirus-as well as Xenopus-expressed pALS exhibited the expected molecular mass of 85 kDa which was reduced into 75 and 65 kDa following deglycosylation of Asn-linked carbohydrates by Endo-F glycosidase, indicating that the expressed pALS was properly glycosylated. Moreover, irrespective of the source of pALS, the recombinant pALS and hIGFBP-3 formed a 130-kDa binary complex which could be immunoprecipitated by anti-hIGFBP-3 antibodies. Collectively, results indicate that an authentic pALS protein can be produced by the current expression systems.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.22-27
• /
• 2001

This study was carried out to get the basic information for the submerged culture and analyze the biochemical components of Naematoloma sublateritium mycelia. The optimal temperature, pH, agitation speed and cultural time for the mycelial growth of Naematoloma sublateritium were $25^{\circ}C$, 5.5, 150rpm and 20 days, respectively. The proximate composition of mycelia was as follows; carbohydrate 55.8% (total sugar 48.7%), crude protein 22.4%, fat 4.1 % and ash 4.7% respectively. Among the free amino acid contents, phenylalanine, alanine and lysine were predominant component. The linoleic acid and palmitic acid were found to be the highest among the free fatty acids. The biopolymer extracts of mycelia was identified to be protein-bounded polysaccharide by color reaction and sepharose CL-4B gel chromatography.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2007

To investigate the response of proline and ammonia to pathogen infection, plant growth and relevant chemical component were examined in large patch-infected or healthy (control) zoysiagrass during 6 days after treatment. Pathogen-infection increased root mortality by 30% compared to control. Soluble protein was not significantly affected by pathogen-infection except in the leaf at day 6. Ammonia concentration also increased significantly in both leaves and roots of pathogen-infected plants. Proline concentration in leaves and roots increased to 3.4- and 4.5-fold, respectively, compared to those of control at day 6. These results suggest that proline accumulation may be a sensitive biochemical indicator representing the stress intensity caused by pathogen infection in zoysiagrass.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.27 no.9
• /
• pp.771-780
• /
• 2018

To develope a microbial weed control agent, HCN-producing bacteria were isolated, and their characteristics were investigated. A selected strain of WA15 was identified as Pseudomonas koreensis by morphological, cultural, biochemical and 16S rRNA gene analyses. The conditions for HCN production was investigated by a One-Variable-at-a-Time (OVT) method. The optimal HCN production conditions were tryptone 1%, glycine 0.06%, NaCl 1%, and an initial pH and temperature of 5.0 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The major component for HCN production was glycine. Under optimal conditions, HCN production was about 3 times higher than that of the basal medium. The WA15 strain had physiological activities, such as indoleacetic acid that was associated with the elongation of plant roots and siderophore and ammonification inhibiting fungal growth, and produced hydrolytic enzymes, such as cellulase, pectinase and lipase. The strain was able to inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi, such as Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum, by the synergistic action of volatile HCN and diffusible antimicrobial compounds. A microscopic observation of R. solani that was teated with the WA15 strain showed morphological abnormalities of fungal mycelia, which could explain the role of the antimicrobial metabolites that were produced by the WA15 strain. The volatile HCN produced by the WA15 strain was also found to have insecticidal activity against termites. Our results indicate that Pseudomonas koreensis WA15 can be applied as a microbial agent for weed control and also as a termite repellent. Furthermore, it could be applied as a microbial termiticidal agent to replace synthetic insecticides.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.799-804
• /
• 2009

Kamikaekyuk-tang(KMKKT), a formula of ten Oriental herbs, was orientally designed to promote vital energy, to remove blood stasis, and to decrease inflammation for treating cancers. KMKKT and its component had potent antiandrogen and androgen receptor activities in prostate cancer and also inhibited angiogenesis induced by basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and suppressed the tumor growth in LLC-bearing mice, and liver metastasis of colon 26-L5 cancer cells, suggesting a potent cancer preventive agent. Nevertheless, there is no safety study of KMKKT before clinical trial so far. Thus, in the current study, we investigated the toxicity about ethanol-extracted KMKKT. Male and female Spraque Dawley (SD) rats were given orally by KMKKT at 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg for 4 weeks. Mortality, clinical signs and measured change of body weight, food consumption and water consumption were observed. In addition, we performed ophthalmologic, urinary, hematological, blood serum biochemical and histopathological examination. Any general toxicity was not found in KMKKT treated group. Also, there were no significant differences in the parameters such as body weight, food consumption and water consumption, a lot of urine and blood factor levels except WBC, MCHC and Ca level compared with control group. Although WBC and MCHC were elevated in female rats and Ca level was decreased in male rats, these were within normal ranges. Finally, we determined that maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was 1000 mg/kg and no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was 500 mg/kg. Taken together, these results demonstrated that KMKKT is very safe to SD rats.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.262-269
• /
• 2005

An antiviral producing bacterial strain was isolated from a ginseng rhizosphere in Kangwon province of Republic of Korea. In order to identify the bacterial strain, microbiological, physiological and biochemical tests were performed, along with RAPD, 16S rRNA, 16S-23S rRNA ITS (intergenic spacer region) and DNA-DNA hybridization analyses. The bacterium was found to be a strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens, which was designated as Gpf01. The strain was grown in Muller-Hinton (MH) broth, and the culture supernatant obtained was filtered through a $0.45{\mu}l$ filter. It was further boiled at $100^{\circ}C$ and tested in two experiments for its ability to control a yellow strain of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-Y). In the first experiment, boiled culture filtrate (RCF) was treated on one half of the leaves of Chenopodium amaranticolor followed by CMV- Y inoculation on both halves. In the second experiment, BCF was treated on the lower leaves of Nicotiana tobacum var. Xanthi-nc, with the CMV-Y mechanically inoculated onto the upper untreated leaves. In the first experiment, BCF treatment was able to considerably reduce the number of viral lesion, and in the second experiment, plants treated with BCF showed no visible viral symptoms compared to the Muller-Hinton (MH) media treated controls 15 days post inoculation (dpi), and remained symptomless throughout the study period. Thus, Gpf01, identified as P. fluorescence, was able to produce an antiviral component in the culture filtrate, which was found to be heat stable, non-phytotoxic and effective in local as well as systemic hosts of CMV.