• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2009

Subtyping of Brucella abortus isolates is epidemiologically important for monitoring of bovine brucellosis outbreaks. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is considered as a gold standard of molecular typing methods to study the DNA polymorphisms of bacteria. In this study, we analyzed using PFGE the DNA fragment profiles of B. abortus isolated in Gyeongbuk province from 1998 to 2006. The genomic DNA was digested with the restriction endonuclease Xba I, Xho I and Smi I followed gel electrophoresis. No distinguishable patterns of the genomic DNA digested with Xba I and Xho I were observed among the field isolates of B. abortus tested in this study. But Smi I restriction enzyme resulted in two PFGE patterns consisting of 13-15 bands that ranged in size from 33 to 668bp by standard marker. The cluster analysis by DNA fingerprinting software showed 93.75% similarity between two PFGE patterns. No different PFGE patterns were recognized among the isolates originated from various years, regions and cow breeds.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.147-153
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• 2016

A total of 782 blood and 465 tissue samples from 1,039 wild animals and 127 dairy goats were collected from January 2011 to December 2013 in 10 provinces of South Korea and tested for the presence of brucellosis. The Rose Bengal test revealed that 8.0% (52/650) of the serum samples were seropositive, while 4.2% (33/782) of the serum samples were positive for Brucella antibodies by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Of the 650 sera examined, only 16 (2.5%) were positive by both serological tests. Direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using B4/B5 primers for Brucella abortus (BCSP31) revealed the prevalence of Brucella to be 26.5% (129/487) in blood samples and 21% (98/465) in tissue samples while, 16S rRNA PCR detected Brucella DNA in 6.8% (33/487) and 2.6% (12/465) in blood and tissue samples, respectively. Of PCR-positive samples, only 6.2% (30/487) of blood samples and 2.4% (11/465) of tissue samples were found to be positive by both BCSP31 and 16S rRNA PCRs. However, Brucella strains were isolated by blood culture from only two out of 487 blood samples (0.4%). This characterization and identification of pathogenic Brucella isolates is the first to clearly indicate that the organisms were Brucella abortus biovar 1.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.8.1-8.15
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• 2022

Background: Brucella infection induces brucellosis, a zoonotic disease. The intracellular circulation process and virulence of Brucella mainly depend on its type IV secretion system (T4SS) expressing secretory effectors. Secreted protein BspJ is a nucleomodulin of Brucella that invades the host cell nucleus. BspJ mediates host energy synthesis and apoptosis through interaction with proteins. However, the mechanism of BspJ as it affects the intracellular survival of Brucella remains to be clarified. Objectives: To verify the functions of nucleomodulin BspJ in Brucella's intracellular infection cycles. Methods: Constructed Brucella abortus BspJ gene deletion strain (B. abortus ∆BspJ) and complement strain (B. abortus pBspJ) and studied their roles in the proliferation of Brucella both in vivo and in vitro. Results: BspJ gene deletion reduced the survival and intracellular proliferation of Brucella at the replicating Brucella-containing vacuoles (rBCV) stage. Compared with the parent strain, the colonization ability of the bacteria in mice was significantly reduced, causing less inflammatory infiltration and pathological damage. We also found that the knockout of BspJ altered the secretion of cytokines (interleukin [IL]-6, IL-1β, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ) in host cells and in mice to affect the intracellular survival of Brucella. Conclusions: BspJ is extremely important for the circulatory proliferation of Brucella in the host, and it may be involved in a previously unknown mechanism of Brucella's intracellular survival.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.190-196
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• 2016

In this study, the Brucella abortus ohr gene coding for an organic hydroperoxide resistance protein (Ohr) was cloned into a maltose fusion protein expression system (pMAL), inserted into Escherichia coli, and purified, and its immunogenicity was evaluated by western blot analysis using Brucella-positive mouse sera. The purified recombinant Ohr (rOhr) was treated with adjuvant and injected intraperitoneally into BALB/c mice. A protective immune response analysis revealed that rOhr induced a significant increase in both the IgG1 and IgG2a titers, and IgG2a reached a higher level than IgG1 after the second and third immunizations. Additionally, immunization with rOhr induced high production of IFN-γ as well as proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF, MCP-1, IL-12p70, and IL-6, but a lesser amount of IL-10, suggesting that rOhr predominantly elicited a cell-mediated immune response. In addition, immunization with rOhr caused a significantly higher degree of protection against a virulent B. abortus infection compared with a positive control group consisting of mice immunized with maltose-binding protein. These findings showed that B. abortus rOhr was able to induce both humoral and cell-mediated immunity in mice, which suggested that this recombinant protein could be a potential vaccine candidate for animal brucellosis.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2001

As compared with reaction of antibody for sonicated antigen of Brucella abortus strain RB51 and 1119-3 by Western blot analysis, Brucella field positive sera was detected strong reaction at 40~80 kDa LPS of strain 1119-3, but detected very weak reaction at strain RB51 partly. Otherwise, as we analyzed major immunogen of RB51 by antisera bled periodically during 6 months after RB51 vaccination. we detected strong immunological reaction at 17, 18 and 8 kDa antigen of RB51. Especially, reaction of 8 kDa antigen by Western blot coincided with reaction of dot-blot assay in RB51-antibody detection method. We also compared with reaction of field sera by STAT(standard tube agglutination test), dot-blot assay and Western blot (reaction of 8 kDa antigen of strain RB51). 16 sera of 4~5 months after RB51 vaccination are all negative by STAT, and 12 field brucellosis positive serum are all positive, and also 12 of 16 sera vaccinated RB51 are positive by dot-blot assay and reaction of 8kDa antigen by Western blot. but 1 of 15 Brucellosis negative sera reacted nonspecifically dot-blot assay.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.158-163
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• 2019

Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases that lead to a great amount of economic losses. Prevention and diagnosis are both necessary to eradicate this disease. The identification and evaluation of different antigens of Brucella spp. play a key role in the progress of diagnostic programs. In this study, we designed, produced, and evaluated a 24-kDa polypeptide containing antigenic epitopes of VirB2, 3, and 9 of Brucella abortus for use with the ELISA kit. The produced polypeptide is appropriate for diagnosing brucellosis in bovines by a laboratory diagnostic kit, with 100% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2010

This study was performed to test the hypothesis that Brucella abortus strain RB51 (SRB51) might protect Korean indigenous mongrel dog against challenge with either virulent B. abortus biotype 1 or B. canis. A total of 12 Korean mongrel dogs were divided into four groups (Group A, B, C and D). Dogs belonging to Group A and C were inoculated subcutaneously with $1{\times}10^9$ CFU of SRB51 in 1ml of sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Dogs of Group B and D were inoculated subcutaneously with 1ml of sterile PBS as control. At 12 weeks post vaccination, dogs of Group A and B were challenged by oral inoculation of virulent strain of B. canis ($5.0{\times}10^9$ CFU) and dogs of Group C and D were challenged by oral inoculation of virulent strain of B. abortus biotype 1 ($4.4{\times}10^{10}$ CFU). The serum antibodies titers in all dogs were monitored at regular interval for eight weeks after challenge (AC) by standard tube agglutination test, plate agglutination test, rose bengal test, 2-mercaptoethanol rapid slide agglutination test and 2-mercaptoethanol tube agglutination test. No antibody titers in Group A and C was detected. Also, the challenge strains were not found from blood of all dogs of Group A and C from 1 week AC till the end of the experiment by culture and modified AMOS-PCR, whereas B. canis and B. abortus challenge strains were detected from blood of Group B and D, respectively. In addition, neither of two challenge bacteria was recovered from liver, spleen, kidneys, lymph nodes and reproductive tracts of Group A and C dogs after postmortem. However, B. canis and B. abortus challenge strains were isolated from these tissues of Group B and D, respectively. These data suggest that SRB51 could be a promising vaccine candidate for immunizing dogs to control canine brucellosis caused by B. canis or B. abortus.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.328-335
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• 1998

Outer membrane proteins(OMPs) of Brucella abortus 1119-3 strain were extracted by Triton X-100 treatment, and fractionated by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography and Sephacryl S-300 column chromatography. The antigenic proteins in these fractions were identified by Western blot analysis. In Western blot analysis, a single band(38kDa) was observed in the DEAE fractions from 36th fraction to 38th fraction against sera of cattle infected with B abortus. And other fractions have several bands. However, the Sephacryl S-300 fractions exhibited a total of 3 peaks of proteins with a broad range from about 30 to 116kDa. In order to characterize further, the extracted OMPs and the DEAE fractions were analyzed by two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(2-DE) and Western blot using serum from naturally infected cattle with Brucella spp. The 2-DE immunoblots of DEAE fraction showed immunoreactive spots more than twenty two. The major protein spots have ranging from about 32 to 47kDa. The pI values of the spots were detected from pH 4.7 to 5.4. Among the major protein spots, the 38kDa protein which is a specific antigen, located at the point of approximately a pI 4.8.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.281-284
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• 1998

Humoral immune response of young chicks to Brucella abortus strain 1119-3 inoculation was monitored to verify the degree of immunosuppression caused by infection with Cryptosporidium baileyi. Young chicks (2-day-old) were orally inoculated each with $2{\times}10^6$ oocysts of C. baileyi, and then injected intramuscularly with 0.3 $m\ell$ B. abortus strain 1119-3 containing $1{\times}10^9$ living organisms on day 14 postinoculation (PI). Serum samples were tested by plate agglutination test on day 17 PI onwards at an interval of 3-6 days over a period of 36 days. Infected chicks with the coccidium showed significantly lower antibody titers than those of uninfected controls (P<0.05). These findings document that C. baileyi infection in early life stage may predispose chicks easily to other potential poultry diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.482-489
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• 2020

We previously identified β-sitosterol (BS) as one of the most abundant compounds found in Korean red ginseng oil. BS is a widely prevalent vegetable-derived phytosterol with many known health benefits. Here, we investigated the efficacy of BS against Brucella (B.) abortus infection. BS showed no effect on bacterial growth but attenuated internalization, intracellular survival and MAPKs-linked intracellular signaling in RAW264.7 cells. BS treatment in cells is also associated with increased nitrite concentration during infection at 24 h. Slightly enhanced resistance to B. abortus infection was observed in mice orally given BS, which could be mediated by induced production of proinflammatory cytokines. Taken together, our study demonstrates the contribution of BS treatment against B. abortus infection although further investigation is encouraged to maximize its beneficial effects against intracellular infection.