• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 1998

A DNA fragment which is involved in tolassin production was cloned to obtain a molecular marker of Pseudomonas tolaasii, a casual agent of bacterial brown blotch disease of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). Tolaasin is a lipodepsipeptide toxin and known as a primary disease determinant of the P. tolaasii. It is responsible for formation of white line in agar when P. tolaasii were cultured against white line reacting organisms (WLROs). White line negative mutants (WL-) were generated by conjugation between rifampicin resistant strain of P. tolaasii and E. coli carrying suicidal plasmid pSUP2021 : : Tn5. The ability of tolaasin production of the WL- mutants was examined by hemolysis test, pathogenicity test, and high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of culture filtrate. All of the WL- mutants were lost the ability of tolaasin production (Tol-). Genomic library of the Tol- mutant was constructed in pLAFR3 and the cosmid clone containing Tn5 was selected. DNA fragment fro franking region of Tn5 was cloned from the plasmid and used as a probe in Southern blot. DNA-DNA hybridization with the probe to total DNA from group of bacteria ecologically similar to P. tolaasii including WLORs, fluorescent Pseudomonads isolated from oyster mushroom, P. agarici, P. gingeri, and some of other species of Psedomonas showed that some of the tested bacteria do not have any hybridized band and others have bands sowing RFLP. The cloned DNA fragment or its nucleotide sequence will be useful in detection and identification of the P. tolaasii.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.270-274
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• 2000

Pathogenic Salmonella typhimurium can invade the intestinal epithelium and cause a wide range of diseases including gastroenteritis and bacteremia in human and animals. To identify the genes involved in the infection, the invasion determinant was obtained from S. typhimurium 82/6915 and was subcloned into pGEM-7Z. A subclone DHl (pSV6235) invaded HEp-2 and Chinese hamster ovary epithelial cells and contained a 4.4 kb fragment of S. typhimurium genomic region. Compared with the host strain E. coli DHl, the subclone DHl (pSV6235) invaded cultured HEp-2 and Chinese hamster ovary cells at least 75- and 68-fold higher, respectively. The invasion rate of E. coli DHl for the cells significantly increased by harbouring the genomic region derived from pathogenic S. typhimurium 82/6915.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 1999

Nonpathogenic mutants of Xanthomonas campestris pv. glycines were generated with Omegon-Kim to isolate genes essential for pathogenicity and inducing hypersensitive response (HR). Three nonpathogenic multants and two mutants showing slow symptom development were isolated among 1,000 colonies tested. From two nonpathogenic mutants, 8-13 and 26-13, genes homologous to hrcC and hrpF of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria were identified. The nonpathogenic mutant 8-13 had a mutation in a gene homologous to hrpF of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria and failed to cause HR on pepper plants but still induced HR on tomato leaves. The nonpathogenic mutant 26-13 had an insertional mutation in a gene homologous to hrcC of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria and lost the ability to induce HR on pepper leaves but still caused HR on tomato plants. Unlike other phytopathogenic bacteria, the parent strain and these two mutants of X. campestris pv. glycines did not cause HR on tobacco plants. a cosmid clone, pBL1, that complemented the phenotypes of 8-13 was isolated. From the analysis of restriction enzyme mapping and deletion analyses of pBL1, a 9.0-kb Eco RI fragment restored the phenotypes of 8-13. pBL1 failed to complement the phenotypes of 26-13, indicating that the hrcC gene resides outside of the insert DNA of pBL1. One nonpathogenic mutant, 13-33, had a mutation in a gene homologous to a miaA gene encoding tRNA delta (2)-isopentenylpyrophosphate transferase of Escherichia coli. This indicated that tRNA modifications in X. campestris pv. glycines may be required for expression of genes necessary for pathogenicity. The mutant 13-33 multiplied as well as the parent strain did in the culture medium and in planta, indicating that loss of pathogenicity is not due to the inability of multiplication in vivo.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2009

Pseudomonas fluorescens strain Gpf01, isolated from ginseng rhizosphere showed antiviral activity against Cucumber mosaic virus, when tested in a local host of CMV, Chenopodium amaranticolor. Transposon mutant library of Gpf01 was prepared using pGS9::Tn5 and the mutant Gpf01-RS19 was found to loose antiviral production. We developed primers from the flanking region of Tn5 and found a cosmid clone pAV1123, harboring 1.2 kb antiviral compound producing (avcf01) locus. When a sub-clone pPH9, which carried 9.3 kb region of pAV1123, was introduced into antivirus deficient P. fluorescens wild type strain B16, it exhibited antiviral activity. Using Tn3-gus mutagenesis and complementation analysis, it was found that the genes related to antiviral activity production resided in a 9.3 kb HindIII-HindIII fragment of pAV1123, indicating that the plasmid carries an essential genes promoting antiviral activity.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.16-25
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• 2001

A genomic library of biphenyl-degrading strain Comamonas sp. SMN4 was constructed by using the cosmid vector pWE15 and introduced into Escherichia coli. Of 1,000 recombinant clones tested, two clones that expressed 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase activity were found (named pNB 1 and pNB2). From pNB1 clone, subclone pNA210, demonstrated 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase activity, is isolated. 2,3-Dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase (23DBDO, BphC) is an extradiol-type dioxygenase that involved in third step of biphenyl degradation pathway. The nucleotide sequence of the Comamonas sp. SMN4 gene bphC, which encodes 23DBDO, was cloned into a plasmid pQE30. The His-tagged 23DBDO produced by a recombinant Escherichia coli, SG 13009 (pREP4)(pNPC), and purified with a Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid resin affinity column using the His-bind Qiagen system. The His-tagged 23DBDO construction was active. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified active 23DBDO gave a single band of 32 kDa; this is in agreement with the size of the bphC coding region. The 23DBDO exhibited maximum activity at pH 9.0. The CD data for the pHs, showed that this enzyme had a typical a-helical folding structures at neutral pHs ranged from pH 4.5 to pH 9.0. This structure maintained up to pH 10.5. However, this high stable folding strucure was converted to unfolded structure in acidic region (pH 2.5) or in high pH (pH 12.0). The result of CD spectra observed with pH effects on 23DBDO activity, suggested that charge transition by pH change have affected change of conformational structure for 23DBDO catalytic reaction. The $K_m$ for 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl, 3-metylcatechol, 4-methylcatechol and catechol was 11.7 $\mu$M, 24 $\mu$M, 50 mM and 625 $\mu$M.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.118-125
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• 2006

The region responsible for replication of the megaplasmid pAtC58 in the nopaline-type Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58 was determined. A derivative ofa Co1E1 vector, pBluscript SK-, incapable of autonomous replication in Agrobacterium spp, was cloned with a 7.6-kb Bg1II-HindIII fragment from a cosmid clone of pAtC58, which contains a region adjacent to the operon for the utilization of deoxyfructosyl glutamine (DFG). The resulting plasmid conferred resistance to carbenicillin on the A. tumefaciens strain UIA5 that is a plasmidfree derivative of C58. The plasmid was stably maintained in the strain even after consecutive cultures for generations. Analysis of nested deletions of the 7.6-kb fragment showed that a 4.3-kb BglII-XhoI region sufficiently confers replication of the derivative of the ColE1 vector on UIA5. The region comprises three ORFs, which have high homologies with repA, repB, and repC of plasm ids in virulent Agrobacterium spp. including pTiC58, pTiB6S3, pTi-SAKURA, and pRiA4b as well as those of symbiotic plasmids from Rhizobium spp. Phylogenie analysis showed that rep genes in pAtC58 are more closely related to those in pRiA4 than to pTi plasmids including pTiC58, suggesting that the two inborn plasmids, pTiC58 and pAtC58, harbored in C58 evolved from distinct origins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.450-456
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• 2006

Pseudomonas fluorescens MC07 is a growth-promoting rhizobacterium that suppresses mycelial growth in fungi such as Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, Fusarium oxysporum, and Phytophthora capsici. To determine the role of the bacterium's antifungal activity in disease suppression, we screened 2,500 colonies generated by Tn5lacZ insertions, and isolated a mutant 157 that had lost antifungal activity. The EcoRI fragment carrying Tn5lacZ was cloned into pBluescript II SK(+) and used as a probe to isolate wild-type clones from a genomic library of the parent strain, MC07. Two overlapping cosmid clones, pEH4 and pEH5, that had hybridized with the mutant clone were isolated. pEH4 conferred antifungal activity to the heterologous host P.fluorescens strain 1855.344, whereas pEH5 did not. Through transposon mutagenesis of pEH4 and complementation analyses, we delineated the 14.7-kb DNA region that is responsible for the biosynthesis of an antifungal compound. DNA sequence analysis of the region identified 11 possible open reading frames (ORF), ORF1 through ORF11. A BLAST search of each putative protein implied that the proteins may be involved in an antifungal activity similar to polyketides.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4 s.114
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• pp.510-517
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• 2005

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena is capable of both photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation which probably facilitated its incredible adaptation and proliferation in freshwater environments. A small gene, patS, was found to block nitrogen fixing cells from developing which resulted in death of Anabaena in the absence of combined nitrogen sources. We analyzed the DNA sequences in the vicinity of the patS gene by using a codon usage program and detected no codon bias other than the patS open reading frame. Three overlapping cosmids that contain the patS gene were identified, and the presence of other known heterocyst-controlling genes was examined. The patS expression in response to nitrogen starvation was analyzed at the level of transcription and translation by using Northern blot analyses and lacZ-reporter-gene fusion experiments, respectively. The patS expression increased rapidly (within 12 hours) upon the removal of combined nitrogen from the media.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 1999

A novel chromosomal gene tagging technique using a specific fragment of the fatty acid desaturase-like open reading frame (des-like ORF) from the tox-argK gene cluster of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola was developed to identify Xanthomonas spp.released into the environment as biocontrol agents. X. campestris pv. convolvuli FB-635, a pathogen of Convolvulus arvensis L., (bindweed), was chosen as the organism in which to develop and test the system. A 0.52 kb DES fragment amplified from P. syringae pv. phaseolicola C-199 was inserted into pGX15, a cosmid clone containing a 10.3 kb Eco RI-HindIII fragment derived from the xanthomonadin biosynthetic gene cluster contained in plasmid pIG102, to create a pigG::DES insertion. The 10.8 kb EcoRI-BamHI fragment carrying the pigG:: DES insertion was cloned into pLAFR3 to generate pLXP22. pLXP22 was then conjugated into X. campestris pv. convolvuli FB-635 and the pigG::DES insertion integrated into the bacterial chromosome by marker exchange. Rifampicin resistant, tetracycline sensitive, starch hydrolyzing, white colonies were used to differentiate the marked strain from yellow pigmented wild-type ones. PCR primers specific for the unique DES fragment were used for direct detection of the marked strain. Result showed the marked strain could be detected at very low levels even in the presence of high levels of other closely related or competitive bacteria. This PCR-based DES-tagging system provides a rapid and specific tool for directly monitoring the dispersal and persistence of Xanthomonas spp.released into the environment.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2000

To identity the genes responsible for the biosynthesis of exopolysaccharide, recombinant plasmids pUEX10 and pLEX10 were constructed from plasmid pLEX3 which was isolated from the recombinant cosmid library of Zoogloea ramigera 115. The complete nucleotide sequence of the 1.7 kb genomic DNA insert in plasmid pUEX10 was determined. Its analysis identified two open reading frames (ORF3 & ORF4) which could encode two proteins. The amino acid sequence derived from ORF3 showed the homology with gumC protein in Xanthomonas campestris as well as exoP protein in Rhizobium melizoti. The partial amino acid sequence of ORF4 showed the homology with polysaccharide export protein in Thermotoga maritima. Z. ramigera 115SLR and Z. ramigera 115SLR/pLEX10 showed the similar pattern for EPS production. Yield of exopolysaccharides produced by Z. ramigera 115SLR and Z. ramigera 115SLR/pLEX10 was 0.26% (w/v) and 0.16% (w/v), respectively.