• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.180-186
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• 2007

The biocontrol agent, Serratia plymuthica A21-4, has been developed for controlling pepper Phytophthora blight. Serratia plymuthica A21-4 strongly inhibits the mycelial growth, zoospore formation, and cyst germination of Phytophthora capsici in vitro. The application of a cell suspension of strain A21-4 to pepper plants in pot experiments and in greenhouse successfully controlled the disease. The bacteria produced a potent antifungal substance which was a key factor in the suppression of Phytophthora capsici. The most active chemical com-pound was isolated and purified by antifungal activity-guided fractionation. The chemical structure was identified as a chlorinated macrolide $(C_{23}H_{31}O_8Cl)$ by spectroscopic (UV, IR, MS, and NMR) data, and was named macrocyclic lactone A21-4. The active compound significantly inhibited the formation of zoosporangia and zoospore and germination of cyst of P. capsici at concentrations lower than $0.0625{\mu}g/ml$. The effective concentrations of the macrocyclic lactone A21-4 for $ED_{50}$ of mycelial growth inhibition were $0.25{\mu}g/ml,\;0.25{\mu}g/ml,\;0.30{\mu}g/ml \;and\;0.75{\mu}g/ml$ against P. capsici, Pythium ultimum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2002

Methylmercury (MeHg), one of the heavy metal compound, can cause severe damage to the central nervous system in humans. Many reports have contributed MeHg poisoning to contaminated foods and release into the environment. Despite many studies on the pathogenesis of MeHg-induced central neuropathy, no useful mechanism of toxicity has been established. To find genes differentially expressed by MeHg in neuronal cell, we peformed forward and reverse suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method on mRNA derived from neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y treated with solvent (DMSO) and 6.25 uM (IC$\sub$50/) MeHg. Differentially expressed CDNA clones were sequenced and the mRNAs were re-examined on Northern blots. These sequences were identified by BLAST homology search to known genes or expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Analysis of these sequences has provided an insight into the biological effects of MeHg in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease and a possibility to develop more efficient and exact monitoring system of heavy metals as common environmental pollutants.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.97-101
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• 2011

Cirsium japonicum var. ussuriense is known to have a variety of biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, analgesic activity and antipyretic activity. In this study we investigated the role of polyacetylene compound, 1-Heptadecene-11, 13-diyne-8, 9, 10-triol (PA) from the root of Cirsium japonicum var. ussuriense as an immune-modulator. PA was evaluated as inhibitors of some macrophage functions involved in the inflammatory process. We tested the effect of PA on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-1beta (IL-$1{\beta}$) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-$\alpha$), and nitric oxide (NO) in murine macrophage cell line, RAW264.7. There was no effect on cytokine production of macrophages by PA itself. However, PA inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-$1{\beta}$ and TNF-$\alpha$ production by macrophages at a dose dependent manner. PA also suppressed the NO production of macrophages by LPS. LPS-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activity was decreased by treatment of PA. Therefore, these results suggest that PA has anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the NF-${\kappa}B$ activation.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.133-148
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• 2015

Although several adverse effects have been increased in recent years, synthetic agro-chemicals have been widely used to control diseases on paprika. This research was conducted to isolate and to characterize the antagonistic microorganism to control major paprika diseases, gray mold rot, fruit and stem rot, phytophthora blight, sclerotium rot, and wilt disease. Analysis of the fatty acid and analysis of the 16S rDNA gene sequence revealed that YKJ2 isolated in this research belongs to a group of Burkholderia cepacia. Specially, 16S rDNA gene sequence of YKJ2 showed 99% of sequence similarity with B. cepacia. Observation through the optical microscope revealed that YKJ2 was effective on suppression of the spore germination and the hyphal growth of pathogens. YKJ2 treatment on pathogens induced marked morphological changes like hyphal swelling and degradation of cell wall. In the case of phytophthora blight, the zoosporangium formation was restrained. On the basis of the results of this study, we propose that an antagonistic microorganism, B. cepacia, found in this study naming as "B. cepacia strain YKJ2" and has great potential as one of biological control agents against major diseases of paprika.

• Mycobiology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.251-254
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• 2003

To select active bacterial strains to control plant diseases, 57 bacterial strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of the plants growing in various areas such as coast, middle and top of Halla Mountain in Jeju Island. Anti-fungal effect of isolated bactrial strains was tested in vitro by incubating in potato dextrose agar with isolates of four fungal plant pathogens Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and C. orbiculare, respectively. Thirty-four bacterial strains inhibited the hyphal growth of the plant pathogens, from which 17 strains inhibited one of the tested fungi, 10 strains two fungi, six strains three and a strain TRL2-3 inhibited all of the tested fungi. Some bacterial strains could inhibit weakly the hyphal growth of the plant pathogens, whereas some did very strongly with apparent inhibition zone between the plant pathogens and bacterial strains indicating the unfavorable condition for hyphal growth. Although there was no apparent inhibition zone, some bacterial strains showed a strong suppression of hyphal growth of plant pathogens. Especially, the inhibition by TRL2-3 was remarkably strong in all cases of the tested plant pathogens in this study that could be a possible candidate for biological control of various plant diseases.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.7
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• pp.364-369
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• 2013

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) plays an indispensable role in epidermal pigmentation in hyperpigmentary disorders due to a central role in melanogenesis. Nevertheless, precise mechanism involved in ET-1-induced hyperpigmentation is still undefined. Glycoprotein (transmembrane) non-metastatic melanoma protein b (GPNMB) is a key element in melanosome formation. Therefore, we speculated that GPNMB was correlated with ET-1-induced pigmentation. After culturing with ET-1, melanin synthesis was significantly up-regulated, accompanying with increased expression of GPNMB and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). Total number of melanosomes and melanin synthesis were sharply reduced via GPNMB-siRNA transfection, indicating ET-1-induced pigmentation by GPNMB-dependent manner. Furthermore, MITF-siRNA transfection strikingly inhibited GPNMB expression and the melanogenesis, and this suppression failed to be alleviated by ET-1 stimulation. All of these results demonstrated that ET-1 can trigger melanogenesis via the MITF-regulated GPNMB pathway. Taken together, these findings will provide a new explanation of how ET-1 induces hyperpigmentation, and possibly supply a new strategy for cosmetic studies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.185-191
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• 2005

In vitro and in vivo effectiveness of fungicides were evaluated for the control of damping off caused by Rhizoctonia solani on Panax ginseng. Fludioxonil(67 mg a. i./L), flutolanil(75 mg a. i./L), thifluzamide(35 mg a. i./L), and mepronil (750 mg a. i./L) were selected from 9 fungicides, which were based on inhibition of mycelial growth of R. solani (isolate Rh 9801) and duration of fungicidal effectiveness against the pathogen in vitro. Field trials were made twice in the year of 2003 and 2004. Experimental plots $(54m{\times}0.9m)$ of 4-year-old ginseng fields were artificially infested with 5kg and 14 kg in fresh weight of inoculum in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The fungicides were drenched at a volume of 8l in $3.6m{\times}0.9m$ with 3 replications. Fludioxonil, flutolanil, thifluzamide and mepronil reduced the incidence of damping off by $73\%,\;69\%,\;69\%\;and\;43\%$, respectively. In the 2004 trial, fludioxonil, flutolanil, and thifluzamide showed similar result as reducing the incidence by $85\%,\;84\%,\;and\;82\%$, respectively, in the plot where the inoculum was applied 2.8 times more than the 2003. The disease incidences in untreated control were $12\%$ in 2003 and $47\%$ in 2004.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.149-156
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• 2009

Equisetum hyemale Linne. (EH) (Equisetaceae) has been used for the treatment of eye and skin disease, chronic eczema, pneumoconiosis and asthma in Korea and China. Human leukemic mast cells are widely distributed in the connective tissues of mammals and other vertebrates. Phorbol 12-myristrate 13-acetate (PMA) and calcium ionophore A23187 stimulated Human leukaemic mast cell line-1 (HMC-1) can produce a variety of inflammatory mediators and several pro-inflammatory and chemotactic cytokines such as TNF-$\alpha$, IL-6 and IL-8. Since TNF-$\alpha$, IL-6 and IL-8 are major factors during the inflammatory process, we studied the effects of EH on TNF-$\alpha$, IL-6 and IL-8 release in HMC-1 stimulated with PMA and A23187. The result of this study indicate that EH inhibits TNF-$\alpha$, IL-6 and IL-8 in activated HMC-1 cells via $I{\kappa}B$/Nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ pathway. Therefore, EH might contribute significantly to the prevention or treatment of mast-cell mediated inflammatory diseases and EH has potential use in the therapy of chronic allergic inflammation.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.19 no.spc
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• pp.291-294
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• 2011

We studies a model for management of pepper anthracnose based covering method and spraying system in field. 1. Among 82 organic fungicides, 42 materials showed most effective inhibition against mycelia growth of the Colletotrichum acutatum in vitro. 23 formulated biocontrol agents were chosen to control the disease from 42 biocontrol agents in greenhouse. In the end, five kinds (2 plant extracts, 2 biopesiticides, 1 Bordeaux mixture) were selected from 23 materials in the field. 2. The mulching materials of bed covering in fruit season were thin non-woven fabric sheet and black plastic. The use of a fabric sheet was reduced the spread of anthracnose as compared to the plastic covering. 3. The application with the chosen materials was reduced 34% of anthracnose for 7 times sprays to planting 70 days as compared to the untreated control. In yield, nonwoven fabric sheet with formulated biopesticides was increased 17% than black plastic. 4. This result indicated that the developed biocontrol strategy could be an effective and economic crop protection system in organic pepper cultivation field.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1624-1628
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• 2019

Banana planting altered microbial communities and induced the enrichment of Fusarium oxysporum in rhizosphere compared with that of forest soil. Diseased plant rhizosphere soil (WR) harbored increased pathogen abundance and showed distinct microbial structures from healthy plant rhizosphere soil (HR). The enriched taxon of Bordetella and key taxon of Chaetomium together with some other taxa showed negative associations with pathogen in HR, indicating their importance in pathogen inhibition. Furthermore, a more stable microbiota was observed in HR than in WR. Taken together, the lower pathogen abundance, specific beneficial microbial taxa and stable microbiota contributed to disease suppression.