• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 2016

Filariasis causing nematode Brugia malayi is shown to harbor wolbachia bacteria as symbionts. The sequenced genome of the wolbachia endosymbiont from B.malayi (wBm) offers an unprecedented opportunity to identify new wolbachia drug targets. Hence the enzyme carbonic anhydrase from wolbachia endosymbiont of Brugia malayi (wBm) which is responsible for the reversible interconversion of carbon dioxide and water to bicarbonate and protons (or vice versa) is chosen as the drug target for filariasis. This enzyme is thought to play critical functions in bacteria by involving in various steps of their life cycle which are important for survival, The 3D structure of wBm carbonic anhydrase is predicted by selecting a suitable template using the similarity search tool, BLAST. The BLAST results shows a hexapeptide transferase family protein from Anaplasma phagocytophilum (PDB ID: 3IXC) having 77% similarity and 54% identity with wBm carbonic anhydrase. Hence the above enzyme is chosen as the template and the 3D structure of carbonic anhydrase is predicted by the tool Modeller9v7. Since the three dimensional structure of carbonic anhydrase from wolbachia endosymbiont of Brugia malayi has not yet solved, attempts were made to predict this protein. The predicted structure is validated and also molecular docking studies are carried out with the suitable inhibitors that have been solved experimentally.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.421-426
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• 2019

Background: Wolbachia are among the most prevalent endosymbiotic bacteria and induce reproductive anomalies in various invertebrate taxa. The bacterium has huge impacts on host reproductive biology, immunity, evolution, and molecular machinery. However, broad-scale surveys of Wolbachia infections at the order scale, including the order Coleoptera, are limited. In this study, we investigated the Wolbachia infection frequency in 201 Coleopteran insects collected in Korea. Results: A total of 26 species (12.8%) belonging to 11 families harbored Wolbachia. The phylogenetic trees of based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequences and partial Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene sequences were largely incongruent to that of their hosts. This result confirms that Wolbachia evolved independently from their hosts, Conclusion: Phylogenetic trees suggest that complex horizontal gene transfer and recombination events occurred within and between divergent Wolbachia subgroups.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2016

Objectives: Malaria has been a major global health problem in recent times with increasing mortality. Current treatment methods include parasiticidal drugs and vaccinations. However, resistance among malarial parasites to the existing drugs has emerged as a significant area of concern in anti-malarial drug design. Researchers are now desperately looking for new targets to develop anti-malarials drug which is more target specific. Malarial parasites harbor a plastid-like organelle known as the 'apicoplast', which is thought to provide an exciting new outlook for the development of drugs to be used against the parasite. This review elaborates on the current state of development of novel compounds targeted againstemerging malaria parasites. Methods: The apicoplast, originates by an endosymbiotic process, contains a range of metabolic pathways and housekeeping processes that differ from the host body and thereby presents ideal strategies for anti-malarial drug therapy. Drugs are designed by targeting the unique mechanism of the apicoplasts genetic machinery. Several anabolic and catabolic processes, like fatty acid, isopenetyl diphosphate and heme synthess in this organelle, have also been targeted by drugs. Results: Apicoplasts offer exciting opportunities for the development of malarial treatment specific drugs have been found to act by disrupting this organelle's function, which wouldimpede the survival of the parasite. Conclusion: Recent advanced drugs, their modes of action, and their advantages in the treatment of malaria by using apicoplasts as a target are discussed in this review which thought to be very useful in desigining anti-malarial drugs. Targetting the genetic machinery of apicoplast shows a great advantange regarding anti-malarial drug design. Critical knowledge of these new drugs would give a healthier understanding for deciphering the mechanism of action of anti-malarial drugs when targeting apicoplasts to overcome drug resistance.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.337-344
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• 2009

In a previous study, we reported our discovery of Acanthamoeba contamination in domestic tap water; in that study, we determined that some Acanthamoeba strains harbor endosymbiotic bacteria, via our molecular characterization by mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (Mt DNA RFLP). Five (29.4%) among 17 Acanthamoeba isolates contained endosymbionts in their cytoplasm, as demonstrated via orcein staining. In order to estimate their pathogenicity, we conducted a genetic characterization of the endosymbionts in Acanthamoeba isolated from domestic tap water via 16S rDNA sequencing. The endosymbionts of Acanthamoeba sp. KA/WP3 and KA/WP4 evidenced the highest level of similarity, at 97% of the recently published 16S rDNA sequence of the bacterium, Candidatus Amoebophilus asiaticus. The endosymbionts of Acanthamoeba sp. KA/WP8 and KA/WP12 shared a 97% sequence similarity with each other, and were also highly similar to Candidatus Odyssella thessalonicensis, a member of the $\alpha$-proteobacteria. The endosymbiont of Acanthamoeba sp. KA/WP9 exhibits a high degree of similarity (85-95%) with genus Methylophilus, which is not yet known to harbor any endosymbionts. This is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, to show that Methylophilus spp. can live in the cytoplasm of Acanthamoeba.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.637-649
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• 2011

Soil microorganisms play a major role in improving soil fertility and plant health. Symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form a key component of the soil microbial populations. AMF form a mutualistic association with the host plant and exert a positive influence on its growth and nutrient uptake. The establishment of mycorrhizal symbioses with the host plant can positively be influenced by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria through various mechanisms such as increased spore germination and hyphal permeability in plant roots. Though there are evidences that combined interactions between AMF and PGPR can promote the plant growth however mechanisms of these interactions are poorly understood. Better understanding of the interactions between AMF and other microorganisms is necessary for maintaining soil fertility and enhancing crop production. This paper reviews current knowledge concerning the interactions between AMF and PGPR with plants and discusses on enhanced nutrient availability, biocontrol, abiotic stress tolerance and phytoremediation in sustainable agriculture.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.374-386
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• 2023

Thermal stress induces dynamic changes in nuclear proteins and relevant physiology as a part of the heat shock response (HSR). However, how the nuclear HSR is fine-tuned for cellular homeostasis remains elusive. Here, we show that mitochondrial activity plays an important role in nuclear proteostasis and genome stability through two distinct HSR pathways. Mitochondrial ribosomal protein (MRP) depletion enhanced the nucleolar granule formation of HSP70 and ubiquitin during HSR while facilitating the recovery of damaged nuclear proteins and impaired nucleocytoplasmic transport. Treatment of the mitochondrial proton gradient uncoupler masked MRP-depletion effects, implicating oxidative phosphorylation in these nuclear HSRs. On the other hand, MRP depletion and a reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger non-additively decreased mitochondrial ROS generation during HSR, thereby protecting the nuclear genome from DNA damage. These results suggest that suboptimal mitochondrial activity sustains nuclear homeostasis under cellular stress, providing plausible evidence for optimal endosymbiotic evolution via mitochondria-to-nuclear communication.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.362-368
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• 2018

Grasshoppers play vital role in the digestion of photosynthetically fixed carbons. With the aid of intestinal microflora, the grasshopper can degrade leaves constituents such as cellulose and hemicellulose. The purpose of this study was to examine cellulolytic yeast isolates from the gut of grasshoppers collected in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Among the yeast isolates, ON2, ON17 (two strains), and ON6 (one strain) showed positive cellulolytic activity in the CMC-plate assay. The sequence analyses of D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rDNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions revealed that the strains ON2 and ON17 were most closely related to Papiliotrema aspenensis CBS $13867^T$ (100%, sequence similarity in D1/D2 domains; 99.4% sequence similarity in ITS) and strain ON6 related to Saitozyma flava (100% in D1/D2 domains; 99.0% in ITS). All these three yeast strains are capable of degrading cellulose; therefore, the members of endosymbiotic yeasts may produce their own enzymes for carbohydrate degradation and convert mobilized sugar monomers to volatile fatty acids. Thus, the endosymbiotic yeast strains ON2, ON17 (represents the genus Papilioterma) and ON6 (Saitozyma) belonging to the family Tremellomycetes, are unreported strains in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.369-375
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• 2018

Mycoplasma genitalium has 367 conserved genes and the smallest genome among mono-culturable prokaryotes. Conservative metabolic pathways were examined among M. genitalium and 14 prokaryotes, one hyperthermophilic exosymbiotic archaeon Nanoarchaeum equitans and 13 intracellular eubacteria of plants or insects, with fewer conserved genes than M. genitalium. They have 11 to 71 metabolic pathways, however complete metabolic pathways ranged from 1 to 24. Totally, metabolic pathway hole is very high due to the lack of 45.8% of the enzymes required for the whole metabolic pathways and it could be suggested that the shared metabolic pathway with the host's enzyme would work or the essential substances are host dependent. The number of genes necessary for mass transfer through the cell membrane is also very low, and it may be considered that the simple diffusion or the protein of the host will function in the cell membrane of these prokaryotes. Although the tRNA charging pathway was distributed in all 15 prokaryotes, each has 5-20 tRNA charging genes. This study would give clues to the understanding of the metabolic pathways of intracellular parasitic bacteria of plant and endosymbiotic bacteria of insects, and could provide basic data for prevention of crop damage, development of insect pests and human medicines.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.359-377
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• 2017

Pyropia haitanensis (T. J. Chang et B. F. Zheng) N. Kikuchi et M. Miyata is one of the most commercially useful macroalgae cultivated in southeastern China. In red algae, the biosynthesis of terpenoids through 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway can produce a direct influence on the synthesis of many biologically important metabolites. In this study, two genes of cDNAs, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) and 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductase (DXR), which encoding the first two rate-limiting enzymes among MEP pathway were cloned from P. haitanensis. The cDNAs of P. haitanensis DXS (PhDXS) and DXR (PhDXR) both contained complete open reading frames encoding polypeptides of 764 and 426 amino acids residues, separately. The expression analysis showed that PhDXS was significant differently expressed between leafy thallus and conchocelis as PhDXR been non-significant. Additionally, expression of PhDXR and its downstream gene geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase were both inhibited by fosmidomycin significantly. Meanwhile, we constructed types of phylogenetic trees through different algae and higher plants DXS and DXR encoding amino acid sequences, as a result we found tree clustering consequences basically in line with the "Cavalier-Smith endosymbiotic theory." Whereupon, we speculated that in red algae, there existed only complete MEP pathway to meet needs of terpenoids synthesis for themselves; Terpenoids synthesis of red algae derivatives through mevalonate pathway came from two or more times endosymbiosis of heterotrophic eukaryotic parasitifer. This study demonstrated that PhDXS and PhDXR could play significant roles in terpenoids biosynthesis at molecular levels. Meanwhile, as nuclear genes among MEP pathway, PhDXS and PhDXR could provide a new way of thinking to research the problem of chromalveolata biological evolution.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.694-701
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• 2017

Mycoplasma genitalium represents the smallest genome among mono-cultivable prokaryotes. To discover and compare the orthologs (conservative genes) among M. genitalium and 14 prokaryotes that are uncultivable and have less orthologs than M. genitalium, COG (clusters of orthologous groups of protein) analyses were applied. The analyzed prokaryotes were M. genitalium, one hyperthermophilic exosymbiotic archaeon Nanoarchaeum equitans, four intracellular plant pathogenic eubacteria of Candidatus Phytoplasma genus, and nine endosymbiotic eubacteria of phloem- and xylem-feeding insects. Among 367 orthologs of M. genitalium, 284 orthologs were conservative between M. genitalium and at least one other prokaryote. All 15 prokaryotes commonly have 29 orthologs, representing the significance of proteins in life. They belong to 25 translation-related, including 22 ribosomal proteins, 3 subunits of RNA polymerase, and 1 protein-folding-related. Among the 15 prokaryotes, 40 orthologs were only found in all four Candidatus Phytoplasma. The other nine Candidatus, all endosymbionts with insects, showed only a single common COG0539 (ribosomal protein S1), representing the diversity of orthologs among them. These results might provide clues to understand conservative genes in uncultivable prokaryotes, and may be helpful in industrial areas, such as handling prokaryotes producing amino acids and antibiotics, and as precursors of organic synthesis.