• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.475-486
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• 2005

Fungal secondary metabolites constitute a wide variety of compounds which either playa vital role in agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial contexts, or have devastating effects on agriculture, animal and human affairs by virtue of their toxigenicity. Owing to their beneficial and deleterious characteristics, these complex compounds and the genes responsible for their synthesis have been the subjects of extensive investigation by microbiologists and pharmacologists. A majority of the fungal secondary metabolic genes are classified as type I polyketide synthases (PKS) which are often clustered with other secondary metabolism related genes. In this review we discuss on the significance of our recent discovery of chalcone synthase (CHS) genes belonging to the type III PKS superfamily in an industrially important fungus, Aspergillus oryzae. CHS genes are known to playa vital role in the biosynthesis of flavonoids in plants. A comparative genome analyses revealed the unique character of A. oryzae with four CHS-like genes (csyA, csyB, csyC and csyD) amongst other Aspergilli (Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus) which contained none of the CHS-like genes. Some other fungi such as Neurospora crassa, Fusarium graminearum, Magnaporthe grisea, Podospora anserina and Phanerochaete chrysosporium also contained putative type III PKSs, with a phylogenic distinction from bacteria and plants. The enzymatically active nature of these newly discovered homologues is expected owing to the conservation in the catalytic residues across the different species of plants and fungi, and also by the fact that a majority of these genes (csyA, csyB and csyD) were expressed in A. oryzae. While this finding brings filamentous fungi closer to plants and bacteria which until recently were the only ones considered to possess the type III PKSs, the presence of putative genes encoding other principal enzymes involved in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis (viz., phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, cinnamic acid hydroxylase and p-coumarate CoA ligase) in the A. oryzae genome undoubtedly prove the extent of its metabolic diversity. Since many of these genes have not been identified earlier, knowledge on their corresponding products or activities remain undeciphered. In future, it is anticipated that these enzymes may be reasonable targets for metabolic engineering in fungi to produce agriculturally and nutritionally important metabolites.

• Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.205-214
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• 2008

Blast disease caused by the fungal pathogen, Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most damaging diseases in rice. The use of resistant varieties is an effective measure to control the disease, however, many resistant varieties were broken down to their resistance effects by the differentiating of new virulent isolates. This study was done to analyze the haplotypes of 31 microsatellite markers linked to five major R genes and two QTLs and to identify the alleles for the putatively novel genes related to durable resistance to blast in 56 Korean japonica and four indica varieties. The 31 microsatellite markers produced 2 to 13 alleles(mean = 5.4) and had PICi values ranging from 0.065 to 0.860(mean=0.563) among the 60 rice accessions. Cluster analysis based on allele diversities of 31 microsatellite markers grouped into 60 haplotypes and ten major clusters in 0.810 genetic similarity. A subcluster IV-1 grouped of early flowering varieties harboring Piz and/or Pi9(t) on chromosome 6 and Pita/Pita-2 gene on chromosome 12. The other subcluster V-1 consisted of four stable resistance varieties Donghae, Seomjin, Palgong and Milyang20. The analysis of putative QTLs associated with seven blast resistance genes using ANOVA and linear regression showed high significance to blast resistance across regions and isolates in the markers of two genes Piz and/or Pi9(t) and Pita/Pita-2. These results illustrate the utility of microsatellite markers to identify rice varieties is likely carrying the same R genes and QTLs and rice lines with potentially novel resistant gene.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.426-438
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• 2016

Plant disease resistance occurs as a hypersensitive response (HR) at the site of attempted pathogen invasion. This specific event is initiated in response to recognition of pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) and subsequent PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Both PTI and ETI mechanisms are tightly connected with reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and disease resistance that involves distinct biphasic ROS production as one of its pivotal plant immune responses. This unique oxidative burst is strongly dependent on the resistant cultivars because a monophasic ROS burst is a hallmark of the susceptible cultivars. However, the cause of the differential ROS burst remains unknown. In the study here, we revealed the plausible underlying mechanism of the differential ROS burst through functional understanding of the Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) AVR effector, AVR-Pii. We performed yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screening using AVR-Pii as bait and isolated rice NADP-malic enzyme2 (Os-NADP-ME2) as the rice target protein. To our surprise, deletion of the rice Os-NADP-ME2 gene in a resistant rice cultivar disrupted innate immunity against the rice blast fungus. Malic enzyme activity and inhibition studies demonstrated that AVR-Pii proteins specifically inhibit in vitro NADP-ME activity. Overall, we demonstrate that rice blast fungus, M. oryzae attenuates the host ROS burst via AVR-Pii-mediated inhibition of Os-NADP-ME2, which is indispensable in ROS metabolism for the innate immunity of rice. This characterization of the regulation of the host oxidative burst will help to elucidate how the products of AVR genes function associated with virulence of the pathogen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.67.2-68
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• 2003

A rice cultivar, Taebaegbyeo, is highly resistant to rice blast and moderately resistant to bacterial leaf blight (BLB) caused by Magnaporthe grisea and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, respectively. To study the rice disease resistance mechanism, we generated rice deletion M3 mutants by gamma-ray irradiation. Blast and BLB responses of 16,000 M3 mutants were screened by inoculating mixtures of 4 races (KJ-201, H-1113a, KI-313, KI-409) of M. grisea and 3 Korean races of X. oryzae pv. oryzae. We selected so far 21 M3 mutants of Taebaegbyeo showing high susceptibility to the diseases. One of the mutants, KCT-6417, was susceptible to KI-1113a race of M. grisea, suggesting the deletion of a race-specific blast resistance gene in the mutant. To isolate rice genes involved in blast resistance and defense response, we take a PCR-based suppression subtractive hybridization approach using cDNAs of blast-inoculated wild type and the KCT-6417 as a tester and a driver, respectively. Genes specifically expressed in the wild type will be presented. The selected genes would give us a clue to understand mechanism for the race specific resistance and defense responses against M. grisea H-1113a in Taebaegbyeo.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2014

Genetic engineering is being used to enhance disease resistance and nutritional value of crops including rice plant. Considering the fast-growing agricultural biotechnology and rapidly increasing global area of transgenic crops, the risk evaluation on environment is necessary. In this study, we surveyed the difference of disease occurrence between transgenic rice variety, Iksan526 transformed with peanut stilbene synthase gene and non-transgenic rice varieties, Dongjin and Nampyeong in the field. Moreover, the possibility of gene transfer from transgenic rice to bacterial and fungal pathogens was investigated. The results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in the occurrence and severity of the diseases between Iksan526 and Dongjin or Nampyeong. In addition, the results suggested that rice pathogen, such as Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani and Magnaporthe grisea did not take up stilbene synthase and bar genes under natural conditions. Moreover the transformed DNA was not transferred to the pathogens even in repetitive contacts.

• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.361-369
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• 2018

The rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, is an important pathogen of rice plants. It is well known that genes encoded in the genome have different evolutionary histories that are related to their functions. Phylostratigraphy is a method that correlates the evolutionary origin of genes with evolutionary transitions. Here we applied phylostratigraphy to partition total gene content of M. oryzae into distinct classes (phylostrata), which we designated PS1 to PS7, based on estimation of their emergence time. Genes in individual phylostrata did not show significant biases in their global distribution among seven chromosomes, but at the local level, clustering of genes belonging to the same phylostratum was observed. Our phylostrata-wide analysis of genes revealed that genes in the same phylostratum tend to be similar in many physical and functional characteristics such as gene length and structure, GC contents, codon adaptation index, and level of transcription, which correlates with biological functions in evolutionary context. We also found that a significant proportion of genes in the genome are orphans, for which no orthologs can be detected in the database. Among them, we narrowed down to seven orphan genes having transcriptional and translational evidences, and showed that one of them is implicated in asexual reproduction and virulence, suggesting ongoing evolution in this fungus through lineage-specific genes. Our results provide genomic basis for linking functions of pathogenicity factors and gene emergence time.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.685-691
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• 2022

Plants produce chemicals of immense diversity that provide great opportunities for development of new antifungal compounds. In search for environment-friendly alternatives to the fungicide of current use, we screened plant extracts obtained from more than eight hundred plant materials collected in Korea for their antifungal activity against the model plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. This initial screening identified antifungal activities from the eleven plant extract samples, among which nine showed reproducibility in the follow-up screening. These nine samples were able to suppress not only M. oryzae but also other fungal pathogens. Interestingly, the plant extracts obtained from Actinostemma lobatum comprised five out of eight samples, and were the most effective in their antifungal activity. We found that butanol fraction of the A. lobatum extract is the most potent. Identification and characterization of antifungal substances in the A. lobatum extracts would provide the promising lead compounds for new fungicide.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.31-31
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• 2007

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.234-234
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• 2023

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.105.3-106
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• 2003

Bacillus subtilis strain BAC02-4 was tested for its ability induced systemic resistance(ISR) in rice against Magnaporthe grisea We extend these studies to investigate the biological induction of systemic resistance in rice following treatment with the inducer isolate BAC02-4 and naturally infested with Pyricularia oryzae. We also determine levels of ISR activity during the period between disease development and the onset of systemic resistance. Comparition of lesion number according to applied concentration of BAC02-4 to 'Nagdongbyeo' when naturally infested with the conidia of P. grisea. Results from the blast nusery trial using the 'Nagdongbyeo' showed very low rice blast severity with the inducer concentration of 10$\^$8/ cfu level. Considering the low level of treatment and untreated control were observed to have developed typical susceptible lesion type. Highest protection against the rice blast pathogen when applied three times with 5 days interval as root drench at 5 to 6 leaf stage before pathogen challenge. But higher dose of bacterial inducer produced a little stunted plants with less number lesions and delayed disease development. Diseased leaf area of treated with suspension of the isolate which gave about 80％ of control efficacy at 20 days later comparable to that in noninfested, inducer-free soil.