• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.768-775
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• 2022

In this study we aimed to derive the response surface models for Escherichia coli reduction in wheat flour using atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) with three types of gas. The jet-type atmospheric cold plasma wand system was used with a 30 W power supply, and three gases (argon, air, and nitrogen) were applied as the treatment gas. The operating parameters for process optimization considered were wheat flour mass (g), treatment time (min), and gas flow rate (L/min). The wheat flour samples were artificially contaminated with E. coli at a concentration of 9.25 ± 0.74 log CFU/g. ACP treatments with argon, air, and nitrogen resulted in 2.66, 4.21, and 5.55 log CFU/g reduction of E. coli, respectively, in wheat flour under optimized conditions. The optimized conditions to reduce E. coli were 0.5 g of the flour mass, 15 min of treatment time, and 0.20 L/min of nitrogen gas flow rate, and the predicted highest reduction level from modeling was 5.63 log CFU/g.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.250-256
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• 2013

To verify the multiplication of microorganisms on the surface of strawberries, the fate of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ at different temperatures, times and strawberry extract concentrations were measured. The population of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ rapidly increased by 7.36~7.78 log CFU/g at $25{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr and slowly increased by 6.49~8.49 log CFU/g at $10{\sim}20^{\circ}C$ for 48 hr. However, E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ did not grow at $10{\sim}15^{\circ}C$ on the surface of the strawberries, regardless of the contact times with the bacterial suspension. E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ reached 1.52~3.26 log CFU/g at $20^{\circ}C$ as the contact frequency increased from two to six times. The contact frequencies did not significantly differ. In the case of the six-time contact on the surface of the strawberry at 25 and $30^{\circ}C$, the E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ increased by 5.17 and 5.01 log CFU/g. The effects of the strawberry extracts on the growth of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ showed that sterilization and non-sterilization do not affect the growth of microorganisms for 96 hr. In the minimal broth, the growth of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ increased by 1 log CFU/g for 96 hr. In less than 50 percent of the strawberry extracts, the growth rate of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ was higher than in the control and increased by 4 and 5 log CFU/g at 50 and 25 percent of strawberry extracts, respectively. Therefore, E. coli $DH5{\alpha}::gfp$ can multiply and survive on the surface of strawberries when it comes into contact with the fruit extract.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.271-278
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• 2020

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is one of the major causative infectious agents of diarrhea in newborn and post-weaning pigs and leads to a large economic loss worldwide. However, there is limited information on the distribution and characterization of virulence genes in E. coli isolated from diarrheic piglets, which also applies to the current status of pig farms in Korea. To investigate the prevalence and characterization of virulence genes in E. coli related to diarrhea in piglets, the rectal swab samples of diarrheic piglets (aged 2 d to 6 w) were collected from 163 farms between 2013 and 2016. Five to 10 individual swab samples from the same farm were pooled and cultured on MacConkey agar plates, and E. coli were identified using the API 32E system. Three sets of multiplex PCRs were used to detect 13 E. coli virulence genes. As a result, a total of 172 E. coli isolates encoding one or more of the virulence genes were identified. Among them, the prevalence of individual virulence gene was as follows, (1) fimbrial adhesins (43.0%): F4 (16.9%), F5 (4.1%), F6 (1.7%), F18 (21.5%), and F41 (3.5%); (2) toxins (90.1%): LT (19.2%), STa (20.9%), STb (25.6%), Stx2e (15.1%), EAST1 (48.3%); and (3) non-fimbrial adhesin (19.6%): EAE (14.0%), AIDA-1 (11.6%) and PAA (8.7%), respectively. Taken together, various pathotypes and virotypes of E. coli were identified in diarrheic piglets. These results suggest a broad array of virulence genes is associated with coliform diarrhea in piglets in Korea.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2010

Purpose : We aimed to investigate the clinical and phylogenetic characteristics of Escherichia coli Urinary Tract Infections (E. coli UTI). Methods : We enrolled patients with culture-proven E. coli UTI, who were admitted at the study hospital from September 2008 to August 2009. We investigated clinical data of patients with E. coli UTI and characteristics of isolated E. coli strains. The phylogenetic groups were classified using triplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the distribution of nine virulent genes was determined by multiplex PCR. Results : A total of 47 patients have participated in this study. Thirty (63.8%) were under 6 months; eight (17.0%) were between 6-12 months; and nine (19.1%) were over 12 months. We compared two age groups between under 6-month and over 6-month. In the age group under 6-month, higher proportion of male (P =0.002) and group B2 strains (P =0.020) were observed. In contrast, higher proportion of female and group non-B2 strains were observed in age group over 6-month. Frequencies of papC, papGII, papGIII, sfa/foc, hlyC, cnf1, fyuA, iroN and iucC were estimated as 68.1%, 57.4%, 42.6%, 46.8%, 46.8%, 31.9%, 87.2%, 48.9% and 63.8%, respectively. In the comparison of phylogenetic groups, group B2 showed higher distribution of virulent genes, while group D included more strains resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMZ) than other groups. Conclusion : We showed the age group-specific difference in the distribution of sex ratios and phylogenetic groups; more male and group B2 strains in age group under 6-month, while more female and group non-B2 in age group over 6-month. However, further evaluation including larger number of patients will be necessary to confirm above thesis in future molecular epidemiological studies.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.752-755
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• 2003

The antimicrobial activity of fresh garlic juice against Escherichia coli O157:H7 was investigated. When E. coli O157:H7 was cultured for 18 hr in the trypticase soy broth containing 1%, 3%, and 5% garlic juice, viable cell number of E. coli O157:H7 was reduced to $2.3{\times}10^2\;CFU/mL$ at 5% from $7{\times}10^8\;CFU/mL$ at the non-treated culture, respectively. The inhibitory effects of the ground beef treated with 3%, 6%, and 10% garlic juice against E. coli O157:H7 was significantly enhanced with approximate 2 log-reduction compared to that of ground beef without garlic. There was no significant difference in the inhibition of E. coli O157:H7 among the groups with different amounts of garlic juice (p<0.05). These results suggest that garlic juice may function well as a natural preservative in food system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.238-245
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• 2009

Pure culture experiments were conducted to assess the bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects of phlorotannins (PT) isolated from Ascophyllum nodosum (brown seaweed) on Escherichia coli O157:H7. In Exp. 1, one non-O157:H7 strain (25922) and three strains of E. coli O157:H7 (3081, EDL933 and E318N) were cultured in M9 medium with PT included at 0 (control), 25, 50 or $100{\mu}g/ml$ (n = 3). Bacterial growth was monitored by $OD_{600}$ at 0, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h, and by dilution plating at 0, 4, 6 and 24 h. All strains were inhibited (p<0.001) by PT to varying degrees. At 50 or $100{\mu}g/ml$, PT prevented growth of all four strains. At $25{\mu}g\;PT/ml$, growth of 25922, 3081, E318N and EDL933 was inhibited for 6, 12 and 24 h, respectively, but 25922 and 3081 resumed growth by 12 and 24 h. Direct plating confirmed bactericidal effects of PT on all four strains at $100{\mu}g/ml$, and on EDL933 and E318N at $50{\mu}g/ml$. In Exp. 2, strains 25922 and 3081 were incubated with no tannins or with $50{\mu}g/ml$ of PT, purified condensed tannins (CT) from Quebracho (Schinopsis balansaei), or purified tannic acid from Rhus semialata (Anacardiaceae) as hydrolysable tannins (HT). Strain 3081 was unaffected by HT or CT, but was completely inhibited (p<0.001) by PT at 4, 6 and 24 h. Strain 25922 was unaffected by HT, slightly inhibited by CT, and almost eradicated by PT at 4 and 6 h. Transmission electron microscopy revealed tannin-mediated alterations to bacterial cell walls. Phlorotannins from A. nodosum exhibit growth-inhibiting and bactericidal effects in vitro against the strains of E. coli O157:H7 investigated. Anti-E. coli efficacy of A. nodosum PT is superior to that of terrestrial tannins purified from Quebracho and from Rhus semialata.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 1992

In order to overexpress bacteriophage PRD1 DNA polymerase in E. coli cells, the 2 kb HaeII fragment was isolated from phage genomic DNA. This fragment was then cloned into pEMBL/sup ex/ 3-expression vector. A specific 57bp deletion was performed by using uracil containing ss DNA and oligonucleotide spanning each region to remove an unwanted non-coding region. After this deletion, the PRD1 DNA polymerase gene is totally under the control of the vector promoter and SD sequence. Upon heat induction, a protein with an apparent size of 68 kdal was overexpressed as an active PRD1 DNA polymerase. The expression of PRD1 DNA polymerase was about 1% of total E. coli protein.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.1009-1013
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• 2012

We investigated the antibacterial effects of Opuntia ficus indica extracts on foodborne pathogens, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes, on the medium of sliced apples. Pathogens were inoculated on sliced apples and immersed for 10 min in Opuntia ficus indica extracts. Each sample was packaged and stored at $4^{\circ}C$ and $21^{\circ}C$ for 8 days. The populations of E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes significantly decreased with increasing extract concentration (p<0.05). In particular, L. monocytogenes was reduced to non-detectable levels after 2 days in 50 mg/mL treatment at $4^{\circ}C$ and $21^{\circ}C$ Opuntia ficus indica extracts therefore have antibacterial effects on the two foodborne pathogens. Sensory evaluation results indicated that treated apples had better sensory characteristics than did the control. Therefore, the results suggest that Opuntia ficus indica extracts could be useful as a natural food preservative to improve microbial safety.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1365-1367
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• 2008

The antibacterial activity of chitosan against Escherichia coli was investigated in the presence of NaCl, sucrose, and ethanol to assess the potential use of chitosan as a biopreservative in food products containing these components. The inhibitory activity of chitosan decreased slightly upon the addition of NaCl and sucrose, respectively to culture broth containing 100 ppm of chitosan (Mw 3,000), while the addition of ethanol enhanced the inhibitory activity of chitosan on growing cells. The addition of these components to non-growing cells prior to chitosan treatment demonstrated that NaCl protected the cells from the inhibitory activity of chitosan, while sucrose had no effect. Ethanol addition to non-growing cells increased cell death by chitosan treatment. Finally, binding of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled chitosan to E. coli was measured in the presence of the food components. The FITC-labeled chitosan binding to cells decreased upon NaCl addition, was not affected by sucrose, and increased following treatment with ethanol.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.2141-2150
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• 2017

This study was conducted to develop a screening method using Colilert-18 and a device for the detection of E. coli from agri-food production environments and fresh vegetables. The specificity and sensitivity of Colilert-18 by temperature ($37^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$) were evaluated with 38 E. coli and 78 non-E. coli strains. The false-positive rate was 3.8% (3/78) and 0% (0/78) at $37^{\circ}C$ and $44^{\circ}C$, respectively. The detection limit of E. coli at $37^{\circ}C$ at <1.0 log CFU/250 ml was lower than that at $44^{\circ}C$. The efficiency of the developed device, which comprised an incubator equipped with a UV lamp to detect E. coli in the field, was evaluated by measuring the temperature and UV lamp brightness. The difference between the set temperature and actual temperature of the developed device was about $1.0^{\circ}C$. When applying the developed method and device to various samples, including utensils, gloves, irrigation water, seeds, and vegetables, there were no differences in detection rates of E. coli compared with the Korean Food Code method. For sanitary disposal of culture samples after experiments, the sterilization effect of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) tablets was assessed for use as a substitute for an autoclave. The addition of one tablet of NaDCC per 50 ml was sufficient to kill E. coli cultured in Colilert-18. These results show that the developed protocol and device can efficiently detect E. coli from agri-food production environments and vegetables.