• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.137-143
• /
• 2010

Hot water extracts of 5 herbs were tested in-vitro for anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-parasitical effects for possible use against fish diseases. Skullcap, Scutellaria baicalensis, was the most effective herb in these 5. The effects of skullcap in cultured flounder were examined for various physiological responses and bacterial disease-prevention follow as feeding skullcap absorbed diet for 4, 8, 12weeks. There were not any significant effects in physiological responses, except beneficial action of growth promotion. No definitive preventive activity was observed with experimental feeding of the extract against infected flounder. As we could not confirm in-vivo antibacterial effects of skullcap in flounder despite its in-vitro efficacy, further studies are needed to define the in-vivo efficacy.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.458-466
• /
• 2017

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), the causative agent of bacterial blight, is a major threat to rice productivity. Here, we performed RNA-Seq based transcriptomic analysis of Xoo transcripts isolated under in planta growth (on both susceptible and resistant hosts) and in vitro culture conditions. Our in planta extraction method resulted in successful enrichment of Xoo cells and provided RNA samples of high quality. A total of 4,619 differentially expressed genes were identified between in planta and in vitro growth conditions. The majority of the differentially expressed genes identified under in planta growth conditions were related to the nutrient transport, protease activity, stress tolerance, and pathogenicity. Among them, over 1,300 differentially expressed genes were determined to be secretory, including 184 putative type III effectors that may be involved in Xoo pathogenicity. Expression pattern of some of these identified genes were further validated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Taken together, these results provide a transcriptome overview of Xoo under in planta and in vitro growth conditions with a focus on its pathogenic processes, deepening our understanding of the behavior and pathogenicity of Xoo.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.108-114
• /
• 2017

Background: The study was conducted to investigate the distributions of faecal bacteria in commercial oriental medicine herb products. Methods and Results: A survey was conducted on the microbial contamination levels and antimicrobial specificity of Bacillus cereus and other microbes using 106 oriental medicine herb products on sale in Seoul. Pouring and isolation methods such as standard plate counts were used to identify the bacteria. The isolated bacterias included coliforms, Bacillus spp., Enterococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Listeria spp.were identified by using gram staining and an API (analytical profile index) kit. Antimicrobial drugs discs were determined by CLSI (clinical and laboratory standards institute). Conclusions: The bacterial isolates present in the herbal medicines included 98 coliforms, 45 Bacillus spp., 29 Enterococcus spp., and 2 Listeria spp. Among these, there were nine Bacillus cereus strains, one Enterococcus faecium strain, and one Enterococcus faecalis strain present. The 9 Bacillus cereus strains were tested for susceptibility to 36 types of antibiotics products by the disc diffusion method. The strains showed resistance to 13 of these antibiotic products and semi-resistance to 5 antibiotic products. On the basis of these results, any oriental medicine herb product can be assumed to be contain resistant or semi-resistant bacterial strains. Therefore, we suggest prescribing guidelines and special management for the use of antibiotics in farms producing oriental medicine herb products.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.8
• /
• pp.765-773
• /
• 2009

Edwardsiella tarda is a pathogen with a broad host range that includes human and animals. The E. tarda hemolysin (Eth) system, which comprises EthA and EthB, is a noted virulence element that is widely distributed in pathogenic isolates of E. tarda. Previous study has shown that the expression of ethB is regulated by iron, which suggests the possibility that the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is involved in the regulation of ethB. The work presented in this report supports the previous findings and demonstrates that ethB expression was decreased under conditions when the E. tarda Fur ($Fur_{Et}$) was overproduced, and enhanced when $Fur_{Et}$ was inactivated. We also identified a second ethB regulator, EthR, which is a transcription regulator of the GntR family. EthR represses ethB expression by direct interaction with the ethB promoter region. In addition to ethB, EthR also modulates, but positively, luxS expression and AI-2 production by binding to the luxS promoter region. The expression of ethR itself is subject to negative autoregulation; interference with this regulation by overexpressing ethR during the process of infection caused (i) drastic changes in ethB and luxS expressions, (ii) vitiation in the tissue dissemination and survival ability of the bacterium, and (iii) significant attenuation of the overall bacterial virulence. These results not only provide new insights into the regulation mechanisms of the Eth hemolysin and LuxS/AI-2 quorum sensing systems but also highlight the importance of these systems in bacterial virulence.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.191-195
• /
• 2011

The measurement and prediction of bacterial transport of bacteria in aquatic systems is of fundamental importance to a variety of fields such as groundwater bioremediation ascending urinary tract infection. The motility of pathogenic bacteria is, however, often missing when considering pathogen translocation prediction. Previously, it was reported that flagellated E. coli can translate upstream under low shear flow conditions. The upstream swimming of flagellated microorganisms depends on hydrodynamic interaction between cell body and surrounding fluid flow. In this study, we used a breathable microfluidic device to image swimming E. coli at a glass surface under low shear flow condition. The tendency of upstream swimming motion was expressed in terms of 'A' value in parabolic equation ($y=Ax^2+Bx+C$). It was observed that high shear flow rate increased the 'A' value as the shear force acting on bacterium increased. Shorter bacterium turned more tightly into the flow as they swim faster and experience less drag force. The result obtained in this study might be relevant in studying the fate and transport of bacterium under low shear flow environment such as irrigation pipe, water distribution system, and urethral catheter.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.82-85
• /
• 2008

Hyungbangjihwang-Tang (HT), an Oriental herbal formula, has been known to play a role which helps to recover vigor of human in the Orient. In this study, antibacterial substance (HTI) was purified from the ethyl-acetate extracts of HT by using $SiO_2$ column chromatography and HPLC, and the antibacterial effects of HTI were investigated. By using the CLSI broth micro-dilution assay, the activity of HTI was evaluated against human pathogenic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains including the clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The results demonstrated that HTI showed broad spectrum antibacterial activities against all bacterial strains tested. In conclusion, HTI is an interesting new molecule for its potential in anti-infective drug discovery and for future studies on activity-structure relationship through analysis of its chemical structure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.24 no.8
• /
• pp.1051-1058
• /
• 2014

Platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) plays an important role in bacterial infection and inflammation. We examined the effect of the bacterial cell wall components lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from Lactobacillus plantarum (pLTA) and Staphylococcus aureus (aLTA) on PAFR expression in THP-1, a monocyte-like cell line. LPS and aLTA, but not pLTA, significantly increased PAFR expression, whereas priming with pLTA inhibited LPS-mediated or aLTA-mediated PAFR expression. Expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and 4, and CD14 increased with LPS and aLTA treatments, but was inhibited by pLTA pretreatment. Neutralizing antibodies against TLR2, TLR4, and CD14 showed that these receptors were important in LPS-mediated or aLTA-mediated PAFR expression. PAFR expression is mainly regulated by the nuclear factor kappa B signaling pathway. Blocking PAF binding to PAFR using a PAFR inhibitor indicated that LPS-mediated or aLTA-mediated PAF expression affected TNF-${\alpha}$ production. In the mouse small intestine, pLTA inhibited PAFR, TLR2, and TLR4 expression that was induced by heat-labile toxin. Our data suggested that pLTA has an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the expression of PAFR that was induced by pathogenic ligands.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.11
• /
• pp.1862-1867
• /
• 2007

An individual's immune response is critical for host protection from many different pathogens, and the responsiveness can be assessed by the amount of cytokine production upon stimulating bacterial components such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The difference between individuals in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) responsiveness to LPS, a Gram-negative endotoxin, was investigated from 27 healthy individuals. We observed a large variation in $IFN{\gamma}$ production among different individuals. The PBMC of the consistently three highest and three lowest $IFN{\gamma}$ producers were investigated. Since previous studies described that a single point mutation in the coding region of TLR2 and TLR4 is linked to the individual responsiveness to pathogenic bacterial infections, we first examined the known point mutations in the coding region of $TLR2^{Pro681His}$, $TLR4^{Pro714His}$ located in the cytoplasmic regions of the Toll-like domain as well as $TLR4^{Asp299Gly}$ located in the extracellular region. None of these mutations were associated with an individual's responsiveness to LPS, despite the presence of $TLR4^{Asp299Gly}$ mutation. Further investigation revealed that the variation of PBMC responsiveness to LPS among healthy individuals was due to constitutive expression levels of TLR4 and TLR2. This result is consistent with an aging-related low expression of Toll-like receptors in the mouse model of LPS responsiveness. The present study therefore suggests that the constitutive expression levels of TLR2 and TLR4 may contribute to the individual response to LPS.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.131-138
• /
• 2014

In this study, we isolated two novel chitinase producing bacterial strains from yellow loess samples collected from Jullanamdo province. The chitinase producing bacteria were isolated based on the zone size of clearance in the chitin agar plates. Both of them were gram positive, rod ($2{\sim}3{\times}0.3{\sim}0.4{\mu}m$), spore-forming, and motility positive. They were facultative anaerobic, catalase positive and hydrolyzed starch, gelatin, and casein. From the 16s rRNA gene sequence analysis, the isolates were labeled as Bacillus licheniformis KYLS-CU01 and B. licheniformis KYLS-CU02. The isolates showed higher extracellular chitinase activities than B. licheniformis ATCC 14580 as a control. The optimum temperature and pH for chitinase production were $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0, respectively. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the culture medium for efficient production of the chitinase. Under this optimal condition, 1.5 times higher chitinase activity of B. licheniformis KYLS-CU02 was obtained. Extracellular chitinases of the two isolates were purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. The specific activities of purified chitinase from B. licheniformis KYLS-CU01 and B. licheniformis KYLS-CU02 were 7.65 and 5.21 U/mg protein, respectively. The molecular weights of the two purified chitinases were 59 kDa. Further, the purified chitinase of B. licheniformis KYLS-CU01 showed high antifungal activity against Fusarium sp.. In conclusion, these two bacterial isolates can be used as a biopesticide to control pathogenic fungi.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2007

We found that the main bacterial metabolite M1 is an active component of orally administered protopanxadiol-type ginsenosides, and that the anti-metastatic effect by oral administration of ginsenosides may be primarily mediated through the inhibition of tumor invasion, migration and growth of tumor cells by their metabolite M1. Pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of ginsenoside Rb1 revealed that M1 was detected in serum for 24 h by HPLC analysis but Rb1 was not detected. M1, with anti-metastatic property, inhibited the proliferation of murine and human tumor cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner in vitro, and also induced apoptotic cell death (the ladder fragmentation of the extracted DNA). The induction of apoptosis by M1 involved the up-regulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase(CDK) inhibitor $p27^{Kip1}$ as well as the down-regulation of a proto-oncogene product c-Myc and cyclin D1 in a time-dependent manner. Thus, M1 might cause the cell-cycle arrest (G1 phase arrest) in honor cells through the up/down-regulation of these cell-growth related molecules, and consequently induce apoptosis. The nucleosomal distribution of fluorescence-labeled M1 suggests that the modification of these molecules is induced by transcriptional regulation. Tumor-induced angiogenesis (neovascularization) is one of the most important events concerning tumor growth and metastasis. Neovascularization toward and into tumor is a crucial step for the delivery of nutrition and oxygen to tumors, and also functions as the metastatic pathway to distant organs. M1 inhibited the tube-like formation of hepatic sinusoidal endothelial (HSE) cells induced by the conditioned medium of colon 26-L5 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. However, M1 at the concentrations used in this study did not affect the growth of HSE cells in vitro.