• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.410-418
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• 2021

Helicobacter pylori causes chronic gastritis through cag pathogenicity island (cagPAI), vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA), lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and flagellin as pathogen-related molecular patterns (PAMPs), which, in combination with the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) of host cells promotes the expression and secretion of inflammation-causing cytokines and activates innate immune responses such as inflammasomes. To identify useful compounds against H. pylori-associated gastric disorders, the effect of chalcone derivatives to activate the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome was examined in an H. pylori-infected human monocytic THP-1 cell line in this study. Among the five synthetic structurally-related chalcone derivatives examined, 2'-hydroxy-4',6'-dimethoxychalcone (8) and 2'-hydroxy-3,4,5-trimethoxychalcone (12) strongly blocked the NLRP3 inflammasome in H. pylori-infected THP-1 cells. At 10 μM, these compounds inhibited the production of active IL-1β, IL-18, and caspase-1, and apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) oligomerization, but did not affect the expression levels of NLRP3, ASC, and pro-caspase-1. The interruption of NLRP3 inflammasome activation by these compounds was found to be mediated via the inhibition of the interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK4)/IκBα/NF-κB signaling pathway. These compounds also inhibited caspase-4 production associated with non-canonical NLRP3 inflammasome activation. These results show for the first time that certain chalcones could interrupt the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in H. pylori-infected THP-1 cells. Therefore, these chalcones may be helpful in alleviating H. pylori-related inflammatory disorders including chronic gastritis.

• 한국어병학회지
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

Red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV), belonging to the genus Megalocytivirus, is the predominant cause of mortality in marine fishes in Korea, including rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus). Rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) are the host fish for RSIV, exhibiting no clinical signs or mortality. Cohabitation challenges, which mimicked natural transmission conditions, were performed to evaluate viral transmission between rock bream and rockfish, and to determine the pathogenicity and viral loads. In cohabitation challenge, artificially RSIV-infected rock bream were the viral donor, and healthy rockfish were the recipient. The results showed that although the donor rock bream had 95-100 % cumulative mortality (>10⁸ viral genome copies/mg of spleen 7-14 days after viral infection), the recipient rockfish did not die, even when the viral genome copies in the spleen were >10⁵ copies/mg. These results indicated asymptomatic infections. Notably, in a reverse-cohabitation challenge (artificially RSIV-infected rockfish as the viral donor and healthy rock bream as the recipient), RSIV horizontally infected from subclinical rockfish to rock bream (10⁷ viral genome copies/mg of spleen 21 days after cohabitation) with 10-20% cumulative mortality. These results suggest that an asymptomatic, infected rockfish can naturally transmit the RSIV without being sacrificed.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.36-46
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• 2021

Acidovorax citrulli (Ac) is the causal agent of bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) in watermelon, a disease that poses a serious threat to watermelon production. Because of the lack of resistant cultivars against BFB, virulence factors or mechanisms need to be elucidated to control the disease. Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is the enzyme involved in glycerol production from glucose during glycolysis. In this study, we report the functions of a putative glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in Ac (GlpdAc) using comparative proteomic analysis and phenotypic observation. A glpdAc knockout mutant, AcΔglpdAc(EV), lost virulence against watermelon in two pathogenicity tests. The putative 3D structure and amino acid sequence of GlpdAc showed high similarity with glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenases from other bacteria. Comparative proteomic analysis revealed that many proteins related to various metabolic pathways, including carbohydrate metabolism, were affected by GlpdAc. Although AcΔglpdAc(EV) could not use glucose as a sole carbon source, it showed growth in the presence of glycerol, indicating that GlpdAc is involved in glycolysis. AcΔglpdAc(EV) also displayed higher cell-to-cell aggregation than the wild-type bacteria, and tolerance to osmotic stress and ciprofloxacin was reduced and enhanced in the mutant, respectively. These results indicate that GlpdAc is involved in glycerol metabolism and other mechanisms, including virulence, demonstrating that the protein has pleiotropic effects. Our study expands the understanding of the functions of proteins associated with virulence in Ac.

• 식물병연구
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.66-69
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• 2021

2020년 경상북도 상주시 감 과수원에서 갈색고약병이 발생하였다. 병징은 처음에 자갈색 내지 암갈색의 균사체가 가지 표면 일부분에 들러붙어 있다가 점차 균사체들이 자라면서 큰 덩어리로 합쳐져 결국엔 가지를 완전히 둘러싸였다. 균총의 색깔은 처음에 흰색이고 배양기간이 경과됨에 따라 배지 표면에 갈색의 균사가 많이 형성되었다. 균사생육 적온은 30℃이었다. rDNA의 complete internal transcribed spacer 영역의 염기서열을 분석하였고, 분석된 염기서열(564 bp)을 BLASTN 프로그램으로 확인한 결과, Septobasidium속(GenBank accession nos. HQ267951, HQ267959)과 99%의 상동성을 나타내었다. 또한, Septobasidium broussonetiae (HM209416)와 92%, Septobasidium bogoriense (HM209414)와 91%의 상동성을 나타내었다. 이와 같이 감에서 발생한 병징과 병원균의 균학적 특징을 기초로 하여 이 병을 Septobasidium속에 의한 감 갈색고약병으로 명명하고자 제안한다.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.87-98
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• 2021

To establish an infection, fungal pathogens must recognize diverse signals from host surfaces. The rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the best models studying host-pathogen interactions. This fungus recognizes physical or chemical signals from the host surfaces and initiates the development of an infection structure called appressorium. Here, we found that protein MoAfo1(appressorium formation, MGG_10422) was involved in sensing signal molecules such as cutin monomers and long chain primary alcohols required for appressorium formation. The knockout mutant (ΔMoafo1) formed a few abnormal appressoria on the onion and rice sheath surfaces. However, it produced normal appressoria on the surface of rice leaves. MoAfo1 localized to the membranes of the cytoplasm and vacuole-like organelles in conidia and appressoria. Additionally, the ΔMoafo1 mutant showed defects in appressorium morphology, appressorium penetration, invasive growth, and pathogenicity. These multiple defects might be partially due to failure to respond properly to oxidative stress. These findings broaden our understanding of the fungal mechanisms at play in the recognition of the host surface during rice blast infection.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제46권6호
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• pp.790-800
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• 2022

Background: Panax ginseng Meyer is one of the most valuable medicinal plants which is enriched in anti-microbe secondary metabolites and widely used in traditional medicine. Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus that causes gray mold disease in a broad range of hosts. B. cinerea could overcome the ginseng defense and cause serious leaf and root diseases with unknown mechanism. Methods: We conducted simultaneous transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of the host to investigate the defense response of ginseng affected by B. cinerea. The gene deletion and replacement were then performed to study the pathogenic gene in B. cinerea during ginseng - fungi interaction. Results: Upon B. cinerea infection, ginseng defense responses were switched from the activation to repression, thus the expression of many defense genes decreased and the biosynthesis of antifungal metabolites were reduced. Particularly, ginseng metabolites like kaempferol, quercetin and luteolin which could inhibit fungi growth were decreased after B. cinerea infection. B. cinerea quercetin dioxygenase (Qdo) involved in catalyzing flavonoids degradation and ∆BcQdo mutants showed increased substrates accumulation and reduced disease development. Conclusion: This work indicates the flavonoids play a role in ginseng defense and BcQdo involves in B. cinerea virulence towards the P. ginseng. B. cinerea promotes disease development in ginseng by suppressing of defense related genes expression and reduction of antifungal metabolites biosynthesis.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.44.1-44.9
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• 2021

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder, the prevalence of which has increased drastically in India in recent years. Neuroligin is a type I transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role in synaptogenesis. Alterations in synaptic genes are most commonly implicated in autism and other cognitive disorders. The present study investigated the neuroligin 3 gene in the Indian autistic population by sequencing and in silico pathogenicity prediction of molecular changes. In total, 108 clinically described individuals with autism were included from the North Karnataka region of India, along with 150 age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched healthy controls. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood, and exonic regions were sequenced. The functional and structural effects of variants of the neuroligin 3 protein were predicted. One coding sequence variant (a missense variant) and four non-coding variants (two 5'-untranslated region [UTR] variants and two 3'-UTR variants) were recorded. The novel missense variant was found in 25% of the autistic population. The C/C genotype of c.551T>C was significantly more common in autistic children than in controls (p = 0.001), and a significantly increased risk of autism (24.7-fold) was associated with this genotype (p = 0.001). The missense variant showed pathogenic effects and high evolutionary conservation over the functions of the neuroligin 3 protein. In the present study, we reported a novel missense variant, V184A, which causes abnormal neuroligin 3 and was found with high frequency in the Indian autistic population. Therefore, neuroligin is a candidate gene for future molecular investigations and functional analysis in the Indian autistic population.

• 식물병연구
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.54-56
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• 2022

2021년 7월, 고창 땅콩 재배포장에서 시들음 증상을 보이는 땅콩 지상부를 발견하였다. 병징은 잎이 갈색으로 시들어 말라 죽은 것처럼 보였으며, 채집한 식물체의 지제부를 잘라 표면소독 후 멸균수에 넣었을 때 ooze 현상을 관찰하였다. 땅콩에서 순수분리된 병원균은 16s rRNA 유전자 염기서열과 phylotype 분류, 유연관계 분석을 통해 분리된 균주가 Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum이라는 것을 확인하였다. 현재까지 국내에 보고된 풋마름병은 고추, 토마토, 감자 등을 기주로 발생한다고 알려져 있다. 본 연구는 국내 처음으로 R. pseudosolanacearum에 의해 발생한 땅콩 풋마름병을 보고하고자 한다.

• 한국어병학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.225-230
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• 2022

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) is one of the most serious viral diseases affecting farmed olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) in Asian countries. VHS, caused by viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), occurs in over 80 different cultured and wild fish species worldwide. Our previous study demonstrated that VHSV infection can be restricted by adjusting the water temperature to over 17℃ from the host optima. We confirmed that the effective VHSV immersion vaccine treatment was a tissue culture infection dose (TCID) of 10^5.5 TCID₅₀/mL at 17℃. However, the safety of live VHSV immersion vaccines remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to 1) demonstrate the safety of the live VHSV immersion vaccine under co-habitant conditions and 2) estimate the pathogenicity of VHSV in live VHSV-vaccinated flounder at 10℃. No mortality was observed in olive flounder treated with the live VHSV immersion vaccine, and the vaccinated flounder challenged with VHSV did not transfer VHSV to naïve fish at 10℃ through cohabitation. VHSV titration was below the detection limit (< 1.3 log TCID₅₀/mL) in live VHSV immersion vaccine-treated flounder challenged with VHSV at 10℃. This study demonstrated that flounder treated with the live VHSV immersion vaccine were resistant to VHSV infection, and the live vaccine was also safe for naïve fish even at a water temperature known to be VHS infectious.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제52권4호
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• pp.282-297
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• 2022

Purpose: To explore differences in the subgingival microbiome according to the presence of periodontitis and/or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), a metagenomic sequencing analysis of the subgingival microbiome was performed. Methods: Twelve participants were divided into 4 groups based on their health conditions (periodontitis, T2D, T2D complicated with periodontitis, and generally healthy). Subgingival plaque was collected for metagenomic sequencing, and gingival crevicular fluids were collected to analyze the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids. Results: The shifts in the subgingival flora from the healthy to periodontitis states were less prominent in T2D subjects than in subjects without T2D. The pentose and glucuronate interconversion, fructose and mannose metabolism, and galactose metabolism pathways were enriched in the periodontitis state, while the phosphotransferase system, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and peptidoglycan biosynthesis, bacterial secretion system, sulfur metabolism, and glycolysis pathways were enriched in the T2D state. Multiple genes whose expression was upregulated from the red and orange complex bacterial genomes were associated with bacterial biofilm formation and pathogenicity. The concentrations of propionic acid and butyric acid were significantly higher in subjects with periodontitis, with or without T2D, than in healthy subjects. Conclusions: T2D patients are more susceptible to the presence of periodontal pathogens and have a higher risk of developing periodontitis. The pentose and glucuronate interconversion, fructose and mannose metabolism, galactose metabolism, and glycolysis pathways may represent the potential microbial functional association between periodontitis and T2D, and butyric acid may play an important role in the interaction between these 2 diseases. The enrichment of the LPS and peptidoglycan biosynthesis, bacterial secretion system, and sulfur metabolism pathways may cause T2D patients to be more susceptible to periodontitis.