• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.11-22
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• 2018

Type VI secretion system (T6SS) has been discovered in a variety of gram-negative bacteria as a versatile weapon to stimulate the killing of eukaryotic cells or prokaryotic competitors. Type VI secretion effectors (T6SEs) are well known as key virulence factors for important pathogenic bacteria. In many Burkholderia species, T6SS has evolved as the most complicated secretion pathway with distinguished types to translocate diverse T6SEs, suggesting their essential roles in this genus. Here we attempted to detect and characterize T6SSs and potential T6SEs in target genomes of plant-associated and environmental Burkholderia species based on computational analyses. In total, 66 potential functional T6SS clusters were found in 30 target Burkholderia bacterial genomes, of which 33% possess three or four clusters. The core proteins in each cluster were specified and phylogenetic trees of three components (i.e., TssC, TssD, TssL) were constructed to elucidate the relationship among the identified T6SS clusters. Next, we identified 322 potential T6SEs in the target genomes based on homology searches and explored the important domains conserved in effector candidates. In addition, using the screening approach based on the profile hidden Markov model (pHMM) of T6SEs that possess markers for type VI effectors (MIX motif) (MIX T6SEs), 57 revealed proteins that were not included in training datasets were recognized as novel MIX T6SE candidates from the Burkholderia species. This approach could be useful to identify potential T6SEs from other bacterial genomes.

• 한국균학회지
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

낙동강 지류의 하천에 자생하는 5종류의 수생식물인 마름, 물억새, 미나리, 부들, 및 줄을 채집하였다. 수생식물의 뿌리에서 분리된 34균주의 내생균류는 ITS영역 염기 서열을 분석하였다. 분리된 모든 내생균류들에 대하여 다양성 지수와 계통분석을 수행하였다. 내생균류는 17속으로서, Acremonium속, Alternaria속, Aspergillus속, Cladosporium속, Emericellopsis속, Fusarium속, Galactomyces속, Leptosphaeria속, Microsphaeropsis속, Penicillium속, Peyronellaea속, Phoma속, Pseudeurotium속, Rhizomucor속, Talaromyces속, Trematosphaeria속, Zalerion속 등이 분리되었다. 5종류의 수생식물에서 Alternaria, Talaromyces속의 균류들이 비교적 많이 분포하고 있었다. 본 연구는 낙동강 지류의 하천 습지에 자생하는 수생식물 군락에서 공생하는 내생균류의 다양성에 대한 연구이다.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.273-281
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• 2015

The follistatin (FST) gene encodes a monomeric glycoprotein that plays a role in binding and inhibiting the functions of members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-${\beta}$ superfamily. Thus, FST facilitates a wide variety of functions, ranging from muscle growth, to inflammation and immunity. In this study, we sought to characterize an FST counterpart, RbFST, which was identified from rock bream Oplegnathus fasciatus. The RbFST cDNA sequence (2,419 bp) contains a 933-bp open reading frame (ORF) that encodes a putative amino acid sequence for RbFST (35 kDa). The putative amino acid sequence contains a Kazal-type serine protease inhibitor domain (51-98 residues) and an EF-hand, calcium-binding domain (191-226 residues). Additionally, this sequence shares a high identity (98.7%) with the Siniperca chuatsi FST sequence, with which it also has the closest evolutionary relationship according to a phylogenetic study. Omnipresent distribution of RbFST transcripts were detected in the gill, liver, spleen, head kidney, kidney, skin, muscle, heart, brain, and intestine of healthy animals, with significantly higher expression levels in the heart, followed by the liver tissue. Under pathogenic stress caused by two bacterial pathogens, Streptococcus iniae and Edwardsiella tarda, RbFST transcription was found to be significantly up-regulated. Altogether, our findings suggest the putative role of RbFST in immune related responses against pathogenic infections, further prefiguring its significance in rock bream physiology.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.515-519
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• 2018

Triatoma rubrofasciata is a wide-spread vector of Chagas disease in Americas. In this study, we completed the mitochondrial genome sequencing of T. rubrofasciata. The total length of T. rubrofasciata mitochondrial genome was 17,150 bp with the base composition of 40.4% A, 11.6% G, 29.4% T and 18.6% C. It included 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and one control region. We constructed a phylogenetic tree on the 13 protein-coding genes of T. rubrofasciata and other 13 closely related species to show their phylogenic relationship. The determination of T. rubrofasciata mitogenome would play an important role in understanding the genetic diversity and evolution of triatomine bugs.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.75-80
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• 2012

$Kalopanax$ $pictus$ is a long-lived deciduous perennial tree in the family Araliaceae mainly distributed in the East Asia. In Korea, this species is of ecological and medical importance. Because typical populations of this species are small and distributed in patches, $K.$ $pictus$ has been considered as a narrow habitat species. To understand the genetic diversity and population structure of this species, the sequence variation of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was analyzed among 18 different $K.$ $pictus$ populations in the present investigation. The nrDNA ITS sequences of Korean populations investigated in this study showed identical of 616 bp in length, and no any nucleotide variation was found in the entire nrDNA ITS region sequence. This result suggested that the $K.$ $pictus$ populations in Korea might belong to the same isolate, and no mutation was found in the nrDNA ITS region. Compared with other known ITS sequence sources from $K.$ $pictus$ populations, only four variable nucleotide sites were found within the entire ITS region. Very narrow genetic diversity appearing in the population level of $K.$ $pictus$ makes us hypothesize that their relatively isolated habitats. The long-lived traits might be one main reason. However, another probability was that the nr-DNA ITS region might be noneffective in classifying populations of $K.$ $pictus$. Thus, to further understand the phylogenetic relationship of $K.$ $pictus$ populations, more samplings should be performed based on more DNA sequences.

• 한국물환경학회지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.220-228
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• 2020

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (AMX) is a cost-efficient biological nitrogen removal process. The coexistence of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in an AMX reactor is an interesting research topic as a nitrogen-related bacterial consortium. In this study, a sequencing batch reactor for AMX (AMX-SBR) was operated with a conventional activated sludge. The AOB in an AMX bioreactor were identified and quantified using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and real-time qPCR. A T-RFLP assay based on the ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) gene sequences showed the presence of Nitrosomonas europaea-like AOB in the AMX-SBR. A phylogenetic tree based on the sequenced amoA gene showed that AOB were affiliated with the Nitrosomonas europaea/mobilis cluster. Throughout the enrichment period, the AOB population was stable with predominant Nitrosomonas europaea-like AOB. Two OTUs of amoA_SBR_JJY_20 (FJ577843) and amoA_SBR_JJY_9 (FJ577849) are similar to the clones from AMX-related environments. Real-time qPCR was used to quantify AOB populations over time. Interestingly, the exponential growth of AOB populations was observed during the substrate inhibition of the AMX bacteria. The specific growth rate of AOB under anaerobic conditions was only 0.111 d^-1. The growth property of Nitrosomonas europaea-like AOB may provide fundamental information about the metabolic relationship between the AMX bacteria and AOB.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제56권2호
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• pp.129-134
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• 2018

The cysts of Sarcocystis grueneri were detected and characterized from the cardiac muscles of the Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus). Of the 38 heart muscle samples examined by light microscopy, 10 were found infected with the cysts of Sarcocystis sp. The cysts appeared oval to spherical shape and measured $110-380{\mu}m$ in length and $90-170{\mu}m$ in width. A phylogenetic tree of the 18S rRNA sequences (1.5 kb) revealed a close relationship of the infected cysts to genus Sarcocystis. The 18S rRNA sequence of the infected cysts showed 100% identity to S. grueneri and 97% to S. capracanis. Here, we first report the S. grueneri infections in the Korean water deer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.945-951
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• 2007

DNA-DNA hybridization has been established as an important technology in bacterial species taxonomy and phylogenetic analysis. In this study, we analyzed how the efficiency with which the genomic DNA from one species hybridizes to the genomic DNA of another species (DNA-DNA hybridization) in microarray analysis relates to the similarity between two genomes. We found that the predicted DNA-DNA hybridization based on genome sequence similarity correlated well with the experimentally determined microarray hybridization. Between closely related strains, significant numbers of highly divergent genes (>55% identity) and/or the accumulation of mismatches between conserved genes lowered the DNA-DNA hybridization signal, and this reduced the hybridization signals to below 70% for even bacterial strains with over 97% 16S rRNA gene identity. In addition, our results also suggest that a DNA-DNA hybridization signal intensity of over 40% indicates that two genomes at least shared 30% conserved genes (>60% gene identity). This study may expand our knowledge of DNA-DNA hybridization based on genomic sequence similarity comparison and further provide insights for bacterial phylogeny analyses.

• Mycobiology
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.174-180
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• 2014

We analyzed the genetic diversity of Cylindrocarpon destructans isolates obtained from Korean ginseng (i.e., Panax ginseng) roots by performing virulence tests and nuclear ribosomal gene internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and mitochondrial small subunit (mt SSU) rDNA sequence analysis. The phylogenetic relationship analysis performed using ITS DNA sequences and isolates from other hosts helped confirm that all the Korean C. destructans isolates belonged to Nectria/Neonectria radicicola complex. The results of in vivo and ex vivo virulence tests showed that the C. destructans isolates could be divided into two groups according to their distinctive difference in virulence and the genetic diversity. The highly virulent Korean isolates in pathogenicity group II (PG II), together with foreign isolates from P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius, formed a single group. The weakly virulent isolates in pathogenicity group I, together with the foreign isolates from other host plants, formed another group and exhibited a greater genetic diversity than the isolates of PG II, as confirmed by the mt SSU rDNA sequence analysis. In addition, as the weakly virulent Korean isolates were genetically very similar to the foreign isolates from other hosts, they were likely to originate from hosts other than the ginseng plants.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.315-323
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• 2009

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus exists in seven serotypes and is known to be a highly contagious disease that is hard to eradicate from the world. The O, A, Asia1 and SAT2 serotypes commonly infected cattle, sheep and goats during 2007~2009 throughout the world. In particular, the outbreak of the Asia1 serotype in China appeared in all areas from 2005 and is still present. Surprisingly, in 2009, Taiwan reported the first outbreak of the type O serotype since 2001. Then type A appeared in China for the first time since the early 1960s. The virus shows a close relationship to the viruses from Southeast Asia suggesting one or more recent introductions into China in the OIE reports. Recently the subtype of A/Iran05 spread to nearby countries exhibiting genomic evolution. The use of molecular epidemiology is an important tool in understanding and consequently controlling the FMD virus. The phylogenetic analysis with VP1 gene was especially useful for molecular epidemiological studies and showed the same pattern which matches with serotype classification. This paper describes basic information about the disease, and the serotype-specific characteristics and evolution to perform molecular epidemiological analysis. Furthermore, we show the importance of the genetic evolution on the FMD serotypes in global surveillance and molecular epidemiology of FMD for outbreak investigation.