• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2020

Pythium porphyrae is responsible for devastating outbreaks in seaweed farms of Pyropia, the most valuable cultivated seaweed worldwide. While the genus Pythium contains many well studied pathogens, the genome of P. porphyrae has yet to be sequenced. Here we report the first available gene repertoire of P. porphyrae and a preliminary analysis of pathogenicity-related genes. Using ab initio detection strategies, similarity based and manual annotation, we found that the P. porphyrae gene repertoire is similar to classical phytopathogenic Pythium species. This includes the absence of expanded RxLR effector family and the detection of classical pathogenicity-related genes like crinklers, glycoside hydrolases, cellulose-binding elicitor lectin-like proteins and elicitins. We additionally compared this dataset to the proteomes of 8 selected Pythium species. While 34% of the predicted proteome appeared specific to P. porphyrae, we could not attribute specific enzymes to the degradation of red algal biomass. Conversely, we detected several cellulases and a cutinase conserved with plant-pathogenic Pythium species. Together with the recent report of P. porphyrae triggering disease symptoms on several plant species in lab-controlled conditions, our findings add weight to the hypothesis that P. porphyrae is a reformed plant pathogen.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 2017

Geographic distributions of pathogens are affected by dynamic processes involving host susceptibility, availability and abundance. An oomycete, Pythium porphyrae, is the causative agent of red rot disease, which plagues Pyropia farms in Korea and Japan almost every year and causes serious economic damage. We isolated an oomycete pathogen infecting Pyropia plicata from a natural population in Wellington, New Zealand. The pathogen was identified as Pythium porphyrae using cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 and internal transcribed spacer of the rDNA cistron molecular markers. Susceptibility test showed that this Pythium from New Zealand was able to infect several different species and genera of Bangiales including Pyropia but is not able to infect their sporophytic (conchocelis) phases. The sequences of the isolated New Zealand strain were also identical to Pythium chondricola from Korea and the type strain from the Netherlands. Genetic species delimitation analyses found no support for separating P. porphyrae from P. chondricola, nor do we find morphological characters to distinguish them. We propose that Pythium chondricola be placed in synonymy with P. porphyrae. It appears that the pathogen of Pyropia, both in aquaculture in the northern hemisphere and in natural populations in the southern hemisphere is one species.

• ALGAE
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.217-222
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• 2015

Pythium species (Pythiales, Oomycetes) are well known as the algal pathogen that causes red rot disease in Pyropia / Porphyra species (Bangiales, Rhodophyta). Accurate species identification of the pathogen is important to finding a scientific solution for the disease and to clarify the host-parasite relationship. In Korea, only Pythium porphyrae has been reported from Pyropia species, with identifications based on culture and genetic analysis of the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. Recent fungal DNA barcoding studies have shown the low taxonomic resolution of the ITS region and suggested the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene as an alternative molecular marker to identify Pythium species. In this study, we applied an analysis of both the ITS and cox1 regions to clarify the taxonomic relationships of Korean Pythium species. From the results, the two closely related Pythium species (P. chondricola and P. porphyrae) showed the same ITS sequence, while the cox1 marker successfully discriminated P. chondricola from P. porphyrae. This is the first report of the presence of P. chondricola from the infected blade of Pyropia yezoensis in Asia. This finding of the algal pathogen provides important information for identifying and determining the distribution of Pythium species. Further studies are also needed to confirm whether P. chondricola and P. porphyrae are coexisting as algal pathogens of Pyropia species in Korea.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2017

Red rot disease has caused a major decline in Pyropia (Nori) crop production in Korea, Japan, and China. To date, only Pythium porphyrae (Pythiales, Oomycetes) has been reported as the pathogen causing red rot disease in Pyropia yezoensis (Rhodophyta, Bangiales). Recently, Pythium chondricola was isolated from the infected blades of Py. yezoensis during molecular analyses using the mitochondrial cox1 region. In this study, we evaluated the pathogenicity of P. chondricola as an algal pathogen of Py. yezoensis. Moreover, a new cox2 marker was developed with high specificity for Pythium species. Subsequent to re-inoculation, P. chondricola successfully infected Py. yezoensis blades, with the infected regions containing symptoms of red rot disease. A novel cox2 marker successfully isolated the cox2 region of Pythium species from the infected blades of Py. yezoensis collected from Pyropia aquaculture farms. cox2 sequences showed 100% identity with that of P. chondricola (KJ595354) and 98% similarity with that of P. porphyrae (KJ595377). The results of the pathogenicity test and molecular analysis confirm that P. chondricola is a new algal pathogen causing red rot disease in Pyropia species. Moreover, it could also suggest the presence of cryptic biodiversity among Korean Pythium species.

• ALGAE
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2023

The oomycete pathogens Pythium porphyrae, causing red rot disease, and Olpidiopsis spp. causing Olpidiopsis-blight, cause serious economic losses to Pyropia sea farms in Korea. During the washing step for Pyropia processing, these pathogens proliferate rapidly, significantly reducing the quality of the final product. To develop non-acidic treatments for these pathogens, various calcium salts were tested against the infectivity of P. porphyrae and Olpidiopsis pyropiae on Pyropia gametophytes, and calcium propionate was the most effective. When Pyropia blades were immersed in 10 mM calcium propionate for 1 h after inoculation with the oomycete pathogen, infection rate of both oomycete pathogens on day 2 was significantly lower (7.1%) than control (>95%). Brief incubation of Pyropia blades in calcium propionate also reduced the spread of infection. The infected area of Pyropia thallus was reduced to 14.3% of the control in 2 days after treatment with 100 mM calcium propionate for 30 s. In field experiments conducted in actual aquaculture farms, it has been shown that a brief 30 s wash every two weeks with 100 mM calcium propionate can effectively reduce the spread of oomycetes throughout the entire culture period. The above results suggest that calcium propionate can be a useful means for controlling the spread of oomycetes not only during laver processing but also during aquaculture.

• ALGAE
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.249-265
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• 2014

As with land crops, cultivated algae are affected by various diseases ranging from large outbreaks of a disease to chronic epiphytes, which may downgrade the value of the final product. The recent development of intensive and dense mariculture practices has enabled some new diseases to spread much faster than before. A new disease is reported almost every year, and the impact of diseases is expected to increase with environmental change, such as global warming. We observed the incidence of diseases in two Pyropia sea farms in Korea from 2011 to 2014, and estimated the economic loss caused by each disease. Serious damage is caused by the oomycete pathogens, Pythium porphyrae and Olpidiopsis spp., which decreased the productivity of the Pyropia sea farms. In Seocheon sea farms, an outbreak of Olpidiopsis spp. disease resulted in approximately US $1.6 million in loss, representing approximately 24.5% of total sales during the 2012-2013 season. The damage caused by green-spot disease was almost as serious as oomycete diseases. An outbreak of green-spot disease in the Seocheon sea farms resulted in approximately US $1.1 million in loss, representing 10.7% of total sales in the 2013-2014 season in this area. However, the causative agent of green-spot disease is still not confirmed. "Diatom felt" is regarded as a minor nuisance that does not cause serious damage in Pyropia; however, our case study showed that the economic loss caused by "diatom felt" might be as serious as that of oomycete diseases. Bacteria and cyanobacteria are indigenous members of epiphytic microbial community on Pyropia blades, but can become opportunistic pathogens under suitable environmental conditions, especially when Pyropia suffers from other diseases. A regular acid wash of the Pyropia cultivation nets is the most common treatment for all of the above mentioned diseases, and represents approximately 30% of the total cost in Pyropia sea farming. However, the acid wash is ineffective for some diseases, especially for Olpidiopsis and bacterial diseases.

• Proceedings of the Korean Aquaculture Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.23-23
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• 2003

김 붉은갯병은 김 엽체에 난균류 Pythium속의 Pythium porphyrae의 기생에 의해 발생되어 매년 김 양식에 큰 피해를 주는 매우 심각한 김 갯병중의 하나이다. 최근에는 이들 병해의 발생 및 억제를 위한 김 산처리제 (활성처리제) 남용에 따른 연안 양식어장의 생태계 파괴 및 김의 자연식품에 대한 이미지 훼손 등의 문제점이 대두되고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 김 양식시 발생되는 붉은갯병의 병해를 억제하고자 활성처리제 처리시 고염분해수 처리를 병용함으로써 활성처리제의 사용을 최소화하면서 처리효과를 배가시키고자 하였다. 시험에 사용한 김 엽체는 2002년 10월에 전라남도 해남군 황산면 지선에서 채묘한 방사무늬김 (Porphyra yezoensis)을 육묘해 엽장 1cm 내외에서 냉동망을 제작하여 -2$0^{\circ}C$에 저장한 엽체를 자연해수 (약 27$\textperthousand$), 15$^{\circ}C$, 100$\mu$mol photon m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, 광주기 9L : 15D의 배양조건하에서 15일간 배양한 엽장 3-4cm 정도의 것이었다. 활성처리제와 고염분해수처리제의 병용에 의한 붉은 갯병 억제효과는 붉은갯병 병원균의 유주자를 김 엽체에 감염시킨 후 27$\textperthousand$의 자연해수에 12일간 배양하면서 염분농도를 3-25%, 처리주기를 1-2회로 하여 각 시험구별 병해정도로 평가하였다. 고염분해수 처리에 의한 붉은갯병균 균사의 생장억제 효과는 김 엽체를 붉은갯병 병원균의 유주자로 감염시킨 다음 감염 12시간 후 염분농도를 3-25%로 처리한 후 27$\textperthousand$의 자연해수에 4일간 배양하면서 각 시험구별 배양시간에 따른 병원균 균사에 의한 김 엽체의 감염세포수로 평가하였다. 활성처리제와 고염분해수처리제의 병용이 김 엽체 생장에 미치는 영향은 건전한 김 엽체의 절편을 27$\textperthousand$의 자연해수에 배양하면서 시험구별로 활성처리와 고염분해수 (5, 10, 15, 20, 25%) 처리를 3일 간격으로 하면서 12일간 배양한 후 엽체의 엽면적 증가율로 평가하였다. 활성처리제와 고염분해수처리제의 병용에 의한 붉은갯병의 억제효과는 대조구 (활성처리 1회)와 비교해 주 2회의 활성처리구와 염분농도 20, 25% 처리구에서 병해 억제효과가 월등히 높았다. 고염분해수 처리에 의한 붉은갯병균 균사의 생장억제 효과는 염분농도 5, 10% 처리구의 경우 무처리구에 가까운 감염세포수를 보였으나, 염분농도 20, 25% 처리구의 경우 활성처리제 처리와 비슷한 감염세포수를 보여 뚜렷한 생장 억제효과를 나타냈다. 활성처리와 고염분해수 처리의 병용이 김 엽체 생장에 미치는 영향은 대조구 (활성처리 1회)의 3.4배 생장율과 활성처리와 염분농도 5-20%의 고염분해수 병용 처리구의 3.1-3.6배 생장율은 유의한 생장차이를 보이지 않았다 (P<0.05).