• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.6 s.73
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• pp.879-883
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• 2005

This study was differentiated between Korea and China arkshells using PCR-aided RFLP method which could identify the variation for inter-and intra-species of arkshell (Scapharca broughtonii Schrenck) at the level of DNA. The DNA fragment patterns were compared after digesting gene of mitochondrial 16S rDNA with 8 kinds of restriction enzymes. A 720 bp DNA fragment corresponding to 16S rDNA gene was amplified by PCR with primers ArkF-3 and ArkR-3. PCR products were cut by restriction enzymes (Pvull, BamHI, Hinfl, HaeIII, EcoRI, RsaI, Ksp221, and BstX21), and RFLP pattern was studied. A unique 275 bp DNA band was observed in the samples from Dukyang, Gamak, Namhae, Jinhae, and Taean in Korea when treated by Hinfl, but Chinese arkshell did not show. Treatment of HaeIII could discriminate the sample of Namhae and Jinhae from Dukyang/Gamak/Taean, as well as Korean and Chinese arkshell based on a 700 bp. However, PuvII, BamHI, EcoRI, RsaI, Ksp221, and BstX21 showed the same of 700 bp band in Korean and Chinese arkshell. The phylogenetic tree inferred from PCR-RFLP pattern comparsion in Korean arkshell was different that the distance between Dukyang/Gamak/Taean and Namhae/Jinhae was approximately 7. In particular, the distance between Korean and Chinese arkshell was 25. Consequently, HinfI and HaeIII played an important role in a reliable molecular tool for rapid discriminating Korean and Chinese arkshell, as well as a intra-species in Korea.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.370-375
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• 2011

In this study the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) combined with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was evaluated as a method permitting the rapid detection of pathogens in fresh originally grown vegetables. A universal primer (341GCf/534r) was selected for its ability to amplify the V3 region of 16S-rRNA genes in their target pathogens (Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monoytogenes, Staphyloocus aureus, E. coli). The 194 bp fragments in PCR were successfully duplicated as expected. The amplified fragments of the same size from six different pathogens also showed good separation upon DGGE. The detection limit of PCR-DGGE for six pathogens in fresh-cut lettuces were over $10^{5}$ CFU/g when sampled by stomaching. However, when the sampling method was changed from stomaching to shaking, the detection limit of six pathogens in organic vegetables was shown to increase by over $10^{1}$ CFU/g, but only those of B. cereus were over $10^{3}$ CFU/g. Therefore, PCR-DGGE was shown to be a reliable method for the detection of pathogens in fresh-cut vegetables.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.199-207
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• 2022

The demand for novel strains has been rising in the domestic market to increase the production of sclerotia from Wolfiporia hoelen. To improve strain breeding efficiency, we investigated whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the RNA polymerase II subunit (RPB2) gene, which may be linked to the mating type locus, are useful for distinguishing monokaryons from dikaryons in Korean W. hoelen strains. We designed a specific primer set to efficiently amplify a region of RPB2 using PCR with the genomic DNA of 12 cultivated strains and 31 wild strains of W. hoelen collected from Korea. Nucleotide sequences of the PCR-amplified RPB2 genes were determined and analyzed for the presence of SNPs among the 43 W. hoelen strains. Previously reported SNP loci were detected in the RPB2 gene of all W. hoelen strains tested. However, these previously reported SNP loci could not be applied to differentiate monokaryons from dikaryons in approximately one-third of Korean wild strains with homozygous genotypes. Three additional SNPs in the RPB2 gene, which may improve the ability to distinguish monokaryons from dikaryons, were identified by searching through the multiple sequence alignments of the 43 W. hoelen strains. The applicability of these three novel SNPs, together with the previously known SNPs, in the RPB2 gene to W. hoelen strain breeding was verified by examining the hybrid strains and their parental strains.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1896-1901
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• 2010

This study was conducted using quantitative real-time PCR using Lactobacilli as probiotics. Quantitative real-time PCR (RT PCR) was conducted via a method involving SYBR Green 1 and a probe. Plasmid DNA was cloned using the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic species region. Gene clones were diluted from $10^2$ to $10^{10}$. Standard curves were constructed via Ct values obtained from the results of Real-time PCR via the aforementioned SYBR Green 1 and probe method. Plasmid DNA was also cloned using the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic species region and the gene clones were diluted from $10^2$ to $10^{10}$ copy numbers via the probe method. Using RT PCR, a standard curve of plasmid DNA copy numbers was also determined. The slope value for the Y-axis intercept and $R^2$ value were measured as -3.346, 33.18, and 0.993, respectively, via the first method. For the second method, the slope value for the Y-axis intercept and $R^2$ were -3.321, 31.10 and 0.995, respectively. The PCR inhibitor could not express the detection curve at a copy number over $10^{10}$ via either method, owing to high DNA density. The DNA extract from probiotics was diluted without pre-culturing, and 16 products were amplified via both methods. The Ct value was 11.06~18.12 in the first method and 16.74~22.11 in the second method. Measured probiotics and log copy values were largely similar among the methods used. It was concluded that both methods are effective for analysis, but further research will be required to verify the optimal method.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.238-246
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• 2010

In 2006 fall, a preliminary survey of viruses in two important medicinal plants, Cynanchum wilfordii and C. auriculatum, was conducted on the experimental fields at the Agricultural Research and Extension Services of Chungbuk province in Korea. On each experimental fields, percentage of virus infection was ranged from 20 to 80%, and especially an average of disease incidence propagated by roots was twice higher than that by seeds. The various symptoms were observed in Cynanchum spp. plants, such as mosaic, mottle, necrosis, yellowing, chlorotic spot and malformation etc. In electron microscopic examination of crude sap extracts, filamentous rod particles with 390-730 nm were observed in most samples. The virus particles were purified from the leaves of C. wilfordii with typical mosaic symptom, and the viral RNA was extracted from this sample containing 430-845 nm long filamentous rod. To identify the viruses, reverse transcription followed by PCR with random primers was carried out. The putative sequences of P3 and coat protein of potyvirus were obtained. From a BLAST of the two sequences, they showed 26-38% and 62-72% identities to potyviruses, respectively. In SDS-PAGE analysis, the subunit of coat protein was approximately 30.3 kDa, close to the coat protein of potyvirus. In bioassay with 21 species in 7 families, Chenopodium quinoa showed local lesion on inoculated leave and chlorotic spot on upper leave, but the others were not infected. RT-PCR detection using specific primer of C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum samples, all of 24 samples with virus symptom was positive, and five out of seven samples without virus symptom were also positive. On the basis of these data, the virus could be considered as a new member of potyvirus. We suggested that the name of the virus was Keunjorong mosaic virus (KjMV) after the common Korean name of C. wilfordii.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.197-203
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• 2005

Purpose : Changes in metalloproteinases(MMP) activity have been demonstrated in several disease states, including rheumatoid arthritis and tumor metastasis. More importantly, increased myocardial MMP activity has been reported to occur in both clinical and experimental forms of dilated cardiomyopathy. There was no report about MMP in adriamycin(ADR)-induced cardiomyopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate gene expression of MMP and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases(TIMP) in ADR-induced cardiomyopathy and clarify the relationship between MMP and cytokines. Methods : Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups. The first group was control. The second group was given intraperitoneal injections of ADR(5 mg/kg) twice a week over two weeks. Serum concentrations of MMP, TIMP, interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-${\alpha}$ were measured. RNA extraction was performed from frozen rat hearts. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) was employed. cDNA Microarray analysis was performed by using a set of 5,184 sequence-verified rat cDNA clones. Results : Serum MMP and TIMP levels were not significantly different between the two groups. IL-6 was $36.8{\pm}2.8pg/mL$ and TNF-${\alpha}$ $2.2{\pm}2.7pg/mL$ in the ADR group. They were significantly higher than in the control group. Serum MMP correlated significantly with TNF-${\alpha}$(r=0.41, P<0.05). There was no gene expression of MMP, IL-6 or TNF-${\alpha}$ in the hearts of both groups. Gene expression of TIMP was significantly depressed in the hearts of the ADR group. Conclusion : These results suggested a potential role for TNF-${\alpha}$ in the regulation of extracellular matrix remodeling in ADR induced cardiomyopathy. Rapid screening of multiple decreased gene expression by DNA chip may be a useful diagnostic test to detect early cardiac injury before developing ADR induced cardiomyopathy.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2016

Species identification of animal tissues in meat products is an important issue to protect the consumer from illegal and/or undesirable adulteration; for economic, religious and health reasons. In this reason, accurate analytical methods are needed for the labeling of meat products with requiring simple and fast procedure. Recently, applications of PCR in food analysis have been increased because of their simplicity, specificity and sensitivity. Therefore, in this study, a multiplex PCR assay was developed for the simultaneous identification of eight species of cow, pig, chicken, duck, goat, sheep, horse and turkey from raw meats. The primers were designed in different regions of mitochondrial 16S RNA after alignment of the available sequences in the GenBank database. Two multiplex primer sets were designed as Set 1 (cow, pig, chicken, duck) and Set 2 (goat, sheep, horse, turkey), respectively. Total 274 samples from cow (n = 55), pig (n = 30), chicken (n=30), and duck (n = 30), goat (n = 40), sheep (n = 33), horse (n = 41), and turkey (n = 15) were tested. The primers generated specific fragments of 94, 192, 279, 477 bp (pig, chicken, cow, duck), 670, 271, 152, 469 bp (goat, sheep, horse, turkey) lengths for eight species, respectively. The animal species specificity was 100% in all eight samples in the multiplex PCR assay. The detection limit of the multiplex PCR assay showed from 100 fg to 1 pg of template DNA from extracted from raw meats. When applying multiplex PCR assays to sample from pork/beef and pork/chicken, beef/chicken tested raw mixed meats and heat-treated ($83^{\circ}C$ for 30min, $100^{\circ}C$ for 20min, and $121^{\circ}C$ for 10min) mixtures, detection limit was 0.1% level beef, pork and pork in beef and chicken in pork and 1.0% level pork in chicken. This study suggest that the developed multiplex PCR assay can be used for rapid and simultaneous species identification of cow, pig, chicken, duck, goat, sheep, horse and turkey from meats.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.842-851
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• 1996

Background : Rifampicin(RFP) is a key component of the antituberculous shon-course chemotherapy and the RFP-resistance is a marker of multi-drug resistant(MDR) M. tuberculosis. rpoB gene encodes the ${\beta}$-subunit of RNA polymerase of M. tuberculosis which is the target of RFP. Recent reports show that rpoB gene mutations are the cause of RFP resistance of M. tuberculosis and the main mechanism of rpoB gene mutation is point mutation. And PCR-SSCP is a rapid and easy method for detecting point mutations. So we performed PCR-SSCP of rpoB gene of M. tuberculosis and compared the result with traditional RFP sensitivity test. Method : The 27 RFP sensitive M. tuberculosis culture isolates and 25 RFP resistant isolates were evaluated. The RFP sensitivity test was done at the Korean Tuberculosis istitute. The DNA was extracted by bead beater method and was amplified with primers TR-8 and TR-9 in a 20ul PCR reaction containing 0.1ul(luCi) [${\alpha}-^{32}P$] - dCTP. After amplification, SSCP was done using non-denaturaring polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Then direct sequencing was done in cases of different eletrophoretic mobility compared with that of H37Rv. In 19 cases, we compared PCR-SSCP results with patient's clinical course and the results of traditional RFP sensitivity test. Results : 1) All 27 RFP sensitive M. tuberculosis isolates showed the same electrophoretic mobility compared with that of H37Rv. And all 25 RFP resistant M. tuberculosis isolates showed different electrophoretic mobility. 2) The mechanism of rpoB gene mutation of M. tuberculosis is mainly point mutation. 3) The PCR-SSCP results correlate well with traditional RFP sensitivity and patient's clinical response to antituberculous treatment. Conclusion: The PCR-SSCP of rpoB gene is a very sensitive and rapid mehod in detecting RFP- resistant M. tuberculosis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.194-199
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• 2008

Background: Early identification of pathogens can improve the prognosis of patients with ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). In the present study, we evaluated the feasibility of performing multiplex PCR for endotracheal aspirates to detect three important pathogens (P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and MRSA) in patients with VAP. Methods: The endotracheal aspirates of 24 patients were collected within 24 hours of the diagnosis of VAP for performing multiplex PCR. Forward and reverse primers were designed to target the specific site of each pathogen (the oprL gene for P. aeruginosa, 16S rRNA for K. pneumoniae and the mec gene for MRSA). We analyzed the clinical data of the VAP patients, including the culture reports for the endotracheal aspirates. Results: Twenty-four patients (M:F=18:6, mean age=$70{\pm}11$) with VAP were enrolled. Pathogens were isolated from 11 patients (P. aeruginosa in 2, K. pneumoniae in 1, MRSA in 2, other enteric Gram negative bacilli in 3, S. pneumoniae in 2 and mixed infection in 1). Multiplex PCR detected three cases of P.aeruginosa (2 cases coincided with the culture reports) and four cases of K. pneumoniae (1 matched with the culture report). PCR detected two MRSA cases, which did not coincide with the culture reports. Conclusion: Multiplex PCR of the endotracheal aspirate showed some ability to detect Gram negative bacilli, although caution is required when interpreting the results.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2019

Plum pox virus (PPV) is a significant viral disease in Prunus spp. worldwide. A nationwide survey was started in Prunus spp. orchards, since PPV was first detected from peach in Korea, 2015. During 2016-2017, samples were collected from 30,333 trees in 1,985 orchards of stone fruits in 8 provinces and 4 cities, Korea and tested by RT-PCR using specific PPV primer set. As a result, 21 trees including peach (9 trees), Japanese apricot (4 trees), plum (1 tree), apricot (7 trees) in 10 orchards were infected and controlled by eradication program. Amplicons of the expected size (547 bp) were obtained from total RNA of seven peach trees in 2016, and directly sequenced. BLAST analysis revealed the highest nucleotide (NT) identity (99%) with a PPV D isolates (LC331298, LT600782) in Genbank. The seven isolates from shared nt sequence identities of 98 to 100% with one another. Phylogenetic analysis showed the isolates in peach clustered closely with the PPV-D isolates from Korea, Japan, USA, and Canada. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of the presence of PPV in Prunus spp. orchards in Korea, 2016-2017, we hope that our results and efforts will contribute to effective measures for eradication of PPV.