• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.1253-1261
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• 2022

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection causes dramatic harm to human health as well as to livestock development. As an important virulence factor, alpha-hemolysin (hla) is critical in the process of S. aureus infection. In this report, we found that bavachin, a natural flavonoid, not only efficiently inhibited the hemolytic activity of hla, but was also capable of inhibiting it on transcriptional and translational levels. Moreover, further data revealed that bavachin had no neutralizing activity on hla, which did not affect the formation of hla heptamers and exhibited no effects on the hla thermal stability. In vitro assays showed that bavachin was able to reduce the S. aureus-induced damage of A549 cells. Thus, bavachin repressed the lethality of pneumonia infection, lung bacterial load and lung tissue inflammation in mice, providing potent protection to mice models in vivo. Our results indicated that bavachin has the potential for development as a candidate hla inhibitor against S. aureus.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.278-284
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• 2014

To investigate the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) during production of perilla leaves, a total of 261 samples, including water, soil, surroundings of cultivation and packing, workers, and perilla leaves, was examined.. To trace the contamination sources of S. aureus related to perilla leaves, MLVA (Multi-Locous Variable number of tandem repeat Analysis), which is a very efficient method to discriminate strains with minimum molecular biology equipment was applied to S. aureus isolated from perilla leaves farms. S. aureus was isolated in perilla leaves from 9 of 38 farms at 0-2.92 log CFU/g. S. aureus was also found in working environment, including packing vinyl, worker clothes, irrigation water and hands. The patterns of MLVA of isolates from perilla leaves matched with those of isolates from packing table, irrigation water, packing vinyl, and hands. The isolates were successfully examined and determined by MLVA, thus elucidating S. aureus source and spread.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.257-261
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of NaCl on the biofilm formations of the isolate from Staphylococcus aureus outbreaks linked to ham. The S. aureus ATCC13565 isolated from ham was exposed to NaCl concentrations of 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% supplemented in tryptic soy broth (TSB) for 24 h at $35^{\circ}C$, followed by plating 0.1 mL of the culture on tryptic soy agar containing 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% NaCl, respectively. After incubating at $35^{\circ}C$ for 24 h, the colonies on the plates were collected and diluted to $OD_{600}$ = 0.1. The diluents of S. aureus were incubated on a 96-well flat bottom plate containing TSB plus the appropriate NaCl concentrations, and the biofilm formation was quantified by crystal violet staining after being incubated at $35^{\circ}C$ for 9 h. Confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) was also used for visualizing the biofilm formation of S. aureus at NaCl concentrations of 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%. The transcriptional analysis of biofilm-related genes, such as icaA, atl, clfA, fnbA, sarA, and rbf, was conducted by quantitative real-time PCR. Crystal violet staining and CLSM showed that the biofilm formations of S. aureus increased (p<0.05) along with the NaCl concentrations. Moreover, the expression of the icaA genes was higher at the NaCl concentrations of 4% and 6% as compared with 0% of NaCl by approximately 9-folds and 20-folds, respectively. These results indicated that the NaCl formulated in processed food may increase the biofilm formations of S. aureus by increasing the icaA gene expressions.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.42.1-42.12
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• 2024

Importance: Bovine mastitis, predominantly associated with gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, poses a significant threat to dairy cows, leading to a decline in milk quality and volume with substantial economic implications. Objective: This study investigated the incidence, virulence, and antibiotic resistance of S. aureus associated with mastitis in dairy cows. Methods: Fifty milk-productive cows underwent a subclinical mastitis diagnosis, and the S. aureus strains were isolated. Genomic DNA extraction, sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis were performed, supplemented by including 124 S. aureus genomes from cows with subclinical mastitis to enhance the overall analysis. Results: The results revealed a 42% prevalence of subclinical mastitis among the cows tested. Genomic analysis identified 26 sequence types (STs) for all isolates, with Mexican STs belonging primarily to CC1 and CC97. The analyzed genomes exhibited multidrug resistance to phenicol, fluoroquinolone, tetracycline, and cephalosporine, which are commonly used as the first line of treatment. Furthermore, a similar genomic virulence repertoire was observed across the genomes, encompassing the genes related to invasion, survival, pathogenesis, and iron uptake. In particular, the toxic shock syndrome toxin (tss-1) was found predominantly in the genomes isolated in this study, posing potential health risks, particularly in children. Conclusion and Relevance: These findings underscore the broad capacity for antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity by S. aureus, compromising the integrity of milk and dairy products. The study emphasizes the need to evaluate the effectiveness of antibiotics in combating S. aureus infections.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.241-246
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• 2022

Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem to food safety as well as human healthcare. To avoid this, there are several approaches for a new class of antibiotic agents that target only production of virulence factors such as biofilm without bacterial growth defect. The objective of this study was to investigate the antibiofilm activity of tuberostemonine in Staphylococcus aureus. Tuberostemonine significantly reduced the biofilm formation (26.07-47.02%) in the crystal violet assay whereas there were no effect on S. aureus growth. The dispersion in preformed biofilm was also observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Quantification real-time PCR revealed that the icaA and agrA expression having an important role in biofilm production of S. aureus were strongly affected with tuberostemonine. These results suggest that tuberostemonine has potential for controlling biofilm formation and dispersion by effect on virulence regulation of S. aureus.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.881-887
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial activities of medicinal plant extracts. The results were as follows. Crude water and methanolic extracts of Sanguisorba officinalis Linne, Coptis chinensis Makino, and Portulaca oleracea Linne, among 31 kinds of medicinal plants, had strong antibacterial activities against S. aureus and V. parahaemolyticus, with the methanolic extract more effective than the water extract. The methnolic and water extracts of S. officinalis Linne had strong antibacterial activities against S. aureus and V. parahaemolyticus. Antibacterial activity against S. aureus and V. parahaemolyticus was observed with extracts of S. officinalis Linne at dilutions of 5 and 10%, respectively. The EtOAc, BuOH, and $H_2O$ fractions of the extract of S. officinalis Linne had antibacterial activities against S. aureus and V. parahaemolyticus. Specifically, the fractions had antibacterial activity against S. aureus at dilutions of 5, 2, and 1%, respectively. Regarding V. parahaemolyticus, the EtOAc, $H_2O$, and BuOH fractions had antibacterial activities at dilutions of 5, 2, and 1%, respectively.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 1999

A total of 45 Staphylococcus aureus strains from clinical samples were tested for the biochemical test and antibiotic susceptibility test. Forty-five S. aureus strains were subjected to the molecular epidemiological study by susceptiblity test, antibiogram, bacteriophage typing, polymerase chain reaction and mec-associated hypervariable region gene in order to detect of mecA gene which was one of the structural gene related to antibiotic resistant expression factors. Three of 15 mecA-negative S. aureus isolates were classified as oxacillin resistant despite borderline minimal inhibitory concentration values. Methicillin susceptiblities were completely consistent with PCR results for these strains. On the other hand, 4 of 30 mecA-positive isolates yielded results in the oxacillin and methicillin susceptibility tests which were discrepant from those of PCR analysis. Except for SA6, the methicillin resistant S. aureus strains tested were highly resistant to penicillin, oxacillin, gentamicin, and chloramphenicol. In the phage typing, 27 strains were typable. The Iytic group III was as many as 12 strains, and 7 of 12 were 75/83A/84 type. In the PCR of specific mecA gene probe with chromosomal DNA of 30 methicillin resistant S. aureus, the amplified DNA band of 533 bp was confirmed in 30 strains and not in methicillin sensitive S. aureus. The single amplified band of hypervariable region related to mec was investigated in all of 30 methicillin resistant S. aureus, but in methicillin sensitive S. aureus it was amplified. The size of PCR products was between 200 bp and 600 Up. Four units was directly repeated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.3 s.83
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• pp.412-419
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• 2007

In the present study, we investigated antimicrobial activity of the medicinal plants against various strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Among the tested, the plants extracts of Asiasarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum, Coptidis rhizoma, Reynoutria elliptica Migo., Solidago virga-aurea var. gigantea Miq.seed exhibited significant antimicrobial activities against MRSA KCCM 11812, 40510 and S. aureus ATCC 25923. The methanol extract of Asiasarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum showed strong antimicrobial activity against MRSA KCCM 11812, 40510 and S. aureus ATCC 25923 at the 5 mg/disc. A synergistic effect was found in combined extracts of Asiasarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum and Coptidis rhizoma as compared to each extracts alone. The result suggests that medicinal plant extracts can be used as an effective natural antimicrobial agent in food.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.130-133
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• 2009

The crude extract of the mycelium of Cladosporium was found to exhibit antimicrobial activity against the Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus, and multidrug-resistant S. aureus. Bioassayguided fractionation of an organic extract led to the isolation of an acetophenone derivative, clavatol (2',4'-dihydroxy-3',5'-dimethylacetophenone) (1), and a benzodiazepine alkaloid, circumdatin A (2). Compound 1 showed moderate antibacterial activity against S. aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus, and multidrug-resistant S. aureus with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 62.5, 62.5, 31.0 $\mu$g/mL, respectively, but compound 2 was inactive. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited UV-A protection activity with ED$_{50}$ values of 227.0 and 82.0 $\mu$M, respectively, indicating that they were more potent than the positive control, oxybenzone (ED$_{50}$ 350 $\mu$M), a common sunscreen agent.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1322-1327
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• 2024

The accurate and rapid detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) holds significant clinical importance. This work presents a new method for detecting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in clinical samples. The method uses an aptamer-based colorimetric assay that combines a recognizing probe to identify the target and split DNAzyme to amplify the signal, resulting in a highly sensitive and direct analysis of methicillin-resistance. The identification of the PBP2a protein on the membrane of S. aureus in clinical samples leads to the allosterism of the recognizing probe, and thus provides a template for the proximity ligation of split DNAzyme. The proximity ligation of split DNAzyme forms an intact DNAzyme to identify the loop section in the L probe and generates a nicking site to release the loop sequence ("3" and "4" fragments). The "3" and "4" fragments forms an intact sequence to induce the catalytic hairpin assembly, exposing the G-rich section. The released the G-rich sequence of LR probe induces the formation of G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme as a colorimetric signal readout. The absorption intensity demonstrated a strong linear association with the logarithm of the S. aureus concentration across a wide range of 5 orders of magnitude dynamic range under the optimized experimental parameters. The limit of detection was calculated to be 23 CFU/ml and the method showed high selectivity for MRSA.