• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.263-268
• /
• 2006

Probiotics including Lactobacillus acidophilus, refer to a group of nonpathogenic organisms that protect the human host against gastrointestinal(GI) infections by pathogenic bacteria such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli(STEC). In the study, the inhibitory effects of STEC ATCC 43894 adhesion by L. acidophilus A4 was investigated on the HT-29 epithelial cells. Specific proteins regulated by cell Iysates of L. acidophilus A4 on STEC ATCC 43894 were also characterized by proteomic analysis. Both cell mass and Iysate of L. acidophilus A4 have exhibited the profound inhibitory activity on the HT-29 cells(about 1.5 log scale reduction). Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE) revealed seven proteins that were up-regulated by cell Iysates of L. acidophilus A4 and three proteins that were down-regulated. In addition, three protein spots were only detected in the presence of cell Iysates. These results suggest that inhibitory effects of STEC adhesion by L. acidophilus may be due to the regulation of specific protein of STEC.

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.87-96
• /
• 2016

The ionospheric error, which is one of many error elements considered during the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning, is hard to be predicted due to the influence of geomagnetic activity and irregular solar activities. Thus, the present study analyzed a change pattern in the ionosphere through Global Ionosphere Map (GIM) data for 12 years from 2003 to 2014 and a variation in the Slant Total Electron Content (STEC) between Sinuiju and Busan which was the longest range in the southeastern direction of the Korean Peninsula. The variation in the STEC verified the diurnal, annual, and solar cycle variations due to the influence of solar activity. The diurnal variation was characterized that the variation in the STEC started to increase from 6-7 am and reached the maximum at 13-14 pm followed by being decreased. The seasonal variation was characterized that the variation in the STEC was high in spring and autumn whereas it was low in summer and winter. The solar cycle variation revealed that the variation in the STEC increased during solar maximum and decreased during solar minimum. The variation in the STEC was up to 20 Total Electron Content Unit (TECU) during the solar minimum and up to 60 TECU during solar maximum.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.577-584
• /
• 2016

The objectives of this study were I) to compare the acid resistance (AR) of seven non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroups, including O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145, and O157:H7 STEC isolated from various sources, in 400 mM acetic acid solution (AAS) at pH 3.2 and $30^{\circ}C$ for 25 min with or without glutamic acid and II) to determine strain survival upon exposure to simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.5) at $37^{\circ}C$ for 2 h after acid adaptation in apple, pineapple, orange, and strawberry juices at pH 3.8, $4^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$. Results show that the O111 serogroup strains had the strongest AR (0.12 log reduction CFU/mL) which was very similar to that of O157:H7 STEC (P>0.05), compared to other serogroups in AAS without glutamic acid, whereas O26 serogroup strains showed the most sensitive AR. However, there was no significant (P>0.05) difference of AR among seven serogroups in AAS with glutamic acid. In the SGF study, 05-6545 (O45:H2), 08023 (O121:H19), and 03-4669 (O145:NM) strains adapted in fruit juices at $4^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$ displayed enhanced survival with exposure to SGF for 60 min compared to 06E0218 (O157:H7) strains (P<0.05). In addition, 4 STEC strains adapted in pineapple juice at $4^{\circ}C$ showed enhanced survival with exposure to SGF for 60 min compared to those strains acid-adapted in the other fruit juices. Generally, adaptation at $4^{\circ}C$ in fruit juices resulted in significantly enhanced survival levels compared to acid-adapted at $20^{\circ}C$ and non-adapted conditions. The AR caused by adaptation in fruit juices at low temperature may thus increase survival of non-O157 STEC strain in acidic environments such as the gastrointestinal tract. These results suggest that more careful strategies should be provided to protect against risk of foodborne illness by non-O157 STEC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.25 no.9
• /
• pp.1460-1466
• /
• 2015

In this study, the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was investigated among raw meat or meat products from slaughterhouses and retail markets in South Korea, and their potential for antibiotic resistance and virulence was further analyzed. A total of 912 raw meats, including beef, pork, and chicken, were collected from 2008 to 2009. E. coli strains were frequently isolated in chicken meats (176/233, 75.9%), beef (102/217, 42.3%), and pork (109/235, 39.2%). Putative STEC isolates were further categorized, based on the presence or absence of the Shiga toxin (stx) genes, followed by standard O-serotyping. Polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect the previously defined virulence genes in STEC, including Shiga toxins 1 and Shiga toxin 2 (stx1 and 2), enterohemolysin (ehxA), intimin (eaeA), STEC autoagglutination adhesion (saa), and subtilase cytotoxin (subAB). All carried both stx1 and eae genes, but none of them had the stx2, saa, or subAB genes. Six (50.0%) STEC isolates possessed the ehxA gene, which is known to be encoded by the 60-megadalton virulence plasmid. Our antibiogram profiling demonstrated that some STEC strains, particularly pork and chicken isolates, displayed a multiple drug-resistance phenotype. RPLA analysis revealed that all the stx1-positive STEC isolates produced Stx1 only at the undetectable level. Altogether, these results imply that the locus of enterocyte and effacement (LEE)-positive strains STEC are predominant among raw meats or meat products from slaughterhouses or retail markets in Korea.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.347-355
• /
• 2023

In this study, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) were compared in terms of their ability to detect shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Various foods were artificially inoculated with STEC to evaluate the limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency of PCR and LAMP. The LODs were ≤10⁴ and ≤10³ CFU/mL for PCR and LAMP, respectively. The LOQs did not differ between PCR and LAMP. However, of the four considered food types, the sensitivities differed by a maximum of 11.1% for seasoned meat and by a minimum of 8.1% for ground beef. LAMP had higher sensitivity than that of PCR and 100% specificity for all four food types. Therefore, LAMP is a reliable molecular method for detecting STEC as comparable to PCR assay, and its specificity and sensitivity are superior to those of PCR, depending on the food type.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.731-737
• /
• 2013

Seventy-four Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates belonging to the serotype O91:H21 were isolated from 1,643 asymptomatic human carriers in a STEC outbreak at Gwangju in Korea. Although the isolates did not cause any symptoms, all of them produced Shiga toxins 1 (Stx1) and 2 (Stx2). In order to determine why these strains cause no symptoms, we explored the differences in virulence potential between the asymptomatic STEC O91:H21 isolates and symptomatic STEC O91:H21 strains (ATCC 51435 and ATCC 51434). The asymptomatic STEC O91:H21 isolates showed strongly reduced cytopathic effects compared with the symptomatic strains when intact bacterial cells were used as an inoculant. Moreover, we found a reduced adherence phenotype when testing asymptomatic strains on HeLa cells. Real-time quantitative PCR results suggest that transcriptional repression of the genes encoding type-1 fimbriae occurs in the asymptomatic isolates but not in the symptomatic strains.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.203-211
• /
• 2008

Rapid detection-method for Shiga toxin type 1 that was produced from Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was developed by two-step ultra-rapid real-time (URRT) PCR. The specific primers were deduced from 80 bp stable region of stx type 1 (stxl) gene among various informations of STEC strains. URRT PCR is a microchip-based real-time PCR using 6 ${\mu}l$ of reaction volume with extremely short denaturation step and annealing/extension step (1 sec, 3 sec, respectively) in each cycle of PCR. Using the stx1-specific URRT PCR, 35 cycled PCR were finished in time of 6 min and 38 see, also measured 7 min and 28 see including melting temperature (Tm) analysis. The detection-limit of stxl-specific URRT-PCR was estimated until 3 colony forming units / PCR with products with stable Tm at $81.42{\pm}0.34^{\circ}C$. In the applications to various STEC strains and contaminated genomic DNAs, stx1-specific URRT-PCR were tested and shown that it would be expected an useful method for the rapid detection of stx1-coded STEC strains.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.594-600
• /
• 2018

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important pathogenic bacterium. To control STEC, the characteristics of the ECP33 and NOECP91 coliphages, which belong to the Myoviridae family, were analyzed. The host inhibition range for a total of 44 STEC strains was 45.5% for ECP33 and 65.9% for NOECP91. ECP33 and NOECP91 were relatively stable at $65^{\circ}C$, 50 ppm of sodium hyperchlorite, and a pH value of 4-10. However, the two phages were susceptible to a temperature of $70^{\circ}C$. NOECP91 was killed within 1 h after exposure to 30% ethanol, but ECP33 showed high tolerance even after exposure to 70% ethanol for 1 h. Interestingly, the inhibition of STEC growth according to the multiplicity of infection of 0.1 was confirmed until no growth was observed after 10 hours of culture with the phages. Therefore, the ECP33 and NOECP91 phages may be applied as a biological control agent for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.129-134
• /
• 2017

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli is now recognized as an important cause of diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) worldwide. E. coli were isolated from 80 of 356 (22.5%) chicken and chilled chicken products in Korea. Fifteen virulence genes specific for pathogenic E. coli, including Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), were examined by multiplex PCR. STEC virulence markers were detected for eaeA (20.0%), escV (21.3%), stx1 (3.8%), ent (2.5%), EHEC-hly (1.3%), stx2 (1.3%), EAEC virulence marker (astA) was detected in 32.5%. ETEC and EIEC were not detected. STEC serotypes O152, O1, O116, O26, O25, O119 and O153 were found in chicken samples. This suggests the importance of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli control in raw chicken and chilled chicken food for food safety.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.87-92
• /
• 2016

Porcine edema disease (ED) is a communicable disease of pigs caused by infection with Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) which expresses F18 fimbriae and/or Stx type 2e (Stx2e). While STEC causes a severe illness including hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in humans, it induces damage to the vascular endothelium, which results in edema, hemorrhage, and microthrombosis, leading in high mortality in pigs. In the present study, we cultured Stx2e-producing E. coli field isolates from conventional pig farms that experienced sudden deaths previously with symptoms similar to porcine edema disease, which were further investigated with Shiga toxin profiles. A total of 43 strains were identified from the collected samples by F18 or Stx2e specific PCR. Based on the PCR, 42 isolates out of 43 isolates were proved to carry one of F18 or Stx2e genes and 14 isolates to carry both F18 and Stx2e genes. All of the 30 isolates that harbored Stx2e gene induced the cytopathic effect (CPE) in vero cells and especially, the isolate 150229 produced the highest level of Shiga toxin. Therefore, we identified the virulence genes (F18 and Stx2e) and demonstrated Shiga toxin-producing abilities from porcine edema disease causing E. coli filed isolates. These results suggested that one of the isolates could be a vaccine antigen candidate against STEC through further investigating to elicit an immune response.