• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.233-238
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• 2007

Twenty five isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were recovered from different infested fields of vegetable along the heavily cultivated crops in Jordan valley. Cellulase and pectinase activities of those isolates were detected using CMC and pectin agar media, respectively. Diameter of the clearing zones on those media represented the level of such enzymatic activities, characteristic of each isolate. The virulence of those isolates was studied using a squash (Cucurbita pipo) cultivar under a greenhouse condition. The significance of correlating the enzymatic activity with the virulence of the isolates was ascertained and discussed.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.201-207
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• 2018

Porphyromonas gingivalis is among the major etiological pathogens of chronic periodontitis. The virulence mechanisms of P. gingivalis is yet to be identified as its activity is largely unknown in actual disease process. The purpose of this study is to identify antigens of P. gingivalis expressed only in patients with chronic periodontitis using a unique immunoscreening technique. Change Mediated Antigen Technology (CMAT), an antibody-based screening technique, was used to identify virulence-associated proteins of P. gingivalis that are expressed only during infection stage in patients having chronic periodontitis. Out of 13,000 recombinant clones screened, 22 tested positive for reproducible reactivity with rabbit hyperimmune anti-sera prepared against dental plaque samples acquired from periodontitis patients. The DNA sequences of these 18 genes were determined. CMAT-identified protein antigens of P. gingivalis included proteins involved in energy metabolism and biosynthesis, heme and iron binding, drug resistance, specific enzyme activities, and unknown functions. Further analysis of these genes could result in a novel insight into the virulence mechanisms of P. gingivalis.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.115-123
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to determine the virulence structure of oat powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. avenae, Bga) populations in Poland collected in 2014 and 2015. Powdery mildew isolates were collected from 18 locations in Poland. In total, nine lines and cultivars of oat, with different mildew resistance genes, were used to assess virulence of 180 isolates. The results showed that a significant proportion of the Bga isolates found in Poland were virulent to differentials with Pm1, Pm3, Pm6, and Pm3 + Pm8 genes. In contrast Pm4, Pm5, Pm2, and Pm7 genes were classified as resistant to all pathogen isolates used in the experiment. Based on obtained results we can state that there are differences in virulence pattern and diversity parameters between sites and years, but clear trends are not deducible.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제37권6호
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• pp.673-680
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• 2021

Acidovorax citrulli (Ac) is the causative agent of bacterial fruit blotch disease in watermelon. Since resistant cultivars have not yet been developed, the virulence factors/mechanisms of Ac need to be characterized. This study reports the functions of a putative pyridoxal phosphate-dependent aminotransferase (PpdaAc) that transfers amino groups to its substrates and uses pyridoxal phosphate as a coenzyme. It was observed that a ppdaAc knockout mutant had a significantly reduced virulence in watermelon when introduced via germinated-seed inoculation as well as leaf infiltration. Comparative proteomic analysis predicted the cellular mechanisms related to PpdaAc. Apart from causing virulence, the PpdaAc may have significant roles in energy production, cell membrane, motility, chemotaxis, post-translational modifications, and iron-related mechanisms. Therefore, it is postulated that PpdaAc may possess pleiotropic effects. These results provide new insights into the functions of a previously unidentified PpdaAc in Ac.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.191-197
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• 2015

Escherichia (E.) coli is commensal bacteria found in the intestine; however, some pathogenic strains cause diseases in animals and humans. Although E. coli does not typically produce hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$), $H_2S$-producing strains of E. coli have been identified worldwide. The relationship between virulence and $H_2S$ production has not yet been determined. Therefore, characteristics of $H_2S$-producing isolates obtained from swine feces were evaluated including antibiotic resistance patterns, virulence gene expression, and genetic relatedness. Rates of antibiotic resistance of the $H_2S$-producing E. coli varied according to antibiotic. Only the EAST1 gene was detected as a virulence gene in five $H_2S$-producing E. coli strains. Genes conferring $H_2S$ production were not transmissible although the sseA gene encoding 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase was detected in all $H_2S$-producing E. coli strains. Sequences of the sseA gene motif CGSVTA around Cys238 were also identical in all $H_2S$- producing E. coli strains. Diverse genetic relatedness among the isolates was observed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis. These results suggested that $H_2S$-producing E. coli strains were not derived from a specific clone and $H_2S$ production in E. coli is not associated with virulence genes.

• 한국균학회지
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.85-87
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• 2011

C. albicans는 사람에게 병증을 유발하는 기회감염성 진균으로 효모형에서 균사형 및 위균사형으로 전환할 수 있다. 이러한 이형성의 감소나 상실은 병원성의 결여와 연관되어 있기에 C. albicans의 병원성에 가장 결정적인 요인으로 여겨진다. 선행 실험을 통하여 이중특이성 인산화 효소의 결손 균주에서 이형성의 감소를 관찰하였기에, 마우스 모델에서 병원성에 미치는 효과를 확인하고자 하였다. 이중특이성 인산화 효소의 결손 균주를 감염시킨 경우, 마우스의 생존기간이 약 15일로 야생형의 3.9일보다 증가하였다. 또한 신장조직에 침투한 C. albicans의 세포수는 야생형에 비해 10배 가량 감소하였다. 본 연구는 C. albicans에서 이형성과 병원성에 연관된 이중특이성 인산화효소에 의한 새로운 신호전달기작의 가능성을 제시한다.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.15-20
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• 2011

In this study, we isolated 12 of Brucella (B.) spp. from cattle, which have been positive in Rose Bangal test and tube agglutination test in Gyeongbuk province in 2009. According to AMOS PCR analysis, isolated 12 strains were identified as B. abortus. Murine derived macrophage, RAW 264.7 cells, were infected with isolated 12 strains or reference strain (B. abortus 544), and bacterial internalization were characterized. According to these results, we divided the isolated strains into the following three groups: class I, lower internalization than that of B. abortus 544; class II, similar internalization to that of that of B. abortus 544; class III, higher internalization than that of B. abortus 544 within RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, intracellular growth, bacterial adherent assay, LAMP-1 colocalization, virulence in mice and surface protein pattern were characterized. From these results, representative strains of class III showed lower LAMP-1 colocalization, higher adherent efficiency, higher virulence in mice than those of B. abortus 544, and showed different pattern of surface proteins. These results suggest that B. abortus field strains, isolated from cattle in Korea, possess various virulence properties and higher internalization ability of field strain may have an important role for its virulence expression.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.364-373
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• 2013

It has been known that most regulation of pathogenicity factor (rpf ) genes in xanthomonads regulates virulence in response to the diffusible signal factor, DSF. Although many rpf genes have been functionally characterized, the function of rpfE is still unknown. We cloned the rpfE gene from a Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) Korean race KACC10859 and generated mutant strains to elucidate the role of RpfE with respect to the rpf system. Through experiments using the rpfE-deficient mutant strain, we found that mutation in rpfE gene in Xoo reduced virulence, swarm motility, and production of virulence factors such as cellulase and extracellular polysaccharide. Disease progress by the rpfE-deficient mutant strain was significantly slowed compared to disease progress by the wild type and the number of the rpfE-deficient mutant strain was lower than that of the wild type in the early phase of infection in the inoculated rice leaf. The rpfE mutant strain was unable to utilize sucrose or xylose as carbon sources efficiently in culture. The mutation in rpfE, however, did not affect DSF synthesis. Our results suggest that the rpfE gene regulates the virulence of Xoo under different nutrient conditions without change of DSF production.

• 미생물학회지
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2008

본 논문은 벼 흰 잎마름병균인 Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae(Xoo)의 병원성 유전자의 분자유전학적 연구현황을 기술하고자 한다. 또한 국내 고유 벼 흰 잎마름병균 KACC10331의 유전체해독 정보를 기반으로 다른 Xanthomonas의 유전체와 비교 분석함으로써, Xoo의 주요 병원성 유전자의 분자구조를 구명하고자 한다. 이를 통해 Xoo 고유 병원성 유전자 탐색 및 기능 해석을 위한 기초자료를 제공하는데 목적이 있다. Xoo 유전체에는 5개 과(family)에 속하는 9 type의 Insertion sequence(IS)가 611 copy로 존재하고 있으며, 주로 병원성 관련 유전자군 주위에 많이 분포하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 현재까지 연구가 수행된 주요 병원성 관련 유전자인 hypersensitive response and pathogenicity (hrp) 유전자, extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) 유전자, extracellular enzyme 유전자, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) 유전자, 그리고 avilulence 유전자의 분자유전학적 연구현황을 기술하였다.

• 대한미생물학회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.317-324
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• 2000

Candida albicans is one of the most frequently isolated fungal pathogens in human. Recently, the prevalence of candida infection has markedly increased, partially due to the increase of immunocompromised hosts. Proposed virulence factors of the pathogenic Candida are the ability to form hyphae to adhere to epithelial cell surfaces, and to secrete acid proteinases and phospholipases. We measured the relative cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and the ability of proteinase production (PROT), phospholipase production (PLase), adherence to host epithelium (ADH), and hyphal transition (Germ). The relative risk of virulence factors was analyzed by lethality test in murine model of hematogeneously disseminated candidal infection. According to Cox's proportional hazard analysis, the statistically significant virulence factors were PROT, ADH, and CSH. PROT was the highest risk factor of them. To evaluate the applicability for the diagnosis and treatment of Candidiasis, we examined the protective effect of the active and passive immunizations with the materials purified from virulence factors and antibodies to them in Candia-infected mice model. The mean survival times of active and passive immunized groups were slightly longer than those of non-immunized groups.