• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.778-782
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• 2007

This study assessed the effects of the antimicrobial substances sulforaphane, grapefruit seed extracts (GSE), and reuterin on the expression of Salmonella HilA and InvF virulence gene using a LacZY assay (${\beta}$-galactosidase assay) with hilA:lacZY and invF:lacZY fusion strains of Salmonella typhimurium SL1344. Salmonella was grown for 8 hr at $37^{\circ}C$ in the presence of diluted antimicrobial substances ($2\;{\mu}g/mL$ sulforaphane, $20\{\mu}g/mL$ GSE, and 0.26 mM reuterin) at concentrations that did not inhibit the cellular growth of Salmonella. Sulforaphane inhibited the expression of HilA and InvF by 50-90 and 20-80%, respectively. GSE also inhibited the expression of both genes, but to a lesser degree. Among the 3 antimicrobial substances, reuterin showed the least inhibition, which was abolished after 3-4 hr. None of the antimicrobial substances inhibited the ${\beta}$-galactosidase enzyme activity of S. typhimurium. The assay used in this study represents a very sensitive method for screening bioactive substances that inhibit the expression of virulence genes in Salmonella.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.1 s.137
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• pp.15-20
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• 2006

Free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are causative agents of granulomatous amebic encephalitis and amebic keratitis. Because the virulence of Acanthamoeba culbertsoni cultured in the laboratory is restored by consecutive brain passages, we examined the genes induced in mouse brain-passaged A. culbertsoni by differential display reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR). Enhanced A. culbertsoni virulence was observed during the second mouse brain passage, i.e., infected mouse mortality increased from $5\%\;to\;70\%.$ Ten cDNAs induced during mouse brain passage were identified by DDRT-PCR and this was confirmed by northern blot analysis. BlastX searches of these cDNAs indicated the upregulations of genes encoding predictive NADH-dehydrogenase, proteasomal ATPase, and GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase B, which have previously been reported to be associated with A. culbertsoni virulence factors.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.88.1-88.6
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• 2021

Toxoplasma gondii consists of three genotypes, namely genotype I, II and III. Based on its virulence, T. gondii can be divided into virulent and avirulent strains. This study intends to evaluate an alternative method for predicting T. gondii virulence using hierarchical cluster analysis based on complete coding sequences (CDS) of sag1, gra7 and rop18 genes. Dendrogram was constructed using UPGMA with a Kimura 80 nucleotide distance measurement. The results showed that the prediction errors of T. gondii virulence using sag1, gra7 and rop18 were 7.41%, 6.89% and 9.1%, respectively. Analysis based on CDS of gra7 and rop18 was able to differentiate avirulent strains into genotypes II and III, whereas sag1 failed to differentiate.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.55 no.3
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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.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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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.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.125-135
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• 2016

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacteria that is responsible for gastritis in human. Its spiral flagellated body helps in locomotion and colonization in the host environment. It is capable of living in the highly acidic environment of the stomach with the help of acid adaptive genes. The genome of H. pylori 26695 strain contains 1,555 coding genes that encode 1,445 proteins. Out of these, 340 proteins are characterized as hypothetical proteins (HP). This study involves extensive analysis of the HPs using an established pipeline which comprises various bioinformatics tools and databases to find out probable functions of the HPs and identification of virulence factors. After extensive analysis of all the 340 HPs, we found that 104 HPs are showing characteristic similarities with the proteins with known functions. Thus, on the basis of such similarities, we assigned probable functions to 104 HPs with high confidence and precision. All the predicted HPs contain representative members of diverse functional classes of proteins such as enzymes, transporters, binding proteins, regulatory proteins, proteins involved in cellular processes and other proteins with miscellaneous functions. Therefore, we classified 104 HPs into aforementioned functional groups. During the virulence factors analysis of the HPs, we found 11 HPs are showing significant virulence. The identification of virulence proteins with the help their predicted functions may pave the way for drug target estimation and development of effective drug to counter the activity of that protein.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.316-320
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• 2001

Sonication tremendously improves the efficiency of Agrobacterium infection by introducing small and uniform fissures and channels throughout the targeted tissue. Using shoot tips of cotton as explants, the effect of sonication treatment and virulence genes in Agrobacterium tumefaciens on transformation efficiency was investigated. The pat gene which encodes resistance to the herbicide, glufosinate, was used as a selectable marker. Transformation efficiency was evaluated on th basis of survival rates of cocultivated shoot tips on selection medium containing 2.5 mg/l gulfosinate-ammonium(ppt) adn 25. mg/l Clavamax. Sonication from 5 to 15 second has a positive effect on shoop tip survival. However, whil virE as well as virG or vir GN54D showed an enhancement in transformation efficiency, virE,. virG resulted in the most significant enhancement. Overall, the combination of additional virG/virE gene and sonication treatment resulted in the most significant increase in transformation efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2014

The prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter (C.) spp. in stray, breeding, and household dogs was 25.2, 12.0, and 8.8%, respectively. C. jejuni and C. upsaliensis were the predominant Campylobacter spp. from household dogs. cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC were detected by PCR in all isolates. Despite the high cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) gene prevalence, only 26 (31%) C. jejuni strains and one (15.3%) C. coli strain showed evidence of CDT production in HEp-2 cell cytotoxicity assays. Virulence-associated genes detected in the C. jejuni and C. coli isolates were cadF, dnaJ, flaA, racR, ciaB, iamA, pldA, virB11, ceuE, and docC. cadF, dnaJ, flaA, and ceuE were found in all C. jejuni and C. coli isolates. When detecting Guillain-Barr$\acute{e}$ syndrome-associated genes (galE, cgtB, and wlaN), galE was identified in all isolates. However, cgtB and wlaN were more prevalent in C. jejuni isolates from humans than those from dogs. Adherence and invasion abilities of the C. jejuni and C. coli strains were tested in INT-407 cells. A considerable correlation (adjusted $R^2$= 0.678) existed between adherence and invasion activities of the Campylobacter spp. isolates.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.31.1-31.9
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• 2021

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by spirochetes from the genus Leptospira. In Thailand, Leptospira interrogans is a major cause of leptospirosis. Leptospirosis patients present with a wide range of clinical manifestations from asymptomatic, mild infections to severe illness involving organ failure. For better understanding the difference between Leptospira isolates causing mild and severe leptospirosis, illumina sequencing was used to sequence genomic DNA in both serotypes. DNA of Leptospira isolated from two patients, one with mild and another with severe symptoms, were included in this study. The paired-end reads were removed adapters and trimmed with Q30 score using Trimmomatic. Trimmed reads were constructed to contigs and scaffolds using SPAdes. Cross-contamination of scaffolds was evaluated by ContEst16s. Prokka tool for bacterial annotation was used to annotate sequences from both Leptospira isolates. Predicted amino acid sequences from Prokka were searched in EggNOG and David gene ontology database to characterize gene ontology. In addition, Leptospira from mild and severe patients, that passed the criteria e-value < 10e^-5 from blastP against virulence factor database, were used to analyze with Venn diagram. From this study, we found 13 and 12 genes that were unique in the isolates from mild and severe patients, respectively. The 12 genes in the severe isolate might be virulence factor genes that affect disease severity. However, these genes should be validated in further study.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.85.1-85.13
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• 2023

Background: A recent increase in the occurrence of canine skin and soft tissue infections, including otitis externa and pyoderma, caused by antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and S. schleiferi has become a significant public and veterinary health issues. Objective: We investigated the virulence potentials associated with the occurrence of canine otitis externa in S. pseudintermedius and S. schleiferi. Methods: In this study, the prevalence of genes encoding leukocidins, exfoliative toxins, and staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) was investigated using previously characterized S. pseudintermedius (n = 26) and S. schleiferi (n = 19) isolates derived from canine otitis externa. Susceptibility to cathelicidins (K9CATH and PMAP-36) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) was also examined in both staphylococcal species. Results: A high prevalence of genes encoding leukocidins (lukS/F-I, lukS1/F1-S, and lukS2/F2-S), exfoliative toxins (siet, expB, and sset), and SEs was identified in both S. pseudintermedius and S. schleiferi isolates. Notably, S. pseudintermedius isolates possessed higher number of SE genes, especially newer SE genes, than S. schleiferi isolates harboring egc clusters. Although no significant differences in susceptibility to K9CATH and H₂O₂ were observed between the two isolate groups, S. pseudintermedius isolates exhibited enhanced resistance to PMAP-36 compared to S. schleiferi isolates. Conclusions: These findings suggest that high a prevalence of various toxin genes together with enhanced resistance to cathelicidins may contribute to the pathogenicity of S. pseudintermedius and S. schleiferi in canine cutaneous infections.