• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.656-663
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• 2011

Licochalcone, a major phenolic constituent of the licorice species Glycyrrhiza inflata, a constituent of licorice, exhibits various biological properties, including chemopreventive-, antibacterial-, and anti-spasmodic activities. Recently, Licochalcone E (LicE) was isolated from the roots of Glycyrrhiza inflate, however its biological functions have not been fully examined. In the present study, we investigated the ability of LicE to regulate inflammation reactions in macrophages. Our in vitro experiments using murine macrophages, RAW264.7 cells, showed that LicE suppressed not only nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin $E_2$ generation, but also the expression of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Similarly, LicE inhibited the release of proinflammatory cytokines induced by LPS in RAW264.7 cells, including tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ and interleukin-6. The underlying mechanism of LicE on anti-inflammatory action correlated with down-regulation of the nuclear factor-${\kappa}$B. Our data collectively indicate that LicE inhibited the production of several inflammatory mediators and might be used in the treatment of various inflammatory diseases.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.396-403
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• 2014

Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) is an economically valuable pharmaceutical crop in Korea. In order to find promising biocontrol agents for soil-borne fungal pathogens which infect ginseng roots, we have isolated actinomycete, BK185 from soil. The isolate was investigated for the antifungal activity against to ginseng rot pathogens prior to testing genetic and chemical properties. The strain was identified as Streptomyces sp. using phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence. The most closely related species was S. sporoclivatus and S. geldanamycininus with high similarities (>99%). The isolate, BK185 showed positive reaction for PCR detection targeting biosynthetic gene clusters of PKS (Type-I polyketide synthase) and NRPS (Non-ribosomal polypeptide synthetase) genes. Major metabolite from the BK185 was analyzed by The LC/MS and identified to geldamycin, which was known to contained broad antibacterial, antifungal or anticancer activities. The results provide evidences that the strain, BK185 can be promising biocontrol agent for ginseng organic farming.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2007

This study was carried out to investigate the usefulness of the aerial part of Cnidium officinale Makino as a bioactive material source. The aerial part(leaf and stem) of Cnidium officinale Makino was extracted with three kinds of solvents and determined their antimicrobial activities against several bacteria and yeast strains using the paper disc method and the microtiter dilution method. The extracts of the Cnidium offocinale aerial part exhibited the broad spectrum of antibacterial activity against Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria, including food-borne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. The extracts of Cnidium officinale also showed antifungal activity against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ethyl acetate extracts completely inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aerogenes, and moderately inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae at the concentration of 0.5 mg/mL. However, water extract of Cnidium officinale exhibited lower antimicrobial activity than ethyl acetate and methanol extracts. The inhibitory effect of the ethyl acetate extract of Cnidium officinale Makino was not destroyed by heating at $100^{\circ}C$ for 30 min or at $121^{\circ}C$... for 15 min. These results suggest that the aerial part of Cnidium officinale Makino could be a useful source for a natural antimicrobial material.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.5644-5651
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• 2014

Propolis is an extremely safe natural antimicrobial substance that has been reported to have powerful antibacterial efficacy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effects of propolis against Candida albicans (C. albicans). Propolis was collected from the honey bee Apis mellifera. The strain of C. albicans was cultivated overnight in liquid media incubated at $37^{\circ}C$. The antimicrobial activity was investigated using phosphate buffered saline (PBS), 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), 0.1% chorhexidine (CHX), and propolis extracts ($5{\mu}l/ml$, $10{\mu}l/ml$). C. albicans were sensitive to 3% NaOCl, 0.1% CHX, and propolis ($5{\mu}l/ml$, $10{\mu}l/ml$) with zones of inhibition of 15, 14.5, 16, and 17 mm, respectively. The CFU of PBS, 3% NaOCl, 0.1% CHX, $5{\mu}l/ml$ and $10{\mu}l/ml$ of propolis led a 1, 7, 7, 5 and 7-log reduction. Among the groups tested, C. albicans was most sensitive to $10{\mu}l/ml$ of propolis, which showed the largest inhibition zones. Therefore, propolis can be a new antimicrobial therapy for oral mucosa disease in traditional medicine.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6633-6638
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• 2014

The Pharmacological potential, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activities of Portulaca oleracea (PO) and Petroselinum sativum (PS) extracts are well known. However, the preventive properties against hepatocellular carcinoma cells have not been explored so far. Therefore, the present investigation was designed to study the anticancer activity of seed extracts of PO and PS on the human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2). The HepG2 cells were exposed with $5-500{\mu}g/ml$ of PO and PS for 24 h. After the exposure, cell viability by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-biphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, neutral red uptake (NRU) assay, and cellular morphology by phase contrast inverted microscope were studied. The results showed that PO and PS extracts significantly reduced the cell viability of HepG2 in a concentration dependent manner. The cell viability was recorded to be 67%, 31%, 21%, and 17% at 50, 100, 250, and $500{\mu}g/ml$ of PO, respectively by MTT assay and 91%, 62%, 27%, and 18% at 50, 100, 250, and $500{\mu}g/ml$ of PO, respectively by NRU assay. PS exposed HepG2 cells with $100{\mu}g/ml$ and higher concentrations were also found to be cytotoxic. The decrease in the cell viability at 100, 250, and $500{\mu}g/ml$ of PS was recorded as 70%, 33%, and 15% by MTT assay and 63%, 29%, and 17%, respectively by NRU assay. Results also showed that PO and PS exposed cells reduced the normal morphology and adhesion capacity of HepG2 cells. HepG2 cells exposed with $50{\mu}g/ml$ and higher concentrations of PO and PS lost their typical morphology, become smaller in size, and appeared in rounded bodies. Our results demonstrated preliminary screening of anticancer activity of Portulaca oleracea and Petroselinum sativum extracts against HepG2 cells, which can be further used for the development of a potential therapeutic anticancer agent.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.104-110
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• 2011

Actinomycetes, Gram positive soil bacteria, are valuable microorganisms which produce useful secondary metabolites including antibiotics, antiparasitic substances, anti-cancer drugs, and immunosuppressants. Although a major family of actinomycetes, known as streptomycetes, has been intensively investigated at the molecular level for several decades, a potentially valuable and only recently isolated non-streptomycetes rare actinomycetes (NSRA) family has been poorly characterized due to lack of proper genetic manipulation systems. Here we report that a PCR-based genome screening strategy was performed with approximately 180 independently isolated actinomycetes strains to isolate potentially valuable NSRA strains. Thanks to this simple PCR-based genome screening strategy we were able to identify only seven NSRA strains, followed by 16S rRNA sequencing for confirmation. Through further bioassays, one potentially valuable NSRA strain (tentatively named Nocardiopsis species MMBL010) was identified which possessed both antifungal and antibacterial activities, along with the presence of polyketide synthase and non-ribosomal peptide synthase genes. Moreover, Nocardiopsis species MMBL010, which was intrinsically recalcitrant to genetic manipulation, was successfully transformed via E. coli-driven conjugation. These results suggest that PCR-based genome screening, followed by the establishment of an E. coli-driven conjugation system, is an efficient strategy to maximize potentially valuable compounds and their biosynthetic genes from NSRA strains isolated from various environments.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.146-152
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• 2011

In the course of a study in relation to the production of taste, and functional enhancements in root crop chips, which were prepared by soaking dried yam slices in fruit juices, we investigated the physiological characteristics and biological activities of 8 different commercially available juices including; apple, omija (fruit of Maximowiczia typica), grape, wild grape, orange, tomato, red ginseng and black garlic juice. The average water contents, pH, brix and acidity of the juices used were $85.59{\pm}5.80%$, $3.90{\pm}0.64$, $12.19{\pm}4.70%$, and $0.49{\pm}0.19%$, respectively. The polyphenol content of black garlic and grape juice were 1.50 and 1.21 mg/ml, respectively, and those were higher than the average content (0.57 mg/mL) of the juices. Evaluation of anticoagulation activity showed that only omija juice has a strong thrombin inhibition, which is comparable to that of aspirin (1.5 mg/mL). Omija, grape and orange juice all exhibited antibacterial activity, but no antifungal activity. The 8 different juices, and in particular grape and black garlic juice, showed strong antioxidant activity in DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity assays, with wild grape juice demonstrating potent nitrite scavenging activity. These results suggest that omija, grape and black garlic juice can be used as soaking solutions to produce taste, and other functional enhancements, for root crop chips.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2008

A strain IDCC 9203 isolated from infant feces was identified as Lactobacillus johnsonii on the basis of 16S rDNA sequence analysis. L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 was highly resistant to acid (MRS broth at pH 2.3) and bile (MRS broth with 0.3% oxgall). The antibacterial activities of L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 was examined against Salmonella typhimurium KCTC 2054. The growth of S. typhimurium KCTC 2054 was inhibited by the cell-free culture supernatant (at pH 4.0) of L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 as well as by the respective control (MRS broth at pH 4.0). Antimicrobial effect against S. typhimurium KCTC 2054 of L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 was probably due to the lactic acid. By an in vitro cell adhesion model, L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 preincubated or coincubated with Caco-2 cells reduced the adhesion of S. typhimurium KCTC 2054 to Caco-2 cells by 74% or 47.1%, respectively. Also in an in vivo model, L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 was colonized in mice intestines which were disrupted by ampicillin treatment. Its proliferation in the mice intestines reduced abnormal salmonella growth from $10^9CFU/g$ feces to $10^5CFU/g$ feces as an indigenous level. The results obtained in this study suggest that L. johnsonii IDCC 9203 may be a potential probiotic strain.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2016

The cause of death was investigated with several dead cabbage moth larvae in breeding box. Bacterial strains were isolated and selected from the dead larvae by bioassay. One of them was identified as Serratia marcescens used by morphological characteristics and gene sequencing. S. marcescens were cultured by Luria Bertani (LB) media broth for bioassay. When 100-fold dilution of culture broth to third larvae of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, it was showed a 100% mortality at 2 days after treatment, and only 10-fold dilution of supernatant liquid was showed 86.6% mortality. When the culture broth of S. marcescens was applied to the larvae of beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, contact and feeding toxicity were 20 and 8% of mortality, respectively. Otherwise, when the culture broth of S. marcescens was applied to 5 major plant pathogens, antibacterial activities against Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Phytophthora capsici and Sclerotinias clerotiorum were 4.7, 11.3, 20, 15.7 and 42.6%, respectively. Also, degradation ability of S. marcescens against protein and chitin were examined.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.185-189
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• 2009

A monoterpenoid compound, benzylideneacetone (BZA), is a metabolite of an entomopathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophila. Its primary biological activity is an inhibitor of phospholipase $A_2$, which catalyzes the committed step of biosynthesis of various eicosanoids that are critically important to mediate insect immune responses. When BZA was applied to two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, it exhibited a dose-dependent mortality in leaf-disc assay. Subsequently BZA was tested against T. urticae infesting apples in a field orchard, in which it showed a significant control efficacy, which was not statistically different with that of a commercial acaricide. BZA also had significant antibacterial activities against three species of plant pathogenic bacteria when it was added to the bacterial cultures, in which it showed the highest inhibitory activity against a bacterial wilt-causing pathogen, Ralstonia solanacearum. The bacterial pathogen caused significant disease symptom to young potato plants. However, BZA significantly suppressed the disease occurrence. This study suggests that BZA can be used to develop a novel crop protectant to control mite and bacterial pathogen.