• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1441-1448
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• 2017

Antibacterial compounds are widely used in the treatment of human and animal diseases. The overuse of antibiotics has led to a rapid rise in the prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria, making the development of new antibacterial compounds essential. This study focused on developing a fast and easy method for identifying marine bacteria that produce antibiotic compounds. Eight randomly selected marine target bacterial species (Agrococcus terreus, Bacillus algicola, Mesoflavibacter zeaxanthinifaciens, Pseudoalteromonas flavipulchra, P. peptidolytica, P. piscicida, P. rubra, and Zunongwangia atlantica) were tested for production of antibacterial compounds against four strains of test bacteria (B. cereus, B. subtilis, Halomonas smyrnensis, and Vibrio alginolyticus). Colony picking was used as the primary screening method. Clear zones were observed around colonies of P. flavipulchra, P. peptidolytica, P. piscicida, and P. rubra tested against B. cereus, B. subtilis, and H. smyrnensis. The efficiency of colony scraping and broth culture methods for antimicrobial compound extraction was also compared using a disk diffusion assay. P. peptidolytica, P. piscicida, and P. rubra showed antagonistic activity against H. smyrnensis, B. cereus, and B. subtilis, respectively, only in the colony scraping method. Our results show that colony picking and colony scraping are effective, quick, and easy methods of screening for antibacterial compound-producing bacteria.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2004

Sclerotinia sp. (isolate BWC98-105) causes stem blight and root rot in Leghum sp., and is presently being evaluated as a potential mycoherbicide for the control of Trifoliorium repens. Bioassays have shown that Sclerotinia sp. produces phytotoxic substance which is biologically active against T. repens. Two biologically active compounds, designated as compoundsI and II, were produced in vitro from the culture filtrate of BWC98-105 isolate Sclerotium sp. Compounds I and II were purified by means of liquid-liquid extraction and $C_{18}$ open column chromatography (300 ${\times}$ 30 mm, i.d). To determine the purity, the purified compounds were analyzed by RP-HPLC. The analytical RP-HPLC column was a TOSOH ODS-120T (150 ${\times}$ 4.6 mm i.d, Japan), of which the flow rate was set at 0.7 mL/min using the linear gradient solvent system initiated with 15 % methanol to 85 % methanol for 50 min with monitoring at 254 nm. Under these RP-HPLC conditions, compounds I and II eluted at 3.49 and 4.13 min, respectively. Compound II was found to be most potent and host specific. However, compound I had a unique antibiotic activity against phytopathogenic bacteria like bacterial leaf blight (Xanthomonas oryzae) on rice, where it played a less important role in producing toxicity on T. repens. No toxin activity was detected in the water fraction after partitioning with several organic solvents. However, toxin activity was detected in the ethyl acetate and butanol fractions. In the leaf bioassay using compound II, the disease first appeared within 4-5 h as water soaked rot, which subsequently developed into well-defined blight affecting the whole plant.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.75-89
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• 2006

The actinomycete strain JK-1 that showed strong inhibitory activity against some plant pathogenic fungi and oomycetes was isolated from Jung-bal Mountain in Ko-yang, Korea. The strain JK-1 produced spores singly borne on sporophores and the spores were spherical and 0.9-1.2 11m in diameter. The cell wall of the strain JK-1 contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The actinomycete strain JK-1 was identified as the genus Micromonospora based on the morphological, physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic characteristics. From the 168 rDNA analysis, the strain JK-1 was assigned to M aurantiaca. The antibiotic MA-1 was purified from the culture broth of M aurantiaca JK-1 using various purification procedures, such as Diaion HP20 chromatography, C18 flash column chromatography, silica gel flash column chromatography and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. $^{1}H-$, $^{13}C-NMR$ and EI mass spectral analysis of the antibiotic MA-1 revealed that the antibiotic MA-1 is identical to phenylacetic acid. Phenylacetic acid showed in vitro inhibitory effects against fungal and oomycete pathogens Alternaria mali, Botrytis cinerea, Magnaporthe grisea, Phytophthora capsici and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at < 100 $\mug$ $ml^{-1}$. In addition, phenylacetic, acid completely inhibited the growth of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Bacillus subtilis, Candida albicans, Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria at < $\mug$ $ml^{-1}$. Phenylacetic acid strongly inhibited conidial germination and hyphal growth of M grisea and C. orbiculare. Phenylacetic acid showed significantly high levels of inhibitory' effect against rice blast and cucumber anthracnose diseases at 250 $\mug$ $ml^{-1}$. The control efficacies of phenylacetic acid against the two diseases were similar to those of commercial compounds tricyclazole, iprobenfos and chlorothalonil .n the greenhouse.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.927-932
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• 2006

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) is a ubiquitous biomolecule serving mainly as a methyl donor. Our recent studies revealed that SAM controls antibiotic production in Streptomyces. In this study, the functional mode of SAM was studied in S. coelicolor and S. antibioticus ATCC11891, employing S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), a methylation reaction product of SAM. Actinorhodin biosynthesis did not require SAM as a methyl donor, whereas SAH enhanced the actinorhodin biosynthesis up to the level comparable to SAM, and the most effective concentration of SAH was higher than that of SAM. In the case of oleandomycin that requires SAM for its biosynthesis, both SAM and SAH at the concentration as low as 100 mM showed comparable efficacy in enhancing the production; SAM at 1 mM concentration additionally stimulated to give a 5-fold enhancement of oleandomycin production. In vitro autophosphorylation of protein kinase AfsK was found to be activated by both SAM and SAH, as well as other structurally related compounds. Our studies demonstrate that SAM regulates antibiotic biosynthesis in a mode independent of its role as a methyl donor and suggest that SAM acts directly as an intracellular signaling molecule for Streptomyces.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2020

Recently, consumer demand for safe but minimally processed food has rapidly increased. For this reason, many food processing industries are applying hurdle technology to enhance food safety, extend shelf life, and make foods appear minimally processed. Meanwhile, studies have shown that a treatment (stress) meant to inactivate foodborne pathogens may trigger adaptation mechanisms and could even offer cross protection against subsequent treatments. Also, certain routine farm practices such as antibiotic and herbicide use could result in the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Such bacteria may be tolerant to food processing-associated stress and be more likely to remain viable in processed foods. In this review, we discuss the correlation between food processing-associated stress and antibiotic resistance. We also discuss molecular mechanisms such as the use of sigma factors, SOS response pathways and efflux pumps as means of cross protection against antimicrobial compounds and other food processing-associated stresses.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.329-338
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• 2023

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a foodborne pathogen that produces attaching and effacing lesions on the large intestine and causes hemorrhagic colitis. It is primarily transmitted through the consumption of contaminated meat or fresh produce. Similar to other bacterial pathogens, antibiotic resistance is of concern for EHEC. Furthermore, since the production of Shiga toxin by this pathogen is enhanced after antibiotic treatment, alternative agents that control EHEC are necessary. This study aimed to discover alternative treatments that target virulence factors and reduce EHEC toxicity. The locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) is essential for EHEC attachment to host cells and virulence, and most of the LEE genes are positively regulated by the transcriptional regulator, Ler. GrlA protein, a transcriptional activator of ler, is thus a potential target for virulence inhibitors of EHEC. To identify the GrlA inhibitors, an in vivo high-throughput screening (HTS) system consisting of a GrlA-expressing plasmid and a reporter plasmid was constructed. Since the reporter luminescence gene was fused to the ler promoter, the bioluminescence would decrease if inhibitors affected the GrlA. By screening 8,201 compounds from the Korea Chemical Bank, we identified a novel GrlA inhibitor named Grlactin [3-[(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)methyl]-4-(3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-one], which suppresses the expression of LEE genes. Grlactin significantly diminished the adhesion of EHEC strain EDL933 to human epithelial cells without inhibiting bacterial growth. These findings suggest that the developed screening system was effective at identifying GrlA inhibitors, and Grlactin has potential for use as a novel anti-adhesion agent for EHEC while reducing the incidence of resistance.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.522-528
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• 2000

A total of about 300 fungal isolates from forest havitats were screened for inhibitors of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection using its local lesion host, Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi nc. Ine of the isolates, 14T, showed a strong activity against TMV infection, and was identified as an Apiocrea sp. based on its morphological characterstics. Rice was an optimum culture medium for its fermentation, and two antiviral compounds, KGT 141 and KGT 142, were resolved from the rice culture through column chromatography, TLC, and HPLC. By NMR and FAB-MS, the two compounds were identified as chrysospermins B (KGT 141) and D (KGT 142), both of which are peptaibols with 19-mer amino acids possessing an acetylated N-terminus and a hydroxy-amino acid (tryptophanol) at the C-terminus. Both compounds showed inhibitory activities against TMV infection, but chrysospermin D showed the stronger activity than chrysospermin B. The former of $100{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ and 54.7% at $10{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$, respectively. Furthermore, the chrysospermins were highly cytotoxic toward cancer cell lines of PC-3 (prostrate) and K562 (leukemia), and inhibited growth of the Gram-positive bacteria tested, especially the plant pathogenic bacterium Corynebacterium lilium. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the inhibition of plant virus infection by antimicrobial peptaibols.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2006

A streptomycete strain was isolated from the soil samples from Korea. The chemotaxonomy and 16S rDNA sequencing confirmed that the strain belonged to the genus Streptomyces and we named it Streptomyces sp. AO-0511. Two antibiotics, herbimycin A and dihydroherbimycin A produced by this strain were tested for their physico-chemical and biological characteristics. Both compounds were stable under acidic pH. Dihydroherbimycin A was more heat-stable and polar compared with herbimycin A. Only weak antibacterial activities were detected against Bacillus subtilus ATCC 6633 and Micrococcus luteus ATCC 9341. However, herbimycin A and dihydroherbimycin A showed strong inhibitory activities on lung cancer cells (A549 cells) and leukemia cells (HL-60). The cytotoxicity was determined using L5178Y and P388 cell lines. The results showed that herbimycin A and dihydroherbimycin A had lower toxic effects on the cells compared with the standard compounds, comptothecin and cyclosporin A. Therefore, both compounds could be good candidates for the development of new anticancer drugs.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.825-839
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• 2014

Antioxidant activity is important for reducing oxidative stress that causes various metabolic disorders. Metabolic disorders are highly related to loss of productivity in livestock. Therefore, development of effective antioxidant compounds originating from plants is important for organic agriculture. Phenolic compounds in edible plants are regarded as major components relevant to antioxidant activity. The present study investigated the changes in antioxidant activity and phenolic compound profiles of Aronia (Aronia meloncarpa) by fermentation using different strains of Leuconostoc mesenteroides. A total of 5 strains of L. mesenteroides were used as starter cultures and their ${\beta}$-glucosidase activities were measured. A total of 6 experiment runs were prepared, one for control (uninoculated) and the others (inoculated) for treatments. For biological activity, antioxidant and antibacterial activities were measured. For phenolic compound profiling, TLC and HPLC analysis were performed. The strains of KACC12313 and KACC12315 showed greater enzyme activity than others. Treatment with KCCM35046 showed strong and broad antibacterial activity against to Listeria monocytogenes. Treatments with KCCM35046 and KACC12315 showed the highest total polyphenol content. The highest antioxidant activity was found in KACC12315 treatment. No remarkable alteration was found in thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis. In phenolic compound profiling analysis, KCCM35046 showed notable alteration in compound area ratio compared to others and also showed the highest caffeic acid content. In chlorogenic acid, treatments with KCCM35046 and KACC12315 showed great content than others. Treatment with KACC12315 showed the greatest content of trans-ferulic acid. As a result of relative performance indexing analysis, L. mesenteroides KCCM35046 and KACC12315 were selected as the best strain for the fermentation of Aronia.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.549-556
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• 1996

This work describes studies aimed at the synthesis of simple analogs of antibiotic tetracycline(TC) and flavonoid. The synthesis of proposed analogs of tetracycline and flavonide has been accomplished from readily available compounds 9 and 15. The 1,3-cyclohexanedione derivative 9 was transformed to the benzoate derivative 12 followed by base-mediated intramolecular benzoylation to give the bicyclic TC-analog 13. The bicyclic TC-analog 25 and the flavonoid-analogs 26 and 27 have been prepared from the quinol derivative 15.