• 식물병연구
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.116-121
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• 2016

In 2015, stem blight of Rubus crataegifolius was observed in Pohang, Korea. The symptoms began as dark red spots in the stem, which led to stem blight, then leaf blight, and eventually resulted in death. A fungal isolate was obtained from a symptomatic stem and incubated on a potato dextrose agar plate. The isolated fungus produced white, cloudy mycelia turned black in 3 days. Based on the morphological characteristics, the causal fungus was assumed to be Botryosphaeria sp. A pathogenicity test was conducted according to Koch's postulates. To identify the causal agent, the combined sequence of the internal transcribed spacer, ${\beta}$-tubulin, and translation elongation factor $1{\alpha}$ genes were used for phylogenetic analysis. Approximately 1,200 bp of the combined sequence clearly suggested that the isolated pathogen was Botryosphaeria parva. This is the first report on stem blight in R. crataegifolius caused by B. parva in Korea.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.178-184
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• 2010

Four major diseases of chili pepper including two fungal diseases, anthracnose (Colletotrichum acutatum) and Phytophthora blight (Phytophthora capsici), and two bacterial diseases, bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) and bacterial spot (Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria), were investigated under future climate-change condition treatments in growth chambers. Treatments with elevated $CO_2$ and temperature were maintained at $720ppm{\pm}20ppm$ $CO_2$ and $30^{\circ}C{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$, whereas ambient conditions were maintained at $420ppm{\pm}20ppm$ $CO_2$ and $25^{\circ}C{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$. Pepper seedlings or fruits were infected with each pathogen, and then the disease progress was evaluated in the growth chambers. According to paired t-test analyses, bacterial wilt and spot diseases significantly increased by 24% (p=0.008) and 25% (p=0.016), respectively, with elevated $CO_2$ and temperature conditions. On the other hand, neither Phytophthora blight (p=0.906) nor anthracnose (p=0.125) was statistically significant. The elevated $CO_2$ and temperature accelerated the progress of bacterial wilt by two days and bacterial spot by one day compared to the ambient treatment. Temperature regime studies of the diseases without changes in $CO_2$ confirmed that the accelerated bacterial disease progress was mainly due to the increased temperature rather than the elevated $CO_2$ conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권9호
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• pp.1578-1583
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• 2008

Rhizobacteria are used as inoculants to enhance crop yield and for biological control of fungal pathogens. Fluorescent pseudomonads isolated from the rhizosphere of groundnut showed suppression of the phytopathogen Macrophomina phaseolina that causes charcoal rot of groundnut, an economically important agroproduct. Two strains of fluorescent pseudomonads, designated as PS1 and PS2, were selected as a result of in vitro antifungal activity. After 5 days of incubation at $28{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, both PS1 and PS2 caused clear inhibition zones in dual cultures, restricting the growth of M. phaseolina by 71 % and 74%, respectively. Both the strains were capable of producing siderophores, indole acetic acid, and hydrocyanic acid, and causing phosphate solubilization under normal growth conditions. These strains, when used as inoculants in groundnut, enhanced germination up to 15% and 30% with subsequent increase in grain yield by 66% and 77%, respectively. Conversely, when the pathogen alone was tested 57% decrease in yield was recorded. Thus the studies revealed the potential of the two pseudomonads not only as biocontrol agents against M. phaseolina, but also as a good growth promoter for groundnut.

• 한국식물병리학회지
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.175-180
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• 1994

The fungal pathogen Monosporascus annonballus was first isolated in Korea from the rotted roots of bottle gourd stocks of collapsed watermelon plants in fields near Chochiwon, Choongnam province in July, 1993. Perithecia of M. cannonballus were dark brown to black, globose, 220~570 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in diam. and had many asci. Asci are hyaline, clavate to pyriform, and 50~120$\times$35~570 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in size. Ascospores were aseptate, dark brown to black, globose, 25~45$\times$30~50 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in diam, and borne singly in each ascus. The fungus grew in the temperature range of 4 to 34$^{\circ}C$, best at 3$0^{\circ}C$. The optimum pH for growth was 6.8. Mycelial growth rate of M. cannonballus was 25.5mm/day on PDA at 26$^{\circ}C$. Perithecia began to form after 20-day-growth on PDA and produced mature asci after 30 days or later. In the greenhouse inoculation tests, the fungus developed water-soaked lesions on roots of bottle gourd seedlings and was then reisolated from the lesions. Severed damages on watermelon plants by M. cannonballus are greatly concerned in Korea, since no stocks used for watermelon cultivation have reported to be resistant to the fungus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권8호
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• pp.760-764
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• 2009

In this study, we investigated the antifungal activity of three different forms of silver nanoparticles against the unidentified ambrosia fungus Raffaelea sp., which has been responsible for the mortality of a large number of oak trees in Korea. Growth of fungi in the presence of silver nanoparticles was significantly inhibited in a dose-dependent manner. We also assessed the effectiveness of combining the different forms of nanoparticles. Microscopic observation revealed that silver nanoparticles caused detrimental effects not only on fungal hyphae but also on conidial germination.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제24권9호
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• pp.1207-1215
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• 2014

Candida albicans, the major human fungal pathogen, undergoes morphological transition from the budding yeast form to filamentous growth in response to nitrogen starvation. In this study, we identified a new function of GST2, whose expression was required for filamentous growth of C. albicans under nitrogen-limiting conditions. The Gst2p showed Gst activity and required response to oxidative stress. The ${\Delta}gst2$ mutant displayed predominantly yeast phase growth in low ammonium media. Such morphological defect of ${\Delta}gst2$ mutants was not rescued by overexpression of Mep2p, Cph1p, or Efg1p, but was rescued by either overexpression of a hyperactive $RAS1^{G13V}$ allele or through exogenous addition of cyclic AMP. In addition, the ${\Delta}gst2$ mutants had lower levels of RAS1 transcripts than wild-type cells under conditions of nitrogen starvation. These results were consistent with the Ras1-cAMP pathway as a possible downstream target of Gst2p. These findings suggest that Gst2p is a significant component of nitrogen starvation-induced filamentation in C. albicans.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.610-617
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• 2016

Candidiasis has posed a serious health risk to immunocompromised patients owing to the increase in resistant yeasts, and Candida albicans is the prominent pathogen of fungal infections. Therefore, there is a critical need for the discovery and characterization of novel antifungals to treat infections caused by C. albicans. In the present study, we report on the antifungal activity of the ethanol extract from Salvia miltiorrhiza against C. albicans and the possible mode of action against C. albicans. The increase in the membrane permeability was evidenced by changes in diphenylhexatriene binding and release of both 260-nm-absorbing intracellular materials and protein. In addition, inhibition of cell wall synthesis was demonstrated by the enhanced minimal inhibitory concentration in the presence of sorbitol and reduced (1,3)-β-D-glucan synthase activity. The above evidence supports the notion that S. miltiorrhiza has antifungal activity against C. albicans by the synergistic activity of targeting the cell membrane and cell wall. These findings indicate that S. miltiorrhiza displays effective activity against C. albicans in vitro and merits further investigation to treat C. albicans-associated infections.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제23권9호
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• pp.1322-1326
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• 2013

New antifungal agents are required to compensate for the increase in resistance to standard antifungal agents of Candida albicans, which is an important opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes minor infections in many individuals but very serious infections in those who are immune-compromised. In this study, combinations of theaflavin and epicatechin are investigated as potential antifungal agents and also to establish whether antifungal synergy exists between these two readily accessible and cost-effective polyphenols isolated from black and green tea. The results of disc diffusion assays showed stronger antibacterial activity of theaflavin:epicatechin combinations against C. albicans NCTC 3255 and NCTC 3179, than that of theaflavin alone. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1,024 ${\mu}g/ml$ with theaflavin and 128-256 ${\mu}g/ml$ with theaflavin:epicatechin combinations were found. The fractional inhibitory concentration indexes were calculated, and the synergy between theaflavin and epicatechin against both isolates of C. albicans was confirmed. Theaflavin:epicatechin combinations show real potential for future use as a treatment for infections caused by C. albicans.

• Mycobiology
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.63-70
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• 2015

Phytophthora diseases have become a major impediment in the citrus production in Thailand. In this study, an isolate of Phytophthora denominated as PHY02 was proven to be causal pathogen of root rot of Pomelo (Citrus maxima) in Thailand. The isolate PHY02 was morphologically characterized and identified as Phytophthora palmivora based on molecular analysis of an internal transcribed spacer rDNA sequence. This work also presents in vitro evaluations of the capacities of Chaetomium spp. to control the P. palmivora PHY02. As antagonists, Chaetomium globosum CG05, Chaetomium cupreum CC3003, Chaetomium lucknowense CL01 inhibited 50~61% mycelial growth, degraded mycelia and reduced 92~99% sporangial production of P. palmivora PHY02 in bi-culture test after 30 days. Fungal metabolites from Chaetomium spp. were tested against PHY02. Results showed that, methanol extract of C. globosum CG05 expressed strongest inhibitory effects on mycelial growth and sporangium formation of P. palmivora PHY02 with effective dose ED50 values of $26.5{\mu}g/mL$ and $2.3{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. It is interesting that C. lucknowense is reported for the first time as an effective antagonist against a species of Phytophthora.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.223-229
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• 2017

Fungal infections by human pathogenic fungi are increasing globally in elderly, children and immune suppressed or deficient patients. Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the well-known pathogenic fungi and causes aspergilloses in human world widely. However, current identification and classification methods based on its phenotypic characteristics still have limitations. Therefore, currently, molecular biological tools using their DNA sequences are used for genotype identification and classification. In the present study, in order to analyze genetic variations of A. fumigatus clinical isolates, a total of six housekeeping genes were amplified by PCR using specific primer pairs and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) assay. Results from phylogenetic tree analysis showed that most A. fumigatus strains (88.9%) from respiratory specimens were classified into cluster A and B, and approximately half of A. fumigatus strains (46%) from non-respiratory specimens were classified into cluster C and D. Although the sample size was limited, genetic characteristics of A. fumigatus clinical isolates according to their origins were very similar and well-correlated with other clinical data.