• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.51.1-51.5
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• 2020

A novel coronavirus emerged in human populations and spread rapidly to cause the global coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Although the origin of the associated virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) remains unclear, genetic evidence suggests that bats are a reservoir host of the virus, and pangolins are a probable intermediate. SARS-CoV-2 has crossed the species barrier to infect humans and other animal species, and infected humans can facilitate reverse-zoonotic transmission to animals. Considering the rapidly changing interconnections among people, animals, and ecosystems, traditional roles of veterinarians should evolve to include transdisciplinary roles.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.45.1-45.12
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• 2024

Importance: Although the role of bovine coronavirus (BCoV) in calf diarrhea and respiratory disorders is well documented, its contribution to neurological diseases is unclear. Objective: This study conducted virological investigations of calves showing diarrhea and respiratory and neurological signs. Methods: An outbreak of diarrhea, respiratory, and neurological disorders occurred among the 12 calves in July 2022 in Istanbul, Türkiye. Two of these calves exhibited neurological signs and died a few days after the appearance of symptoms. One of these calves was necropsied and analyzed using molecular and histopathological tests. Results: BCoV RNA was detected in the brain, lung, spleen, liver, and intestine of the calf that had neurological signs by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Immunostaining was also observed in the intestine and brain. A 622 bp S1 gene product was noted on gel electrophoresis only in the brain. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the BCoV detected in this study had a high proximity to the BCoV strain GIb with 99.19% nucleotide sequence homology to the strains detected in Poland, Israel, Türkiye, and France. No distinct genetic lineages were observed when the brain isolate was compared with the respiratory and enteric strains reported to GenBank. In addition, the highest identity (98,72%) was obtained with the HECV 4408 and L07748 strains of human coronaviruses. Conclusions and Relevance: The strain detected in a calf brain belongs to the GIb-European lineage and shares high sequence homology with BCoV strains detected in Europe and Israel. In addition, the similarity between the human coronaviruses (4408 and L07748) raises questions about the zoonotic potential of the strains detected in this study.

• ALGAE
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.295-306
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• 2023

Human coronavirus diseases, particularly severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, still remain a persistent public health issue, and many recent studies are focusing on the quest for new leads against coronaviruses. To contribute to this growing pool of knowledge and explore the available marine natural products against coronaviruses, this study investigated the antiviral effects of fucoxanthin isolated from Sargassum siliquastrum-a brown alga found on Jeju Island, South Korea. The antiviral effects of fucoxanthin were confirmed in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-infected Vero cells, and its structural characteristics were verified in silico using molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations and in vitro colorimetric method. Fucoxanthin inhibited the infection in a concentration-dependent manner, without showing cytotoxicity. Molecular docking simulations revealed that fucoxanthin binds to the angiotensinconverting enzyme 2-spike protein (binding energy -318.306 kcal mol^-1) and main protease (binding energy -205.118 kcal mol^-1). Moreover, molecular dynamic simulations showed that fucoxanthin remains docked to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2-spike protein for 20 ns, whereas it breaks away from main protease after 3 ns. Also, the in silico prediction of the fucoxanthin was verified through the in vitro colorimetric method by inhibiting the binding between angiotensinconverting enzyme 2 and spike protein in a concentration-dependent manner. These results indicate that fucoxanthin exhibits antiviral effects against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 by blocking the entry of the virus. Therefore, fucoxanthin from S. siliquastrum can be a potential candidate for treating coronavirus infection.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.62-72
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• 2023

목적: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 발생 이후 인간 코로나바이러스를 포함한 호흡기 바이러스의 패턴에 변화가 있을 것으로 생각되어, COVID-19 발생 이전 경기도 명지병원에 급성 호흡기 감염증으로 입원한 소아청소년을 대상으로 바이러스 감염의 패턴을 보고하였다. 방법: 2017년 1월부터 2019년 12월까지 급성 호흡기 감염증으로 명지병원에 입원한 18세 이하 소아청소년을 대상으로 하였고 real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) 결과를 바탕으로 후향적으로 의무기록을 고찰하였다. 결과: 총 3,557명 중에서 중복감염 포함하여 3,686건의 바이러스가 검출되었고 평균 양성률은 78.6%이었으며 여름에 비해 겨울에 PCR 양성률이 높았다. 파라인플루엔자바이러스, 메타뉴모바이러스, 보카바이러스는 4-6월에 주로 검출되고, 인간엔테로바이러스는 7-9월에, 호흡기세포융합바이러스와 인플루엔자바이러스는 겨울철에 주로 검출되었다. 진단별로 인두편도염에서는 아데노바이러스가 가장 많았고 폐렴에서는 호흡기세포융합바이러스가 가장 많이 검출되었다. 인간 코로나 바이러스는 겨울철에 주로 검출되었으며, 크루프 환자 중에서 3번째 높은 빈도로 나타났다. 결론: 본 연구결과가 이전에 보고되었던 소아청소년의 호흡기 바이러스 역학과 크게 다르지 않았다. 또한 COVID-19 발생 이후 호흡기 바이러스 패턴 비교 연구에 도움이 되고자 COVID-19 발생 이전 호흡기 바이러스 역학정보를 보고하는 바이다.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.286-295
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• 2020

Respiratory infections are very common and highly contagious. Respiratory infectious diseases affect not only the person infected but also the family members and the society. As medical sciences advance, several diseases have been conquered; however, the impact of novel infectious diseases on the society is enormous. As the clinical presentation of respiratory infections is similar regardless of the pathogen, the causative agent is not distinguishable by symptoms alone. Moreover, it is difficult to develop a cure because of the various viral mutations. Various respiratory infectious diseases ranging from influenza, which threaten the health of mankind globally, to the coronavirus disease 2019, which resulted in a pandemic, exist. Contrary to human expectations that development in health care and improvement in hygiene will conquer infectious diseases, humankind's health and social systems are threatened by novel infectious diseases. Owing to the development of transport and trading activity, the rate of spread of new infectious diseases is increasing. As respiratory infections can threaten the members of the global community at any time, investigations on preventing the transmission of these diseases as well as development of effective antivirals and vaccines are of utmost importance and require a worldwide effort.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제44권12호
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• pp.861-878
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• 2021

The human genome contains many retroviral elements called human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), resulting from the integration of retroviruses throughout evolution. HERVs once were considered inactive junk because they are not replication-competent, primarily localized in the heterochromatin, and silenced by methylation. But HERVs are now clearly shown to actively regulate gene expression in various physiological and pathological conditions such as developmental processes, immune regulation, cancers, autoimmune diseases, and neurological disorders. Recent studies report that HERVs are activated in patients suffering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection. In this review, we describe internal and external factors that influence HERV activities. We also present evidence showing the gene regulatory activity of HERV LTRs (long terminal repeats) in model organisms such as mice, rats, zebrafish, and invertebrate models of worms and flies. Finally, we discuss several molecular and cellular pathways involving various transcription factors and receptors, through which HERVs affect downstream cellular and physiological events such as epigenetic modifications, calcium influx, protein phosphorylation, and cytokine release. Understanding how HERVs participate in various physiological and pathological processes will help develop a strategy to generate effective therapeutic approaches targeting HERVs.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제44권6호
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• pp.377-383
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• 2021

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To understand the identity, functional characteristics and therapeutic targets of the virus and the diseases, appropriate infection models that recapitulate the in vivo pathophysiology of the viral infection are necessary. This article reviews the various infection models, including Vero cells, human cell lines, organoids, and animal models, and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. This knowledge will be helpful for establishing an efficient system for defense against emerging infectious diseases.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.1.1-1.16
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• 2021

The emergence of a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has become a significant health concern worldwide. Undoubtedly, a better understanding of the innate and adaptive immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 and its relationship with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis will be the sole basis for developing and applying therapeutics. This review will summarize the published results that relate to innate immune responses against infections with human coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 in both humans and animal models. The topics encompass the innate immune sensing of the virus to the dysregulation of various innate immune cells during infection and disease progression.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.35.1-35.9
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• 2022

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats are motifs of 1 to 6 nucleotides in length present in both coding and non-coding regions of DNA. These are found widely distributed in the whole genome of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, bacteria, and viruses and are used as molecular markers in studying DNA variations, gene regulation, genetic diversity and evolutionary studies, etc. However, in vitro microsatellite identification proves to be time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the present research has been focused on using an in-house built java pipeline to identify, analyse, design primers and find related statistics of perfect and compound microsatellites in the seven complete genome sequences of coronavirus, including the genome of coronavirus disease 2019, where the host is Homo sapiens. Based on search criteria among seven genomic sequences, it was revealed that the total number of perfect simple sequence repeats (SSRs) found to be in the range of 76 to 118 and compound SSRs from 01 to10, thus reflecting the low conversion of perfect simple sequence to compound repeats. Furthermore, the incidence of SSRs was insignificant but positively correlated with genome size (R² = 0.45, p > 0.05), with simple sequence repeats relative abundance (R² = 0.18, p > 0.05) and relative density (R² = 0.23, p > 0.05). Dinucleotide repeats were the most abundant in the coding region of the genome, followed by tri, mono, and tetra. This comparative study would help us understand the evolutionary relationship, genetic diversity, and hypervariability in minimal time and cost.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.174-182
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• 1992

The hemagglutinin-esterase glycoprotein (HE) gene of bovine coronavirus, coupled with a simian virus 40 early promoter and polyadenylation signal, was inserted into a human adenovirus transfer vector. The transfer vector was used to co-transfect 293 cells along with adenovirus genomic DNA. The hemagglutinin-esterase transcription unit was rescued into the adenovirus genome by homologous in vivo DNA recombination between the vector plasmid DNA and the adenovirus genomic DNA, and a recombinant adenovirus was isolated by several rounds of plaque assays. Thus the recombinant adenovirus carries the hemagglutinin-esterase gene in the early transcription region 3 (E3) of the adenovirus genome in the parallel orientation to the E3 transcription. The recombinant adenovirus synthesized the HE polypeptide in HeLa cells as demonstrated by immunoprecipitation with anti-coronavirus rabbit antisera. The recombinant HE polypeptide could be labelled by $[^3H]$glucosamine, demonstrating that the recombinant HE was glycosylated. Cells expressing the HE polypeptide exhibited hemadsorption activity when incubated with mouse erythrocytes. The HE was transported to the plasma membrane as shown by the cell surface immunofluorescence, indicating that the recombinant HE polypeptide retained its biological activities. Potential for the use of infectious recombinant adenovirus as a live virus-vectored vaccine candidate for bovine coronavirus disease is discussed.