• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2018

Trichophyton rubrum is one of the well-known pathogenic fungi and causes dermatophytosis and cutaneous mycosis in human world widely. However, there are not an available sequence type (ST) classification methods and previous studies for T. rubrum until now. Therefore, currently, molecular biological tools using their DNA sequences are used for genotype identification and classification. In the present study, in order to characterize the genetic diversity and the phylogenetic relation of T. rubrum clinical isolates, five different housekeeping genes, such as actin (ACT), calmodulin (CAL), RNA polymerase II (RPB2), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), and ${\beta}$-tubulin (BT2) were analyzed using by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Also, DNA sequence analysis was performed to examine the differences between the sequences of Trichophyton strains and the identified genetic variations sequence. As a result, most of the sequences were shown to have highly matched rates in their housekeeping genes. However, genetic variations were found on three different positions of ${\beta}$-tubulin gene and were shown to have changed from $C{\rightarrow}G$ (1766), $G{\rightarrow}T$ (1876), and $C{\rightarrow}A$ (1886). To confirm the association with T. rubrum inheritance, a phylogenetic tree analysis was performed. It was classified as four clusters, but there was little significant correlation. Even so, MLST analysis is believed to be helpful for determining the genetic variations of T. rubrum in cases where there is more large-scale data accumulation. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated the first MLST analysis of T. rubrum in Korea and explored the possibility that MLST could be a useful tool for studying the epidemiology and evolution of T. rubrum through further studies.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.114-149
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• 2017

World-wide crop loss caused by insect pest and nematode reaches critical level. In Korea, similar crop loss has been gradually augmented in the field and greenhouse due to continuous crop rotation. The current methods on controlling herbivorous insects and plant parasitic nematodes are mostly depended on agro-chemicals that have resulted additional side-effect including occurrence of resistant insects and nematodes, environmental contamination, and accumulation in human body. To overcome the pitfalls, microbe-based control method have been introduced and applied for several decades. Here, we revised biological control using by the bacteria, fungi, and virus in order to kill insect and nematode and to attenuate its virulence mechanism. The introduced microbes mainly secreted out the hydrolysing enzymes and toxic compounds to target host membrane or cell wall directly. Indirectly, the microbe-triggered plant innate immunity against insects and nematodes was also reported. In conclusion, we provide a new frontier of microbe-based environmentally friendly procedure and effective methods to manage insects and nematodes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2010

The fructus of Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge (CBF) has been used as medicinal and food source in worldwide. In this study, antimicrobial activity of the methanol extract and its sequential organic solvent fractions of CBF against different pathogenic bacteria and fungi, including multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida sp., were investigated. The methanol extract of CBF was active against various gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and the ethylacetate and butanol fractions of CBF showed strong antibacterial activity against Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhimurium, Proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli and various multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa with minimal inhibitory concentration of 1.0~7.5 mg/mL. Also the fractions showed anti-Candida activity against C. albicans, C. kruseis and C. geochares. The methanol extract of CBF and its solvent fractions, except n-hexane fraction, did not show any hemolytic activity against human red blood cell up to $500\;{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The hemolysis in n-hexane fraction at $500\;{\mu}g/mL$ was less than 9.9%. Our results suggest that the CBF could be developed as a potent antibacterial agent, especially for multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.354-361
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• 2018

This study was carried out to isolate soil bacteria with antimicrobial activity and evaluate antimicrobial substances produced by isolated bacteria. Among many isolates Bacillus subtilis DS660 and Paenibacillus polymyxa DS842 showed high antimicrobial activities against 6 species of microbial residents on human skin and 3 species of pathogenic bacteria. DS660 and DS842 showed 15.3~26.8 and 11.3~27.5 mm of inhibition zone diameter, respectively on nutrient agar medium against most target bacteria and fungi. DS660 and DS842 produced $57{\pm}8$ and $170{\pm}15{\mu}mol/ml$ of siderophore, respectively as an antimicrobial substance. Analysis of ethyl acetate extract of culture supernatants of DS660 and DS842 suggested production of glycolipid biosurfactant which reduced surface tension of culture supernatant of DS660 and DS842 from 60.0 to 40.3 and 30.3 mN/m, respectively. DS660 and DS842 also showed $169.2{\pm}9.9$ and $357.2{\pm}13.7nmol/min/mg$ protein of ${\beta}-1,3$-glucanase activity, respectively, and hydrolyzed cell wall components of 3 bacterial species. These results suggest that B. subtilis DS660 and P. polymyxa DS842 may be utilized as an environment-friendly biocontrol agent against some skin microbes and pathogenic bacteria.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.192-196
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• 2013

Fungal development is largely affected by many environmental factors. In a model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, asexual development is promoted by exposure of light, presence of salt and non-fermentable sugars. In other hand, sexual development is largely induced by absence of light, fermentable sugars and hypoxic condition. Also, some important genes including veA and nsdD play positive roles in activating sexual development. Here, we reported that the effect of high concentration of $CO_2$ on developmental decision in A. nidulans. When wild-type $veA^+$ strain was cultured in normal condition, sexual and asexual development occurred in balanced manner. However, high concentration of $CO_2$ (~5%) strongly activated sexual development and inhibited asexual development. Furthermore, this $CO_2$ effect was controlled by the veA or nsdD gene. High $CO_2$ culture of $veA^-$ or $nsdD^-$ mutant didn't activate sexual development, suggesting that the activation of sexual development induced by high $CO_2$ cannot overcome the genetic requirement of sexual development such as veA or nsdD. Since 5% $CO_2$ is an important condition for human pathogenic fungi for surviving and adapting in human body, this developmental pattern of A. nidulans affected by $CO_2$ concentration may provide interesting clues for comparative study with human fungal pathogens including Aspergillus fumigatus.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1256-1261
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• 2017

${\beta}$-glucan is a constituent of the cell wall of fungi, yeast and plants. It plays an important role in the immune system such as activation of immunocyte, release of pro-inflammatory and anti-cancer effect. The immune system maintains a healthy immune homeostasis. However, when pathogenic substances enter the body, immune homeostasis can break down and disease can be triggered. Therefore, we studied a substance that regulates immune homeostasis. The purpose of the study we demonstrated whether the ${\beta}$-glucan can be applied to the immune-modulation effects in human monocytic THP-1 cells. ${\beta}$-glucan was incubated in THP-1 cells at various concentrations. The $TNF-{\alpha}$ mRNA expression and protein levels were analyzed by ELISA and Real-time PCR. Additionally, the expression of MAPKs (p38 and JNK), $I{\kappa}B-{\alpha}$ and $NF-{\kappa}B$ p50 were analyzed by western blot. ${\beta}$-glucan enhanced the production of $TNF-{\alpha}$ mRNA expression and protein levels in human monocytic THP-1 cells. In addition, activation of MAPKs (p38 and JNK) and $NF-{\kappa}B$ p50 induced by ${\beta}$-glucan were increased. The study suggests that ${\beta}$-glucan contributes to immune-stimulation effect by production $TNF-{\alpha}$ in human monocytic THP-1 cells, and that MAPKs and $NF-{\kappa}B$ p50 are involved in the process. Synthetically, we have suggested ${\beta}$-glucan may be improved to immune system effect in human monocytic THP-1 cells.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2015

Aspergillus fumigatus is a major cause of invasive aspergillosis (IA), a significant health issue worldwide with high mortality rates up to 95%. Our lab is interested in how A. fumigatus adapts to low oxygen conditions 'hypoxia', which is one of the important host microenvironments. A. fumigatus SrbA is a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcriptional regulator and belongs to sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) family members. Loss of SrbA completely blocks growth in hypoxia and results in avirulence in murine models of IA suggesting an essential role of SrbA in hypoxia adaptation and virulence in A. fumigatus. We conducted chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) with A. fumigatus wild type using a SrbA specific antibody, and 97 genes were revealed as SrbA direct targets. One of the 'SrbA regulons' (AFUB_099590) was a putative bHLH transcriptional regulator whose sequence contained a characteristic tyrosine substitution in the basic portion of the bHLH domain of SREBPs. Therefore, we designated AFUB_099590 SrbB. Further characterization of SrbB demonstrated that SrbB is important for radial growth, biomass production, and biosynthesis of heme intermediates in hypoxia and virulence in A. fumigatus. A series of quantitative real time PCR showed that transcription of several SrbA regulons is coordinately regulated by two SREBPs, SrbA and SrbB in hypoxia. This suggests that SrbA and SrbB have both dependent and independent functions in regulation of genes responsible for hypoxia adaptation in A. fumigatus. Together, our data provide new insights into complicated roles of SREBPs in adaptation of host environments and virulence in pathogenic fungi.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2015

In filamentous fungi, velvet complex associated with the veA gene plays pivotal roles in development and secondary metabolism. In a model fungus Aspergillus nidulans, many proteins that can interact with VeA, including two methyltransferases VipB and VipC, have been isolated and characterized. In this study, we isolated homologs of the vipB and vipC genes in the human opportunistic pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus and named AfuvipB and AfuvipC. The AfuvipB gene, annotated as Afu3g14920 in the Aspergillus Genome Database (AspGD) database, consists of 1,510 bp interrupted with 10 introns yielding 336 amino acid-long putative methyltransferase protein. Similarly, AfuvipC, which is Afu8g01930, has 10 introns and encodes a polypeptide with 339 amino acids having a methyltransferase domain in the middle of the protein. To characterize the function of the genes in A. fumigatus, knock-out mutants were generated and the phenotypes were observed. Deletion of AfuvipB gene caused no obvious phenotypic change on point inoculation but showed smaller colony than wild-type when the mutant was subjected to culture on single spore-driven culture condition. However, AfuvipC deletion mutant demonstrated no phenotypic difference from wild type both in point inoculation and streaking cultures. These results indicate that the two methyltransfereases might have a redundant role and could be dispensable in normal culture conditions.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.33 no.1 s.60
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• pp.47-52
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• 2007

The antimicrobial properties of medium-chain ($C_{8-12}$) free fatty acids and their 1-monoglyceride derivatives against a wide range of microorganisms we well known. However, previous studies have been mainly focused on the antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria and viruses causing diseases in human or domestic animals' infection. But, there have been few reports describing comprehensive surveys of antimicrobial effects against microorganisms in cosmetics. For a start of this study, we evaluated and compared the preservative activities of $C_8$ (glyceryl caprylate) and $C_{12}$(glyceryl laurate) 1-monoglyceride in cosmetic formulations. From the result, we found that both of them have very excellent preservative activity against bacteria, but less against fungi. And $C_8$ 1-monoglyceride was a little bit more effective than $C_{12}$ 1-monoglyceride. According to the test results to evaluate each antimicrobial activity of glyceryl caprylate towards 5 kinds of microorganisms used in preservation efficacy test in cosmetics, gram-positive bacteria S. aureus and yeast C. albicans were sensitive and mold A. niger was most tolerant to glyceryl caprylate. Therefore, we tried to improve the antimicrobial activity of glyceryl caprylate agianst mold such as A. niger so that we could make it used as a preservative for cosmetic products. As a result, we confirmed that the antimicrobial activity of glyceryl caprylate is much improved under acidic conditions in formulation. In addition, we found optimal combinations of glyceryl caprylate with other antimicrobial agents. Among tested 7 antimicrobial agent, methyparaben showed the highest preservative activity in combination with gglyceryl caprylate.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.391-410
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• 2022

Human microbiota is a community of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, that inhabit various locations of the body, such as the gut, oral, and skin. Along with the development of metabolomic analysis and next-generation sequencing techniques for 16S ribosomal RNA, it has become possible to analyze the population for subtypes of microbiota, and with these techniques, it has been demonstrated that bacterial microbiota are involved in the metabolic and immunological processes of the hosts. While specific bacteria of microbiota, called commensal bacteria, positively affect hosts by producing essential nutrients and protecting hosts against other pathogenic microorganisms, dysbiosis, an abnormal microbiota composition, disrupts homeostasis and thereby has a detrimental effect on the development and progression of various types of diseases. Recently, several studies have reported that oral and gut bacteria of microbiota are involved in the carcinogenesis of gastrointestinal tumors and the therapeutic effects of anticancer therapy, such as radiation, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Studying the complex relationships (bacterial microbiota-cancer-immunity) and microbiota-related carcinogenic mechanisms can provide important clues for understanding cancer and developing new cancer treatments. This review provides a summary of current studies focused on how bacterial microbiota affect gastrointestinal cancer and anticancer therapy and discusses compelling possibilities for using microbiota as a combinatorial therapy to improve the therapeutic effects of existing anticancer treatments.