• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.158-162
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• 1984

The crystal structure of chloramphenicol base, $C_9H_{l2}N_2O_4$, the deacylated base of antibiotic chloramphenicol, has been determined by X-ray diffraction techniques using diffractometer data obtained by the ${\omega}-2{\theta}$ scan technique with CuK${\alpha}$ radiation from a crystal with space group symmetry $P2_12_12_1$ and unit cell parameters a = 22.322(6), b = 7.535(6), c = 5.781(5) ${\AA}$. The structure was solved by direct methods and refined by full-matrix least-squares to a final R = 0.051 for the 573 observed reflections. The overall conformation of the base is quite different from those of the chloramphenicol congeners which are similar despite the presence of many rotatable single bonds. The propane chain in the base is bent with respect to the phenyl ring, while it is extended in the chloramphenicol congeners. There is no intramolecular hydrogen bond between the hydroxyl groups of the propanediol moiety. All of the molecules in the crystal lattice are connected by a three-dimensional hydrogen bonding network.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.899-905
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• 2011

In order to develop bacterial cellulose (BC) with antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms, silver and chitosan were incorporated into BC, respectively. Experiment results showed that antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms was improved with increasing silver concentration. Chitosan also showed a direct proportion between its concentration and antimicrobial activity. These results suggest that antimicrobial effects of BC using silver and chitosan are well proven to be effective. We also tested the stainability of BC with natural colorant for the application of food industry. Stainability of BC was enhanced with increasing natural colorant concentration. Decolorization of BC stained was observed by dipping it into distilled water with one hour-intervals. As a result, there was no significant difference. Combination of natural colorant-stainability and antibiosis of BC is expected to be useful in making colored antibiotic BC in various industrial application areas, considering its antimicrobial activity, high stainability and low decolorization tendency.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.92-97
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• 2006

The liquid culture extract of Coriolus versicolor was prepared by directly boiling the whole culture broth 7 days after incubation in 12% citrus extract medium. After removal of mycelial debris through filtration, this extract was further extracted with equal volume of ethyl acetate (1 : 1, v/v). The ethyl acetate extracts showed significant antibacterial activities against Stapylococcus aureus CCARM3230 and Psudomonas aeruginosa CCARM2171, which are resistant to several antibiotics. The most active fraction was eluted from a silica gel column with a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (9 : 1, v/v) and the purity of this active substance was confirmed by HPLC analysis. The results suggest that the purified active substance could be a good source for the development of a new antimicrobial agent, especially for the treatment of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.709-715
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• 1999

A series of antifungal compounds were obtained from the methanol extract of the mycelium from marine actinomycetes M428 which was identified as a Stereptomyces species by fatty acid composition and biochemical characteristics. These compounds were purified by combined chromatographic techniques and the structures were characterized with spectroscopic methods including 1D and 2D NMR, and mass spectrometry as sn-l lysophosphatidyl inositols. The side chains were established by chemical degradation followed by GC analysis to be 14-methyl pentadecanoic acid (iso-palmitic acid, i-C16:0, compound A) and 13-methyl tetradecanoic acid (iso-pentadecanoic acid, i-C15:0, compound B). These compounds displayed highly selective antifungal activity against C. albicans with MIC values of $5{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ (compound A) and $2.5{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ (compound B), while it had almost negligible antibiotic activity against E. coli and P aerogenosa with MIC value higher than $50{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$ and no cytotoxic activities against human myeloma leukemia K562 ($IC_{50}>100{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$).

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.166-172
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• 2007

ERM proteins transfer the methyl group to $A_{2058}$ in 23S rRNA, which reduces the affinity of MLS (macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B) antibiotics to 23S rRNA, thereby confer the antibiotic resistance on micro-organisms ranging from antibiotic producers to pathogens and are classified into monomethyltransferase and dimethyltransferase. To investigate the differences between mono- and dimethyltransferase, tirD, a representative monomethylase gene was cloned in Escherichia coli from Streptomyces fradiae which contains ermSF, dimethylase gene as well to overexpress the TlrD for the first time. T7 promoter driven expression system successfully overexpress tlrD as a insoluble aggregate at $37^{\circ}C$ accumulating to around 55% of the total cell protein but unlike ErmSF, culturing at temperature as low as $18^{\circ}C$ did not make insoluble aggregate of protein into soluble protein. Coexpression of Thioredoxin and GroESL, chaperone was not helpful in turning into soluble protein either as in case of ErmSF. These results might suggest that differences between mono- and dimethylase could be investigated on the basis of the characteristics of protein structure. However, a very small amount of soluble protein which could not be detected by SDS-PAGE conferred antibiotic resistance on E. coli as in ErmSF which was expected from the activity exerted by monmethylase in a cell.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2008

ErmSF is one of the proteins which are produced by Streptomyces fradiae to avoid suicide by its autogenous macrolide antibiotic, tylosin and one of ERM proteins which are responsible for transferring the methyl group to $A_{2058}$ (Escherichia coli coordinate) in 23S rRNA, which reduces the affinity of MLS (macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B) antibiotics to 23S rRNA, thereby confers the antibiotic resistance on microorganisms ranging from antibiotic producers to pathogens. ErmSF contains an extra N-terminal end region (NTER), which is unique to ErmSF and 25% of amino acids of which is arginine known well to interact with RNA. Noticeably, arginine is concentrated in $^{58}RARR^{61}$ and functional role of each arginine in this motif was investigated through deletion and site-directed mutagenesis and the activity of mutant proteins in cell R60 and R61 was found to play an important role in enzyme activity through the study with deletion mutant up to R60 and R61. With the site-directed mutagenesis using deletion mutant of 1 to 59 (R60A, R61A, and RR60, 61AA), R60 was found more important than R61 but R61 was necessary for the proper activity of R60 and vice versa. And these amino acids were presumed to assume a secondary structure of $\alpha$-helix.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2024

Background: Honey bees play a crucial role in pollination and ecological balance. Apis mellifera L. colonies, especially those located in specific geographic regions, such as the palm garden in Eastern Thailand, are susceptible to potential threats from microbial contaminants. Understanding and detecting microbial organisms in these beehives is essential for the preservation of bee health, honey production, and the broader ecosystem. However, the problem of microbial infection and antibiotic-resistant bacteria is more severe and continuously increasing, resulting in a health, economic, and social crisis. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of microorganisms in A. mellifera beehives in palm gardens in Rayong province, Eastern Thailand. Results: Ten swabs in transport media were swabbed and obtained from different parts of each beehive (1 swab per beehive), for a total of 10 hives. Traditional microbial culture-based methods, biochemical tests, and antimicrobial susceptibility (disc-diffusion) tests were used to detect microbial organisms and antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The swab tests from nine beehives resulted in the detection of Gram-positive bacteria (63.64%), Gram-negative bacteria (27.27%), and fungi/yeast (9.09%). These microorganisms are classified as a group of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. and made up 40.91% of the bacteria discovered. Other bacteria found were Coryneform bacteria (13.64%), Pantoea spp. (13.64%), Bacillus spp. (9.09%), yeast (9.09%), glucose non-fermentative Gram-negative bacilli (9.09%), and Pseudomonas spp. (4.55%). However, due to the traditional culture-based and 0biochemical tests usually used to identify the microbial organisms in clinical specimens and the limitation of identifying some environmental microbial species, the results of the antimicrobial susceptibility test cannot reveal if the organism is resistant or susceptible to the drug. Nevertheless, drug-sensitive inhibition zones were formed with each antibiotic agent. Conclusions: Overall, the study supports prevention, healthcare, and public health systems. The contamination of microorganisms in the beehives may affect the quality of honey and other bee products or even the health of the beekeeper. To avoid this kind of contamination, it is therefore necessary to wear personal protective equipment while harvesting honey and other bee products.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.696-703
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• 2014

Clostridium difficile causes mucosal damage and diarrhea by releasing two exotoxins: toxin A and toxin B. C. difficile colitis is associated with alterations in bowel flora and the failure to mount an effective antibody response. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether antitoxin sera prevent toxin-A-induced apoptosis, cytoskeletal disaggregation, cell detachment, and tight junction loss in cultured colonic epithelial cells. Serum samples were isolated from mice that survived a C. difficile infection following antibiotic treatment, and the antitoxin effects of these samples were investigated in toxin-A-exposed HT29 colonic epithelial cells and a toxin-A-induced animal model of gut inflammation. Unchallenged mice did not produce IgG against toxin A, whereas serum (antiserum) from C. difficile-challenged mice showed significant IgG responses against toxin A. Treatment with the antiserum markedly inhibited mucosal damage and inflammation in the toxin-A-treated mouse model. In contrast to control mouse serum, the antiserum also markedly inhibited toxin-A-induced DNA fragmentation, dephosphorylation of paxillin and Epo receptor (EpoR), deacetylation of tubulin, and upregulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p53. Taken together, these results reveal that the generated antitoxin serum has biotherapeutic effects in preventing various C. difficile toxin-A-induced cellular toxicities.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1457-1466
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• 2012

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) exert antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, and viruses by various mechanisms. AMPs commonly possess particular characteristics by harboring cationic and amphipathic structures and binding to cell membranes, resulting in the leakage of essential cell contents by forming pores or disturbing lipid organization. These membrane disruptive mechanisms of AMPs are possible to explain according to the various structure forming pores in the membrane. Some AMPs inhibit DNA and/or RNA synthesis as well as apoptosis induction by reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction. Specifically, mitochondria play a major role in the apoptotic pathway. During apoptosis induced by AMPs, cells undergo cytochrome c release, caspase activation, phosphatidylserine externalization, plasma or mitochondrial membrane depolarization, DNA and nuclei damage, cell shrinkage, apoptotic body formation, and membrane blebbing. Even AMPs, which have been reported to exert membrane-active mechanisms, induce apoptosis in yeast. These phenomena were also discovered in tumor cells treated with AMPs. The apoptosis mechanism of AMPs is available for various therapeutics such as antibiotics for antibiotic-resistant pathogens that resist to the membrane active mechanism, and antitumor agents with selectivity to tumor cells.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.116-120
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• 2009

We found out the new method of the consortium for the environmental friendly agriculture by 8 kinds of the selected antagonistic rhizobacteria. This research involved composition of mutual complementary consortium by each antagonistic function such as production of antibiotic, siderophore, antifungal cellulase and insoluble phosphate solubilization. The consortium No.11 among composed consortium candidates showed the most pepper growth promoting activity and Phytophthora blight suppression on the in vivo pot test of red-pepper plant. The consortium No. 11 is combination of PGPR Bacillus subtilis AH18 and Bacillus licheniformis K11. B. subtilis AH18 and B. licheniformis K11 both could produce the auxin, antifungal ${\beta}$-glucannase and siderophore. Also, they had mechanism for solubilization of insoluble phosphate. But, B. licheniformis K11 could produce the antibiotic of iturin which was able to inhibit Phytophthora capsici. We confirmed complementary noncompetitive mutualism between B. subtilis AH18 and B. licheniformis K11 of the consortium No.11. The results came out through treatment of two strains co-culture, treatment of individual culture and co-treatment of two individual cultures for the growth and Phytophthora blight suppression of red-pepper. The treatment of two strains co-culture didn't show a synergic effect in comparing sole treatment on the pepper growth promotion and Phytophthora blight suppression. But, when the pots were treated simultaneously with co-treatment of two individual cultures, an synergic effect was seen in the growth promotion of roots, stem, leaves and suppressed Phytophthora blight on red-pepper in vivo pot test.