• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.42.1-42.23
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• 2023

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis, one of the most deadly infections in humans. The emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Mtb strains presents a global challenge. Mtb has shown resistance to many frontline antibiotics, including rifampicin, kanamycin, isoniazid, and capreomycin. The only licensed vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guerin, does not efficiently protect against adult pulmonary tuberculosis. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to develop new vaccines to prevent infections caused by these strains. We used a subtractive proteomics approach on 23 virulent Mtb strains and identified a conserved membrane protein (MmpL4, NP_214964.1) as both a potential drug target and vaccine candidate. MmpL4 is a non-homologous essential protein in the host and is involved in the pathogen-specific pathway. Furthermore, MmpL4 shows no homology with anti-targets and has limited homology to human gut microflora, potentially reducing the likelihood of adverse effects and cross-reactivity if therapeutics specific to this protein are developed. Subsequently, we constructed a highly soluble, safe, antigenic, and stable multi-subunit vaccine from the MmpL4 protein using immunoinformatics. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed the stability of the vaccine-bound Tolllike receptor-4 complex on a nanosecond scale, and immune simulations indicated strong primary and secondary immune responses in the host. Therefore, our study identifies a new target that could expedite the design of effective therapeutics, and the designed vaccine should be validated. Future directions include an extensive molecular interaction analysis, in silico cloning, wet-lab experiments, and evaluation and comparison of the designed candidate as both a DNA vaccine and protein vaccine.

• 원예과학기술지
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.626-632
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• 2013

무 시들음병에 대한 저항성 검정 체계를 확립하기 위하여 실험하는 과정에서 병원균인 Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. raphani가 무 유묘에 독성(phytotoxicity)을 일으키는 독소(phytotoxin)를 생산한다는 것을 발견했다. F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani KR1 균주는 여러 배지 중 malt extract broth 배지에서 배양하였을 때 그리고 $25^{\circ}C$에서 14일 동안 150rpm으로 진탕배양하였을 때 가장 많은 독소를 생산하였다. 무에 대한 독성 반응을 이용하여 F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani의 배양액으로부터 phytotoxin을 분리하였다. 그리고 Mass와 NMR Spectroscopy 분석을 통하여 이 화합물은 fusaric acid로 동정되었다. 독소의 역할을 규명하기 위하여 fusaric acid를 무, 양배추, 브로콜리 등 F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani의 기주 및 비기주 배추과 작물에 대한 독소 활성을 조사하였다. Fusaric aicd는 무 유묘에 대하여 농도 의존적으로 활성을 보였으며, F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani에 대한 감수성 품종뿐만 아니라 저항성 품종에 대해서도 유사한 정도의 독성을 나타냈다. 그리고 F. oxysporum f. sp. raphani가 생산하는 fusaric acid는 병원균의 비기주 배추과 작물인 양배추와 브로콜리에 대해서도 강한 활성을 보였다. 따라서 이들 결과는 이 독소가 병원성 관련 독소이나 비기주 특이적 독소이며, 무 시들음병 저항성 검정에서 이 독소가 제거된 포자현탁액을 접종원으로 사용해야 한다는 것을 나타낸다.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.207-224
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• 2011

Diseases caused by plant pathogenic bacteria constitute an emerging threat to global food security. Xanthomonas is a large genus of Gram-negative bacteria that cause disease in several host plants leading to considerable losses in productivity and quality of harvests. Despite the ranges of controlling techniques available, the microbiological safety of economically important crops and crop plants including fruits and vegetables continues to be a major concern to the agriculture industry. On the other hand, many of the currently available antimicrobial agents for agriculture are highly toxic, non-biodegradable and cause extended environmental pollution. Besides, the use of antibiotics has provoked an increased resistance among the bacterial pathogens and their pathovars. Thus, novel efficient and safe remedies for controlling plant bacterial diseases are necessary. There has been an increasing interest worldwide on therapeutic values of natural products such as essential oils, hence the purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the published data on the antibacterial efficacy of essential oils that could be considered suitable for application in agriculture as biocontrol measures against plant pathogenic bacteria of Xanthomonas species. The current knowledge on the use of essential oils to control Xanthomonas bacteria in vitro and in vivo models has been discussed. A brief description on the legal aspects on the use of essential oils against bacterial pathogens has also been presented. Through this review, a mode of antibacterial action of essential oils along with their chemical nature and the area for future research have been thoroughly discussed.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

So far it has been generally considered that proteomic approaches are very useful for studying plant-microbes interaction. In this review, recent studies based on papers published from 2010 to 2013 have investigated proteomics analysis in various interaction during plant-fungal pathogen infection by means of gel-based proteomics coupled with mass spectrometry (MS)-based analysis. In rice, three papers focused on rice-Magnaporthe oryzae interaction were mainly reviewed in this study. Interestingly, another study showed proteomic changes in rice inoculated with Puccinia triticina, which is not only an fungal pathogen in wheat and but also results to the disease resistance with non-host defense manner in rice. Additionally, proteomics analysis has been widely subjected to understand defense mechanism during other crops (wheat, tomato, strawberry and mint) and their fungal pathogen interaction. Crops inoculated are analyzed to identify differentially regulated proteins at various tissues such as leaf and apoplast using 2-DE analysis coupled with various MS approaches such as MALDI-TOF MS, nESI-LC-MS/MS and MudPIT, respectively. Taken together, this review article shows that proteomics is applicable to various organisms to understand plant-fungal pathogen interaction and will contribute to provide important information for crop disease diagnosis and crop protection.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.14.1-14.26
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• 2024

The inflammatory response during cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) involves immune and non-immune cell cooperation to contain and eliminate Leishmania parasites. The orchestration of these responses is coordinated primarily by CD4⁺ T cells; however, the disease outcome depends on the Th cell predominant phenotype. Although Th1 and Th2 phenotypes are the most addressed as steers for the resolution or perpetuation of the disease, Th17 cell activities, especially IL-17 release, are recognized to be vital during CL development. Th17 cells perform vital functions during both acute and chronic phases of CL. Overall, Th17 cells induce the migration of phagocytes (neutrophils, macrophages) to the infection site and CD8⁺ T cells and NK cell activation. They also provoke granzyme and perforin secretion from CD8⁺ T cells, macrophage differentiation towards an M2 phenotype, and expansion of B and Treg cells. Likewise, immune cells from the inflammatory infiltrate have modulatory activities over Th17 cells involving their differentiation from naive CD4⁺ T cells and further expansion by generating a microenvironment rich in optimal cytokines such as IL-1β, TGF-β, IL-6, and IL-21. Th17 cell activities and synergies are crucial for the resistance of the infection during the early and acute stages; however, if unchecked, Th17 cells might lead to a chronic stage. This review discusses the synergies between Th17 cells and the inflammatory infiltrate and how these interactions might destine the course of CL.

• 대한미생물학회지
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.233-240
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• 1987

The amniotic fluid provides a medium in which the fetus can readily move, cushions him against possible injury and helps him maintain an even temperature. Besides above mentioned functions, investigators reported that human amniotic fluid contains host-resistance factors which prevent bacteria from producing infectious disease and this activity shows difference among human racial groups or bacterial genera, species and strains. 40 amniotic fluid specimens from Korean women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy were examined for inhibiting the growth of Escherichia coli. And various factors which might affect bacterial growth inhibiting activity such as pH, initial inoculum size, concentration of amniotic fluid, and heat resistance, were also tested using a strongly inhibitory amniotic fluid specimen. Finally plate diffusion tests were carried out using other strongly inhibitory amniotic fluid. The following results were obtained: 1. Of the 40 fluid samples examined, 18 specimens(45%) had inhibitory activity and samples from women in their second trimester of pregnanancy showed non-inhibitory activity(2 specimens). 2. The pH of the fluids varied between 7.43 and 8.33. There was no correlation between pH and inhibitory activity. 3. No. 19 amniotic fluid showed bacteriostatic activity after 24 hours incubation when an inoculum of $10^2$ organisms per milliliter was used, but non-inhibitory with an inoculum of $10^3$ and $10^4$ bacteria per milliliter. 4. The content of amniotic fluid in culture media influenced E. coli growth. At 90 percent, E. coli was inhibited growth but at 10 percent and 50 percent. 5. Inhibitory activity of No. 19 amniotic fluid was retained after heating to $50^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes or 100^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. 6. Plate diffusion tests with No. 27 amniotic fluid showed that 0.7ml amniotic fluid gave clear zone of growth inhibition around the central well but 0.2ml and 0.1ml amniotic fluids were not.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.194-203
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• 2009

$HpaG_{Xooc}$, from rice pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola, is a member of the harpin group of proteins, eliciting hypersensitive cell death in non-host plants, inducing disease and insect resistance in plants, and enhancing plant growth. To express and secret the $HpaG_{Xooc}$ protein in Bacillus subtilis, we constructed a recombinant expression vector pM43HF with stronger promoter P43 and signal peptide element nprB. The SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis demonstrated the expression of the protein $HpaG_{Xooc}$ in B. subtilis. The ELISA analysis determined the optimum condition for $HpaG_{Xooc}$ expression in B. subtilis WBHF. The biological function analysis indicated that the protein $HpaG_{Xooc}$ from B. subtilis WBHF elicits hypersensitive response(HR) and enhances the growth of tobacco. The results of RT-PCR analysis revealed that $HpaG_{Xooc}$ induces expression of the pathogenesis-related genes PR-1a and PR-1b in plant defense response.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.257-273
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• 2019

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most widely grown and economically important vegetable crops in the world. Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) is one of the recently emerged viruses of tomato distributed worldwide. ToCV-tomato interaction was investigated at the molecular level for determining changes in the expression of tomato genes in response to ToCV infection in this study. A cDNA library enriched with genes induced in response to ToCV infection were constructed and 240 cDNAs were sequenced from this library. The macroarray analysis of 108 cDNAs revealed that the expression of 92 non-redundant tomato genes was induced by 1.5-fold or greater in response to ToCV infection. The majority of ToCV-induced genes identified in this study were associated with a variety of cellular functions including transcription, defense and defense signaling, metabolism, energy, transport facilitation, protein synthesis and fate and cellular biogenesis. Twenty ToCV-induced genes from different functional groups were selected and induction of 19 of these genes in response to ToCV infection was validated by RT-qPCR assay. Finally, the expression of 6 selected genes was analyzed in different stages of ToCV infection from 0 to 45 dpi. While the expression of three of these genes was only induced by ToCV infection, others were induced both by ToCV infection and wounding. The result showed that ToCV induced the basic defense response and activated the defense signaling in tomato plants at different stages of the infection. Functions of these defense related genes and their potential roles in disease development and resistance to ToCV are also discussed.

• 한국응용곤충학회지
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.181-204
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• 1974

우리나라에서의 벼 줄무늬잎마름병의 발생, 피해, 기생범위, 전염 및 방제에 관하여 1965년부터, 1974년까지 실시한 연구결과를 다음과 같이 보고한다. 1. 발생 못자리에서 줄무늬잎마름병의 피해는 $1.3-8\%$였고 포장에서는 입도중의 발병주율보다 재생도에서의 발생율이 높았으며 보통기재배보다도 조기재배에서 발병이 많았다. 또 포장에서 발병주의 분포는 대체로 휴반가까이에 많은 경향이었다. 벼 엽기별 피해에서 라병성인 일본계 벼의 경우 못자리 때인 3엽기에서 7엽기까지는 감염되면 $100\%$ 고사하였으며 9엽기에서는 $50\%$, 11엽기는 $20\%$, 13엽기 이후에는 고사주를 볼 수 없었다. 참복기간은 3-7엽기에서는 7-15일이었고 9-15엽기에서는 15-30일이었다. 저항성인 통일벼의 경우 1.5-5엽기 접종구는 비교적 발병이 많았으나 9엽기 이후부터는 현저히 떨어져 15엽기 이후는 발병을 거의 볼 수 없었다. 그리고 감염된 것은 초장이 짧고 등숙율과 임실비율이 떨어지는 경향이었다. 2. 기주범위 기주범위를 구명하기 위하여 작물과 목초 및 잡초 36종을 공시하여 아래와 같이 21종의 기주를 밝혀 내었다. 작물: 벼, 보리, 밀 , 귀리, 라이맥, 조, 옥수수, 기장, 참피 목초: 티모시, 빗살대, 이타리안라이그라스, 패래니 알라이그라스, 죤슨그라스, 슈단그라스 잡초 : 들피, 겨피, 방울피, 잠자리피, 개미피, 바랭이, 민바랭이, 좀바랭이, 방동사니대가리, 강아지풀, 비노리, 참새, 포아풀, 독새풀, 우산대바랭이, 개보리, 겨풀, 쇠풀, 조개풀, 넓은 잎 개수염은 새로운 기주로 밝혀졌다. 3. 충매전염 우리나라의 애멸구화기는 5회였으며 수원에서의 제2회성충 최성기는 6월 20일 경이고 제3회성충 최성기는 7월 30일 경이었다. 진주는 수원보다 제2회성충 최성기가 5-7일 빨랐고 진주에서는 제3회성충 최성기의 발생량이 많은 것이 달랐다. 애멸구 세대별 보독충율은 월동약충이 $10-15\%$였고 제1세대유충은 $9\%$, 제2회성충은 $17\%$, 제2세대유충은 $8\%$, 나머지 화기에서는 약 $10\%$였는데 보독충율은 남부지방보다 높은 경향이었다. 1966년부터 1970년생 사이의 애멸구 보독충율은 해에 따라 다소 차가 있었으며 화기별로는 제2회성충과 제3회성충의 보독충율이 높았다. 분리한 애멸구보독충을 재분리하여 이를 교배하였더니 차대에서는 보독충율이 $90\%$인 애멸구를 얻을 수 있었으며 애멸구충령별로는 3, 4, 5령충의 감염능력이 높았고 애멸구 무독충의 바이러스 재획득율은 평균$7.9\%$였고 여기에서 얻어진 친화성계통이라 할지라고 3회접종시험결과 계속하여 3회까지 벼에 바이러스를 매개하지 않았다. 또 애멸구보독충의 감염최적온도는 $25-30^{\circ}C$였으며, $15^{\circ}C$이하에는 감염이 일어나지 않을때도 있었다. 그리고 애멸구기생봉의 기생율은 6월부터 8월말까지 $5-48\%$였으며 7월 10일경이 $32-48\%$로서 가장 높았다.