• Molecules and Cells
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• 제42권1호
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• pp.56-66
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• 2019

Histidine triad nucleotide-binding protein (HINT) is a member of the histidine triad (HIT) superfamily, which has hydrolase activity owing to a histidine triad motif. The HIT superfamily can be divided to five classes with functions in galactose metabolism, DNA repair, and tumor suppression. HINTs are highly conserved from archaea to humans and function as tumor suppressors, translation regulators, and neuropathy inhibitors. Although the structures of HINT proteins from various species have been reported, limited structural information is available for fungal species. Here, to elucidate the structural features and functional diversity of HINTs, we determined the crystal structure of HINT from the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans (CaHINT) in complex with zinc ions at a resolution of $2.5{\AA}$. Based on structural comparisons, the monomer of CaHINT overlaid best with HINT protein from the protozoal species Leishmania major. Additionally, structural comparisons with human HINT revealed an additional helix at the C-terminus of CaHINT. Interestingly, the extended C-terminal helix interacted with the N-terminal loop (${\alpha}1-{\beta}1$) and with the ${\alpha}3$ helix, which appeared to stabilize the dimerization of CaHINT. In the C-terminal region, structural and sequence comparisons showed strong relationships among 19 diverse species from archea to humans, suggesting early separation in the course of evolution. Further studies are required to address the functional significance of variations in the C-terminal region. This structural analysis of CaHINT provided important insights into the molecular aspects of evolution within the HIT superfamily.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제63권2호
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• pp.211-247
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• 2021

Livestock species experience several stresses, particularly weaning, transportation, overproduction, crowding, temperature, and diseases in their life. Heat stress (HS) is one of the most stressors, which is encountered in livestock production systems throughout the world, especially in the tropical regions and is likely to be intensified due to global rise in environmental temperature. The gut has emerged as one of the major target organs affected by HS. The alpha- and beta-diversity of gut microbiota composition are altered due to heat exposure to animals with greater colonization of pathogenic microbiota groups. HS also induces several changes in the gut including damages of microstructures of the mucosal epithelia, increased oxidative insults, reduced immunity, and increased permeability of the gut to toxins and pathogens. Vulnerability of the intestinal barrier integrity leads to invasion of pathogenic microbes and translocation of antigens to the blood circulations, which ultimately may cause systematic inflammations and immune responses. Moreover, digestion of nutrients in the guts may be impaired due to reduced enzymatic activity in the digesta, reduced surface areas for absorption and injury to the mucosal structure and altered expressions of the nutrient transport proteins and genes. The systematic hormonal changes due to HS along with alterations in immune and inflammatory responses often cause reduced feed intake and production performance in livestock and poultry. The altered microbiome likely orchestrates to the hosts for various relevant biological phenomena occurring in the body, but the exact mechanisms how functional communications occur between the microbiota and HS responses are yet to be elucidated. This review aims to discuss the effects of HS on microbiota composition, mucosal structure, oxidant-antioxidant balance mechanism, immunity, and barrier integrity in the gut, and production performance of farm animals along with the dietary ameliorations of HS. Also, this review attempts to explain the mechanisms how these biological responses are affected by HS.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.76-84
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• 2022

Purpose: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) has been a useful tool for novel gene discovery of various disease categories, further increasing the diagnostic yield. This study aimed to investigate the clinical utility of WES prospectively in undiagnosed genetic diseases. Materials and Methods: WES tests were performed on 110 patients (age range, 0-28 years) with suspected rare genetic diseases. WES tests were performed at a single reference laboratory and the variants reported were reviewed by clinical geneticists, pediatricians, neurologists, and laboratory physicians. Results: The patients' symptoms varied with abnormalities in the head or neck, including facial dysmorphism, being the most common, identified in 85.4% of patients, followed by abnormalities in the nervous system (83.6%). The average number of systems manifesting phenotypic abnormalities per patient was 3.9±1.7. The age at presentation was 2.1±2.7 years old (range, 0-15 years), and the age at WES testing was 6.7±5.3 years (range, 0-28 years). In total, WES test reported 100 pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants or variants of uncertain significance for 79 out of 110 probands (71.8%). Of the 79 patients with positive or inconclusive calls, 55 (50.0%) patients were determined to have good genotype-phenotype correlations after careful review. Further clinical reassessment and family member testing determined 45 (40.9%) patients to have been identified with a molecular diagnosis. Conclusion: This study showed a 40.9% diagnostic yield for WES test for a heterogeneous patient cohort with suspected rare genetic diseases. WES could be the feasible genetic test modality to overcome the diversity and complexity of rare disease diagnostics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.197-206
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• 2016

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen of considerable genetic diversity with varying pathogenicity. Initially, we found that the strain M7 was far less pathogenic than the strain Lm850658 though both are serovar 4a strains belonging to the lineage III. Comparative genomic approaches were then attempted to decipher the genetic basis that might govern the strain-dependent pathotypes. There are 2,761 coding sequences of 100% nucleotide identity between the two strains, accounting for 95.7% of the total genes in Lm850658 and 92.7% in M7. Lm850658 contains 33 specific genes, including a novel 20K prophage whereas strain M7 has 130 specific genes, including two large prophages (38K and 44K). To examine the roles of these specific prophages in pathogenicity, the 20K and 38K prophages were deleted from their respective strains. There were virtually no differences of pathogenicity between the deletion mutants and their parent strains, although some putative virulent factors like VirB4 are present in the 20K region or holin-lysin in the 38K region. In silico PCR analysis of 29 listeria genomes show that only strain SLCC2540 has the same 18 bp integration hotspot as Lm850658, whereas the sequence identity of their 20K prophages is very low (21.3%). The 38K and 44K prophages are located in two other different hotspots and are conserved in low virulent strains M7, HCC23, and L99. In conclusion, the 20K and 38K prophages of L. monocytogenes serovar 4a strains Lm850658 and M7 are not related to virulence but contribute to genetic diversity.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.152-161
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• 2017

Cheese is an excellent substrate for yeast and mold growth. These organisms can cause cheese spoilage, resulting in significant food wastage and economic losses. In the context of cheese spoilage, the presence and effects of spoilage or pathogenic bacteria are well documented. In contrast, although yeasts and molds are responsible for much dairy food wastage, only a few studies have examined the diversity of spoilage fungi. This article reviews the spoilage yeasts and molds affecting cheeses in various countries. The diversity and number of fungi present were found to depend on the type of cheese. Important fungi growing on cheese include Candida spp., Galactomyces spp., Debaryomyces spp., Yarrowia spp., Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp., Cladosporium spp., Geotrichum spp., Mucor spp., and Trichoderma spp.. In addition, several mold spoilage species, such as Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp., are able to produce mycotoxins, which may also be toxic to humans. There are many ways to eliminate or reduce toxin levels in foods and feeds. However, the best way to avoid mycotoxins in cheese is to prevent mold contamination since there are limitations to mold degradation or detoxifications in cheese. Chemical preservatives, natural products, and modified atmosphere packaging have been used to prevent or delay mold spoilage and improve product shelf life and food safety.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제51권2호
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• pp.231-236
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• 2013

The present study was conducted to investigate the clinical outcomes of Entamoeba histolytica infection in symptomatic and asymptomatic Orang Asli (aborigine) communities in Malaysia. Examination was performed on 500 stool samples obtained from Orang Asli communities in 3 different states using formalin-ether concentration, trichrome staining, and single-round PCR techniques. Out of 500 stool samples, single infection of E. histolytica, Entamoeba dispar, and Entamoeba moshkovskii was identified in 3.2%, 13.4%, and 1%, respectively. In addition, 10 samples had mixed infections with E. histolytica and E. dispar. Six samples containing E. dispar were also positive for E. moshkovskii, and only 2 samples had E. histolytica in association with E. dispar and E. moshkovskii. Seventeen E. histolytica-positive samples were from symptomatic subjects, whereas the remaining 11 samples came from asymptomatic subjects. These findings suggest a predominant distribution of pathogenic potential of E. histolytica strains in this community. Therefore, further studies on genotyping of E. histolytica is required, to find out association between E. histolytica genotype and the outcome of the infection.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.20-31
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• 2012

Endophytic bacterial communities of tidal flat plants antagonistic to oomycete plant pathogens were studied by the isolation of 256 root colonizing endophytic bacteria from surface-disinfected root tissues of six plants ($Rosa$ $rugosa$, $Suaeda$ $maritima$, $Vitex$ $rotundifolia$, $Carex$ $scabrifolia$, $Glehnia$ $littoralis$ and $Elymus$ $mollis$) growing in a tidal flat area of Namhae Island, Korea. To understand the antagonistic potential, an $in$ $vitro$ antagonistic assay was performed to characterize and identify strains that were antagonistic to the oomycete plant pathogens $Phytophthora$ $capsici$ and $Pythium$ $ultimum$ from the total population. Nine percent of the total number of isolated bacteria exhibited in vitro inhibitory activity against target plant pathogenic oomycetes. Taxonomic and phylogenetic placement of the antagonistic bacteria was investigated by analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences. The sequence analysis classified the antagonistic strains into four major classes of the domain bacteria ($Firmicutes$, ${\alpha}-Proteobacteria$, ${\gamma}-Proteobacteria$ and $Actinomycetes$) and 10 different genera. Further production of secondary metabolites, hydrolytic enzymes and plant growth promoting traits were determined for the putative new species of antagonistic endophytic bacteria. These new strains could not be identified as known species of ${\alpha}-Proteobacteria$, and so may represent novel bacterial taxa. The unexpected high antagonistic bacterial diversity associated with the tidal flat plants may be indicative of their importance in tidal flat plants as a promising source of novel antimicrobial compounds and biocontrol agents.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권12호
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• pp.1874-1883
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• 2008

Bacterial diversity and the composition of individual communities during the composting process of swine and mushroom cultural wastes in a field-scale composter (Hazaka system) were examined using a PCR-based approach. The composting process was divided into six stages based on recorded temperature changes. Phylogenetic analysis of eighty 16S rRNA sequences from uncultured composting bacterial groups revealed the presence of representatives from three divisions, including plant pathogenic bacteria, high-molecule-degrading bacteria and spore-forming bacteria. The plant pathogen A. tumefaciens gradually decreased in abundance during the composting process and eventually disappeared during the thermophilic and cooling stage. A bacterium homologous to Bacillus humi first appeared at the early thermophilic stage and was established at the intermediate thermophilic, post-thermophilic, and cooling stages. It was not possible to isolate the B. humi during any of the stages using general culture techniques.

• 한국수산과학회지
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• 제36권6호
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• pp.654-660
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• 2003

To evaluate the biological diversity of fish pathogenic streptococci, 35 strains isolated from diseased olive flounder (Paralichtys olivaceus), were analyzed using a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique with the oligonucleotide commercial primer 6 (Amersham Biosciences). Api 20 Strep test, drug resistance and artificial infection were carried out for further characterization of the isolates. RAPD fingerprints showed similar pattern in 25 strains (about $71.4\%$ of 35 isolates) and these strains were designed as RA group 1. Similarities greater than $44\%$ were obtained when the Dice coefficient was applied among the isolates of RA 1. On the other hand, the reference Streptococcus iniae showed a similar RAPD profile to the isolates with similarity levels of $40-93.3\%.$ Rh I was suggested to be the dominant group isolated from olive flounder suffering from streptococcosis. However, the isolates of Rh 1 group were not classified into the same species by the Api 20 Strep identification system. There was no peculiarity in drug resistance patterns of Rh I group isolates against 7 antibacterial agents. However, only 3 of 25 isolates $(0.12\%)$ showed oxytetracycline (OTC) resistance and OTC might be a useful chemotherapeutic agent in controlling the streptococcosis by strains of RA I group in olive flounder. Fish injected intraperitoneally with $10^5$ CFU of an isolate of Rh I and RA III group showed $60\%\;and\;50\%$ accumulative mortality for 20 days, respectively ($20\%$ in control or Rh II). However luther comparative studies about differences in virulence between isolates are needed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제32권11호
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• pp.1715-1724
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• 2019

Objective: As laying hens become aged, laying performance and egg quality are generally impaired. One of the practical methods to rejuvenate production and egg quality of aged laying hens with decreasing productivity is a forced molting. However, the changes in intestinal microbiota after forced molting of aged hens are not clearly known. The aim of the present study was to analyze the changes in excreta bacterial communities after forced molting of aged laying hens. Methods: A total of one hundred 66-wk-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were induced to molt by a 2-d water removal and an 11-d fasting until egg production completely ceased. The excreta samples of 16 hens with similar body weight were collected before and immediately after molting. Excreta bacterial communities were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Results: Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria were the three major bacterial phyla in pre-molting and immediate post-molting hens, accounting for more than 98.0%. Lactobacillus genus had relatively high abundance in both group, but decreased by molting (62.3% in premolting and 24.9% in post-molting hens). Moreover, pathogenic bacteria such as Enterococcus cecorum and Escherichia coli were more abundant in immediate post-molting hens than in pre-molting hens. Forced molting influenced the alpha diversity, with higher Chao1 (p = 0.012), phylogenetic diversity whole tree (p = 0.014), observed operational taxonomic unit indices (p = 0.006), and Simpson indices (p<0.001), which indicated that forced molting increased excreta bacterial richness of aged laying hens. Conclusion: This study improves the current knowledge of bacterial community alterations in the excreta by forced molting in aged laying hens, which can provide increasing opportunity to develop novel dietary and management skills for improving the gastrointestinal health of aged laying hens after molting.