• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1200-1209
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• 2021

Sepsis is an acute inflammatory response that leads to life-threatening complications if not quickly and adequately treated. Cytolysin, hemolysin, and pneumolysin are toxins produced by gram-positive bacteria and are responsible for resistance to antimicrobial drugs, cause virulence and lead to sepsis. This work assessed the effects of aloe-emodin (AE) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) on sepsis-associated gram-positive bacterial toxins. Standard and antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumonia bacterial strains were cultured in the dark with varying AE concentrations and later irradiated with 72 J/cm^-2 light. Colony and biofilm formation was determined. CCK-8, Griess reagent reaction, and ELISA assays were done on bacteria-infected RAW264.7 cells to determine the cell viability, NO, and IL-1β and IL-6 pro-inflammatory cytokines responses, respectively. Hemolysis and western blot assays were done to determine the effect of treatment on hemolysis activity and sepsis-associated toxins expressions. AE-mediated PDT reduced bacterial survival in a dose-dependent manner with 32 ㎍/ml of AE almost eliminating their survival. Cell proliferation, NO, IL-1β, and IL-6 cytokines production were also significantly downregulated. Further, the hemolytic activities and expressions of cytolysin, hemolysin, and pneumolysin were significantly reduced following AE-mediated PDT. In conclusion, combined use of AE and light (435 ± 10 nm) inactivates MRSA, S. aureus (ATCC 29213), S. pneumoniae (ATCC 49619), MDR-S. pneumoniae, E. faecalis (ATCC 29212), and VRE (ATCC 51299) in an AE-dose dependent manner. AE and light are also effective in reducing biofilm formations, suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines, hemolytic activities, and inhibiting the expressions of toxins that cause sepsis.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2022

Lesch-Nyhan disease (LND) is a rare X-linked recessive inherited purine metabolic disorder that accompanies neurodevelopmental problems. Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a relatively common autosomal dominant inherited genetic disorder characterized by tumors in various systems. Some children with NF1 also accompanies neurodevelopmental problems. Here, we describe a 5-year-old boy with a maternally inherited pathogenic variant in NF1 and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT). He was referred for severe neurodevelopmental impairment and hyperuricemia. His mother was diagnosed with NF1 and the patient was also suspected of having NF1 because of cafe au lait macules. He had dystonia, rigidity, cognitive deficit, and speech/language impairment. Serum and urine uric acid concentrations were elevated. He had more severe neurodevelopmental delay than patients with only NF1, so his clinical symptoms could not be fully understood by the disease alone. To find the cause of his neurologic symptoms and hyperuricemia, the patient and his mother underwent a whole-exome sequencing test. As a result, the pathogenic variant c.151C>T (p.Arg51Ter) in HPRT1 was identified as hemizygote in the patient and heterozygote in his mother. The pathogenic variant c.7682C>G (p.Ser2561Ter) in NF-1 was identified as heterozygotes in both of them. Although the clinical symptoms of both diseases were overlapping and complicated, genetic testing was helpful for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, we suggest to consider preemptive genetic evaluation if there are symptoms not sufficiently explained by known existing diseases. And it is considered valuable to review this rare case to understand the clinical course and possible synergic effects of these diseases.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.501-504
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• 1998

The role of iron as a possible pathogenic factor in the Infection of V. vulnificus was examined in thins paper The effects of iron and $CCl_4$ on the growth of V. vulnificus in human and rabbit sera were also done. Injection of iron to mice resulted in a lowering of the 50% lethal dose and in a reduction in the time of death postinfection. Serum iron levels were also elevated by damaged livers with infections of $CCl_4$- The inoculum size required to kill these mice was directly correlated with serum iron Irvels. Iron appeared to be the limiting factor In the ability of thins organism to survive or grow in mammalian sera. These results, both in vitro and In vivo, provided strong evidence that iron may play a major role In the pathogenesis of V. vulnificus.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.327-336
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• 2010

Cysteine proteases have been known as a critical factor in plant defense mechanisms in pineapple, papaya, or wild fig. Papain or ficin is one kind of cysteine proteases that shows toxic effects to herbivorous insects and pathogenic bacteria. However, resistance to bacterial soft rot of plants genetically engineered with cysteine protease has been little examined thus far. We cloned a cysteine protease cDNA from Ananas comosus and introduced the gene into Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa) under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. The transgene was stably integrated and actively transcribed in transgenic plants. In comparisons with wild-type plants, the $T_2$ and $T_3$ transgenic plants exhibited a significant increase in endo-protease activity in leaves and enhanced resistance to bacterial soft rot. A cDNA microarray analysis revealed that several genes were more abundantly transcribed in the transgenic than in the wild type. These genes encode a glyoxal oxidase, PR-1 protein, PDF1, protein kinase, LTP protein, UBA protein and protease inhibitor. These results suggest an important role for cysteine protease as a signaling regulator in biotic stress signaling pathways, leading to the build-up of defense mechanism to pathogenic bacteria in plants.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.386-396
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• 2002

This study screened 76 Korean traditional patent medicines and 58 medicinal herbs for antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria. Among the prescriptions methanol and hot water extracts of Samsoum, Chujunghwang-yont'ang, and Sashinhwan showed antimicrobial activities against E. coli and Chujunghwang-yont'ang showed the strongest antimicrobial activity. Among the medicinal herbs, hot water and methanol extracts of Terminalia chebula, Caesalpinia sappan, and Coptis chinensis showed the strongest antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli O157, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella flexnery, Shigella sonnei and Salmonella typhimurium. An interesting characteristic of the traditional medicines such as Samsoum, Chujunghwang-yont'ang, and Sashinhwan was that both methanol and hot water extracts were active. Chujunghwang-yont'ang exhibited the strongest antimicrobial activities against the microorganisms tested. Water and methanol extracts of Terminalia chebula, Caesalpinia sappan, and Coptis chinensis showed the strong of inhibitory effects on the growth of all microorganisms tested.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.297-302
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• 2013

The current study was conducted to evaluate the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the essential oil fraction from the roots of Angelica tenuissima Nakai and its main components. We extracted the essential oil fraction from the roots of A. tenuissima using steam distillation and isolated its main components. Their antibacterial activities were determined by broth dilution test against food-borne pathogenic bacteria. Antioxidant activities were evaluated by DPPH-scavenging assay and reducing-power test. Also tested was their ability to inhibit the growth of two gastrointestinal cancer cell lines, Caco-2 and MKN-45. The A. tenuissima oil fraction and its main components, ligustilide and butylidene phthalide exhibited marked inhibitory effects against most of the tested antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains with minimum inhibiting concentrations (MICs) from $0.21{\pm}0.08$ to $3.60{\pm}0.89mg/ml$. They also showed growth-inhibiting activity against Caco-2 and MKN-45 cells. The oil fraction showed significant antioxidant activities in DPPH radical scavenging assay and reducing-power test. Taken together, A. tenuissima essential oil could be used as a safe additive for preventing food contamination by pathogenic bacteria. Additionally, its antioxidative activity and the ability to inhibit gastrointestinal carcinoma cell lines could increase its value for functional foods and prevention of cancer.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.102-108
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• 2014

The bacterial strain T-9, which shows strong antifungal activity, is isolated from the soils of Samcheok, Gangwondo and identified as Paenibacillus kribbensis according to morphological and taxonomic characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The P. kribbensis strain T-9 strongly inhibits the growth of various phytopathogenic fungi including Botrytis cinerea, Colletotricum acutatum, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici, Magnaporthe oryzae, Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani, and Sclerotium cepivorum in vitro. Also, the P. kribbensis strain T-9 exhibited similar or better control effects to plant diseases than in fungicide treatment through in vivo assays. In the 2-year greenhouse experiments, P. kribbensis strain T-9 was highly effective against clubroot. In the 2-year field trials, the P. kribbensis strain T-9 was less effective than the fungicide, but reduced clubroot on Chinese cabbage when compared to the control. The above-described results indicate that the strain T-9 may have the potential as an antagonist to control various phytopathogenic fungi.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.703-708
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• 2006

During infection, the common respiratory tract pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae encounters several environmental conditions, such as upper respiratory tract, lung tissue, and blood stream, etc. In this study, we examined the effects of blood on S. pneumoniae protein expression using a combination of highly sensitive 2-dimensional electrophoresis (DE) and MALDI-TOF MS and/or LC/ESI-MS/MS. A comparison of expression profiles between the growth in THY medium and THY supplemented with blood allowed us to identify 7 spots, which increased or decreased two times or more compared with the control group: tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase, lactate oxidase, glutamyl-aminopeptidase, L-lactate dehydrogenase, cysteine synthase, ribose-phosphate pyrophosphokinase, and orotate phosphoribosyltransferase. This global approach can provide a better understanding of S. pneumoniae adaptation to its human host and a clue for its pathogenicity.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.137-141
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• 2000

A causal fungus of turfgrass blight was isolated from the infected leaves of zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) and identified as Nigrospora sphaerica (Sacc.) Mason by using a light misroscope. Its conidia are large (14-20 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ diameter), shiny, black, aseptate, and smooth-walled spheres. The fungus caused typical blighting symptoms on the two turfgrass plants of bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.) and bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds.). The fungus was found to produce a phytotoxic subtance to be associated with the pathogenic mechanism. A phytotoxin was isolated from the liquid cultures of N. sphaerica by repeated silica gel column chromatography and its structure was determined to be 5, 6-dihydro-5-hydroxy-6-propenyl-2H-pyr-2-one (T-3 compound). It was not a host-specific toxin showing phytotoxic effects to various plants inclusing turfgrasses in the leaf-wounding assay, the whole plant test, and the cellular leakage test. The compound caused leaf tip dieback symptoms in turfgrass plants similar to those caused by the pathogen. Thus, T-3 compound is thought to be involved in the development of Nigrospora blight.

• Mycobiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2007

The antifungal effect of pine needle extract prepared by a distinguishable extraction method and the dry distillation method, was examined. The effect of this extract itself was insignificant. The chemical components of pine needle extract were then investigated by gas chromatographic analysis, and four, chemical components, acetol, furfural, 5-methyl furfural, and terpine4-ol, were identified. The antifungal effects of those four chemical components against Alternaria mali (A. mali), an agent of Alternaria blotch of apple, were then examined. It was observed that the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were 6.25, 0.78, 0.78, and 12.5 (mg/ml) of acetol, furfural, 5-methyl furfural, and terpine-4-ol, respectively. MICs of furfural and 5-methyl furfural had the same order of magnitude as that of an antifungal agrochemical, chlorothalonil. Although furfural itself can not be completely substituted for an antifungal agrochemical, a partial mixture of furfural and antifungal agrochemical may be used as a substitute. The use of agrochemicals for the prevention of plant disease caused by pathogenic fungus such as A. mali could be partially reduced by the application of this mixture.