• Mycobiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.316-320
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• 2010

Leaf spot and blight disease was observed on two-year-old seedlings of Dendropanax morbifera (Korean name: Hwangchil tree) during July of 2008 in Jindo Island, Korea. Symptoms included yellow-brown to dark brown irregularly enlarged spots frequently located along the veins of leaves. The lesions were often surrounded by chlorotic haloes. Severe leaf blight and subsequent defoliation occurred when conditions favored disease outbreak. The causal organism of the disease was identified as Alternaria panax based on morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA. A. panax isolates induced leaf spots and blight symptoms not only on D. morbifera but also on the other members of Araliaceae tested. This is the first report of foliar blight caused by A. panax on D. morbifera.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.294-296
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• 2000

Anthracnose symptoms were frequently found on stems of Indian fig cactus in Cheju island of Korea in 1998 and 1999. Typical symptoms were gray to black dry rot of stems with concentric arrays of dot-like spots. A Glomerella sp. or a Colletotrichum sp. was frequently isolated from the symptoms, both of which were identified as Glomerella cingulata and its anamorph, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides based on their morphological and cultural characteristics. Out of 31 isolates obtained from the symptoms, 12 isolates were the anamorph producing only conidia, four isolates the telemorph producing only ascospores, and 15 isolates the holomorph producing both spores on potato dextrose agar. Stem rots similar to the original anthracnose symptoms were induced by wound inoculation of conidia and ascospores but not by non-wound inoculation. The anamorphic isolates caused more extensive stem rot than the telemorphic and holomorphic ones.

• Mycobiology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.274-276
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• 2008

Anthracnose occurred frequently on leaf sheaths of Welsh onions grown in Gangwha island, Korea in November, 2007. The disease incidence was as high as 30% in five fields investigated. A total of 20 single spore isolates of Colletotrichum species were obtained from the affected plants, and all the isolates were identified as Colletotrichum circinans based on their morphological and cultural characteristics. Three isolates of the fungus caused anthracnose symptoms on the leaf sheaths of Welsh onions by artificial inoculation, which were similar to those observed during the field survey. In this study, the mycological and pathological characteristics of C. circinans identified as causing anthracnose of Welsh onions are clarified.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2030-2035
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• 2016

Bacillus cereus causes food-borne illness through contaminated foods; therefore, its pathogenicity and genome sequences have been analyzed in several studies. We sequenced and analyzed B. cereus strain FORC_021 isolated from a sashimi restaurant. The genome sequence consists of 5,373,294 bp with 35.36% GC contents, 5,350 predicted CDSs, 42 rRNA genes, and 107 tRNA genes. Based on in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values, B. cereus ATCC $14579^T$ was closest to FORC_021 among the complete genome-sequenced strains. Three major enterotoxins were detected in FORC_021. Comparative genomic analysis of FORC_021 with ATCC $14579^T$ revealed that FORC_021 harbored an additional genomic region encoding virulence factors, such as putative ADP-ribosylating toxin, spore germination protein, internalin, and sortase. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxicity testing showed that FORC_021 exhibited a high level of cytotoxicity toward INT-407 human epithelial cells. This genomic information of FORC_021 will help us to understand its pathogenesis and assist in managing food contamination.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2003

From 1996 to 1999, potato-growing areas in Korea were surveyed for identification and distribution of potato scab pathogens. Potato scab was widely distributed in the mass cultivation areas, especially in Jriu island, southern areas of Chonnam and Gyounggi provinces, and the alpine area of Gangwon province. Jeju island was the most affected area by this disease. A total of 55 Streptomyces strains were isolated from potato scab lesions, among which 40 strains were pathogenic on progeny tubers. Among the pathogenic strain, 21 strains were identified as previously described S. scabies, 7 Strains as S. turgidiscabies, and 5 Strains as S. acidiscabies, while 7 strains were observed as having distinct phenotypic properties. These strains were classified into six distinct clusters based on phenotypic characteristics and selected representative strains for each cluster. S. scabies (S33) had grey spores in a spiral chain. Mean-while, S. turgidiscabies (S27) had grey spores, S. acidiscabies (S71) had white spores, S. luridiscabiei (S63) had yellow-white spores, S. puniciscabiei (S77) had purple-red spores, and S. niveiscabiei (S78) had thin and compact white spores, all in a rectiflexuous chain. Pathogenicity was determined by the production of thaxtomin A and homologs of necl and ORFtnp genes. In TLC, representative strains S27, S71, S63, S77, and S78 produced a yellow band that co-migrated with the authentic thaxtomin A. However, thaxtomin A was not detected in chloroform extracts from oatmeal broth culture and Slice tuber tissue of S. luridiscabiei (S63) and S. puniciscabiei (S77) by HPLC analysis. In addition, no homologs of necl and ORFtnp genes in S. acidiscabies (S71), S. luridiscabiei (S63), S. puniciscabiei (S77), and S. niveiscabiei (S78) were detected by PCR and Southern hybridization analysis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1343-1349
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• 2012

Most of the Helicobacter pylori strains containing the cag pathogenicity island (PAI) have been associated with more severe gastric disease in infected humans. The cag PAI is composed of 27 proteins, and some of the components are required for CagA translocation into host cells as well as induction of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-8 (IL-8); however, the exact function of most of the components remains unknown or poorly characterized. In this study, we demonstrated that CagT (HP0532), which is an essential structural component of the cag PAI apparatus, plays an important role in the translocation of CagA into host epithelial cells. In addition to being located on the bacterial surface, CagT is also partially localized in the inner membrane, where it acts as a chaperone-like protein and promotes CagA translocation. However, CagT secretion was not detected by immunoprecipitation analysis of cell culture supernatants. Meanwhile, CagT was related to the introduction of IL-8 of the host cell. These results suggest that CagT is expressed on both the inner and outer bacterial membranes, where it serves as a unique type IV secretion system component that is involved in CagA secretion and cag PAI apparatus assembly.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2011

Theileria (T.) buffeli (formerly T. sergenti/T. orientalis) is the major hemo-protozoan distributed in the Far East Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan. It is responsible for the clinical symptoms of anorexia, ateliosis, anemia, fever and icterus. It also causes abortion and sudden death under severe cases, resulting in economic losses for many livestock farms. The objective of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity of the major surface protein (Msp) gene in T. buffeli in Holstein in Korea, and we characterized the association of the diversification of the Msp gene and its relationship with the pathogenicity of Theileria. For this, complete blood counts and Theileria PCR sequence analysis were performed from 57 Holstein in Jeju Island. A total of 26 PCR positive Holstein (16 anemic and 10 non-anemic) were then randomly selected based on 18s rRNA sequence typing of the Theileria Msp gene. The DNA sequence of the T. buffeli Msp gene in Holstein showed 99.0%, 99.2%, 99.9%, 99.5%, 98.7%, 98.4% and 98.4% homology with T. sergenti, Theileria spp., T. sergenti, Theileria spp., Theileria spp., Theileria spp. and Theileria spp., respectively. The result showed a genetic variation of 57.7% (type I), 3.8% (type II), 15.4% (type III), 7.7% (type IV), 13.5% (type V) and 1.9% (type VI). Type I is the most frequent type in both anemic and non-anemic Holstein while type II was found in only non-anemic Holstein. This results of our study help confirm the diversity of Msp gene types and demonstrate that the gene type distribution of Msp genes varies among Theileria-infected Holstein in Jeju Island.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.162-165
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• 2005

Potato scab, an important disease that affects developing tubers, causes a major problem in potato cultivation. The major potato cultivation areas in Korea are located in two Northern provinces, Gangwon and Gyeonggi, and two Southern provinces, Jeju island, and South Jeolla. In these areas, potato scab is widely distributed and has caused severe problem in potato cultivation. Therefore, potato-growing areas were surveyed for identification and distribution of potato scab pathogens from 1996 to 1999. Pathogenic Streptomyces strains were isolated from potato scab lesions and six representative Streptomyces species were characterized based on their phenotypic and molecular characteristics including, pathogenicity, physiological and morphological properties, analyses of 16SrRNA genes and 16S-23S ITS region, DNA relatedness, production of thaxtomin A, and the presence of nec1 and ORFtnp gene homologs. Three species were identified as previously described Streptomyces scabies, S. turgidiscabies, and S. acidiscabies, while other three species having distinct phenotypics properties were identified as novel S. luridiscabiei, S. puniciscabiei, and S. niveiscabiei.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2010

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a major foodborne pathogen causing severe disease in humans worldwide. Healthy cattle are a reservoir of E. coli O157:H7, and bovine food products and fresh produce contaminated with bovine waste are the most common sources for disease outbreaks in the United States. E. coli O157:H7 also survives well in the environment. The abilities to cause human disease, colonize the bovine gastrointestinal tract, and survive in the environment require that E. coli O157:H7 adapt to a wide variety of conditions. Three major virulence factors of E. coli O157:H7 have been identified including Shiga toxins, products of the pathogenicity island called the locus of enterocyte effacement, and products of the F-like plasmid pO157. Among these virulence factors, the role of pO157 is least understood. This review provides a board overview of E. coli O157:H7 with an emphasis on pO157.

• Mycobiology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.158-162
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• 2000

Twenty-three isolates of Fusarium spp. were obtained from decayed citrus fruits in the fields and storages in 1998-1999. Of them, six and five isolates belonged to F. proliferatum and F. moniliforme, respectively, which were the most common. F. solani and F. sambucinum had each two isolates, F. equiseti had one isolate and seven isolates were unidentified. They produced symptoms of two types in pathogenicity test: those with leathery, beige to light or dark brown, and sunken lesions without surface mycelium (type-1) and those with lesions covered with white, beige or pink surface mycelium (type-2). Four of six isolates identified to F. proliferatum and two unidentified isolates produced type-1 lesions, and all isolates identified to F. moniliforme, F. solani, F. sambucinum, F. equiseti and five unidentified isolates produced type-2 lesions.