• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.222-226
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• 2007

Proteases are degradative enzymes which hydrolyze a peptide bond between amino acids and they are abundantly applied to commercial field. In order to screen new source of pretense, bacteria secreting extracellular pretense were isolated by enrichment culture from deep sea water samples of East Sea, Korea. A bacterium, named as HJ19, showed the best growth and the largest clear zone in plates supplemented skim milk at $30^{\circ}C$. The partial DNA sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene, phenotypic tests and morphology identified that this strain was In genus Micrococcus. The strain HJ19 could not grow at $10^{\circ}C$ but it started growth and showed pretense activity at $20^{\circ}C$. The optimal growth was at $37^{\circ}C$ and the maximal protease activity at $30^{\circ}C$ was about 480unit/ml.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.25 no.3 s.82
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• pp.191-201
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• 1997

A mutant (HSMl) of Cryphonectria parasitica created during transformation reproduced the hypovirulent symptoms in virus-free wild type. Its phenomena have been proved with morphological marker such as reduced sporulation, pigmentation, and laccase production. In addition to the changes in phenotypic characteristics, down-regulations of Lac1, Crp1, Vir1 and Vir2 were also observed. The integration of transforming vector was confirmed and located within genome by marker rescuing. Vector integration occurred between two genes, Cpg2 and Cpg3, which resulted in the disruption of neither Cpg2 nor Cpg3. Both Cpg2 and Cpg3 genes, sized at 1.8 kb and 1.9 kb respectively, were rarely transcribed genes in Cryphonectria parasitica. Cpg2 expression was significantly overexpressed from 4 to 5 day old culture of both UEP1 and HSM1 while no differences were observed in Cpg3 expression. It appears that an aberration from the normal expression of Cpg2, not Cpg3, results in the hypovirulent symptoms in virus-free wild type.

• Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.223-230
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• 2007

Vitellaria paradoxa commonly called shea is an important agro forestry and fruit-bearing species present in four agro-ecological zones of Cameroon. The goal of this work was the morphological characterization of certain populations of V. paradoxa which will serve as a necessary step for a subsequent genetic study of the species. Morphological observations related to 20 agronomic traits, studied on 8-13 trees selected from each of the eight shea populations across four different agro-ecological zones located in four provinces of Cameroon were studied. The study showed that there was a variation between the populations, related to the traits measured on the trunk, fruit, nut, and leaf. Three shapes of the tree(ball, broom, and trained), five shapes of the fruit(round, oblong, reversed pear, ovoid, and oblong), three colors of the nut(clear brown, dark brown, and blackish brown) were identified. The principal component analysis(PCA) carried out on the quantitative characters revealed 72% of the total variance expressed on the first and second main axis. This variation was essentially explained by the traits measured on the fruits and on the nuts. The analyses showed that only the traits of the fruits and the nuts were discriminative. The shea populations studied were structured into two distinct groups using these discriminative traits.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 1998

The immunogenetic analysis was performed to characterize the Korean native chickens (KNC) determined by monoclonal antibodies specific to chicken leukocyte differentiation antigens and flow cytometry. A total of 174 chickens including 58 KNC (black, brown and darkbrown colored), 77 foreign breed (Nagoya, White Reghorn, Rhode Island and Cornish) and 39 mixed breed (19 KNC with Nagoya and 20 KNC with Rhode Island) separately growing at Animal Science and Technology Institute were examined. The proportion of cells expressing MHC class II molecule (B-L in chicken) was significantly high in KNC. Proportion of CD4+ T helper cells was also higher in KNC and two mixed breed than that in foreign breed. However, proportion of CD8+ cells and TCR1 + (${\gamma}^{\delta}$ T cell receptor) cells was the lowest among the breed examined. Otherwise, those proportions were significantly high in White leghorn and two mixed breeds with two exclusive subpopulations. The two subpopulations were also typically shown in MHC class $II^+$ cells in KNC and one mixed breed, black-colored KNC with Nagoya. Although genotypic analysis was not pursued to characterize the immunogenetic properties of KNC, difference of phenotypic expression based on leukocyte differentiation molecules could be elucidated in KNC in this study.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.300-307
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• 2006

Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis (Chinese cabbage) is an economically important crop and a model plant for studies on polyploidization and phenotypic evolution. To gain an insight into the structure of the B. rapa genome we analyzed 12,017 BAC-end sequences for the presence of transposable elements (TEs), SSRs, centromeric satellite repeats and genes, and similarity to the closely related genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. TEs were estimated to occupy 14% of the genome, with 12.3% of the genome represented by retrotransposons. It was estimated that the B. rapa genome contains 43,000 genes, 1.6 times greater than the genome of A. thaliana. A number of centromeric satellite sequences, representing variations of a 176-bp consensus sequence, were identified. This sequence has undergone rapid evolution within the B. rapa genome and has diverged among the related species of Brassicaceae. A study of SSRs demonstrated a non-random distribution with a greater abundance within predicted intergenic regions. Our results provide an initial characterization of the genome of B. rapa and provide the basis for detailed analysis through whole-genome sequencing.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1307-1314
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• 2010

This study was conducted to isolate and characterize a novel feather-degrading bacterium producing keratinase activity. A strain K9 was isolated from soil at poultry farm and identified as Xanthomonas sp. K9 by phenotypic characters and 16S rRNA gene analysis. The cultural conditions for the keratinase production were 0.3% fructose, 0.1% gelatin, 0.04% $K_2HPO_4$, 0.06% $KH_2PO_4$, 0.05% NaCl and 0.01% $FeSO_4$ with an initial pH 8.0 at $30^{\circ}C$ and 200 rpm. In an optimized medium containing 0.1% chicken feather, production yield of keratinase was approximately 8-fold higher than the yield in basal medium. The strain K9 effectively degraded chicken feather meal (67%) and duck feather (54%), whereas human nail and human hair showed relatively low degradation rates (13-22%). Total free amino acid concentration in the cell-free supernatant was about 25.799 mg/l. Feather hydrolysate produced by the strain K9 stimulated growth of red pepper, indicating Xanthomonas sp. K9 could be not only used to increase the nutritional value of chicken feather but also a potential candidate for the development of natural fertilizer applicable to crop plant soil.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1644-1652
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• 2012

Iron plays a key role in host-pathogen interactions. Microbial pathogens require iron for survival and virulence, whereas mammalian hosts sequester and withhold iron as a means of nutritional immunity. We previously identified two paralogous genes, CFT1 and CFT2, which encode homologs of a fungal iron permease, Cft1 and Cft2, respectively, in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Cft1 was shown to play a role in the high-affinity reductive iron uptake system, and was required for transferrin utilization and full virulence in mammalian hosts. However, no role of Cft2 has been suggested yet. Here, we identified the third gene, CFT3, that produces an additional fungal iron permease homolog in C. neoformans, and we also generated the cft3 mutant for functional characterization. We aimed to reveal distinct functions of Cft1, Cft2 and Cft3 by analyzing phenotypes of the mutants lacking CFT1, CFT2 and CFT3, respectively. The endogenous promoter of CFT1, CFT2 and CFT3 was replaced with the inducible GAL7 promoter in the wild-type strain or in the cft1 mutant for gain-of-function analysis. Using these strains, we were able to find that CFT2 is required for growth in low-iron conditions in the absence of CFT1 and that overexpression of CFT2 compensates for deficiency of the cft1 mutant in iron uptake and various cellular stress conditions. However, unlike CFT2, no clear phenotypic characteristic of the cft3 mutant and the strain overexpressing CFT3 was observed. Overall, our data suggested a redundant role of Cft2 in the high-affinity iron uptake and stress responses in C. neoformans.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.386-393
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• 2014

Possible cross-transmission of hospital-associated enterococci between human patients, medical staff, and hospital environments has been extensively studied. However, limited information is available for veterinary hospital-associated Enterococcus isolates. This study investigated the possibility of cross-transmission of antibiotic-resistant enterococci between dog patients, their owners, veterinary staff, and hospital environments. Swab samples (n=465) were obtained from five veterinary hospitals in Seoul, Korea, during 2011. Forty-three Enterococcus strains were isolated, representing seven enterococcal species. E. faecalis and E. faecium were the most dominant species (16 isolates each, 37.2%). Although slight differences in the antibiotic resistance profiles were observed between the phenotypic and the genotypic data, our antibiogram analysis demonstrated high prevalence of the multiple drug-resistant (MDR) isolates of E. faecalis (10/16 isolates, 62.5%) and E. faecium (12/16 isolates, 75.0%). Pulsed-field gel electrophoretic comparison of the MDR isolates revealed three different clonal sets of E. faecalis and a single set of E. faecium, which were isolated from different sample groups or dog patients at the same or two separate veterinary hospitals. These results imply a strong possibility of cross-transmission of the antibiotic-resistant enterococcal species between animal patients, owners, veterinary staff, and hospital environments.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.591-599
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• 2020

Phytophthora root and stem rot reduce soybean yields worldwide. The use of R-gene type resistance is currently crucial for protecting soybean production. The present study aimed to identify the genomic location of a gene conferring resistance to Phytophthora sojae isolate 2457 in the recombinant inbred line population developed by a cross of Daepung × Daewon. Singlemarker analysis identified 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with resistance to the P. sojae isolate 2457, which explained ~67% of phenotypic variance. Daewon contributed a resistance allele for the locus. This region is a well-known location for Rps1 and Rps7. The present study is the first, however, to identify an Rps gene locus from a major soybean variety cultivated in South Korea. Linkage analysis also identified a 573 kb region on chromosome 3 with high significance (logarithm of odds = 13.7). This genomic region was not further narrowed down due to lack of recombinants within the interval. Based on the latest soybean genome, ten leucine-rich repeat coding genes and four serine/ threonine protein kinase-coding genes are annotated in this region, which all are well-known types of genes for conferring disease resistance in crops. These genes would be candidates for molecular characterization of the resistance in further studies. The identified R-gene locus would be useful in developing P. sojae resistant varieties in the future. The results of the present study provide foundational knowledge for researchers who are interested in soybean-P. sojae interaction.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.165-171
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• 1997

A sulfer-oxidizing bacterium was isolated from mine wastewater and characterized. The isolate was gra-negative, rod (0.2 * 1.2-1.5.mu.m), nonmotiloe, catalase positive, and oxidase prositive. The opotimal pH and temperature for growth were 7.0 and 30.deg.C. respectively. The optimum thiosulfate concentration was 70 mM and the maximum growth rate was 0.081 hr. The major ubiquinone contained in the isolate was Q-8. The cellular fatty acid composition was $C_{16 : 0}$, $C_{18 : 1}$, $C_{17cyc}$,and $C_{19cyc}$ as nonpolar fatty acids, and 3-OH C10 : 0 and 3-OH $C_{12 : 0}$ as hydroxylated fatty acids. The isolate was a facultative chemolithoautotroph which can grow autotrophically on sodium thiosulfate and sodium sulfide and which can grow heterotrophically on yeast extract. It can also grow mixotrophically on sodium thiosulfate and yeast extract. Comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the isolate with that of Thiobacillus species and Paracoccus thiocyanatus revealed that it is closely related to T. caldus which belongs to the .betha.-subclass of the class Proteobacteria. However, the isolated could not grow at extremely low pH (pH 1-3.5). On the basis of the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, the isolate was tentatively named Thiobacillus sp. strain C.ain C.