• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.694-699
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• 2000

Serratia marcescens IRBG500 and Herbaspirillum seropedicae Z67 grow endophytically in rice. The ability of these bacteria to colonize rice grown under increased nutrient availability was assessed in variety IR72 using strains marked with transposon-based gusA. The endophytic colonization was monitored via bacterial enumeration and histochemical visualization of GUS expression of bacteria in plant tissues. Rhizoplane and endophytic colonization by both bacteria was significantly inhibited in the rice plants grown in the presence of 10 mM $NH_4Cl$. In contrast, the addition of 10 mM $KNO_3$ showed no adverse effect on colonization. Increasing the concentration of $Ca^{2+}$ to 5 mM significantly reduced endophytic colonization by both bacterial strains, whereas the addition of 0.5 mM $Fe^{2+}$ substantially lowered the colonization of roots by S. marcescens IRBG500 but showed no effect on colonization by H. seropedicae Z67. Taken together, these finding suggest that, like in legume-rhizobial symbiosis as well as plant-pathogen interactions, nutrient status, particularly $NH_4^+$ and $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations in the surrounding medium, plays an important role in the regulation of endophytic infection and colonization processes in rice.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 1994

A semiselective agar medium (XCO) was developed for the isolation of bacterial blight pathogen, Xanthomonas campestris pv. oryzae, from rice seed. The medium contained yeast extract 1.0 g, peptone 2.0 g, sucrose 5.0 g, sodium glutamate 1.0 g, FeSO4.7H2O 0.05 g, Fe.EDTA 1 mg, cephalexin 20 mg, Evan blue (0.1%) 1.5 ml, bromcresol purple (0.1%) 2.5ml, cycloheximide 100 mg and agar 15.0 g per liter. Colonies of X. c. pv. oryzae were 4~5 mm in diameter, smooth, round, blue (darker center) and convex after 6 days incubation at 28$^{\circ}C$. The recovery of 6 isolates of X. c. pv. oryzae on the XOC medium ranged from 81% to 120% (mean 98.2%) in comparison to Wakimoto's medium. The number of saprophytic bacteria from 10 rice seed lots on XCO medium was reduced to 70.4% of that on Wakimoto's medium. The recovery of X. c. pv. oryzae added to rice seed on XOC medium ranged from 67% to 87% (mean 75.6%) of that on Wakimoto's medium.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.94.2-95
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• 2003

E. intermedium 60-2G possessing a strong ability to solubilize insoluble phosphate, has plant growth-promoting activity, induced systemic resistance activity against scab pathogen in cucumber, and antifungal activity against various phytopathogenic fungi. The phosphate solubilizing activity of 60-2G may be mainly accomplished by production of gluconic acid through a direct extracellular oxidation of glucose by glucose dehydrogenase that required a PQQ cofactor for its activation. A pqq gene cluster conferred Phosphate-solubilizing activity in E. coli DH5${\alpha}$ was cloned and sequenced. The 6,783 bP pqq sequence had six open reading frames (from A to F) and showed 50-95％ homology to pqq genes from other bacteria. The E. coli strain expressing the pqq genes solubilized phosphate from hydroxyapatite after a pH drop to 4.0, which paralleled in time the secretion of gluconic acid. To study the role of PQQ in biocontrol traits of E. intermedium, PQQ mutants of 60-2G were constructed by marker exchangee mutagenesis. The PQQ mutants of E. intermedium were lost activities of solubilizing phosphate, growth inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi, and plant growth promotion. These findings suggest that PQQ plays an important role, possibly activation of certain enzymes, in several beneficial bacterial traits of E. intermedium by as yet an unknown mechanism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.12
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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.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.160-170
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• 2024

Erwinia amylovora is a plant pathogen that causes fire blight on apples and pears. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that selectively infect specific species of bacteria and are harmless to animal cells, have been considered as biological control agents for the prevention of bacterial pathogens. In this study, we aimed to use bacteriophages that infect E. amylovora as biocontrol agents against fire blight. We isolated bacteriophages Fifi044 and Fifi318 infecting E. amylovora, and characterized their morphology, plaque form, and genetic diversity to use as cocktails for disease control. The stabilities of the two phages were investigated at various temperatures and pH values and under sunlight, and long-term storage experiment was conducted for a year. To evaluate whether the two phages were suitable for use in cocktail form, growth curves of E. amylovora were prepared after treating the bacterial cells with single phages and a phage cocktail. In addition, a disease control test was conducted using immature apples and in vitro cultured apple plantlets to determine the biocontrol effects of the phage cocktail. The two phages were morphologically and genetically different, and highly stable up to 50℃ and pH value from 4 to 10. The phages showed synergistic effect when used as a cocktail in the inhibition of host bacterial growth and the disease control. This study demonstrated that the potential of the phage cocktail as a biocontrol agent for commercial use.

• Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.147-158
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• 2007

Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines(Xag) is a pathogen that causes bacterial leaf pustule(BLP) disease in soybeans grown in Korea and the southern United States. Typical and early symptoms of the disease are small, yellow to brown lesions with raised pustules that develop into large necrotic lesions leading to a substantial loss in yield due to premature defoliation. After Xag infects PI 96188, only pustules without chlorotic haloes were observed, indicating the different response to Xag. To identify differentially expressed genes prior to and 24 hr after Xag inoculation to PI 96188 and BLP-resistant SS2-2, an oligonucleotide macroarray was constructed with 100 genes related to disease resistance and metabolism from soybean and Arabidopsis. After cDNAs from each genotype were applied on the oligonucleotide macroarrays with three replicates and dye swapping, 36 and 81 genes were expressed as significantly different between 0 hr and 24 hr in PI 96188 and SS2-2, respectively. Six UniGenes, such as the leucine-rich repeat protein precursor or 14-3-3-like protein, were selected because they down-regulated in PI 96188 and up-regulated in SS2-2 after Xag infection, simultaneously. Using tubulin and cDNA of Jangyeobkong(BLP-susceptible) as controls, the oligonucleotide macroarray data concurred with quantitative real-time RT-PCR(QRT RT-PCR) results in most cases, supporting the accuracy of the oligonucleotide macroarray experiments. Also, QRT RT-PCR data suggested six candidate genes that might be involved in a necrotic response to Xag in PI 96188.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.323-328
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• 2015

Control efficacy was investigated with fungicides as 3 copper compound, 3 antibiotic fungicides and one fungicide containing to quinolone against the growth of Ralstonia solanacearum on NA medium and the disease occurrence on pepper seedlings. Among 7 fungicides, oxytetracycline was shown the highest activity against a growth of the pathogen in the agar diffusion method, but validamycin showed no activity against the pathogen. With $1000{\mu}g\;mL^{-1}$ of each copper fungicide as copper hydroxide, copper oxychloride+ dithianone and copper sulfate, 2.2, 1.3 and 1.5 mm in size of clear zone only could be found, respectively. In pepper seedling test, oxytetracycline showed a perfect activity in all treatments 7 days after inoculation. However, its activity was decreased from $500{\mu}g\;mL^{-1}$ of treatment over the time. Copper fungicides showed the control efficacy lower than antibiotic fungicides except for validamycin. Based on the results, it was suggested that it would be better to use antibiotic fungicides than copper fungicides to control pepper bacterial wilt in the fields.

• Biodesign
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.35-37
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• 2019

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a plant pathogen, which causes a bacterial blight of rice. The bacterial blight is one of the most devastating diseases of rice in most of the rice growing countries and there is no effective pesticide against bacterial blight. The β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III (FabH) plays a key role in fatty acid synthesis (FAS) and is a promising drug target for the development of antibacterial agents. Xoo0878 gene, a fabH gene, from Xoo was cloned and its gene product Xoo0878 was expressed, purified and crystallized. Xoo0878 crystal diffracted to 2.1Å resolution and belonged to the triclinic space group P1, with unit-cell parameters a = 57.3Å, b = 64.7Å, c = 104.2Å and α = 81.6°, β = 84.7°, γ = 74.4°. There are four monomers in the asymmetric unit, with a corresponding crystal volume per protein weight of 2.65 ų Da^-1 and a solvent content of 53.6%. Xoo0878 structure will be useful to develop new antibacterial agents against Xoo.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2008

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), one of the most important food crops, is susceptible to a number of devastating fungal pathogens in addition to bacterial and other pathogens. Producing disease-resistant cultivars has been an effective and useful strategy to combat the attack of pathogens. Potato was transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA101 harboring chitinase, (ChiC) isolated from Streptomyces griseus strain HUT 6037 and bialaphos resistance (bar) genes in a binary plasmid vector, pEKH1. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis revealed that the ChiC and bar genes are integrated into the genome of transgenic plants. Different insertion sites of the transgenes (one to six sites for ChiC and three to seven for bar) were indicated by Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA from the transgenic plants. Expression of the ChiC gene at the messenger RNA (mRNA) level was confirmed by Northern blot analysis and that of the bar gene by herbicide resistance assay. The results obviously confirmed that the ChiC and bar genes are successfully integrated and expressed into the genome, resulting in the production of bialaphos-resistant transgenic plants. Disease-resistance assay of the in vitro and greenhouse-grown transgenic plants demonstrated enhanced resistance against the fungal pathogen Alternaria solani (causal agent of early blight).

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.138-141
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• 2002

A promising biocontrol agent, A2l-4, against Phytophthora blight of pepper was selected from 351 bacterial isolates collected from rhizosphere soils and roots of onion (Allium fistulosum L.). The isolate A21-4 was identified as Serratia plymuthica based on its 16S rRNA sequence and key characteristics as compared with that of an authentic culture of S. plymuthica (ATCC No. 6109D01). The isolate readily colonized on roots of various crops including pepper when inoculated on seed and not. Strain A2l-4 showed narrow spectrum of antibiotic activity, as revealed in its strong inhibitory activity to the genera Pythium and Phytophthora, but not to Fuasrium and Rhizoctonia. In pot experiments, none of the pepper seedlings treated with A2l-4 were infected by Phytophthora capsici, while 86% of the control plants were killed by the pathogen.