• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.65-68
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• 2017

Barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV), which is transmitted by the root-inhabiting protist Polymyxa graminis, causes a soil-borne disease. In this study, we detected BaYMV from soil using two-step nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Specific primers based on a coat protein region of BaYMV segment RNA1 were used in the first round of amplification. Based on the sequenced amplicon, an inner primer was designed for the second round of amplification. A PCR product of 372 bp exhibited 98%-100% nucleotide sequence identity with the coat protein region of BaYMV segment RNA1. In this study, we propose an easy method for the detection of BaYMV from soil, may considerably assist in accurate fungus-transmitted virus diagnosis and subsequent disease forecasting. This is the first report on the detection of BaYMV from soil.

• ALGAE
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.343-354
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• 2013

To explore the interactions between the mixotrophic dinoflagellate Biecheleria cincta (previously Woloszynskia cincta) and heterotrophic protists, we investigated whether the common heterotrophic dinoflagellates Gyrodinium dominans, Gyrodinium moestrupii, Gyrodinium spirale, Oxyrrhis marina, and Polykrikos kofoidii, and the ciliate Strobilidium sp. were able to feed on B. cincta. We also measured growth and ingestion rates of O. marina and Strobilidium sp. on B. cincta as a function of prey concentration. In addition, these rates were measured for other predators at single prey concentrations at which the growth and ingestion rates of O. marina and Strobilidium sp. were saturated. All grazers tested in the present study were able to feed on B. cincta. B. cincta clearly supported positive growth of O. marina, G. dominans, and Strobilidium sp., but it did not support that of G. moestrupii, G. spirale, and P. kofoidii. The maximum growth rates of Strobilidium sp. and O. marina on B. cincta (0.91 and 0.49 $d^{-1}$, respectively) were much higher than that of G. dominans (0.07 $d^{-1}$). With increasing the mean prey concentration, the specific growth rates of O. marina and Strobilidium sp. on B. cincta increased, but either became saturated or slowly increased. The maximum ingestion rate of Strobilidium sp. (1.60 ng C $predator^{-1}\;d^{-1}$) was much higher than that of P. kofoidii and O. marina (0.55 and 0.34 ng C $predator^{-1}\;d^{-1}$) on B. cincta. The results of the present study suggest that O. marina and Strobilidium sp. are effective protistan grazers of B. cincta.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.181-184
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• 2020

Blastocystis, an enteric protist, has been reported to be an important cause of protozoal gastrointestinal manifestations in humans and animals worldwide. Animals harboring certain Blastocystis subtypes (STs) may serve as a potential source of human infection. However, information about the prevalence and genetic diversity of Blastocystis in alpacas is limited. In the present study, a total of 366 fecal samples from alpacas in Shanxi Province, northern China, were examined for Blastocystis by PCR amplification of the small subunit rRNA gene, followed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The prevalence of Blastocystis in alpacas was 23.8%, and gender difference in the prevalence of Blastocystis was observed. The most predominant Blastocystis ST was ST10, followed by ST14 and ST5. The detection of ST5, a potentially zoonotic genotype, indicates that alpacas harboring ST5 could be a potential source of human infection with Blastocystis. These data provide new insight into the prevalence and genetic diversity of Blastocystis in alpacas.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.3 s.108
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• pp.263-271
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• 2004

To collect the basic ecological information about the microbial food webs in eutrophic water system with different residence time, the monthly variation of bacterioplankon (bacteria and small-sized cyanobacteria) and nanoplankton (phytoplankton and protists) were examined from December 2000 to September 2001. Kyungan stream is shorter in resident time (ca.5.4 d) than Seokchon reservoir (ca.72 d), even though they showed the same pattern in precipitation. With the basic environments, we examined the biomass (standing crops and its carbon content) of each plankton collected from the surface water. Large-sized planktons flourished in the time of low temperature, while small planktons were in the time of the high temperature period. Especially, in the Kyungan stream with much disturbance by rainfall and outflow, high diversity showed in term of species and cell morphology, compared to that of Seokchon lake. The time-lag relationship remarkably showed between phytoplankton and bacteria in Seokchon reservoir, and between protists and bacteria in Kyungan stream, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.275-285
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• 2021

Algal bloom is an important issue in maintaining the safety of the drinking water supply system. Fast detection and classification of algae images are essential for the management of algal blooms. Conventional visual identification using a microscope is a labor-intensive and time-consuming method that often requires several hours to several days in order to obtain analysis results from field water samples. In recent decades, various deep learning algorithms have been developed and widely used in object detection studies. YOLO is a state-of-the-art deep learning algorithm. In this study the third version of the YOLO algorithm, namely, YOLOv3, was used to develop an algae image detection model. YOLOv3 is one of the most representative one-stage object detection algorithms with faster inference time, which is an important benefit of YOLO. A total of 1,114 algae images for 30 genera collected by microscope were used to develop the YOLOv3 algae image detection model. The algae images were divided into four groups with five, 10, 20, and 30 genera for training and testing the model. The mean average precision (mAP) was 81, 70, 52, and 41 for data sets with five, 10, 20, and 30 genera, respectively. The precision was higher than 0.8 for all four image groups. These results show the practical applicability of the deep learning algorithm, YOLOv3, for algae image detection.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.625-632
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• 2018

Malaria remains one of the leading health burdens in the developing world, especially in several sub-Saharan Africa countries; and Uganda has some of the highest recorded measures of malaria transmission intensity in the world. It is evident that the prevalence of malaria infection, the incidence of disease, and mortality from severe malaria remain very high in Uganda. Although the recent stable political and economic situation in the last few decades in Uganda supported for a fairly good appreciation of malaria control, the declines in infection, morbidity, and mortality are not sufficient to interrupt transmission and this country is among the top 4 countries with cases of malaria, especially among children under 5 years of age. In fact, Uganda, which is endemic in over 95% of the country, is a representative of challenges facing malaria control in Africa. In this study, we evaluated an active case detection program in 6 randomly selected villages, Uganda. This program covered a potential target population of 5,017 individuals. Our team screened 12,257 samples of malaria by active case detection, every 4 months, from February 2015 to January 2017 in the 6 villages (a total of 6 times). This study assessed the perceptions and practices on malaria control in Kiyuni Parish of Kyankwanzi district, Uganda. Our study presents that the incidence of malaria is sustained high despite efforts to scale-up and improve the use of LLINs and access to ACDs, based on the average incidence confirmed by RDTs.

• ALGAE
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2019

The species in the dinoflagellate order Suessiales have 5-24 latitudinal paraplate series and include many fossil and extant species. There have been a few studies on the ecophysiology of the phototrophic species Biecheleriopsis adriatica, and no study on its predators. Thus, we explored the feeding occurrence by common heterotrophic protists on B. adriatica and the growth and ingestion rates of the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina on B. adriatica BATY06 as a function of prey concentration. The common heterotrophic dinoflagellates Aduncodinium glandula, O. marina, Gyrodinium dominans, Gyrodinium moestrupii, Luciella masanensis, Pfiesteria piscicida, and Oblea rotunda and two naked ciliates Strombidinopsis sp. and Pelagostrobilidium sp. were able to feed on B. adriatica, but the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Polykrikos kofoidii was not. However, B. adriatica supported the positive growth of O. marina, but did not support that of G. dominans and O. rotunda. With increasing prey concentrations, the growth and ingestion rates of O. marina on B. adriatica increased and became saturated. The maximum growth rate of O. marina on B. adriatica was $0.162d^{-1}$. Furthermore, the maximum ingestion rate of O. marina on B. adriatica was $0.2ng\;C\;predator^{-1}\;d^{-1}$ ($2.0cells\;predator^{-1}\;d^{-1}$). In the order Suessiales, the feeding occurrence by common heterotrophic protists on B. adriatica is similar to that on Effrenium voratum and Biecheleria cincta, but different from that on Yihiella yeosuensis. However, the growth and ingestion rates of O. marina on B. adriatica are considerably lower than those on E. voratum and B. cincta, but higher than those on Y. yeosuensis. Therefore, B. adriatica may be less preferred prey for O. marina than E. voratum and B. cincta, but more preferred prey than Y. yeosuensis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.171-177
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• 2019

Parasitic infections have remained a significant burden on human and animal health. In part, this is due to lack of clinically-approved, novel antimicrobials and a lack of interest by the pharmaceutical industry. An alternative approach is to modify existing clinically-approved drugs for efficient delivery formulations to ensure minimum inhibitory concentration is achieved at the target site. Nanotechnology offers the potential to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of drugs through modification of nanoparticles with ligands. Amphotericin B, nystatin, and fluconazole are clinically available drugs in the treatment of amoebal and fungal infections. These drugs were conjugated with gold nanoparticles. To characterize these gold-conjugated drug, atomic force microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were performed. These drugs and their gold nanoconjugates were examined for antimicrobial activity against the protist pathogen, Acanthamoeba castellanii of the T4 genotype. Moreover, host cell cytotoxicity assays were accomplished. Cytotoxicity of these drugs and drug-conjugated gold nanoparticles was also determined by lactate dehydrogenase assay. Gold nanoparticles conjugation resulted in enhanced bioactivity of all three drugs with amphotericin B producing the most significant effects against Acanthamoeba castellanii (p < 0.05). In contrast, bare gold nanoparticles did not exhibit antimicrobial potency. Furthermore, amoebae treated with drugs-conjugated gold nanoparticles showed reduced cytotoxicity against HeLa cells. In this report, we demonstrated the use of nanotechnology to modify existing clinically-approved drugs and enhance their efficacy against pathogenic amoebae. Given the lack of development of novel drugs, this is a viable approach in the treatment of neglected diseases.

• ALGAE
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.263-283
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• 2021

To explore the ecophysiological characteristics of the kleptoplastidic dinoflagellate Shimiella gracilenta, we determined its spatiotemporal distribution in Korean coastal waters and growth and ingestion rates as a function of prey concentration. The abundance of S. gracilenta at 28 stations from 2015 to 2018 was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cells of S. gracilenta were detected at least once at all the stations and in each season, when temperature and salinity were 1.7-26.4℃ and 9.9-35.6, respectively. Moreover, among the 28 potential prey species tested, S. gracilenta SGJH1904 fed on diverse prey taxa. However, the highest abundance of S. gracilenta was only 3 cells mL^-1 during the study period. The threshold Teleaulax amphioxeia concentration for S. gracilenta growth was 5,618 cells mL^-1, which was much higher than the highest abundance of T. amphioxeia (667 cells mL^-1). Thus, T. amphioxeia was not likely to support the growth of S. gracilenta in the field during the study period. However, the maximum specific growth and ingestion rates of S. gracilenta on T. amphioxeia, the optimal prey species, were 1.36 d^-1 and 0.04 ng C predator^-1 d^-1, respectively. Thus, if the abundance of T. amphioxeia was much higher than 5,618 cells mL^-1, the abundance of S. gracilenta could be much higher than the highest abundance observed in this study. Eurythermal and euryhaline characteristics of S. gracilenta and its ability to feed on diverse prey species and conduct kleptoplastidy are likely to be responsible for its common spatiotemporal distribution.

• ALGAE
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.299-314
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• 2021

Some species in the dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium are bioluminescent. Of the 33 formally described Alexandrium species, the bioluminescence capability of only nine species have been tested, and eight have been reported to be bioluminescent. The present study investigated the bioluminescence capability of seven Alexandrium species that had not been tested. Alexandrium mediterraneum, A. pohangense, and A. tamutum were bioluminescent, but A. andersonii, A. hiranoi, A. insuetum, and A. pseudogonyaulax were not. We also measured the bioluminescent intensity of A. affine, A. fraterculus, A. mediterraneum, A. ostenfeldii, A. pacificum, A. pohangense, A. tamarense, and A. tamutum. The mean 200-second-integrated bioluminescence intensity per cell ranged from 0.02 to 32.2 × 10⁴ relative luminescence unit per cell (RLU cell^-1), and the mean maximum bioluminescence intensity per cell per second (BL_Max) ranged from 0.01 to 10.3 × 10⁴ RLU cell^-1 s^-1. BL_Max was significantly correlated with the maximum growth rates of Alexandrium species, except for A. tamarense. A phylogenetic tree based on large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA) showed that the bioluminescent species A. affine, A. catenella, A. fraterculus, A. mediterraneum, A. pacificum, and A. tamarense formed a large clade. However, the toxicity or mixotrophic capability of these species was split. Thus, their bioluminescence capability in this clade was more consistent than their toxicity or mixotrophic capability. Phylogenetic trees based on LSU rDNA and the luciferase gene of Alexandrium were consistent except for A. pohangense. The results of the present study can provide a basis for understanding the interspecific diversity in bioluminescence of Alexandrium.