• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.240-247
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• 2010

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram (-) opportunistic human pathogen causing a wide variety of infections on lung, urinary tract, eyes, and burn wound sites and quorum sensing (QS), a cell density-sensing mechanism plays an essential role in Pseudomonas pathogenesis. In order to investigate the importance of QS in the Pseudomonas infections of Korean patients, we isolated 189 clinical strains of P. aeruginosa from the patients in Pusan Paik Hospital, Busan, South Korea. The QS signal production of these clinical isolates was measured by signal diffusion assay on solid media using reporter strains. While most clinical strains (79.4%) produced the QS signals as similar level as a wild type strain, PAO1 did, where LasR, the initial QS signal sensor-regulator was fully activated, a minority of them (4.2%) produced much less QS signals at the level to which LasR failed to respond. Similarly, while 72.5% of the clinical isolates produced QS signals enough to activate QscR, an another QS signal sensor-regulator, some few of them (9%) produced the QS signals at much lower level where QscR was not activated. For further analysis, we selected 74 clinical strains that were obtained from the patients under suspicion of Pseudomonas infection and investigated the total protease activity that is considered important for virulence. Interestingly, significant portion of them showed very low protease activity (44.6%) or no detectable protease activity (12.2%). When the biofilm-forming ability that is considered very important in chronic infection was examined, most isolates showed lower biofilm-forming activity than PAO1. Similarly, significant portion of clinical isolates showed reduced motility (reduced swarming activity in 51.4% and reduced twitching activity in 41.9%), or non-detectable motility (swarming-negative in 28.4% and twitching-negative in 28.4%). Our result showed that the clinical isolates that produced QS signals at the similar level to wild type could have significantly reduced activities in the protease production, biofilm formation, and motility, and some clinical isolates had unique patterns of motility, biofilm formation, and protease production that are not correlated to their QS activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.431-438
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• 2009

The alkaline serine protease asp, which was shown to be a virulence factor of Vibrio alginolyticus as a purified protein, was cloned from V. alginolyticus EPGS, a strain recently isolated from moribund Epinephelus coioides in an outbreak of vibriosis in a mariculture farm of Shenzhen. The asp null mutant was constructed by homologous recombination with suicide plasmid pNQ705-1. Compared with the wild-type strain, the asp null mutant exhibited a significant decrease of total extracellular protease activity, and caused a IS-fold decrease in virulence of V. alginolyticus. In our previous study, the luxO and $luxR_{val}$ genes from V. alginolyticus MVP01 were cloned and identified, and the luxO-$luxR_{val}$ regulatory couple was shown to regulate various genes expression, suggesting that it played a central role in the quorum sensing system of V. alginolyticus. In this study, the regulation of the asp gene was analyzed by using RT-PCR and quantitative real-time PCR methods; we proved that its transcription was greatly induced at the late stage of growth and was regulated by a luxO-$luxR_{val}$ regulatory system.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.848-848
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• 2005

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.411-414
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• 2002

Acylated homoserine lactones (AHLs) are membrane-permeant signal molecules responsible for biofilm formation of gram-negative bacteria via a unique mechanism known as quorum sensing. A target specific bioassay employing the AHL-responsive Agrobacterium tumefaciens reporter strain has been developed to identify new AHL-like compounds from natural products, which could be developed into antifouling compounds. By varying the X-gal concentration, incubation time, solvent for sample preparation and the sample loading procedure, it was possible to detect low level AHLs up to $10^1nM$. The length of the acyl chain of the AHLs was found to affect the sensitivity of this bioassay.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2004

An interaction between Legumes and Rhizobia establishes a symbiotic new organ, the nodule that supports atmospheric nitrogen fIxation. The specific communications between the microbes and legume plants are necessary for both nodulation and nitrogen fixation. Through genetic and biochemical analyses several genes playing pivotal roles in nodulation had been identified to be a receptor kinase like CALVATAl involved signal transduction for development. This emphasizes peptides as signals to be transmitted for a short or long distance transport for nodulation. In addition, a quorum sensing in rhizobia has become a focus as counterpart signal. In an attempt to reveal proteins factors and signaling molecules acting on nodulation, proteome analyses of nodule and the proteins in apoplast upon communication between Legumes and Rhizobia were performed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.392-400
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• 2008

This paper proposes a novel optimization algorithm inspired by bacteria behavior patterns for foraging. Most bacteria can trace attractant chemical molecules for foraging. This tracing capability of bacteria called chemotaxis might be optimized for foraging because it has been evolved for few millenniums. From this observation, we developed a new optimization algorithm based on the chemotaxis of bacteria in this paper. We first define behavior and decision rules based on the behavior patterns of bacteria and then devise an optimization algorithm with these behavior and decision rules. Generally bacteria have a quorum sensing mechanism that makes it possible to effectively forage, but we leave its implementation as a further work for simplicity. Thereby, we call our algorithm a simple bacteria cooperative optimization (BCO) algorithm. Our simple BCO is tested with four function optimization problems on various' parameters of the algorithm. It was found from experiments that the simple BCO can be a good framework for optimization.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1341-1348
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• 2019

Acetic acid is indirectly involved in cell center metabolism, and acetic acid metabolism is the core of central metabolism, affecting and regulating the production of bacteriocin. Bacteriocin is a natural food preservative that has been used in the meat and dairy industries and winemaking. In this paper, the effects of acetic acid on bacteriocin produced by Gram-positive bacteria were reviewed. It was found that acetic acid in the undissociated state can diffuse freely through the hydrophobic layer of the membrane and dissociate, affecting the production, yield, and activity of bacteriocin. In particular, the effect of acetic acid on cell membranes is summarized. The link between acetic acid metabolism, quorum sensing, and bacteriocin production mechanisms is also highlighted.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.1108-1108
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• 2020

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.644-651
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• 2013

The fermented manure derivative known as Preparation 500 is traditionally used as a field spray in biodynamic agriculture for maintaining and increasing soil fertility. This work aimed at characterizing the product from a microbiological standpoint and at assaying its bioactive properties. The approach involved molecular taxonomical characterization of the culturable microbial community; ARISA fingerprints of the total bacteria and fungal communities; chemical elemental macronutrient analysis via a combustion analyzer; activity assays for six key enzymes; bioassays for bacterial quorum sensing and chitolipooligosaccharide production; and plant hormone-like activity. The material was found to harbor a bacterial community of $2.38{\times}10^8$ CFU/g dw dominated by Gram-positives with minor instances of Actinobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. ARISA showed a coherence of bacterial assemblages in different preparation lots of the same year in spite of geographic origin. Enzymatic activities showed elevated values of ${\beta}$-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase, chitinase, and esterase. The preparation had no quorum sensing-detectable signal, and no rhizobial nod gene-inducing properties, but displayed a strong auxin-like effect on plants. Enzymatic analyses indicated a bioactive potential in the fertility and nutrient cycling contexts. The IAA activity and microbial degradation products qualify for a possible activity as soil biostimulants. Quantitative details and possible modes of action are discussed.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.136-150
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• 2015

Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tabaci is a plant pathogenic bacterium that causes wildfire disease in tobacco plants. In P. syringae pv. tabaci, PsyI, a LuxI-type protein, acts as an AHL synthase, while primary and secondary sequence analysis of PsyR has revealed that it is a homolog of the LuxR-type transcriptional regulator that responds to AHL molecules. In this study, using phenotypic and genetic analyses in P. syringae pv. tabaci, we show the effect of PsyR protein as a quorum-sensing (QS) transcriptional regulator. Regulatory effects of PsyR on swarming motility and production of siderophores, tabtoxin, and N-acyl homoserine lactones were examined via phenotypic assays, and confirmed by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Further qRT-PCR showed that PsyR regulates expression of these virulence genes in response to environmental signals. However, an upstream region of the gene was not bound with purified MBP-PsyR protein; rather, PsyR was only able to shift the upstream region of psyI. These results suggested that PsyR may be indirectly controlled via intermediate-regulatory systems and that auto-regulation by PsyR does not occur.