• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.16-21
• /
• 2004

Six bacterial strains which formed large halo on chitosan-containing agar plate were isolated from beach mud and crabs at South coast of Korean peninsula. They were designated as Bacillus cereus KNUC51, B. cereus KNUC52, B. cereus KNUC53, B. cereus KNUC54, B. cereus KNUC55, and Paenibacillus favisporus KNUC56 by analysing their morphologies and 16S rDNA sequences. Chitosanase activities of all isolates were similar to that of B. subtilis 168. To enhance the activity of chitosanase, a powerful mutagen, MNNG was treated for P favisporus KNUC56. Three mutants showed higher activity of chitosanase than that of the original strain. The DNA fragments containing chitosanase gene from B. cereus sources were cloned, sequenced, and their deduced amino acid sequence analysis showed over 93% homologies with that of the known B. cereus ATCC14579. Extracellular sample from the isolates was incubated in proper reaction mixture including chitosan for 5 minutes at $37^{\circ}C$ to produce 3-10 chitosan oligomers which has been known to be active for clinical agents and agronomical agents.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.14 no.6 s.67
• /
• pp.986-990
• /
• 2004

Five strains of Vibrio vulnificus, which cause serious septicemia in human worldwidely, was isolated from marine environments of Korea costal area from May to July of 2002. The isolated strains were identified by API 20E kit and partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis. 16S rDNA sequence of the isolates showed $99\%$ similarity with V. vulnificus ATCC 27562. The proteins of V. vulnificus isolates were examined by analyzing patterns of the cell lysates and outer membrane proteins (OMP). The OMP separated from cell lysates showed the common protein band. Therefore OMP profiles might be useful for the identification of V. vulnificus sp.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.15-21
• /
• 2020

We found skin flukes in snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii) from a public aquarium and attempted clear identification of them to the species level by morphology and molecular analyses. Skin flukes were collected from snubnose pompano showing dyspnea, anorexia and mild hemorrhage on the skin. All the fish samples (n=2) were infected with the flukes on the skin, gill and eyes, covered with excessive mucus. The isolated worms were transferred for making slide specimen and PCR amplification targeting 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (mt cox1) and cytochrome b (Cytb) genes for further analyses. Morphology and measurements data of our slide specimen coincided with those of Neobenedenia girellae. The sequence data of 2 genes (28S rDNA and Cytb) and the phylogenetic trees revealed that our specimen consistently belonged to the N. girellae clade. For 18S rDNA and mt cox1 genes, there was no sequence of either of these 2 Neobenedenia species from the type host available in GenBank. This is the first record of N. girellae in snubnose pompano, but it is still unclear if the snubnose pompano is a natural host for N. girellae or not because N. girellae is known to have an unusual broad host range and the host-switching can occur particularly in captive conditions such as aquarium or aquaculture facilities.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.191-196
• /
• 2003

This study was carried out to investigate the isolation, identification, and antibacterial activity of lactic acid bacteria related to kimchi fermentation. Diluted kimchi soup was plated on the MRS agar media with CaCO$_3$ and incubated at $25^{\circ}C$ for 2 days. A total of 27 strains of lactic acid bacteria from various indigenous, spontaneously fermented vegetables (kimchi) were isolated. Combined methods of Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology, BPB media analysis and 16S rDNA sequence analysis were applied for identification, however, their results did not coincide in several cases. Isolated lactic acid bacteria could be classified by the 16S rDNA sequence analysis as Leuconostoc mesenteriodes, Leu. carnosum, Lactobacillus curvatus, Lac. pentosus, Weisselia kimchi, W. cibaria, and Pediococcus pentosaceus. Leu. carnosum has not been reported in kimchi lactic acid bacteria. In addition, antibacterial activities of the isolates were tested with Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, S. paratyphica, S. typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella boydii, and S. sonnei. Some of isolates showed significant antibacterial activities to those pathogens.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.295-300
• /
• 2018

Human sparganosis was diagnosed by morphological and genetic analyses in Korea. The complete mitochondrial genomes of Spirometra erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens isolated in Korea have been recorded. Present study was performed to provide information to diagnose the etiologic agent of sparganosis by multiplex PCR using mitochondrial genome sequences of S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens. In an effort to examine the differential diagnosis of spirometrid tapeworms, multiplex PCR assays were performed on plerocercoid larvae of S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens. The PCR products obtained using species-specific primers were positively detected in all PCR assays on mixture of S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens DNA. S. erinaceieuropaei-specific bands (239 bp and 401 bp) were obtained from all PCR assays using a mixture of S. erinaceieuropaei-specific primers (Se/Sd-1800F and Se-2018R; Se/Sd-7955F and Se-8356R) and S. erinaceieuropaei template DNA. S. decipiens-specific bands (540 bp and 644 bp) were also detected in all PCR assays containing mixtures of S. decipiens-specific primers (Se/Sd-1800F and Sd-2317R; Se/Sd-7955F and Sd-8567R) and S. decipiens template DNA. Sequence analyses on these species-specific bands revealed 100% sequence identity with homologous regions of the mtDNA sequences of S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens. The multiplex PCR assay was useful for differential diagnosis of human sparganosis by detecting different sizes in species-specific bands.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.71-75
• /
• 2006

We analyzed the phylogenic relationships of 23 partial 18S rDNA sequences of 22 species (1 species has 2 strains) belonging to Sarcorptiforms include 4 new sequences, using several tools. Although geographic distributions are quite far from, sequence similarity of two strains of Dermatophygoides pteronyssinus isolated from Japan and New Zealand were very high. This result suggests that mite migration by animals including human occurred in the two continents. We investigated the Endeostigmata taxonomic relationship between the Prostigmata and Oribatida subgroups using small fragments (340-400 bp) of their 185 rDNA sequences. But Endeostigmata was not grouped with Oribatida or Prostigmata. In conclusion, it is first reported phylogenic relationship for classified mites included in Sarcoptiformes using 185 rDNA sequence analysis and its system is a very powerful tool for classification of mites.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.82-89
• /
• 2018

This study was carried out to understand phylogenetic relationships of the 30 mulberry cultivars converved in Korea based on the ITS rDNA region, and they were compared to 40 reference sequences from GenBank. The size and the G+C content of the ITS rDNA gene regions from the 30 Korean mulberry cultivars and 40 reference sequences varied from 612-630 bp and 58.19-61.62%, respectively. Based on the results of the comparative phylogenetic analysis of the ITS rDNA regions of the 30 Korean mulberry cultivars and 40 reference sequences, they were divided into three groups (Group 1, 2, and 3) and two subgroups (Group 1A and 1B within Group 1). The sequence lengths of the Korean mulberry cultivar numbers 1-26 and 27-30 were 615 bp and 616 bp, respectively. At 205 bp location of ITS1 rDNA region, the cultivar numbers 1-26 contain the nucleotide thymine but the cultivar numbers 27-30 contain the nucleotide adenine. In addition, the insertion of the nucleotide adenine at 206 bp location was found only in the four Korean mulberry cultivars (numbers 27-30). Based on these sequence information and phylogenetic result, the 30 Korean mulberry cultivars were identified as M. alba and M. australis. This study will contribute to the construction of genetic database constructions and accurate variety identifications for unidentified mulberry varieties in Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.312-319
• /
• 2003

In an attempt to develop a method for rapid and accurate identification of six Vibrio species that are clinically important and most frequently detected in Korea, 16S rDNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of Vibrio type strains, as well as environmental isolates obtained from the Korean coastal area, was analyzed using ten restriction endonucleases. Digestion of the 16S rDNA fragments amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the enzymes gave rise to 2~6 restriction patterns for each digestion for 47 Vibrio strains and isolates. An additional 2~3 restriction patterns were observed for five reference species, including Escherichia coli, Aeromonas hydrophila, A. salmonicida, Photobacterium phosphoreum, and Plesiomonas shigelloides. A genetic distance tree based on RFLP of the bacterial species correlated well with that based on 16S rDNA sequences. The very small 16S rDNA sequence difference (0.1%) between V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus was resolved clearly by RFLP with a genetic distance of more than 2%. RFLP variation within a species was also detected in the cases of V. parahaemolyticus, V. proteolyticus, and V. vulnificus. According to the RFLP analysis, six Vibrio and five reference species were assigned to 12 genotypes. Using three restriction endonucleases to analyze RFLP proved sufficient to identify the six pathogenic Vibrio species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.945-951
• /
• 2007

DNA-DNA hybridization has been established as an important technology in bacterial species taxonomy and phylogenetic analysis. In this study, we analyzed how the efficiency with which the genomic DNA from one species hybridizes to the genomic DNA of another species (DNA-DNA hybridization) in microarray analysis relates to the similarity between two genomes. We found that the predicted DNA-DNA hybridization based on genome sequence similarity correlated well with the experimentally determined microarray hybridization. Between closely related strains, significant numbers of highly divergent genes (>55% identity) and/or the accumulation of mismatches between conserved genes lowered the DNA-DNA hybridization signal, and this reduced the hybridization signals to below 70% for even bacterial strains with over 97% 16S rRNA gene identity. In addition, our results also suggest that a DNA-DNA hybridization signal intensity of over 40% indicates that two genomes at least shared 30% conserved genes (>60% gene identity). This study may expand our knowledge of DNA-DNA hybridization based on genomic sequence similarity comparison and further provide insights for bacterial phylogeny analyses.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.289-294
• /
• 2002

The fungal strain SW-3 having antimicrobial activity was isolated from soil of crucified plants in Pocheon, Kyungki-Do, Korea. Strain SW-3 was identified as Alternaria brassicicola by its morphological characteristics, and confirmed by the analysis of the 18S gene and ITS regions of rDNA. The fungus showed a similarity of 99% with Alternaria brassicicola in the 18S rDNA sequence analysis. A. brassicicola has been reported to produce an antitumor compound, called depudecin. We found that strain SW-3 produced antimicrobial metabolites, in addition to depudecin, during sporulation under different growth conditions. The metabolite of the isolated fungus was found to have strong antifungal activity against Microsporium canis and Trichophyton rubrum, and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aerogenes. The amount and kind of metabolites produced by the isolate were affected by growth conditions such as nutrients and growth periods.