The primary therapeutic approach for Brucella species infections has mainly been based on antibiotic treatment. However, the development of vaccines for brucellosis control remains controversial. Furthermore, there is currently no licensed vaccine available for human brucellosis. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a combination of recombinant protein vaccines against Brucella (B.) abortus infection using a mouse model. Two B. abortus genes, namely dapB and gpm, were cloned and expressed in competent Escherichia (E.) coli DH5α using the pCold-TF vector. Successfully cloned vectors were subjected to PCR amplification using specific primer pairs. The apparent sizes of dapB and gpm were detected at 807 bp and 621 bp, respectively. Besides, the purified recombinant proteins dapB and gpm were detected using SDS-PAGE electrophoresis with correct sizes of 82.86 kDa and 87.61 kDa, respectively. These recombinant proteins were used to immunize mice as a combined subunit vaccine (CSV) to elicit host immunity against B. abortus infection. Mice immunized with CSV exhibited increased proliferation of CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cells at week 7th and 9th before sacrifice, in comparison to the control group. Notably, CSV immunization showed a significant decrease in bacterial burden in the spleen compared to the control group. Altogether, CSV using dapB and gpm induced host adaptive immune response against Brucella infection, suggesting its potential as an effective new subunit vaccine candidate.

To identify some significant phenotypic characteristics of maize(zea mays) seeds, we have obtained Red, Green, Blue(RGB) digital image data from 82 recombinant inbred lines. Based on the collected image data, their morphological and color data were analyzed, and seven significant parameters were selected, including area, perimeter, length, width, circularity, roundness, and surface texture. The extracted RGB data were converted into color hex codes to visualize the representative colors of the seeds. These visualized colors were categorized into six groups: gray, yellowish white, yellow, grayish orange, purple, and brown. The results of maize seed phenotypic analysis using the RGB digital images in this study will serve as a useful tool for constructing a database of seed phenotyping database and establishing a standardized classification system.

Extensive research and testing continue to be conducted for the development of vaccines targeting zoonotic diseases such as brucellosis. In this study, the potential of the DapB as a recombinant protein vaccine to effectively combat Brucella abortus 544 infection in BALB/c mice was evaluated. Western blotting assay results showed that recombinant protein DapB reacted with Brucella-positive serum, indicating its potential immunoreactivity. In vivo results showed that the peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T cell population significantly increased in the DapB-immunized mice group after the first, second and third blood collection, compared to the control group that received PBS. Additionally, at the fourth blood collection, an increase in CD4+ T cell activation was observed in three vaccination groups compared to PBS negative control group. These results indicate the potential of DapB in stimulating cellular immunity. Fourteen days after infection, the bacterial load in the spleen was evaluated. The reduction in bacterial replication in the spleen by both DapB and RB51 highlights their protective efficacy against Brucella infection. These findings contribute to the ongoing efforts in developing effective vaccines against brucellosis and provide valuable insights for further research in this field.

Subunit vaccines are being developed as a potential therapy for preventing microbial pathogen infection. In this study, the immunogenicity of recombinant Brucella (B.) abortus Fe/Mn superoxide dismutase (rFe/Mn SOD) protein as a subunit vaccine against B. abortus was investigated in BALB/c mice model. Brucella Fe/Mn SOD gene was cloned into a pcold-TF DNA vector. The bacterial recombinant protein was expressed using the Escherichia coli DH5α strain with a size of 82.50 kDa. The western blotting assay showed that rFe/Mn SOD reacted with Brucella-positive serum, indicating the potential immunoreactivity of this recombinant protein. After the second and third vaccinations, the peripheral CD4+ T cell population was increased significantly in the rFe/Mn SOD-immunized mice group compared to the PBS control group. Moreover, immunization of this recombinant protein increased the CD4+ T cell population from the first vaccination to the third vaccination. Meanwhile, the CD8+ T cells were slightly enhanced after the second vaccination compared to the first vaccination and compared to control groups. Fourteen days after the bacterial infection, the splenomegaly and the number of bacteria in the spleen were evaluated. The result showed that both rFe/Mn SOD and positive control RB51 decreased the bacterial replication in the spleen and the splenomegaly compared to control groups. Altogether, these results suggested that rFe/Mn SOD could induce host immunity against B. abortus infection.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes severe respiratory disease in humans, with a case fatality rate of approximately 35%, thus posing a considerable threat to public health. A lack of approved vaccines or antivirals currently constitutes a barrier for controlling disease outbreaks and spread. In this study, we generated a replication-defective recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus expressing the MERS-CoV spike (S) protein (VSV/MERS). Uncleaved and cleaved S proteins were detected in VSV/MERS by western blotting. And VSV/MERS specifically transduced cells expressing human dipeptidyl peptidase 4, a receptor for MERS-CoV. To investigate the immunogenicity of VSV/MERS, mice were immunized intramuscularly with VSV/MERS and alum adjuvant. MERS-CoV S-specific IgG was detected in serum samples from immunized mice. These antibodies inhibited MERS entry in vitro, suggesting a protective efficacy of VSV/MERS immunity. The data demonstrate that VSV/MERS has potent immunogenicity and could serve as a novel potential vaccine platform for MERS in dromedary camels and human.

In the present study, a novel ELISA method used recombinant nucleocapsid protein (rNP) as the coating agent. Recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) protein was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Though the rNP-ELISA results were consistent with commercial ELISA results for the NDV-negative sera samples, qualitatively and quantitatively variable (often reduced) results were obtained with NDV-positive sera. Although the rNP-ELISA results for NDV detection were inconclusive, further improvement and standardization of the rNP-ELISA approach, such as using multiple recombinant proteins as the ELISA coating agent and performing comprehensive statistical analyses of combined recombinant protein ELISA, should help counter Newcastle disease outbreaks by improving NDV detection.

벼의 잎은 광합성을 위한 주요 기관으로, 동화산물의 생산을 통해 벼의 수량 결정에 영향을 준다. 따라서, 상위엽의 형태적 특징은 다수성 벼 품종의 육성을 위한 필수적인 고려요소이다. 본 연구에서는, 연차간 안정적으로 발현하는 3개의 엽폭 조절 QTL인 qLW4.1, qLW4.2, qLW7을 탐지하였다. 이들은 분석집단에서 나타난 엽폭 표현형 변이의 5.2~44.9% 를 설명할 수 있었다. qLW4.2 영역에 대한 후보유전자 분석 결과, 해당 QTL 영역에서 엽폭 조절 유전자인 NAL1을 발견하였다. 상위엽은 수량에 대해 정의 간접효과 나타냈으며, 그 효과의 크기는 수당립수에 대한 상위엽의 정의 직접효과와 수수에 대한 상위엽의 부의 직접효과에 의해 결정되었다. 한국 벼 유전자원에서 엽폭은 상대적으로 좁은 범위에서 표현형 변이를 나타내었으며, 이는 특정 상위엽폭이 한국 자원에서 선호 되었음을 시사한다. NAL1의 하플로타입 분석결과는 대다수의 한국 자원들이 자포니카형 하플로타입을 지닌 반면에, 모든 통일형 품종들은 인디카형을 지니고 있음을 밝혀냈다. 이러한 결과는 유용 대립유전자형인 자포니카형 NAL1의 도입을 통해 통일형 품종의 다수성 형질을 더욱 향상시킬 수 있음을 의미 한다.

Canine parvovirus (CPV) remains a leading infectious cause of death in canines, especially in young puppies. Though vaccination is being carried out regularly, immunization failures occur, and puppies may be exposed to infection. Virus-like particles (VLPs) act like a subunit vaccine, mimicking the structure of authentic viruses. Therefore, VLPs have the potential to be used as vaccine candidates. Since Viral Protein 2 (VP2), a major structural protein of CPV, is the crucial antigen for CPV, the purpose of this study was to produce a recombinant VP2 of new canine parvovirus-2a using the baculovirus expression system in SF9 insect cells. The results revealed that recombinant VP2 assembles to form VLPs with antigenic properties similar to those of natural CPV, the recombinant VLP can produce a hemagglutination assay (HA) titer (1:210) in SF9 cells. Expression of the recombinant 6-His-tagged VP2 in SF9 cells was confirmed by western blotting. These findings suggest that the recombinant VP2 expressed in this study could be used as an efficient subunit vaccine against CPV infection.

This study investigated the efficacy of four Brucella (B.) abortus recombinant proteins, namely adenylate kinase (Adk), nucleoside diphosphate kinase (Ndk), 50S ribosomal protein (L7/L12) and preprotein translocase subunit (SecB), as a combined subunit vaccine (CSV) against B. abortus infection in BALB/c mice. Immunoblotting assay showed that these four recombinant proteins as well as pcold-TF vector reacted individually with Brucella-positive serum, but not with Brucella-negative serum. The peripheral blood CD4+ T cell population was increased in CSV-immunized mice compared to PBS and pcold-TF vector groups. In addition, CSV and pcold-TF groups displayed induced IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies production compared to PBS and RB51 group, whereas IgG2a titer was higher than IgG1 titer in CSV group. The secretion profiles of IgG1 and IgG2a production together with an enhancement of CD4+ T cell population suggested that CSV did not only induce T helper 1 (Th1) T cell immunity but also humoral immunity. Therein, Th1 T cell immunity is more predominant in eliminating intracellular bacteria B. abortus. Furthermore, CSV immunization significantly reduced the bacterial burden in the spleen as well as the spleen weight in comparison to PBS and pcold-TF groups. Altogether, combination of these antigens could be potential to induce protective immunity against B. abortus infection in animals.