Endophytic Infection of Human Pathogen to Arabidopsis Thaliana and Prevention Effect Using Makgeolli Yeast
by Seunghee Kwon
Category: STEM
Abstract – One of the changes in the diet of westernized Asians due to the globalization of culture is the increase in the consumption of raw vegetables. However, while eating raw vegetables, people can get diseases from harmful bacteria remaining in the vegetables because they were not exposed to heat during cooking. In particular, since these bacteria exist inside plant, they cannot be removed by disinfection and washing the surface of the plant. Therefore, it was investigated whether adding Makgeolli yeast to the soil effectively prevents pathogen infection inside the plant and affects the growth of the soil bacteria. First, Arabidopsis roots were exposed to two types of Endophyte bacteria or E. coli (DH5α) expressing green fluorescent protein, and then it was confirmed whether the bacteria move to the stem or leaves by observing with a fluorescence microscope. Yeast isolated from rice wine or yeast filtrate inhibited the proliferation of harmful bacteria, E. coli. However, they did not affect Arabidopsis growth or inhibit the proliferation of beneficial bacteria among the eight bacteria isolated from soil. Finally, after exposing E. coli or yeast to Arabidopsis subjected to dry stress, the expression of the stress gene AtRD20 was compared to demonstrate that yeast inhibits the proliferation of E. coli. Besides, adding yeast present in fermented foods to the soil will be an effective solution to prevent infection by pathogens caused by the consumption of primitive vegetables in countries that use compost instead of chemical fertilizers in agriculture.