• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.234-243
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• 2018

The Antarctic Ocean contains numerous microorganisms that produce novel biocatalysts that can have applications in various industries. We screened various psychrophilic bacterial strains isolated from the Ross Sea and found that a Croceibacter atlanticus strain (Stock No. 40-F12) showed high lipolytic activity on a tributyrin plate. We isolated the corresponding lipase gene (lipCA) by shotgun cloning and expressed the LipCA enzyme in Escherichia coli cells. Homology modeling of LipCA was carried out using the Spain Arreo lake metagenome alpha/beta hydrolase as a template. According to the model, LipCA has an ${\alpha}/{\beta}$ hydrolase fold, Gly-X-Ser-X-Glymotif, and lid sequence, indicating that LipCA is a typical lipase enzyme. Active LipCA enzyme was purified fromthe cell-free extract by ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration chromatography. We determined its enzymatic properties including optimum temperature and pH, stability, substrate specificity, and organic solvent stability. LipCA was immobilized by the cross-linked enzyme aggregate (CLEA) method and its enzymatic properties were compared to those of free LipCA. After cross-linking, temperature, pH, and organic solvent stability increased considerably, whereas substrate specificities did not changed. The LipCA CLEA was recovered by centrifugation and showed approximately 40% activity after 4th recovery. This is the first report of the expression, characterization, and immobilization of a C. atlanticus lipase, and this lipase could have potential industrial application.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 2013

To express green fluorescent protein in the cocoon of silkworm, we constructed the fibroin H-chain expression system to produce enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in the cocoon of transgenic silkworms. The EGFP fusion protein, each with N- and C-terminal sequences of the fibroin H-chain, was designed to be secreted into the lumen of the posterior silk glands. The expression of the EGFP/H-chain fusion gene was regulated by the fibroin H-chain promoter. The use of the 3xP3-driven DsRed2 cDNA as a marker allowed us to rapidly distinguish transgenic silkworm. A mixture of the donor and helper vector was micro-injected into 1,200 eggs of bivoltin silkworms, Baegokjam. We obtained 8 broods. The cocoon displayed strong green fluorescence, proving that the fusion protein was present in the cocoon. Also, the presence of fusion proteins in cocoons was demonstrated by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. Accordingly, we suggest that the EGFP fluorescence silk will enable the production of the novel biomaterial based on the transgenic silk.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.184-190
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• 2011

Limonoid UDP-glucosyltransferase (LUGT) is an enzyme that converts limonoids into their corresponding glucosides and ultimately ameliorates limonoid bitterness in Citrus species. In this paper, the LUGT gene was cloned via PCR from 10 Jeju Citrus species. All the deduced glucosyltransferase proteins harbored a highly conserved plant secondary product glucosyltransferase (PSPG) motif within the C terminal region. Phylogenetic analysis based on the amino acid sequence comparison of the LUGT proteins from 10 Citrus species generated three distinct types. The expression patterns of LUGT gene in three representative species from each type were quite different with that of C. unshiu Marc. cv. Miyagawawase(Gungcheon), which his without distinctive juice delayed bitterness. Ourresultssho wth at some Citrus speciessuchas Citrusleiocarpa HORT(Bingul), Citruserythrosa HORT (Dongjunggul), and Citrustachibana TANAKA(Honggul) end emicin Jeju maybe susceptible to intense juice delayed bitterness due to delay inexpression of LUGT.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.398-405
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• 2016

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe structural gene encoding bacterioferritin comigratory protein (BCP) was previously cloned using the shuttle vector pRS316 to generate the BCP-overexpressing plasmid pBCP10. The present work aimed to evaluate the thermoresistant properties of BCP against high temperature stress using the plasmid pBCP10. When the S. pombe cells were grown to the early exponential phase and shifted from $30^{\circ}C$ to $37^{\circ}C$ or $42^{\circ}C$, the S. pombe cells harboring pBCP10 grew significantly more at both $37^{\circ}C$ and $42^{\circ}C$ than the vector control cells. After 6 h of the shifting to higher incubation temperatures, they contained the lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrite content, an index of nitric oxide (NO), than the vector control cells. After the temperature shifts, total glutathione (GSH) content and total superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were much higher in the S. pombe cells harboring pBCP10 than in the corresponding vector control cells. Taken together, the S. pombe BCP plays a thermoresistant role which might be based upon its ability both to down-regulate ROS and NO levels and to up-regulate antioxidant components, such as total GSH and SOD, and subsequently to maintain thermal stability.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2018

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the major pathogens in community-acquired diseases, and it contains several factors that promote its pathogenesis, including pneumolysin (PLY). PLY is a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family, which attacks cholesterol-containing membranes, thereby forming ring-shaped pores. Thus, it is a major key target for vaccines against pneumococcal disease. We cloned the PLY gene from S. pneumoniae D39 and inserted it into the pQE-30 vector. Recombinant PLY (rPLY) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli M15 and purified by $Ni^{2+}$ affinity chromatography. Similarly, a PLY-EGFP fusion gene was produced by inserting the EGFP gene at the 3' end of the PLY gene in the same vector, and the recombinant protein was purified. Sodium dodecyl sulfate - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that both recombinant proteins were purified. rPLY exhibited significant hemolytic activity against 1% human red blood cells (RBCs). Complete hemolysis was obtained at 500 ng/ml, and 50% hemolysis was found with a 240 ng/ml concentration. In contrast, rPLY-EGFP did not show hemolytic activity. However, rPLY-EGFP did bind the RBC membrane, indicating that rPLY-EGFP lost hemolytic activity via EGFP fusion, while retaining its membrane-binding ability. These data suggest that PLY's C terminus is important for its hemolytic activity. Therefore, these two recombinant proteins can be extremely useful for investigating the toxin mechanism of PLY and cell damage during pneumonia.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2016

In this work, major outer capsid protein (P10) encoded by genome segment S10 of Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) was expressed in Escherichia coli. Genomic dsRNA was extracted from RBSDV-miryang isolate infected rice plants. Based on the sequence of S10 (RBSDV-miryang, GenBank JX994211), a pair of S10 specific primers were designed and used to amplify the fragment encoding the N-part of P10. We amplified the partial gene (S10 1-834 nt) of RBSDV P10 (1-278 aa) by RT-PCR. Amplified RBSDV S10 (1-834 nt) was cloned into the expression vector pET32a (+). Recombinant RBSDV S10 (1-834 nt) was expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) and purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) affinity column. We successfully obtained P10 partial protein of RBSDV and the purified protein was used to immunize rabbits. The resulting polyclonal antiserum specifically recognized RBSDV from infected plant in both Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In this study, we provide purified RBSDV P10 (1-278 aa), which would be good material for the serological study of RBSDV-miryang isolates.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.559-568
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• 2020

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a hormone protein that affects cell growth and proliferation, and has various medical applications. In the present study, the gene of human EGF was codon-optimized with E. coli and the expression vector was constructed by cloning into pRSET. In order to obtain the recombinant human EGF in an active form rather than an inclusion body, chaperone co-expression was attempted along with codon optimization, for the first time. The expressed human EGF was isolated in the pure form by performing Ion Exchange Chromatography in two consecutive runs. ELISA analysis showed that the activity of purified EGF was greater than 99%, which is similar to commercially available EGF. Cell proliferation test confirmed that the recombinant human EGF has the ability to promote cell proliferation of human skin fibroblasts. The human EGF expression system of this study gives a significant amount of protein, and does not require the renaturation step and the additional chromatographic system to remove a fusion contaminant, thereby providing a very useful alternative to conventional expression systems for the preparation of recombinant human EGF.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2005

Xenotransplantation may help to overcome the critical shortage of human tissues and organs for human transplantation, Swine represents an ideal source of such organs owing to their anatomical and physiological similarities to human besides their plentiful supply, However, the use of organs across the species barrier may be associated with the risk of transmission of pathogens, specially porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs).• Although most of these potential pathogens could be eliminated by pathogen-free breeding, PERVs are not eliminated by this treatment. PERVs are integrated into the genome of all pigs and produced by normal pig cells and infect human cells. They belong to gamma retroviruses and are of three classes viruses: A, B and C. In the present study, PCR based cloning was performed with chromosomal DNA extracted from pigs from domestic pigs in Korea. Amplified PCR fragments of about 1.5 Kb, covering the partial env gene, were cloned into pCR2.l-TOPO vectors and sequenced. A total of 91 env clones were obtained from domestic pigs, Berkshire, Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire in Korea. Phylogenetic analysis of these genes revealed the presence of only PERV class A and B in the proportion of 58 % and 42 %, respectively. Among these, 28 clones had the correct open reading frame: 18 clones in class A and 10 clones in class B. Since both these PERV classes are polytropic and have the capacity to infect human cells, our data suggest that proviral PERVs have the potential to generate infectious viruses during or after xenotransplantation in human.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2000

Catechol 2,3-dioxygenase was purified from recombinant strain E. coli CNU312 carrying the tomB gene which was cloned from toluene-degrading Burkholderia cepacia G4. The purification of this enzyme was performed by acetone precipitation, Sephadex G-75 chromatography, electrophoresis and electro-elution. The molecular weight of native enzyme was about 140.4 kDa and its subunit was estimated to be 35 kDa by SDS-PAGE. It means that this enzyme consists of four identical subunits. This enzyme was specifically active to catechol, and$K_(m)$ value and $V_(max)$value of this enzyme were 372.6 $\mu$M and 39.27 U/mg. This enzyme was weakly active to 3-methylcatechol, 4-methylcatechol, and 4-chlorocatechol, but rarely active to 2,3-DHBP. The optimal pH and temperature of the enzyme were pH 8.0 and $40^{\circ}C$. The enzyme was inhibited by $Co^(2+)$, $Mn^(2+)$, $Zn^(2+)$, $Fe^(2+)$, $Fe^(3+)$, and $Cu^(2+)$ ions, and was inactivated by adding the reagents such as N-bromosuccinimide, and $\rho$-diazobenzene sulfonic acid. The activity of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase was not stabilized by 10% concentration of organic solvents such as acetone, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, and acetic acid, and by reducing agents such as 2-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, and ascorbic acid. The enzyme was inactivated by the oxidizing agent $H_(2)$$O_(2)$, and by chelators such as EDTA, and ο-phenanthroline.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 1999

By SDS-polyacrylamide gel elcctrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblot analysis that a protein with 66,000 daltons in size was recognized by P. aeruginosa anti-exotoxin A from P. sp. PY002. The yields of exotoxin A in P. sp. PY002 culture were influenced by the concentration of iron in the culture media. Increasing of the exotoxin A production and siderophore production was made slight increasing in the MKB medium. On the other hand, to clone the gene encoding the exoloxin A genomic library of P. sp. PY002 was constructed in pBluescript SK(+). From this library a exotoxin A homologous gene was isolated by immunological hybridization method using P. aemginosa anti-exoloxin A as a probe. Two putative clones were isolated and designated pETA23 and pETA42. Thc restriction analysis ol pETA42 demonstrated that thc 1760 bp insert contained one NcoI, PvuII, SstI, Kpnl and EcoRI site and three SmaI and HaeD sites.