• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.282-285
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• 2004

The polyene antibiotics including nystatin, pimaricin, amphotericin and candicidin are a family of most promising antifungal polyketide compounds, typically produced by rare actinomycetes species. The biosynthetic gene clusters for these polyenes have been previously investigated, revealing the presence of highly homologous biosynthetic genes among polyene-producers such as polyketide synthase (PKS) and cytochrome P450 hydroxylase (CYP) genes. Based on amino acid sequence alignment among actinomycetes CYP genes, the highly-conserved regions specific for only polyene CYP genes were identified and chosen for degenerate PCR primers, followed by the PCR-screening with various actinomycetes genomic DNAs. Among tested several polyene non-producing actinomycetes strains, Pseudonorcardia autotrophica strain was selected based on the presence of PCR product with polyene-specific CYP gene primers, and then confirmed to contain a cryptic novel polyene hydroxylase gene in the chromosome. These results suggest that the polyene-specific hydroxylase gene PCR should be an efficient way of screening and isolating potentially-valuable cryptic polyene antibiotic biosynthetic genes from various microorganisms including rare actinomycetes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.163-165
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• 1998

The use of synthetic pesticides in crop production, brings the possibility of a nonselective toxicity and accumulation of toxic compounds in the environment. As an alternative, bioactive compounds from actinomycetes can provide a rich source for biodegradable pesticides. A variety of biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, herbicidal, insecticidal and anticoccidial are associated with these microbial metabolites. Studies on the production of bioactive compounds from marine-derived actinomycetes have been very few, compared to the terrestrial actinomycetes. With their unique metabolic and physiological capabilities, the marine actinomycetes can be useful producers of novel metabolites.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.119-124
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• 1999

About two thirds of the naturally occurring antibiotics have been discovered from actinomycetes. Therefore, the probability of discovering further new antibiotics from actinomycetes is declining as many known metabolites are isolated repeatedly. However, various efforts leave been made in order to enhance the probability of discovering novel compounds. In the present study, we have developed new screening strategies based on the antibiotic biosynthetic pathway, and the genetic information, utilizing polymerase chain reaction. We have selected macrolide type polyketides. In order to divide the ansamycin group antibotic of macrolide type polyketides, we have selected 3-amino-5-hydroxybenzoic acid (AHBA) moiety which contains a biosynthetically unique structural element in the group as a target molecules. Oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify DNA fragments of macrolide type polyketide synthase and AHBA synthase genes from fourteen actinomycetes species. This method was successfully applied to all three of the known macrolide type polyketide produccing actinomycetes tested. In addition, it also identified the presence of potential macrolide type polyketide producing genes from seven actinomycetes that were known to produce none of macrolide type polyketides, and AHBA biosynthetic genes in one actinomycetes. This technique is potentially useful for the screening of new antibiotices and cloning of their biosynthetic genes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 1993

Actinomycetes are the most diverse group of bacteria. in variety. morphology. and life cycle. Especially. the variety of genus and species of Actinomycetes is so diverse among other microorganisms that about 50 genus of Actinomycetes have been reported until now. Among them. Streptomyces genus is the most plentiful and over 220 species have been reported. The number of the genus of Actinomycetes will be expected to be fixed to about 55 genus and 250 Streptomyces species in the year 2000 thereabouts. Morphological and physiological characters of Actinomycetes varies with culture condition. and therefore diverse life cycles are also possible. In this paper. life cycles of the representative Actinomycetes, Nocardia, Streptomyces. Kitasatosporia. GeodermatoPhi/us. and Sporichthya. according to the condition of nutrient in the media were reviewed.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.239-241
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• 2000

From 5 forest soil samples, the isolation frequency of oligotrophic Actinomycetes was investigated with nutrient and minimal media. The frequency of soil Actinomycetes by the minimal media. The frequency of soil Actinomycetes by the minimal media of DHV, WA, BA and NA was similar to the value by HV nutrient medium. In addition, different Actinomycetes were isolated from all the media used in this experiment and then their growth were tested on nutrient (Bennett's agar) and minimal media(WA). In consequent, the number of different Actinomycetes from minimal media was 26.1 strains, whereas the number of from nutrient medium (HV) was 26.6 strains. Furthermore, the percentage of facultative and obligate strains among the oligotrophic Actinomycetes was 90% and 10%, respectively.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.3 no.3_4
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• pp.213-216
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• 2000

The marine actinomycetes are very interesting microorganisms for finding of new antibiotics, because they are inhabited in marine environmental conditions, such as salinity, organic material and low concentration of nutrient components that are differ from those of land. In this study, the actinomycetes producing antibiotics from sea waters and bottom deposit samples collected at east coast of Korea were investigated to invent new antibiotics. Nine actinomycetes strains having the antimicrobial activity of 431 actinomycetes were selected from sea waters and bottom deposit samples. Among the 9 strains, the strain having the highest antimicrobial activity was classified to Streptomyces sp. and named Streptomyces sp. NS 13239.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.287-292
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• 2002

Lignin-peroxidase (LiP) has been considered as one of the most important industrial enzymes for biodegradation of various recalcitrant toxic compounds such as chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons and azo-dyes. Recently, several soil actinomycetes have been reported to secrete a functionally-similar lignin-peroxidase called actinomycetes lig-nin-peroxidase (ALiP). In this manuscript, we isolated over 100 morphologically distinct actinomycetes from the contaminated soils around 10 different gas stations located nearby the Kyung-An river. Among these actinomycetes screened based on the congo-red dye-decolorization activities, one newly-isolated actinomycetes named SMA-2 showed the most significant dye-decoloring activity on the congo-red plate as well as a significant ALiP activity in a yeast-extract-malt-extract liquid media supplemented with starch. The optimum SMA-2 culture condition fur ALiP production was determined and the kinetic parameters fur the SMA-2 AkIP activity were characterized. The optimally-cultured SMA-2 also exhibited the oxidation activities toward various recalcitrant aromatic compounds including phenol, 2- chlorophenol, 4- chlorophenol, 2,4- dichlorophenol ,2,6- dichlorophenol, and 2,4, f-trichlorophe - not, suggesting a potential application of SMA-2 for contaminated soil bioremediation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.129-133
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• 2000

Different actinomycete strains were isolated from natural lime caves of Ondal Chemongok Hwanseon and Yongyeon which are located at Kangwon or chungcheongbook province in Korea and were identified to the genus level. Soil sam-ples were collected at 6 sites inside and 2 sites outside of each natural lime cave, As the result the strains belonging to genus Streptomyces and rare actinomycetes were isolated at the average of 2.1 and 3.4 strains per g soil on inside cave whereas which were isolated at the 6.0 and 1.8 strains per g soil on outside cave. How-ever the generic distribution of Streptomyces and rare actinomycetes isolated from outside cave was quite dif-ferent from that of inside cave. It was shown that rare actinomycetes at natural lime caves is generally highly abundant than Streptomyces.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.515-517
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• 1999

From the soils collected seasonally at the 0.5~2cm and 50$\pm$1cm depths of riverside, different strains of actinomycetes were isolated and identified to the genus. At the 0.5~2cm depth, Streptomyces and rare actinomycetes were in total 73 and 62 strains, respectively. Streptomyces was approximately 2-fold more in spring and autumn than summer, and rare actinomycetes was at least 4-fold more in autumn and winter than spring. At the 50$\pm$1cm depth, Streptomyces and rare actinomycetes were in total isolated 53 and 41 strains, and these were at least 2-fold more diverse in autumn than spring, summer, and winter.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.121-125
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• 1989

Actinomycetes GF 155-2, which produced an extracellular pepsin inhibitor, was isolated from soil samples. Optimal conditions of inhibitor production by flask-shacking culture were 2% glucose, 0.7% polypeptone, initial pH 1.0, culture time 60 hours and temperature 30%. Effect of in-organic salts was not observed. About 5mg of colorless crystalline inhibitor was obtained from 5L culture broth in jar tormentor by means of ammonium sulfate precipitation, methanol extraction, and column chromatographies on Amberlite IR-120, XAD-2 and silicagel 60.