• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.348-355
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• 2023

Epifluorescence microscopy with image analysis was evaluated as a biofilm quantification method (i.e., quantification of surface area colonized by biofilms), in comparison with crystal violet (CV) staining. We performed different experiments to generate multispecies biofilms with natural and artificial bacterial assemblages. First, four species were inoculated daily in 16 different sequences to form biofilms (surface colonization, 0.1%-56.6%). Second, a 9-species assemblage was allowed to form biofilms under 10 acylase treatment episodes (33.8%-55.6%). The two methods comparably measured the quantitative variation in biofilms, exhibiting a strong positive relationship (R² ≥ 0.7). Moreover, the two methods exhibited similar levels of variation coefficients. Finally, six synthetic and two natural consortia were allowed to form biofilms for 14 days, and their temporal dynamics were monitored. The two methods were comparable in quantifying four biofilms colonizing ≥18.7% (R² ≥ 0.64), but not for the other biofilms colonizing ≤ 3.7% (R² ≤ 0.25). In addition, the two methods exhibited comparable coefficients of variation in the four biofilms. Microscopy and CV staining comparably measured the quantitative variation of biofilms, exhibiting a strongly positive relationship, although microscopy cannot appropriately quantify the biofilms below the threshold colonization. Microscopy with image analysis is a promising approach for easily and rapidly estimating absolute quantity of multispecies biofilms.

• 미생물학회지
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.202-207
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• 1994

Bacillus megaterium ATCC 14945의 penicillin G acylase 유전자의 염기배열을 결정하였다. 이 유전자에는 2,406 염기쌍으로 이루어진 하나의 open reading frame이 존재하는데, 개시코돈의 5' 위쪽에서 Shine-Dalgarno 배열과 promoter로 여겨지는 부분을 발견하였으며, 종결코돈의 3' Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803으로부터 광활성종속영양으로 생장할 수 없는 돌연변이체 PRM1을 분리하였다. PRM1을 혼합영양으로 배양하였을 경우에는 생장속도가 Synechocystis 6803과 거의 같았다. 그러나 PRM1을 하루에 5 분만 빛을 조사하면서 광활성종속영양으로 배양하였을 경우에는 전혀 생장하지 못하였다. 이러한 결과는 PRM1이 종속영양으로 생장하는데 필요한 대사능력에 이상이 있는 것이 아니라 생장에 필요한 광신호 전이 체계에 이상이 있음을 시사한다. PRM1의 plasmid 양상, 균체의 absorption spectra, 세포 내부와 외부의 형태 등은 Synechocystis 6803과 유사하였으나 여러 세포들을 함께 얽어매는 부정형 점액성 물질을 형성하지 않는 점이 달랐다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.937-945
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• 2020

N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated quorum sensing (QS) plays a major role in development of biofilms, which contribute to rise in infections and biofouling in water-related industries. Interference in QS, called quorum quenching (QQ), has recieved a lot of attention in recent years. Rhodococcus spp. are known to have prominent quorum quenching activity and in previous reports it was suggested that this genus possesses multiple QQ enzymes, but only one gene, qsdA, which encodes an AHL-lactonase belonging to phosphotriesterase family, has been identified. Therefore, we conducted a whole genome sequencing and analysis of Rhodococcus sp. BH4 isolated from a wastewater treatment plant. The sequencing revealed another gene encoding a QQ enzyme (named jydB) that exhibited a high AHL degrading activity. This QQ enzyme had a 46% amino acid sequence similarity with the AHL-lactonase (AidH) of Ochrobactrum sp. T63. HPLC analysis and AHL restoration experiments by acidification revealed that the jydB gene encodes an AHL-lactonase which shares the known characteristics of the α/β hydrolase family. Purified recombinant JydB demonstrated a high hydrolytic activity against various AHLs. Kinetic analysis of JydB revealed a high catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_M) against C4-HSL and 3-oxo-C6 HSL, ranging from 1.88 x 10⁶ to 1.45 x 10⁶ M^-1 s^-1, with distinctly low K_M values (0.16-0.24 mM). This study affirms that the AHL degrading activity and biofilm inhibition ability of Rhodococcus sp. BH4 may be due to the presence of multiple quorum quenching enzymes, including two types of AHL-lactonases, in addition to AHL-acylase and oxidoreductase, for which the genes have yet to be described.