• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2020

We improved on a unified saccharification and fermentation (USF) system for the direct production of ethanol from agarose by increasing total agarase activity. The pGMFα-NGH plasmid harboring the NABH558 gene encoding neoagarobiose hydrolase and the AGAG1 and AGAH71 genes encoding β-agarase was constructed and used to transform Saccharomyces cerevisiae 2805. NABH558 gene transcription level was increased and total agarase activity was increased by 25 to 40% by placing the NABH558 gene expression cassette upstream of the other gene expression cassettes. In the 2805/pGMFα-NGH transformant, three secretory agarases were produced that efficiently degraded agarose to galactose, 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose (AHG), neoagarobiose, and neoagarohexaose. During the united cultivation process, a maximum of 2.36 g/l ethanol from 10 g/l agarose was produced over 120 h.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2007

The arylsulfatase gene (astA, 984 bp ORF) from Pseudoalteromonas carrageenovora genome was amplified by PCR and subcloned into the pHCE-IA vector, in which the hyper consitutive expression (HCE) promoter from the D-amino acid aminotransferase (D-AAT) gene of Geobacillus toevii was employed. The transformant cell, Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3)/pHCE-AST, on LB agar plate containig 4-methylumbelliferyl sulfate, showed an intense fluorescence at 360 nm, indicating that 4-methylumbelliferone was liberated by desulfatate activity. When BL21 (DE3)/pHCE-AST was grown on LB media containing 0.4% glucose or 0.4% glycerol, the arylsulfatase activity was higher at glycerol rather than at glucose. On 2% glycerol medium, the arylsulfatase activity reached 15.0 unit/ml, which was 2.6-fold higher expression level than that with 1% glycerol. The DNA ladder in agarose prepared from agar by this recombinant enzyme revealed similar resolution and migration patterns with a commercial agarose. This results suggests that arylsulfatase overexpressed in E. coli could be applicable to the economic production of electrophoretic-grade agarose.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.355-360
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• 2009

In this study, the arylsulfatase gene (astA, 984 bp ORF) from Pseudoalteromonas carrageenovora genome was expressed on the cell surface of S. cerevisiae by fusing with Aga2p linked to the membrane anchored protein, Aga1p. The constructed plasmid, pCTAST (7.1 kb), was introduced to S. cerevisiae EBY100 cell, and yeast transformants on YPDG plate showed the hydrolyzing activity for 4-methylumbelliferyl-sulfate and p-nitrophenyl-sulfate. When S. cerevisiae EBY100/pCTAST was grown on YPDG medium, the arylsulfatase activity of cell pellet reached about 1.2 unit/mL, whereas no extracellular arylsulfatase activity was detected. The DNA ladder in agarose prepared from agar by this recombinant arylsulfatase showed similar resolution and migration patterns with a commercial agarose. This results revealed that arylsulfatase expressed on the cell surface of S. cerevisiae could be applicable to the economic production of electrophoretic-grade agarose.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2022

In vivo oocytes grow and mature in ovarian follicles whereas oocytes are matured in vitro in plastic culture dishes with a hard surface. In vivo oocytes show a superior developmental ability to in vitro counterparts, indicating suboptimal environments of in vitro culture. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of an agarose matrix as a culture substrate during in vitro maturation (IVM) on the development of pig oocytes derived from small antral follicles (SAFs). Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) retrieved from SAFs were grown in a plastic culture dish without an agarose matrix and then cultured for maturation in a plastic dish coated without (control) or with a 1% or 2% (w/v) agarose hydrogel. Then, the effect of the soft agarose matrix on oocyte maturation and embryonic development was assessed by analyzing intra-oocyte contents of glutathione (GSH) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), expression of VEGFA, HIF1A, and PFKP genes, and blastocyst formation after parthenogenesis. IVM of pig COCs on a 1% (w/v) agarose matrix showed a significantly higher blastocyst formation, intra-oocyte GSH contents, and transcript abundance of VEGFA. Moreover, a significantly lower intra-oocyte ROS content was detected in oocytes matured on the 1% and 2% (w/v) agarose matrices than in control. Our results demonstrated that IVM of SAFs-derived pig oocytes on a soft agarose matrix enhanced developmental ability by improving the cytoplasmic maturation of oocytes through redox balancing and regulation of gene expression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.625-632
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• 2019

The unified saccharification and fermentation (USF) system was developed for direct production of ethanol from agarose. This system contains an enzymatic saccharification process that uses three types of agarases and a fermentation process by recombinant yeast. The $pGMF{\alpha}-HGN$ plasmid harboring AGAH71 and AGAG1 genes encoding ${\beta}-agarase$ and the NABH558 gene encoding neoagarobiose hydrolase was constructed and transformed into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae 2805 strain. Three secretory agarases were produced by introducing an S. cerevisiae signal sequence, and they efficiently degraded agarose to galactose, 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose (AHG), neoagarobiose, and neoagarohexose. To directly produce ethanol from agarose, the S. cerevisiae $2805/pGMF{\alpha}-HGN$ strain was cultivated into YP-containing agarose medium at $40^{\circ}C$ for 48 h (for saccharification) and then $30^{\circ}C$ for 72 h (for fermentation). During the united cultivation process for 120 h, a maximum of 1.97 g/l ethanol from 10 g/l agarose was produced. This is the first report on a single process containing enzymatic saccharification and fermentation for direct production of ethanol without chemical liquefaction (pretreatment) of agarose.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 1986

$\alpha$-Amylase gene of B. amyloliquefaciens was cloned to E. coli-yeast shuttle vector YEp-13 and expressed in E. coli. Chromosomal DNA of B. amyloliquefaciens was partially digested with Sau3Al and YEp13 plasmid was cleaved with BamH1. The hybrid plasmid, pHA28, was constructed by shotgun method and transformed to E. coli C600 and HB101. The amount of $\alpha$-amylase produced by transformants of E. coli was about 20% to 30% of that produced by B. amyloli-quefaciens. About 65% of $\alpha$-amylase produced by transformant was secreted into periplasm and the others were located in cytoplasm. $\alpha$-Amylase production was maximal when transformants were cultivated for 15hr to 20hr. As the result of agarose gel electrophoresis, pHA28 plasmid was found to be various in its size. This result suggested that pHA28 plasmid was segregated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1323-1328
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• 2011

We herein report the development of an agarose-gel-immobilized recombinant bacterial biosensor simple system for the field monitoring of phenolic compounds. Escherichia coli cells harboring the pLZCapR plasmid, which was previously designed to express the ${\beta}$-galactosidase reporter gene in the presence of phenolic compounds, were co-immobilized with a substrate [chlorophenol red ${\beta}$-galactopyranoside (CPRG) in agarose gel, and dispensed to the wells of a 96-well plate. Field samples were added to the wells and color development was monitored. In the presence of 5 ${\mu}M$ to 10 mM of phenol, the biosensor developed a red (representing hydrolysis of CPRG) color. Other phenolic compounds were also detected by this immobilized system, with the pattern resembling that previously reported for the corresponding non-immobilized biosensor. The immobilized cells showed optimum activity when the gel was simultaneously supplemented with 6% dimethyl formamide (DMF), 0.1% SDS and 10 mM $CaCl_2$. The immobilized biosensor described herein does not require the addition of a substrate or the use of unwieldy instruments or sample pretreatments that could complicate field studies.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.662-666
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• 2019

In this study, the NABH558 gene expression system was constructed to efficiently produce neoagarobiose hydrolase (NABH) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. The ADH1 and GAL10 promoters of the pAMFα-NABH and pGMFα-NABH plasmids were examined to determine the suitable promoter for the NABH558 gene expression, respectively. The effect of promoter and carbon sources on NABH558 gene expression was investigated by transforming each plasmid into the S. cerevisiae 2805 strain. The NABH activity in the 2805/pAMFα-NABH strain was 0.069 unit/ml/DCW in YPD medium, whereas that in the 2805/pGMFα-NABH strain was similar (0.02-0.027 unit/ml/DCW) irrespective of the medium composition. The higher NABH activity in the YPD medium was due to the increased NABH558 gene transcription. NABH produced in the recombinant strains could degrade agarose to galactose and AHG. This indicated that ADH1 promoter was a more optimal promoter for the expression of NABH558 gene than the GAL10 promoter. The NABH activity induced by the ADH1 promoter was about 3-fold higher than that induced by the GAL10 promoter.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 1995

For the purpose of developing a new biodegradable detergent, we have isolated a gene encoding wide-range temperature applicable alkaline protease from Xanthomonas sp. YL-37 (Lee et al., 1994, Kor. J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol.). An alkaline protease gene was isolated from the gene bank that was prepared from the chromosomal DNA of Xanthomonas sp. YL-37. From the results of agarose gel electrophoresis and a restriction enzyme mapping, a 2.7 kb DNA fragment containing the alkaline protease gene was inserted in the plasmid pUC9. Extracellular activity of a clone having alkaline protease gene was detected on SDS-polyacrylamide gel with activity staining assay. The molecular weight of alkaline protease was determined to be about 64 kDa from 11% SDS-PAGE analysis. Alkaline protease activity, produced from E. coli which harboring the plasmid, showed no difference at reaction temperature 20, 30 and 40$\circ$C, respectively. This result showed that alkaline protease produced from E. coli harboring the plasmid was apparently the same as that of Xanthomonas sp. YL-37.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2002

For axenic isolation of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa, water bloom at the Mulgum station from the Nakdong River was pretreated by shaking with distilled water. Removal of bacteria was accomplished using antibiotics (150 $\mu$g/$m\ell$ ampicillin and 25 $\mu$g/$m\ell$ neomycin) and colonizing on CB solid medium prepared from 0.7% agarose at 3$0^{\circ}C$ under 40 $\mu$ mol m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ light. Among 26 strains of the Microcystis species, only three strains were axenically established. The three strains were examined by PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene and 16S rRNA sequencing. The similarities were 99.5 ~100% with M. aeruginosa AF 139292.