• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Entomolohy Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.114-114
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• 2000

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2002

The study was conducted to isolate and identify insecticidal bacteria for biological control of larvae of mushroom fly, Lycoriella mali, which is one of serious pests to oyster mushrooms during its cultivation period. Among eight bacteria isolated from the soil in the oyster mushroom beds and the dead body of L. mali, two bacteria, Bti-D and Bti-U showed more toxicity with mortality rate than other six-bacteria isolates. The two bacteria showed more toxicity in three instar of the period of development of the mushroom fly than in other instar. Symptoms of the larvae of L. mali infected by the two bacteria developed as follows: at the early infection, the front middle gut changed color to light brown, the middle gut to brown, whole body to black brown, and eventually, the fly died. For the identification of these isolates, cultural and biochemical characteristics by Bergey's manual and Biolog system, cell morphology by TEM, endospore and endotoxin by phase-contrast microscope, and test using 33H antisera were examined. According to the results, these two isolates, Bti-D and Bti-U were identified as Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis respectively.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.304-313
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• 2004

Three-dimensional (3D) models for the 65-kDa activated Cry4A and Cry4B $\delta$-endotoxins from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis that are specifically toxic to mosquito-larvae were constructed by homology modeling, based on atomic coordinates of the Cry1Aa and Cry3Aa crystal structures. They were structurally similar to the known structures, both derived 3D models displayed a three-domain organization: the N-terminal domain (I) is a seven-helix bundle, while the middle and C-terminal domains are primarily comprise of anti-parallel $\beta$-sheets. Circular dichroism spectroscopy confirmed the secondary structural contents of the two homology-based Cry4 structures. A structural analysis of both Cry4 models revealed the following: (a) Residues Arg-235 and Arg-203 are located in the interhelical 5/6 loop within the domain I of Cry4A and Cry4B, respectively. Both are solvent exposed. This suggests that they are susceptible to tryptic cleavage. (b) The unique disulphide bond, together with a proline-rich region within the long loop connecting ${\alpha}4$ and ${\alpha}5$ of Cry4A, were identified. This implies their functional significance for membrane insertion. (c) Significant structural differences between both models were found within domain II that may reflect their different activity spectra. Structural insights from this molecular modeling study would therefore increase our understanding of the mechanic aspects of these two closely related mosquito-larvicidal proteins.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.497-506
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• 1998

The expression in Escherichia coli of a cloned insecticidal protein (ICP) gene from Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD1 in pHLN1-80 (+) and pHLN2-80(-) plasmids was investigated through deletions in promoters, transcription start point, and termination region. Six recombinant plasmids were constructed in an attempt to analyze the overexpression of the ICP in relations to its gene structure. The amounts of ICP produced from the recombinants were measured by SDS-PAGE and confirmed by Western blot analysis. One clone was not overexpressed which having only -80 bp (contained BtI promoter) part of the ICP gene promoter (without Plac promoter), the right-oriented ICP gene and the termination region. Removal of 350 bp from upstream region of the Plac of the clone pHLN2-80 (-) resulted in overexpression of the ICP. One clone was not overexpressed in which the clone consisted of -72 bp part of the ICP promoter without the transcription start point and the transcriptional termination region, and having the right-oriented ICP gene sequence. One clone consisting of the inverted ICP gene sequence, the -72 bp ICP gene promoter, and without the termination region caused overexpression. One clone which consisted of the inverted ICP gene, the -72 bp ICP gene promoter and the termination sequence was overexpressed. These results indicated that the Plac promoter, transcription termination region, the inverted ICP gene insertion, and the -80 bp or -72 bp part of the ICP gene promoters were concerned in the overexpression of the ICP gene in the recombinant plasmid, and also the overexpression mechanism might result from the disruption of the transcription-suppressing regions in the promoter regions.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 1997

This study was to provide the basic data in improving protoplast formation and regeneration of antagonistic bacteria against phytopathogenic fungi and pest. The antagonistic rhizobacterium, BS 101, against Rhizoctonia solrmi and Fusurium oxyspomm was isolated and identified as Bacillus subtilis. Another bacterium for protoplast formation and regeneration was B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstcJtiHD-l (BT 37669) which have insectcidal toxin in the orders Coleopteria, Dipteria etc.. Auxotrophic mutants, BS 1013 and BT 69, were isolated by treating with NTG 300 ug/ml for 40 min. at $37^{\circ}C$, and with NTG 300 ug/ml for 30 min. at $37^{\circ}C$, respectively. The BS 1013 and BT 69 were converted to protoplas by treating with lysozyme 300 ugh1 for 30 min. at 37C, and lysozyme 9 mglml for 60 min. at $37^{\circ}C$, respectively. The fequencies of the protoplast formation of BS 1013 and BT 69 were 90.00 and 92.83% respectively, after 1~2 day at $37^{\circ}C$. The regeneration kequencies of the protoplasts BS 1013 and B T 69 were 0.52 and 0.10%, respectively, after 4~6 days at $37^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1708-1716
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• 2016

Glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) is an oxidoreductase enzyme and is used as a biocatalyst to regenerate NAD(P)H in reductase-mediated chiral synthesis reactions. In this study, the glucose 1-dehydrogenase B gene (gdhB) was cloned from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki, and wild-type (GDH-BT^WT) and His-tagged (GDH-BT^N-His, GDH-BT^C-His) enzymes were produced in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). All enzymes were produced in the soluble forms from E. coli. GDH-BT^WT and GDH-BT^N-His showed high specific enzymatic activities of 6.6 U/mg and 5.5 U/mg, respectively, whereas GDH-BT^C-His showed a very low specific enzymatic activity of 0.020 U/mg. These results suggest that the intact C-terminal carboxyl group is important for GDH-BT activity. GDH-BT^WT was stable up to 65℃, whereas GDH-BT^N-His and GDH-BT^C-His were stable up to 45℃. Gel permeation chromatography showed that GDH-BT^WT is a dimer, whereas GDH-BT^N-His and GDH-BT^C-His are monomeric. These results suggest that the intact N- and C-termini are required for GDH-BT to maintain thermostability and to form its dimer structure. The homology model of the GDH-BT^WT single subunit was constructed based on the crystal structure of Bacillus megaterium GDH (PDB ID 3AY6), showing that GDH-BT^WT has a Rossmann fold structure with its N- and C-termini located on the subunit surface, which suggests that His-tagging affected the native dimer structure. GDH-BT^WT and GDH-BT^N-His regenerated NADPH in a yeast reductase-mediated chiral synthesis reaction, suggesting that these enzymes can be used as catalysts in fine-chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2004

The over-expression in E. coli of the pHLN1-SO(＋) and pHLN2-80(－) plasmids cloned an insecticidal crystal protein (ICP) gene (crylAal type) from Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD 1 was investigated through in part, the deletion of -80 bp promoter and an alternative change of cloning vector system. Two recombinant plasmids were constructed in an attempt to analyze the over-expression of the ICP in relations to its gene structure possessing only -14 bp ［Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence of -80 bp promoter］. Also, anther two recombinant plasmids similarly cloned the icp gene in a different vector system. The amounts of ICP produced from the recombinants were measured by SDS-PAGE and confirmed by Western blot analysis. One clone, pHLRBS1-14 clone in which only the SD sequence in the inverted orientation icp gene appeared, was more evident than the pHLRBS2-14 clone in which only the -14 bp SD sequence of the right orientated icp gene was shown to exist. The pHLN2-80(－) clone produced more ICP proteins than the pHLRBS1-14 clone. In the two clones, pHLNUC1-80 right-oriented icp gene and the pHLNUC2-80 clone inverted-orientation icp gene in a new different vector, the pHLNUC2-80 produced more ICP proteins in E. coli system. These results indicate that the P/ac promoter, the inverted icp gene insertion and -80 bp promoter (-66 bp part of the icp gene promoters), were concerned with the expression of the icp gene in the recombinant plasmids. In addition, the expression mechanism might result from the disruption of the transcription-suppressing regions in the promoter regions.