• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.312-319
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• 2002

The Sporosarcina psychrophilia pyrB gene, which encodes aspartate transcarbamylase (ATcase), was cloned on Sau3AI restriction endonuclease fragment inserted into pUC19 plasmid vector, S. psychrophilia pyrB gene was expressed in Escherichia coli pyrB mutant for the complementation test. The sequence of 2,606 nucleotides including putative pyrB gene was determined. The region contained one full open reading frame (ORf) and two partial ORFs. The deduced amino acid sequence of the second ORF showed 59% identity with that of Bacillus caldolyticus ATCase. The first and third partial ORFs were closely related to the uracil permease (pyrP) and dihydroorotase (pyrC), respectively. Besides, potential terminator, antiterminator, and anti-antiterminator structures were found in the intergenic region between pyrP and pyrB. These results suggested that S. psychrophilia pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis genes are clustered as well as other Bacillus sp. Over-expressed product of pyrB encoding ATCase was purified and analyzed by the SDS-PAGE. The purified PyrB protein turned out to be molecular mass of 27 kDa and showed ATCase activity.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.300-306
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• 1993

The CryIIA gene encoding the insecticidal crystal protein of Bacillus thuringiens!s subsp. kurstalri HD-l has been cloned in Escherichia col!, and its nucleotide sequences were determined completely. 5kb Hindlli fragment harboring CryIIA gene was screened in the large ca. 225kb plasmid DNA by southern blot. HindlIT digested 5kb fragment was ligated into pUC19 and transformed in E. coli. The 4kb BamHI-HindlIT fragment containing the CryIIA gene was subcloned and named pSKIIA. DNA sequence analysis demonstrates that pSKIIA is the gene of an operon which is comprised of Lhree open reading frames (designated orn, orf2 and or£3). The CrylIA gene is composed of 3,952bp-long BamHI-Hindill DNA restriction fragment. The orf3 code for a polypeptide of 633 amino acid residues. The protoxin protein has a predicted molecular weight of 70,780. The E. coli derived protoxin gene product is biologICally active against three species of Lepidopteran (Plu.lelia maculipennis, He/iolhis assulta, Spodoptera litura) and a species of Dip Leran( Culex pipines) larvae in bioassay.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2017

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LM11 was isolated from the feces of larvae of the rhino beetle and showed strong antifungal activities against various phytopathogenic fungi by producing biosurfactants. In this study, our overall goal was to determine relationship between biosurfactants produced from the LM11 strain and its role in growth inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi. Production and expression levels of B. amyloliquefaciens LM11 biosurfactants were significantly differed depending on growth phases. Transcriptional and biochemical analysis indicated that the biosurfactants of the LM11 strain were greatly enhanced in late log-phase to stationary phase. Inhibitions of phytopathogenic mycelial growth and spore germination were directly correlated (P<0.001, R=0.761) with concentrations of the LM11 cell-free culture filtrates. The minimum inhibitory surface tension of the culture filtrate of the B. amyloliquefaciens LM11 grown in stationary phase to inhibit mycelial growth of the phytopathogenic fungi was 38.5 mN/m (P<0.001, R=0.951-0.977). Our results indicated that the biosurfactants of B. amyloliquefaciens LM11 act as key antifungal metabolites in biocontrol of plant diseases, and measuring surface tension of the cell-free culture fluids can be used as an easy indicator for optimal usage of the biocontrol agents.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.699-704
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• 2013

Buckwheat Soksungjang (BS) is a bealmijang manufactured with buckwheat and soybeans. We manufactured BS using Bacillus subtilis HJ18-4 (HJ18-4), which has high enzyme activities and antibacterial effects. HJ18-4 was inoculated in a different process during the BS manufacturing, which was the meju-making time (Treat 1), and the salt water time was added (Treat 2). The physiochemical and microbial characteristics of the BS were analyzed. As a result, the total aerobic counts (7~8 log CFU/mL) in the BS increased after 15 days of fermentation. Especially, Treat 1 showed higher total aerobic counts and amino-type nitrogen (65.38~202.52 mg%) than Treat 2. During the BS fermentation, the reduction of the sugar contents and the enzyme (protease and amylase) activities decreased. In the relative quantitative expression level of PlcR, Treat 1 did not show toxin gene expressions at the end of the fermentation on Day 23. Treat 1 showed suitable B. cereus physiochemical quality characteristics and inhibition effects. When the modified-form type of fermented soybean paste was manufactured with a single starter, it could not reproduce the natural fermentation quality. These results suggest that the addition of a starter (HJ18-4) in the Meju manufacturing process could enhance the quality characteristics of the manufactured BS via natural fermentation and by suppressing B. cereus.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2002

Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) phosphorylates the second messenger diacylglycerol (DAG) to phosphatidic acid and it may play a role in signal transduction in Escherichia coli as well as in eukaryotic cells. In addition, DGK is important for microorganisms to adapt to several physiological stimuli. In Bacillus subtilis, the effect of stress on dgk transcription was examined by northern hybridization. The high level of dgk transcription was induced against high osmolarity, low pH value and low temperature. Transcriptional analysis revealed that the dgk gene and dgk upstream locus (ORF2, ORF3 and ORF4) were transcribed as a polycistronic mRNA to form an approximately 2.5 kb transcript.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.142-148
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• 2006

In order to develop chitosanase for the production of chitosan oligosaccharides, a chitosanase-producing bacterium was isolated from the traditional fermented soybean, Meju, and identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciene MJ-1. The cloned chitosanase gene, 825 bp in size, encoded a single peptide of 274 amino acids with a estimated molecular mass of 30.9 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence showed significant homology with microbial chitosanases. The recombinant chitosanase was expressed in Escherichia coli upon induction with isopropyl-D-thiogalactopyranoside, and purified using $Ni^{2+}-NTA$ agarose column chromatography. The maximal activity of the recombinant chitosanase is at pH 5.0 and $60^{\circ}C$. The recombinant chitosanase is stable between pH 5.0 and pH 7.0 at $37^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, and more than 75% of the activity still remain at $80^{\circ}C$ for 30 min incubation.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.163-176
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• 2012

TTo increase productivity of a strong extracellular alkaline protease (BCAP), stable strains of Bacillus clausii I-52 carrying another copy of BCAP gene in the chromosome were developed. Integrative vector, pHPS9-fuBCAP carrying BCAP promoter, ribosome binding site, signal sequence and active protease gene was constructed and transferred into B. clausii I-52, and integration of the constructed plasmid into chromosome was identified by PCR. An investigation was carried out on BCAP production by B. clausii I-52 and transformant C5 showing the highest relative activity of alkaline protease using submerged fermentation. Maximum enzyme activity was produced when cells were grown under the submerged fermentation conditions at $37^{\circ}C$ for 48 h with an aeration rate of 1 vvm and agitation rate of 650 rpm in a optimized medium (soybean meal 2%, wheat flour 1%, sodium citrate 0.5%, $K_2HPO_4$ 0.4%, $Na_2HPO_4$ 0.1%, NaCl 0.4%, $MgSO_47H_2O$ 0.01%, $FeSO_47H_2O$ 0.05%, liquid maltose 2.5%, $Na_2CO_3$ 0.6%). A protease yield of approximately 134,670U/ml was achieved using an optimized media, which show an increase of approximately 1.6-fold compared to that of non-transformant (83,960 U/ml). When the stability of transformant C5 was examined, the integrated plasmid pHPS9-fuBCAP was detected in the transformant after cultivation for 8 days, suggesting that it maintained stably in the chromosomal DNA of transformant C5.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.279-287
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• 2011

Transcriptional response patterns of mud loach (Misgurnus mizolepis; Cypriniformes) hepcidin, a potential ortholog to human hamp1, in response to experimental challenges with non-pathogenic and pathogenic bacterial species were analyzed based on the semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR assay. Mud loach hepcidin transcripts were much more preferentially induced by pathogenic bacterial species (Edwardsiella tarda and Vibrio anguillarum) causing apparent pathological symptoms than by non-pathogenic species (Escherichia coli and Bacillus thuringiensis) displaying neither clinical signs nor mortality. However in overall, the induced amounts of hepcidin transcripts were positively related with the number of bacterial cells delivered in both pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacterial species. Inducibility of hepcidin transcripts were variable among three tissues examined (liver, kidney and spleen) in which kidney and spleen were more responsive to the bacterial challenge than liver. Time course expression patterns of hepcidin mRNAs after challenge were different between groups challenged with pathogenic and non-pathogenic species, although the overall pattern of hepcidin expression was in accordance with that generally observed in battery genes appeared during early phase of inflammation. Fish challenged with E. coli (non-pathogenic) showed the significant induction of hepcidin transcripts within 24 hr post injection (hpi) but the level was rapidly declined to the basal level either at 48 or 96 hpi. On the other hand, hepcidin transcript levels in E. tarda (pathogenic)-challenged fish were continuously elevated until 48 hpi, then downregulated at 96 hpi, although the level at 96 hpi was still significantly higher than control level observed in non-challenged fish. This expression pattern was consistent in all the three tissues examined. Taken together, our data indicate that hepcidin is tightly in relation with pathological and/or inflammation status during bacterial challenge, consequently providing useful basis to extend knowledge on the host defensive roles of hepcidin under infectious conditions in bony fish.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.301-310
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• 2010

Bacillus subtilis strains produce a broad spectrum of bioactive peptides. The lipopeptide surfactin belongs to one well-known class, which includes amphiphilic membrane-active biosurfactants and peptide antibiotics. Both the srfA promoter and the ComP-ComA signal transduction system are an important part of the factor that results in the production of surfactin. Bs-M49, obtained by means of low-energy ion implantation in wild-type Bs-916, produced significantly lower levels of surfactin, and had no obvious effects against R. solani. Occasionally, we found strain Bs-M49 decreased spore formation and the development of competence. Blast comparison of the sequences from Bs-916 and M49 indicate that there is no difference in the srfA operon promoter PsrfA, but there are differences in the coding sequence of the comA gene. These differences result in three missense mutations within the M49 ComA protein. RT-PCR analyses results showed that the expression levels of selected genes involved in competence and sporulation in both the wild-type Bs-916 and mutant M49 strains were significantly different. When we integrated the comA ORF into the chromosome of M49 at the amyE locus, M49 restored hemolytic activity and antifungal activity. Then, HPLC analyses results also showed the comA-complemented strain had a similar ability to produce surf actin with wild-type strain Bs-916. These data suggested that the mutation of three key amino acids in ComA greatly affected the biological activity of Bacillus subtilis. ComA protein 3D structure prediction and motif search prediction indicated that ComA has two obvious motifs common to response regulator proteins, which are the N-terminal response regulator receiver motif and the C-terminal helix-turn-helix motif. The three residues in the ComA N-terminal portion may be involved in phosphorylation activation mechanism. These structural prediction results implicate that three mutated residues in the ComA protein may play an important role in the formation of a salt-bridge to the phosphoryl group keeping active conformation to subsequent regulation of the expression of downstream genes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.1 s.68
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• pp.118-123
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• 2005

For the expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus stearothermophilus cyclodextrin glucano­transferase gene (cgtS) in pCGTS (4.8 kb) was subcloned into the surface expression vector, pYD1 (GALl promoter). The constructed plasmid, pYDCGT (7.2 kb) was introduced into S. cerevisiae EBY100 cells, and then yeast transformants were selected on the synthetic defined media lacking tryptophan. The formation of cyclodextrin (CD) was confirmed with active staining of culture broth of transformant grown on starch medium. Enzymatic reaction products with respect to the culture time and the reaction time were examined by TLC analysis. The results indicated that the enzyme activity was exhibited after 12 h cultivation and CD was produced after 10min of enzymatic reaction. When the surface-engineered yeast cells were cultured on galactose medium, maximum activities of CGTase were about 21.3 unit/l and 16.5 unit/l at $25^{\circ}C\;and\;30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The plasmids stability showed about $80\%\;even\;at\;25^{\circ}C\;and\;30^{\circ}C$.