• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.463-481
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• 2022

Phosphorous (P) is considered to be one of the key essential elements demanded by crop plants. Approximately 70 - 90% of phosphatic fertilizers applied to crops are fixed in soil as Ca, Fe, and Al metal cations, which are insoluble and thus not readily available for plant uptake. Therefore, most soils are deficient in plant available P. This is usually rectified by applying phosphate fertilizers continuously, although this is not economically viable or environmentally acceptable. The present paper reviews the mechanisms involved with phosphate solubilization and mineralization by phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSMs) with the associated factors that determine the success. PSMs are effectively involved in mediating the bioavailability of soil P. Their contribution includes mineralization of organic P solubilization of inorganic P minerals, and storing sizable amounts of P in biomass through different mechanisms such as the production of organic and inorganic acids, H₂S, siderophores, exopolysaccharides, and production of enzymes such as phosphatases, phytase, and phosphonatases/C-P lyases, which are capable of chelating the metal ions, forming complexes, and making plant available P. PSMs manifest a wide range of metabolic functions in different environments, resulting in significantly higher plant growth, enhanced soil properties, and increased biological activities. Therefore, development of bio-inoculants with efficient novel PSM strains and further investigations on exploring such strains from diverse ecological niches with multifunctional plant-growth-promoting traits are needed.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

In marine ecosystems, the biosynthesis and catabolism of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) by marine bacteria is critical to microbial survival and the ocean food chain. Furthermore, these processes also influence sulfur recycling and climate change. Recent studies using emerging genome sequencing data and extensive bioinformatics analysis have enabled us to identify new DMSP-related genes. Currently, seven bacterial DMSP lyases (DddD, DddP, DddY, DddK, DddL, DddQ and DddW), two acrylate degrading enzymes (DddA and DddC), and four demethylases (DmdA, DmdB, DmdC, and DmdD) have been identified and characterized in diverse marine bacteria. In this review, we focus on the biochemical properties of DMSP cleavage enzymes with special attention to DddD, DddA, and DddC pathways. These three enzymes function in the production of acetyl coenzyme A (CoA) and CO₂ from DMSP. DddD is a DMSP lyase that converts DMSP to 3-hydroxypropionate with the release of dimethylsulfide. 3-Hydroxypropionate is then converted to malonate semialdehyde by DddA, an alcohol dehydrogenase. Then, DddC transforms malonate semialdehyde to acetyl-CoA and CO₂ gas. DddC is a putative methylmalonate semialdehyde dehydrogenase that requires nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and CoA cofactors. Here we review recent insights into the structural characteristics of these enzymes and the molecular events of DMSP degradation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.670-677
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• 2010

An alkaline pectate lyase, Bsp165PelA, was purified to homogeneity from the culture broth of alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. N16-5. The enzyme showed a specific activity as high as 1,000 U/mg and had optimum activity at pH 11.5 and $50^{\circ}C$. It was composed of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular mass of 42 kDa deduced from SDS-PAGE, and its isoelectric point was around pH 6.0. It could efficiently depolymerize polygalacturonate and pectin. Characterization of product formation revealed unsaturated digalacturonate and trigalacturonate as the main products. The pectate lyase gene (pelA) contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,089 bp, encoding a 36-amino acids signal peptide and a mature protein of 326 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 35.943 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence from the pelA ORF exhibited significant homology to those of known pectate lyases in polysaccharide lyase family 1. Some conserved active-site amino acids were found in the deduced amino acid sequence of Bsp165PelA. $Ca^{2+}$ was not required for activity on pectic substrates.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.364-373
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• 2015

As an effort to utilize alginate, 103 bacterial isolates that were positive for the alginate lyase activity were isolated from various clams and seawater samples collected in Incheon coastal area. Among them, 3 strains (M1-2-1, M6-1, and C8-15) were finally selected for further analysis based on their activities at higher levels than others. These isolates were all Gram-negative and rod shaped halophilic bacteria with motility. According to their physiological and biochemical properties as well as DNA sequence of their 16S rRNA genes, M1-2-1 and M6-1 were identified as a member of genus Pseudoalteromonas and C8-15 belonged to genus Vibrio. They exhibited the alginate degrading activity at the maximal level when they were cultured in APY broth for 6-8 h at $25^{\circ}C$. Both their growth and the enzyme activity were greatly enhanced when NaCl was added to the growth medium. The crude alginate lyases from the supernatants of the bacterial cultures showed the highest activity at $45^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0-8.0. M1-2-1 and M6-1 produced 2.723 and 1.976 g/L of reducing sugar from alginate, respectively, suggesting that they have potential for commercial application.