• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.377-383
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• 1986

About 300 cellulolytic actinomycetes isolated from soils were tested for their cellulase activities estimated by means of filter paper swelling and carboxymethyl cellulose saccharifying activity. Then, 16 isolates which had shown relatively high levels of CMCase activity were selected and examined for their abilities of $\beta$-glucosidase production. Among them strain No. 109 was found to have highest level of intracellular $\beta$-glucosidase, and selected for the further studies. In this paper, the cultural, morphological and physiological properties, and cell wall composition of strain No. 109 were described in relation to the taxonomic status of this actinomycete. Based on the results obtained in these experiments strain No. 109 was identified to be a similar species to Streptomyces tanashiensis.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.461-467
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• 2009

A bacterial strain was screened and identified from sea sediments in Tongyeong coastal area in order to obtain proteases or peptidase cleaving C-terminal of glutamic acid. Strain TS0611, which showed the highest activity from 5 isolated protease producing strains, was selected and its properties investigated. Strain TS0611 was a gram-positive rod, $1.2\;{\mu}m$ in cell length, catalase positive, motility-positive, melanin-negative and grew at 15~$50^{\circ}C$, and hydrolyzed gelatin and casein. This strain was identified as Bacillus thuringiensis or Bacillus cereus based on results from the API system(API 50 CHB) which examined saccharides properties, fatty acid composition of cell wall, and 16S rRNA gene sequence.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2003

Effects of supplementation with ruminal epithelial cells on fiber-degrading activity and cell growth of Ruminococcus albus (R. albus, strain 7) was tested using a basal substrate of rice straw and formulated concentrate. Cultures of R. albus alone and R. albus with rumen protozoa were grown at $39^{\circ}C$ for 48 h with an 8.4% crude protein (CP) substrate, 33% of the CP supplemented with either ruminal epithelial cells or defatted soybean meal. The ruminal epithelial cells had lower amounts of rumen soluble and degradable protein fractions as compared to defatted soybean meal, as determined by an enzymatic method, and the same was found with amino acid composition of protein hydrolysates. Ruminal epithelial cells were directly utilized by the R. albus, and resulted in greater growth of cell-wall free bacteria compared to defatted soybean meal. The effect of epithelial cells on bacterial growth was enhanced by the presence of rumen protozoa. In consistency with cultures of R. albus and R. albus with rumen protozoa, fermentative parameters such as dry matter degradability and total volatile fatty acid did not differ between supplementation with ruminal epithelial cells or defatted soybean meal.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.292-304
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• 2018

Microbes is becoming increasingly forensic possibility as a consequence of advances in massive parallel sequencing (MPS) and bioinformatics. Human DNA typing is the best identifier, but it is not always possible to extract a full DNA profile namely its degradation and low copy number, and it may have limitations for identical twins. To overcome these unsatisfactory limitations, forensic potential for bacteria found in evidence could be used to differentiate individuals. Prokaryotic cells have a cell wall that better protects the bacterial nucleoid compared to the cell membrane of eukaryotic cells. Humans have an extremely diverse microbiome that may prove useful in determining human identity and may even be possible to link the microbes to the person responsible for them. Microbial composition within the human microbiome varies across individuals. Therefore, MPS of human microbiome could be used to identify biological samples from the different individuals, specifically for twins and other cases where standard DNA typing doses not provide satisfactory results due to degradation of human DNA. Microbial forensics is a new discipline combining forensic science and microbiology, which can not to replace current STR analysis methods used for human identification but to be complementary. Among the fields of microbial forensics, this paper will briefly describe information on the current status of microbiome research such as metagenomic code, salivary microbiome, pubic hair microbiome, microbes as indicators of body fluids, soils microbes as forensic indicator, and review microbial forensics as the feasibility of microbiome-based human identification.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2009

Gaegurin 4(GGN 4), an antimicrobial peptide isolated from a Korean frog, is five times more potent against Gram-positive than Gram-negative bacteria, but has little hemolytic activity. To understand the mechanism of such cell selectivity, we examined GGN4-induced $K^+$ efflux from target cells, and membrane conductances in planar lipid bilayers. The $K^+$ efflux from Gram-positive M. luteus(2.5 ${\mu}g/ml$) was faster and larger than that from Gram-negative E. coli(75 ${\mu}g/ml$), while that from RBC was negligible even at higher concentration(100 ${\mu}g/ml$). GGN4 induced larger conductances in the planar bilayers which were formed with lipids extracted from Gram-positive B. subtilis than in those from E. coli(p<0.01), however, the effects of GGN4 were not selective in the bilayers formed with lipids from E. coli and red blood cells. Addition of an acidic phospholipid, phosphatidylserine to planar bilayers increased the GGN4-induced membrane conductance(p<0.05), but addition of phosphatidylcholine or cholesterol reduced it(p<0.05). Transmission electron microscopy revealed that GGN4 induced pore-like damages in M. luteus and dis-layering damages on the outer wall of E. coli. Taken together, the present results indicate that the selectivity of GGN4 toward Gram-positive over Gram-negative bacteria is due to negative surface charges, and interaction of GGN4 with outer walls. The selectivity toward bacteria over RBC is due to the presence of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol, and the trans-bilayer lipid asymmetry in RBC. The results suggest that design of selective antimicrobial peptides should be based on the composition and topology of membrane lipids in the target cells.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2018

Helminthostachys zeylanica is a rare plant grows in lightly shaded areas. The fern was traditionally used as antipyretic and antiphlogistic agents. This study was aimed to evaluate the antibacterial potential of H. zeylanica on foodborne Bacillus cereus. The chemical composition of its ethanolic extract was also determined. The plant samples were collected at Kampung Kebun Relong, Kedah, Malaysia. The ethanolic extract showed significant inhibitory activity on B. cereus with a sizeable clear zone detected on disc diffusion assay. On broth microdilution assay, the MIC of the extract on B. cereus was 6.25 mg/ml and the MBC was 12.5 mg/ml. The inhibitory activity of the extract on B. cereus was bactericidal. In the growth dynamic study, the antibacterial efficacy of the extract was concentration dependent, where a lower colony forming unit count was obtained with increased extract concentration. The SEM micrograph of extract treated B. cereus cells showed invaginations of cell wall. The bacterial cell structure collapsed after 24 h exposure to the extract. The GCMS analysis of the extract showed that the major constituents of the extract were phenol (36.26%) and quercetin (29.70%). This study is important as it shows the potential use of H. zeylanica as an effective agent to control B. cereus related infections.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.11-18
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• 2008

Anatomical characteristics of volumetric composition, fiber length, vessel diameter, and crystalline properties of cellulose in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) planted in the reclaimed land of Buan-si, Korea were examined to understand the growth characteristics using a light microscopy and an X-ray diffraction method. The samples of kenaf were taken from six positions (3 cm, 35 cm, 70 cm, 105 cm, 280 cm, and 320 cm) of each stem over the growth period (July, August, September, and October) after seeding in the mid-May. In the kenaf stem, phloem constituted 10 to 15 %, xylem 66 to 82%, and pith 7 to 19%. The ray, bast fiber, and remainder comprised 50%, 20%, and 30% of the phloem, respectively. The volume of vessel, ray, and fiber in the xylem was approximately 10, 15, and 75%, respectively. The proportion of cell wall was 30.92% at the base of stem and 46.40% at the top of stem, respectively. The average length of bast fiber and xylem fiber was about 2.8 mm and 0.9 mm, respectively. Radial and tangential diameters of vessel increased with the increase of growth period, while they decreased with increasing the stem height. Relative crystallinity ranged from 70 to 79% in phloem and from 50 to 56% in xylem. Cellulose crystallite width was about 3 nm both in the phloem and xylem. Thus, the volumetric composition and cell dimensions in the phloem and xylem appeared to be varied with the growth period and the stem height.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.23 no.4 s.75
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• pp.285-297
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• 1995

Ganoderan, an immunomodulating ${\beta}-glucan$ of G. lucidum, induces potent antitumor immunity in tumor-bearing mice. The present study was set up to elucidate the chemical composition and bioactivities of ganoderan obtained from the mycelial fractionation of G. lucidum IY009. Ganoderan was isolated and purified from its extracellular, cell wall and cytoplasmic sources. These ganoderans were composed mainly of glucose. The cell wall-alkali soluble-water soluble fraction (CW-AS-WS) showed the highest antitumor activity (inhibition rate of 94%) in sarcoma-bearing mice and 37% of anticomplementary activity. The CW-AS-WS fraction was found to be approximately average 20,000 dalton in aq. 0.3N NaOH solution and composed of 88% carbohydrate and 4% protein. The carbohydrate of the CW-AS-WS was composed of 74% glucose. These results indicate that the ganoderans extracted from the mycelial fractionations of G. lucidum IY009 had different chemical characteristics and showed different potentiality in antitumor and anticomplementary activity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2022

Metabolism is essential for survival and reproduction, and there is a metabolic pathways entry in the clusters of orthologous groups of proteins (COGs) database, updated in 2020. In this study, the metabolic pathways of 1309 prokaryotes were analyzed using COGs. There were 822 COGs associated with 63 metabolic pathways, and the mean for each taxon was between 200.50 (mollicutes) and 527.07 (cyanobacteria) COGs. The metabolic pathway composition ratio (MPCR) was defined as the number of COGs present in one genome in relation to the total number of COGs constituting each metabolic pathway, and the number of pathways with 100% MPCR ranged from 0 to 26 in each prokaryote. Among 1309 species, the 100% MPCR pathways included murein biosynthesis associated with cell wall synthesis (922 species); glycine cleavage (918); and ribosomal 30S subunit synthesis (903). The metabolic pathways with 0% MPCR were those involving photosystem I (1263 species); archaea/vacuolar-type ATP synthase (1028); and Na⁺-translocation NADH dehydrogenase (976). Depending on the prokaryote, three to 49 metabolic pathways could not be performed at all. The sequence of most highly conserved metabolic pathways was ribosome 30S subunit synthesis (96.1% of 1309 species); murein biosynthesis (86.8%); arginine biosynthesis (80.4%); serine biosynthesis (80.3%); and aminoacyl-tRNA synthesis (82.2%). Protein and cell wall synthesis have been shown to be important metabolic pathways in prokaryotes, and the results of this study of COGs related to such pathways can be utilized in, for example, the development of antibiotics and artificial cells.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2016

In order to provide recommendations on the most useful forage species to smallholder farmers, eleven grass and eleven legume forages grown in Abomey-Calavi in Republic of Benin were investigated for nutritive value (i.e. chemical composition and energy content) and fermentation characteristics (i.e. gas and volatile fatty acid production, organic matter degradability). The in vitro gas production technique was used, incubating the forages for 120 h under anaerobic condition with buffalo rumen fluid. Compared to legume, tropical grass forages showed lower energy (8.07 vs 10.57 MJ/kg dry matter [DM]) and crude protein level (16.10% vs 19.91% DM) and higher cell wall content (neutral detergent fiber: 63.8% vs 40.45% DM), respectively. In grass forages, the chemical composition showed a quite high crude protein content; the in vitro degradability was slightly lower than the range of tropical pasture. The woody legumes were richer in protein and energy and lower in structural carbohydrates than herbaceous plants, however, their in vitro results are influenced by the presence of complex compounds (i.e. tannins). Significant correlations were found between chemical composition and in vitro fermentation characteristics. The in vitro gas production method appears to be a suitable technique for the evaluation of the nutritive value of forages in developing countries.