• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.804-811
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• 2001

In many Gram-negative bacteria, autoinducers, such as N-acyl-L-homoserine lactone(acyl-HSL) and its derivative molecules, mediate the cell-density-dependnet expression of certain operons. The current study identified the autoinducers produced by Burkholderia cepacia G4, a trichloroethylene-degrading lagoon isolate, using TLC bioassays with Agrobacterium tumefaciens NT1(pDCI141E33) and Chromobacterium violaceum CVO26, and a GC-MS analysis. The ${R_f}\;and\;{R_t}$ values and mass spectra were compared with those of synthetic compounds. Based on the analyses, it was confirmed that G4 produces N-hexanoyl (C6)-, N-octanoyl (C8)-, N-decanoyl (C10)-, N-dodecanoyl (C12)-HSL, and an unknown active species. The integration of the GC peak areas exhibited a ratio of C8-HSL:C10-HSL:C12-HSL at 3:17:1 with C6-HSL and C10-HSL production at trace and micromolar levels, respectively, in the culture supernatants. Nutants partially defective in producing acyl-HSLs were also partially defective in the biosynthesis of an antibiotic substance. These results indicate that the autoinducer-dependent gene regulation in G4 is dissimilar to the clinical B. cepacia strains isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제31권11호
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• pp.1465-1480
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• 2021

Violacein, a purple pigment first isolated from a gram-negative coccobacillus Chromobacterium violaceum, has gained extensive research interest in recent years due to its huge potential in the pharmaceutic area and industry. In this review, we summarize the latest research advances concerning this pigment, which include (1) fundamental studies of its biosynthetic pathway, (2) production of violacein by native producers, apart from C. violaceum, (3) metabolic engineering for improved production in heterologous hosts such as Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and Yarrowia lipolytica, (4) biological/pharmaceutical and industrial properties, (5) and applications in synthetic biology. Due to the intrinsic properties of violacein and the intermediates during its biosynthesis, the prospective research has huge potential to move this pigment into real clinical and industrial applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.110-116
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• 2022

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are emerging as alternatives to plastics by replacing fossil fuels with renewable raw substrates. Herein, we present the construction of engineered Escherichia coli strains to produce short-chain-length PHAs (scl-PHAs), including the monomers 4-hydroxyvalerate (4HV) and 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) produced from levulinic acid (LA). First, an E. coli strain expressing genes (lvaEDABC) from the LA metabolic pathway of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 was constructed to generate 4HV-CoA and 3HV-CoA. Second, both PhaAB enzymes from Cupriavidus necator H16 were expressed to supply 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB)-CoA from acetyl-CoA. Finally, PHA synthase (PhaC_Cv) from Chromobacterium violaceum was introduced for the subsequent polymerization of these three monomers. The resulting E. coli strains produced four PHAs (w/w% of dry cell weight): 9.1 wt% P(4HV), 1.7 wt% P(3HV-co-4HV), 24.2 wt% P(3HB-co-4HV), and 35.6 wt% P(3HB-co-3HV-co-4HV).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권8호
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• pp.1408-1415
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• 2008

To produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from inexpensive substrates by bacteria, vegetable-oil-degrading bacteria were isolated from a rice field using enrichment cultivation. The isolated Pseudomonas sp. strain DR2 showed clear orange or red spots of accumulated PHA granules when grown on phosphate and nitrogen limited medium containing vegetable oil as the sole carbon source and stained with Nile blue A. Up to 37.34% (w/w) of intracellular PHA was produced from corn oil, which consisted of three major 3-hydroxyalkanoates; octanoic (C8:0, 37.75% of the total 3-hydroxyalkanoate content of PHA), decanoic (C10:0, 36.74%), and dodecanoic (C12:0, 11.36%). Pseudomonas sp. strain DR2 accumulated up to 23.52% (w/w) of $PHA_{MCL}$ from waste vegetable oil. The proportion of 3-hydroxyalkanoate of the waste vegetable-oil-derived PHA [hexanoic (5.86%), octanoic (45.67%), decanoic (34.88%), tetradecanoic (8.35%), and hexadecanoic (5.24%)] showed a composition ratio different from that of the corn-oil-derived PHA. Strain DR2 used three major fatty acids in the same ratio, and linoleic acid was the major source of PHA production. Interestingly, the production of PHA in Pseudomonas sp. strain DR2 could not occur in either acetate- or butyrate-amended media. Pseudomonas sp. strain DR2 accumulated a greater amount of PHA than other well-studied strains (Chromobacterium violaceum and Ralstonia eutropha H16) when grown on vegetable oil. The data showed that Pseudomonas sp. strain DR2 was capable of producing PHA from waste vegetable oil.

• 한국축산식품학회지
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.402-409
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• 2006

Although microorganisms are, in fact, the most diverse and abundant type of organism on Earth, the ecological functions of microbial populations remains poorly understood. A variety of bacteria including marine Vibrios encounter numerous ecological challenges, such as UV light, predation, competition, and seasonal variations in seawater including pH, salinity, nutrient levels, temperature and so forth. In order to survive and proliferate under variable conditions, they have to develop elaborate means of communication to meet the challenges to which they are exposed. In bacteria, a range of biological functions have recently been found to be regulated by a population density-dependent cell-cell signaling mechanism known as quorum-sensing (QS). In other words, bacterial cells sense population density by monitoring the presence of self-produced extracellular autoinducers (AI). N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL)-dependent quorum-sensing was first discovered in two luminescent marine bacteria, Vibrio fischeri and Vibrio harveyi. The LuxI/R system of V. fischeriis the paradigm of Gram-negative quorum-sensing systems. At high population density, the accumulated signalstrigger the expression of target genes and thereby initiate a new set of biological activities. Several QS systems have been identified so far. Among them, an AHL-dependent QS system has been found to control biofilm formation in several bacterial species, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aeromonas hydrophila, Burkholderia cepacia, and Serratia liquefaciens. Bacterial biofilm is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix that adheres to an inert or living surface. Extracellular signal molecules have been implicated in biofilm formation. Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain NT1(traR, tra::lacZ749) and Chromobacterium violaceum strain CV026 are used as biosensors to detect AHL signals. Quorum sensing in lactic acid bacteria involves peptides that are directly sensed by membrane-located histidine kinases, after which the signal is transmitted to an intracellular regulator. In the nisin autoregulation process in Lactococcus lactis, the NisK protein acts as the sensor for nisin, and NisR protein as the response regulator activatingthe transcription of target genes. For control over growth and survival in bacterial communities, various strategies need to be developed by which receptors of the signal molecules are interfered with or the synthesis and release of the molecules is controlled. However, much is still unknown about the metabolic processes involved in such signal transduction and whether or not various foods and food ingredients may affect communication between spoilage or pathogenic bacteria. In five to ten years, we will be able to discover new signal molecules, some of which may have applications in food preservation to inhibit the growth of pathogens on foods.

• 한국응용과학기술학회지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.214-232
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• 2001

CTA ester bonds in TG molecules were not attacked by pancreatic lipase and lipases produced by microbes such as Candida cylindracea, Chromobacterium viscosum, Geotricum candidium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Rhizophus delemar, R. arrhizus and Mucor miehei. An aliquot of total TG of all the seed oils and each TG fraction of the oils collected from HPLC runs were deuterated prior to partial hydrolysis with Grignard reagent, because CTA molecule was destroyed with treatment of Grignard reagent. Deuterated TG (dTG) was hydrolyzed partially to a mixture of deuterated diacylglycerols (dDG), which were subsequently reacted with (S)-(+)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethyl isocyanate to derivatize into dDG-NEUs. Purified dDG-NEUs were resolved into 1, 3-, 1, 2- and 2, 3-dDG-NEU on silica columns in tandem of HPLC using a solvent of 0.4% propan-1-o1 (containing 2% water)-hexane. An aliquot of each dDG-NEU fraction was hydrolyzed and (fatty acid-PFB ester). These derivatives showed a diagnostic carboxylate ion, $(M-1)^{-}$, as parent peak and a minor peak at m/z 196 $(PFB-CH_{3})^{-}$ on NICI mass spectra. In the mass spectra of the fatty acid-PFB esters of dTGs derived from the seed oils of T. kilirowii and M. charantia, peaks at m/z 285, 287, 289 and 317 were observed, which corresponded to $(M-1)^{-}$ of deuterized oleic acid ($d_{2}-C_{18:0}$), linoleic acid ($d_{4}-C_{18:0}$), punicic acid ($d_{6}-C_{18:0}$) and eicosamonoenoic acid ($d_{2}-C_{20:0}$), respectively. Fatty acid compositions of deuterized total TG of each oil measured by relative intensities of $(M-1)^-$ ion peaks were similar with those of intact TG of the oils by GLC. The composition of fatty acid-PFB esters of total dTG derived from the seed oils of T. kilirowii are as follows; $C_{16:0}$, 4.6 mole % (4.8 mole %, intact TG by GLC), $C_{18:0}$, 3.0 mole % (3.1 mole %), $d_{2}C_{18:0}$, 11.9 mole % (12.5 mole %, sum of $C_{18:1{\omega}9}$ and $C_{18:1{\omega}7}$), $d_{4}-C_{18:0}$, 39.3 mole % (38.9 mole %, sum of $C_{18:2{\omega}6}$ and its isomer), $d_{6}-C_{18:0}$, 41.1 mole % (40.5 mole %, sum of $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$, $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13r}$ and $C_{18:3\;9t,11t,13c}$), $d_{2}-C_{20:0}$, 0.1 mole % (0.2 mole % of $C_{20:1{\omega}9}$). In total dTG derived from the seed oils of M. charantia, the fatty acid components are $C_{16:0}$, 1.5 mole % (1.8 mole %, intact TG by GLC), $C_{18:0}$, 12.0 mole % (12.3 mole %), $d_{2}-C_{18:0}$, 16.9 mole % (17.4 mole %, sum of $C_{18:1{\omega}9}$), $d_{4}-C_{18:0}$, 11.0 mole % (10.6 mole %, sum of $C_{18:2{\omega}6}$), $d_{6}-C_{18:0}$, 58.6 mole % (57.5 mole %, sum of $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$ and $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$). In the case of Aleurites fordii, $C_{16:0}$; 2.2 mole % (2.4 mole %, intact TG by GLC), $C_{18:0}$; 1.7 mole % (1.7 mole %), $d_{2}-C_{18:0}$; 5.5 mole % (5.4 mole %, sum of $C_{18:1{\omega}9}$), $d_{4}-C_{18:0}$ ; 8.3 mole % (8.5 mole %, sum of $C_{18:2{\omega}6}$), $d_{6}-C_{18:0}$; 82.0 mole % (81.2 mole %, sum of $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$ and $C_{18:3 9c,11t,13c})$. In the stereospecific analysis of fatty acid distribution in the TG species of the seed oils of T. kilirowii, $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13r}$ and $C_{18:2{\omega}6}$ were mainly located at sn-2 and sn-3 position, while saturated acids were usually present at sn-1 position. And the major molecular species of $(C_{18:2{\omega}6})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c})_{2}$ and $(C_{18:1{\omega}9})(C_{18:2{\omega}6})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c})$ were predominantly composed of the stereoisomer of $sn-1-C_{18:2{\omega}6}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$, and $sn-1-C_{18:1{\omega}9}$, $sn-2-C_{18:2{\omega}6}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$, respectively, and the minor TG species of $(C_{18:2{\omega}6})_{2}(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c})$ and $ (C_{16:0})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c})_{2}$ mainly comprised the stereoisomer of $sn-1-C_{18:2{\omega}6}$, $sn-2-C_{18:2{\omega}6}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$ and $sn-1-C_{16:0}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c}$. The TG of the seed oils of Momordica charantia showed that most of CTA, $C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13r}$, occurred at sn-3 position, and $C_{18:2{\omega}6}$ was concentrated at sn-1 and sn-2 compared to sn-3. Main TG species of $(C_{18:1{\omega}9})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_{2}$ and $(C_{18:0})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_{2}$ were consisted of the stereoisomer of $sn-1-C_{18:1{\omega}9}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$ and $sn-1-C_{18:0}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, respectively, and minor TG species of $(C_{18:2{\omega}6})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c})_{2}$ and $(C_{18:1{\omega}9})(C_{18:2{\omega}6})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13c})$ contained mostly $sn-1-C_{18:2{\omega6}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$ and $sn-1-C_{18:1{\omega}9}$, $sn-2-C_{18:2{\omega}6}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$. The TG fraction of the seed oils of Aleurites fordii was mostly occupied with simple TG species of $(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_{3}$, along with minor species of $(C_{18:2{\omega}6})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_{2}$, $(C_{18:1{\omega}9})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_{2}$ and $(C_{16:0})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})$. The sterospecific species of $sn-1-C_{18:2{\omega}6}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, $sn-1-C_{18:1{\omega}9}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$ and $sn-1-C_{16;0}$, $sn-2-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$, $sn-3-C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t}$ are the main stereoisomers for the species of $(C_{18:2{\omega}6})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_2$, $(C_{18:1{\omega}9})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})_{2}$ and $(C_{16:0})(C_{18:3\;9c,11t,13t})$, respectively.