• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1279-1287
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• 2012

We established an efficient transformation method for thermophile Geobacillus kaustophilus HTA426 using conjugative transfer from Escherichia coli of host-mimicking plasmids that imitate DNA methylation of strain HTA426 to circumvent its DNA restriction barriers. Two conjugative plasmids, pSTE33T and pUCG18T, capable of shuttling between E. coli and Geobacillus spp., were constructed. The plasmids were first introduced into E. coli BR408, which expressed one inherent DNA methylase gene (dam) and two heterologous methylase genes from strain HTA426 (GK1380-GK1381 and GK0343-GK0344). The plasmids were then directly transferred from E. coli cells to strain HTA426 by conjugative transfer using pUB307 or pRK2013 as a helper plasmid. pUCG18T was introduced very efficiently (transfer efficiency, $10^{-5}-10^{-3}\;recipient^{-1}$). pSTE33T showed lower efficiency ($10^{-7}-10^{-6}\;recipient^{-1}$) but had a high copy number and high segregational stability. Methylase genes in the donor substantially affected the transfer efficiency, demonstrating that the host-mimicking strategy contributes to efficient transformation. The transformation method, along with the two distinguishing plasmids, increases the potential of G. kaustophilus HTA426 as a thermophilic host to be used in various applications and as a model for biological studies of this genus. Our results also demonstrate that conjugative transfer is a promising approach for introducing exogenous DNA into thermophiles.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.749-754
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• 2000

PCR primers were designed based on consensus sequences of dTDP-D-glucose 4,6-dehydratase, one of the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of deoxysugar. The PCR product (360 bp) was obtained from Thermus caldophilus GK24. Colony hybridization was carried out to the cosmid library constructed from T. caldophilus GK24 genomic DNA by the PCR product DNA fragment. We isolated a cosmid clone (pSMTC-1) that was subcloned to call pKCB series plasmid (BamHI fragments), partially sequenced and analyzed. pKCB80 (4.2 kb-BamHI DNA fragment) of them showed ORFs that was orfA, orfB, orfC and orfD. The orfABCD gene cluster is the deosysugar biosynthetic gene ; orfA (glucose-1-phosphate thymidylytransferase), orfB (dTDP-D-glucose 4,6-dehydratase), orfC (dTDP-4-keto-L-rhamnose reductase) and orfD (dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose 3,5-epimerase). The gene cluster that was related in biosynthesis of dTDP-L-rhamnose was also identified by computer analysis, and we proposed that the biosynthetic pathway of deoxysugar analyzed from DNA sequencing of pKCB80 is from D-glucose-1-phosphate, dTDP-D-glucose, dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose via dTDP-4-keto-L-rhamnose to dTDP-L-rhamnose.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.347-354
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• 2001

$\alpha$-Glucosidase of an extreme thermophile, Thermus caldophilus GK24 (TcaAG), was purified 80-fold from cells to a homogeneous state and characterized. The enzyme exhibited optimum activity at pH 6.5 and $90^{\circ}C$, and was stable from pH 6.0 to 85 and up to $90^{\circ}C$. The enzyme had a half-life of 85 minutes at $90^{\circ}C$. An analysis of the substrate specificity showed that the enzyme hydrolyzed the non-reducing terminal unit of $\alpha$-1,6-glucosidic linkages of isomaltosaccharides and panose, $\alpha$-1,3-glycosidic bond of nigerose and turanose, and $\alpha$-1,2-glycosidic bond of sucrose. The gene encoding the TcaAG was cloned, sequenced, and sequenced in E. coli. The nucleotide sequence of the gene encoded a 530 amino acid polypeptide and had a G+C content of 68.4% with a strong bias for G or C in the third position of the codons (93.6%). A sequence analysis revealed that TcaAG belonged to the $\alpha$-amylase family. We suggest that this monomeric, thermostable, and broad-acting $\alpha$-glucosidase is a departure from previously exhibited specificities. It is, therefore, a novel $\alpha$-glucosidase.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.298-301
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• 2006

A gene(GeneBank AF 135796) coding for a trehalose synthase from Thermus caldophilus GK24 was cloned into Escherichia coli K12 using five vector systems. The constitutive expression system(pHCETS) which shows the highest trehalose synthase activity from flask culture of recombinant E. coli was selected for the production of trehalose from maltose. For the shake flask culture, the final dry cell weight was 0.9 g/L and the trehalose synthase activity was 25 U/mL. Fed-batch culture of recombinant E. coli harboring plasmid pHCETS which uses the glycerolas a carbon source was performed in jar fermentor: the dry cell weight of 20 g/L and the trehalose synthase activity of 13.7 U/mL were attained in 48 h.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2012

In the present study, toxicity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was investigated in the nematode, Caenohabditis elegans focusing on the upstream signaling pathway responsible for regulating oxidative stress, such as mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades. Formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed in AgNPs exposed C.elegans, suggesting oxidative stress as an important mechanism in the toxicity of AgNPs towards C. elegans. Expression of genes in MAPK signaling pathways increased by AgNPs exposure in less than 2-fold compared to the control in wildtype C.elegans, however, those were increased dramatically in sod-3 (gk235) mutant after 48 h exposure of AgNPs (i.e. 4-fold for jnk-1 and mpk-2; 6-fold for nsy-1, sek-1, and pmk-1, and 10-fold for jkk-1). These results on the expression of oxidative stress response genes suggest that sod-3 gene expression appears to be dependent on p38 MAPK activation. The high expressions of the pmk-1 gene 48 h exposure to AgNPs in the sod-3 (gk235) mutant can also be interpreted as compensatory mechanisms in the absence of important stress response genes. Overall results suggest that MAPK-based integrated stress signaling network seems to be involved in defense to AgNPs exposure in C.elegans.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2004.04b
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• pp.253-255
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• 2004

다량의 유전자 발현 정보를 담고 있는 DNA 마이크로어레이 기술의 발달로 인해 대량의 생물정보를 한번의 실험을 통해 분석할 수 있게 되었다. 유전자 발현 데이터를 분석하는 방법 중 하나인 클러스터링은 비슷한 기능을 가진 유전자들을 그룹별로 묶어서 그룹 레의 유전자들의 기능을 밝히거나 미지의 유전자를 분석하는데 이용되고 있다 본 논문에서는 유전자 발현 데이터를 클러스터링 하여 그로부터 유전 정보를 찾아내기 위한 방법으로 GG (Gath-Geva) 알고리즘을 제시한다. 퍼지 클러스터링 알고리즘중 하나인 GG 알고리즘은 대표적인 퍼지 클러스터링 방법인 퍼지 c-means 와 GK (Gustafson-Kessel) 알고리즘을 개선한 것으로. 차원이 크고 분포가 애매하여 클러스터링이 어려운 유전자 발현 데이터의 클러스터링에 적합한 알고리즘이다. 혈청(Serum) 유전자 데이터와 효모(Yeast) 세포주기 데이터를 CG 알고리즘 이용해 클러스터링 해 보고, 그 결과를 퍼지 c-means 알고리즘, GK알고리즘과 비교해 본 결과, GG 알고리즘이 유전자 발현 데이터의 클러스터링에 더 적합함을 확인하였다.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2015

The effects of high carbohydrate diet on growth, serum physiological response, and hepatic heat shock protein 70 expression in Wuchang bream were determined at $25^{\circ}C$ and $30^{\circ}C$. At each temperature, the fish fed the control diet (31% CHO) had significantly higher weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio and hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activities, lower feed conversion ratio and hepatosomatic index (HSI), whole crude lipid, serum glucose, hepatic glucokinase (GK) activity than those fed the high-carbohydrate diet (47% CHO) (p<0.05). The fish reared at $25^{\circ}C$ had significantly higher whole body crude protein and ash, serum cholesterol and triglyceride, hepatic G-6-Pase activity, lower glycogen content and relative levels of hepatic growth hormone (GH) gene expression than those reared at $30^{\circ}C$ (p<0.05). Significant interaction between temperature and diet was found for HSI, condition factor, hepatic GK activity and the relative levels of hepatic GH gene expression (p<0.05).

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2022

Objectives: This study aimed to observe the anti-diabetic effect and underlying mechanisms of Galgunhwanggumhwangryun-tang (GHH; Gegen-Qinlian-decoction) in the C2C12 myotubes. Methods: GHH (1.0 mg/ml) or metformin (0.75 mM) or insulin (100 nM) were treated in C2C12 myotubes after 4 days differentiation. The glucose uptake was assessed by 2-[N-(7-160 nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxy-d-glucose uptake by C2C12 cells. The expression of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and phosphorylation AMPK (pAMPK) were measured by western blot. We also evaluated gene expression of glucose transporter type 4 (Slc2a4, formerly known as GLUT4), glucokinase (Gk), carnitine palmitoyltransferase IA (Cpt1a), nuclear respiratory factors 1 (Nrf1), mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (Ppargc1a) by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: GHH promoted glucose uptake in C2C12 myotubes. The expression of AMPK protein, which plays an essential role in glucose metabolism, was increased by treatment with GHH. GHH treatment tended to increase gene expression of Slc2a4, Gk, and Nrf1 but was not statistically significant. However, GHH significantly improved Tfam and Ppargc1a gene expression in C2C12 myotubes. Conclusions: In summary, GHH treatment promoted glucose uptake in C2C12 myotubes. We suggest that these effects are associated with increased gene expression involved in mitochondrial biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation, such as Tfam and Ppargc1a, and increased expression of AMPK protein.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2001

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are widely used for various food fermentation. With the recent advances in modern biotechnology, a variety of bio-products with the high economic values have been produced using microorganisms. For molecular cloning and expression studies on the gene of interest, E. coli has been widely used mainly because vector systems are fully developed. Most plasmid vectors currently used for E, coli carry antibiotic-resistant markers. As it is generally believed that the antibiotic resistance markers are potentially transferred to other bacteria, application of the plasmid vectors carrying antibiotic resistance genes as selection markers should be avoided, especially for human consump-tion. By contrast, as LAB have some desirable traits such that the they are GRAS(generally recognized as safe), able to secrete gene products out of cell, and their low protease activities, they are regarded as an ideal organism for the genetic manipulation, including cloning and expression of homologous and heterologous genes. However, the vec-tor systems established for LAB are stil insufficient to over-produce gene products, stably, limiting the use of these organisms for industrial applications. For a past decade, the two popular plasmid vectors, pAM$\beta$1 of Streptococcus faecalis and pGK12 theB. subtilis-E. coli shuttle vector derived from pWV01 of Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris wg 2, were most widely used to construct efficient chimeric vectors to be stably maintained in many industrial strains of LAB. Currently, non-antibiotic markers such as nisin resistance($Nis^{r}$ ) are explored for selecting recombi-nant clone. In addition, a gene encoding S-layer protein, slp/A, on bacterial cell wall was successfully recombined with the proper LAB vectors LAB vectors for excretion of the heterologous gene product from LAB Many food-grade host vec-tor systems were successfully developed, which allowed stable integration of multiple plasmid copies in the vec-mosome of LAB. More recently, an integration vector system based on the site-specific integration apparatus of temperate lactococcal bacteriophage, containing the integrase gene(int) and phage attachment site(attP), was pub-lished. In conclusion, when various vector system, which are maintain stably and expressed strongly in LAB, are developed, lost of such food products as enzymes, pharmaceuticals, bioactive food ingredients for human consump-tion would be produced at a full scale in LAB.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.396-403
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• 2007

Proline accumulation has been shown to correlate with tolerance to drought and salt stresses in plants. We attempt to introduce the wild-type, mutant, and fusion proBA genes derived from Bacillus subtilis into Arabidopsis thaliana under the control of a strong promoter cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV35S). The transgenic plants produced higher level of free proline than control and the overproduction of proline resulted in the increased tolerance to osmotic stress in transgenic plants. Besides, the mutation in proBA genes, which were proved to lead $\alpha$-glutamyl kinase ($\alpha$-GK) reduces sensitivity to the end-product inhibition and the fusion of proB and proA also result in increasing proline production and confer osmotolerance in transgenic lines.