• Mycobiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 2016

Paclitaxel (taxol) has long been used as a potent anticancer agent for the treatment of many cancers. Ever since the fungal species Taxomyces andreanae was first shown to produce taxol in 1993, many endophytic fungal species have been recognized as taxol accumulators. In this study, we analyzed the taxol-producing capacity of different Colletotrichum spp. to determine the distribution of a taxol biosynthetic gene within this genus. Distribution of the taxadiene synthase (TS) gene, which cyclizes geranylgeranyl diphosphate to produce taxadiene, was analyzed in 12 Colletotrichum spp., of which 8 were found to contain the unique skeletal core structure of paclitaxel. However, distribution of the gene was not limited to closely related species. The production of taxol by Colletotrichum dematium, which causes pepper anthracnose, depended on the method in which the fungus was stored, with the highest production being in samples stored under mineral oil. Based on its distribution among Colletotrichum spp., the TS gene was either integrated into or deleted from the bacterial genome in a species-specific manner. In addition to their taxol-producing capacity, the simple genome structure and easy gene manipulation of these endophytic fungal species make them valuable resources for identifying genes in the taxol biosynthetic pathway.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.223-227
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• 2021

Several hypotheses for the origin of cultivated sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas L. (Lam)] have been suggested but the exact progenitor is still unknown. Based on the results of RFLP patterns, microsatellite markers, SNP markers, FISH analyses, and genome analyses of haplotypes, wild species belonging to batatas group, I. trifida, I. leucantha, I. littoralis, I. tabascana, I. tenuissima, I. tiliacea, and I. triloba have been suggested as a progenitor. However, recently, advanced genomic technologies and characterization of the inserted T-DNA fragments of Agrobacterium in the genome of cultivated sweetpotato and wild species through horizontal gene transfer suggest that there may be an older progenitor than the wild species suggested so far.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1307-1313
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• 2010

An extracellular ${\alpha}$-amylase from Lactococcus lactis IBB500 was purified and characterized. The optimum conditions for the enzyme activity were a pH of 4.5, temperature of $35^{\circ}C$, and enzyme molecular mass of 121 kDa. The genome analysis and a plasmid curing experiment indicated that $amy^+$ genes were located in a plasmid of 30 kb. An analysis of the phylogenetic relationships strongly supported a hypothesis of horizontal gene transfer. A strong homology was found for the peptides with the sequence of ${\alpha}$-amylases from Ralstonia pikettii and Ralstonia solanacearum. The protein with ${\alpha}$-amylase activity purified in this study is the first one described for the Lactococcus lactis species, and this paper is the first report on a Lactococcus lactis strain belonging to the amylolytic lactic acid bacteria (ALAB).

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
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• v.16A no.3
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• pp.143-152
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• 2009

One of the main issues in comparative genomics is to study chromosomal gene order in one or more related species. For this purpose, the whole genome alignment is usually applied to find the horizontal gene transfer, gene duplication, and gene loss between two related genomes. Also it is well known that the novel visualization tool with whole genome alignment is greatly useful for us to understand genome organization and evolution process. There are a lot of algorithms and visualization tools already proposed to find the "gene clusters" on genome alignments. But due to the huge size of whole genome, the previous visualization tools are not convenient to discover the relationship between two genomes. In this paper, we propose AlignScope, a novel visualization system for whole genome alignment, especially useful to find gene clusters between two aligned genomes. This AlignScope not only provides the simplified structure of genome alignment at any simplified level, but also helps us to find gene clusters. In experiment, we show the performance of AlignScope with several microbial genomes such as B. subtilis, B.halodurans, E. coli K12, and M. tuberculosis H37Rv, which have more than 5000 alignment pairs (matched DNA subsequence).

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2014

Phylogenetic positions of Sedirea and Neofinetia were addressed using the chloroplast matK and the nuclear ITS sequences. We also evaluate the usefulness of the makers for the identification of species and localities. Sedirea and Neofinetia form an independent monophyletic genus, respectively, in both matK and nuclear ITS trees. The sister genus of the Neofinetia was Vanda in both trees. In addition, our trees support the separate recognition of the Neofinetia from Vanda rather than the inclusion of Neofinetia into Vanda. The sister group of the Sedirea was (Dimorphorchis(Pteroceras(Saccolabiun+Phalaeonopsis))) clade. The Dimorphorchis was one of the most probable sister genus to the Sedirea. The sister group relationship between Sedirea and Aerides was suggested by their similar morphology, but not supported in molecular trees. The identification of species and localities of Neofinetia was possible using our two molecular markers. However, several pseudo-gene sequences are discovered from the public data base. In addition, the horizontal gene transfer of chloroplast genomes is frequent events in orchid hybrids. Therefore, we need a careful evaluation for the data prior to systematic use. Generation of sequence data from multiple accessions of a species may helpful to reduce these types of error.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2020

The number of commercially approved gene-edited crops is gradually increasing, and in South Korea, it has led to intense investment in gene-edited crop development to increase international competitiveness. However, as with genetically modified crops, the safety of gene-edited crops regarding unexpected risks for humans and the environment is subject to an ongoing debate. In particular, unintentional "off-target effects" have become the center of controversy. In this review, we discuss typical plant characteristics (including somatic variation and ploidy), the extent of various off-target effects in genetically modified crops generated via horizontal transfer in nature, and the off-target effects in commercial genetically modified crops. We conclude that most off-target effects possibly occurring in gene-edited crops are not expected to be critically harmful to humans or the environment. Therefore, existing regulation for genetically modified crops should be enough for the risk assessment of gene-edited crops.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.330-337
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• 2018

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including naphthalene, are widely distributed in nature. Naphthalene has been regarded as a model PAH compound for investigating the mechanisms of bacterial PAH biodegradation. Pseudomonas sp. AS1 isolated from an arseniccontaminated site is capable of growing on various aromatic compounds such as naphthalene, salicylate, and catechol, but not on gentisate. The genome of strain AS1 consists of a 6,126,864 bp circular chromosome and the 81,841 bp circular plasmid pAS1. Pseudomonas sp. AS1 has multiple dioxygenases and related enzymes involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds, which might contribute to the metabolic versatility of this isolate. The pAS1 plasmid exhibits extremely high similarity in size and sequences to the well-known naphthalene-degrading plasmid pDTG1 in Pseudomonas putida strain NCIB 9816-4. Two gene clusters involved in the naphthalene degradation pathway were identified on pAS1. The expression of several nah genes on the plasmid was upregulated by more than 2-fold when naphthalene was used as a sole carbon source. Strains have been isolated at different times and places with different characteristics, but similar genes involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds have been identified on their plasmids, which suggests that the transmissibility of the plasmids might play an important role in the adaptation of the microorganisms to mineralize the compounds.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.96-101
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• 2018

The release of nanoscale membrane-bound vesicles is common in all three domains of life. These vesicles are involved in a variety of biological processes such as cell-to-cell communication, horizontal gene transfer, and substrate transport. Prokaryotes including bacteria and archaea release membrane vesicles (MVs) (20 to 400 nm in diameter) into their extracellular milieu. In spite of structural differences in cell envelope, both Gram-positive and negative bacteria produce MVs that contain the cell membrane of each bacterial species. Archaeal MVs characteristically show surface-layer encircling the vesicles. Filamentous fungi and yeasts as eukaryotic microbes produce bilayered exosomes that have varying electron density. Microbes also form intracellular vesicles and minicells that are similar to MVs and exosomes in shape. Electron and fluorescence microscopy could reveal the presence of DNA in MVs and exosomes. Given the biogenesis of extracellular vesicles from the donor cell, in situ high-resolution microscopy can provide insights on the structural mechanisms underlying the formation and release of microbial extracellular vesicles.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2001

Bacillus anthracis is a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax. The anthrax toxin contains three components, including the protective antigen (PA), which binds to eucaryotic cell surface receptors and mediates the transport of toxins into the cell. In this study, the entire 2,294-nucleotide protective antigen gene (pag) was sequenced from 4 of B. anthracis strains to identify potential variation in the toxin and to further our understanding of B. anthracis evolution in Korea. Sequence alignment of the entire PA gene from 30 strains representative of the four B. anthracis diversity groups revealed mutations. The mutation of B. anthracis BAK are located adjacent to a highly antigenic region crossing the junction between PA domains 3 and 4 shown to be critical to LF binding. The different mutational combinations observed in this study give rise to 11 PA genotypes and 4PA phenotypes. Three-dimensional analysis of all the amino acid changes (Ala to Val) observed in BAK indicated that these changes are not only close sequentially but also very close in three-dimensional space to the antigenic region importan tfor LF binding. Phylogenetic (cladistic) analysis of the pag corresponded with previous strain grouping based on chromosomal variation, suggesting that plasmid evolution in B. anthracis has occurred with little or no horizontal transfer between the different strains.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.376-383
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• 2005

Alcaligenes sp. JMP228 carrying 2,4­dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) degradative plasmid pJP4 was inoculated into natural soil, and transfer of the plasmid pJP4 to indigenous soil bacteria was investigated with and without 2,4-D amendment. Plasmid pJP4 transfer was enhanced in the soils treated with 2,4-D, compared to the soils not amended with 2,4-D. Several different transconjugants were isolated from the soils treated with 2,4-D, while no indigenous transconjugants were obtained from the unamended soils. Inoculation of the soils with both the donor Alcaligenes sp. JMP228/pJP4 and a recipient Burkholderia cepacia DBO 1 produced less diverse transconjugants than the soils inoculated with the donor alone. Repetitive extragenic palindromic-polymerase chain reaction (REP-PCR) analysis of the transconjugants exhibited seven distinct genomic DNA fingerprints. Analysis of 16S rDNA sequences indicated that the transconjugants were related to members of the genera Burkholderia and Pandoraea. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that inoculation of the donor caused clear changes in the bacterial community structure of the 2,4-D­amended soils. The new 16S rRNA gene bands in the DGGE profile corresponded with the 16S rRNA genes of 2,4-D­degrading transconjugants isolated from the soil. The results indicate that introduction of the 2,4-D degradative plasmid as Alcaligenes sp. JMP228/pJP4 has a substantial impact on the bacterial community structure in the 2,4-D-amended soil.