• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.28-36
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• 2015

Simultaneous mobility reduction of explosives and heavy metals in an operational range by monopotassium phosphate (MKP) and bentonite spreading technology was investigated. Potassium ion and phosphate ion in MKP act as explosives sorption enhancer and insoluble heavy metal phosphate formation, respectively, while bentonite acts as the explosives adsorbent. Then, the decrease in surface water concentration of the pollutants and resulting risk reduction for local residents of the operational range, by MKP/bentonite application was estimated. Under untreated scenario, the noncancer hazard index (HI) exceeded unity on February, July and August, mainly due to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT); however, MKP/bentonite treatment was expected to lower the noncancer hazard index by decreasing the surface water concentration of explosives and heavy metals (especially TNT). For example, on July, estimated surface water concentration and HI of TNT were 0.01 mg/L and 1.1, respectively, meanwhile the sorption coefficient of TNT was 3.9 mg¹⁻ⁿkg⁻¹Lⁿ. However, by MKP/bentonite treatment, the TNT sorption coefficient increased to 113.8 mg¹⁻ⁿkg⁻¹Lⁿ and the surface water concentration and HI decreased to about 0.002 mg/L and 0.2, respectively. Based on the result, it can be concluded that MKP/bentonite spreading is a benign technology that can mitigate the risk posed by the pollutants migration from operational ranges.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

We investigated the capability of the phosphate-solubilizing fungus, Penicillium sp. GL-101, to solubilize in vitro some insoluble rock phosphate via possible mechanisms: acidification of the medium, production of chelating metabolites, redox activity, and so on. GL-101 was able to solubilize rock phosphate (mostly calcium phosphate) in a liquid potato dextrose broth(PDB) medium, as determined by spectrophotometric analyses. Acidification was the major mechanism of solubilization since the pH of cultures fell below 4.0 and in cultures containing 1.0%(w/v) loess the pH dropped from 7.0 to 3.2. More than 10 mg/mL concentrations of citric acids were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) in the culture supernatants. Also this fungus showed the phosphatase activity (over 1.3 unit) to contribute partially releasing phosphate from rock phosphate, when supplemented with 1.0% loess in culture broth. The chelating activity of GL-101 in culture supernatants was not present because 2-ketogluconic acid, a chelating agent for the phosphate, was produced only a basal level. Therefore, the solubilization mechanism of rock phosphate by Penicillium sp. GL-101 involves both acidification due to citric acid production and phosphatase activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1413-1420
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• 2014

Phytate is an antinutritional factor that impacts the bioavailability of essential minerals such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, and $Fe^{2+}$ by forming insoluble mineral-phytate salts. These insoluble mineral-phytate salts are hydrolyzed rarely by monogastric animals, because they lack the hydrolyzing phytases and thus excrete the majority of them. The ${\beta}$-propeller phytases (BPPs) hydrolyze these insoluble mineral-phytate salts efficiently. In this study, we cloned a novel BPP gene from a marine Pseudomonas sp. This Pseudomonas BPP gene (PsBPP) had low sequence identity with other known phytases and contained an extra internal repeat domain (residues 24-279) and a typical BPP domain (residues 280-634) at the C-terminus. Structure-based sequence alignment suggested that the N-terminal repeat domain did not possess the active-site residues, whereas the C-terminal BPP domain contained multiple calcium-binding sites, which provide a favorable electrostatic environment for substrate binding and catalytic activity. Thus, we overexpressed the BPP domain from Pseudomonas sp. to potentially hydrolyze insoluble mineral-phytate salts. Purified recombinant PsBPP required $Ca^{2+}$ or $Fe^{2+}$ for phytase activity, indicating that PsBPP hydrolyzes insoluble $Fe^{2+}$-phytate or $Ca^{2+}$-phytate salts. The optimal temperature and pH for the hydrolysis of $Ca^{2+}$-phytate by PsBPP were $50^{\circ}C$ and 6.0, respectively. Biochemical and kinetic studies clearly showed that PsBPP efficiently hydrolyzed $Ca^{2+}$-phytate salts and yielded myo-inositol 2,4,6-trisphosphate and three phosphate groups as final products. Finally, we showed that PsBPP was highly effective for hydrolyzing rice bran with high phytate content. Taken together, our results suggest that PsBPP has great potential in the animal feed industry for reducing phytates.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2303-2309
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• 2007

Expressed protein ligation (EPL) technique, joining recombinantly expressed proteins to polypeptides, has been widely adopted for addressing various biological questions and for drug discovery. However, joining two recombinant proteins together is sometimes difficult when proteins are expressed insoluble and unrefoldable, because ligation-active proteins via intein-fusion are obtainable when they are folded correctly. We overcame this limitation coexpressing target protein with additional methionine aminopeptidase (MAP) which enhances removal of the initiation methionine of recombinantly expressed protein. Our approach demonstrated that two domains of 46 kDa 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase, a target of herbicide glyphosate, were successfully joined by native chemical ligation, although its C-terminal domain was expressed as an inclusion body. The intein-fused N-terminal fragment of EPSP synthase (EPSPSN, residues 1-237) was expressed and the ligation-active thioester tagged N-terminal fragment (EPSPSN-thioester) was purified using a chitin affinity chromatography and mercapto-ethanesulphonate (MESNA) as intein thiolysis reagent. Its Cterminal fragment (EPSPSC, residues Met237-238CYS-427), expressed as an inclusion body, was prepared from an additional MAP-expressing strain. Protein ligation was initiated by mixing ~1 mM of EPSPSN-thioester with ~2 mM of EPSPSCCYS (residues 238CYS-427). Also we found that addition of 2% thiophenol increased the ligation efficiency via thiol exchange. The ligation efficiency was ~85%. The ligated full-length EPSP synthase was dissolved in 6 M GdHCl and refolded. Circular dichroism (CD) and enzyme activity assay of the purified protein showed that the ligated enzyme has distinct secondary structure and ~115% specific activity compared to those of wild-type EPSP synthase. This work demonstrates rare example of EPL between two recombinantly expressed proteins and also provides hands-on protein engineering protocol for large proteins.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.337-341
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• 1999

In order to investigate effects of loess on the mycelial pellet formation a phosphate dissolving fungus, Penicillium sp. GL-101, was cultured in potato dextrose broth containing loess. The strain formed an amorphous pellet or loose aggregates agitated at a low speed(50rpm) while spherical and regular pellets at a high speed(150rpm). The higher concentration of loess, the smaller size of a pellet in the medium formed by the strain. Cultured in the medium supplemented with 1.5% loess the pellet size was reduced to a seventh compared to the control. In the case of addition of several insoluble salts, which are main components of loess, to the culture medium the higher concentrations of salts, the smaller sizes of pellet formed by the strain and the smallest pellet was formed by the addition of calcium sulfate.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.398-402
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• 2013

This study was to investigate beneficial effects of microbial mixture on red pepper which was capable of promoting plant growth by solubilizing insoluble phosphate as well as protecting plants from pathogenic attack. Saccharomyces sp. L13 was isolated for phosphate solubilizing activity on aluminium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, calcium hydrophosphate, and magnesium hydrophosphate. On the other hand, Bacillus sp. L32 was isolated for antagonistic activity against Phytophthora capsisi and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, causing Phytophthora blight and Anthracnose disease in pepper, respectively. The strain L32 exhibited antagonistic activities both under dual culture assays and detached leaves assays. The each strain under the condition of mixed cultivation exhibited the same growth rates as one under pure cultivation. In greenhouse study, the mixed culture showed the both effect of plant growth promotion and reduction of disease symptom development against P. capsisi and C. gloeosporioides providing a potential as effective microbial agent for plant husbandry.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.162-166
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• 2001

Helicobacter pylori is a major cause of gastric-associated diseases. In our previous study, the Adhesin/CTXA2B was expressed as insoluble recombinant chimeric protein derived from the H. pylori adhesin genetically coupled to CTXA2B subunit in Escherichia coli. Since it is very important to optimize IPTG concentration, culture temperature and composition of medium to maximize cell growth and productivity, these conditional growth factors were determined for increasing the productivity of the expressed Adhesin/CTXA2B chimeric protein in Escherichia coli JM101 carrying pTEDhpa/ctxa2b. Our data demonstrate that optimal medium for increased production of chimeric protein was a YCP/Glu medium composed of 2% yeast extract, 1% casamino acid, phosphate solution [0.3% $KH_2P0_4$, 0.4% $Na_2HP0_4$, 0.25% ($NH_4)_2HPO_4$], and 0.5% glucose. In addition, optimal concentration of IPTG was 1 mM and culture temperature, $37^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2002

A phosphate solubilizing bacterium. strain 60-2G, possessing a strong ability to solubilize insoluble phosphate was isolated from the rhizosphere of grass. On the basis of GC-FAME profile, carbon utilization pattern, and the DNA sequence of a conserved partial 16S rRNA gene, the 60-2G was identified as Enterobacter intermedium. The analysis by HPLC revealed that the strain 60-2G produced mainly gluconic and 2-ketogluconic acids with small amounts of lactic acid in broth culture medium containing hydroxyapatite. During the incubation period of the strain 60-2G in broth culture, pH of the medium decreased upto 3.8 while the soluble phosphate concentration increased. The reversed correlation between pH and soluble phosphate concentration indicated that the solubility of P was due to the produced organic acids. The sequence homology of the deduced amino acids suggested that E. intermedium 60-2G synthesized PQQ which is essential for the oxidation of glucose by glucose dehydrogenase.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2009

Fourteen bacterial strains were isolated from crop rhizosphere and identified as phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) by 16S rRNA analysis. Only 3 strains exhibited a strong ability to solubilize insoluble phosphate in agar medium containing a hydroxyapatite. The rates of P solubilization by isolates were ranged from 200 and $2300\;mg\;L^{-1}$, which are inversely correlated with pH in culture medium. Furthermore, HPLC analyses reveal the production of organic acid from the culture filtrates of PSB. Among these, strain Acinetobacter sp. released only gluconic acid, Pseudomonas orientalis produced gluconic acid which was subsequently converted into 2-ketogluconic acid, and Enterobacter asburiae released acetic acid and succinic acid. On the other hand, P. orientalis and E. asburiae released $372\;mg\;L^{-1}$ and $191\;mg\;L^{-1}$ of IAA into broth culture, respectively, while Acinetobacter sp. did not produce IAA. Furthermore, in vivo study showed that plant growth promoting effect by bacteria generally seemed to be increased IAA production and phosphate solubilization.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.307-313
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• 2010

Stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) is a glycoprotein hormone that is important in the maintenance of calcium and phosphate homeostasis in both fish and mammals. STC1 and its paralog STC2 are expressed in multiple tissues in fishes, although the physiological roles of piscine STCs are still unclear compared with those of mammals. In this study, we cloned olive flounder STC1 (ofSTC1) and ofSTC2 cDNAs into pET28a vector and used E. coli Rosetta (DE3) as the host strain for protein expression. Expression experiments were carried out using isopropyl-$\beta$-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) and nickel affinity chromatography. We could identify the recombinant proteins as single 29.5 kDa (ofSTC1) and 33.2 kDa (ofSTC2) bands in the insoluble fraction on sodium dodecyl sulfate- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). These results indicate that ofSTC1 and ofSTC2 were expressed as insoluble proteins in E. coli. Furthermore, the injection of ofSTC1 protein into juvenile tilapia resulted in a decrease of the serum calcium level. These results suggest that the purified fish STC1 and STC2 proteins may be used to elucidate the physiological role of STCs in fishes.