• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.696-704
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• 2021

Levan is an industrially important, functional biopolymer with considerable applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields owing to its safety and biocompatibility. Here, levan-type exopolysaccharide produced by Pantoea agglomerans ZMR7 was purified by cold ethanol precipitation and characterized using TLC, FTIR, ¹H, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The maximum production of levan (28.4 g/l) was achieved when sucrose and ammonium chloride were used as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, at 35℃ and an initial pH of 8.0. Some biomedical applications of levan like antitumor, antiparasitic, and antioxidant activities were investigated in vitro. The results revealed the ability of levan at different concentrations to decrease the viability of rhabdomyosarcoma and breast cancer cells compared with untreated cancer cells. Levan appeared also to have high antiparasitic activity against the promastigote of Leishmania tropica. Furthermore, levan had strong DPPH radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity. These findings suggest that levan produced by P. agglomerans ZMR7 can serve as a natural biopolymer candidate for the pharmaceutical and medical fields.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1064-1069
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• 2008

Levan fructotransferase (LFTase) preferentially catalyzes the transfructosylation reaction in addition to levan hydrolysis, whereas other levan-degrading enzymes hydrolyze levan into a levan-oligosaccharide and fructose. Based on sequence comparisons and enzymatic properties, the fructosyl transfer activity of LFTase is proposed to have evolved from levanase. In order to probe the residues that are critical to the intramolecular fructosyl transfer reaction of the Microbacterium sp. AL-210 LFTase, an error-prone PCR mutagenesis process was carried out, and the mutants that led to a shift in activity from transfructosylation towards hydrolysis of levan were screened by the DNS method. After two rounds of mutagenesis, TLC and HPLC analyses of the reaction products by the selected mutants revealed two major products; one is a di-D-fructose-2,6':6,2'-dianhydride (DFAIV) and the other is a levanbiose. The newly detected levanbiose corresponds to the reaction product from LFTase lacking transferring activity. Two mutants (2-F8 and 2-G9) showed a high yield of levanbiose (38-40%) compared with the wild-type enzyme, and thus behaved as levanases. Sequence analysis of the individual mutants responsible for the enhanced hydrolytic activity indicated that Asn-85 was highly involved in the transfructosylation activity of LFTase.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1218-1225
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• 2009

Difractose anhydrides (DFAs) is studied as a sweetener for diabetics because of its structural property. DFAs have four types: DFA I, III, IV (degradation of levan) and V (degradation of inulin). Especially, DFA IV has been shown to enhance the absorption of calcium in experiments using rats. Levan fructotransferase is an enzyme for producing di-d-fructose-2,6':6,2-dianhydride (DFA IV). To identify structural characterization, we purified wild-type and mutants (D63A, D195N and N85S) of levan fructotransferase (LFTase) from Microbacterium sp. AL-210. These proteins were purified to apparent homogeneity by Ni-NTA affinity column, Q-sepharose ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography and detected by SDS-PAGE. They were also analyzed by circular dichroism (CD) measurements, JNET secondary structure prediction, activity measurements at various temperatures, and pH analysis. The optimum pH for the enzyme-catalyzed reaction was pH 7.5 and optimum temperature was observed at $55^{\circ}C$. Along with wild-type LFTase, mutants were analyzed by CD measurement, fluorescence analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). N85S showed less $\alpha$-helix and more $\beta$ strand than others. Also, N85S showed almost the same curve as wild-type in their steady-state fluorescence spectra, whereas mutant D63A and D195N showed higher intensity than wild-type. The amino acid sequence of wild-type LFTase was compared to the sequences of exo-inulinase from Aspergillus awamori, a plant fructan 1-exohydrolase from Cichorium intybus, and Thermotogo maritime (Tm) invertase and showed a high identity with Exo-inulinase from Aspergillus awamori.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.985-990
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• 2004

Levans produced from Microbacterium laevaniformans were isolated, characterized, and fractionated by molecular weight. TLC, HPLC, and GC-MS analyses of the exopolysaccharide showed that it was a fructan-type polymer and was composed of (2,6)- and (2,1)-glycosidic linkages. $^{13}C$-NMR analysis proved that the polysaccharide was mainly a $\beta$-(2,6)-linked levan-type polysaccharide. To investigate the cytotoxicity of the acetone-precipitated levan fractions such as M1, M2, and M3, HepG2, P388D1, U937, SNU-1, and SNUC2A cell lines were screened. Among the cell lines tested, the cytotoxicity of M1- M3 fractions were detected from only SNU-1 and HepG2 cells at the dosage level of $100-800\mu\textrm{g}ml$. The M2 fraction M_r$, 80,000) at 400 $mu{g/ml}$ had the greatest cell growth inhibition (84.6%) on SNU-1, while the M1 $(M_r$, 50,000) at $800\mu\textrm{g}ml$ showed the greatest (46.32%) on HepG2. To obtain more uniform M_r$ fractions of levan, the levan was further fractionated from S1 $(M_r$ 1,000,000) to S5 $(M_r$ 10,000) using gel permeation chromatography. Again, the S1-S5 fractions had strong cytotoxicity on SNU-1 and HepG2 cell lines. The greatest inhibition effects of S4 $(M_r$ 80,000) on SNU-1 and S5 $(M_r$ 10,000) on HepG2 were shown to be 49.5% and 73.0%, respectively. The cytotoxicity of the levan fractions was more effective on SNU-1 than on HepG2. Although the relationship between the Mw and the cytotoxicity was not clear, smaller $M_r$, fractions of levan showed greater growth inhibition effect on the cancer cell lines in general. Therefore, it was indicated that a specific Mw class of levan is responsible for the effective cytotoxicity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.1 s.81
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• pp.6-11
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• 2007

[ $\beta$ ]-Fructofuranosidases, a family 32 of glycoside hydrolases (GH32), share three conserved domains including the W(L/M)(C/N)DP(Q/N), FRDPK, and ECP(D/G) motifs. The functional role of the conserved acidic residues within three domains of levan fructotransferase, one of the $\beta-fructofuranosidases$, from Microbacterium sp. AL-210 was studied by site-directed mutagenesis. Each mutant was overexpressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) and purified by using Hi-Trap chelating affinity chromatography and fast performance liquid chromatography. Substitution of Asp-63 by Ala, Asp-195 by Asn, and Glu-245 by Ala and Asp decreased the enzyme activity by approximately 100-fold compared to the wild-type enzyme. This result indicates that three acidic residues Asp-63, Asp-195, and Glu-245 play a major role in catalysis. Since the three acidic residues are present in a conserved position in inulinase, levanase, levanfructotransferase, and invertase, they are likely to have a common functional role as nucleophile, transition state stabilizer, and general acid in $\beta-fructofuranosidases$.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.519-526
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• 2018

Fructan, a fructose homopolymer, is found in various foods, including onion, garlic, chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, banana, and Cheonggukjang. This study aimed to quantitatively analyze both levan-type and insulin-type fructan using acid analysis and enzyme treatment. In order to analyze fructan contents, we applied optimized conditions to various fructan-rich foods using products from 2017. In the case of oxalic acid hydrolysis, fructose concentrations increased as oxalic acid concentration increased. Inulinase treatment was better than invertase treatment in terms of fructose liberation from fructan. We applied three different methods to fructan-rich foods, including onion, garlic, banana, and Cheonggukjang and found that fructose released from fructan-rich foods was the highest in oxalic acid hydrolysis among three different methods. Except for Cheonggukjang, inulinase treatment produced better results in terms of fructose contents than invertase treatment. From our study, estimated daily fructan intakes by Koreans were 1,172~3,402 mg from onion and garlic. In conclusion, we believe that information on fructan-rich foods may be helpful to understand their roles in the human digestive system.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 1988

Two forms of extracellular inulinase, designated as PI and PII were detected in the crude enzyme preparation from n species of Pseudomonas isolated from soil. PI and PII were purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE Sephadex A-50 chromatography, Sephadex G-100 and Sephadex G-200 gel filteration. Both isoenzymes catalyzed specifically and endowise the cleavage of the $\beta$-2,1-fructofranoside linkage of inulin, and displayed no action upon sucrose, raffinose and levan. The optimal pH values for the PI and PII enzyme were pH 5.5 and 6.0, respectively and the highest activity of the two enzymes was observed at 55$^{\circ}C$. The Km values of PI and PII were calculated to be 2$\times$10$^{-3}$M and 5$\times$10$^{-3}$M, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.98.2-99
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• 2003

Bacterial canker of sweet cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) was observed in farmers' orchard in Goesan, Chungbuk in 2003. Typical canker symptom occurred on the branches or twigs of sweet cherry in early spring and bacterial exudates oozed out of the cracked barks of diseased trees. Watersoaked brown symptom appeared on the leaves and severe infection caused thorough defoliation on the branches or twigs of sweet cherry. When cut the severely infected branches or twigs, irregular and rusty-colored symptoms in sapwood and heartwood were clearly found, indicating that they could serve as specific symptoms of bacterial canker of sweet cherry. The gram negative, aerobic bacterium isolated from the lesion produced fluorescent pigments on King's B agar medium but did not grow at 37$^{\circ}C$ The bacterium formed Levan-type colonies, and showed negative reactions in oxidase reaction, arginine dihydrolysis test, and pectolytic activity Based on the biochemical and pathological characteristics, the causal organism was identified as Pseudomonas syringae pv. morsprunorum. This is the first report on bacterial canker of sweet cherry in Korea.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.202-209
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• 1992

In order to study on the viscous substance produced during Chungkookjang fermentation, one strain which produce a lot of viscous substance was isolated from the rice straw and identified as Bacillus sp; This strain produced the most viscous substance in 48 hours at $42^{\circ}C$, in splite of little change of amino type nitrogen and ammonia type nitrogen when added M.S.G., while the yield of viscous substance and amino type nitrogen was increased but that of ammonia type nitrogen was decreased when added susrose. Molecular weight of viscous substance estimated between 15,000 and 65,000. Viscous substance was confirmed mostly composed of glutamate and fructose by G.C. and HPLC analysis. Composition of viscous substance would be controlled according to the changes of media.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.509-514
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• 2007

In this study, we optimized the production of ${\gamma}-polyglutamic$ acid (PGA) in soybean milk cakes (SMC) fermented with Bacillus subtilis GT-D and B. subtilis KU-A, to be utilized as a functional food ingredient. PGA production was dependent upon the glutamate content, fermentation time, and type of Bacillus sp. The consistencies of the SMCs fermented by B. subtilis GT-D and B. subtilis KU-A were highest after 36 hr of fermentation, and then decreased gradually. The SMC fermented by B. subtilis KU-A had a higher consistency than the SMC fermented by B. subtilis GT-D. In the presence of 10% defatted soy flour (DFS), 5% glutamate in the SMC was efficiently converted into polyglutamic acid (PGA) for 24 hr, indicating a conversion yield above 96%, but its conversion then decreased with higher concentrations of glutamate. The soluble solid content (mucilage) of the SMC fermented with B. subtilis KU-A was 9.5%(w/w), and composed of 65.6% PGA (Mw 1,536 kDa) and some polysaccharides. However, the SMC fermented with B. subtilis GT-D had a mucilage content of 7.8%(w/w), and was composed of 66.4% PGA (Mw 1,409 kDa), 11.5% levan, and some polysaccharides. The viscoelastic values of the mucilage obtained using B. subtilis KU-A were much higher than those of mucilage obtained using B. subtilis GT-D. Also, the G'-value (elastic modulus) was higher than the G"-value (viscous modulus).