• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.1507-1514
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• 2008

Cholesterol oxidase catalyses the conversion of cholesterol to 4-cholesten-3-one. This enzyme has been used for clinical assay of human serum cholesterol and for reduction of cholesterol level in foods and feeds. In order to search the microorganism which has a high extracellular and stable activity of cholesterol oxidase, soil microorganisms were screened. As a result, the one with the highest extracellular cholesterol oxidase activity was obtained and named as the BEN 115. The BEN 115 strain was identified as one of the Nocardia species based on our taxonomic studies. The cholesterol oxidase from this strain was shown to have two bands of extracellular proteins on SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Their molecular masses were estimated to be about 55 and 57 kDa, respectively. In addition, this cholesterol oxidase was considerably stable at the broad range of pH $3.5{\sim}9.5$ and at the temperature of $25{\sim}55^{\circ}C$. The optimum pH and temperature of this cholesterol oxidase were pH 5.5 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity of extracellular cholesterol oxidase could be enhanced 1.6 to 2.0 folds by the addition of nonionic detergent such as Triton X-114, Triton X-100, or Tween-80 into the culturing broth. The substrate specificities against campesterol, sitosterol and stigmasterol were measured to be 50%, 50%, and 27%, respectively, compared to the cholesterol. These results suggest that Nocardia sp. BEN 115 may be useful as a microbial source of cholesterol oxidase production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.328-337
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• 2017

Objective: An experiment was conducted to determine the relationship between the KAP11.1 and the regulation wool fineness. Methods: In previous work, we constructed a skin cDNA library and isolated a full-length cDNA clone termed KAP11.1. On this basis, we conducted a series of bioinformatics analysis. Tissue distribution of KAP11.1 mRNA was performed using semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. The expression of KAP11.1 mRNA in primary and secondary hair follicles was performed using real-time PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) analysis. The expression location of KAP11.1 mRNA in primary and secondary hair follicles was performed using in situ hybridization. Results: Bioinformatics analysis showed that KAP11.1 gene encodes a putative 158 amino acid protein that exhibited a high content of cysteine, serine, threonine, and valine and has a pubertal mammary gland) structural domain. Secondary structure prediction revealed a high proportion of random coils (76.73%). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed that KAP11.1 gene was expressed in heart, skin, and liver, but not expressed in spleen, lung and kidney. Real time PCR results showed that the expression of KAP11.1 has a higher expression in catagen than in anagen in the primary hair follicles. However, in the secondary hair follicles, KAP11.1 has a significantly higher expression in anagen than in catagen. Moreover, KAP11.1 gene has a strong expression in inner root sheath, hair matrix, and a lower expression in hair bulb. Conclusion: We conclude that KAP11.1 gene may play an important role in regulating the fiber diameter.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.607-615
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• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to isolate the cellulolytic microorganism from the rumen of Holstein steers and characterize endoglucanase gene (Cel5A) from the isolated microorganism. Methods: To isolate anaerobic microbes having endoglucanase, rumen fluid was obtained from Holstein steers fed roughage diet. The isolated anaerobic bacteria had 98% similarity with Eubacterium cellulosolvens (E. cellulosolvens) Ce2 (Accession number: AB163733). The Cel5A from isolated E. cellulolsovens sp. was cloned using the published genome sequence and expressed through the Escherichia coli BL21. Results: The maximum activity of recombinant Cel5A (rCel5A) was observed at $50^{\circ}C$ and pH 4.0. The enzyme was constant at the temperature range of $20^{\circ}C$ to $40^{\circ}C$ but also, at the pH range of 3 to 9. The metal ions including $Ca^{2+}$, $K^+$, $Ni^{2+}$,$Mg^{2+}$, and $Fe^{2+}$ increased the endoglucanase activity but the addition of $Mn^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$ decreased. The Km and Vmax value of rCel5A were 14.05 mg/mL and $45.66{\mu}mol/min/mg$. Turnover number, Kcat and catalytic efficiency, Kcat/Km values of rCel5A was $96.69(s^{-1})$ and 6.88 (mL/mg/s), respectively. Conclusion: Our results indicated that rCel5A of E. cellulosolvens isolated from Holstein steers had a broad pH range with high stability under various conditions, which might be one of the beneficial characteristics of this enzyme for possible industrial application.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2010

In this study, we report the identification and characterization of a novel C2H2 zinc finger protein, ZNF552, from a human embryonic heart cDNA library. ZNF552 is composed of three exons and two introns and maps to chromosome 19q13.43. The cDNA of ZNF552 is 2.3 kb, encoding 407 amino acids with an amino-terminal KRAB domain and seven carboxyl-terminal C2H2 zinc finger motifs in the nucleus and cytoplasm. Northern blotting analysis indicated that a 2.3 kb transcript specific for ZNF552 was expressed in liver, lung, spleen, testis and kidney, especially with a higher level in the lung and testis in human adult tissues. Reporter gene assays showed that ZNF552 was a transcriptional repressor, and overexpression of ZNF552 in the COS-7 cells inhibited the transcriptional activities of AP-1 and SRE, which could be relieved through RNAi analysis. Deletion studies showed that the KRAB domain of ZNF552 may be involved in this inhibition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.363-363
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• 2014

Ruthenium (Ru) has attractive material properties due to its promising characteristics such as a low resistivity ($7.1{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ in the bulk), a high work function of 4.7 eV, and feasibility for the dry etch process. These properties make Ru films appropriate for various applications in the state-of-art semiconductor device technologies. Thus, it has been widely investigated as an electrode for capacitor in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a metal gate for metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), and a seed layer for Cu metallization. Due to the continuous shrinkage of microelectronic devices, better deposition processes for Ru thin films are critically required with excellent step coverages in high aspect ratio (AR) structures. In these respects, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a viable solution for preparing Ru thin films because it enables atomic-scale control of the film thickness with excellent conformality. A recent investigation reported that the nucleation of ALD-Ru film was enhanced considerably by using a zero-valent metallorganic precursor, compared to the utilization of precursors with higher metal valences. In this study, we will present our research results on the synthesis and characterization of novel ruthenium complexes. The ruthenium compounds were easy synthesized by the reaction of ruthenium halide with appropriate organic ligands in protic solvent, and characterized by NMR, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The molecular structures of the complexes were studied by single crystal diffraction. ALD of Ru film was demonstrated using the new Ru metallorganic precursor and O2 as the Ru source and reactant, respectively, at the deposition temperatures of $300-350^{\circ}C$. Self-limited reaction behavior was observed as increasing Ru precursor and O2 pulse time, suggesting that newly developed Ru precursor is applicable for ALD process. Detailed discussions on the chemical and structural properties of Ru thin films as well as its growth behavior using new Ru precursor will be also presented.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.293-297
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• 2012

Of the 169 strains of microorganisms stored in Polar and Alpine Microbial Collection of Korea Polar Research Institute, 27 strains were selected for their chitinase activity on ZoBell plates supplemented with 0.4% colloidal chitin. Among them, PAMC 21693 strain have shown the highest chitinolytic enzyme activity toward pNP-$(GlcNAc)_1$ at low temperature and the highest growth rate at $4^{\circ}C$. We cloned a full-length chitinase gene of 2,857 bp which contains an open reading frame of 2,169 bp encoding 872-amino acid polypeptide. Recombinant chitinase protein was expressed in E. coli and its molecular weight was confirmed 96 kDa. In this paper, we suggest the potential use of cold-active chitinase from polar microorganisms in the field of biotechnology.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 2009

Norovirus (NV) with a variety of genotypes, a member of the family Caliciviridae, causes acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis in humans. We determined the nucleotide sequence of three open reading frames (ORFs) of a NV Korean strain and characterized the genetic relationship with others. The Korean strain designated Hu/NLV/Gunpo/2006/KO was isolated from the stool specimen of a 2-year-old female suffering from gastroenteritis. By performing reverse transcription and PCR amplification, three overlapping cDNAs were synthesized and used for direct sequencing. We found that like other NVs, this strain contains three ORFs: ORF1, 5,100 bp; ORF2, 1,647 bp; ORF3, 765 bp. Of 35 NVs, ORF1 had a level of genetic diversity lower than ORF2 and ORF3, of which the C-termini of the ORF2 and ORF3 showed a relatively high degree of genetic diversity. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the Korean strain belonged to genogroup II, with Saitama U1, Gifu'96, Mc37, and Vietnam 026 being formed a single genetic cluster. The nucleotide sequence information of three ORFs of a NV Korean isolate will be useful not only for the development of a diagnostic tool and understanding of genetic relationship, but also provide important basic information for the functional analysis of their gene products.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2009

To understand contribution of thermophilic microorganisms in decomposition of litter deposits on shore of lakes, we surveyed a lakeshore litter deposit for bacteria growing at $60^{\circ}C$. Ten thermophilic isolates were selected for in-depth characterization, based on their high capacity to degrade high molecular weight organic compounds. Based on phylogenetic analysis on their 16S rRNA gene sequences, all isolates were identified as Geobacillus. The optimal growth temperature and pH of the strains ranged $55{\sim}60^{\circ}C$ and 6.0${\sim}$8.0, respectively. Salinity was inhibitory to the growth of the isolates, showing marked decrease of growth rates at 3% salinity. Based on activities of hydrolytic enzymes and profiles of carbohydrate utilization (determined by API 50 CHB kit), three G. stearothermophilus strains showed patterns clearly distinctive from other isolates. Two G. kaustophilus strains also demonstrated distinctiveness in their metabolic pattern and ecological parameters. However, ecological and metabolic profiles of the other five isolates were more variable and showed some degree of digression from their phylogenetic classification. Therefore, it could be concluded that endospore-forming thermophilic bacteria in lakeshore litter deposits contribute to degradation of organic materials with diverse ecological niches while having successions similar to microbial flora in compost. We propose that the thermophilic isolates and/or their thermo-tolerant enzymes can be applied to industrial processes as appropriate mixtures.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of quinolone resistant E. coli from raw bulk milk and to characterize the resistance determinants. In this study, the gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR) were sequenced from quinolone resistant E. coli isolates. Also, the presence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) and the expression of efflux pump genes based on quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were investigated. Of the 487 coliform bacteria, 9 strains showed nalidixic acid resistance, and 6 of the 9 nalidixic acid resistant isolates were also ciprofloxacin resistant. These 9 strains had a single mutation at codon 83 (S83L) in gyrA, 2 of them had double mutations at codon 83 and 87 (S83L and D87N) in gyrA and 3 of the 9 isolates had single mutations at codon 80 (S80I) in parC. None of the 9 isolates harbored PMQR determinants. Compared with wild-type E. coli ATCC 25922, an over-expression of the acrB gene (2.15-5.74 fold), encoding the pump component of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump was observed in 4 of 6 ciprofloxacin resistant isolates. This study identified the quinolone resistance mechanism of E. coli isolated from raw milk samples in Gyeonggi-do.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.231-237
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• 2006

The extracellular enzyme alginase produced by Bacillus licheniformis AL-577 was purified by ion chromatography on CM-Cellulose column, DEAE-Sepharose column, and followed by gel filtration on Sephadx G-100 column. The optimum pH and temperature for the activity of the purified enzyme were 6.0 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively. The enzyme was stable at the pH range of $6.0\~9.0$ and at $20^{\circ}C$. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be about 25,500 daltons by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. NaCl was required for high activity of the enzyme. The enzyme was inhibited by $Ba^{2+},\;Co^{2+},\;Cu^{2+},\;Fe^{2+},\;Mg^{2+},\;Zn^{2+},\;NH_4^+$, EDTA, L-cysteine, and 2-mercaptoethanol, while stimulated by DTT, O-phenanthroline, $K^+$ and $Li^+$. This enzyme was proposed to be an alginase specifically degrading alginic acid.