• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.139-141
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• 2001

Medium-chain length polyhydrexyalkanoic acids (MCL-PHAs) degrading bacterium was isolated from the soil. The bacterium was identified as Janthinobacterium lividum by its biochemical properties, cell membrane fatty acids composition, and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The bacterium showed a similarity of 0.911 with J. lividum according to the cell membrane fatty acids analysis and a similarity of 97% in the 16S rDNA requence analysis. Culture supernatant of the bacterium skewed the highest depolymerase activity toward polyhydroxynonanoic acid (PHN) that did not degrade the poly-$\beta$-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB). The esterase activity was also detected with p-nitrophenyl (PNP) esters of fatty acids such as PNP-dodecanoic PNP-dodecanoic acid, PNP-decanoic acid, and PNP-hexanoic acid.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 2004

Production of (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid (R3HB) by fed-batch culture and continuous culture of metabolically engineered Escherichia coli harboring Ralstonia eutropha PHB biosynthesis and depolymerase genes was examined in a 30 1 pilot-scale fermentor. A new stable two-plasmid system, pBRRed containing the R. eutropha PHB depolymerase gene and pMCS 105 containing the R. eutropha PHB biosynthesis genes, was developed. Among a variety of E. coli strains harboring plasmids, recombinant E. coli XL-10 Gold (pBRRed, pMCS105) was able to produce R3HB with the highest efficiency in a batch culture. By the fed-batch culture of recombinant E. coli XL-10 Gold(pBRRed, pMCS 105) in a 30 1 fer-mentor, the final R3HB concentration was 22.4 g/l giving a productivity of 0.97 g/l-h. To produce R3HB to a high concentration with high productivity, a new strategy of fed-batch culture followed by a continuous culture was investigated. The maximum productivity and R3HB concentration were 5.06 g/l-h and 25.3 g/l, respectively. These results show that economical production of R3HB is possible by recombinant E. coli in large scale.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.207-207
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.50-51
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• 2006

The nanofibrous scaffolds were obtained by co-electrospinning PHBV and collagen Type I in HIFP. The resulting fiber diameters were in the range between 300 and 600 nm. The nanofiber surfaces were characterized by ATR-FTIR, ESCA and AFM. The PHBV and collagen components of the PHBV-Col nanofibrous scaffold were biodegraded by PHB depolymerase and a collagenase Type I aqueous solution, respectively. It was found, from the cell-culture experiment, that the PHBV-Col nanofibrous scaffold accelerated the adhesion of the NIH 3T3 cell compared to the PHBV nanofibrous scaffold, thus showing a good tissue engineering scaffold.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1315-1320
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• 2002

Since the enzymatic degradation of microbial poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate] (P(3HB-co-3HV)) initially occurs by a surface erosion process, a degradation behavior could be controlled by the change of surface property. In order to control the rate of enzymatic degradation, plasma gas discharge and blending techniques were used to modify the surface of microbial P(3HB-co-3HV). The surface hydrophobic property of P(3HB-co-3HV) film was introduced by CF$_3$H plasma exposure. Also, the addition of small amount of polystyrene as a non-degradable polymer with lower surface energy to P(3HB-co-3HV) has been studied. The enzymatic degradation was carried out at 37 $^{\circ}C$ in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) in the presence of an extracellular PHB depolymerase purified from Alcaligenes facalis T1. Both results showed the significant retardation of enzymatic erosion due to the hydrophobicity and the enzyme inactivity of the fluorinated- and PS-enriched surface layers.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.872-876
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• 2001

Topological changes caused by the alkaline and enzymatic attacks of solution-grown, chain-folded lamellar crystals (SGCs) of poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] P(3HB) have been studied in order to investigate the chain-folding structure in P(3HB) crystal regions. NaOH and an extracellular PHB depolymerase purified from Alcaligenes faecalis T1 were used for alkaline and enzymatic hydrolysis, respectively. The measurements were performed on crystals attached to a substrate which is inactive to degradation mediums. Both alkaline and enzymatic attacks lead to a breakup of the lamellar crystals along the crystallographic b-axis during initial erosion. Since hydrolysis preferentially occurs in amorphous regions, this morphological result reflects relatively loosely packed chains in core parts of lamellar crystals. Additionally, it was supported by the ridge formation along the b-axis in the lamellar crystals after thermal treatment at a low temperature because of the thermally sensitive nature of the loosely packed chains in lamellar crystals. However, the alkaline hydrolysis accompanied the chain erosions or scissions in quasi-regular folded lamellar surfaces due to smaller size of alkaline ions in comparison to the enzyme, resulting in the decrease of molecular weight.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.19-25
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• 2006

Since the enzymatic degradation of microbial poly(hydroxylalkanoate)s (PHAs), such as poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] and poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate] initially occurs by a surface erosion process, their degradation behaviors can be controlled by the change of surface property. In order to control the rate of enzymatic degradation, plasma modification technique was applied to change the surface property of microbial PHAs. The surface hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of PHA films were introduced by $CF_3H$ and $O_2$ plasma exposures, respectively. The enzymatic degradation was carried out at $37^{\circ}C$ in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) in the presence of an extracellular PHB depolymerase purified from Alcaligenes facalis T1. The results showed that the significant retardation of initial enzymatic erosion of $CF_3H$ plasma-treated PHAs was observed due to the hydrophobicity and the enzyme inactivity of the fluorinated surface layers while the erosion rate of $O_2$ plasma-treated PHAs was not accelerated.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.850-855
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• 2009

Keratin is an important protein used in wound healing and tissue recovery. In this study, keratin was modified chemically with iodoacetic acid (IAA) to enhance its solubility in organic solvent. Poly(hydroxybutylate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and modified keratin were dissolved in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and electrospun to produce nanofibrous mats. The resulting mats were surface-characterized by ATR-FTIR, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). The pure m-keratin mat was cross-linked with glutaraldehyde vapor to make it insoluble in water. The biodegradation test in vitro showed that the mats could be biodegraded by PHB depolymerase and trypsin aqueous solution. The results of the cell adhesion experiment showed that the NIH 3T3 cells adhered more to the PHBV/m-keratin nanofibrous mats than the PHBV film. The BrdU assay showed that the keratin and PHBV/m-keratin nanofibrous mats could accelerate the proliferation of fibroblast cells compared to the PHBV nanofibrous mats.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.102-104
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• 2024

Massilia sp. KACC 81254BP, isolated from a landfill on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, possesses the capability to degrade polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The genomic analysis of strain KACC 81254BP consists of a circular chromosome comprising 5,028,452 base pairs with a DNA G+C content of 64.6%. This complete genome consists of a total of 4,513 genes, including those encoding the PHA degradation enzyme (PhaZ). This study offers valuable genomic insights into the enzymes responsible for degrading polyester plastics.