• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.169-173
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• 2004

Enterobacter cloacae (strain PR2/7), a genetically modified endophyte(GME) in citrus plants, carrying different plasmids (pEC3.0/18, pCelE, pEglA and pGFP), was inoculated into Citrus sinensis seedlings under greenhouse conditions. The impact of this on the indigenous bacterial endophytic community was studied by analyses of 2 different morphologic groups. The germination rates of inoculated seeds were evaluated in greenhouse, and plasmid stability under in vitro conditions. Results demonstrated a great and diverse endophytic community inside plants, and specialization in tissue colonization by some bacterial groups, in different treatments. Shifts in seed germination rate were observed among treatments: in general, the PR2/7 harboring pEglA bacterial- clone significantly reduced seed germination, compared to the PR2/7 harboring pEC3.0/18 clone. This suggests that the presence of the pEglA plasmid changes bacteria-seed interactions. The endophytic community of citrus seedlings changed according to treatment. In seedlings treated with the PR2/7 with pEglA clone, the population of group II decreased significantly, within the context of the total endophytic community. These results indicate that the application of GMEs induces shifts in the endophytic bacterial community of citrus seedlings.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.327-333
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• 1988

For optimal production of recombinant human interleukin-2 (IL-2) in E. coli the effect of fermentation conditions on cell growth, IL-2 production, and stability of recombinant cells were investigated. Among the complex nutrients tested in this work, yeast extract, peptone and corn steep liquor were found to be effective for recombinant cell growth. The recombinant cells were maintained stably under repression condition (3$0^{\circ}C$), but the stability of recombinant cells were drastically reduced upon induction of IL-2 expression (42$^{\circ}C$) even under the selection pressure. Addition of antibiotics to the culture medium resulted in the cell growth inhibition without significant improvement in recombinant stability. When the expression of IL-2 gene was induced at different growth phases, highest IL-2 production was achieved by the induction of IL-2 at the middle-exponential growth phase. It was found that the production of IL-2 significantly inhibited the cell growth and the ex-pression of other genes in the plasmid.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2000

A Baczllus circdans KCTC3004 $\alpha$-amylase gene contained in a recombinant plasmid pAL850 was transferred into a new shuttle vector plasmid pALSIlI by ligating linearlzed DNAs of pUC19 and pUB110. B. subtilis RM125 and B. megatenurn ATCC14945 transfonned with pALS111 produced the $\alpha$-amylase substantially Most of the enzyme was produced during the exponential growth period. The maxiinurn activities of the $\alpha$-amylase produced by the Bucillus transformants were compared with that of the B. circulans gene donor strain. The B. subtilis RM125(pALS111) enzyme showed the actlvicy 95 times higher than that of the gene donor cells, followed by the B, nzegaterium ATCC14945(pALSlll) enzyme with activity 34 limes higher than that of the gene donor cells. While E coli secreted about 10% of the produced enzyme, B. subtilis excreted the enzyme inlo the medium wholly and B. megaterirun about 98% ofthe total product. The plasmid pALSI11 was quite stable inB. nzegaterium (92%), inoderately stable in B. subtilis (76%), but was unstable in E. coli (38%). The SDS-PAGE and zymogram of this enzyme produced in E. coli(pALS111), B. subtilis( pALS111) or B. megateril~m (pALS111) indicated a molecular weight of 55,000. The enzymes overproduced in three different host cells hydrolyzed starch to produce mainly maltoaiose and mallooligosaccharides.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.2 s.91
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• pp.112-115
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• 2005

E. coli in combination with bacteriophage $\lambda$ was used to overcome the intrinsic plasmid instability that is frequently found in recombinant fermentation especially in long-term operation. In order to enhance the stability and productivity, the bacteriophage ${\lambda}NM1070$ was used in this study. It is a $\lambda$ mutant, which is deficient in the synthesis of protein related to DNA packaging and cell lysis. The ${\lambda}NM1070$ is also a temperature-sensitive mutant. To optimize the production of recombinant protein in this temperature-sensitive system, the temperature effects on growth and cloned gene expression were investigated for stable and efficient recombinant gene expression. The induction to the lytic state was not complete at $36^{\circ}C$ while the temperature above $40^{\circ}C$ induced the lytic state completely. However, the productivity was decreased at $42^{\circ}C$ by temperature inhibition. The L-free cell concentration increased with the increase of temperature until $40^{\circ}C$. In conclusion, ${\lambda}NM1070$ has the optimal temperature at $38^{\circ}C$ for stability and at $40^{\circ}C$ for expression.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2011

An amphiphilic cationic branched methoxy poly (ethylene glycol)-branched polyethylenimine - poly(L-phenylalanine) (mPEG-bPEI-pPhe) block copolymer was successfully synthesized by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of N-carboxyanhydride of L-phenylalanine (Phe-NCA) with mPEG-bPEI for the preparation of more stable polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) included a hydrophobic interaction. mPEG-bPEI was firstly prepared by the coupling of mPEG and bPEI using hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI). The structural properties of mPEG-bPEI-pPhe copolymers were confirmed by $^1H$ NMR. The copolymers exhibited a self-assemble behavior in water above critical aggregate concentration (CAC) in the range of 0.01-0.14 g/L. The CAC of copolymers obviously depended on the hydrophobic block content in the copolymers (the value decreased with the increase of the pPhe block content). The cationic copolymers have the ability to form multi-interaction complex (MIC) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and plasmid DNA through multi-interaction (electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction). The physicochemical characterization of the complex was carried out by the measurement of zeta potential and particle size. Their zeta-potentials were positive (approximately +10 mV) and their sizes decreased with increasing pPhe contents in the copolymers (PPF/BSA wt% ratio = 2). The complex showed good stability at high ionic strength. Therefore, mPEG-bPEI-pPhe block copolymer was considered as a potential material to enhance the stability of complex including biotherapuetic drugs.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.530-536
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• 2006

Bacteriophage P4, a satellite phage of coliphage P2, is a very useful experimental tool for the study of viral capsid assembly and cos-cleavage. For an in vitro cos-cleavage reaction study of the P2-P4 system, new shortened and selectable markers containing P4 derivative plasm ids were designed as a substrate molecules. They were constructed by swapping the non-essential segment of P4 DNA for either the kanamycin resistance (kmr) gene or the ampicillin resistance (apr) gene. The size of the genomes of the resulting markers were 82% (P4 ash8 delRI:: kmr) and 79% (P4 ash8 delRI:: apr) of the wild type P4 genome. To determine the lower limit of genome size that could be packaged into the small P4-size bead, these shortened P4 plasmids were converted to phage particles with infection of the helper phage P2. The conversion of plasmid P4 derivatives to bacteriophage particles was verified by the heat stability test and the burst size determination experiment. CsCl buoyant equilibrium density gradient experiments confirmed not only the genome size of the viable phage form of shortened P4 derivatives, but also their packaging into the small P4-size head. P4 ash8 delRI:: apr turned out to be the smallest P4 genome that can be packaged into P4-sized head.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.441-448
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• 1998

A cellobiose-utilizing recombinant yeast having $\beta$-glucosidase activity was developed for ethanol production from a mixture of glucose and cellobiose. Using $\delta$-sequences of Tyl transposon of yeast as target sites for homologous recombination, a heterologous gene of $\beta$-glucosidase was integrated into the chromosome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The $\delta$-integrated recombinant yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae L2612 (Pb-BGL), showed perfect mitotic stability even in nonselective media and showed ca. 1.5 fold higher $\beta$-glucosidase activity than the recombinant yeast harboring the $2\mu$-based plasmid vector system. A mathematical model was developed to describe the $\beta$-glucosidase formation and ethanol production from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae L2612 ($p\delta-BGL$). The model newly described that the heterologous $\beta$-glucosidase production mediated by ADH1 promoter is regulated by glucose and repressed by ethanol.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.189-192
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• 2011

Much interest has been recently focused on the production of large quantities of hydrogen, due to its potential importance in our economy and needs in the petroleum and chemical industries. Formate dehydrogenase H (FDH-H) from Escherichia coli containing selenocysteine that oxidizes formate to carbon dioxide with the release of hydrogen is a component of the anaerobic formate hydrogen-lyase complex of E. coli. To make full use of FDH-H, we need effective expression condition. In this approach, we investigated the effect of pH on FDH-H stability and observed the effect of selenite and formate concentration on the activity of FDH-H. Additionally, coexpression of selenocysteine insertion genes were tried to improve the expression of FDH-H. The highest level of FDH-H expression was achieved by coexpression of selenocysteine insertion genes (pSUABC) as well as by the addition of $10\;{\mu}M$ selenite and 10 mM formate. At this optimized condition, a 2.6 fold elevation of expression of FDH-H was achieved.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1279-1287
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• 2012

We established an efficient transformation method for thermophile Geobacillus kaustophilus HTA426 using conjugative transfer from Escherichia coli of host-mimicking plasmids that imitate DNA methylation of strain HTA426 to circumvent its DNA restriction barriers. Two conjugative plasmids, pSTE33T and pUCG18T, capable of shuttling between E. coli and Geobacillus spp., were constructed. The plasmids were first introduced into E. coli BR408, which expressed one inherent DNA methylase gene (dam) and two heterologous methylase genes from strain HTA426 (GK1380-GK1381 and GK0343-GK0344). The plasmids were then directly transferred from E. coli cells to strain HTA426 by conjugative transfer using pUB307 or pRK2013 as a helper plasmid. pUCG18T was introduced very efficiently (transfer efficiency, $10^{-5}-10^{-3}\;recipient^{-1}$). pSTE33T showed lower efficiency ($10^{-7}-10^{-6}\;recipient^{-1}$) but had a high copy number and high segregational stability. Methylase genes in the donor substantially affected the transfer efficiency, demonstrating that the host-mimicking strategy contributes to efficient transformation. The transformation method, along with the two distinguishing plasmids, increases the potential of G. kaustophilus HTA426 as a thermophilic host to be used in various applications and as a model for biological studies of this genus. Our results also demonstrate that conjugative transfer is a promising approach for introducing exogenous DNA into thermophiles.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2005

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of the polyglutamine tract in the SCA1 gene product, ataxin-1. Using d2EGFP, a short-lived enhanced green fluorescent protein, we investigated whether polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1 affects the function of the proteasome, a cellular multicatalytic protease that degrades most misfolded proteins and regulatory proteins. In Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence experiments, d2EGFP was less degraded in HEK 293T cells transfected with ataxin-1(82Q) than in cells transfected with lacZ or empty vector controls. To test whether the stability of the d2EGFP protein was due to aggregation of ataxin-1, we constructed a plasmid carrying $ataxin-1-{\Delta}114$, lacking the self-association region (SAR), and examined degradation of the d2EGFP. Both the level of $ataxin-1-{\Delta}114$ aggregates and the amount of d2EGFP were drastically reduced in cells containing $ataxin-1-{\Delta}114$. Furthermore, d2EGFP localization experiments showed that polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1 inhibited the general function of the proteasome activity. Taken together, these results demonstrate that polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1 decreases the activity of the proteasome, implying that a disturbance in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway is directly involved in the development of spinocerebellar ataxia type1.