• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.342-345
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• 2001

A bacterial strain PH-4, which produces an enzyme catalyzing the degradation of crosslinked poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) hydrogels, was isolated and identified as a Flavobacterium sp. The enzyme was obtained by the sonication of the bacterial cells preincubated in a Bouillon medium with shaking, without adding of poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) as an inducer. The products of the hydrogel degraded by the crude enzyme agreed closely with the depolymerized materials in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using methylene blue staining, and with a glutamic acid monomer on thin-layer chromatography, thereby suggesting that strain PH-4 produced a kind of exohydrolase.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.645-651
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• 2015

This paper presents an experimental study on the freeze drying process for poly ${\gamma}$ glutamic acid. The physical properties of poly ${\gamma}$ glutamic acid are measured during the freeze-drying process. The moisture contents of poly ${\gamma}$ glutamic acid according to the glass transient temperature are obtained by DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) analysis. The end point of primary drying for the poly ${\gamma}$ glutamic acid with a thickness of 3 mm is obtained by measuring the thickness of the dried layer, the amount of moisture evaporation, the moisture content, and the pressure in the drying vacuum chamber during the freeze-drying process. By considering the variation in the glass transient temperature with respect to the moisture content of the material, a control schedule for the heating plate temperature is suggested during the secondary drying process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.357-362
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• 2005

Poly-${\gamma}$-glutamic acid (${\gamma}-PGA$), which is extracted from fermented soybeans, is a high molecular weight, adhesive, and negatively charged(anionic) polymer. Recently, ${\gamma}-PGA$ has gained attention due to its potential as polymer. The objectives of this study were to examine the applicability of ${\gamma}-PGA$ as a coagulant and/or a coagulant aid, to evaluate the efficiency of ${\gamma}-PGA$ for the removal of Organic and Ammonium substance in wastewater treatment. The effect of coagulation was evaluated for the removal of SS and organic matter using poly aluminum chloride(PACI) as well as newly developed ${\gamma}-PGA$. The maximum COD removal rate of 63% and the SS of 78% were occurred at the dosage of 50mg/L ${\gamma}-PGA$ only. The most effective removal for particulate and organic matter was occured when both PACI and ${\gamma}-PGA$ were applied at the rate of 20:1(10mg/L PACI and 0.5mg/L ${\gamma}-PGA$). When mixed with PACI, only small portion of ${\gamma}-PGA$ was enough to improve removal efficiencies of organic and particulate matter in wastewater. This result showed the positive potential of ${\gamma}-PGA$ as a new coagulant materials for wastewater treatment.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.677-684
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• 2012

A bacterium strain GS-2 isolated from the Korean traditional seasoning food, Chungkookjang and was determined to produce large amounts of ${\gamma}$-PGA with high productivity when provided with simple nutrients (L-glutamic acid 2.0%, glucose 1.0%, $NH_4Cl$ 0.5%, $KH_2PO_4$ 0.05%, $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ 0.01%, pH 7.0). In this study, the culture medium for this strain was optimized for the production of ${\gamma}$-PGA. The Bacillus subtilis GS-2 required supplementation with L-glutamic acid and other nutrients for maximal production of ${\gamma}$-PGA. The optimal culture conditions for ${\gamma}$-PGA production were a 48 hr culture time, a temperature of $33^{\circ}C$ and initial pH of 6.5 by rotary shaking (220 rpm). A maximum ${\gamma}$-PGA production of 31.0 $g/{\ell}$ was obtained with L-glutamic acid (30 $g/{\ell}$), sucrose (the main carbon source, 30 $g/{\ell}$), $NH_4Cl$ (the main nitrogen source, 2.5 $g/{\ell}$), $KH_2PO_4$ (1.5 $g/{\ell}$) and $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ (0.15 $g/{\ell}$) in the culture medium.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2012

This study was conducted to determine the prevention effect of poly-gamma-glutamic acid (${\gamma}-PGA$) on tissue damage induced by gamma irradiation for development of xenograft. Porcine tendons were treated at various doses of ${\gamma}-PGA$ (0.1, 0.5, 1 and 5%) and then gamma-irradiated (30 kGy). Prevention effects on tissue damage were measured as the result of tensile strength, hydroxyproline contents and viscosity of ${\gamma}-PGA$. Tensile strength was remarkably decrease in gamma-irradiated porcine ligament, but increased by ${\gamma}-PGA$ treated one. Among the ${\gamma}-PGA$ treatment doses, 1% treated group showed the highest values of tensile strength compared to non-treated group. Hydroxyproline contents was significantly increased by gamma irradiation, but decreased by the ${\gamma}-PGA$ treatment. Particularly, 1 and 5% ${\gamma}-PGA$ treated group were exhibited lower values of hydroxyproline contents than other group. In the result of viscosity, gamma-irradiated ${\gamma}-PGA$ (1%) was remarkably increased. Base on the results, it demonstrated that gamma irradiation induces severe alteration of mechanical property and collagen contents on porcine ligament, but ${\gamma}-PGA$ can effectively prevent these tissue damage.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1061-1070
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• 2019

In the present study, the optimization of poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) (${\gamma}$-PGA) production by Bacillus sp. FBL-2 was studied using a statistical approach. One-factor-at-a-time method was used to investigate the effect of carbon sources and nitrogen sources on ${\gamma}$-PGA production and was utilized to select the most significant nutrients affecting the yield of ${\gamma}$-PGA. After identifying effective nutrients, response surface methodology with central composite design (CCD) was used to obtain a mathematical model to identify the optimum concentrations of the key nutrients (sucrose, $\text\tiny{L}$-glutamic acid, yeast extract, and citric acid) for improvement of ${\gamma}$-PGA production. The optimum amount of significant medium components appeared to be sucrose 51.73 g/l, $\text\tiny{L}$-glutamic acid 105.30 g/l, yeast extract 13.25 g/l, and citric acid 10.04 g/l. The optimized medium was validated experimentally, and ${\gamma}$-PGA production increased significantly from 3.59 g/l (0.33 g/l/h) to 44.04 g/l (3.67 g/l/h) when strain FBL-2 was cultivated under the optimal medium developed by the statistical approach, as compared to non-optimized medium.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 1990

As a possible biocompatible and biodegrable polymer skeleton for drug delivery system, block copolymers of L-lactic acid and L-glutamic acid with different composition were synthesized and characterized. Poly (L-lactide) was prepared by polymerization of L-lactide with zine oxide at $130^{\circ}C$ for 72 hrs. 3-Amino-l-propanol was introduced to poly (L-lactide) by an ester linkage in order to initiate polymerization. Polymerization of $\gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate-N-carboxyanhydride(\gamma-BLG-NCA)$ utiliizing the amino group of modified poly (L-lactide) as an initiator gave rise to the block copoly $(L-lactide-\gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate).$ The NMR study of resulting block copolymers showed that the composition of L-lactic acid and $\gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate$ in block copolymers was depended on the weight ratio of poly (L-lactide) and $\gamma-BLG-NCA.$ The thermal properties of the resulting block copolymers were determined by the differential scanning calorimetry and by the thermogravimetry.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.251-257
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• 2006

The components of the media used to elicit the biosynthesis of $poly-{\gamma}-glutamic$ acid $({\gamma}-PGA)$ by Bacillus subtilis ZJU-7 were investigated, particularly the carbon and nitrogen sources Of the 7 carbon sources investigated, sucrose induced the highest rate of ${\gamma}-PGA$ productivity; among the nitrogen sources, tryptone had the best effect for ${\gamma}-PGA$ production. A $2^{6-2}$ fractional factorial design was used to screen factors that influence ${\gamma}-PGA$ production significantly, and a central composite design was finally adopted to formulate the optimal medium. ${\gamma}-PGA$ productivity improved approximately 2-fold when the optimal medium was used compared with the original nonoptimized medium, and volumetric productivity reached a maximum of 58.2 g/L after a 24-h cultivation period.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.173-177
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• 1997

Bacillus licheniformis 9945a releases a natural ${\gamma}-poly(glutamic\;acid)({\gamma}-PGA)$ into fermentation broth and shows a mucoid phenotype on the solid agar medium. Transformation of mucoid cells of Bacillus species has not been simple and straightforward. The transpositional activity of Tn10 in B. licheniformis also has not been own either. Thus, a spontaneous non-mucoid derivative of the B. licheniformis was obtained first. Shuttle vector pHV1248 containing mini-Tn10 was introduced into the non-mucoid derivative by the method of protoplast transformation. The resulting transformant was reverted to the wild mucoid phenotype, and then mutated randomly with the mini-transposon by heat induction. Auxotrophs requiring arginine, lysine, or tryptophan were isolated by replica plating method. Southern blotting and DNA-DNA hybridzation analysis showed that these auxotrophs were generated by mini-Tn10 insertion into the chromosomal DNA. This method of transformation and mutation using pHV1248 would be useful for the generation of diverse mutants of B. licheniformis 9945a.(Received January 24,1997; accepted March 10, 1997)

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

${\gamma}$-PGA(poly-${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) is an unusual anionic polypeptide that is made of D- and L-glutamic acid units connected by amide linkages between ${\alpha}$-amino and ${\gamma}$-carboxylic acid groups. ${\gamma}$-PGA has been isolated from many kinds of organisms. Many Bacillus strains produce ${\gamma}$-PGA as a capsular material of an extracellular viscous material. It is safe for eating as a viscosity element of fermented soybean products such as Chungkookjang and Natto. It is biodegradable, edible and nontoxic toward humans and the environment and its molecular weight varies from ten thousand to several hundred thousand depending on the kinds of strains used. Therefore, potential applications of ${\gamma}$-PGA and its derivatives have been of interest in the past few years in a broad range of industrial fields such as food, cosmetics, medicine, water-treatment, etc. In this study, a bacterium, Bacillus subtilis GS-2 isolated from the Korean traditional seasoning food, Chungkookjang could produce a large amount of ${\gamma}$-PGA with high productivity and had a simple nutrient requirement. Based on carbon utilization pattern and partial 16S rRNA sequence analysis, the GS-2 strain was identified as B. subtilis. The determination of purified ${\gamma}$-PGA was confirmed with thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, and $^1H$-nuclear magnetic resonance ($^1H$-NMR) spectroscopy.