• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2016

Compared to planktonic bacterial populations, biofilms have distinct bacterial community structures and play important ecological roles in various aquatic environments. Despite their ecological importance in nature, bacterial community structure and its succession during biofilm development in the Antarctic marine environment have not been elucidated. In this study, the succession of bacterial community, particularly during the early stage of biofilm development, in the Antarctic marine environment was investigated by pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Overall bacterial distribution in biofilms differed considerably from surrounding seawater. Relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes which accounted for 78.9-88.3% of bacterial community changed drastically during biofilm succession. Gammaproteobacteria became more abundant with proceeding succession (75.7% on day 4) and decreased to 46.1% on day 7. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes showed opposite trend to Gammaproteobacteria, decreasing from the early days to the intermediate days and becoming more abundant in the later days. There were striking differences in the composition of major OTUs (${\geq}1%$) among samples during the early stages of biofilm formation. Gammaproteobacterial species increased until day 4, while members of Bacteroidetes, the most dominant group on day 1, decreased until day 4 and then increased again. Interestingly, Pseudoalteromonas prydzensis was predominant, accounting for up to 67.4% of the biofilm bacterial community and indicating its important roles in the biofilm development.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.307-310
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• 2008

AAD16034 is an alginate lyase from Pseudoalteromonas sp. IAM14594. A very close homologue with known 3D structure exists (marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain no. 272). A three-dimensional structure of AAD16034 was generated based on this template (PDB code: 1J1T) by comparative modeling. The modeled enzyme exhibited a jelly-roll like structure very similar to its template structure. Both enzymes possess the characteristic alginate sequence YFKhG+Y-Q. Since AAD16034 displays enzymatic activity for poly-M alginate, docking of a tri-mannuronate into the modeled structure was performed. Two separate and adjacent binding sites were found. The ligand was accommodated inside each binding site. By considering both binding sites, a plausible binding pose for the poly-M alginate polymer could be deduced. From the modeled docking pose (i.e., the most important factor that attracts alginate polymer into this lyase) the most likely interaction was electrostatic. In accordance with a previous report, the hydroxyl group of Y345 was positioned close to the ${\alpha}$-hydrogen of ${\beta}$-mannuronate, which was suitable to initiate a ${\beta}$-elimination reaction. K347 was also very near to the carboxylatemoiety of the ligand, which might stabilize the dianion intermediate during the ${\beta}$-elimination reaction. This implies that the characteristic alginate sequence is absolutely crucial for the catalysis. These results may be exploited in the design of novel enzymes with desired properties.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.770-778
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• 2013

To determine the seasonal variation of bacterial community in the seawater of Gwangyang Bay, three hundred thirty six bacterial strains were isolated on February, May, July and October 2011. Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) was used to construct the phylotyes of the isolates using the restriction endonuclease, Hae III. Diversity indices of ARDRA patterns were calculated. One hundred and one phylotypes including 40 unique pylotypes were found at the 80% similarity level. Partial 16S rRNA genes of one hundred thirty nine strains representing each phylotypes were sequenced and compared. Bacterial community composed of 4 different phyla which include Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Proteobacteria was the prevailing phylum in all seasons, followed by Bacteroidetes in winter, spring and autumn while Actinobacteria in summer. At the family level, Flavobacteriaceae dominated in winter and spring and Pseudoalteromonadaceae did in summer and autumn. Genera Altererythrobacter, Loktanella, Pseudoalteromonas and Vibrio were encountered in all seasons. The most diverse bacterial community was found in autumn followed by the order of spring, winter and summer.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.304-312
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• 2020

Agarase can be used in the field of basic science, as well as for production of agar-derived high-functional oligosaccharides and bioenergy production using algae. In 2012, we summarized the classification, origin, production, and applications of agar. In this paper, we briefly review the literature on the recombinant expression of agarases from 2012 to the present. Agarase genes originated from 19 genera, including Agarivorans, Flammeovirga, Pseudoalteromonas, Gayadomonas, Catenovulum, Microbulbifer, Cellulophaga, Saccharophagus, Simiduia, and Vibrio. Of the 47 recombinant agarases, there were only two α-agarases, while the rest were β-agarases. All α-agarases produced agarotetraose, while β-agarases yielded many neoagarooligosaccharides ranging from neoagarobiose to neoagarododecaose. The optimum temperature ranged between 25 and 60℃, and the optimum pH ranged from 3.0 to 8.5. There were 14 agarases with an optimum temperature of 50℃ or higher, where agar is in sol state after melting. Artificial mutations, including manipulation of carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM), increased thermostability and simultaneously raised the optimum temperature and activity. Many hosts and secretion signals or riboswitches have been used for recombinant expression. In addition to gene recombination based on the amino acid sequence after agarase purification, recombinant expression of the putative agarase genes after genome sequencing and metagenome-derived agarases have been studied. This study is expected to be actively used in the application fields of agarase and agarase itself.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2010

The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) has assembled a culture collection of cold-adapted bacterial strains from both the Arctic and Antarctic. To identify excellent protease-producers among the proteolytic bacterial collection (874 strains), 78 strains were selected in advance according to their relative activities and were subsequently re-examined for their extracellular protease activity on $0.1{\times}$ ZoBell plates supplemented with 1% skim milk at various temperatures. This rapid and direct screening method permitted the selection of a small group of 15 cold-adapted bacterial strains, belonging to either the genus Pseudoalteromonas (13 strains) or Flavobacterium (2 strains), that showed proteolytic activities at temperatures ranging between $5-15^{\circ}C$. The cold-active proteases from these strains were classified into four categories (serine protease, aspartic protease, cysteine protease, and metalloprotease) according to the extent of enzymatic inhibition by a class-specific protease inhibitor. Since highly active and/or cold-adapted proteases have the potential for industrial or commercial enzyme development, the protease-producing bacteria selected in this work will be studied as a valuable natural source of new proteases. Our results also highlight the relevance of the Antarctic for the isolation of protease-producing bacteria active at low temperatures.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2011

In this study, we determined the changes in microbial numbers in solar salts according to the manufacturing process and storage duration. The salt samples were harvested from salt farms in Shinan (area 2) and Yeonggwang (area 1). They were serially diluted ten-fold and then placed on 4 kinds of cultivable media (mannitol salt agar, eosin methylene blue, plate count agar, and trypticase soy agar). After incubation, we obtained 62 halophilic isolates from the salt samples. Coliform and general bacteria were not detected in all salt samples. By 16S rRNA sequencing analysis, we found 12 kinds of halophilic bacteria belonging to the genera Halobacillus, Halomonas, Bacillus, Idiomarina, Marinobacter, Pseudoalteromonas, Vibrio, Salinivibrio, Virgibacillus, Alteromonas, Staphylococcus and some un-known stains. In our study, we discovered two novel species that have a 16S rDNA sequence similarity below 97%.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2007

To investigate the variations of physico-chemical factors and microbial population, in ten stations at water region of coastal area of Chagwi-Do, Nutritive salts, water temperature, transparency, suspended solid, salinity, COD, DO, pH, heterotrophic bacteria, were analysed three times in September, November in 2004 and February in 2005. Heterotrophic bacteria in surface water was $3.5\times10^1\sim1.16\times10^3\;cfu\;mL^{-1}$, $0.4\times10^1\sim5.6\times10^1\;cfu\;mL^{-1}$, $0.4\times10^1\sim7.8\times10^1$ and bottom water counted $4.5\times10^1\sim1.0\times10^3\;cfu\;mL^{-1}$, $1.2\times10^1\sim1.5\times10^2\;cfu\;mL^{-1}$, $0.4\times10^1\sim4.4\times10^1\;cfu\;mL^{-1}$ in September, November 2004 and February 2005, respectively. The dominant species isolated from the coastal area of Chagwi-Do were identified to be Vibrio spp., Pseudoalteromonas spp. Psuedomonas spp, Bacillus spp., Alteromonas spp., Aeromonas spp., Psychrobacter spp., and Flavobacterium spp.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.1 s.81
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• pp.132-136
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• 2007

When alginate lyase gene (aly) from Pseudoalteromonas elyakovii was expressed in E. coli, most of the gene product was produced as aggregated insoluble particles known as inclusion bodies. In order to produce a soluble and active form of alginate lyase, E. coli cells fore cotransformed with the plasmids designed to permit coexpression of aly together with molecular chaperones such as DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE or GroEL/ES chaperones. The results revealed that the coexpression of aly together with DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone had a marked effect on the production of this protein as a soluble and active form, presumably through facilitating correct folding of alginate lyase protein. The optimal concentration of L-arabinose for the induction of DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone was found to be 0.05 mg/ml. When DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone was coexpressed, about 34% in the total alginate lyase was produced in the soluble fraction. By addition of 10% cetylpyridinium chloride, a clear zone around the colony coexpressing aly and DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone was formed, indicating that the alginate in the medium was hydrolyzed by active alginate lyase enzyme.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.130-135
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• 2015

When the alginate lyase gene (aly) from Pseudoalteromonas elyakovii IAM 14594 was expressed in E. coli, most of the gene product expressed was produced as aggregated insoluble particles known as inclusion bodies. In order to produce with an elevated level of a soluble and active form of alginate lyase in E. coli, the hyperthermophilic chaperonins (ApCpnA and ApCpnB) from archaeon Aeropyrum pernix K1 were employed as the coexpression partners. At $25^{\circ}C$ culture temperature, the level of alginate lyase activity was increased from 10.1 unit/g-soluble protein in aly single expression to 83.1 unit/g-soluble protein by coexpressing with ApCpnA and to 100.3 unit/g-soluble protein by coexpressing with ApCpnB. This results indicate that the coexpression of aly with ApCpnA and ApCpnB revealed a marked enhancement, about 8~10 fold, in the production of alginate lyase as a soluble and active form. Based on the results of various examinations on the expression variables, the optimal conditions for the maximal production of alginate lyase were determined as 1.0 mM IPTG for the inducer concentration, $25^{\circ}C$ for the culture temperature after IPTG induction, and ApCpnB for the coexpression partner. The coexpression set in the present report may be useful in the industrial production of functionally or medically important recombinant proteins in E. coli.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1545-1551
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• 2012

Authors report the glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 16 ${\beta}$-agarase from the strain of Agarivorans sp. JA-1, which authors previously stated as recombinant expression and characterization of GH-50 and GH-118 ${\beta}$-agarase. It comprised an open reading frame of 1,362 base pairs, which encodes a protein of 49,830 daltons consisting of 453 amino acid residues. Valuation of the total sequence showed that the enzyme has 98% nucleotide and 99% amino acid sequence similarities to those of GH-16 ${\beta}$-agarase from Pseudoalteromonas sp. CY24. The gene corresponding to a mature protein of 429 amino acids was recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli, and the enzyme was purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography. It showed maximal activity at $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.0, representing 67.6 units/mg. Thin layer chromatography revealed that mainly neoagarohexaose and neoagarotetraose were produced from agarose. The enzyme would be valuable for the industrial production of functional neoagarooligosaccharides.