• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.275-281
• /
• 1995

From the plasmid pYA300 carring a CMCase of Rhizobium fredii USDA193 plasmid was subcloned into pBluescript II KS(+)/pBluescript II SK(+) vectors and designated pYA500 and pYA600, respectively. Escherchia coli cells transformed with pYA500 porduced the CMCase more than with pYA600. The orientation of the cloned fragment in pBluescript vector had the effect on gene expression in E. coli background. When the 1.7 kb CMCase gene fragment of R. fredii USDA193 was hybridized to EcoRI-digested total DNA from R. meliloti and R. fredii USDA 191 the unique bands hybridized respectively, indicating that some genetic diversity exists in the EcoRI restriction enzyme site for CMCase gene in Rhizobium strains. The optimum pH of enzyme activity was 7 and the optimum temperature of that was nearly 37$\circ$C. The cellulase-minus derivatives of pYA500 were constructed by Tn5 insertional mutation. Among 6000 transconjugants, two mutant plasmids (designated pYA500::Tn5a and pYA500::Tn5b) were detected from the cellulase- negative transconjugants. The product of CMCase gene was analyzed by one dimensional SDS- PAGE of the cell extracts. About 45 kDa protein was considered to be a product of CMCase gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.576-581
• /
• 1999

Effects of signal sequences, protein sizes and dissolved oxygen on the secretion of human lysozyme from a recombinant yeast were experimentally characterized. The systems consisted of Saccharomyces cerevisiae host SEY2102 that was transformed with two different plasmids. These plasmids were identical with an exception to the plasmid pMC614, which contained the native yeast MFα1 sequence and the plasmid pMC632 with the non-native rat α-amylase signal sequence. The expression of human lysozyme was controlled by the ADHI promoter. The native yeast MFαl signal sequence was more efficient than the non-native rat α-amylase signal sequence in directing the secretion of human lysozyme. Lysozyme secreted with the α-amylase signal was retained inside the cells and released to the medium very slowly, thereby causing a lower cell growth rate and a decreased product secretion rate. Lysozyme was secreted more efficiently than invertase, which is an order of magnitude bigger in molecular size compared to lysozyme, which was under the direction of the MFαl signal sequence, suggesting that protein sizes may affect the secretion efficiency. When expressed in anaerobic conditions in the medium where the ADHI promoter was derepressed, the amount of lysozyme secreted was about twice higher than that of the aerobic culture. However, the secretion rates were identical. This result showed that the dissolved oxygen level may affect the efficiency of protein secretion only, and not the secretion rate of the product protein.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.631-636
• /
• 1999

The thermostable endo-chitosanase gene from the isolated strain Bacillus sp. KFB-C108 was identified on the basis of a phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, and was cloned into plasmid pUCl8 using E. coli $DH5\alpha$ as the host strain. Positive clones carrying recombinant plasmids (pKCHO I and pKCHO II) containing chitosanase activity were selected using the direct activity staining method. Detailed physical maps showed the two plasmid inserts were identical except that the KCHO II insert (2.6 kb) was 1.8 kb smaller than that of the KCHO I. The recombinant plasmids were analyzed to determine the essential region for chitosanase activity, and a 1.3-kb fragment (KCHO-6) was subcloned into pTrc99A using the EcoRI and BamHI sites to construct pTrc99A/KCHO-6(pTrEB13). The resulting plasmid exerted high chitosanase activity upon transformation of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}cells$, overproducing about 20 times more in the cloned cells than in the wild-type cells. The cloned chitosanase protein exhibited the same molecular weight and catalytic activity similar to those of Bacillus sp. KFB-C108. The cloned enzyme was an endo-type that produced a chitosan tetramer as the major reaction product; however, it produced no monomers or dimers.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 2006

The unique gene encoding thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) was previously cloned and characterized from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and its expression was induced by oxidative stress. To elucidate tbe regulatory mechanism of the S. pombe TrxR gene, three fusion plasmids were generated using polymerase chain reaction: pYUTR20, pYUTR30, and pYUTR40. Plasmid pYUTR20 has an upstream region of 891 base pairs, pYUTR30 has 499 in this region, and pYUTR40 has an 186 bp upstream region. Negatively acting sequence is located between $-1,526\;\~\;-891bp$ upstream of the gene. The upstream sequence, responsible for the induction of TrxR by menadione (MD), is situated on the $-499\;\~\;-186bp$ region, which is also required for TrxR induction by mercuric chloride. The same region also appeared to be required for Pap1-mediated transcriptional regulation of the TrxR gene, which contains the two plausible Papl binding sites, TTACGAAT and TTACGCGA. Consistently, basal and inducible expression of the TrxR gene was markedly lower in the Pap1-negative TP108-3C cells than in wild-type yeast cells. In summary, up-regulation of the S. pombe TrxR gene is mediated by Pap1 via the transcriptional motif(s) located on the $-499\;\~\;-186bp$ region.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.367-376
• /
• 2014

Recombinant antigenic proteins of Toxoplasma gondii are alternative source of antigens which are easily obtainable for serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis. In this study, highly antigenic secretory organellar proteins, dense granular GRA2 and GRA3, rhoptrial ROP2, and micronemal MIC2, were analyzed by bioinformatics approach to express as water-soluble forms of antigenic domains. The transmembrane region and disorder tendency of 4 secretory proteins were predicted to clone the genes into pGEX-4T-1 vector. Recombinant plasmids were transformed into BL21 (DE3) pLysS E. coli, and GST fusion proteins were expressed with IPTG. As a result, GST fusion proteins with $GRA2_{25-105}$, $GRA3_{39-138}$, $ROP2_{324-561}$, and $MIC2_{1-284}$ domains had respectively higher value of IgG avidity. The $rGST-GRA2_{25-105}$ and $rGST-GRA3_{39-138}$ were soluble, while $rGST-ROP2_{324-561}$ and $rGST-MIC2_{1-284}$ were not. $GRA2_{31-71}$, intrinsically unstructured domain (IUD) of GRA2, was used as a linker to enhance the solubility. The $rGST-GRA2_{31-71}-ROP2_{324-561}$, a chimeric protein, appeared to be soluble. Moreover, $rGST-GRA2_{31-71}-MIC2_{1-284}$ was also soluble and had higher IgG avidity comparing to $rGST-MIC2_{1-284}$. These 4 highly expressed and water-soluble recombinant antigenic proteins may be promising candidates to improve the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis in addition to the major surface antigen of SAG1.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.7
• /
• pp.922-929
• /
• 2019

Objective: Mutations in low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), which encodes a critical protein for cholesterol homeostasis and lipid metabolism in mammals, are involved in cardiometabolic diseases, such as familial hypercholesterolemia in pigs. Whereas microRNAs (miRNAs) can control LDLR regulation, their involvement in circulating cholesterol and lipid levels with respect to cardiometabolic diseases in pigs is unclear. We aimed to identify and analyze LDLR as a potential target gene of SSC-miR-20a. Methods: Bioinformatic analysis predicted that porcine LDLR is a target of SSC-miR-20a. Wild-type and mutant LDLR 3'-untranslated region (UTR) fragments were generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cloned into the pGL3-Control vector to construct pGL3 Control LDLR wild-3'-UTR and pGL3 Control LDLR mutant-3'-UTR recombinant plasmids, respectively. An miR-20a expression plasmid was constructed by inserting the porcine premiR-20a-coding sequence between the HindIII and BamHI sites in pMR-mCherry, and constructs were confirmed by sequencing. HEK293T cells were co-transfected with the miR-20a expression or pMR-mCherry control plasmids and constructs harboring the corresponding 3'-UTR, and relative luciferase activity was determined. The relative expression levels of miR-20a and LDLR mRNA and their correlation in terms of expression levels in porcine liver tissue were analyzed using reverse-transcription quantitative PCR. Results: Gel electrophoresis and sequencing showed that target gene fragments were successfully cloned, and the three recombinant vectors were successfully constructed. Compared to pMR-mCherry, the miR-20a expression vector significantly inhibited wild-type LDLR3'-UTR-driven (p<0.01), but not mutant LDLR-3'-UTR-driven (p>0.05), luciferase reporter activity. Further, miR-20a and LDLR were expressed at relatively high levels in porcine liver tissues. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that porcine liver miR-20a and LDLR levels were significantly negatively correlated (r = -0.656, p<0.05). Conclusion: LDLR is a potential target of miR-20a, which might directly bind the LDLR 3'-UTR to post-transcriptionally inhibit expression. These results have implications in understanding the pathogenesis and progression of porcine cardiovascular diseases.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.566-568
• /
• 1998

Partial nucleotide sequence (nt 1-1842) of chloramphenicol resistance plasmid pKH7 has been reported previously and residual nucleotide sequence (nt 1843-4118) of pKH7 was determined and then the complete nucleotide sequence of pKH7 was obtained. pKH7 consists of 4118 bp and has three ORFs. Besides Rep and CAT proteins described in previous paper, Pre protein which mediates site-specific recombination in Staphylococcus aureus was found to be on pKH7. R $S_{A}$, a site-specific recombination site of Pre protein, and palA, a specific lagging-strand conversion signal, was also found in pKH7. Amino acid sequence of Pre protein of pKH7 was compared with those of other antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus plasmids.s.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.305-312
• /
• 2011

Bacillus anthracis(Ba) is a Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax. The feature of Ba is the presence of two large virulence plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. Molecular genotyping of Ba has been difficult to the lack of polymorphic DNA marker. Ba isolated from Korea has been genotyped using various nucleotide analysis methods, such as 16s rDNA sequencing and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat (MLVA) analysis. We identified genotypes that represent a genetic lineage in the B1 cluster. This study emphasized the need to perform molecular genotyping when attempting to verify a strain-specific Ba.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.261-265
• /
• 1993

A sopA protein (41K) encoded by plasmid pXX288 was observed in the cytoplasm, whereas a sopB protein (37K) encoded by plasmid pXX157 was observed in the membrane fraction. Most of the sopB protein was solubilized from the crude membrane by treatment with Sarkosyl, which suggested that the protein may be located in the inner membrane. The sopA protein was precipitated at the concentration of 30 to 60% ammonium sulfate. The sedimentation profile of the crude membrane fraction showed a little difference according to culture media used, and the sopB protein existed in all fractions of inner membrane. The DNA of plasmids, pXX157, pXX300, and pXX167 co-sedimented with inner membrane fraction.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.63-73
• /
• 1989

The purposes of this study were to find out the heavy metal and antibiotic resistant coliform bacteria from mineral water and the resistant factors. For the experiment, mineral water samples were taken from A area and B area during the period from march to July, 1988. The results of the experiment were as follows 1. From mineral water, eleven resistant coliforms and one susceptible coliform were isolated. 2. All resistant isolates harbored diverse plasmids of ranged ca. 14-54kb. 3. Susceptible coliform harbored a only plasmid of ca. 2.8 kb. 4. All resistant isolates harbored common size of plasmid of ca. 14kb. 5. As a result of the transformation and agarose gel electrophoresis experiments, resistant factor was R-plasmid. In conclusion, It is suggested that heavy metal contamination of mineral water is the selective pressure for the plasmid encoding the tolerance. Heavy metal resistance, in some case, is present with antibiotic resistance. Therefore, heavy metal contamination of mineral water induces antibiotic resistant bacteria.