• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.331-339
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• 2009

Capsaicin is a very important secondary metabolite that is unique to Capsicum. Capsaicin biosynthesis is regulated developmentally and environmentally in the placenta of hot pepper. To investigate regulation of capsaicin biosynthesis, the promoter (1,537 bp) of pepper capsaicin synthase (CS) was fused to GUS and introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana (Col-0) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens to produce CSPRO::GUS transgenic plants. The CS was specifically expressed in the placenta tissue of immature green fruit. However, the transgenic Arabidopsis showed ectopic GUS expressions in the leaves, flowers and roots, but not in the stems. The CSPRO activity was relatively high under light conditions and was induced by both heat shock and wounding, as CS transcripts were increased by wounding. Exogenous capsaicin caused strong suppression of the CSPRO activity in transgenic Arabidopsis, as demonstrated by suppression of CS expression in the placenta after capsaicin treatment. Furthermore, the differential expression levels of Kas, Pal and pAmt, which are associated with the capsaicinoid biosynthetic pathway, were also suppressed in the placenta by capsaicin treatment. These results support that capsaicin, a feedback inhibitor, plays a pivotal role in regulating gene expression which is involved in the biosynthesis of capsaicinoids.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.216-222
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• 2016

BACKGROUND: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are one of the most common environmental contaminants. Because of their recalcitrant properties and long-term toxicity, numerous studies have been performed. The toxicological concerns are focused on endocrinological effects of animal. Several different metabolites have been reported, including hydroxy PCBs, PCB quinones, and methylsulfonyl PCBs from animal tissues. However, details in plants have never been studied. It is well-known that plants can produce phytoalexin in response to chemical, physical, or pathological stress.METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, the several PCBs and hydroxy derivatives were prepared by chemical syntheses. Their effects on secondary metabolite biosynthesis were determined in carrot roots. The levels of 6-methoxymellein were determined in several different treatments, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In general, the concentration of 6-methoxymellein reached a maximum at 2 days and gradually decreased to trace level at 5 days in control experiments. However, the effects of PCBs or hydroxy derivatives were highly dependent on compounds. For example, the maximum concentrations of 6-methoxymellein were observed at 3 days for 2-hydroxy/4-hydroxybiphenyl, while 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl and 3,5-dichloro-2-hydroxybiphenyl showed a rapid accumulation within 1 day, followed by rapid dissipation to undetectable levels.CONCLUSION: Biphenyl derivatives were effective elicitor of 6-methoxymellein accumulation. In general, hydroxybiphenyls (phenols) more efficiently induced phytoalexin biosynthesis than those without hydroxy groups. It can be concluded that PCBs or their possible metabolites could change the plant secondary metabolism.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.507-513
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• 2000

The biosynthesis of lovastatin, a cholesterol lowering agent formed by the filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus, was examined in a 2.5 L jar fermenter. In batch bioreactor cultures conducted at various agitation rates, 400 rpm showed the best result in terms of lovastatin production. Notably, the effect of pH on lovastatin biosynthesis was found to be significant: when the pH was controlled at around 5.8 during the whole fermentation period, lovastatin concentration reached 598 mg/L, which is much hihger than the amounts obtained by pH-uncontrolled and pH 7.4-controlled fermentations. In addition, both L-histidine and L-tryptophan were observed to be favorable amino acids for the enhancement of lovastatin production when 6 g/L of the respective amino acids were supplemented at the beginning of the fermentation period. By further optimization of the production media and the physical environment, lovastatin production was increased to 836 mg/L (3.5 mg/L/hr) which is approximately 10 times higher than the productivity of the basic control culture.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.353-359
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• 1987

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of growth rate on the biosynthesis of tylosin in Streptomyces fradiae. In order to elucidate the relation between the growth rate and the tylosin formation rate, the activities of enzymes involved in oxaloacetate metabolism were determined using cells grown at different growth rates in chemostats. As the results, it was found that the specific rate of tylosin formation($q_{p}$) was closely related to the specific cell growth rate and the maximum value of $q_{p}$ was 1.1mg tylosin, $q_{p}$ cell, $0.013h^{-1}$ at the growth rate $0.013h^{-1}$. However further increase in the growth rate over $0.013h^{-1}$ resulted in apparent decrease of $1_{p}$. The synthesis and activities of citrate synthase, aspartate aminotransferase, and PEP carboxylase were very low at lower growth rate. On the other hand, the activity and synthesis of methylmalonyl-CoA carboxyltransferase was closely related to tylosin formation. Therefore it was concluded that tylosin formation was apparently controlled by the growth rate.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.254-257
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• 2022

Wolfiporia cocos is a wood-decay brown rot fungus belonging to the family Polyporaceae. While the fungus grows, the sclerotium body of the strain, dubbed Bokryeong in Korean, is formed around the roots of conifer trees. The dried sclerotium has been widely used as a key component of many medicinal recipes in East Asia. Wolfiporia cocos strain KMCC03342 is the reference strain registered and maintained by the Korea Seed and Variety Service for commercial uses. Here, we present the first draft genome sequence of W. cocos KMCC03342 using a hybrid assembly technique combining both short- and long-read sequences. The genome has a total length of 55.5 Mb comprised of 343 contigs with N50 of 332 kb and 95.8% BUSCO completeness. The GC ratio was 52.2%. We predicted 14,296 protein-coding gene models based on ab initio gene prediction and evidence-based annotation procedure using RNAseq data. The annotated genome was predicted to have 19 terpene biosynthesis gene clusters, which was the same number as the previously sequenced W. cocos strain MD-104 genome but higher than Chinese W. cocos strains. The genome sequence and the predicted gene clusters allow us to study biosynthetic pathways for the active ingredients of W. cocos.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.83-88
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• 2009

Amino acid homology analysis predicted that rbmD, a putative glycosyltransferase from Streptomyces ribosidificus ATCC 21294, has the highest homology with neoD in neomycin biosynthesis. S. fradiae BS1, in which the production of neomycin was abolished, was generated by disruption of the neoD gene in the neomycin producer S. fradiae. The restoration of neomycin by self complementation suggested that there was no polar effect in the mutant. In addition, S. fradiae BS6 was created with complementation by rbmD in S. fradiae BS1, and secondary metabolite analysis by ESI/MS, LC/MS and MS/MS showed the restoration of neomycin production in S. fradiae BS6. These gene inactivation and complementation studies suggested that, like neoD, rbmD functions as a 2-N-acetlyglucosaminyltransferase and demonstrated the potential for the generation of novel aminoglycoside antibiotics using glycosyltransferases in vivo.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1142-1149
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• 2009

Several bioactive metabolites, including pyrrolnitrin, N-acylhomoserine lactones, and polyhydroxyalkanoates were isolated from Burkholderia sp. O33. Effects of various nutrients, including sugars, gluconolactone, glycerol, tryptophan, chloride, and zinc were investigated in relation to the production of these metabolites. Logarithmic increase of pyrrolnitrin was observed between 2-5 days and reached a maximum at 7-10 days. Tryptophan concentration reached the maximum at 3 days, whereas 7-chlorotryptophan was gradually increased throughout the studies. Among various carbon sources, gluconolactone, trehalose, and glycerol enhanced pyrrolnitrin production, whereas strong inhibitory effects were found with glucose. Relative concentrations of pyrrolnitrin and its precursors were in the order of pyrrolnitrin$\gg$dechloroaminopyrrolnitrin or aminopyrrolnitrin throughout the experiments. Among three N-acylhomoserine lactones, the N-octanoyl analog was the most abundant quorum sensing signal, of which the concentrations reached the maximum in 2-3 days, followed by a rapid dissipation to trace level. No significant changes in pyrrolnitrin biosynthesis were observed by external addition of N-acylhomoserine lactones. Polyhydroxyalkanoates accumulated up to 3-4 days and decreased slowly thereafter. According to the kinetic analyses, no strong correlations were found between the levels of pyrrolnitrin, N-acylhomoserine lactones, and polyhydroxyalkanoates.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1238-1244
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• 2014

Dephosphocoenzyme A (CoaE) catalyzes the last step in the biosynthesis of the cofactor coenzyme A. In this study, we report the identification and application of CoaE from Stretomyces peucetius ATCC27952. After expression of coaE, the protein was found to have a molecular mass of 28.6 kDa. Purification of the His-tagged fused CoaE protein was done by immobilized metal-affinity chromatography, and then in vitro enzymatic coupling assay was performed. The increasing NADH consumption with time shed light on the phosphorylating activity of CoaE. Furthermore, the overexpression of coaA and coaE independently under the $ermE^*$ promoter in the doxorubicin -producing wild type strain, resulted in 1.4- and 1.5-fold enhancements in doxorubicin production, respectively. In addition, the overexpression of both genes together showed a 2.1-fold increase in doxorubicin production. These results established a positive role for secondary metabolite production from Streptomyces peucetius.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.108.1-108
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• 2003

Soil metagenome is untapped total microbial genome including that of the majority of unculturable bacteria present in soil. We constructed soil metagenomic library in Escherichia coli using DNA directly extracted from two different soils, pine tree rhizosphere soil and forest topsoil. Metagenomic libraries constructed from pine tree rhizosphere soil and forest topsoil consisted of approximately 33,700 clones and 112,000 clones with average insert DNA size of 35-kb, respectively. Subsequently, we screened the libraries to select clones with antimicrobial activities against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Agrobacterium tumefaciens using double agar layer method. So far, we have a clone active against S. cerevisiae and a clone active against A. tumefaciens from the forest topsoil library. In vitro mutagenesis and DNA sequence analysis of the antifungal clone revealed the genes involved in the biosynthesis of antimicrobial secondary metabolite. Metagenomic libraries constructed in this study would be subject to search for diverse genetic resources related with useful microbial products.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.307-315
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• 2022

Artemisinin is a secondary metabolite of Artemisia annua that shows potent anti-malarial, anti-bacterial, antiviral, and anti-tumor effects. The supply of artemisinin depends on its content in Artemisia annua, in which various environmental factors can affect the plant's biosynthetic yield. In this study, the effects of different light-emitting diode (LED)-irradiation conditions were tested to optimize the germination and growth of Artemisia annua for the enhanced production of artemisinin. Specifically, the ratio between the red and blue lights in the irradiating LED was varied for investigation as follows: [Red : Blue] = [6 : 4], [7 : 3], and [8 : 2]. Furthermore, additional stress factors like UV-B-irradiation (1,395 ㎼/cm²), low temperature (4℃), and dehydration were also explored to induce hormetic expressions of ADS, CYP, and ALDH1, which are essential genes for the biosynthesis of artemisinin. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to analyze the expression levels of the respective genes and their correlation with the specified conditions. [8 : 2] LED-irradiation was the most optimal among the tested conditions for the cultivation of Artemisia annua in terms of both fresh and dry weights post-harvest. For the production of artemisinin, however, [7 : 3] LED-irradiation with dehydration for six hours pre-harvest was the most optimal condition by inducing around twofold enhancement in the biosynthetic yield of artemisinin. As expected, a correlation was observed between the expression levels of the genes and the contents of artemisinin accumulated.