• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.402-410
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to estimate the chitinolytic and antifungal activity of Actinomycetes sp.isolated from waste mushroom media. In five kinds of waste mushroom media, Sinyeong mushroom and Yangsongi were the order of the population density of actinomycetes. Totally 91 chitinolytic isolates of Actinomycetes sp. were obtained from waste mushroom media. The isolates were categorized into 3 groups based on chitinolytic activity and antagonisms against Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Collectotrichum gloeosporioides, and Cladosporium cucumerinum in vitro. CA-23 was selected as a representative isolate of a group showing strong chitinolytic and antagonistic activities to all of the plant pathogens, while AA-65 was selected as a representative isolate showing no chitinolytic activities but strong antagonistic activities to the pathogens. CA-23 and AA-65 were highly effective on control of Phytophthora blight of hot-pepper, powdery mildew and scab of cucumber in a greenhouse tests. Among the isolates tested, CA-23 showed highest control efficacy, while AA-65 not only effectively controlled the diseases but also consistently increased plant growth and yield. Although the isolates are similarly affected on suppression of plant pathogens, the isolates could be differ from each other in modes of action. Further studies on mechanisms and practical applications are being progressed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.730-738
• /
• 2016

est19 is a gene from Bacillus sp. K91 that encodes a new esterase. A comparison of the amino acid sequence showed that Est19 has typical Ser-Gly-Asn-His (SGNH) family motifs and could be grouped into the SGNH hydrolase family. The Est19 protein was functionally cloned, and expressed and purified from Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The enzyme activity was optimal at 60℃ and pH 9.0, and displayed esterase activity towards esters with short-chain acyl esters (C₂-C₆). A structural model of Est19 was constructed using phospholipase A1 from Streptomyces albidoflavus NA297 as a template. The structure showed an α/β-hydrolase fold and indicated the presence of the typical catalytic triad Ser49-Asp227-His230, which were further investigated by site-directed mutagenesis. To the best of our knowledge, Est19 is a new member of the SGNH hydrolase family identified from thermophiles, which may be applicable in the industrial production of semisynthetic β-lactam antibiotics after modification.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.99-104
• /
• 1999

Soil actinomycetes of 703 strains were isolated from 25 sampling points in Cheju Island using 4 different media. Arginine glycerol salts agar containing soil extract was found to be the best medium for the isolation of soil actinomycetes. Soil samples from pasture land showed higher population and diversity of the actinomycetes than those from citrus field, forest, island, hill or valley. When the antibacterial activity of the 526 isolates was tested against three bacterial strains, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas solanacearum the frequency of the isolates with antibacterial activity varied much depending upon the media used for isolation and cultivation. BL106Ba, one of the 10 isolates that showed antibacterial activity against all the above 3 test strains, was chosen based upon the pH and heat stability of its antibacterial metabolites, and was identified as Streptomyces sp. based upon its cultural, morphological and physiological characteristics. The partially purified white crystalline substance obtained from the culture supematant of BL1063a through cation exchange chromatography(AG MP-50) and three times consecutive gel filtration(Sephadex G-10) showed high antimicrobial activity against gram positive and negative bacteria, but low activity against yeasts. The partially purified substance was found to contain at least four different compounds with antibacterial activity by both thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.113-119
• /
• 2002

The cloning and expression of Phosphotyrosine Protein Phosphatase into E. coli provides important tools of understanding of its functions and signal transduction mechanisms. The abundant soluble protein of the Phosphotyrosine Protein Phosphatase A (PtpA) and the active site mutant PtpA(C9S) were produced using the expression vector pET26 in E. coli and pIJ6021 with the thiostrepton in S. lividans. The enzyme activity of both proteins extracted by Ni-NTA column had same results from the expression vector pET26 and pIJ6021. The enzyme activity of phosphatase was found in the protein of PtpA, but not in that of C9S. The western blot detected by penta His-tag antibody resulted in the inducer, thiostrepton was not a good trigger to induce a large amount of PtpA protein. The overexpression of both proteins had no significantly different effect on the A factor cascade related to the secondary metabolite and mycelium formation between PtpA and C9S. However, overproduction of PtpA protein using pIJ6021 in S. lividans brought about a dramatic decrease in the amount of phosphotyrosine proteins (p200, p90, and p65), but no significantly phenotypic variation in S. lividans. This indicates that PtpA has an important proteome role in signal transduction mechanism of producing massive amount of phosphotyrosine protein in Streptomyces sp.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.145-148
• /
• 2006

A new functional lipolytic enzyme (AT4) has recently been found from Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 Cereon using a genome-wide approach. The enzyme has some sequence similarity to E. coli acetyl hydrolase, Emericella nidulans lipase, Moraxella sp. lipase, Acinetobacter lwoffii esterase, and Streptomyces hygroscopicus acetyl hydrolase. However, the sequence similarities are very low (less than $25\%$), suggesting that it is a new lipase/esterase enzyme. ill the present study, intact cell of the A. tumefaciens strain was shown to have lipolytic activity on a tributyrin-LB plate. The AT4 gene was then expressed at a high level in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells and the enzyme was purified simply by Ni-NTA column chromatography. The purified enzyme showed hydrolytic activity toward p-nitrophenyl caproate, but not toward olive oil, suggesting that the AT4 enzyme was a typical esterase rather than lipase. AT4 esterase had a maximum hydrolytic activity at $45^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.0, when p-nitrophenyl caproate was used as a substrate. It was relatively stable up to $40^{\circ}C$ and at pH 5.0-9.0. Calcium ion and EDT A did not affect the activity and thermal stability of the enzyme. As for substrate specificity, AT4 enzyme could rapidly hydrolyze acetyl and butyl groups from p-nitrophenyl esters and 1-naphthyl esters. In addition, it also released acetyl residues from acetylated glucose and xylose substrates. Therefore, this new esterase enzyme might be used as a biocatalyst in acetylation and deacetylation reactions performed in the fine chemical industry.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.540-544
• /
• 2011

The molecular mechanisms of apoptotic induction by benzyldihydroxyoctenone (BDH), a nonsteroidal antiandrogen, isolated from the culture broth of Streptomyces sp., have been previously published in prostate cancer LNCaP cells. Apoptotic induction of BDH-treated LNCaP cells was associated with downregulation of Bcl-xL that caused, in turn, cytochrome c release from mitochondria, and activation of procaspases and specific proteolytic cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the patterns of apoptotic induction by BDH in non-prostate, ovarian cancer PA-1 (androgen-independent and -insensitive) cells and prostate cancer cells with different androgen responsiveness, such as C4-2 (androgen-independent and -sensitive), 22Rv1 (androgen-dependent and -low sensitive), and LNCaP (androgen-dependent and -high sensitive) cells. We found that BDH-treated LNCaP cell proliferation was significantly inhibited in a time-dependent manner and induced apoptosis via downregulation of the androgen receptor (AR) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA), as well as antiapoptotic Bcl-xL protein. However, the levels of BDH-mediated apoptotic induction and growth inhibition in 22Rv1 cells were apparently lower than those of LNCaP cells. In contrast, the induction of apoptosis and antiproliferative effect in BDH-treated non-prostate cancer PA-1 and hormone refractory C4-2 cells were not detectable and marginal, respectively. Therefore, BDH-mediated differential apoptotic induction and growth inhibition in a cell type seem to be obviously dependent on its androgen responsiveness; primarily on androgen-dependency, and then on androgensensitivity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.68-74
• /
• 2012

BACKGROUND: Some microorganisms extant in nature have ability to suppress various plant pathogens, and also can promote plant growth. Thus microorganisms are such great source of antimicrobial agents to develop antagonistic microorganism production and eco-friendly crop management. We isolated the microorganisms in various eco-friendly formulations. The suppressive abilities against plant pathogens have been characterized in vitro level. METHODS AND RESULTS: The indigenous microorganisms have been isolated from Cooked rice, Black sugar, Rice Bran, and Red clay using dilution plating method. Population of bacteria and fungi were above 107 in the all formulations. We isolated and pure cultured the microorganisms based on morphological characteristics. Three major plant pathogens (Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Phytophthora capsici) have been used to select antagonistic microorganisms. Total 20 bacteria and 9 fungi showed the pathogen growth suppression ability in vitro condition. The selected microorganisms were identified by ITS sequence similarity. CONCLUSION: All tested eco-friendly formulations contained high-density of the microorganisms. Among the isolated microorganisms, Bacillus spp. and Streptomyces spp. showed the most effective antifungal activity against the plant pathogens such as F. oxysporum, R. solani, and P. capsici. Among the selected fungi Trichoderma sp. demonstrated antifungal activity. Our results suggest that the currently adapted eco-friendly formulations might useful for sustain agricultural system.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.218-221
• /
• 2007

The polyene antifungal antibiotics, mostly produced by Gram-positive soil actinomycetes, are a family of type I polyketide macrolide ring compounds with 20$\sim$40 carbon backbone contain 3$\sim$8 conjugated double bonds. Using polyene-specific genomic screening strategy, we previously isolated three novel polyene-producing actinomycetes strains from soil, implying the potential application of these strains' spores as microbial pesticides. Here, we report that the sonication is a very efficient method for actinomycetes spore generation with a sonicator power-dependent manner. In addition, these sonication-driven actinomycetes spores retained significant portion of their cell viabilities as well as antifungal activities after freeze-drying procedure, implying the potential application of these strains' spores as microbial pesticides.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.495-501
• /
• 2011

Bacterial strains were isolated from forest soils of Halla mountain, Jeju island in Korea. The soil samples were collected at each altitude of 100m from 1,000 m above sea level. Total 398 strains were isolated and tested for their physiological characteristics of antagonistic and proteolytic activities, and auxin production. Among the isolates, 172 strains were selected as antifungal strains showing antagonistic activity against at least one of 8 plant fungal pathogens (Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea, Collectotrichum acutatum, Fusarium oxysporum, Phytophthora capsici, Pythium ultimum and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum). In addition 203 strains for proteolytic activity and 26 strains for auxin production were characterized for further study. Je28-4 (Rhodococcus sp.) were showed 80% of control value against tomato gray mold in vivo. Thus, it is suggested that soil bacteria isolated from forest soils of Halla mountain can be important sources of bioactive compounds for improving plant growth or promising biocontrol agents.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
• /
• v.31 no.4 s.54
• /
• pp.349-357
• /
• 2005

New antioxidative substances for cosmeceuticals were screened from natural resources such as microbial metabolites, mushrooms, and medicinal plants. Four antioxidants were isolated from the fungal metabolite of Eupenicillium shearii and their structures were determined to be new phenolic compounds. The compounds were designated as melanocins A, B, C, and D. Melanocins $A{\sim}D$ exhibited free radical scavenging activity on DPPH and superoxide with $EC_{50}$ values of $21{\sim}94\;and\;7{\sim}84{\mu}M$, respectively, which were stronger activity than those of ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ and BHA. Melanocin A showed anti-wrinkle effects on the UV-irrated hairless mouse skin. A novel hispidin antioxidative compound designated as inoscavin A was isolated from the fruiting body of the mushroom, Inonotus xeranticus. Inoscavin A scavenged superoxide radical with $EC_{50}$ values of $0.03{\mu}g/mL$, and inhibited rat liver microsomal lipid peroxidation with $EC_{50}$ values of $0.3{\mu}g/mL$. Benzastatins $A{\sim}G$, the novel antioxidants isolated from the culture of Streptomyces nitrosporeus showed potent lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity with $EC_{50}$ values of $3{\sim}30{\mu}M$. A cyclopentene compound with strong hypopigmentary effect was isolated from the fungal metabolite of Penicillium sp. and identifed as terrein. Terrein significantly reduced melanin levels in a melanomacyte cell line, Mel-Ab. It showed 10 times stronger activity than kojic acid, but exhibited no cytotoxic effect even in $100{\mu}M$. It was suggested that terrein reduced melanin synthesis by reducing tyrosinase production by MITF down-regulation.