• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2015

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of herbicidin, new natural herbicidal substances, derived from soil actinomycetes Streptomyces scopuliridis. Several weed species were subjected to examine the germination inhibition and herbicidal activity at the concentration from 100 to 2,000 ppm. There was no selectivity in germination inhibition and herbicidal activity against crops. Germination of Echinochloa oryzoides, Digitaria ciliaris, Abutilon theophrasti and Amaranthus retroflexus was inhibited completely when 7.81 ppm of extract was treated in petri dish. Pre-emergence application of herbicidin in soil condition showed low inhibition against weeds. However, post application of herbicidin in green house resulted in the necrosis of weeds at the concentration of 2,000 ppm. A. retroflexus was sensitive to herbicidin at the low concentration of 62.5 ppm, whereas E. oryzoides was tolerant to lower concentration of herbicidin until it became withered at the concentration of 2,000 ppm. In conclusion, herbicidal substances derived from S. scopuliridis herbicidin, which is consisted with herbicidin A and B, have dominant effect on germination and growth inhibition. On the other hand, herbicidin was insufficient to control gramineous weeds. In future, it will be needed to develop the combination of herbicidin with other herbicide or compounds to control gramineous weeds as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.69.1-69
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• 2003

RSH (relA/spoT homolog) has been known to determine the level of guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) and guanosine pentaphosphate (pppGpp), which are the effector nucleotide of the prokaryotic stringent response and also play a role in antibiotic production and differentiation in Streptomyces species but not a little in eukaryotic organism, especially in plant. Salicylic acid (SA), a critical signal molecule of establishing systemic acquired resistance (SAR), could induce SAR in Pepper (Capcicum annuum) against Phytophthora capsici. And the extent of SAR induction was in proportion to the dosage of SA (or BTH). Suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), a PCR-based method for cDNA subtraction, was carried out between SA-treated and non-SA-treated pepper leaves to isolate genes which may be responsible for defense signaling against pathogens. Early upregulated gene was selected from reverse northern and kinetics of SSH-genes transcripts in SA-treated pepper leaves upon SA treatment. Full-length cDNA of the gene (PepRSH； Pepper RelA / SpoT homolog) had an open reading frame (ORF) of 2166 bp encoding a protein of 722 amino acids and a significant homology with (p)ppGpp phosphohydrolase or synthetase. Genomic DNA gel blot analysis showed that pepper genome has at least single copy of PepRSH. PepRSH transcripts was very low in untreated pepper leaves but strongly induced by SA and methyljasmonic acid (MeJA), indicating that PepRSH may share common SA and MeJA-mediated signal transduction pathway Functional analysis in E. coli showed PepRSH confers phenotypes associated with (p)ppGpp synthesis through a complementation using active site mutagenesis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1140-1145
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• 2005

MJM383, a rare actinomycete sp. strain originated from Chinese soils, was isolated through an antimicrobial screening system. The analysis of 16S rDNA sequences and biochemical characterization determined the strain to belong to genus Kitasatospora. Both NMR and ESI mass data of its purified bioactive compounds revealed Kitasatospora sp. MJM383 to produce two antitumor agents, streptonigrin and oxopropaline G, which have been known to be produced from Streptomyces species. This is the first report to demonstrate the presence of antitumor agents produced by genus Kitasatospora.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.542-550
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• 2018

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is treated as a molecular therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Geldanamycin (GA) was the first identified natural Hsp90 inhibitor, but hepatotoxicity has limited its clinical application. Nevertheless, a new GA analog (WK-88-1) with the non-benzoquinone skeleton, obtained from genetically engineered Streptomyces hygroscopicus, was found to have anticancer activity against two human breast cancer cell lines. WK-88-1 produced concentration-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive MCF-7 and ER-negative MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Detailed analysis showed that WK-88-1 downregulated some key cell cycle molecules (CDK1 and cyclin B1) and lead to $G_2/M$ cell cycle arrest. Further studies also showed that WK-88-1 could induce human breast cancer cell apoptosis by downregulating Hsp90 client proteins (Akt, p-Akt, IKK, c-Raf, and Bcl-2), decreasing the ATP level, increasing reactive oxygen species production, and lowering the mitochondrial membrane potential. Meanwhile, we discovered that WK-88-1 significantly decreased the levels of Her-2 and $ER-{\alpha}$ in MCF-7 cells but not in MDA-MB-231 cells. In addition, WK-88-1 significantly increased caspase-3, -8, and -9 activities and the cleavage of PARP in a concentration-dependent manner (with the exception of caspase-3 and PARP in MCF-7 cells). Taken together, our preliminary results suggest that WK-88-1 has the potential to play a role in breast cancer therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.213-218
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• 2005

Epilepsy constitutes a significant public health problem, and even the newest drugs and neurosurgical techniques have proven unable to cure the disease. In order to select a group of isolates which could generate an active compound with neuroprotective or antiepileptic properties, we isolated 517 actinomycete strains from soil samples taken from Jeju Island, in South Korea. We then screened these strains for possible anti-apoptotic effects against serum deprivation-induced hippocampal cell death, using the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay as an in vitro test. The excitotoxic glutamate analog, kainic acid (KA), was used to induce seizures in experimental mice in our in vivo tests. As a result of this testing, we located one strain which exhibited profound neuroprotective activity. This strain was identified as a Streptomyces species, and exhibited the rifampinresistant genotype, Asn$(AAC)^$442, according to the results of 16S rRNA and rpoB gene analyses

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.316-325
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• 2012

Xylanase has been used extensively in the industrial and agricultural fields. However, the low-yield production of xylanase from native species cannot meet the increasing demand of the market. Therefore, improving the heterologous expression of xylanase through basic gene optimization may help to overcome the shortage. In this study, we synthesized a high-GC-content native sequence of the thermostable xylanase gene xynB from Streptomyces olivaceoviridis A1 and, also designed a slightly AT-biased sequence with codons completely optimized to be favorable to Pichia pastoris. The comparison of the sequences' expression efficiencies in P. pastoris X33 was determined through the detection of single-copy-number integrants, which were quantified using qPCR. Surprisingly, the high GC content did not appear to be detrimental to the heterologous expression of xynB in yeast, whereas the optimized sequence, with its extremely skewed codon usage, exhibited more abundant accumulation of synthesized recombinant proteins in the yeast cell, but an approximately 30% reduction of the secretion level, deduced from the enzymatic activity assay. In this study, we developed a more accurate method for comparing the expression levels of individual yeast transformants. Moreover, our results provide a practical example for further investigation of what constitutes a rational design strategy for a heterologously expressed and secreted protein.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1595-1605
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• 2023

Dehydroquinate dehydratase (DHQD) catalyzes the conversion of 3-dehydroquinic acid (DHQ) into 3-dehydroshikimic acid in the mid stage of the shikimate pathway, which is essential for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids and folates. Here, we report two the crystal structures of type II DHQD (CgDHQD) derived from Corynebacterium glutamicum, which is a widely used industrial platform organism. We determined the structures for CgDHQD^WT with the citrate at a resolution of 1.80Å and CgDHQD^R19A with DHQ complexed forms at a resolution of 2.00 Å, respectively. The enzyme forms a homododecamer consisting of four trimers with three interfacial active sites. We identified the DHQ-binding site of CgDHQD and observed an unusual binding mode of citrate inhibitor in the site with a half-opened lid loop. A structural comparison of CgDHQD with a homolog derived from Streptomyces coelicolor revealed differences in the terminal regions, lid loop, and active site. Particularly, CgDHQD, including some Corynebacterium species, possesses a distinctive residue P105, which is not conserved in other DHQDs at the position near the 5-hydroxyl group of DHQ. Replacements of P105 with isoleucine and valine, conserved in other DHQDs, caused an approximately 70% decrease in the activity, but replacement of S103 with threonine (CgDHQD^S103T) caused a 10% increase in the activity. Our biochemical studies revealed the importance of key residues and enzyme kinetics for wild type and CgDHQD^S103T, explaining the effect of the variation. This structural and biochemical study provides valuable information for understanding the reaction efficiency that varies due to structural differences caused by the unique sequences of CgDHQD.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.136-149
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• 2023

Basic bioactivities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer, antiviral) were investigated from 370 strains of marine bacteria, fungi, and microalgae obtained from various marine environmental regions in Korea, and the activity results were obtained at the collection site, isolation source, and species level was compared. In the case of marine bacteria, strains belonging to the generally useful genera Streptomyces and Bacillus were observed to have particularly strong efficacy and useful resources were mainly isolated from marine sediments. In the case of marine fungi and microalgae, results showing strong species-specific activity were confirmed, and results showing efficacy-specific activity were also obtained. Based on these results, it is a research result that can facilitate priority access as a strategic material for industrial revitalization and the establishment of a strategy to secure resources based on usefulness when conducting research on chemicals that are selectively effective against specific diseases or when conducting resource-based research. In addition, we believe that by using these results as material for sale through the Marine BioBank (MBB), academia and industry can use them to help accelerate the revitalization of the marine bio industry.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.195-205
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• 2007

This study was conducted to determine effects of probiotics on performance, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention in Korean black goats fed two diets differing in forage to concentrate (F:C) ratio (30:70 and 70:30), for the establishment of their more efficient feeding management system. The probiotics employed in this trial were mixtures of different microbial species, which consisted of Lactobacillus casei, Bacillus subtilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus oryzae and Streptomyces griseus. Additional levels of probiotics to each F:C ratio (70:30 or 30:70) were 0 and 0.2%, respectively. Thus, twelve Korean black male goats were allotted to treatments in four groups of three goats per treatment and then they were housed in individual metabolism cages with a randomized complete block design for 21 days. Dry matter (DM) intakes were not affected by dietary F:C ratio and probiotics. Digestible DM amounts were significantly (p<0.05) decreased with increasing levels of dietary forage, but they were not affected by probiotics addition. Dry matter intakes per metabolic body weight and their ratio per body weight had a similar trend to DM intakes with no significant difference by F:C ratio and probiotics addition. The nutrient digestibility was significantly (p<0.05) increased with decreasing levels of forage in the diet, but it was not affected by probiotics addition. Urinary nitrogen loss was significantly (p<0.05) decreased with decreasing levels of dietary forage, but there was no significant difference between probiotics-supplemented and unsupplemented groups within the same F:C ratio. On the contrary, nitrogen retention was decreased with increasing levels of dietary forage, and probiotics supplementation to two diets differing in F:C ratio showed slightly increasing trends in the nitrogen retention. From the above results, probiotics supplementation to two diets differing in F:C ratio did not have the significant influence on feed intakes, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention. Consequently, these parameters of Korean black goats were dominated rather by F:C ratio than by dietary probiotics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1087-1093
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• 2005

The population diversity and seasonal changes of bacterial communities in rice soils were monitored using both culture-dependent approaches and molecular methods. The rice field plot consisted of twelve subplots planted with two genetically-modified (GM) rice and two non-GM rice plants in three replicates. The DGGE analysis revealed that the bacterial community structures of the twelve subplot soils were quite similar to each other in a given month, indicating that there were no significant differences in the structure of the soil microbial populations between GM rice and non-GM rice during the experiment. However, the DGGE profiles of June soil after a sudden flooding were quite different from those of the other months. The June profiles exhibited a few intense DNA bands, compared with the others, indicating that flooding of rice field stimulated selective growth of some indigenous microorganisms. Phylogenetic analysis of l6S rDNA sequences from cultivated isolates showed that, while the isolates obtained from April soil before flooding were relatively evenly distributed among diverse genera such as Arthrobacter, Streptomyces, Terrabacter, and Bacillus/Paenibacillus, those from June soil after flooding mostly belonged to the Arthrobacter species. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences obtained from the soil by cloning showed that April, August, and October had more diverse microorganisms than June. The results of this study indicated that flooding of rice fields gave a significant impact on the indigenous microbial community structure; however, the initial structure was gradually recovered over time after a sudden flooding.