• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제11권6호
• /
• pp.940-945
• /
• 2001

Symbiobacterium toebii has been previously reported as a novel commensal thermophile exhibiting a commensal interaction with thermophilic Geobacillus sp. SK-1. We investigated the distribution of this commensal thermophile in various soils using molecular methods, such as quantitative PCR and terminal restriction fragment polymorphism analysis. Based on a nested competitive quantitative PCR the 16S rDNA of the commensal thermophile was only detected in compost soils at about $1.0{\times}10^4$ cpoies per gram of soil, corresponding to $0.25{\times}10^4$ cells per gram of soil. However, in an enrichment experiment at $60^{\circ}C$, about $1.0{\times}10^8$ copies of 16S rDNA molecules were detected per ml of enriched culture broth for all the soils, and more than 0.1 mM indole accumulated as the product of commensal bacterial growth. When incubated at $30^{\circ}C$, neither the 16S rDNA of the commensal bacterium nor any indole accumulation was detected. Accordingly, even though the 16S rDNA of the bacterium was only detected in the compost soils by a nested PCR, the presence of the 16S rDNA molecules of commensal thermophile and accumulation of indole in all the enriched cultures appeared to indicate that the commensal thermophile is widely distributed in various soils.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제14권1호
• /
• pp.153-157
• /
• 2004

Tyrosine phenol-lyase (TPL) is a useful enzyme for the synthesis of pharmaceutical aromatic amino acids. In the current study, sequential DNA shuffling and screening were used to enhance the stability of TPL. Twenty-thousand mutants were screened, and several improved variants were isolated. One variant named A13V, in which the $13^{th}$ amino acid alanine was substituted by valine, exhibited a higher temperature and denaturant stability than the wild-type TPL. The purified mutant TPL, A13V, retained about 60% of its activity at $76^\circ{C}$, whereas the activity of the wild-type TPL decreased to less than 20% at the same temperature. Plus, A13V exhibited about 50% activity with 3 M urea, while the wild-type TPL lost almost all its catalytic activity, indicating an increased denaturant tolerance in the mutant A13V. It is speculated that the substitution of Val for the Ala in the $\beta$-strand of the N-terminal arm was responsible for the heightened stabilization, and that the current results will contribute to further research on the structural stability of TPL.