• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.435-440
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• 2004

The gene encoding a extremely thermostable 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase from a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus litoralis, was cloned, sequenced and expressed in Escherichia coli. The amino acid sequence of the enzyme was distantly related to other functionally-related ones, such as D-enzymes. The enzyme is of industrial interest because of a novel activity of producing cycloamylose and is also important for fundamental studies of protein, sugar-metabolizing enzymes. In this paper, the overexpression of 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase in E. coli was carried out expression vector system with lac and T7 promoters. The enzyme was successfully overexpressed, and purified by the heat treatment of a cell-free extract, successive Butyl-Toyopearl and Mono Q chromatographies. The purified recombinant enzyme showed the same specific activity and the same mobility in SDS-PAGE as natural enzyme.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 2015

Based on the genomic analysis of Thermococcus pacificus P-4, we identified a putative GH1 ${\beta}$-glucosidase-encoding gene (Tpa-glu). The gene revealed a 1,464 bp encoding 487 amino acid residues, and the deduced amino acid residues exhibited 77% identity with Pyrococcus furiosus ${\beta}$-glucosidase (accession no. NP_577802). The gene was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli system. The recombinant protein was purified by metal affinity chromatography and characterized. Tpa-Glu showed optimum activity at pH 7.5 and $75^{\circ}C$, and thermostability with a half life of 6 h at $90^{\circ}C$. Tpa-Glu exhibited hydrolyzing activity against various pNP-glycopyranosides, with kcat/Km values in the order of pNP-${\beta}$-glucopyranoside, pNP-${\beta}$-galactopyranoside, pNP-${\beta}$-mannopyranoside, and pNP-${\beta}$-xylopyranoside. In addition, the enzyme exhibited exo-hydrolyzing activity toward ${\beta}$-1,3-linked polysaccharide (laminarin) and ${\beta}$-1,3- and ${\beta}$-1,4-linked oligosaccharides. This is the first description of an enzyme from hyperthermophilic archaea that displays exo-hydrolyzing activity toward ${\beta}$-1,3-linked polysaccharides and could be applied in combination with ${\beta}$-1,3-endoglucanase for saccharification of laminarin.

• The Korea Genome Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.36-36
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• 2005

• KOGO NEWS
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.29-33
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• 2006

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.269-277
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• 2017

Medium compositions for the hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 was statistically optimized to enhance formate-driven hydrogen ($H_2$) production by using response surface methodology. From the Plackett-Burman design-based experiment, it was confirmed that among the minor components of medium such as KCl, $MgSO_4$, $NH_4Cl$, Cystein-HCl, trace elements, Fe-EDTA and $CaCl_2$, the trace elements were screened as the only positively effective components with respect to $H_2$ production. Subsequently, the optimal concentrations of the trace elements and the major components of a medium such as NaCl, yeast extract and sodium formate were determined from the five-level central composite design (CCD)-based experiment. The resulting quadratic model predicted the maximum $H_2$ production of 46.6 mmol/L in serum bottle and it was validated experimentally using the optimal medium initially supplemented with 26.70 g/L of NaCl, 9.81 g/L of sodium formate, 3.50 g/L of yeast extract and 4.59 mL/L of trace elements. From the duplicate batch cultivations in the fermentor using the optimized medium, the a maximum $H_2$ production rate up to 71.8 mmol/L/h could be obtained, which was a 65% enhanced value compared with that obtained using the control medium, showing the high efficiency of the optimized medium.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.135-136
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• 2001

The Tk-ptp gene encoding a protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis KODI was cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis indicated that Tk-ptp encoded a protein consisting 147 amino acid residues (16,953 Da). The wild type and the mutants were expressed in Escherichia coli cells as His-tagged fusion proteins and examined for enzyme characteristics. Tk-PTP possessed two unique features that were not found in eucaryal and bacterial counterparts. First, the recombinant Tk-PTP showed the phosphatase activity not only for the phosphotyrosine but also phosphoserine. Second, the conserved Asp (Asp-63), which was considered to be a critical residue, was not involved in catalysis. In order to know a specific substrate for Tk-PTP, C93S mutant was used to trap substrate protein. Proteins of 120, 60 and 53 kDa were isolated specifically from KODI cell lysates by affinity chromatography with Tk-PTP-C93S. It is suggested that these proteins are tyrosine-phosphorylated substrates of Tk-PTP.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.92-93
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• 2009

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1242-1248
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• 2007

Genomic analysis of a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 [1], revealed the presence of an open reading frame consisting of 1,377 bp similar to ${\alpha}$-amylases from Thermococcales, encoding a 458-residue polypeptide containing a putative 25-residue signal peptide. The mature form of the ${\alpha}$-amylase was cloned and the recombinant enzyme was characterized. The optimum activity of the enzyme occurred at $80^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.5. The enzyme showed a liquefying activity, hydrolyzing maltooligosaccharides, amylopectin, and starch to produce mainly maltose (G2) to maltoheptaose (G7), but not pullulan and cyclodextrin. Surprisingly, the enzyme was not highly thermostable, with half-life ($t_{1/2}$) values of 10 min at $90^{\circ}C$, despite the high similarity to ${\alpha}$-amylases from Pyrococcus. Factors affecting the thermostability were considered to enhance the thermo stability. The presence of $Ca^{2+}$ seemed to be critical, significantly changing $t_{1/2}$ at $90^{\circ}C$ to 153 min by the addition of 0.5 mM $Ca^{2+}$. On the other hand, the thermostability was not enhanced by the addition of $Zn^{2+}$ or other divalent metals, irrespective of the concentration. The mutagenetic study showed that the recovery of zinc-binding residues (His175 and Cys189) enhanced the thermo stability, indicating that the residues involved in metal binding is very critical for the thermostability.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.225-234
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• 2016

This project sought to conduct an economic feasibility study regarding the commercial production of bio-hydrogen by the marine hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 using carbon monoxide-containing industrial off-gas. We carried out the economic evaluation of the bio-hydrogen production process using the raw material of steel mill by-product gas. The process parameter was as follows: $H_2$ production rate was 5.6 L/L/h; the conversion of carbon monoxide was 60.7%. This project established an evaluation criterion for about 10,000 tonne/year. Inflation factors were considered as 3%. The operating costs were recalculated based on prices in 2014. The total investment required for development was covered 30% by capital and 70% by a loan. The operation cost for the 0.5-year test and integration, and the cost for the first three months in the 50% production period were considered as the working capital in the cost estimation. The costs required for the rental of office space, facilities, and other related costs from the construction through to full-scale production periods were considered as continuing expenses. Materials, energy, waste disposal and other charges were considered as the operating cost of the development system. Depreciation, tax, maintenance and repair, insurance, labor, interest rate charges, general and administrative costs, lubrication and miscellaneous expenses were also calculated. The hydrogen price was set at US$ 4.15/kg for the economic evaluation. As a result, the process was considered to be economical with the payback period of 6.3 years, NPV of 18 billion Won and IRR of 26.7%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.1090-1097
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• 2007

Genomic analysis of Thermococcus sp. NA1 revealed the presence of a 3,927-base-pair (bp) family B-type DNA polymerase gene, TNA1_pol. TNA1_pol, without its intein, was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified using metal affinity chromatography, and characterized. TNA1_pol activity was optimal at pH 7.5 and $75^{\circ}C$. TNA1_pol was highly thermostable, with a half-life of 3.5h at $100^{\circ}C$ and 12.5h at $95^{\circ}C$. Polymerase chain reaction parameters of TNA1_pol such as error-rate, processivity, and extension rate were measured in comparison with rTaq, Pfu, and KOD DNA polymerases. TNA1_pol averaged one incorrect bp every 4.45 kilobases (kb), and had a processivity of 150 nucleotides (nt) and an extension rate of 60 bases/s. Thus, TNA1_pol has a much faster elongation rate than Pfu DNA polymerase with 7-fold higher fidelity than that of rTaq.