• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.522-534
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• 1996

The present study was conducted to investigate quality characteristics of Nochi made with malted barley flour with (Cl) and without hull (C2), comparing with Nochi that was treated with different sources of commercial amylases. There was higher level of moisture content (18.4%) in Nochi treated with fungal ${\alpha}$-amylase (FU) comparing with the other Nochi samples. However, Nochi that was treated with bacterial ${\alpha}$-amylase and ${\beta}$-amylase (BA-${\beta}$) had the lowest level of moisture content (11.2%). Nochi samples which were treated with thermostable ${\alpha}$-amylase and fungal ${\alpha}$-amylase(TE-FU) were different from traditional Nochi samples in mechanical characteristics. According to the results of sensory evaluation, Cl was similar to C2 except in cohesiveness and malt flavor. TE-FU and Bh-${\beta}$ were not different from traditional Nochi in cohesiveness, sweetness and overall desirability.

• The Microorganisms and Industry
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.34-41
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• 1993

Industrial strain improvement is concerned with developing or modifying microorganisms used in production of commercially important fermentation products. The aim is to reduce the production cost by improving productivity of a strain and manipulating specific characteristics such as the ability to utilize cheaper raw materials or resist bacteriophages. The traditional empirical approach to strain improvement is mutation combined with selection and breeding techniques. It is still used by us to improve the productivity of organisms in amino acids, organic acids and enzymes production. The breeding of high L-lysine-producing strain Au112 is one of the outstanding examples of this approach. It is a homoserine auxotroph with AEC, TA double metabolic analogue resistant markers. The yield reaches 100 g/l. Besides, the citric acid-producing organism Aspergillus niger, Co827, its productivity reaches the advanced level in the world, is also the result of a series mutations especially with $^60Co{\gamma}$-radiation. The thermostable .alpha.-amylase producing strain A 4041 is the third example. By combining physical and chemical mutations, the strain A 4041 becomes an asporogenous, catabolite derepressed mutant with rifamycin resistant and methionine, arginine auxotroph markers. The .alpha.-amylase activity reaches 200 units/ml. The fourth successful example of mutation in strain improvement is the glucoamylase-producing strain Aspergillus niger SP56, its enzyme activity is 20,000 units/ml, 4 times of that of the parental strain UV-11. Recently, recombinant DNA approach provides a worthwhile alternative strategy to industrial strain improvement. This technique had been used by us to increase the thermostable .alpha.-amylase production and on some genetic researches.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 1998

A mutant strain which hyperproduced thermostable ${\alpha}-amylase$ was obtained by chemical mutagenesis of Bacillus licheniformis. The mutant strain, SK-5, produced the enzyme about 50 times higher than the original strain. The mutant was longer and slimmer in shape, slower in growth compared to the original strain. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the SK-5 ${\alpha}-amylase$ gene revealed no changes in the the structural gene. The changes found in the promoter region might be responsible for the hyperproduction of the enzyme by the mutant. No structural changes in the enzyme structure could be observed when the secreted enzymes at various culture times were analyzed by Western blot.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.2000-2003
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• 2006

A gene (GenBank AF096282) coding for a $\alpha$-glucosidase (TcaAG, EC 3.2.1.20) from Thermus caldophilus GK24 was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) host. The thermostable $\alpha$-glucosidase was produced inside of the GRAS host at 0.04 unit/mg-dry cell by the constitutively expressing ADH1 promoter and at 1.2 unit/mg-dry cell by the inductively expressing GALl0 promoter, respectively. No $\alpha$-glucosidase activities were found in the medium when the MF-alpha signal sequence from S. cerevisiae or $\alpha$-amylase signal sequence from Aspergillus oryzae were fused before the $\alpha$-glucosidase gene for the secretion.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.347-354
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• 2001

$\alpha$-Glucosidase of an extreme thermophile, Thermus caldophilus GK24 (TcaAG), was purified 80-fold from cells to a homogeneous state and characterized. The enzyme exhibited optimum activity at pH 6.5 and $90^{\circ}C$, and was stable from pH 6.0 to 85 and up to $90^{\circ}C$. The enzyme had a half-life of 85 minutes at $90^{\circ}C$. An analysis of the substrate specificity showed that the enzyme hydrolyzed the non-reducing terminal unit of $\alpha$-1,6-glucosidic linkages of isomaltosaccharides and panose, $\alpha$-1,3-glycosidic bond of nigerose and turanose, and $\alpha$-1,2-glycosidic bond of sucrose. The gene encoding the TcaAG was cloned, sequenced, and sequenced in E. coli. The nucleotide sequence of the gene encoded a 530 amino acid polypeptide and had a G+C content of 68.4% with a strong bias for G or C in the third position of the codons (93.6%). A sequence analysis revealed that TcaAG belonged to the $\alpha$-amylase family. We suggest that this monomeric, thermostable, and broad-acting $\alpha$-glucosidase is a departure from previously exhibited specificities. It is, therefore, a novel $\alpha$-glucosidase.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.91-97
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• 1976

During the course of studies on the production and utilization of thermostable ${\alpha}$-amylase from a thormophilic actinomycete species isolated from soil, partial characterization of the ${\alpha}$-amylase has been (arried out. The optimum pH for the dextrinogenic activity of the enzyme was found to be 6.5 and the maximum reaction rate was achieved at a temperature range of 55$^{\circ}$ to 65$^{\circ}C$. Calcium ion was recognized to have a slight effect in activating the enzyme, while heavy metal salts especially ferrous and cupric ions showed a remarkable inhibition effect. The enzyme was best protected iron thermal denaturation at pH 8.0 with tris-HCI buffer；inactivation was rapid at higher or lower pH values. Furthermore, its thermal stability was greatly increased by calcium ion, particulary at the final concentration of 1${\times}$10$\^$－2/ mole in the reaction mixture. The Km value for the ${\alpha}$-amylase was calculated to be 2.17${\times}$10$\^$－4/g per $m\ell$ and the energy of activation for the dextrinogenic reaction to be 12,000${\pm}$580 ㎈ per mole.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.618-628
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• 2000

The indigestible dextrin I was prepared by hydrolyzing pyrodextrin with thermostable ${\alpha}-amylase$. The mean values of indigestible fraction and dieatry fiber of indigestible dextrin I prepared from yellow dextrin were 50.0% and 25.0%, respectively. Also the indigestible dextrin II was prepared by removing low molecular weight saccharides containing glucose with ethanol from enzyme hydrolysate of pyrodextrins. Over 80% of glucose and maltose in initial enzyme hydrolysate were removed, therefore the indigestible fraction and dietary fiber of the indigestible dextrins increased. The indigestible dextrin from ethanol precipitate of enzyme hydrolysate of yellow dextrin by ${\alpha}-amylase$ and amyloglucosidase showed a higher contents of indigestible fraction and dietary fiber than ethanol precipitates by any other enzyme combination, and its mean values were 83.6% and 62.8%, respectively. Consequently, it was found that the indigestible dextrins which are resistant to starch-hydrolysing enzyme can be easily prepared from pyrodextrin, and presumed that they can perform physiological functions as soluble dietary fiber.

• 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.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.570-583
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• 2021

Pyrococcus furiosus α-amylase can hydrolyze α-1,4 linkages in starch and related carbohydrates under hyperthermophilic condition (~ 100℃), showing great potential in a wide range of industrial applications, while its relatively low productivity from heterologous hosts has limited the industrial applications. Bacillus subtilis, a gram-positive bacterium, has been widely used in industrial production for its non-pathogenic and powerful secretory characteristics. This study was conducted to increase production of P. furiosus α-amylase in B. subtilis through three strategies. Initial experiments showed that co-expression of P. furiosus molecular chaperone peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase through genomic integration mode, using a CRISPR/Cas9 system, increased soluble amylase production. Therefore, considering that native P. furiosus α-amylase is produced within a hyperthermophilic environment and is highly thermostable, heat treatment of intact culture at 90℃ for 15 min was performed, thereby greatly increasing soluble amylase production. After optimization of the culture conditions (nitrogen source, carbon source, metal ion, temperature and pH), experiments in a 3-L fermenter yielded a soluble activity of 3,806.7 U/ml, which was 3.3- and 28.2-fold those of a control without heat treatment (1,155.1 U/ml) and an empty expression vector control (135.1 U/ml), respectively. This represents the highest P. furiosus α-amylase production reported to date and should promote innovation in the starch liquefaction process and related industrial productions. Meanwhile, heat treatment, which may promote folding of aggregated P. furiosus α-amylase into a soluble, active form through the transfer of kinetic energy, may be of general benefit when producing proteins from thermophilic archaea.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.369-373
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• 2009

${\alpha}$-Waxy corn starch was used as a feed for twin-screw extrusion in order to enhance starch liquefaction with added thermostable ${\alpha}$-amylase (derived from Bacillus licheniformis). The residence time distribution and starch liquefaction were investigated. The starch liquefaction was analyzed in terms of reducing sugar contents, molecular size from gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and microstructure from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The use of ${\alpha}$-starch contributed to the production of more reducing sugar than the use of raw starch use alone. From GPC, the effect of ${\alpha}$- starch on the molecular size reduction was shown to be small. From SEM, irregular and damaged surface were observed on the extrudate from ${\alpha}$-starch, as compared to those from raw starch. The spread of residence time distribution curves was greater with feed of ${\alpha}$-starch than raw starch, indicating that ${\alpha}$-starch was hard to flow forward during extrusion. This could be improved by increasing the feed moisture content and barrel temperature of extruder.