• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.383-388
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• 2010

Alkaline protease-overproducing strains of Vibrio metschnikovii were developed by using the molecular evolution from the classical mutants V. metschnikovii L12-23, N4-8, and KS1. Each vapK (Vibrio alkaline protease K) was obtained from the genomic DNAs of mutants by PCR to carry out the DNA shuffling. The modified vapK-1 obtained by DNA shuffling was used again as a template for the error-prone PCR to make the vapK-2. Both genes were cloned in the plasmid pKF3 to construct the recombinant plasmids which have one or two copies of the modified genes. The recombinant plasmids were back-transformed to V. metschnikovii KS1 to construct recombinant V. metschnikovii that expresses the alkaline protease. About 3.9-fold more protease activity was measured in the strain which has the plasmid containing two copies of vapK-2 when compared to strain KS1. When compared to wild type V. metschnikovii RH530, 43-fold more activity was achieved. Comparison of amino acids among vapK, vapK-1, and vapK-2 revealed that the active sites was highly conserved and not changed. However, many amino acids except the active sites were changed. These results suggested that the changes in amino acids might play an important role in the increase of protease activity by allowing the easy access of substrate to active sites of the protease. The fermentation of alkaline protease from the V. metschnikovii KS1 harboring the plasmid that contains two copies of vapK-1 showed the possibility of this strain to be used as industrial producer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.222-228
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• 2001

Vibrio metschnikovii strain RH530 is a non-pathogenic, industrially-important alkaline protease producer which has been isolated from wastewater. In this paper, we report on the transformation of this strain by using the method of electroporation. A field strength of $7.5\;kVcm^{-1}$ and $25\;{\mu}F$, and using a 0.2-cm cuvette, appeared to be the optimal conditions for electroporation of the cells with the recombinant pSBCm plasmid carrying the vapK alkaline protease gene and the ColE1 replicon. Cells were subjected to osmotic shock in order to remove extracelluar DNase, and adding 200 mM of sucrose to electroporation buffer cells showed an increased transformation efficiency. Maximum efficiency of transformation was obtained at an early exponential growth phase. Using all of the conditions mentioned above, we routinely obtained a transformation efficiency of more than $10^4{({\mu}g\;plasmid\;DNA)}^{-1}$. The stability of the plasmid pSBCm in V. metschnikovii RH530 was 25% after 18h of growth (27 generations) in the medium without antibiotic selection. The insertion of the par locus to the pSBCm increased the stability of the plasmid up to 42% without selective pressure. The increase in plasmid stability was accompanied by the increase in the productivity of alkaline protease in the recombinant V. metschnikovii strain RH530. Determining optimal conditions for the transformation of the industrially-important, nonpathogenic Vibrio strain, and the improvement of plasmid stability by introducing the par locus into the high copy number plasmid vector, will allow the development of procedures involved in the genetic manipulation of this strain, particularly for its use in the production of industrial enzymes such as alkaline protease.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 1994

The genes, trpB, trpA and 3’ trpC(F) of Vibrio metschnikovii strain RH530 were cloned and sequenced. The trpB and trpA genes had open reading frames of 1,173 bp and 804 bp encoding 391 and 268 amino acids, respectively. The trpB and trpA genes had conventional ribosome-binding sequences and overlapped with each other by one nucleotide, suggesting that these two genes are translationally coupled. 115 nucleotide upstream the trpB start codon, tjere was an incomplete open reading frame of the 3’-end of the trpC(F). The amino acid sequences of trpB, trpA and trpC(F) of V. metschnikovii RH530 had identities of 64.2%, 82.4% and 73.7% respectively, for those of V. parahaemolyticus; 58.7%, 72.3% and 54.9%, respectively, for Salmonella typhimurium; and 42.6%. 54.1% and 12.5%, respectively, for brevibacterium lactofermentum. The genetic organization of these genes, especially in the noncoding region between trpC(F) and trpB, was distinct from that of Enterobacteriaceae.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.439-448
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• 1999

To investigate the population dynamics and survival of Genus Vibrio, population densities of aerobic saprophytic bacteria and Vibrio groups were measured 4 times in the intertidal waters of the Yellow Sea near Kunsan from November, 1997 to June, 1998. The distribution of heterotrophic bacteria during the survey periods by plate count and direct count method ranged from 1.2$\pm$0.6$\times$10$^3$~2.0$\pm$1.5$\times$10$^4$CFU ml­$^1$and from 6.0$\pm$4.0$\times$10$^{5}$ ~1.9$\pm$1.5$\times$10$^{7}$ cells ml­$^1$, respectively. Vibrio groups were distributed in the range of 1$\times$10 and 6$\pm$2.2$\times$10$^2$CFU ml­$^1$. The proportion of Vibrio groups to total heterotrophic bacteria was between 0.1 and 6% during the survey periods. A total of 51 isolates was obtained from TCBS agar plates and identified to species level by Biolog Identification System$^{TM}$. As a result, dominant genera were V, mediterranei, V aitguillarum, tr metschnikovii, and V. parahaemolyticus, and isolates were clustered into 26 groups based on the relatedness of average linkage clustering method at 70% level. As for the susceptibility of 51 isolates to 7 kinds of antibacterial agents (gentamicin, ampicillin, chlorarnphenicol, streptomycin, kanamycin, tetracycline, carbenicillin), 96% of isolates showed high resistance to more than one antibiotics and 65% of isolates contained a plasmid, of which size was observed greater than 12 kb, The number of cells of 3 tested strains (V. anguillarum, V. vulnificus, and V. metschnikovii) in filtered aged seawater decreased by approximately 1 to 5 orders of magnitude during 30-d incubation. In most cases, the numbers of cells decreased rapidly until day 3, then decreased slowly by day 30. The number of cells incubated at 15$^{\circ}C$ showed higher survival than those at 4$^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$. These results may be considered for the basic supporting data in the risk assessment of vibriosis in summer.r.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 2004

A lot of cultured flounders died by ascitic disease blooming during the summer season in 2002, southern parts of Korea. This study was conducted to investigate the microbial flora for the ascitic cultivated olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) which were collected in the Koe-je island in the southern of Korea from July 2002 to October 2003. Three Genera (Vibrio, Photobacterium and Edwardsiella), seven species of bacteria (V. harveyi, V. alginolyticus, V. parahaemolyticus, V. carcariae, V. metschenikovii, P. damsela and E. tarda) and a fish pathogenic birnavirus (marine birnavirus, MABV) were isolated from the liver, dropsy, spleen and identified by biochemical and molecular biological characterization.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.361-366
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• 1997

To determine the physiological, biochemical characteristics and toxicity of hemolysin produced by a novel sucrose positive Vibrio (Vibrio sp. D5) isolated from estuary of Kum river, it was compared with already known sucrose positive Vibrio. Salinity, pH, temperature and conductivity of place where Vibrio sp. D5 was isolated were $4.7\%_{\circ},\;7.6,\;24^{\circ}C$ and $7800{\mu}MHOS$, respectively. Physiological and biochemical characteristics distingiushed Vibrio sp. D5 from other sucrose positive Vibrio: V. alginoipicus, V. cholerae, V. cincinnatiensis, V. fluvialis, V. furnissii and V. metschnikovii. The range of salinity and pH for growth of Vibrio sp. D5 were $0.5\%\~7.5\%$ and $4.5\~9.5$, respectively. Vibrio sp. D5 exhibited typical yellow colony on TCBS agar plate and curved rod type upon transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Vibrio sp. D5 had lethal toxicity against mouse in case of intraperitoneal injection with its culture and showed hemolysin activity on human blood agar and sheep blood agar. Ubrio sp. D5 also demonstrated vascular permeability activity toward rat. From the above results, Vibrio sp. D5 was ascertained to be a novel pathogenic Vibrio.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.349-354
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• 2000

Abstract A facultative alkalophilic gram-negative Vibrio metschnikovii strain RH530, isolated from the wastewater, produced several alkaline proteases (VAP) including six alkaline serine proteases and a metalloprotease. From this strain, high yielding YAP mutants were isolated by NTG treatment. The isolated mutant KS1 showed nine times more activity than the wild-type after optimization of the culture media. The production was regulated by catabolite repression when glucose was added to the medium. The effects of several organic nitrogen sources on the production of the YAP were investigated to avoid catabolite repression. The combination of 4% wheat gluten meal (WGM), 1.5% cotton seed flour (eSF), and 5% soybean meal (SBM) resulted in the best production when supplemented with 1% NaCl. The YAP showed a resistance to surfactants such as $sodium-{\alpha}-olefin$ sulfonate (AOS), polyoxy ethylene oxide (POE), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), yet not to linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS). However, the activity of the YAP was restored completely when incubated with LAS in the presence of POE or $Na_2SO_4$. The YAP was stable in a liquid laundry detergent containing 6.6% SLES (sodium lauryl ether sulfate), 6.6% LAS, 19.8% POE, and stabilizing agents for more than two weeks at $40^{\circ}C$, but the stability was sharply decreased even after 1 day when incubated at $60^{\circ}C$. A washing performance test with the YAP exhibited it to be a good washing power by showing 51 % and 60% activity at $25^{\circ}C{\;}and{\;}40^{\circ}C$, respectively, thereby indicating that the YAP also has a good detergency at a low temperature. All the results suggest that the YAP produced from the mutant strain KSI has suitable properties for use in laundry detergents.rgents.