• Mycobiology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2010

The common split-gilled mushroom, Schizophyllum commune is found throughout the world on woody plants. This study was initiated to evaluate conditions for favorable vegetative growth and to determine molecular phylogenetic relationship in twelve different strains of S. commune. A suitable temperature for mycelial growth was obtained at $30^{\circ}C$. This mushroom grew well in acidic conditions and pH 5 was the most favorable. Hamada, glucose peptone, Hennerberg, potato dextrose agar and yeast malt extract were favorable media for growing mycelia, while Lilly and glucose tryptone were unfavorable. Dextrin was the best and lactose was the less effective carbon source. The most suitable nitrogen sources were calcium nitrate, glycine, and potassium nitrate, whereas ammonium phosphate and histidine were the least effective for the mycelial growth of S. commune. The genetic diversity of each strain was investigated in order to identify them. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of rDNA were amplified using PCR. The size of the ITS1 and ITS2 regions of rDNA from the different strains varied from 129 to 143 bp and 241 to 243 bp, respectively. The sequence of ITS1 was more variable than that of ITS2, while the 5.8S sequences were identical. A phylogenetic tree of the ITS region sequences indicated that the selected strains were classified into three clusters. The reciprocal homologies of the ITS region sequences ranged from 99 to 100%. The strains were also analyzed by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) with 20 arbitrary primers. Twelve primers efficiently amplified the genomic DNA. The number of amplified bands varied depending on the primers used or the strains tested. The average number of polymorphic bands observed per primer was 4.5. The size of polymorphic fragments was obtained in the range of 0.2 to 2.3 kb. These results indicate that the RAPD technique is well suited for detecting the genetic diversity in the S. commune strains tested.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.3 s.76
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• pp.415-419
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• 2006

The epoxide hydrolase (EH) of Rhodotorula glutinis which has a high enantioselectivity against aromatic epoxide substrates was expressed to high levels in Escherichia coli based on codon usage. We analysed the Preference of codon usage between the yeast, R. glutinis, and bacteria, E. coli. E. coli, Rosetta(DE3)pLysS, harbors pRARE plasmid with tRNA genes for rare-codons was employed as a host strain. The recombinant E. coli expressing R. glutinis EH showed an enhanced enantioselective hydrolysis activity toward racemic styrene oxide. Enantiopure (S)-styrene oxide with a high enantiopurity of 99% ee (enantiomeric excess) was obtained from racemic substrates.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.11
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• pp.578-583
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• 2018

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein complexes that function to protect eukaryotic chromosomes from recombination and erosion. Several telomere binding proteins (TBPs) have been characterized in higher plants, but their detailed in vivo functions at the plant level are largely unknown. In this study, we identified and characterized OsTRFL1 (Oryza sativa Telomere Repeat-binding Factor Like 1) in rice, a monocot model crop. Although OsTRFL1 did not directly bind to telomere repeats $(TTTAGGG){_4}$ in vitro, it was associated with telomeric sequences in planta. OsTRFL1 interacted with rice TBPs, such as OsTRBF1 and RTBP1, in yeast and plant cells as well as in vitro. Thus, it seems likely that the association of OsTRFL1 with other TBPs enables OsTRFL1 to bind to telomeres indirectly. T-DNA inserted OsTRFL1 knock-out mutant rice plants displayed significantly longer telomeres (6-25 kb) than those (5-12 kb) in wild-type plants, indicating that OsTRFL1 is a negative factor for telomere lengthening. The reduced levels of OsTRFL1 caused serious developmental defects in both vegetative and reproductive organs of rice plants. These results suggest that OsTRFL1 is an essential factor for the proper maintenance of telomeres and normal development of rice.

• BMB Reports
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.397-402
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• 1997

A thiol-specific spin label was attached to cysteine-102 of yeast cytochrome c and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra were measured as a function of added cytochrome c oxidase concentration. The intensity decreased due to line broadening as cytochrome c formed a complex with cytochrome c oxidase and reached a minimum when the ratio of cytochrome c to cytochrome c oxidase became one. Replacement of either Lys-72 or Lys-87 of cytochrome c by Glu did not result in a significant change in binding affinity. Interestingly the K72E mutant, unlike K87E, had a much lower rate of electron transfer than the wild type. These results indicate that many positively charged residues as a group participate in complex formation but Lys-72 might be important for cytochrome c to be locked in an orientation for an efficient electron transfer. A stoichiometry of 1 was also confirmed by optical absorption of the cytochrome c-cytochrome c oxidase complex which had been run through a gel chromatography cloumn to remove unbound cytochrome c. The EPR spectrum of this 1:1 complex, however, was a mixture of two components. This explains a biphasic kinetics for a single binding site on cytochrome c oxidase without invoking conformational transition.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.565-573
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• 2019

Production of biofuels and value-added materials from cellulosic biomass requires the development of a microbial strain capable of efficiently fermenting mixed sugars. In this study, the natural xylose fermenting yeast, Pichia stipitis, was evolved to simultaneously ferment cellobiose and xylose. Serial subcultures of wild-type P. stipitis in 20 g/l cellobiose were performed to increase the rate of cellobiose consumption. A total of ten rounds of the serial subculture led to the isolation of an evolved strain fermenting cellobiose significantly faster than the parental strain. The evolved strain displayed enhanced ethanol yield from 0 to 0.4 g ethanol/g cellobiose. The evolved P. stipitis simultaneously fermented cellobiose and xylose in batch fermentation. The genetic information of our evolved P. stipitis would be valuable in the development of a microbial host for the production of biofuels and biomaterials from cellulosic biomass.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2016

Wild-type yeast strains were isolated from nuruk, a type of microbial starter culture used for fermenting grains to produce alcoholic products, that was collected from different areas in Korea. Strains were identified based on the analysis of 18S rRNA sequences. Fifty strains shared the highest sequence similarity with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and were designated MBYK1-MBYK50. Among these S. cerevisiae isolates, MBYK45 produced $44.0{\pm}0.3g$ of ethanol from 200 g maltose after incubation at $30^{\circ}C$ for 48 h. Maximum ethanol production of $110.80{\pm}0.81g/l$ with productivity of $3.79{\pm}0.14g^{-1}l^{-1}h^{-1}$ was obtained at optimum culture conditions of pH (6.0), maltose (200 g/l), and temperature ($35^{\circ}C$). This study indicates that the MBYK45 strain of S. cerevisiae, isolated from nuruk, might be suitable for traditional liquor production from malts.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.48-48
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• 2001

A new neurological mutant has been found in the ICR outbred strain mouse. Affected mice display profound deafness and a head-tossing and bidirectional circling behavior, showing an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. It was, therefore, named cir/Kr with the gene symbol cir. The auditory tests identified clearly the hearing loss of the cir mice when compared to wild type mice. Pathological studies confirmed the developmental defects in the middle ear, cochlea, cochlear nerve, and semicircular canal areas, which were correlated to the abnormal behavior observed in the cir mice. Thus, cir mice may be useful as a model for studying inner ear abnormalities and deafness. We have constructed a genetic linkage map by positioning 14 microsatellite markers across the (cir) region and intraspecific backcross between cir and C57BL/6J mice. The cir mouse harbors an autosomal recessive mutation on mouse chromosome 9. The cir gene was mapped to a region between D9Mit116 and D9Mit38 Estimated distances between cir and D9Mit116, and between cir and D9Mit38 are 0.7 and 0.2 cM, respectively. The gene in order was defines : centromere-D9Mit182-D9Mit51/D9Mit79/D9Mit310-D9Mit212/D9Mit184-D9Mit116-cir-D9Mit38-D9Mit20-D9Mit243-D9Mit16-D9Mit55/D9Mit125-D9Mit281. The mouse map location of the cir locus appears to be in a region homologous to human 3q21. Our present date suggest that the nearest flanking marker D9Mit38 provides a useful anchor for the isolation of the cir gene in a yeast artificial chromosome contig.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.270-282
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• 2008

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has defense mechanisms identical to higher eukaryotes. It offers the potential for genome-wide experimental approaches owing to its smaller genome size and the availability of the complete sequence. It therefore represents an ideal eukaryotic model for studying cellular redox control and oxidative stress responses. S. cerevisiae Yap1 is a well-known transcription factor that is required for $H_2O_2$-dependent stress responses. Yap1 is involved in various signaling pathways in an oxidative stress response. The Gpx3 (Orp1/PHGpx3) protein is one of the factors related to these signaling pathways. It plays the role of a transducer that transfers the hydroperoxide signal to Yap1. In this study, using extensive proteomic and bioinformatics analyses, the function of the Gpx3 protein in an adaptive response against oxidative stress was investigated in wild-type, gpx3-deletion mutant, and gpx3-deletion mutant overexpressing Gpx3 protein strains. We identified 30 proteins that are related to the Gpx3-dependent oxidative stress responses and 17 proteins that are changed in a Gpx3-dependent manner regardless of oxidative stress. As expected, $H_2O_2$-responsive Gpx3-dependent proteins include a number of antioxidants related with cell rescue and defense. In addition, they contain a variety of proteins related to energy and carbohydrate metabolism, transcription, and protein fate. Based upon the experimental results, it is suggested that Gpx3-dependent stress adaptive response includes the regulation of genes related to the capacity to detoxify oxidants and repair oxidative stress-induced damages affected by Yap1 as well as metabolism and protein fate independent from Yap1.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 1991

- I aimed to isolate trans-acting factors involved in the basal expression level of eukaryotic genes. One of the yeast histidine biosynthetic gene, HIS5 was taken as a model for this study. HIS5 gene has a substantial basal level in amino acid rich medium and is derepressed if starved for any single amino acid. The derepression is mediated by cis-acting DNA sequences 5'-TGACTC-3' found in 5' non-transcribed region of the gene and trans-acting factors including GCN4 as positive factor and its negative factor GCDI 7, and GCNZ as a negative factor of GCD17. I first investigated the role of these trans-acting factors in HIS5 basal expression level by using HIS5-pH05 fusion in which expression of pH05 gene encoding inorganic phosphate-repressible acid phosphatase (APase) is regulated by HIS5 promoter. Strain with gcn2 or gcn4 mutation showed 3 to 4 fold lower APase activity than wild type. The level of APase activity was similar in gcn2 and gcn4 mutants. Trans-acting factors involved in basal level were identified by isolating 14 mutants showing increased expression of HISSPH05 fusion from gcn4 background. All the mutants carry a single nuclear recessive mutation and fall into four complementation groups, designated as bell (basal expression level), be12, be23 and be14.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.309-316
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• 2008

Mycelium of Ophiostoma quercus albino strain cultured in liquid culture media was harvested, lyophilized, and stored for examining biocontrol efficacy against wood discoloration by staining fungi in the laboratory and field conditions. Dry weight of mycelium grown in brown sugar yeast extract broth(BYB) showed 3.8 times higher than that grown in potato dextrose broth(PDB). The optimum culture period in BYB was 4 weeks. In vitality test of the albino strain, the lyophilized mycelium stored in liquid nitrogen($-196^{\circ}C$) or in a refrigerator($4^{\circ}C$) kept the vitality until 13 months after storage; however, the mycelium stored at room temperature lost the vitality completely after 13 months. The mycelium stored in liquid nitrogen or in a refrigerator protected wood chips from the discoloration by pretreating mycelial suspension on pine wood chips. The mycelium stored at room temperature for 7 months also showed complete protection. These results suggest that the lyophilized mycelium have a biocontrol efficacy only if it keeps the least vitality. In the field conditions, both albino strain and $Woodguard^{(R)}$(commercial chemical protectant) showed significant differences(p=0.05) in discoloration rate as compared to the non-treated control when these were treated on the wood logs of Pinus rigida. The albino strain showed better protection than $Woodguard^{(R)}$. Isolation frequency of blue stain fungi from the chips of wood logs treated with the albino strain was 0% at three months after treatment, while that treated with $Woodguard^{(R)}$ was 76.7%. In another experiment, pre-treatment of mycelial suspension on the cut surface of wood logs also showed significant protection from wood discoloration. Spraying of both albino strain on the cut surface and insecticides on the bark also showed relatively good control effects as compared to insecticide alone on the bark or nontreated control.