• Mycobiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.155-161
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• 2016

The most economically important species used in a wide range of fermentation industries throughout Asia belong to Aspergillus section Flavi, which are morphologically and phylogenetically indistinguishable, with a few being toxigenic and therefore a major concern. They are frequently isolated from Korean fermentation starters, such as nuruk and meju. The growing popularity of traditional Korean alcoholic beverages has led to a demand for their quality enhancement, therefore requiring selection of efficient non-toxigenic strains to assist effective fermentation. This study was performed to classify the most efficient strains of Aspergillus section Flavi isolated from various types of traditional wheat nuruk, based on a polyphasic approach involving molecular and biochemical evaluation. A total of 69 strains were isolated based on colony morphology and identified as Aspergillus oryzae/flavus based on internal transcribed spacer and calmodulin gene sequencing. Interestingly, none were toxigenic based on PCR amplification of intergenic regions of the aflatoxin cluster genes norB-cypA and the absence of aflatoxin in the culture supernatants by thin-layer chromatography analysis. Saccharification capability of the isolates, assessed through ${\alpha}-amylase$ and glucoamylase activities, revealed that two isolates, TNA24 and TNA15, showed the highest levels of activity. Although the degrees of variation in ${\alpha}-amylase$ and glucoamylase activities among the isolates were higher, there were only slight differences in acid protease activity among the isolates with two, TNA28 and TNA36, showing the highest activities. Furthermore, statistical analyses showed that ${\alpha}-amylase$ activity was positively correlated with glucoamylase activity (p < 0.001), and therefore screening for either was sufficient to predict the saccharifying capacity of the Aspergillus strain.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.422-428
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• 2004

Raw-starch-digesting $\alpha$-amylase (Amyl III) was purified to an electrophoretically pure state from the extract of a koji culture of Aspergillus awamori KT-11 using wheat bran in the medium. The purified Amyl III digested not only soluble starch but also raw corn starch. The major products from the raw starch using Amyl III were maltotriose and maltose, although a small amount of glucose was produced. Amyl III acted on all raw starch granules that it has been tested on. However, it was considered that the action mode of the Amyl III on starch granules was different from that of glucoamylase judging from the observation of granules under a scanning electron microscope before and after enzyme reaction, and also from the reaction products. Glucoamylase (GA I) was also isolated and it was purified to an electrophoretically pure state from the extract. It was found that the electron micrographic features of the granules after treatment with the enzymes were quite different. A synergistic effect of Amyl III and GA I was observed for the digestion of raw starch granules.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.251-259
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• 1990

Asp. usumii IAM 2185 was selected as a strain producing the powerful raw starch digesting glucoamylase. The optimum initial pH, the optimum temperature and the optimum cultural time for the enzyme production on wheat bran medium were pH 6-8,25-$30^{\circ}C$ and 72 hrs, respectively. The addition of ammonium nitrate and albumin on wheat bran medium, respectively, increase slightly the enzyme production. The enzyme was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, CM-cellulose and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. The specific activity of the purified enzyme was 34.3 U/mg protein and the yield of enzyme activity was 10.3%. The purified enzyme showed a single band on polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis and its molecular weight was estimated to be 67,000 by SDS polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The isoelectric point for the purified enzyme was pR 3.7. The optimum temperature and optimum pH were $60^{\circ}C$and pH 3.0 and the purified enzyme was stable in the pH range of 1.0-11.0. The purified enzyme was stable below $50^{\circ}C$ and its thermostability was greatly increased by the addition of $Ca^{2+}$. The purified enzyme showed a high hydrolysis rate on various raw starches such as corn, rice, yam, arrow root, sweet potato and glutinous rice.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.239-246
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• 2005

Some characteristics of two forms of glucoamylase (glucan 1 A-$\alpha$-glucosidase, EC 3. 2. I. 3) purified from Aspergillus coreanus NR 15-1 were investigated. The enzymes were produced on a solid, uncooked wheat bran medium of A. coreanus NR 15-1 isolated from traditional Korean Nuruk. Two forms of glucoamylase, GA-I and GA-II, were purified to homogenity after 5.8-fold and 9.6-fold purification, respectively, judged by disc- and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular mass of GA-I and GA-II were estimated to be 62 kDa and 90 kDa by Sephadex G-1OO gel filtration, and 64 kDa and 91 kDa by SDS-polyacrylarnide gel electrophoresis, respectively. The optimum temperatures of GA-I and GA-II were 60$^circ$C and 65$^circ$C, respectively, and the optimum pH was 4.0. The activation energy (Ea value) of GA-I and GA-II was 11.66 kcal/mol and 12.09 kcal/mol, respectively, and the apparent Michaelis constants (K_{m}) of GA-I and GA-II for soluble starch were found to be 3.57 mg/ml and 6.25 mg/ml, respectively. Both enzymes were activated by 1 mM Mn^{2+} and Cu^{2+}, but were completely inhibited by 1 mM N­bromosuccinimide. The GA-II was weakly inhibited by 1 mM p-CMB, dithiothreitol, EDTA, and pyridoxal 5-phosphate, but GA-I was not inhibited by those compounds. Both enzymes had significant ability to digest raw wheat starch and raw rice starch, and hydrolysis rates of raw wheat starch by GA-I and GA-II were 7.8- and 7.3-fold higher than with soluble starch, respectively.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.571-574
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• 2000

Hydrolase is a group of the most widely used enzymes in industrial biological processes. Generally, their activities are easily changed with pH. With this characteristics, research for the optimal pH of hydrolases is required to obtain the optimization of process conditions. We selected xylanase, lysozyme, glucoamylase and barnase as model enzymes. To predict optimum pH of hydrolases, the calculation program based on Tanford-Kirkwood(TK) model was used. Results show that charge difference of catalytic residues is an important parameter deciding optimum pH and when charge difference of catalytic residues is maximum, optimum pH of the hydrolase establishes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.767-774
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• 2010

In this study, the problems of high caloric content, increased maturation time, and off-flavors in commercial beer manufacture arising from residual sugar, diacetyl, and acetaldehyde levels were addressed. A recombinant industrial brewing yeast strain (TQ1) was generated from T1 [Lipomyces starkeyi dextranase gene (LSD1) introduced, ${\alpha}$-acetohydroxyacid synthase gene (ILV2) disrupted] by introducing Saccharomyces cerevisiae glucoamylase (SGA1) and a strong promoter (PGK1), while disrupting the gene coding alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2). The highest glucoamylase activity for TQ1 was 93.26 U/ml compared with host strain T1 (12.36 U/ml) and wild-type industrial yeast strain YSF5 (10.39 U/ml), respectively. European Brewery Convention (EBC) tube fermentation tests comparing the fermentation broths of TQ1 with T1 and YSF5 showed that the real extracts were reduced by 15.79% and 22.47%; the main residual maltotriose concentrations were reduced by 13.75% and 18.82%; the caloric contents were reduced by 27.18 and 35.39 calories per 12 oz. Owing to the disruption of the ADH2 gene in TQ1, the off-flavor acetaldehyde concentrations in the fermentation broth were 9.43% and 13.28%, respectively, lower than that of T1 and YSF5. No heterologous DNA sequences or drug resistance genes were introduced into TQ1. Hence, the gene manipulations in this work properly solved the addressed problems in commercial beer manufacture.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2000

stract : Fourteen varieties of glutinous rices were examined on amylopectin fine structure and physicochemical properties of starch granules. The amylopectin chain length distribution and short chain/long chain ratio were investigated by enzymatic treatments followed by high-performance size-exclusion chromatographic separation. Chain length distribution profiles of the isoamylase-debranched amylopectins showed distinct patterns according to varieties. Beongok showed the highest short chain/long chain ratio, while TP2579A1 showed the lowest one. Sharebyeo-152-1-B showed the highest hydrolysis rate to 15% $H_2SO_4$, while Sandong 47 showed the lowest one. Fourteen varieties of rice starch granules showed A-type pattern on X-ray diffractograms. Non-gelitinized starch granules from Keochang 1 and Beongok had almost 100% hydrolysed by glucoamylase for 3 hrs at $370^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.142-147
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• 2012

The sporulation-specific glucoamylase (SGA) of Saccharomyces diastaticus is known to be produced in the cytoplasm during sporulation. For the purpose of proving that SGA has secretory potential, we constructed a hybrid plasmid, pYESC25, containing the promoter and the putative signal sequence of the SGA fused in frame to the endo-1,4-${\beta}$-D-glucanase (CMCase) gene of Bacillus subtilis without its own signal sequence. The recipient yeast strain of S. diastaticus YIY345 was transformed with the hybrid plasmid. CMCase secretion from S. diastaticus harboring pYESC25 into culture medium was confirmed by the formation of yellowish halos around transformants after staining with Congo red on a CMC agar plate. The transformant culture was fractionated to the extracellular, periplasmic, and intracellular fraction, followed by the measurement of CMCase activity. About 63% and 13% enzyme activity were detected in the culture supernatant (extracellular fraction) and periplasmic fraction, respectively. Furthermore, ConA-Sepharose chromatography, native gel electrophoresis, and activity staining revealed that CMCase produced in yeast was glycosylated and its molecular weight was larger than that of the unglycosylated form from B. subtilis. Taking these findings together, SGA has the potential of secretion to culture medium, and the putative signal sequence of SGA can efficiently direct bacterial CMCase to the yeast secretion pathway.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.284-291
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• 1997

Microwave vacuum heating method (2450 MHz) was used for a low intensity of heat treatments. High vacuum under the microwave heating could bring low temperature condition. Inactivation of ${\alpha}-amylase,\;{\beta}-amylase$, glucoamylase and peroxidase by microwave vacuum heating were investigated at 60-$80^{\circ}C$. It was compared with conventional heating. The heating condition of microwave vacuum heating was confirmed by the destruction of ascorbic acid. When thermal inactivations of the enzymes by microwave vacuum heating were determined, it was less effective than that of conventional method at the initial stage of heating. It was due to a lag time of microwave heating. However, the heating time for complete inactivation of the enzymes by microwave vacuum heating could be reduced comparing with that of conventional heating. Optimum conditions for inactivation of the enzymes could be obtained by microwave vacuum heating.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2015

GAM-1 and GAM-2, two themostable glucoamylases from Aspergillus niger B-30, possess different molecular masses, glycosylation, and thermal stability. In the present study, the effects of additives on the thermal inactivation of GAM-1 and GAM-2 were investigated. The half-lives of GAM-1 and GAM-2 at 70℃ were 45 and 216 min, respectively. Data obtained from fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, UV absorption spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering demonstrated that during the thermal inactivation progress, combined with the loss of the helical structure and a majority of the tertiary structure, tryptophan residues were partially exposed and further led to glucoamylases aggregating. The thermal stability of GAM-1 and GAM-2 was largely improved in the presence of sorbitol and trehalose. Results from spectroscopy and Native-PAGE confirmed that sorbitol and trehalose maintained the native state of glucoamylases and prevented their thermal aggregation. The loss of hydrophobic bonding and helical structure was responsible for the decrease of glucoamylase activity. Additionally, sorbitol and trehalose significantly increased the substrate affinity and catalytic efficiency of the two glucoamylases. Our results display an insight into the thermal inactivation of glucoamylases and provide an important base for industrial applications of the thermally stable glucoamylases.