• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.647-655
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• 2014

Obesity is strongly associated with several metabolic and chronic diseases and has become a major public health problem of worldwide concern. This study aimed to investigate the physiological characteristics and anti-obesity effects of Lactobacillus plantarum Q180. Lactobacillus plantarum Q180 was isolated from the faces of healthy adults and found to have a lipase inhibitory activity of $83.61{\pm}2.32%$ and inhibited adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells ($14.63{\pm}1.37%$) at a concentration of $100{\mu}g/mL$. The strain was investigated for its physiological characteristics. The optimum growth temperature of L. plantarum Q180 was $37^{\circ}C$. Lactobacillus plantarum Q180 showed higher sensitivity to novobiocin in a comparison of fifteen different antibiotics and showed the highest resistance to rifampicin, polymyxin B and vancomycin. The strain showed higher ${\beta}$-galactosidase and N-acetyl-${\beta}$-glucosaminidase activities. It also did not produce carcinogenic enzymes such as ${\beta}$-glucuronidase. The survival rate of L. plantarum Q180 in MRS broth containing 0.3% bile was 97.8%. Moreover, the strain showed a 97.2% survival rate after incubation for 3 h in pH 2.0. Lactobacillus plantarum Q180 was displayed resistance to Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus with rates of 55.6%, 38.0% and 47.6%, respectively. These results demonstrate that L. plantarum Q180 has potential as a probiotic with anti-obesity effects.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.512-526
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• 2020

Synthetic nitrite is considered an undesirable preservative for meat products; thus, controlling synthetic nitrite concentrations is important from the standpoint of food safety. We investigated 1,000 species of microorganisms from various kimchi preparations for their potential use as a starter culture for the production of nitrites. We used 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis to select a starter culture with excellent nitrite and nitric oxide productivity, which we subsequently identified as Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113. That starter culture was grown in NaCl (up to 9%; w/v) at 10℃-40℃; its optimum growth was observed at 30℃ at pH 4.0-10.0. It exhibited nonproteolytic activity and antibacterial activity against Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium that causes food poisoning symptoms. Analysis of Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113 with an API ZYM system did not reveal the presence of β-glucuronidase, and tests of the starter culture on 5% (v/v) sheep blood agar showed no hemolytic activity. Our results demonstrated the remarkable stability of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113, especially in strain negative for staphylococcal enterotoxins and sensitive to clinically relevant antibiotics. Moreover, Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113 exhibited a 45.5% conversion rate of nitrate to nitrite, with nitrate levels reduced to 25% after 36 h of culturing in the minimal medium supplemented with nitrate (200 ppm). The results clearly demonstrated the safety and utility of Staphylococcus hominis subspecies hominis WiKim0113, and therefore its suitability as a starter culture.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.163-163
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• 2017

A deletion analysis of the Oryza sativa dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) promoter defined a 25 bp region (-386 to -362) sufficient to confer pericarp-specific expression of ${\beta}$ -glucuronidase(GUS) reporter gene in transgenic rice. Site-specific mutagenesis of these conserved sequences and subsequent expression analysis in calli which transiently expressed the mutated promoter::GUS gene showed that both bHLH (-386 to -381) and Myb (-368 to -362) binding sites in the DEL3 (-440 to 70) promoter were necessary for complete expression of the GUS gene including the tissue-specific expression of DFR::GUS gene. The GUS gene was expressed well in the mutated Myb (-368 to -362) binding site, but not as strong as in normal condition, implying that the Myb is also necessary to express GUS gene fully. Also, we found the non-epistatic relation between Rc and DFR. There were no changes of expression patterns GUS under the Rc and rc genotypes. Thus, DFR expression might be independent of the presence of functional Rc gene and suggested that Rc and Rd (DFR) share the same pathway controlling the regulation of flavonoid synthesis but not a direct positive transcriptional regulator of DFR gene.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.577-586
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• 2017

Phytocystatins (PhyCYSs) are plant-specific proteinaceous inhibitors that are implicated in protein turnover and stress responses. Here, we characterized a PhyCYS from Arabidopsis thaliana, which was designated AtCYS5. RT-qPCR analysis showed that the expression of AtCYS5 in germinating seeds was induced by heat stress (HS) and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Analysis of the expression of the ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ reporter gene under the control of the AtCYS5 promoter showed that AtCYS5 expression during seed germination was induced by HS and ABA. Constitutive overexpression of AtCYS5 driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter led to enhanced HS tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis, which was characterized by higher fresh weight and root length compared to wild-type (WT) and knockout (cys5) plants grown under HS conditions. The HS tolerance of AtCYS5-overexpressing transgenic plants was associated with increased insensitivity to exogenous ABA during both seed germination and post-germination compared to WT and cys5. Although no HS elements were identified in the 5'-flanking region of AtCYS5, canonical ABA-responsive elements (ABREs) were detected. AtCYS5 was upregulated in ABAtreated protoplasts transiently co-expressing this gene and genes encoding bZIP ABRE-binding factors (ABFs and AREB3). In the absence of ABA, ABF1 and ABF3 directly bound to the ABREs in the AtCYS5 promoter, which activated the transcription of this gene in the presence of ABA. These results suggest that an ABA-dependent pathway plays a positive role in the HS-responsive expression of AtCYS5 during seed germination and post-germination growth.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.237-243
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• 1998

To understand the tissue specific expression pattern of S RNase genes associated with self-incompatibility in L. peruvianum, two promoter regions of $S_{11}$ and $S_{12}$ RNase genes were compared. Homologous sequences between two S RNase gene promoters were found within 300 bp upstream of transcription start site. Moreover short direct repeat sequences within $S_{11}$ RNase gene promoter existed in the vicinity of 350-500 bp upstream of transcription start site. To identify whether the unique promoter sequences of $S_{11}$ RNase gene confer the tissue specific expression, six deletion fragments for $S_{11}$ genomic gene promoter constructed by PCR were fused to $\beta$-glucuronidase gene, and introduced into various tissues of L. peruvianum by microprojectile bombardment. Transient expression assays indicated that $S_{11}$ RNase gene promoter contained the positive and negative regulatory sequences, which can control the floral tissue-specific expression in L. peruvianum.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.582-588
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• 1993

In order to investigate the effects of food materials toward the growth of Bifidobacterium spp. and Clostridium perfringens which have great influences on the intestinal physiology of human, 162 kinds of foodstuffs and foods were collected. Among their extracts, 31 samples showed the inhibitory effects against the growth of B. bifidum and C. perfringens by agar diffusion method. Especially, the methanol extracts of Caltha palustris, Deonjang, onion, mustard and potato inhibited the growth of C. perfringens, while they did not remarkably inhibit other intestinal bacteria including Bifidobacterium spp. By the cultivation of faecal inoculum in the 1 %(v/v) extract broths of Caltha palustris, onion and mustard, population of Bifidobacterium spp. increased by 10 order and that of C. perfringens decreased. ${\beta}$-glucuronidase activities and indole amounts in the cultures of onion and mustard extracts were lower than those of the control culture and ${\beta}-glucosidase$ activities were not detected in the cultures of onion and Doenjang extracts.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.1082-1094
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of Leuconostoc spp. isolated from radish kimchi and to investigate the potential for the use of functional ingredients by evaluating enzymatic characteristics, safety, and immune-enhancing effects among the isolates, including Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC53103 (LGG) as a control strain. All test strains exhibited β-glucosidase enzyme activity that releases β-1,4 sugar chain bonds. In addition, as a result of antibiotic resistance assay among the isolates, MIC values on 8 antibiotics were below compared to the EFSA standard, and hemolytic experiments confirmed that all showed gamma hemolysis without hemolytic ability. As a result of the antibacterial activity experiment, the Leu. mesenteroides K2-4 strain showed a higher activity than LGG against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, the activity of the NF-kB/AP-1 transcription factor increased when the isolates were treated in macrophage RAW cells. These results were related to increasing the high mRNA expression levels on TNF-α and IL-6 by Leu. mesenteroides K2-4 strain to be treated at low concentration. Consequently, we suggest that it will be useful as a candidate for functional food ingredients.