• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2016

Gene disruption by homologous recombination is widely used to investigate and analyze the function of genes in Fusarium fujikuroi, a fungus that causes bakanae disease and root rot symptoms in rice. To generate gene deletion constructs, the use of conventional cloning methods, which rely on restriction enzymes and ligases, has had limited success due to a lack of unique restriction enzyme sites. Although strategies that avoid the use of restriction enzymes have been employed to overcome this issue, these methods require complicated PCR steps or are frequently inefficient. Here, we introduce a cloning system that utilizes multi-fragment assembly by In-Fusion to generate a gene disruption construct. This method utilizes DNA fragment fusion and requires only one PCR step and one reaction for construction. Using this strategy, a gene disruption construct for Fusarium cyclin C1 (FCC1), which is associated with fumonisin B1 bio-synthesis, was successfully created and used for fungal transformation. In vivo and in vitro experiments using confirmed fcc1 mutants suggest that fumonisin production is closely related to disease symptoms exhibited by F. fujikuroi strain B14. Taken together, this multi-fragment assembly method represents a simpler and a more convenient process for targeted gene disruption in fungi.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.575-581
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• 2013

Lipid droplet (LD) is a cellular organelle that stores neutral lipids as a source of energy and carbon. However, recent research has emerged that the organelle is involved in lipid synthesis, transportation, and metabolism, as well as mediating cellular protein storage and degradation. With the exception of multi-cellular organisms, some unicellular microorganisms have been observed to contain LDs. The organelle has been isolated and characterized from numerous organisms. Triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation in LDs can be in excess of 50% of the dry weight in some microorganisms, and a maximum of 87% in some instances. These microorganisms include eukaryotes such as yeast and green algae as well as prokaryotes such as bacteria. Some organisms obtain carbon from $CO_2$ via photosynthesis, while the majority utilizes carbon from various types of biomass. Therefore, high TAG content generated by utilizing waste or cheap biomass, coupled with an efficient conversion rate, present these organisms as bio-tech 'factories' to produce biodiesel. This review summarizes LD research in these organisms and provides useful information for further LD biological research and microorganism biodiesel development.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.315.1-315.1
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• 2014

The use of cellulose papers has recently attracted much attention in various device applications owing to their natural advantageous properties of earth's abundance, bio-friendly, large-scale production, and flexibility. Conventional metal oxides with novel structures of nanorods, nanospindles, nanowires and nanobelts are being developed for emerging electronic and chemical sensing applications. In this work, both ZnO (n-type) nanorod arrays (NRAs) and CuO (p-type) nanospindles (NSs) were synthesized on cellulose papers and the p-n junction property was investigated using the electrode of indium tin oxide coated polyethylene terephthalate film. To synthesize ZnO and CuO nanostructures on cellulose paper, a simple and facile hydrothermal method was utilized. First, the CuO NSs were synthesized on cellulose paper by a simple soaking process, yielding the well adhered CuO NSs on cellulose paper. After that, the ZnO NRAs were grown on CuO NSs/cellulose paper via a facile hydrothermal route. The as-grown ZnO/CuO NSs on cellulose paper exhibited good crystalline and optical properties. The fabricated p-n junction device showed the I-V characteristics with a rectifying behaviour.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

Ionic liquids (ILs) have been widely recognized as environmentally benign solvents. Their unique properties, including negligible vapor pressure, non-flammability, a wide liquid range and their tunable physicochemical properties by proper selection of cations and anions, make them attractive green solvents in a variety of fields such as organic synthesis/catalysis, extraction/ separation, and electrochemistry, amongst others. In this paper, the recent technological developments and their prospects in the application of ILs in microbiology and biochemical engineering, including enzymatic reactions, protein folding/refolding and biomass dissolution, are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korea Crystallographic Association Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.54-55
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• 2002

The fabrication, characterization and manipulation of nanoparticle system brings together physics, chemistry, materials science and biology in an unprecedented way. Phenomena occurring in such systems are fundamental to the workings of electronic devices, but also to living organisms. The ability to fabricate the surface of nanoparticles Is essential in the further development of functional devices that incorporate nanoscale features. Even more essential is the ability to introduce a wide range of chemical and materials flexibility into these structures to build up more complex nanostructures that can ultimately rival biological nanosystems. In this respect, polymers are potentially ideal nanoscale building blocks because of their length scale, well-defined architecture, controlled synthesis, ease of processing and wide range of chemical functionality that can be incorporated. In this presentation, we will look at a number of promising polymer-based nanoparticle fabrication strategies that have been developed recently, with an emphasis on those techniques that incorporate nanostructured polymeric particles into electronic devices or biomedical applications. And functional nanoparticles deliberately designed using several powerful process methods and their application will be discussed. Nanostructured nanoparticles, what we called, implies dispersed colloids with the size ranged from several nanometers to hundreds of nanometer. They have extremely large surface area, thus it is very important to control the morphology or surface functionality fitted for adequate objectives and properties. Their properties should be controlled for various kind of bio-related technologies, such as immunomagnetic cell separation, drug delivery systems, labeling and identification of lymphocyte populations, extracorporeal and hemoperfusion systems, etc. Well-defined polymeric nanoparticles can be considered as smart bomb or MEMS.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.177-181
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• 2012

Copper composite materials have attracted wide attention for energy applications. Especially $CuInS_2$ has a desirable direct band gap of 1.5 eV, which is well matched with the solar spectrum. $CuInS_2$ nanoparticles could make it possible to develop color-tunable $CuInS_2$ nanoparticle emitter in the near-infrared region (NIR) for energy application and bio imaging sensors. In this paper, $CuInS_2$ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by thermo-decomposition methods. Surface modification of $CuInS_2$ nanoparticles were carried out with various semiconductor materials (CdS, ZnS) for enhanced optical properties. Surface modification and silica coating of hydrophobic nanoparticles could be dispersed in polar solvent for potential applications. Their optical properties were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The structures of silica coated $CuInS_2$ were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.263-266
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• 2011

Methylelaiophylin isolated from Streptomyces melanosporofaciens was selected as an ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitor with an $IC_{50}$ value of 10 ${\mu}M$. It showed mixed-type inhibition of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase with a $K_i$ value of 5.94 ${\mu}M$. In addition, methylelaiophylin inhibited the intracellular trafficking of hemagglutinin-neuramidase (HN), a glycoprotein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV), in baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells. Methylelaiophylin inhibited the cell surface expression of NDV-HN glycoprotein without significantly affecting HN glycoprotein synthesis in NDV-infected BHK cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1424-1429
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• 2010

A poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) (${\gamma}$PGA)-cholesterol conjugate was synthesized and its properties were then evaluated. The conjugate exhibited an amphiphilic nature derived from the hydrophilic ${\gamma}$PGA backbone and the hydrophobic cholesterol side chain. The conjugate spontaneously formed nanoparticles, becoming an aqueous solution when at low concentrations, and at high concentrations the result was the formation of a physical gel. By utilizing the self-aggregating properties of the conjugate in water, an artificial chaperone was developed. A complex of protein, with the nanoparticles of the conjugate, was formed and the protein was released upon the dissociation of the nanoparticles through the addition of ${\beta}$-cyclodextrin. For denatured carbonic anhydrase, the activity was recovered in the artificial chaperone of the nanoparticle conjugate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.218-224
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• 2013

The aldo-keto reductases catalyze reduction reactions using various aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes/ketones. Most reductases require NADPH exclusively as their cofactors. However, NADPH is much more expensive and unstable than NADH. In this study, we attempted to change the five amino acid residues that interact with the 2'-phosphate group of the adenosine ribose of NADPH. These residues were selected based on a docking model of the YOL151W reductase and were substituted with other amino acids to develop NADH-utilizing enzymes. Ten mutants were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis and expressed in Escherichia coli. Among them, four mutants showed higher reductase activities than wild-type when using the NADH cofactor. Analysis of the kinetic parameters for the wild type and mutants indicated that the $k_{cat}/K_{m}$ value of the Asn9Glu mutant toward NADH increased 3-fold. A docking model was used to show that the carboxyl group of Glu 9 of the mutant formed an additional hydrogen bond with the 2'-hydroxyl group of adenosine ribose. The Asn9Glu mutant was able to produce (R)-ethyl-4-chloro-3-hydroxyl butanoate rapidly when using the NADH regeneration system.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.2771-2775
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• 2010

We present a rapid biogenic method for the production of nanoscale gold particles using pear extract. The formation and stability of pear-derived gold nanoparticles (Pear-AuNPs) were monitored by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Their morphology, elemental composition and crystalline phase were determined by transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The average core size of crystalline Pear-AuNPs was in the range of $10{\pm}5\;nm$ and the observed morphology was spherical. The X-ray photoelectron spectrum showed a strong peak for the pure 'Au' phase. The circular dichroism spectrum indicated the natural capping ability of the pear extract, which generated peptide-gold nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were stable in aqueous solution for two months. A cell viability assay of Pear-AuNPs showed biocompatibility with human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Accordingly, this eco-friendly process for the bio-mimetic production of Pear-AuNPs is nontoxic in nature; consequently, it will find potential application in nano-biotechnology.