• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2002

We have cloned a cDNA encoding a cysteine proteinase of the Acanthamoeba healui OC-3A strain isolated from the brain of a granulomatous amoebic encephalitis patient. A DNA probe for an A. healui cDNA library screening was amplified by PCR using degenerate oligonucleotide primers designed on the basis of conserved amino acids franking the active sites of cysteine and asparagine residues that are conserved in the eukaryotic cysteine proteinases. Cysteine proteinase gene of A. healui (AhCPI) was composed of 330 amino acids with signal sequence, a proposed pro-domain and a predicted active site made up of the catalytic residues, $Cys^{25},{\;}His^{159},{\;}and{\;}Asn^{175}$. Deduced amino acid sequence analysis indicates that AhCPI belong to ERFNIN subfamily of C 1 peptidases. By Northern blot analysis. no direct correlation was observed between AhCPI mRNA expression and virulence of Acanthamoeba, but the gene was expressed at higher level in amoebae isolated from soil than amoeba from clinical samples. These findings raise the possibility that AhCPI protein may play a role in protein metabolism and digestion of phagocytosed bacteria or host tissue debris rather than in invasion of amoebae into host tissue.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.761-768
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• 2007

Serratia proteamaculans HY-3 isolated from the digestive tract of a spider produces an extracellular protease named arazyme, with an estimated molecular mass of 51.5 kDa. The purified enzyme was characterized as having high activities at wide pH and temperature ranges. We further characterized biochemical features of the enzymatic reactions under various reaction conditions. The protease efficiently hydrolyzed a broad range of protein substrates including albumin, keratin, and collagen. The dependence of enzymatic activities on the presence of metal ions such as calcium and zinc indicated that the enzyme is a metalloprotease, together with the previous observation that the proteolytic activity of the enzyme was not inhibited by aspartate, cysteine, or serine protease inhibitors, but strongly inhibited by 1,10-phenanthroline and EDTA. The araA gene encoding the exoprotease was isolated as a 5.6 kb BamHI fragment after PCR amplification using degenerate primers and subsequent Southern hybridization. The nucleotide sequence revealed that the deduced amino acid sequences shared extensive similarity with those of the serralysin family of metalloproteases from other enteric bacteria. A gene(inh) encoding a putative protease inhibitor was also identified immediately adjacent to the araA structural gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.287-296
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• 2007

A Lactobacillus paraplantarum strain producing a bacteriocin was isolated from kimchi using the spot-on-the lawn method and named L. paraplantarum C7 [15]. The bacteriocin, paraplantaricin C7, was found to inhibit certain Lactobacillus strains, including L. plantarum, L. pentosus, and L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis. It also inhibited Enterococcus faecalis, yet did not inhibit most of the other LAB (lactic acid bacteria) tested. The maximum level of paraplantaricin C7 activity was observed under the culture conditions of $25^{\circ}C$ and a constant pH of 4.5. Paraplantaricin C7 retained 90% of its activity after 10 min of treatment at $100^{\circ}C$ and remained stable within a pH range of 2-8. Based on a culture supernatant, paraplantaricin C7 was purified by DEAE-Sephacel column chromatography and $C_{18}$ reverse-phase HPLC. SDS-PAGE and activity staining were then conducted using the purified paraplantaricin C7, and its molecular mass determined to be about 3,800 Da. The 28 N-terminal amino acids from the purified paraplantaricin C7 were determined, and the structural gene encoding paraplantaricin C7, ppnC7, was cloned by PCR using degenerate primers based on the N-terminal amino acid sequence. The nucleotide sequences for ppnC7 and other neighboring orfs exhibited a limited homology to the previously reported plantaricin operon genes. Paraplantaricin C7 is a novel type II bacteriocin containing a double glycine leader sequence.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1735-1743
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• 2010

The full-length genes gyrB (2,415 bp), parC (2,277 bp), and parE (1,896 bp) in Edwardsiella tarda were cloned by PCR with degenerate primers based on the sequence of the respective quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR), followed by elongation of 5' and 3' ends using cassette ligation-mediated PCR (CLMP). Analysis of the cloned genes revealed open reading frames (ORFs) encoding proteins of 804 (GyrB), 758 (ParC), and 631 (ParE) amino acids with conserved gyrase/topoisomerase features and motifs important for enzymatic function. The ORFs were preceded by putative promoters, ribosome binding sites, and inverted repeats with the potential to form cruciform structures for binding of DNA-binding proteins. When comparing the deduced amino acid sequences of E. tarda GyrB, ParC, and ParE with those of the corresponding proteins in other bacteria, they were found to be most closely related to Escherichia coli GyrB (87.6% identity), Klebsiella pneumoniae ParC (78.8% identity), and Salmonella Typhimurium ParE (89.5% identity), respectively. The two topoisomerase genes, parC and parE, were found to be contiguous on the E. tarda chromosome. All 18 quinolone-resistant isolates obtained from Korea thus far did not contain subunit alternations apart from a substitution in GyrA (Ser83$\rightarrow$Arg). However, an alteration in the QRDR of ParC (Ser84$\rightarrow$Ile) following an amino acid substitution in GyrA (Asp87$\rightarrow$Gly) was detected in E. tarda mutants selected in vitro at $8{\mu}g/ml$ ciprofloxacin (CIP). A mutant with a GyrB (Ser464$\rightarrow$Leu) and GyrA (Asp87$\rightarrow$Gly) substitution did not show a significant increase in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of CIP. None of the in vitro mutants exhibited mutations in parE. Thus, gyrA and parC should be considered to be the primary and secondary targets, respectively, of quinolones in E. tarda.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.317-323
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• 2016

An isoflavone glucosidase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of isoflavone glucosides into glucose and corresponding aglycones was purified from Candida fermentati SI. The N-terminal sequence was determined to be GLNCDYCN. We designed degenerate primers on the basis of these amino acid sequences and successfully cloned the full structural gene sequence of the isoflavone glucosidase using inverse PCR. The exo-β-(1,3)-glucanase gene consists of 1227 base-pair nucleotides, encoding a 408-amino-acid sequence that shares 41–96% amino acid homology with other yeast exo-β-(1,3)-glucanases belonging to glycoside hydrolase family 5. The recombinant exo-β-(1,3)-glucanase was expressed in Pichia pastoris X-33, using a pPICZA vector system, and further characterized. The molecular mass of the purified exo-β-(1,3)-glucanase was estimated by SDS-PAGE to be 47 kDa. The optimal pH and temperature were pH 4.5 and 40℃, respectively. The K_m values of the purified exo-β-(1,3)-glucanase for daidzin and genistin were 0.12 mM and 0.14 mM, respectively. The V_max values of the purified isoflavone glucosidase were 945.03 U/mg for daidzin and 835.92 U/mg and for genistin.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to clone cgt gene from Paenibacillus sp. JB-13 and to overexpress the protein in E. coli. For this purpose, the cgt gene was amplified from Paenibacillus sp. JB-13 genomic DNA by PCR using degenerate oligonucleotide primers. The sequence analysis results showed that the cgt gene from Paenibacillus sp. JB-13 has 98% homology with the cgt gene of Bacillus sp. To overexpress the protein, the cgt gene was cloned into pEXP7 expression vector and transformed into E. coli. The production of CGTase by recombinant E. coli was optimized under following conditions: 0.5% glucose, 3.0% polypeptone, 0.3% $K_2HPO_4$, 0.5% NaCl, and 7.0 of initial pH, 2.0% of inoculum, $37^{\circ}C$ of culture temperature for 14 hr. And the optimal agitation was found at 0.1 vvm. The synthesis of 2-O-${\alpha}$-D-Glucopyranosyl L-Ascorbic acid (AA-2G) using the CGTase expressed in E. coli was identified as AA-2G by HPLC and HPLC confirmed that treating AA-2G made by cloned CGTase with ${\alpha}$-glucosidase substantially produced AA and glucose.