• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.560-567
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• 1998

We have found that Thermoactinomyces vulgaris KFB-Cl00 produces a chitinase. The optimum temperature and pH of the enzyme activity were $55^{\circ}C$ and 6.5. The enzyme was stable after heat treatment at $80^{\circ}C$ for 30 min and stable in acidic and basic conditions (PH 6.0~11.0). The thermostable endo-chitinase from Thermoactinomyces vulgaris KFB-C100 was cloned into the plasmid pBR322 by using E. coli DH5$\alpha$ as a host strain. The positive clone carrying a recombinant plasmid (PKCHI23) with a 4.1-kb fragment containing the chitinase gene was found. The recombinant plasmid was analyzed to determine the essential region for chitinase activity and obtained a 2.3-kb fragment, which was sub cloned into pTrc99A using the PstI and SalI sites to construct pTrc99A/pKCHI23-3. The resulting plasmid exerted high chitinase activity upon transformation of E. coli XL1-Blue cells. Chitinase was overproduced 14 times more in the clone cells than in the wild-type cells and the enzyme was purified to homogeneity. The purified enzyme showed the similar properties as the native chitinase from T. vulgaris in terms of molecular weight and substrate specificity. The catalytic action of the cloned enzyme was an endo type, producing chitobiose as a major reaction product.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.284-292
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• 2018

A novel ${\beta}$-agarase, AgaJ5, was identified from an agar-degrading marine bacterium, Gayadomonas joobiniege G7. It belongs to the glycoside hydrolase family 86 and is composed of 805 amino acids with a 30-amino-acid signal peptide. Zymogram analysis showed that purified AgaJ5 has agarase activity. The optimum temperature and pH for AgaJ5 activity were determined to be $30^{\circ}C$ and 4.5, respectively. AgaJ5 was an acidic ${\beta}$-agarase that had strong activity at a narrow pH range of 4.5-5.5, and was a cold-adapted enzyme, retaining 40% of enzymatic activity at $10^{\circ}C$. AgaJ5 required monovalent ions such as $Na^+$ and $K^+$ for its maximum activity, but its activity was severely inhibited by several metal ions. The $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ of AgaJ5 for agarose were 8.9 mg/ml and 188.6 U/mg, respectively. Notably, thin-layer chromatography, mass spectrometry, and agarose-liquefication analyses revealed that AgaJ5 was an endo-type ${\beta}$-agarase producing neoagarohexaose as the final main product of agarose hydrolysis. Therefore, these results suggest that AgaJ5 from G. joobiniege G7 is a novel endo-type neoagarohexaose-producing ${\beta}$-agarase having specific biochemical features that may be useful for industrial applications.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.24 no.4 s.79
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• pp.255-264
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• 1996

The hydrolysis products formed from birchwood xylan by the action of an alkaline xylanase (CX-III) from alkalophilic Cephaloxporium sp. RYM-202 were xylobiose and xylooligosaccharides polymerized with more than 4 sugar molecules. This enzyme was not active on xylobiose but readily attacked xylotriose accumulating xylobiose as a major product. The predominant end-products from xylotetraose by CX-III were xylobiose and xylotriose. These results indicate that the enzyme is typically endo-type xylanase possessing transglycosidase activity. Chemical modification of CX-III with N-bromosuccinimide revealed that two tryptophan residues per molecule of CX-III were essential for its catalytic activity on xylan. On the other hand, iodoacetamide and diethylpyrocarbonate did not influence the activity of the enzyme, suggesting that cysteine and histidine residues are not involved in the active site of this alkaline xylanase.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.423-427
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• 1992

During the cultivation of Penicillium verruculosum in the medium containing xylan as a sole carbon source for 26 days, xylanolytic activity and some changes were investigated. Protein content and xylanolytic activity, p-Nitrophenyl-$\beta$-D-xylopyranoside (PNPX), p-Nitrophenyl-$\beta$ -D-glucopyranoside (PNPG) hydrolytic activities were increased until 8 days but reducing sugar content was not correlated to protein content. When crude proteins from the culture broth were separated on SDS-PAGE, distribution of proteins was different from the culture broth of cellobiose octaacetate (COA) medium. The culture broth of xylan medium had high hydrolytic activity on xylan but not on cellulose. Furthermore, xylanolytic products were showed xylose, xylobiose and oligosaccharides on thin layer chromatography, and xylobiose was major product. Those result suggested that xylanolytic activity of culture broth was endo-type hydrolysis. Optimum temperatures of xylanolytic activity and PNPX hydrolytic activity of culture broth were 50~6$0^{\circ}C$ and 60~7$0^{\circ}C$, respectively and optimum pHs were 3.0~4.0 and 4.0~5.0, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.631-636
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• 1999

The thermostable endo-chitosanase gene from the isolated strain Bacillus sp. KFB-C108 was identified on the basis of a phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, and was cloned into plasmid pUCl8 using E. coli $DH5\alpha$ as the host strain. Positive clones carrying recombinant plasmids (pKCHO I and pKCHO II) containing chitosanase activity were selected using the direct activity staining method. Detailed physical maps showed the two plasmid inserts were identical except that the KCHO II insert (2.6 kb) was 1.8 kb smaller than that of the KCHO I. The recombinant plasmids were analyzed to determine the essential region for chitosanase activity, and a 1.3-kb fragment (KCHO-6) was subcloned into pTrc99A using the EcoRI and BamHI sites to construct pTrc99A/KCHO-6(pTrEB13). The resulting plasmid exerted high chitosanase activity upon transformation of E. coli $DH5{\alpha}cells$, overproducing about 20 times more in the cloned cells than in the wild-type cells. The cloned chitosanase protein exhibited the same molecular weight and catalytic activity similar to those of Bacillus sp. KFB-C108. The cloned enzyme was an endo-type that produced a chitosan tetramer as the major reaction product; however, it produced no monomers or dimers.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.369-374
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• 1997

An endochitosanase-producing bacterium was isolated from soil and identified as a strain of Bacillus sp. The isolate was gram positive, rod shape $(0.4-0.6{\times}1.6-2.2{\mu}m)$, endospore-forming, catalase positive, and mobility positive, and grown at pH 4.5-11.0 and upto $42^{\circ}C$ in the medium containing 2% NaCl. RAPD analysis of the DNA purified from the strain was also performed, and the chitosanase-producing strain was named as Bacillus sp. P16. The culture supernatant of the strain showed strong liquefaction activity and rapidly decreased viscosity of chitosan solution. By TLC and HPLC, chitooligosaccharides of DP 2-7 were separated and identified from the enzyme hydrolyzates of chitosan. The chitosanase from Bacillus sp. P16 was thus regarded as an endo-splitting type.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.187-196
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• 1995

In order to produce fuctional chitooligosaccharides, a strain excreting mainly endo-type chitinase suitable for chitooligosaccharides production was newly screened and identified as Aspergillus fumigatus JC-19. The chitinase excretion was repressed in nutrient rich medium but stimulated by colloidal chitin indicating that the chitinase is inducible type enzyme. Maximum secretion of the enzyme was observed at pH 7.0 and 37$\circ$C . The growth and chitinase production patterns of Aspergillus fumigatus JC-19 showed that the cell growth reached maximum after 4-5 days with final chitinase concentration of 0.46 unit per ml. Excreted chitinase was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, colloidal chitin adsorption, anion exchange chromatography, and gel filtration, respectively, and measured M.W of 50 KDa. The enzyme reaction carried out both by crude and purified chitinase showed that the purified chitinase accumulated more chitooligosaccharides of 1-6 degree of polymerization than that of crude chitinase.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2018

Niemann-Pick type C disease (NP-C) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by a deficiency of NPC1 gene function, which leads to severe neuroinflammation such as astrogliosis. While reports demonstrating neuroinflammation are prevalent in NP-C, information about the onset and progression of cerebellar astrogliosis in this disorder is lacking. Using gene targeting, we generated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) conditional null mutant mice. Deletion of VEGF in cerebellar Purkinje neurons (PNs) led to a significant increase of astrogliosis in the brain of NP-C mice in addition to the loss of PNs, suggesting PN-derived VEGF as an important factor in NP-C pathology. Moreover, replenishment of VEGF in neurons improved brain pathology in NP-C mice. Overall, our data provide a new pathological perspective on cerebellar astrogliosis in NP-C and suggest the importance of VEGF as a therapeutic target for this disease.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.12.1-12.7
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure the temperature of the plugger tip of 3 cordless heat carriers set at $200^{\circ}C$. Materials and Methods: Pluggers of the same taper (0.06, 0.08, 0.10) and similar tip sizes (sizes of 50 and 55) from 3 cordless heat carriers, namely SuperEndo-${\alpha}^2$(B & L Biotech), Friendo (DXM), and Dia-Pen (Diadent), were used and an electric heat carrier, System B (SybronEndo), was used as the control. The plugger tips were covered with customized copper sleeves, heated for 10 seconds, and the temperature was recorded with a computerized measurement system attached to a K-type thermometer at room temperature (n = 10). The data were analyzed with 2-way analysis of variance at a 5% level of significance. Results: The peak temperature of the plugger tips was significantly affected by the plugger taper and by the heat carrier brand (p < 0.05). The peak temperature of the plugger tips was between $177^{\circ}C$ and $325^{\circ}C$. The temperature peaked at $207^{\circ}C-231^{\circ}C$ for the 0.06 taper pluggers, $195^{\circ}C-313^{\circ}C$ for the 0.08 taper pluggers, and $177^{\circ}C-325^{\circ}C$ for the 0.10 taper pluggers. Only 5 of the 12 plugger tips showed a temperature of $200^{\circ}C{\pm}10^{\circ}C$. The time required to reach the highest temperature or $200^{\circ}C{\pm}10^{\circ}C$ was at least 4 seconds. Conclusion: When using cordless heat carriers, clinicians should pay attention to the temperature setting and to the activation time needed to reach the intended temperature of the pluggers.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.148-153
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• 2011

Background: The number of cases employing thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has been increasing due to lower morbidity and mortality compared to open repair technique. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcome of TEVAR for thoracic aortic diseases. Materials and Methods: Sixteen patients underwent TEVAR from October 2003 to April 2010. Mean age at operation was 59 years (20~78 years), and 11 were male. Indications for TEVAR were large aortic diameter (>5.5 cm) upon presentation in 6 patients, increasing aortic diameter during the follow-up period in 4, traumatic aortic rupture in 3, persistent chest pain in 2, and ruptured aortic aneurysm in one. The mean diameter, length and the number of the stents were 33 mm (26~40 mm), 12 cm (9.5~16.0 cm), and 1.25 (1~2), respectively. Aortography employing Multi-detector computerized tomography (MDCT) technique was performed at one week, and patients were followed up in the out-patient department at one month, 6 months, and one year postoperatively. Results: Primary technical success showing complete exclusion of the aneurysm was achieved in 15 patients. One patient showed a small endo-leak (type 1). Four patients developed perioperative stroke: Three recovered without sequelae, and one showed mild right-side weakness. There was no operative mortality. Diameter of the thoracic aorta covered by stent graft changed within 10% range in 12 patients, decreased by more than 10% in 3, and increased by more than 10% in one during mean follow-up duration of 18 months (1~73 months). There was no recurrence-related death during this period. Conclusion: Intermediate-term outcome after TEVAR was encouraging. Indications for TEVAR could be extended for other thoracic aortic diseases.