• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.277-283
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• 2011

Glyoxalase I catalyzes the conversion of methylglyoxal to S-D-lactoylglutathione in the presence of glutathione. The structural gene of glyoxalase I (GLO1) was cloned from an osmotolerant yeast, Candida magnoliae, which produces a functional sweetener, erythritol, from sucrose. DNA sequence analysis revealed that the uninterrupted open reading frame (ORF) of C. magnoliae GLO1 (CmGLO1) spans 945 bp, corresponding to 315 amino acid residues, and shares 45.2% amino acid sequence identity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Glo1. The cloned ORF in a multicopy constitutive expression plasmid complemented the glo1 mutation of S. cerevisiae, confirming that it encodes Glo1 in C. magnoliae. The responses of CmGLO1 to environmental stresses were different from those of S. cerevisiae, which only responds to osmotic stress. An enzyme activity assay and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction revealed that the expression of CmGLO1 is induced by stress inducers such as methylglyoxal, $H_2O_2$, KCl, and NaCl. The GenBank Accession No. for CmGLO1 is HM000001.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.205-208
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• 2008

The mixotrophic dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides was reported to be linked to major fish kills in Korea and Japan since the 1990s. Rapid and sensitive detection of microalgae has been problematic because morphological identification of dinoflagellates requires light microscopic and scanning electron microscopic observations that are time consuming and laborious compared to real-time PCR. To address this issue, a real-time PCR probe targeting the ITS2 rRNA gene was used for rapid detection and quantification of C. polykrikoides. PCR inhibitors in water column samples were removed by dilution of template DNA for elimination of false-negative reactions. A strong association between cell quantification using real-time PCR and microscopic counts suggests that the real-time PCR assay is an alternative method for cell estimation of C. polykrikoides in environment samples.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.327-332
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• 2015

A large amount of dye wastewater poses a threat to environmental safety. Disperse blue, an anthraquinone dye that is widely used in textile dyes, is difficult to degrade in wastewater. In this work, one fungus was screened according to the decolorization rate of disperse blue. The fungus was identified and named Aspergillus XJ-2 on the basis of its morphological characteristics and 18s rDNA. Response surface method was used to optimize culture conditions for A. XJ-2. The optimum values of obtained responses were as follows: temperature, $35^{\circ}C$; pH, 5.2; carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, 30:5.5; and rotation ratio, $175r{\cdot}min^{-1}$. Under optimized conditions, the decolorization rate of A. XJ-2 was up to 94.8% in 48 h.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.887-890
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• 2010

The family of ClpB protein is a molecular chaperone which protects cellular proteins from being aggregated upon exposure to severe environmental stresses in association with DnaK/DanJ/GrpE in the ATP-dependent manner. In a psychrophilic bacterium which survives at a subzero temperature, any functional role of cold-active ClpB protein can be rather crucial. In order to identify a ClpB encoding gene from a cold-adapted bacterium whose genome sequence has not been fully discovered, we have employed a series of PCR technologies, including a gradient PCR with homologous primers, an inverse PCR and a cassette PCR. The full sequence of PaclpB gene was successfully identified and compared with those of other psychrophilic species. We have further cloned the gene in E.coli expression systems and were able to induce PaClpB protein expression by IPTG, which help us understand a molecular mechanism for survival against extremely cold environments.

• Mycobiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.239-257
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• 2015

We conducted five times surveys, in June, September and October in 2012; June and September 2013, to catalog the mushroom flora in Ulleung-gun, Republic of Korea. More than 400 specimens were collected, and 317 of the specimens were successfully sequenced using the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer barcode marker. We also surveyed the morphological characteristics of the sequenced specimens. The specimens were classified into 2 phyla, 7 classes, 21 orders, 59 families, 122 genera, and 221 species, and were deposited in the herbarium of Korea National Arboretum. Among the collected species, 72% were saprophytic, 25% were symbiotic, and 3% were parasitic. The most common order was Agaricales (189 specimens, 132 species), followed by Polyporales (47 specimens, 27 species), Russulales (31 specimens, 22 species), Boletales (10 specimens, 7 species), and so on. Herein, we also reported the first Bovista species in Korea, which was collected from Dokdo, the far-eastern island of Korea.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.276-283
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• 2006

The potent environmental contaminant, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), induces thymus atrophy in experimental animals. However, its mechanism of action is not fully understood. To gain insight into its immunosuppressive effect, Balb/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with TCDD ($30{\mu}g/kg$ body weight) and genes regulated by TCDD were identified using cDNA arrays [Park and Lee (2002)]. One of the regulated genes was that for plasma glutathione peroxidase (pGPx). Upon TCDD injection, pGPx mRNA levels in the thymus increased, in parallel with increases in GPx activity and the frequency of anti-human pGPx antibody-reactive cells. pGPX mRNA levels were also moderately up-regulated in the testis and spleen. This is the first report that a particular isotype of the glutathione peroxidase family is regulated by TCDD at both mRNA and protein levels. pGPx is expressed in various tissues in contact with body fluids, and detoxifies hydrogen peroxides and lipid hydroperoxides. It will be of interest to assess the role of pGPx in TCDD-induced thymic atrophy.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.43-49
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• 2011

The increasing number of analytes in concern and the alarming health and environmental consequences have required effective means of monitoring for safety control. Biosensors offer advantages as alternatives to conventional analytical methods because of their inherent specificity, simplicity, and quick response. Colorimetric biosensor, one of biosensor group, is one of the easiest and the most convenient methods because detection can be done using naked eye. Recently, a novel method for rapid detection and read-out of specific immunoassays with naked eye using polydiacetylene (PDA) was developed. Polydiacetylene has recently been in the limelight as a transducing materials because of its special features that allow optical transduction of sensory signals and inherent simplicity and ease of use in supramolecular chemistry. Various forms of PDA are used as a sensor platform for detection of various biological analytes such as viruses, DNA, proteins, bacteria and hazardous molecules.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2006

Methylmercury (MeHg), one of the heavy metal compounds, can cause severe damage to the central nervous system in humans. Many reports have shown that MeHg is poisonous to human body through contaminated foods and has released into the environment. Despite many studies on the pathogenesis of MeHg-induced central neuropathy, no useful mechanism of toxicity has been established so far. This study, using of suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method, was peformed to identify differentially expressed genes by MeHg in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell line. We prepared to total RNA from SH-SY5Y cells treated with solvent (DMSO) and $6.25\;{\mu}M\;(IC_{50})$ MeHg and performed forward and reverse SSH. Differentially expressed cDNA clones were screened by dot blot, sequenced and confirmed that individual clones indeed represent differentially expressed genes with real time RT-PCR. These sequences were identified by BLAST homology search to known genes or expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Analysis of these sequences may provide an insight into the biological effects of MeHg in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease and a possibility to develop more efficient and exact monitoring system of heavy metals as ubiquitous environmental pollutants.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.360-370
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• 2009

Genetic factors clearly play a role in carcinogenesis, but migrant studies provide unequivocal evidence that environmental factors are critical in defining cancer risk. Therefore, one may expect that the lower availability of substrate for biochemical reactions leads to more genetic changes in enzyme function; for example, most studies have indicated the variant MTHFR genotype 677TT is related to biomarkers, such as homocysteine concentrations or global DNA methylation particularly in a low folate diet. The modification of a phenotype related to a genotype, particularly by dietary habits, could support the notion that some of inconsistencies in findings from molecular epidemiologic studies could be due to differences in the populations studied and unaccounted underlying characteristics mediating the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and the actual phenotypes. Given the evidence that diet can modify cancer risk, gene-diet interactions in cancer etiology would be anticipated. However, much of the evidence in this area comes from observational epidemiology, which limits the causal inference. Thus, the investigation of these interactions is essential to gain a full understanding of the impact of genetic variation on health outcomes. This report reviews current approaches to gene-diet interactions in epidemiological studies. Characteristics of gene and dietary factors are divided into four categories: one carbon metabolism-related gene polymorphisms and dietary factors including folate, vitamin B group and methionines; oxidative stress-related gene polymorphisms and antioxidant nutrients including vegetable and fruit intake; carcinogen-metabolizing gene polymorphisms and meat intake including heterocyclic amins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon; and other gene-diet interactive effect on cancer.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-121
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• 2020

Phenol is frequently present as the hazardous pollutant in petrochemical and pesticide industry wastewater. Because of its high toxicity and carcinogenic potential, a proper treatment is needed to reduce the hazards of phenol carrying effluent before being discharged into the environment. Phenol biodegradation with microbial consortium offers a very promising approach now a day's. This study focused on the formulation of phenol degrading bacterial consortium with three bacterial isolates. The bacterial strains Bacillus cereus strain VCRC B540, Bacillus cereus strain BRL02-43 and Oxalobacteraceae strain CC11D were isolated from detergent contaminated soil by soil enrichment technique and was identified by 16s rDNA sequence analysis. Individual cultures were degrade 100 μl phenol in 72 hrs. The formulated bacterial consortium was very effective in degrading 250 μl of phenol at a pH 7 with in 48 hrs. The study further focused on the analysis of the products of biodegradation with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT/IR) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS). The analysis showed the complete degradation of phenol and the production of Benzene di-carboxylic acid mono (2-ethylhexyl) ester and Ethane 1,2- Diethoxy- as metabolic intermediates. Biodegradation with the aid of microorganisms is a potential approach in terms of cost-effectiveness and elimination of secondary pollutions. The present study established the efficiency of bacterial consortium to degrade phenol. Optimization of biodegradation conditions and construction of a bioreactor can be further exploited for large scale industrial applications.