• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.81-89
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• 2008

Objectives: In this study, the pharmacological effects of the ethylacetate extract of Ostericum koreanum(North Kangwhal; NK) on allergic inflammation were investigated in activated human mast cells. Methods: North Kangwhal was extracted with 80% methanol for 24 h, and then fractionated with ethylacetate(NK-EtOAc extract). HMC-1 cells, an human mast line, were pre-incubated with different concentrations of NK-EtOAc extract for 30 min, and then stimulated with PMA(50 nM/ml) and A23187($1{\mu}M/ml$) at indicated times. The cell toxicity was determined by MTT assay. The concentrations of prostaglandin E2(PGE2) and cytokines(TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-8) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. Results: NK-EtOAc extract($10{\sim}50{\mu}g/ml$) significantly inhibited the productions of $PGE_2$, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-8 in PMA/A23187-stimulated HMC-1 cells without cell toxicity($0{\sim}50{\mu}g/ml$). NK-EtOAc extract also inhibited PMA/A23187-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 MAPK and the NF-${\kappa}B$ p65 subunit translocation into the nuclear of HMC-1 cells. Conclusions: This study suggests that NK-EtOAc extract may have an anti-inflammatory property through suppressing the production of inflammatory mediators in activated mast cells and its molecular mechanism underlies the blocking of NF-${\kappa}B$ pathway.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1456-1463
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• 2009

Vibrio parahaemolyticus possessing urease-positive property is relatively rare, but such strains consistently exhibit the TDH-related hemolysin (TRH) gene. In this study, we examined the effects of incubation temperature on urease activity expression, using the TH3996 and AQ4673 strains where the enzyme activity is known to be temperature-dependent and -independent, respectively. In the TH3996 strain, $\beta$-galactosidase activity was 4.4-fold lower after $30^{\circ}C$ cultivation than after $37^{\circ}C$ in a ureR-lacZ fusion strain, but temperature dependency was not found in ureD- or nikA-lacZ fusion strains. However, ureR-, ureD-, and nikA-lacZ fusions of the AQ4673 strain was not influenced by incubation temperature. We compared the promoter sequences of ureR between the above two strains. Intriguingly, we detected mismatches of two nucleotides between the two strains located at positions -66 and -108 upstream of the methionine initiation codon for UreR. Additionally, urease activity was not affected by culture temperature at either $30^{\circ}C$ or $37^{\circ}C$ by allelic introduction of the AQ4673 ureR gene into the TH3996 ureR deletion mutant. Taken together, our study demonstrates that the transcriptional factor UreR is involved in the temperature dependency of urease activity, and two nucleotides within the ureR promoter region are of particular importance for the urease activity dependency of V. parahaemolyticus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1078-1085
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• 2018

A salt-tolerant cellulase secreted by a marine Bacillus sp. SR22 strain with wide resistance to temperature and pH was purified and characterized. Its approximate mass was 37 kDa. The endoglucanase, named as Bc22Cel, was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration chromatography, and extraction from the gel after non-reducing sodium dodecyl sufate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The optimal pH value and temperature of Bc22Cel were 6.5 and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively. The purified Bc22Cel showed a considerable halophilic property, being able to maintain more than 70% of residual activity even when pre-incubated with 1.5 M NaCl for 1 h. Kinetic analysis of the purified enzyme showed the $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ to be 0.704 mg/ml and $29.85{\mu}mol{\cdot}ml^{-1}{\cdot}min^{-1}$, respectively. Taken together, the present data indicate Bc22Cel as a potential and useful candidate for industrial applications, such as the bioconversion of sugarcane bagasse to its derivatives.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.436-440
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• 1987

Pullulanase gene (pul) of Klebsiella pneumoniae NFB-320 which was cloned previously in Escherichia coli with plasmid pBR322. The gene was analyzed with various restriction enzymes. The cloned gene was contained within n 10 kb BamHI DNA fragment. We constructed the restriction map of the hybrid plasmid pYKL451. The optimum temperatures for pullulanases produced in E. coli (pYKL451) and K. pneumoniae NFB-320 were almost the same, 50-55 $^{\circ}C$. The optimum pHs for the reaction of the enzymes produced by E. coli (pYKL451) and K. pneumoniae NFB-320 was 6.0. Both enzyme preparations were stable under the range of pH 5.0 to 10.0 when those were kept at 40 $^{\circ}C$ for 90 min and were stable until 40 $^{\circ}C$ when allowed to stand for 1hr at various temperatures.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.956-961
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• 2010

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) is a major mediator of immuno-inflammatory activity. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether TNF-${\alpha}$ productions of mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 and human hepatocyte HepG2 are modulated by Artemisiae argi Folium water extract (AW), Lactobacillus pentosus-fermented Artemisiae argi Folium water extract (AFL), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae-fermented Artemisiae argi Folium water extract (AFS) for 3 h of incubation. Effect of AW on cell viability of HepG2 was also investigated. TNF-${\alpha}$ productions were measured by Enzyme-Linked Immnunosorbent Assay method and cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Both AFL and AFS significantly increased TNF-${\alpha}$ productions of RAW 264.7 at the concentration of 50, 100, and 200 ${\mu}g$/mL (p<0.05). Also, AFL and AFS significantly increased TNF-${\alpha}$ productions of HepG2 at the concentration of 50, 100, and 200 ${\mu}g$/mL (p<0.05). AW significantly increased TNF-${\alpha}$ production of HepG2 at the concentration of 100 and 200 ${\mu}g$/mL (p<0.05). AW did not show any cytotoxicity on HepG2 cells for 3 h. These results suggest that AFL, AFS, and AW have the immune-enhancing property related with its increasing effect on TNF-${\alpha}$ production of macrophage and hepatocyte.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.928-934
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• 2007

Physiochemical properties, such as yield and molecular weight distribution of polysaccharide fractions, of polysaccharides in the enzymatic hydrolysates of purslane were investigated and characterized. A higher amount of micro nutrients, such as potassium (9,413 mg/100 g), phosphorus acid (539 mg/100 g), leucine, alanine, lysine, valine, glycine, and isoleucine, was present in whole purslane. The yield of water soluble polysaccharides (WSP) was 0.29, 7.01, and 7.94% when extracted using room temperature water (RTW), hot-water (HW), and hot temperature/high pressure-water (HTPW), respectively, indicating that HW or HTPW extraction may be effective to obtain WSP from purslane. The average ratio of L-arabinose:D-galactose in the WSP was 37:49, 34:37, and 27:29, when extracted using RTW, HW, and HTPW, respectively. These results indicate that water was a suitable extraction solvent for preparation of the arabinogalactan component of whole purslane. A higher yield and total carbohydrate content was obtained by using Viscozyme L instead of Pectinex 5XL during extraction of the WSP, which indicates that enzymatic treatment of purslane may be an effective method to control the Mw of polysaccharides. Finally, it was confirmed that Viscozyme L is a suitable enzyme for the hydrolysis and separation of polysaccharides obtained from purslane.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.274-280
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• 2005

A chitinase was purified from the culture supernatant of Paenibacillus illinoisensis KJA-424 by protein precipitation, DEAE-Sephadex anion-exchange chromatography, and Sephadex G-150 gel filtration. The molecular weight of the purified chitinase was 54 kDa on SDS-PAGE and activity staining. Optimal pH and temperature were pH 5.0 and 60$^{circ}$C, the presence of 10 ruM Ag$^{+}$ and Hg$^{2+}$ inhibited the activity by $92.1/%$ and $97.7/%$, and the K$_{m}$ and V$_{max}$ values were 1.12 mg chitin mrl and 1.48$\mu$mol GlcNAc min$^{-1}$, respectively. The enzyme hydrolyzed tetramer to dimer, pentamer to dimer and trimer, and hexamer to dimer, trimer and tetramer, indicating an endo-splitting mechanism. The chitinase had no hydrolytic activity toward dimer and trimer. The chitinase inhibited the mycelial growth of Rhizoctonia solani, suggesting an antifungal property.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2014

Oil-in-water nanoemulsions of astaxanthin prepared by new vesicle, glyceryl citrate/ lactate/ linoleate/ oleate, were evaluated thoroughly in terms of cosmeceutical properties such as antioxidant effect, cell viability, influence of protein related enzyme, skin penetration, skin hydration and elasticity. Antioxidant effect and cell viability of nanoemulsion of astaxanthin were evaluated by DPPH and MTT assay. Also other properties of nanoemulsions of astaxanthin were measured by proteome analysis using 2D-PAGE, confocal laser scanning microscope and in-vivo test. We were able to find that the nanoemulsion of astaxanthin is good at scavenging of radical and inhibits the degradation of dermal extracellular matrix with the down-regulation of MMPs and other proteins related to MMP expression. CLSM was adopted for observing penetration of nanoemulsion of astaxanthin and showed high effective penetration rate compared to the nanoemulsion of astaxanthin prepared by conventional lecithin. In-vivo measurement of the nanoemulsions in hydration and elasticity were conducted to 11 Korean female adults for 28 days and showed better results.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.570-575
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• 2004

2-Hydroxymuconic semialdehyde (2-HMS) dehydrogenase catalyzes the conversion of 2-HMS to 4-oxalocrotonate, which is a step in the meta cleavage pathway of aromatic hydrocarbons in bacteria. A tomC gene that encodes 2-HMS dehydrogenase of Burkholderia cepacia G4, a soil bacterium that can grow on toluene, cresol, phenol, or benzene, was overexpressed into E. coli HB 101, and its gene product was characterized in this study. 2-HMS dehydrogenase from B. cepacia G4 has a high catalytic efficiency in terms of V$_{max}$K$_{max}$ towards 2-hydroxy-5-methyl-muconic semialdehyde followed by 2-HMS but has a very low efficiency for 5-chloro-2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde. However, the enzyme did not utilize 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-hepta 2,4-dienoic acid and 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid as substrates. The molecular weight of 2-HMS dehydrogenase from B. cepacia G4 was predicted to be 52 kDa containing 485 amino acid residues from the nucleotide sequence of the tomC gene, and it exhibited the highest identity of 78% with the amino acid sequence of 2-HMS dehydrogenase that is encoded in the aphC gene of Comamonas testosteroni TA441. 2-HMS dehydrogenase from B. cepacia G4 showed a significant phylogenetic relationship not only with other 2-HMS dehydrogenases, but also with different dehydrogenases from evolutionarily distant organisms.sms.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.91-95
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• 1992

Changes of contents of reducing sugar and sucrose and activities of sucrose-phosphate synthase, sucrose synthease and invertase from the leaves of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Chalssal) seedlings grown at $4^{\circ}C$ were investigated, and the property of acid invertase were also examined. In the seedlings grown at $4^{\circ}C$ for 3 days, the contents of reducing sugar and sucrose were increased to 1.3 and 2.4 times, respectively. Activity of acid invertase was decreased markedly by cold treatment while the activities of sucrosephosphate synthase, sucrose synthase, and alkaline invertase were not changed. In acid phosphatase purified partially by ammonium sulfate fractionation and DEAE-Sephacel column chromatography, the $K_m$ value for sucrose was 9.5 mM and the optimum pH and temperature was 5.5 and $35^{\circ}C$ respectively. This enzyme was supposed to be ${\beta}-fructosidase$ by studies on the substrate specificity and the molecular weight was estimated to be 63 Kd by Sephadex G-200 gel chromatography.graphy.