• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.278-289
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• 2015

Indigenous strains of Trichoderma species isolated from rhizosphere soils of Tea gardens of Assam, north eastern state of India were assessed for in vitro antagonism against two important tea fungal pathogens namely Pestalotia theae and Fusarium solani. A potent antagonist against both tea pathogenic fungi, designated as SDRLIN1, was selected and identified as Trichoderma viride. The strain also showed substantial antifungal activity against five standard phytopathogenic fungi. Culture filtrate collected from stationary growth phase of the antagonist demonstrated a significantly higher degree of inhibitory activity against all the test fungi, demonstrating the presence of an optimal blend of extracellular antifungal metabolites. Moreover, quantitative enzyme assay of exponential and stationary culture filtrates revealed that the activity of cellulase, ${\beta}$-1,3-glucanase, pectinase, and amylase was highest in the exponential phase, whereas the activity of proteases and chitinase was noted highest in the stationary phase. Morphological changes such as hyphal swelling and distortion were also observed in the fungal pathogen grown on potato dextrose agar containing stationary phase culture filtrate. Moreover, the antifungal activity of the filtrate was significantly reduced but not entirely after heat or proteinase K treatment, demonstrating substantial role of certain unknown thermostable antifungal compound(s) in the inhibitory activity.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.202-210
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• 2007

A total of 45 bacterial strains were isolated from the traditional Korean soybean-fermented food, Chungkookjang. Among these strains, seven strains were selected and identified based on morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics, as well as phylogenetic analysis using 16S rDNA sequences. All strains were Gram-positive, aerobic, motile, oxidase-positive, rod-shaped, and endospore-forming bacteria, and produced extracellular enzymes such as amylase, cellulase, lipase, protease, and xylanase. The isolates were grown in the presence of 0-11% (w/v) NaCl. Growth was optimal at pH 6-9 and at temperatures of $30-45^{\circ}C$. According to VITEK automicrobic system tests and supplementary tests, the isolates were similar to several species of the genus Bacillus. The phylogenetic analysis of seven bacterial strains based on comparisons of 16S rDNA sequences, revealed that the strains were closely related to Bacillus species. The identification of strains that produced surfactin was also carried out, based on PCR screening of the sfp gene. Among the seven isolated strains, six yielded a surfactin-positive result with PCR.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.544-549
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• 1995

The alkaline elastase is an extracellular serine protease of the alkalophilic Bacillus strain Ya-B. To increase the gene copy number and the production level of the alkaline elastase Ya-B, we designed, on the B. subtilis chromosome, a gene amplification of the 10.6 kb repeating unit containing amyE, aleE (alkaline elastase Ya-B gene) and tmrB. The aleE was inserted between amyE and tmrB, and B. subtilis APT119 strain was transformed with this amyE-aleE-tmrB-junction region fragment. As a result, we succeeded in obtaining tunicamycin-resistant (Tm$^{r}$) transformants (Tf-1, Tf-2) in which the designed gene amplification of 10.6 kb occurred in chromosome. The transformants showed high productivity of $\alpha $-amylase and alkaline elastase Ya-B. The copy number of the repeating unit (amyE-aleE-tmrB) was estimated to be 25, but plasmid vector (pUC19) was not integrated. The amplified aleE of chromosome was more stable than that of plasmid in absence of antibiotics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.9
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• pp.1114-1121
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• 2017

Bacillus strains not producing harmful components were isolated from Korean traditional soybean products. Extracellular enzyme activities (amylase, protease, cellulase, and xylanase) of isolated Bacillus strains were measured, and Bacillus strains with high protease activity were selected. The selected 15 strains were identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (10), Bacillus methylotrophicus (1), Bacillus velezensis (1), and Bacillus subtilis (3). Among them, B. subtilis JBG17019, B. amyloliquefaciens JBD17076, and B. amyloliquefaciens JBD17109 showed antimicrobial activities against food-borne microorganisms. The production abilities of glutamate, glutamine, and poly-${\gamma}$-glutamic acid (${\gamma}$-PGA) of the selected Bacillus strains were measured to analyze fermentation characteristics related to glutamic acid metabolism. The factor for multivariate was analyzed by the principal components analysis (PCA) method between fermentation characteristics and ${\gamma}$-PGA production. The three principal components were classified according to the PCA method: PC1 [enzyme activity (amylase, cellulase, and xylanase)], PC2 (${\gamma}$-PGA), and PC3 (protease, glutamate, and glutamine). As a result, B. amyloliquefaciens JBD17076 and B. subtilis JBG17019 strains were evaluated as having excellent enzyme activity and ${\gamma}$-PGA production.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.40-45
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• 2001

Raw starch-digesting amylase (BF-2A, M.W. 93, 000 Da) from Bacillus circulans F-2 was converted to two components during digestion with subtilisin. Two components were separated and designated as BF-2A' (63, 000 Da) and BF-2B (30, 000 Da), respectively. BF-2A' exhibited the same hydrolysis curve for soluble starch as the original amylase (BF-2A). Moreover, the catalytic activities of original and modified enzymes were indistinguishable in $K_{m}$, Vmax for, and in their specific activity for soluble starch hydrolysis. However, its adsorbability and digestibility on raw starch was greatly decreased. Furthermore, the enzymatic action pattern on soluble starch was greatly different from that of the BF-2A. A smaller peptide (BF-2B) showed adsorb ability onto raw starch. By these results, it is suggested that the larger peptide (BF-2A') has a region responsible for the expression of the enzyme activity to hydrolyze soluble substrate, and the smaller peptide (BF-2B) plays a role on raw starch adsorption. A similar phenomenon is observed during limited proteinase K, thermolysin, and endopeptidase Glu-C proteolysis of the enzyme. Fragments resulting from proteolysis were characterized by immunoblotting with anti-RSDA. The proteolytic patterns resulting from proteinase K and subtilisin were the same, producing 63- and 30-kDa fragments. Similar patterns were obtained with endopeptidase Glu-C or thermolysin. All proteolytic digests contained a common, major 63-kDa fragment. Inactivation of RSDA activity results from splitting off the C-terminal domain. Hence, it seems probable that the protease sensitive locus is in a hinge region susceptible to cleavage. Extracellular enzymes immunoreactive toward anti-RSDA were detected through whole bacterial cultivation. Proteins of sizes 93-, 75-, 63-, 55-, 38-, and 31-kDa were immunologically identical to RSDA. Of these, the 75-kDa and 63-kDa proteins correspond to the major products of proteolysis with Glu-C and thermolysin. These results postulated that enzyme heterogeneity of the raw starch-hydrolysis system might arise from the endogeneous proteolytic activity of the bacterium. Truncated forms of rsda, in which the gene sequence encoding the conserved domain had been deleted, directed the synthesis of a functional amylase that did not bind to raw starch. This indicates that the conserved region of RSDA constitutes a raw starch-binding domain, which is distinct from the active centre. The possible role of this substrate-binding region is discussed.d.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.6 s.73
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• pp.1013-1021
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• 2005

The metagenomes of complex microbial communities are rich sources of novel biocatalysts. The gene encoding an extracellular $\alpha$-amylase from a genomic DNA of cow rumen was cloned in Escherichia coli DH5$\alpha$ and sequenced. The $\alpha$-amylase (amyA) gene was 1,893 bp in length, encoding a protein of 631 amino acid residues with calculated molecular weight of 70,734 Da. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be about 71,000 Da by active staining of a SDS-PACE. The enzyme was 21 to $59\%$ sequence identical with other amyloyltic enzymes. The AmyA was optimally active at pH 6.0 and $40\%$. The AmyA had a calculated pI of 5.87. AmyA expressed in E. coli DH5$\alpha$ was enhanced in the presence of $Mg^{2+}$ (20 mM) and $Ca^{2+}$ (30 mM) and inhibited in the presence of $Fe^{2+}$ and $Cu^{2+}$. The origin of amyA gene could not be confirmed by PCR using internal primer of amyA gene from extracted genomic DNA of 49 species rumen culturable bacteria so far. An amyh is supposed to obtained from unculturable rumen bacterium in cow rumen environment.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.248-255
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• 2019

This research confirmed the diversity and characterization of gut microorganisms isolated from the intestinal organs of Muraenesox cinereus, collected on the Samcheonpo Coast and Seocheon Coast in South Korea. To isolate strains, Marine agar medium was basically used and cultivated at $37^{\circ}C$ and pH7 for several days aerobically. After single colony isolation, totally 49 pure single-colonies were isolated and phylogenetic analysis was carried out based on the result of 16S rRNA gene DNA sequencing, indicating that isolated strains were divided into 3 phyla, 13 families, 15 genera, 34 species and 49 strains. Proteobacteria phylum, the main phyletic group, comprised 83.7% with 8 families, 8 genera and 26 species of Aeromonadaceae, Pseudoalteromonadaceae, Shewanellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Morganellaceae, Moraxellaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, and Vibrionaceae. To confirm whether isolated strain can produce industrially useful enzyme or not, amylase, lipase, and protease enzyme assays were performed individually, showing that 39 strains possessed at least one enzyme activity. Especially the Aeromonas sp. strains showed all enzyme activity tested. This result indicated that isolated strains have shown the possibility of the industrial application. Therefore, this study has contributed for securing domestic genetic resources and the expansion of scientific knowledge of the gut microbial community in Muraenesox cinereus of South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.215-222
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• 1998

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of physico-chemical environmental factors on the changes of bacterial population from two sites used for drinking water and eight sites polluted with various pollutant in Seoul city. In all the stations except for two sites used for drinking water, the concentrations of nitrate- nitrogen and ammonia were in excess of the criteria of groundwater quality by the result of analysis of 40 variations including physicochemical environmental factors, heavy metals, and bacterial populations. The numbers of total bacteria, heterotrophic bacteria and functional groups of bacteria were ranged from 5.1 to 41.4${\times}$10$\^$5/cells/ml and from 0.01 to 29.6${\times}$10$^4$cfu/ml, respectively. The activities of extracellular enzymes showed the ranges of 0.005∼11.3${\mu}$M/l/hr and its order to lipase, phophatase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, cellulase, chitinase, amylase. The results of correspondence and multidimensional scaling analysis between bacterial populations and its physico-chemical environmental factors were explained the effects of physico-chemical environmental factors according to site characters and separated four group, which is accord with potential pollutants at wells.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.220-225
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• 2016

To improve antioxidant glutathione (GSH) content and saccharification ability in sake yeasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase gene (GSH1) from S. cerevisiae, glucoamylase gene (GAM1) and ${\alpha}$-amylase gene (AMY) from Debaryomyces occidentalis were co-expressed in sake yeasts for manufacturing a refreshing alcoholic beverage abundant in GSH from rice starch. The extracellular GSH content of the recombinant sake yeasts increased 1.5-fold relative to the parental wide-type strain. The saccharification ability by glucoamylase of the new yeast strain expressing both GAM1 and AMY genes was 2-fold higher than that of the yeast strain expressing only GAM1 gene when grown in the culture medium containing 2% (w/v) rice starch. It generated 11% (v/v) ethanol from 20% (w/v) rice starch and consumed up to 90% of the starch content after 7 days of fermentation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.603-613
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• 2019

This study was carried out to examine the antagonistic effect against phytopathogenic fungi of isolated strains from soil samples collected from Busan, Changwon, and Jeju Island: Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, Corynespora cassiicola, Fusarium sp., Rhizoctonia solani, Phytophthora capsici, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. According to results of our studies, isolated strains showed an antagonistic effect against phytopathogenic fungi. Such an antagonistic effect against phytopathogenic fungi is seen due to the production of siderophores, antibiotic substances, and extracellular amylase, cellulase, protease, and xylanase enzyme activities. Extracellular enzymes produced by isolated strains were significant, given that they inhibited the growth of phytopathogenic fungi by causing bacteriolysis of the cell wall of plant pathogenic fungi. This is essential to break down the cell wall of plant pathogenic fungi and thus help plant growth by converting macromolecules, which cannot be used by the plant for growth, into small molecules. In addition, they are putative candidates as biological agents to promote plant growth and inhibit growth of phytopathogenic fungi through nitrogen fixation, indole-3-acetic acid production, siderophore production, and extracellular enzyme activity. Therefore, this study suggests the possibility of using Bacillus subtilis ANGa5, Bacillus aerius ANGa25, and Bacillus methylotrophicus ANGa27 as new biological agents, and it is considered that further studies are necessary to prove their effect as novel biological agents by standardization of formulation and optimization of selected effective microorganisms, determination of their preservation period, and crop cultivation tests.