• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1221-1226
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• 2008

A variety of fungal species are known to degrade cyanide through the action of cyanide hydratase, a specialized nitrilases which hydrolyze cyanide to formamide. This work is a report on two unknown and un-characterized members from Neurospora crassa and Aspergillus nidulans. Recombinant forms of three cyanide hydratases (CHT) originated from N. crassa, Gibberella zeae, and A. nidulans were prepared after their genes were cloned with N-terminal hexahistidine purification tags, expressed in E. coli and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. These enzymes were compared according to their pH activity profiles, and kinetic parameters. Although all three were similar, the N. crassa CHT has the widest pH range of activity above 50% and highest turnover rate ($6.6{\times}10^8min^{-1}$) among them. The CHT of A. nidulans has the highest Km value of the three nitrilases evaluated in here. Expression of CHT in both N. crassa and A. nidulans were induced by the presence of KCN, regardless of any presence of nitrogen sources. These data can be used to determine optimal procedures for the enzyme uses in the remediation of cyanide-containing wastes.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.430-440
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• 2019

Fungal contamination of built-in furniture is a frequent problem in Korea when new apartment is built. However, domestic information on the contaminating fungi is very limited. This study was conducted to isolate, identify and characterize the fungi of the problem in one of the apartment houses where the fungi were claimed in the built-in furniture before the house owner moves in. Fungi present in the furniture installed in a main room, dress room, and kitchen side were visually and microscopically confirmed and purely isolated on PDA. The isolated fungi were identified by analyzing the morphological characteristics and nucleotide sequence of the ITS, calmodulin gene, and TEF-1α gene. Aspergillus creber, A. niger, A. pseudoglacus, A. ruber, Cladosporium perangustum and Penicillium commune were identified. Four out of the six fungal species were positive for at least one enzyme in six kinds of extracellular enzyme assays. When these four species (A. creber, A. niger, C. perangustum and P. commune) were inoculated onto four kinds of wood chips of furniture materials, they were able to colonize all of the wood chips. Their settlement was better at 95% humidity condition than at 30% humidity condition. Among the four species, C. perangustum caused the darkest discoloration and secreted the most number of extracellular enzymes. The four species were re-isolated from the colonized wood chips and confirmed as the problematic fungi in the built-in furniture.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.37 no.1 s.109
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• pp.38-46
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• 2005

This study was focused on the optimum culture condition in CMCase, FPase and xylanase activities of two fungal strains that secret extracellular enzymes for using enzymatic deinking agent to old newsprint. The results of this study were as follows. When Fusarium pallidoroseum was grown on the medium, containing of rice bran+xylan $2.0\%,\;peptone\;0.6\%,\;KH_2PO_4\;0.075\%\;and\;MnSO_4\;0.06\%\;with\;pH\;9.0,\;at\;29^{\circ}C$ for 6 days, the quantitative degree of extracellular enzyme production was the highest. Optimum culture condition for Aspergillus niger was pH 5.0, $27^{\circ}C$ incubating temperature and 7 days incubation period on liquid medium, containing of CMC+xylan $2.5\%,\;yeast\;extract\;0.4\%,\;K_3PO_4\;0.05\%\;and\;CaCl_2+FeSO_4\;0.08\%$. Aspergillus niger was fairly higher FPase and xylanase activities than Trichoderma reesei ATCC 28217.

• Mycobiology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.354-359
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• 2023

Tricholoma matsutake has been the most valuable ectomycorrhizal fungi in Asia because of its unique flavor and taste. However, due to the difficulty of artificial cultivation, the cultivation of T. matsutake has relied on natural growth in forests. To cultivate the T. matsutake artificially, microorganisms in fairy rings were introduced. In this study, we isolated 30 fungal species of microfungi from the soil of fairy rings. Among them, one single fungal strain showed a promoting effect on the growth of T. matsutake. The growth effect was confirmed by measuring the growth area of T. matsutake and enzyme activities including a-amylase, cellulase, and b-glucosidase. In comparison with control, microfungal metabolite increased the growth area of T. matsutake by 213% and the enzyme activity of T. matsutake by 110-200%. The isolated fungal strain was identified as Penicillium citreonigrum by BLAST on the NCBI database. The Discovery of this microfungal strain is expected to contribute to artificial cultivation of T. matsutake.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

Fungal biotechnology has been well established in food and healthcare sector, and now being explored for lignocellulosic biorefinery due to their great potential to produce a wide array of extracellular enzymes for nutrient recycling. Due to global warming, environmental pollution, green house gases emission and depleting fossil fuel, fungal enzymes for lignocellulosic biomass refinery become a major focus for utilizing renewal bioresources. Proteomic technologies tender better biological understanding and exposition of cellular mechanism of cell or microbes under particular physiological condition and are very useful in characterizing fungal secretome. Hence, in addition to traditional colorimetric enzyme assay, mass-spectrometry-based quantification methods for profiling lignocellulolytic enzymes have gained increasing popularity over the past five years. Majority of these methods include two dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry, differential stable isotope labeling and label free quantitation. Therefore, in this review, we reviewed more commonly used different proteomic techniques for profiling fungal secretome with a major focus on two dimensional gel electrophoresis, liquid chromatography-based quantitative mass spectrometry for global protein identification and quantification. We also discussed weaknesses and strengths of these methodologies for comprehensive identification and quantification of extracellular proteome.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.155-163
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• 2021

Dried red peppers are frequently contaminated with mycotoxins during storage. To determine the effect of storage environments on fungal occurrence and subsequent mycotoxin accumulation in dried red peppers, we monitored red pepper powder and whole fruit samples for fungal occurrence under various temperatures and relative humidity (RH) conditions during 340 days. Fungal occurrences fluctuated in both pepper forms throughout the storage but they were higher in pepper powder than whole one, higher under low temperatures (-20℃, 0℃, or 4℃) than others (10℃, 25℃, or 30℃), and higher under RH 93% than RH 51% and 69% in both peppers. The samples exhibiting high fungal occurrences were associated mainly with dominant species such as Aspergillussydowii, Penicillium solitum, P. roqueforti, P. polonicum, or P. chrysogenum. Mycotoxigenic species, including A. flavus, A. ochraceus, A. westerdijkiae, A. tubingensis, and P. citrinum, were also detected throughout the samples. Although mycotoxins were not detected in the samples, mycotoxigenic potential of A. flavus, A. ochraceus, and A. westerdijkiae isolates were confirmed. These results show that low temperatures (-20℃, 0℃, or 4℃) and/or high surrounding RH (>93%) are not safe environments for storage of dried red peppers as fungal growth can occur under these conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.670-680
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• 2018

Acanthophysium sp. KMF001, a wood rotting fungus, produces a strong crude enzyme complex that efficiently produces simple sugars from wood. The transcriptomic analysis of Acanthophysium sp. KMF001 identified 14 genes for putative glycoside hydrolases. Among them, isotig01043 was expressed heterogeneously in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), and the expressed protein exhibited an endo-${\beta}$-1,4-xylanase activity which showed the optimum reaction at pH 5.0 and $30^{\circ}C$. The enzyme kinetic values of $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ were 25.92 mg/ml and $0.628{\mu}mole/mg/ml$, respectively. The enzymatic characteristics of the expressed xylanase showed a typical fungal xylanase. However, the bioinformatics analysis suggested that the protein encoded by isotig01043 was a novel xylanase based on a low identity when it was compared with the closest protein in the NCBI database and a similar protein domain with GH16_fungal_Lam16A_glucanase, which had not been earlier suggested as a xylanase.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1028-1034
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• 2021

The effect of medium composition on enzyme and β-glucan production by Aspergillus oryzae KCCM 12698 was investigated. Brown rice, rice bran, nitrogen, and ascorbic acid are key components of the synthetic medium used in liquid-state fermentation. To determine the optimal concentrations of these components for enzyme and β-glucan production, we conducted one factor at a time experiments, which showed that the optimal concentrations were 30 g/l brown rice, 30 g/l rice bran, 10 g/l soytone, and 3 g/l ascorbic acid. Pretreatment of brown rice for 60 min prior to inoculation enhanced fungal biomass, while increasing the production of enzymes and β-glucan using solid-state fermentation. Maximum fungal biomass of 0.76 mg/g, amylase (26,551.03 U/g), protease (1,340.50 U/g), and β-glucan at 9.34% (w/w) were obtained during fermentation. Therefore, solid-state fermentation of brown rice is a process that could enhance yield and overall production of enzymes and β-glucan for use in various applications.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.103-108
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• 2012

Nuruk is a fermented ingredient used for production of traditional Korean rice wine. In this study, quality characteristics of mixed-grain nuruk was made by brewing with different fungal strains was analyzed. Quality elements including enzyme activity and organic acids constituents were measured. The fermentation time of the nuruk did not make a significant difference in terms of its pH, but the acidity and amino acid content for nuruk made from a mixture of two fungal strains was higher than that seen with a single fungal strain. Overall, the enzyme activity for two fungal strain nuruk was higher than that observed for single fungal strain nuruk, with ${\alpha}$-amylase and acidic protease activity in the mixed strain nuruk observed to be more than twice that of the single strain. The major organic acids observed in the manufactured nuruk were identified as acetic, citric, formic, fumaric, lactic, malic and oxalic acids. The total amount of organic acids contained in the nuruk made with the two fungal strain was (2,116.3 mg%). The fungal strains used were A. kawachii SC60 nuruk (1,608.5 mg%) and A. oryzae RIB1353 nuruk (1,146.7 mg%).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1322-1329
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• 2011

Filamentous fungi colonizing rice straw were collected from 11 different sites in Korea and were identified based on characterization of their morphology and molecular properties. The fungi were divided into 25 species belonging to 16 genera, including 14 ascomycetes, one zygomycete, and one basidiomycete. Fungal cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes were assessed through a two-step process, wherein highly active cellulase- and/or hemicellulase-producing fungi were selected in a first screening step followed by a second step to isolate the best enzyme-producer. Twenty-five fungal species were first screened for the production of total cellulase (TC), endo-${\beta}$-1,4 glucanase (EG), and endo-${\beta}$-1,4 xylanase (XYL) using solid-state fermentation with rice straw as substrate. From this screening, six species, namely, Aspergillus niger KUC5183, A. ochraceus KUC5204, A. versicolor KUC5201, Mucor circinelloides KUC6014, Trichoderma harzianum 1 KUC5182, and an unknown basidiomycete species, KUC8721, were selected. These six species were then incubated in liquid Mandels' media containing cellulose, glucose, rice straw, or xylan as the sole carbon source and the activities of six different enzymes were measured. Enzyme production was highly influenced by media conditions and in some cases significantly increased. Through this screening process, Trichoderma harzianum 1 KUC5182 was selected as the best enzyme producer. Rice straw and xylan were good carbon sources for the screening of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes.