• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1503-1509
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• 2014

With the purpose of facilitating the process of stable strain generation, a shuttle vector for integration of genes via a double recombination event into two ectopic sites on the Sulfolobus acidocaldarius chromosome was constructed. The novel chromosomal integration and expression vector pINEX contains a pyrE gene from S. solfataricus P2 ($pyrE_{sso}$) as an auxotrophic selection marker, a multiple cloning site with histidine tag, the internal sequences of malE and malG for homologous recombination, and the entire region of pGEM-T vector, except for the multiple cloning region, for propagation in E. coli. For stable expression of the target gene, an ${\alpha}$-glucosidase-producing strain of S. acidocaldarius was generated employing this vector. The malA gene (saci_1160) encoding an ${\alpha}$-glucosidase from S. acidocaldarius fused with the glutamate dehydrogenase ($gdhA_{saci}$) promoter and leader sequence was ligated to pINEX to generate pINEX_malA. Using the "pop-in" and "pop-out" method, the malA gene was inserted into the genome of MR31 and correct insertion was verified by colony PCR and sequencing. This strain was grown in YT medium without uracil and purified by His-tag affinity chromatography. The ${\alpha}$-glucosidase activity was confirmed by the hydrolysis of $pNP{\alpha}G$. The pINEX vector should be applicable in delineating gene functions in this organism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.304-312
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• 2013

The thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha is attracting interest as a potential strain for the production of recombinant proteins and biofuels. However, only limited numbers of genome engineering tools are currently available for H. polymorpha. In the present study, we identified the HpPOL3 gene encoding the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase ${\delta}$ of H. polymorpha and mutated the sequence encoding conserved amino acid residues that are important for its proofreading 3'${\rightarrow}$5' exonuclease activity. The resulting $HpPOL3^*$ gene encoding the error-prone proofreading-deficient DNA polymerase ${\delta}$ was cloned under a methanol oxidase promoter to construct the mutator plasmid pHIF8, which also contains additional elements for site-specific chromosomal integration, selection, and excision. In a H. polymorpha mutator strain chromosomally integrated with pHIF8, a $URA3^-$ mutant resistant to 5-fluoroorotic acid was generated at a 50-fold higher frequency than in the wild-type strain, due to the dominant negative expression of $HpPOL3^*$. Moreover, after obtaining the desired mutant, the mutator allele was readily removed from the chromosome by homologous recombination to avoid the uncontrolled accumulation of additional mutations. Our mutator system, which depends on the accumulation of random mutations that are incorporated during DNA replication, will be useful to generate strains with mutant phenotypes, especially those related to unknown or multiple genes on the chromosome.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2009-2018
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• 2018

Leuconostoc mesenteroides can be used to produce mannitol by fermentation, but the mannitol productivity is not high. Therefore, in this study we modified the chromosome of Leuconostoc mesenteroides by genetic methods to obtain high-yield strains for mannitol production. In this study, gene knock-out strains and gene knock-in strains were constructed by a two-step homologous recombination method. The mannitol productivity of the pat gene (which encodes phosphate acetyltransferase) deletion strain (${\Delta}pat::amy$), the fk gene (which encodes fructokinase) deletion strain (${\Delta}fk::amy$) and the stpk gene (which encodes serine-threonine protein kinase) deletion strain (${\Delta}stpk::amy$) were all increased compared to the wild type, and the productivity of mannitol for each strain was 84.8%, 83.5% and 84.1%, respectively. The mannitol productivity of the mdh gene (which encodes mannitol dehydrogenase) knock-in strains (${\Delta}pat::mdh$, ${\Delta}fk::mdh$ and ${\Delta}stpk::mdh$) was increased to a higher level than that of the single-gene deletion strains, and the productivity of mannitol for each was 96.5%, 88% and 93.2%, respectively. The multi-mutant strain ${\Delta}dts{\Delta}ldh{\Delta}pat::mdh{\Delta}stpk::mdh{\Delta}fk::mdh$ had mannitol productivity of 97.3%. This work shows that multi-gene knock-out and gene knock-in strains have the greatest impact on mannitol production, with mannitol productivity of 97.3% and an increase of 24.7% over wild type. This study used the methods of gene knock-out and gene knock-in to genetically modify the chromosome of Leuconostoc mesenteroides. It is of great significance that we increased the ability of Leuconostoc mesenteroides to produce mannitol and revealed its broad development prospects.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.277-283
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• 1997

Promoters inducible by paraquat, a superocide-generating agent, were isolated from Escherichia coli using a promoter-probing plasmid pRS415 with promoterless lacA gene. Twenty one promoters induced by paraquat were selected and further characterized. From sequence analysis, thirteen of the promoters were mapped to their specific loci on the Escherichia coli chromosome. Several promoters were mapped to the upstream of known genes such as usgl, katG, and mglB, whose relationships with superoxide response have not been previously reported. Other promoters were mapped to the upstream region of unknown open reading frames. Downstream of HC 96 promoter are uncharacterized ORFs whose sequences are homologous to ABC-transporter subunits. Downstream of HC84 promoter is an ORF encoding a transcriptional regulator-like protein, which contains a LysR family-specific HTH (helix-turn-helix) DNA bindign motif. We investigated whether these promoters belong to the soxRS regulon. All promoters except HC96 were found to belong to the soxRS regulon. The HC96 promoter was significantly induced by paraquat in the soxRS deletion mutant strain. The basal transcription level of three promoters (HE43, HC71, HD94) significantly increased at the stationary phase, implying that they are regulated by RpoS. However, paraquat inducibility of all promoters disappeared in the stationary phase, suggesting that SoxRS regulatory system is active only in rapidly growing cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.441-448
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• 1998

A cellobiose-utilizing recombinant yeast having $\beta$-glucosidase activity was developed for ethanol production from a mixture of glucose and cellobiose. Using $\delta$-sequences of Tyl transposon of yeast as target sites for homologous recombination, a heterologous gene of $\beta$-glucosidase was integrated into the chromosome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The $\delta$-integrated recombinant yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae L2612 (Pb-BGL), showed perfect mitotic stability even in nonselective media and showed ca. 1.5 fold higher $\beta$-glucosidase activity than the recombinant yeast harboring the $2\mu$-based plasmid vector system. A mathematical model was developed to describe the $\beta$-glucosidase formation and ethanol production from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae L2612 ($p\delta-BGL$). The model newly described that the heterologous $\beta$-glucosidase production mediated by ADH1 promoter is regulated by glucose and repressed by ethanol.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.656-661
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• 2007

In this report, we describe an optimized method for generation of ephA8 BAC transgenic mice expressing the lacZ reporter gene under ephA8 regulatory sequences. First, we constructed a targeting vector that carries a 1.2 kb ephA8 DNA upstream of its first exon, a lacZ expression cassette, a kanamycin cassette, and a 0.7 kb ephA8 DNA downstream of its first exon. Second, the targeting vector was electroporated into cells containing the ephA8 BAC and pKOBEGA, in which recombinases induce a homologous recombination between the ephA8 BAC DNA and the targeting vector. Third, the FLP plasmid expressing the Flipase was electroporated into these bacteria to eliminate a kanamycin cassette from the recombinant BAC DNA. The appropriate structures of the modified ephA8 BAC DNA were confirmed by Southern analysis. Finally, BAC transgenic mouse embryos were generated by pronuclear injection of the recombinant BAC DNA. Whole mount X-gal staining revealed that the lacZ reporter expression is restricted to the anterior region of the developing midbrain in each transgenic embryo. These results indicate that the ephA8 BAC DNA contains most, if not all, regulatory sequences to direct temporal and spatial expression of the lacZ gene in vivo.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.436-442
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• 1999

The aeg-46.5 operon of Escherichia coli is induced by nitrate and anaerobic conditions. Positive regulators Fnr and NarP, and a negative regulator NarL control the expression of the aeg-46.5. It has two symmetry regions [6], one of which is located between +37 and +56 bp from the 5'end of the anaerobic transcription initiation site. In this study, mutagenized symmetry regions were transferred from plasmid to chromosome by homologous recombination to evaluate the mutation as a single copy in the fnr, narL, narP, and narL-narP double mutant background. The expressions of the aeg-46.5 operon with these mutations indicated that the control was not through the possible stem-loop structure. Whether there is a protein that mediates this control remains to be seen. The results from the narL-narP double mutant indicated that the anaerobic Fill induction was independent of NarL repression.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.408-414
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• 1996

The SecY is a central component of the protein export machinery that mediate the translocation of secretory proteins across the plasma membrane, and has been known to be rate-limiting factor of secretion in Escherichia coli. In order to study the extracellular protein secretion in Gram-positive microorganism, we have, constructed strains harboring more than one copy of the gene for SecY. Firstly, the gene, for B. subtilis SecY and its promoter region was subcloned into pDH32 and the chimeric vector was inserted into amyE locus by homologous recombination. Secondly, low copy number vector, pCED6, was also used for subcloning the secY gene and for constructing a strain which harbors several copies of secY. The KH1 cell which harbor two copies of secY on the chromosome excreted more extracellular proteins than the wild type PB2. Moreover, the KH2 cells which harbor several copies of secY in pCED6 vector excreted more extracellular proteins than the KH1 cells. Here, we found that the capacity of protein secretion is partly controlled by the number of secY and it is suggested that SecY has also an important role in protein secretion in B. subtilis, a gram positive microorganism, as like in E. coli. This will promote the use of B. subtilis as a host for the expression of useful foreign gene and excretion of precious proteins.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.232-238
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• 1992

Canz~~j~lohuc;tc.~jurn i werc studied for their heat shock responses at several elevated temperatures and their heat shock genes were detected by the technique of Southern hybridization. (.. ,jc\ulcorneruni sy~>thesized the major heat shock proteins of hsp90. hsphh. and hsphO at 48$^{\circ}$C . ant1 their w~u.ival rates were maintained as the same level at optimal temperature. '1-hc heat shock genes in chromosome of C ,jc:jutii werc determined to be homologous to the heat shock genes or E. t,oli. by showing strong signals in Southern hybridization analysis using clnaK and groESL- as DNA probe But the restriction sites for thc fragmcnts including heat shock genes were different betueen E. c,oli and C ,jtjuni.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 1986.12a
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• pp.529.2-529
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• 1986

pSp-Si (1.6kbp) was originally found in pediococcus halophilus to be a cryptic multicopy-plasmid. Hoping that the plasmid can also replicate in Bacillus subtilis, protoplast transformation of strain 207-25 (recE) was performed using pSP-Sl onto which was added the marker of tmrB8 (on 4.9 kbp EcoRI fragment ) or tmrB+ (on 0.9 kbp xbaI fragment) gene. Though the tmrB8 gene can expres tunicamycin-resistance at the single copy state, and the tmrB+ gene exerts the resistance only at the multicopy state, we could not confirm the replication of pSP-Sl (tmrB8) or pSP-Sl(tmrB+) in B. subtilis. During the experiment, however, we unexpectedly found that the circularized 0.9 kbp xgaI fragment (tmrB+) itself, which had no replication origin, could transform strain 207-25 to tunicamycin-resistant by protoplast transformation. Southern hybridization analyses with tmrB+ and other probes revealed the integration of the fragment at a single copy state into a position other than the homologous tmrB gene. This recE independent integration of another tmrB+ gene into the chromosome may contribute to the tunicamycinresistance in the transformants.