• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.299-306
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• 2017

The transcriptional activator AphB has been implicated in acid resistance and pathogenesis in the food borne pathogens Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio cholerae. To date, the full-length AphB crystal structure of V. cholerae has been determined and characterized by a tetrameric assembly of AphB consisting of a DNA binding domain and a regulatory domain (RD). Although acidic pH and low oxygen tension might be involved in the activation of AphB, it remains unknown which ligand or stimulus activates AphB at the molecular level. In this study, we determine the crystal structure of the AphB RD from V. vulnificus under aerobic conditions without modification at the conserved cysteine residue of the RD, even in the presence of the oxidizing agent cumene hydroperoxide. A cysteine to serine amino acid residue mutant RD protein further confirmed that the cysteine residue is not involved in sensing oxidative stress in vitro. Interestingly, an unidentified small molecule was observed in the inter-subdomain cavity in the RD when the crystal was incubated with cumene hydroperoxide molecules, suggesting a new ligand-binding site. In addition, we confirmed the role of AphB in acid tolerance by observing an aphB-dependent increase in cadC transcript level when V. vulnificus was exposed to acidic pH. Our study contributes to the understanding of the AphB molecular mechanism in the process of recognizing the host environment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.199-199
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• 2016

Commercially pure titanium (cp-Ti) and Ti alloys (typically Ti-6Al-4V) display excellent corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. Although the chemical composition and topography are considered important, the mechanical properties of the material and the loading conditions in the host have, conventionally. Ti and its alloys are not bioactive. Therefore, they do not chemically bond to the bone, whereas they physically bond with bone tissue. The electrochemical deposition process provides an effective surface for biocompatibility because large surface area can be served to cell proliferation. Electrochemical deposition method is an attractive technique for the deposition of hydroxyapatite (HAp). However, the adhesions of these coatings to the Ti surface needs to be improved for clinical used. Plasma electrolyte oxidation (PEO) enables control in the chemical com position, porous structure, and thickness of the $TiO_2$ layer on Ti surface. In addition, previous studies h ave concluded that the presence of $Ca^{+2}$ and ${PO_4}^{3-}$ ion coating on porous $TiO_2$ surface induced adhesion strength between HAp and Ti surface during electrochemical deposition. Silicon (Si) in particular has been found to be essential for normal bone and cartilage growth and development. Zinc (Zn) plays very important roles in bone formation and immune system regulation, and is also the most abundant trace element in bone. The objective of this work was to study electrochemical characteristcs of Zn and Si coating on Ti-6Al-4V by PEO treatment. The coating process involves two steps: 1) formation of porous $TiO_2$ on Ti-6Al-4V at high potential. A pulsed DC power supply was employed. 2) Electrochemical tests were carried out using potentiodynamic and AC impedance methoeds. The morphology, the chemical composition, and the micro-structure an alysis of the sample were examined using FE-SEM, EDS, and XRD. The enhancements of the HAp forming ability arise from $Si/Zn-TiO_2$ surface, which has formed the reduction of the Si/Zn ions. The promising results successfully demonstrate the immense potential of $Si/Zn-TiO_2$ coatings in dental and biomaterials applications.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2013

Candida biofilms are organized microbial communities growing on the surfaces of host tissues or indwelling medical devices, and the biofilms show enhanced resistance against the conventional antifungal agents. The roots of Coptidis chinensis have been widely used for medicinal purposes in East Asia. The present study was aimed to assess the effect of C. chinensis aqueous extract upon preformed biofilms of 10 clinical Candida albicans isolates and the antifungal activities which contribute to inhibit the C. albicans biofilm formation. Its effect on preformed biofilms was judged using XTT [2,3-Bis-(2-Methoxy-4-Nitro-5-Sulfophenyl)-2H-Tetrazolium-5-Carboxanilide)] reduction assay, and metabolic activity of all tested strains was reduced significantly ($57.3{\pm}14.7%$) at $98{\mu}g/ml$ of the C. chinensis extract. The extract damaged the cell membrane of C. albicans which was analyzed by fluorescein diacetate and propidium iodide staining. The anticandidal activity was fungicidal, and the extract obstructed the adhesion of C. albicans biofilms to polystyrene surfaces, arrested C. albicans cells at $G_o/G_1$ as well, and reduced the growth of biofilms or budding yeasts finally. The data suggest that C. chinensis has multiple antifungal effects on target fungi resulting in preventing the formation of biofilms. Therefore, C. chinensis holds great promise for exploring antifungal agents from natural products in treating and eliminating biofilm-associated Candida infection.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.231-237
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• 2004

Oxycarotenoids are oxygenated carotenoids that perform critical roles in plants. $\beta$-Carotene hydroxylase adds hydroxyl groups to the $\beta$-rings of carotenes and has been cloned from several bacteria and plants including Arabidopsis. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of $\beta$-carotene hydroxylase gene (Chyb) on the oxycarotenoids biosynthesis in the transgenic Arabidopsis. Construct of pGCHYB containing Chyb was established onto Gateway vector system (pENTR3C gateway vector and pH2GW7 destination vector). Arabidopsis thaliana (cv. Columbia) was transformed with Agrobacterium tumerfacience GV3101 harboring pGCHYB construct driven by 35S promoter and hygromycin resistant gene. Seven hundred bases paired PCR products, indicating the presence of Chyb gene, were found in the transformants by PCR analysis using Chyb primers. Hygromycin resistance assay showed that transgenes were stably inherited to next generation. The overexpression of the Chyb gene resulted in the decrease carotenoid content. Especially, astaxanthin unusual oxycarotenoid in wild type Arabidopsis was detected in the transgenic plants. This means that decreased carotenoids might be converted into astaxanthin metabolism with the aid of silent gene in the host.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.221-225
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• 1994

For producing single cell protein from the agricultural waste, heat treatment and antibiotics on the growth of Cellulomonas sp. KL-6, isolated in rotting leaf and the adjacent soil mixture, were examined. The organism was able to grow until 5 min. at $65^{\circ}C$, 1 min. at $75^{\circ}C$ and 1/4 min. at $85^{\circ}C$ in gradually rising temperatures. It can be Seen that preheating the suspension at $48^{\circ}C$ results in a marked decrease in heat resistance. On heating at temperature of $55^{\circ}C$ for 30 min., strain KL-6 was more resisted in the 0.1 M phosphate buffer when such substrates as casamino acid (1%), yeast extract (1%) or xylose (5%) were added to it whereas this organism was appeared weaker resistances in 0.1 M phosphate buffer when cysteine (0.03 M), sodium citrate (1%) or casein (1%) were in fused into it. Test strain was susceptible to penicillin-G $(1.563\;{\mu}g/ml)$ and ampicillin $(3.125\;{\mu}g/ml)$, but the organism was resisted to kanamycin $(>200\;{\mu}g/ml)$. The treatment of strain KL-6 with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) resulted in the elimination of R-plasmid from the host strain and the elimination rate with SDS $(10{\sim}30\;{\mu}g/ml)$ was about $9.2{\sim}31.2%$, respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.193-199
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• 1998

The mixtures of ultra-high molecular weight polythylene (UHMWPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), process oil (mineral oil) and potassium hexatitanate whisker were melted and mixed at $150^{\circ}C$ for 30min, and prepared by compression molding to the specimen of separator of about $200{\mu}m$ thickness at the same temperature and 5000 psi. Thereafter the pores were formed by extracting process oil with organic solvents. In this study, the range of PR (the ratio polymer to process oil) was varied from 0.1 to 0.5 because the specimen turned into rubbery phase at which PR was below 0.1 whereas it changed into gel phase at which PR was above 0.5. When the specimen was treated with nonpolar organic solvents, process oil was extracted nearly 98%. Tensile strength was $31kg/cm^2$ at PR = 0.426, and resistance of specimen was $37m{\Omega}/cm^2$ at PR = 0.186, and $53m{\Omega}/cm^2$ at PR = 0.426. The $N_2$ adsorption-desorption isotherm showed a hysteresis representing regions of capillary condensation, and the surface area at PR = 0.186 was relatively large as $130cm^2/g$. Potassium hexatitanate whisker was randomly dispersed in between PE layers. It might be that the whisker is intercalated through the PE thin layers oriented by compression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1345-1351
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• 2011

Vancomycin therapy failure due to the emergence of tolerance in pneumococci is increasing. The molecular mechanism of tolerance is not clear, but lytA and $pep^{27}$ are known to be involved. Our aim was to evaluate the expression of both genes in vancomycin-tolerant Streptococcus pneumoniae (VTSP) strains. Eleven VTSP strains from a total of 309 clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae from 1997 to 2006 were classified according to the criteria of Liu and Tomasz. All VTSP strains were evaluated for susceptibility according to CLSI criteria, serotype by the Quellung test, and clonality by PFGE. The expressions of lytA and $pep^{27}$ were analyzed in different growth phases by RT-PCR with and without vancomycin. Eighty-two percent of VTSP strains showed resistance to penicillin, and 100% were sensitive to vancomycin and cefotaxime. The most frequent serotypes of VTSP strains were 23F (4/11) and 6B (3/11). Clonal relationship was observed in only two strains. No significant changes were observed in $pep^{27}$ expression in the three phases of growth in VTSP strains with and without vancomycin. Interestingly, $pep^{27}$ expression in the stationary phase in the non-tolerant reference strain R6 was significantly higher. However, no significant differences in lytA expression were observed between VTSP and R6 strains during the phases of growth analyzed. The absence of changes in $pep^{27}$ expression in VTSP strains in the stationary phase may be related to their ability to tolerate high antibiotic concentrations, and thus, they survive and remain in the host under the antibiotic selective pressure reflected in therapeutic failure.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.479-485
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• 1986

A 5200 basepair DNA fragment containing the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens amyE gene, encoding liquefying $\alpha$-amylase (1,4-$\alpha$-1)-glucan glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1), has been inserted into BamHI site of the pUB110 and the hybrid plasmid was designated as pSKS3. The pSKS3 was transformed into the Bacillus subtilis KM2l3 as a host which is a saccharifying $\alpha$-amylase deficient mutant of Bacillus subtilis NA64, and the plasmid in the transformed cell was expressed $\alpha$-amylase production and kanamycin resistance. The $\alpha$-amylase production of the transformed cell was reduced to one fifth of that of the donor strain. The Bacillus subtilis KM2l3 tarring pSKS3 indicated that the amyE gene product is a polypeptide which has the same electrophoretic mobility with that of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, but different from the saccharifying $\alpha$-amylase of Bacillus subtilis NA64. It means that the amyE gene of pSKS3 originales from the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2017

Gray mold disease, cause by Botrytis cinerea, occurs severe damage on varieties of fruit and vegetable production, and have no a critical control method. In case of chemicals control, it is a trigger emergence of drug resistance strains due to using them continuously. In addition, the pathogen is difficult to control naturally because it is possible to survive regardless of host status. In this study, microorganisms were isolated from tomato flower and hive samples and in order to select suitable microbial control agents for tomato gray mold disease. During six-months study, we isolated 1,004 isolates from flower and 925 isolates from pollinator hive samples. Among them, 6 strains were selected based on result of antifungal activity test. The selected strains showed not only strong antifungal activity against gray mold pathogen, but also cellulase and protease enzyme activities. The selected strains were identified as Paenibacillus polymyxa. In plant assay, P. polymyxa prevented the gray mold disease occurrence near 75%.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2017

Polydnaviruses (PDVs) are a group of double-stranded DNA viruses symbiotic to some endoparasitoid wasps. Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV) is a PDV symbiotic to an endoparasitoid wasp, C. plutellae, parasitizing young larvae of Plutella xylostella. An early expressed gene, CpBV-ELP1, plays an important role in the parasitism by suppressing host cellular immunity by its cytotoxic activity against hemocytes. This study aimed to test its oral toxicity against insect pest by expressing it in a recombinant tobacco plant. A recombinant CpBV-ELP1 protein was produced using a baculovirus expression system and secreted to cell culture medium. The cell cultured media were used to purify CpBV-ELP1 by a sequential array of purification steps: ammonium sulfate fractionation, size exclusion chromatography, and ion exchange chromatography. Purified rCpBV-ELP1 exhibited a significant cytotoxicity against Spodoptera exigua hemocytes. CpBV-ELP1 was highly toxic to the fifth instar larvae of S. exigua by injection to hemocoel. It also showed a significant oral toxicity to fifth instar larvae of S. exigua by a leaf-dipping assay. CpBV-ELP1 was cloned into pBI121 vector under CaMV 35S promoter with opaline synthase terminator. Resulting recombinant vector (pBI121-ELP1) was used to transform Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404. The recombinant bacteria were then used to induce callus of a tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum Xanthi) leaves and subsequent generation (T1) plants were selected. T1 generation tobacco plants expressing CpBV-ELP1 gave significant insecticidal activities against S. exigua larvae. These results suggest that CpBV-ELP1 gene can be used to control insect pests by constructing transgenic crops.