• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.496-500
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• 2012

Arthrospira platensis (A. platensis) is an economically important filamentous microalgae. The isolation of mutants by chemical or physical mutagen is a clue for the strain improvement. In this study, effects of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on A. platensis were investigated. Cells (or microalgae) were exposed to UV-B (15 Watt, 254 nm) for 1, 3, 5, and 10 min, and resulting mutants were designated UM1, UM3, UM5, and UM10, respectively. Especially, the lipid content of UM5 mutant was considerably increased by 8~11 fold compared to that of wild types. Moreover, the carotenoid content and antioxidant enzyme (peroxidase and superoxide dismutase) activity were increased. It was shown that UV-induced mutants can accumulate bioactive compounds, which will be useful for the industrial production of valuable products.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1249-1253
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• 2007

A hyperthermostable endoglucanase from Pyrococcus horikoshii with the capability of hydrolyzing crystalline cellulose was analyzed. A protein engineering study was carried out to obtain a reduced-size mutant. Five amino acid residues at both the N- and C-terminus were found to be removable without any loss of activity or thermal stability. Site-directed mutagenesis was also performed on R102, N200, E201, H297, Y299, E342, and W377, residues possibly involved in the active center or in the recognition and binding of a cellulose substrate. The activity of the resulting mutants was considerably decreased, confirming that the mutated residues were all important for activity. A reduced-size enzyme, as active as the wild-type endoglucanase, was successfully obtained, plus the residues critical for its activity and specificity were confirmed. Consequently, an engineered enzyme with a reduced size was obtained, and the amino acids essential for activity were confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis and comparison with a known three-dimensional structure.

• BMB Reports
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.443-451
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• 2002

Malonate is a three-carbon dicarboxylic acid. It is well known as a competitive inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase. It occurs naturally in biological systems, such as legumes and developing rat brains, which indicates that it may play an important role in symbiotic nitrogen metabolism and brain development. Recently, enzymes that are related to malonate metabolism were discovered and characterized. The genes that encode the enzymes were isolated, and the regulation of their expression was also studied. The mutant bacteria, in which the malonate-metabolizing gene was deleted, lost its primary function, symbiosis, between Rhizobium leguminosarium bv trifolii and clover. This suggests that malonate metabolism is essential in symbiotic nitrogen metabolism, at least in clover nodules. In addition to these, the genes matB and matC have been successfully used for generation of the industrial strain of Streptomyces for the production of antibiotics.

• The Microorganisms and Industry
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.34-41
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• 1993

Industrial strain improvement is concerned with developing or modifying microorganisms used in production of commercially important fermentation products. The aim is to reduce the production cost by improving productivity of a strain and manipulating specific characteristics such as the ability to utilize cheaper raw materials or resist bacteriophages. The traditional empirical approach to strain improvement is mutation combined with selection and breeding techniques. It is still used by us to improve the productivity of organisms in amino acids, organic acids and enzymes production. The breeding of high L-lysine-producing strain Au112 is one of the outstanding examples of this approach. It is a homoserine auxotroph with AEC, TA double metabolic analogue resistant markers. The yield reaches 100 g/l. Besides, the citric acid-producing organism Aspergillus niger, Co827, its productivity reaches the advanced level in the world, is also the result of a series mutations especially with $^60Co{\gamma}$-radiation. The thermostable .alpha.-amylase producing strain A 4041 is the third example. By combining physical and chemical mutations, the strain A 4041 becomes an asporogenous, catabolite derepressed mutant with rifamycin resistant and methionine, arginine auxotroph markers. The .alpha.-amylase activity reaches 200 units/ml. The fourth successful example of mutation in strain improvement is the glucoamylase-producing strain Aspergillus niger SP56, its enzyme activity is 20,000 units/ml, 4 times of that of the parental strain UV-11. Recently, recombinant DNA approach provides a worthwhile alternative strategy to industrial strain improvement. This technique had been used by us to increase the thermostable .alpha.-amylase production and on some genetic researches.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.1219-1225
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• 2010

Actinobacillus succinogenes, a representative succinicacid-producing microorganism, is seriously inhibited by ammonium ions, thereby hampering the industrial use of A. succinogenes with ammonium-ion-based materials as the pH controller. Therefore, this study isolated an ammonium-ion-tolerant mutant of A. succinogenes using a continuous-culture technique in which all the environmental factors, besides the stress (ammonium ions), were kept constant. Instead of operating the mutant-generating system as a nutrient-limited chemostat, it was used as a nutrient-unlimited system, allowing the cells to be continuously cultured at the maximum specific growth rate. The mutants were isolated on agar plates containing the acid-base indicator bromothymol blue and a high level of ammonium ions that would normally kill the parent strain by 100%. When cultured in anaerobic bottles with an ammonium ion concentration of 354 mmol/l, the mutant YZ0819 produced 40.21 g/l of succinic acid with a yield of 80.4%, whereas the parent strain NJ113 was unable to grow. When using $NH_4OH$ to buffer the culture pH in a 3.0 l stirredbioreactor, YZ0819 produced 35.15 g/l of succinic acid with a yield of 70.3%, which was 155% higher than that produced by NJ113. In addition, the morphology of YZ0819 changed in the fermentation broth, as the cells were aggregated from the beginning to the end of the fermentation. Therefore, these results indicate that YZ0819 can efficiently produce succinic acid when using $NH_4OH$ as the pH controller, and the formation of aggregates can be useful for transferring the cells from a cultivation medium for various industrial applications.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.167-176
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• 1975

As a study on the ATP-inhibited ribonuclease of Bacillus subtilis the screening work for obtaining the ATP-inhibited ribonuclease negative mutant were carried out. And mutant strain was selected by the treatment of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG). For the selected strain the enzyme purification and some physiological properties were examined and the results obtained were as follows. 1. Among tested 1817 strains with the treatment of NTG, 101 strain was selected as a mutant strain. 2. ATP-inhibited ribonuclease was tentatively purified by several independent column chromatography. The results with Sephadex G-75 column were 30 times purification, 99% recovery, and 20 times purification, 98% recovery, respectively. 3. ATP-inhibited ribonuclease was purified by 60 times through acid treatment, ammonium fractionation, and two successive chromatography. 4. The purified ribonuclease were shown to be effectively concentrated in robonnclease content and to have reduced numbers of protein band on Disc electrophoresis. 5. This enzyme degraded single-stranded RNA to 2',3'-cyclic AMP, 2',3'-cyclic CMP, 2',3,-cyclic GMP, 2',3'-cyclic UMP and some unknown intermediates. The enzyme could not split double-stranded RNA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1701-1707
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• 2016

Lipoxygenase (LOX) is an industrial enzyme with wide applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. The available structure information indicates that eukaryotic LOXs consist of N terminus β-barrel and C terminus catalytic domains. However, the latest crystal structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LOX shows it is significantly different from those of eukaryotic LOXs, including the N-terminal helix domain. In this paper, the functions of this N-terminal helix domain in the soluble expression and catalysis of P. aeruginosa LOX were analyzed. Genetic truncation of this helix domain resulted in an insoluble P. aeruginosa LOX mutant. The active C-terminal domain was obtained by dispase digestion of the P. aeruginosa LOX derivative containing the genetically introduced dispase recognition sites. This functional C-terminal domain showed raised substrate affinity but reduced catalytic activity and thermostability. Crystal structure analyses demonstrate that the broken polar contacts connecting the two domains and the exposed hydrophobic substrate binding pocket may contribute to the insoluble expression of the C terminus domain and the changes in the enzyme properties. Our data suggest that the N terminus domain of P. aeruginosa LOX is required for its soluble expression in E. coli, which is different from that of the eukaryotic LOXs. Besides this, this N-terminal domain is not necessary for catalysis but shows positive effects on the enzyme properties. The results presented here provide new and valuable information on the functions of the N terminus helix domain of P. aeruginosa LOX and further improvement of its enzyme properties by molecular modification.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.422-426
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• 2009

Sweetpotato is one of the important starch crops, current more considered as an industrial crop rather than food because it has higher starch content (over 80% of biomass), it is used for bio resources for industrial area. In this study, we generated S598A (a mutant gene of oat phytochrome A) sweetpotato plant using Agrobacterium-transformation method. Morphological characteristics of S598A plant were compared with the wild type sweetpotato, S598A had darker green leaves, increased chlorophyll content higher than to two-fold, delayed leaf senescence, shorter plant height (60% shorter than that of the wild type), more number of leaves and petioles about 1.8-fold, shorter petiole length (30% shorter), 1.2-fold more branches and 1.6-fold thicker stem diameters. From this study, S598A plants with such phenotypic characteristics might be able to use the solar energy efficiently, to have increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and finally to increase productivity (not only starch yield but also root biomass yield). S598A sweetpotato lines are under field trials.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.504-511
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• 2016

Lactulose, a synthetic disaccharide, has received increasing interest because of its role as a prebiotic that can increase the proliferation of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus spp. and enhance the absorption of calcium and magnesium. While the industrial production of lactulose is still mainly achieved by the chemical isomerization of lactose in alkaline media, this process has drawbacks including the need to remove catalysts and by-products, as well as high energy requirements. Recently, the use of cellobiose 2-epimerase (CE) has been considered an interesting alternative for industrial lactulose production. In this study, to develop a process for enzymatic lactulose production using CE, we screened improved mutant enzymes ($CS-H^RC^E$) from a library generated by an error-prone PCR technique. The thermostability of one mutant was enhanced, conferring stability up to $75^{\circ}C$, and its lactulose conversion yield was increased by 1.3-fold compared with that of wild-type CE. Using a recombinant Escherichia coli strain harboring a CS35 $H^RC^E$-expressing plasmid, we prepared cell beads immobilized on a Ca-alginate substrate and optimized their reaction conditions. In a batch reaction with 200 g/l lactose solution and the immobilized cell beads, lactose was converted into lactulose with a conversion yield of 43% in 2 h. In a repeated 38-plex batch reaction, the immobilized cell beads were relatively stable, and 80% of the original enzyme activity was retained after 4 cycles. In conclusion, we developed a reasonable method for lactulose production by immobilizing cells expressing thermostable CE. Further development is required to apply this approach at an industrial scale.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1724-1734
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• 2010

A phosphate-solubilizing bacterial strain isolated from Hippophae rhamnoides rhizosphere was identified as Rahnella sp. based on its phenotypic features and 16S rRNA gene sequence. The bacterial strain showed the growth characteristics of a cold-adapted psychrotroph, with the multiple plant growth-promoting traits of inorganic and organic phosphate solubilization, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate-deaminase activity, ammonia generation, and siderophore production. The strain also produced indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-acetaldehyde, indole-3-acetamide, indole-3-acetonitrile, indole-3-lactic acid, and indole-3-pyruvic acid in tryptophan-supplemented nutrient broth. Gluconic, citric and isocitric acids were the major organic acids detected during tricalcium phosphate solubilization. A rifampicin-resistant mutant of the strain exhibited high rhizosphere competence without disturbance to the resident microbial populations in pea rhizosphere. Seed bacterization with a charcoal-based inoculum significantly increased growth in barley, chickpea, pea, and maize under the controlled environment. Microplot testing of the inoculum at two different locations in pea also showed significant increase in growth and yield. The attributes of cold-tolerance, high rhizosphere competence, and broad-spectrum plant growth-promoting activity exhibited the potential of Rahnella sp. BIHB 783 for increasing agriculture productivity.