• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.258-263
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• 1998

${\beta}$-Xylosidase was purified from the recombinant Escherichia coli carrying the Bacillus sp. KK-1 ${\beta}$-xylosidase gene (xylB). The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 62 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. However, the apparent molecular mass of the ${\beta}$-xylosidase was 140 kDa, indicating that the native ${\beta}$-xylosidase has an oligomeric structure composed of two identical subunits. The isoelectric point was determined to be pH 5.5. The enzyme was highly active on p-nitrophenyl-$\beta$-D-xylopyranoside but it barely hydrolyzed xylan substrates, and did not exhibit activity towards carboxymethylcellulose and p-nitrophenyl-${\beta}$-D- glucopyranoside. The enzyme had a pH optimum for its activity at pH 6.5 and a temperature optimum at $40^{\circ}C$. The enzyme activity was completely inhibited by the presence of $Hg^{++}$, and also markedly inhibited by D-xylose and D-glucose.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.206-216
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• 2006

In this study, we have attempted to characterize the functions of YlaC and YlaD encoded by ylaC and ylaD genes in Bacillus subtilis. The GUS reporter gene, driven by the yla operon promoter, was expressed primarily during the late exponential and early stationary phase, and its expression increased as the result of hydrogen peroxide treatment. Northern and Western blot analyses revealed that the level of ylaC transcripts and YlaC increased as the result of challenge with hydrogen peroxide. A YlaC-overexpressing strain evidenced hydrogen peroxide resistance and a three-fold higher peroxidase activity as compared with a deletion mutant. YlaC-overexpressing and YlaD-disrupted strains evidenced higher sporulation rates than were observed in the YlaC-disrupted and YlaD-overexpressing strains. Analyses of the results of native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of recombinant YlaC and YlaD indicated that interaction between YlaC and YlaD was regulated by the redox state of YlaD in vitro. Collectively, the results of this study appear to suggest that YlaC regulated by the YlaD redox state, contribute to oxidative stress resistance in B. subtilis.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.107-112
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• 1999

A carboxymethyl-cellulase (CMCase) was purified from the culture supernatant of Bacillus sp. KD1014 by ultrafiltration, ammonium sulfate precipitation, and a series of chromatography on QAE-Sephadex A-50, hydroxylapatite and Sephadex G-75. The purified CMCase was a single protein of 32 kDa, showed an optimum activity at $60^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.0, and had a half-life of 23 min at $70^{\circ}C$. The enzyme activity was not influenced by metal ions such as $Mg^{2+},\;Fe^{3+},\;K^+,\;Zn^{2+}$, and $Cu^{2+}$ at a concentration of 1.0 mM, partially inhibited by $Mn^{2+}$ and $Ag^+$, and significantly inhibited by pentachlorophenol (PCP). The purified enzyme showed a 3.9-times higher activity on lichenan than on CMC, but hardly cleaved xylan, starch, avicel, laminarin, filter paper and levan. The results of activity staining of the purified enzyme separated by native and denaturing gel electrophoresis suggested that the CMCase might exist in dimeric, oligomeric or aggregated form as well as in monomeric form. The enzymatic cleavage products from cellotetraose indicated that the CMCase possessed transglycosylation activity.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.147-151
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• 2000

A gene, nprM, from Bacillus megaterium ATCC 14945 was obtained by PCR using primers synthesized based on two nprM sequences from two different strains, and cloned into Escherichia coli. The gene nprM encoded an extracellular neutral protease, and the molecular mass of the expressed enzyme was estimated to be approximately 36kDa on a denaturating gel. The enzyme was activated by $Ca^{2+}$, and the optimum concentration of $Ca^{2+}$ was 5 mM. The enzyme was inhibited by EDTA but not by PMSF. The optimal pH and temperature of the cloned enzyme were $50^{\circ}C and pH 7.5-8.0, respectively, and were similar to those of the enzyme from the gene gonor cell. The cloned NprM caused internal cleavage of the native endoglucanase of B. subtilis BSE616 as a model foregin protein, and resulted in a small truncated but still active endoglucanase.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.446-453
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• 1995

$\alpha $-Arabinofuranosidase was produced by E. coli HB101 haboring the recombinant plasmid pKMG11 which contained the arfI gene of Bacillus stearothermophilus. The maximum production of the enzyme was observed when E. coli HB101 cells were grown at 37$\circ$C for 20 hours in the medium containing 0.5% arabinose, 1.0% tryptone, 0.5% yeast extract, and 1% NaCl. The $\ALPHA $-arabinofuranosidase produced was purified to homogeneity using a combination of 20-50% ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B ion exchange column chromatography and Sepharose 6B-100 gel filtration. The purified enzyme was most active at 55$\circ$C and pH 6.5. The K$_{m}$ and V$_{max}$ values of the enzyme on $\rho $-nitrophenyl-$\alpha $-arabinofuranoside was determined to be 2.99 mM and 0.43 $\mu $mole/min (319.74 $\mu $mole/min/mg), respectively. The pI value was 4.5. The molecular weight of the native protein was estimated to be 289 kDa. The SDS-polyacrylamide gel clectrophoresis analysis suggested that the functional protein was a trimer of the 108 kDa identical subunits. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the a-arabinofuranosidase was identified as X-Ser-Thr-Ala-Pro-Arg( \ulcorner )-Ala-Thr-Met-Val-Ile-Asp-X-Ala-Phe.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.4 s.71
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• pp.657-663
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• 2005

Collagenases are generally defined as enzymes that are capable of degrading the polypeptide backbone of native collagen under conditions that do not denature the protein. An extracellular collagenase-producing bacterial strain was isolated from kimchi and identified to be Bacillus subtilis JS-17 through morphological, cultural, biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Optimum culture condition of Bacillus subtilis JS-17 for the production of collagenase was $1.5\%$ fructose, $1\%$ yeast extract, $0.5\%\;K_2HPO_4,\;0.4\%\;KH_2PO_4,\;0.01\%\;MgSO_4\cdot7H_2O,\;0.01\%\; MnSO_4\cdot4H_2O,\;,0.1\%$ citrate and $0.1\%\;CaCl_2$. The production of collagenase was optimal at $30^{\circ}C$ for 72 hr. A collagenase was isolated from the culture filtrate of Bacillus subtilis JS-17. The enzyme was purified using Amberlite IRA-900 column chromatography, Sephacryl S-300 HR column chromatography and DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column chromatography The purified collagenase has an specific activity 192.1 units/mg. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 28 kDa by SDS-PACE. The purified collagenase has $100\%$ activity up to $55^{\circ}C$.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.420-426
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• 1998

An extracellular glutamyl aminopeptidase (EC 3.4.11.7) producing bacterium was isolated from soil and identified as Bacillus licheniformis based on its morphological and physiological characteristics. The aminopeptidase was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Phenyl Sepharose, Resource Q, and Superose 12 column chromatographies. The specific activity of the purified aminopeptidase was 9.2 unit/mg for glutamyl p-nitroanilide with 17.6 purification folds. The purified aminopeptidase had an estimated molecular mass of 64 kDa consists of two different subunits (42 kDa and 22 kDa), and its isoeletric point was 5.2 measured by isoelectric focusing. The optimum pH and temperature of the aminopeptidase were 8.0 and 55$^{\circ}C$, respectively. The aminopeptidase was inhibited by EDTA and 1,10-phenanthroline, suggesting it be a metalloenzyme. Comparing with other aminopeptidase, the enzyme showed relatively high activity against peptide having glutamic acid as N-terminal.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.574-582
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• 1992

Exo-xylanase encoded by the xylA gene of Bacillus stearothermoPhillus was produced from Escherichia coli ]M109 carrying a recombinant plasmid pMGL Synthesis of the enzyme was observed to be cell-associated, and about 94% of the enzyme synthesized was located in the cytoplasmic region. The maximum production was attained when the E. coli strain was grown at $37^{\circ}C$ for 8 hours on the medium containing 0.5% fructose, 1.0% tryptone, 1.0% sodium chloride, and 0.5% yeast extract. The exo-xylanase was purified to homogeneity using a combination of salting out with ammonium sulfate, DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B ion exchange chromatography, Sephadex G-IOO gel filtration, and Sephadex G-150 gel filtration. The' purified enzyme was most active at pH 6.0 and $45^{\circ}C$. $Ca^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$ activated the exo-xylanase activity by about 20% while $Ag^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$ inhibited the enzyme activity by up to 60%. The $K_m$, value on p-nitrophenyl-$\beta$-D-xylanopyranoside was 2.75 mM. The enzyme had a pI value of 4.7. The estimated molecular weight of the native protein was 200,000 daL SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis suggested that the native enzyme was a trimer composed of three identical 66,000 da!. polypeptides. The purified enzyme efficiently converted all the xylo-oligosaccharides tested to xylose. It was also confirmed that the enzyme split xylans in an exo-manner even though the degree of hydrolysis was fairly low. The xylanolytic enzyme was, therefore, classified to be one of the few bacterial exo-xylanases lacking transferase activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2011

The anti-phytoplasma activities of surfactin (derived from Iranian native Bacillus subtilis isolates) and tetracycline towards Candidatus "Phytoplasma aurantifolia", the agent of lime Witches' broom disease, were investigated. HPLC was used to quantify the surfactin production in four previously characterized native surfactin-producing strains, and the one producing the highest amount of surfactin (about 1,500 mg/l) was selected and cultivated following optimized production and extraction protocols. Different combinations of purified surfactin and commercial tetracycline were injected into artificially phytoplasmainfected Mexican lime seedlings using a syringe injection system. An absolute quantitative real-time PCR system was developed to monitor the phytoplasma population shifts in the lime phloem during 3 months following the injections. The results revealed that the injections of surfactin or tetracycline had a significant inhibitory effect on Candidatus "P. aurantifolia". However, the combined treatment with both surfactin and tetracycline (1:1) resulted in the highest inhibition due to a synergic effect, which suppressed the phytoplasma population from about $2{\times}10^5$ to less than 10 phytoplasma units/g plant tissue.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 1970

Five samples of Korean native Maeju(fermented soy-bean mash) loaves which were collected each from Kyunggi, Chungchung, Kangwon, Cholla and Kyungsang-Do were examined for their fermenting microorganisms. The results of taxonomic and ecological studies of fermentation microorganisms in these Maeju loaves were as the fellows. (1) The fungus flora grew only is the outer layer of Maeju loaves. Miscellaneous molds, 3 species of Mucor, 2 species of Pericallium., one species each of Scopulariopsis and Aspergillus, were isolated. None of them seemed exclusively predominant to be able to designate as the ecologically significant. (2) The bacterial flora which consisted of two species, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus were distributed uniformly in th a entire Maeju loaves. The inner parts of Maeju loaves were especially inhabited solely by these bacterial flora. Probably the Korean native Maeju fermentation could be characterized by these bacterial flora. A Staphylococcus species was also isolated probably as a casual contaminant. (3) The yeasts, Rhodotorula flava and Torulopsis dattila, were isolated from Maeju loaves though their ecological significance was not clear. (4) The ecological aspects of fermentation microbes in the outer and inner parts of Maeju loaves were apparently different, consequently different fermentation processes might have occurred in these two parts and it brought quite different final outlooks in the final matured Maeju loaves. The outer part, rather rigid and dry, retained the light brown color of boiled soy-bean; whereas the inner part, soft and sticky, showed dark brown color indicating severe chemical changes. (5) The aflatoxin producing mold, Aspergillus oryzae was isolated from one sample among 5 of Maeju loaves. In addition to the low probability of isolability from Maeju loaves samples, since this mold grew only in the outer layer of Maeju loaves with such a low population density, about $10^4/g$, perhaps the aflatoxin problem in Korean native soysauce may not be critical.