• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.436-456
• /
• 2024

Several thermostable proteases have been identified, yet only a handful have undergone the processes of cloning, comprehensive characterization, and full exploitation in various industrial applications. Our primary aim in this study was to clone a thermostable alkaline protease from a thermophilic bacterium and assess its potential for use in various industries. The research involved the amplification of the SpSKF4 protease gene, a thermostable alkaline serine protease obtained from the Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius SKF4 bacterium through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The purified recombinant SpSKF4 protease was characterized, followed by evaluation of its possible industrial applications. The analysis of the gene sequence revealed an open reading frame (ORF) consisting of 1,206 bp, coding for a protein containing 401 amino acids. The cloned gene was expressed in Escherichia coli. The molecular weight of the enzyme was measured at 28 kDa using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The partially purified enzyme has its highest activity at a pH of 10 and a temperature of 80℃. In addition, the enzyme showed a half-life of 15 h at 80℃, and there was a 60% increase in its activity at 10 mM Ca²⁺ concentration. The activity of the protease was completely inhibited (100%) by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF); however, the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) resulted in a 20% increase in activity. The enzyme was also stable in various organic solvents and in certain commercial detergents. Furthermore, the enzyme exhibited strong potential for industrial use, particularly as a detergent additive and for facilitating the recovery of silver from X-ray film.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.366-378
• /
• 2024

Application of commercial hormone failed to promote breeding in certain Pangasius species due to the differences of gonadotropin-releasing hormone specific peptide with species-specific bioactivities. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a hypothalamic decapeptide in the reproductive system that plays a crucial role in the regulation of reproductive processes. This study was performed to determine and analyse the GnRH genes from commercially important Pangasius sp., Pangasianodon hypophthalmus and Pangasius nasutus. The GnRH1 and GnRH2 genes were amplified and cloned into TOPO vector, followed by phylogenetic analysis of a complete open reading frame (ORF) of GnRH genes. The GnRH1 and GnRH2 genes of P. hypophthalmus and P. nasutus were detected at 300 bp and 360 bp, encoded for 81 and 87 amino acids, respectively. Amino acid sequence identities revealed high homology of P. hypophthalmus and P. nasutus GnRH1 and GnRH2 genes in comparison with other fish and vertebrates. Phylogenetic tree showed that fish from various families were aggregated into a group of the same order due to their highest identity similarities. It revealed that the vertebrate formed clusters and are grouped according to their GnRH decapeptide and GnRH-associated peptide (GAP) region, indicating a close relationship among GnRH decapeptide and GAP in different vertebrate species.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Radon may be second only to smoking as a cause of lung cancer. Radon is a colorless, tasteless radioactive gas that is formed via the radioactive decay of radium. Therefore, radon levels can build up based on the amount of radium contained in construction materials such as phospho-gypsum board or when ventilation rates are low. This study provides our findings from evaluation of radon gas at facilities and offices in an industrial complex. Methods: We evaluated the office rooms and processes of 12 manufacturing factories from May 14, 2014 to September 23, 2014. Short-term data were measured by using real-time monitoring detectors(Model 1030, Sun Nuclear Co., USA) indoors in the office buildings. The radon measurements were recorded at 30-minute intervals over approximately 48 hours. The limit of detection of this instrument is $3.7Bq/m^3$. Also, long-term data were measured by using ${\alpha}-track$ radon detectors(${\alpha}-track$, Rn-tech Co., Korea) in the office and factory buildings. Our detectors were exposed for over 90 days, resulting in a minimum detectable concentration of $7.4Bq/m^3$. Detectors were placed 150-220 cm above the floor. Results: Radon concentrations averaged $20.6{\pm}17.0Bq/m^3$($3.7-115.8Bq/m^3$) in the overall area. The monthly mean concentration of radon by building materials were in the order of gypsum>concrete>cement. Radon concentrations were measured using ${\alpha}-track$ in parallel with direct-reading radon detectors and the two metric methods for radon monitoring were compared. A t-test for the two sampling methods showed that there is no difference between the average radon concentrations(p<0.05). Most of the office buildings did not have central air-conditioning, but several rooms had window- or ceiling-mounted units. Employees could also open windows. The first, second and third floors were used mainly for office work. Conclusions: Radon levels measured during this assessment in the office rooms of buildings and processes in factories were well below the ICRP reference level of $1,000Bq/m^3$ for workplaces and also below the lower USEPA residential guideline of $148Bq/m^3$. The range of indoor annual effective dose due to radon exposure for workers working in the office and factory buildings was 0.01 to 1.45 mSv/yr. Construction materials such as phospho-gypsum board, concrete and cement were the main emission sources for workers' exposure.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.10
• /
• pp.1512-1523
• /
• 2022

Objective: The growth of pigs involves multiple regulatory mechanisms, and modern molecular breeding techniques can be used to understand the skeletal muscle growth and development to promote the selection process of pigs. This study aims to explore candidate lncRNAs and mRNAs related to skeletal muscle growth and development among Duroc pigs with different average daily gain (ADG). Methods: A total of 8 pigs were selected and divided into two groups: H group (high-ADG) and L group (low-ADG). And followed by whole transcriptome sequencing to identify differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and mRNAs. Results: In RNA-seq, 703 DE mRNAs (263 up-regulated and 440 down-regulated) and 74 DE lncRNAs (45 up-regulated and 29 down-regulated) were identified. In addition, 1,418 Transcription factors (TFs) were found. Compared with mRNAs, lncRNAs had fewer exons, shorter transcript length and open reading frame length. DE mRNAs and DE lncRNAs can form 417 lncRNA-mRNA pairs (antisense, cis and trans). DE mRNAs and target genes of lncRNAs were enriched in cellular processes, biological regulation, and regulation of biological processes. In addition, quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis was used to detect the functions of DE mRNAs and lncRNAs, the most of DE mRNAs and target genes of lncRNAs were enriched in QTLs related to growth traits and skeletal muscle development. In single-nucleotide polymorphism/insertion-deletion (SNP/INDEL) analysis, 1,081,182 SNP and 131,721 INDEL were found, and transition was more than transversion. Over 60% of percentage were skipped exon events among alternative splicing events. Conclusion: The results showed that different ADG among Duroc pigs with the same diet maybe due to the DE mRNAs and DE lncRNAs related to skeletal muscle growth and development.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.203-217
• /
• 2018

The research objective of this study is to analyze the aspects of small group decision-making process based on reading news reports in the context of the socio-scientific issues (SSI) activity related to climate change. Twenty-two high school students from Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, were asked to read two news reports on the UN climate change conferences and take a stance on joining the Paris Agreement both as an individual and as a small group. The news reports were analyzed in terms of genre, discourse, and style adapting the critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the decision-making processes of the small groups were examined on recognizing a problem and evaluating alternatives and decisions. The results from analyzing the news reports denoted that the Paris agreement is not only related to finding ideal solutions to climate change, but rather, connected to political or economic interests and power relationship. In the stage of recognizing a problem, meanwhile, different frames which students recognize the Paris agreement and discourses in the foreground of the news reports were the critical causes in terms of identifying the problem. In the stage of evaluating alternatives and decisions, the equity and fairness were the criteria for the small group discussions. This study implies the necessity of the scientific literacy instruction to develop the ability to critical reading in the context of the SSI.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.5-28
• /
• 1994

In this thesis we attempt to analyze modern Korean poetic texts in the franmeworks of text limgisitics and cognitive pragmatics. Both frameworks describe and explai human verbal communicantion in terms of congnitive information-processing procedures.By utilizing analytical devices provided by seven standards of textuality we can analyze any type of text,especially in terms of the cognitive operations underlying the production and reception processes.It is clamed in cognitive pragmatic framework that human ostensive inforential communication is regulated by the Principle of Relevance.We claim that the relevance-based framework of pragmatics provides evidence and rationale for those cognitive operations identified in the text linguistic framework. poetic texts involve every kind of cognitive strategies and processing procedures underlying human verbal communication.So,if modern Korean poetic texts are satisfactorily analyzed by text linguistics and cognitive pragmatics,it means that both frameworks are very useful tools for analyzing texts and that all the other text types which are less complicated than poetic text will also be analyzed by these frameworks. Researchers of poetry,and poets,are sensitive to poetic effects.They feel more of poeticity while reading poetic texts than ordinary readers do.However,these researchers or poets sometimes give different interpretation of a single poetic text.The interpretation of poetry cannot be anything,because poets write poems with particular intertions and do not just throw them out so as to be interpreted at ramdom.This thesis suggersts that the poeticity felt by the reader can be described and accounted for in a scientific way.In other words,text linguistics and cognitive pragmatics enable the researchers of poetry to become objective in interpreting poetic texts. It will be clearly shown that we have to see poetic texts from a cognitive perspective,since they are by-products of cognitive processing performed by discourse participants.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.217-225
• /
• 2010

Today's public libraries in communities are on the processes of changes to integrate information and communication technology into traditional library system in order to support current users' demands for the new digital era. The purpose of this study is to examine the changing characters on space design and space uses of community based public libraries by conducting case studies of three branch libraries which were built after 2004 in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. As the conclusion of this research, the findings of the case studies are utilized as basic data for planning and design guidelines for public libraries as community resources. The study summarizes the characteristics of space design and space uses in public libraries as follow; first, the floor plans of small-scale public libraries are open visually as well as spatially. The space organization of the libraries is arranged by potential noise levels, as placing noisy spaces near the entrance halls and quiet spaces at the back. Main book shelves are located in the middle of the library buildings, while seats are arranged along the window sides. By placing various kinds of furniture in open reading areas, library users can select different types of seats and tables for their comforts. Second. the survey of observation also finds that a large number of users often use library computers and personal computers to connect the internet at the libraries. These personal computer users who are new user group in community based libraries preferred to sit in casual study areas and individual tables with one or two seats only. Third, the libraries, in addition, develop and provide various programs and events for people in communities. Especially, the programs for children, the elderly and new comers from the abroad are well prepared, thus provide opportunities for them to visit the libraries in regular bases. The survey finds that family entertainment and leisure activities are the important parts of the program as well as renting music CD and movie DVD are also important reasons for people to come. Thus, the libraries prepare high quality children's space and CD shelves near the entrance hall.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
• /
• v.10B no.6
• /
• pp.599-610
• /
• 2003

The Web plays an important role as information source and most Web applications are document-centric. A document implies an intention of its own designer, which can be utilized actively in automation of business processes. Through an understanding of an intrinsic nature of a document function, we can see a document as an executable computer program in a special case. For this approach, we propose an active document model that is composed of form, knowledge base, rules, and queries. For reusability and interoperability of a document, each component of the proposed model is uniformly represented in XML. The proposed active document not only plays a passive role in providing user interfaces, but also is a document that a machine can infer and process with reading a procedure of document processing and business rules intended by document designers. Through this approach, document can interact with machines and can cooperate with other applications. For applicability of our active document, we show a case study for the processing of purchase orders in a B2B e-Commerce system. This paper is expected to provide the framework of accelerating the development of intelligent applications through our approach regards form document as a computer program. In short, the proposed active document contains knowledge representation and processing method, consequently our document will play an important role in providing a concept of document of pursuing in Semantic Web.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.518-524
• /
• 2010

A mannanase gene (man26B) was obtained from a sea bacterium, Paenibacillus sp. BME-14, through the constructed genomic library and inverse PCR. The gene of man26B had an open reading frame of 1,428 bp that encoded a peptide of 475- amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 53 kDa. Man26B possessed two domains, a carbohydrate binding module (CBM) belonging to family 6 and a family 26 catalytic domain (CD) of glycosyl hydrolases, which showed the highest homology to Cel44C of P. polymyxa (60% identity). The optimum pH and temperature for enzymatic activity of Man26B were 4.5 and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity of Man26B was not affected by $Mg^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$, but was inhibited by $Hg^{2+},\;Ca^{2+},\;Cu^{2+},\;Mn^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+$, and $\beta$-mercaptoethanol, and slightly enhanced by $Pb^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$. EDTA did not affect the activity of Man26B, which indicates that it does not require divalent ions to function. Man26B showed a high specific activity for LBG and konjac glucomannan, with $K_m,\;V_{max}$, and $k_{cat}$ values of 3.80 mg/ml, 91.70 ${\mu}mol$/min/mg protein, and 77.08/s, respectively, being observed when LBG was the substrate. Furthermore, deletion of the CBM6 domain increased the enzyme stability while enabling it to retain 80% and 60% of its initial activity after treatment at $80^{\circ}C$ and $90^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, respectively. This finding will be useful in industrial applications of Man26B, because of the harsh circumstances associated with such processes.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.24 no.12
• /
• pp.1291-1300
• /
• 2014

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are a ubiquitous family of antioxidant enzymes that participate in a variety of biological processes, including $H_2O_2$-mediated signal transduction, molecular chaperoning, and mitochondrial function. In this study, we isolated and characterized a Prx 2 cDNA from abalone (Haliotis discus hannai). The abalone Prx 2 cDNA encoded a 199-amino acid polypeptide that belongs to a class of typical 2-Cys Prxs that contain peroxidatic and resolving cysteines. The deduced abalone Prx 2 protein showed strong homology (64-99%) with Prx 2 proteins from other species, including mollusk, fish, amphibians, and mammals, and it was most closely related to disk abalone (H. discus discus) Prx 2. Abalone Prx 2 mRNA was ubiquitously detected in tested tissues, and its expression was comparatively high in the mantle, gills, liver, foot, and digestive duct. The expression level of abalone Prx 2 mRNA was 106.7-fold, 51.9-fold, and 437.8-fold higher, respectively, in the gills, digestive duct, and liver than in the muscles. The expression level of abalone Prx 2 mRNA in the liver peaked at 6 hr postinfection with Vibrio parahemolyticus and decreased at 12 hr postinfection. The expression level of abalone Prx 2 mRNA in hemocytes was drastically increased at 1 hr postinfection with V. parahemolyticus. These results suggest that abalone Prx 2 is conserved through evolution and that it may play a role similar to that of its mammalian counterpart.