• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2017

Nine bacilli with fibrinolytic activities were isolated from doenjang, a traditional Korean fermented soy food. Among them, RSB34 showed the strongest activity and was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens by 16S rRNA and recA gene sequencing. During growth on LB up to 96 h, RSB34 showed the highest fibrinolytic activity ($83.23mU/{\mu}l$) at 48 h. Three bands of 23, 27, and 42 kDa in size were observed when the culture supernatant was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and 27 and 42 kDa bands by fibrin zymography. The gene encoding the 27 kDa fibrinolytic enzyme AprE34 was cloned by PCR. BLAST analyses confirmed that the gene was a homolog to genes encoding AprE-type proteases. aprE34 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) using pET26b(+). Recombinant AprE34 was purified and examined for its properties. The $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ values of recombinant AprE34 were $0.131{\pm}0.026mM$ and $16.551{\pm}0.316{\mu}M/l/min$, respectively, when measured using an artificial substrate, N-succinyl-ala-ala-pro-phe-p-nitroanilide. aprE34 was overexpressed in B. subtilis WB600 using pHY300PLK. B. subtilis transformants harboring pHYRSB34 (pHY300PLK with aprE34) showed higher fibrinolytic activity than B. amyloliquefaciens RSB34.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 1982

A study was undertaken to examine the effect of curing agents on the stability, curing and segregation of R plasmid pSL100. And also the stability, transfer frequency, and recombination of its segregants obtained from curing agent treatment were studied. Ethidium bromide, acridine orange, and mitomycin-C were used as curing agent. The results obtained were as follows ; 1. The curing agent ethidium bromide, acridine orange, and mitomycin-C were not effective for curing the multiple antibiotic resistant determinant of pSL100 in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. However, they induced plasmid segregation with high frequency in S.typhimuruim LT-2strains. TcApSmCm, TcSmCmKm, TcApCm, TcAp, TcKm, Tc segregants were obtained. 2. The resistant markers of the segregents were transferred to S.typhimurium LT-2 strains with high frequencies whereas they were transferred to E.coli K-12 only with low frequencies. 3. The transconjugants obtained from conjugation between two different S.typhimurium segregants were similar to the phenotype of the original R factor pSL100 and the resistant markers were transferred to the S.typhimurium LT-2 or E.coli strain with equal frequencies, indicating that they are recombinants. 4. The transconjugants obtained from conjugation between pSL100 segrgants and pKM101, or pBR322 possessed the resistant markers of the two parental plasmids and they were transferred to both S.typhimurium and E.coli K-12 strains with the same frequencies and maintained stably, suggesting that they are also recombinants. 5. The recombinant pSL100 could be also obtained in rec A-strains of E.coli, suggesting that the gene function of rec A is required for the recombination of pSL100 segregants in E.coli.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.121-124
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• 2002

This work was initiated to develope a recombinant oral poliovaccine (OPV), which is highly advanced in safety (minimizing VAPP) by introducing Type 2,3 poliovirus epitopes into our RPS-Vax system. We have introduced several potential vaccine epitopes of poliovirus Type 2, and 3 into RPS-Vax system, resulting in production of recombinant polioviruses. Any of these chimeric viruses, however, were not detected for their foreign gene expression by serotype-specific mouse antiserum. We have designed several folding units to stabilize the introduced vaccine protein and attached short epitope-concatamer or epitope-multimer to them, followed by production of chimeric viruses. Only those who have an HIV-1 Tat-mediated folding unit were nicely detected for the introduced foreign proteins by anti-Tat antiserum and type-specific peptide-induced antisera. Nevertheless, introduced epitopes were not detected in Western blot experiment with each serotype-specific antiserum. None of the mice inoculated with these chimeric viruses showed preventative immunity when challenged with Lansing and Leon wildtype 2 and 3 poliovirus, and the antiserum did not show neutralizing capacity in vitro. Conformational epitope covering B/C loop region of type 2 and 3 were newly designed by computer modeling, and introduced into the RPS-Vax vector system, followed by production of chimeric viruses. Introduced epitope regions were nicely detected by anti-Tag23 mAb or peptide antibody, but still not detected by poliovirus antiserum. Nevertheless, neutralizing antibody was detected in the Tg-PVR mice even when inoculated once with these chimeric viruses. Also, the immunized mice showed perfect preventative immunity against the wild Type poliovirus Lancing or Leon. When boosted appropriately, those chimeric virus-inoculated Tg-PVR mice produced equivalent amounts of neutralizing antibody to those in Sabin 2/3-immunized mice. These data strongly suggest that our recombinant poliovirus (RPS-PV2 and RPS-PV3) can be used as a safe and effective rec-OPV instead of any preexisting poliovaccine.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.1 s.81
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• pp.39-44
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• 2007

The Rqh1 gene is essential for vegetative growth in fission Yeast. The rqh1 mutant showed that sensitivity of DNA damaging agent, a wild range of phenotype including abnormal gene expression and cell elongation. This result showed that the rqhl-overexpression cell was sensitivity to DNA damaging agent like rqhl mutant. When Rqh1 have an over-expression by $nmt1^+$ promoter of pREP vector, rqh1 mutant DNA damaging agent sensitivity could be compensated. We isolated two strong mutant containing complementation gene, rqh156 and rqh172, respectively. This result observed that the DNA damaging agent sensitivity of rqhl mutant was complemented by the expression of rqh156 and rqh172. They induced mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner HU, MMS and UV. The HU sensitivity of the rqhl was complemented by the expression of rqh156 and rqh172. The mRNA expression of rqh156 decreased on HU dose dependent but the mRNA expression of rqh172 did not decrease on HU dose dependent. The MMS and W sensitivity of the rqhl was complemented by the expression of rqh156 and rqh172. These results indicate that the isolated rqhl gene may play an important role in DNA metabolism.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.275-279
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• 2007

The aims of this study were to detect Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) strains in a cohort of Cystic Fibrosis patients (n=276) and to characterize Bcc isolates by molecular techniques. The results showed that 11.23% of patients were infected by Bcc. Burkholderia cenocepacia lineage III-A was the most prevalent species (64.3%) and, of these, 10% was cblA positive and 50% esmR positive. Less than half of the strains were sensitive to ceftazidime, meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. About half of the strains (41%) had homogeneous profiles, suggesting cross-transmission. The infection by B. cenocepacia was associated to a high rate of mortality (p=0.01).

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2021

A γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producing microorganism was isolated from galchi (hairtail fish, Trichiurus lepturus) jeotgal, a Korean salted and fermented seafood. The G144 isolate produced GABA excessively when incubated in MRS broth containing monosodium glutamate (MSG, 3%, w/v). G144 was identified as Lactobacillus brevis through 16S rRNA and recA gene sequencing. gadB and gadC encoding glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and glutamate/GABA antiporter, respectively, were cloned and gadB was located downstream of gadC. The operon structure of gadCB was confirmed by reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction. gadB was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and recombinant GAD was purified and its size was 54.4 kDa as evidenced by SDS-PAGE results. Maximum GAD activity was observed at pH 5.0 and 40℃ and the activity was dependent on pyridoxal 5'-phophate. The K_m and V_max of GAD were 8.6 mM and 0.01 mM/min, respectively.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.228-234
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• 2005

Caenorhabditis elegans him-6 mutants, which show a high incidence of males and partial embryonic lethality, are defective in the orthologue of human Bloom's syndrome protein (BLM). When strain him-6(e1104) containing a missense him-6 mutation was irradiated with ${\gamma}$-rays during germ cell development or embryogenesis, embryonic lethality was higher than in the wild type, suggesting a critical function of the wild type gene in mitotic and pachytene stage germ cells as well as in early embryos. Even in the absence of ${\gamma}$-irradiation, apoptosis was elevated in the germ cells of the him-6 strain and this increase was dependent on a functional p53 homologue (CEP-1), suggesting that spontaneous DNA damage accumulates due to him-6 deficiency. However, induction of germline apoptosis by ionizing radiation was not significantly affected by the deficiency, indicating that HIM-6 has no role in the induction of apoptosis by exogenous DNA damage. We conclude that the C. elegans BLM orthologue is involved in DNA repair in promeiotic cells undergoing homologous recombination, as well as in actively dividing germline and somatic cells.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.255-266
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• 2004

Papillomaviruses infect a wide variety of animals, including humans. The human papillomavirus (HPV), in particular, is one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted disease. More than 200 types of HPV have been identified by DNA sequence data, and 85 HPV genotypes have been well char­acterized to date. HPV can infect the basal epithelial cells of the skin or inner tissue linings, and are, accordingly, categorized as either cutaneous or mucosal type. HPV is associated with a panoply of clin­ical conditions, ranging from innocuous lesions to cervical cancer. In the early 1980s, studies first reported a link between cervical cancer and genital HPV infection. Genital HPV infections are now rec­ognized to be a major risk factor in at least $95\%$ of cervical cancers. 30 different HPV genotypes have been identified as causative of sexually transmitted diseases, most of which induce lesions in the cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, and anus, as the result of sexual contact. There is also direct evidence demon­strating that at least four of these genotypes are prerequisite factors in cervical cancer. The main aim of this review was to evaluate the current literature regarding the pathovirology, diagnostics, vaccines, therapy, risk groups, and further therapeutic directions for HPV infections. In addition, we reviewed the current status of HPV infections in South Korean women, as evidenced by our data.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.17
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• pp.59-69
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• 2001

Arsenic exposure is associated with several human diseases, including cancers, atherosclerosis, hypertension, and cerebrovascular diseases. In cultured cells, arsenite, an inorganic arsenic com-pound, was demonstrated to interfere with many physiological functions, such as enhancement of oxidative stress, delay of cell cycle progression, and induction of structural and numerical changes of chromosomes. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of arsenic exposure on gene expression profiles by colorimetric cDNA microarray technique. HFW (normal human diploid skin fibroblasts), CL3 (human lung adenocarcinoma cell line), and HaCaT (immortalized human keratinocyte cell line) were treated with 5 $\mu\textrm{M}$ or 10 $\mu\textrm{M}$ sodium arsenite for 6 or 16 h, respectively. By a dual-color detection system, the expression profile of arsenite-treated cultures was compared to that of control cultures. Several genes expressed differentially were identified on the microarray membranes. For example, MDM2, SWI/SNF, ubiquitin specific protease 4, MAP3K11, RecQ protein-like 5, and Ribosomal protein Ll0a were consistently induced in all three cell types by arsenite, whereas prohibitin, cyclin D1, nucleolar protein 1, PCNA, Nm23, and immediate early protein (ETR101) were apparently inhibited. The present results suggest that arsenite insults altered the expression of several genes participating in cellular responses to DNA damage, stress, transcription, and cell cycle arrest.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1322-1326
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• 2008

Tannase catalyzes the hydrolysis of gallic acid esters and hydrolysable tannins. Twenty-two Lactobacillus strains with tannase activity were isolated from 7 types of kimchi. A polymerase chain reaction-based assay targeting the recA gene assigned all isolates to either Lactobacillus plantarum or Lactobacillus pentosus. The tannase activities of isolates measured in whole cells and cell-free extracts varied even within each species. The activities of the isolates varied with the assay method, but both methods indicated that isolate LT7 (identified as L. pentosus) showed the highest activity. The results of thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively, showed that tannic acid and gallic acid degraded to pyrogallol in resting L. pentosus LT7 cells. Therefore, the putative biochemical pathway for the degradation of tannic acid by L. pentosus implies that tannic acid is hydrolyzed to gallic acid and glucose, with the formed gallic acid being decarboxylated to pyrogallol. This study revealed the possible production of pyrogallol from tannic acid by the resting cell reaction with L. pentosus LT7.