• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 1980

During an extensive screening tests of yeasts for their RNA formation, it was found that Cryptococcus laurentii had especially high RNA content and high dry cell weight, when hydrolyzate of sliced and dried sweet potatoes was used as a carbon source. Growth conditions of this strain were examined, and the most desirable results were obtained at 48 hours of cultivation on a reciprocal shaker at 3$0^{\circ}C$ with initial pH 6.0. Under the above conditions, the RNA content and yield of dry cells were investigated using various media compositions. Ammonium sulfate 0.40%, peptone 0.6 ％, and yeast extract 0.4% were appeared to be favorable as a nitrogen sources. The optimum concentrations of K $H_2$P $O_4$, M $n^{++}$, C $O^{++}$ were 0.05 ％, 0.1 ％, and 0.001 ％, respectively. Ca-pantothenate, 400$\mu\textrm{g}$/$m\ell$, showed relatively favorable effects as a growth factor. The maximum RNA content obtained in this study was 16.8 ％ of the total dry cell weight.t.t.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.126-131
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• 2002

For the probiotic feed production from residual food waste, aerobic liquid fermentation was conducted by thermophilic bacteria. 11 Strains of bacteria were isolated from several soil sources and residual food waste. Screening was carried by shaking incubator for the separation of thermophilic strain at $55^{\circ}C$. The isolated strains were tested for enzyme activities such as ${\alpha}$-amylase and protease. 6 Bacterial strains were chosen and were adapted by repeated fermentation processes in food waste substrate. The viable cell count of them at final fermentation stages were shown as $3-7{\times}10^9/ml$ in 2L-jar fermenter. Among them B3, B6 showed higher enzyme activity. By the mixed fermentation of B3, B6 and Bacillus stearothermophilus, the highest viable cell count reached to $1.4{\times}10^{10}/ml$ in 8 hours.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.220-229
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• 2009

Strain improvement and morphology investigation in bioreactor cultures were undertaken in suspended cultures of Phellinus linteus mycelia for mass production of protein-bound polysaccharides(soluble ${\beta}$-D-glucan), a powerful immuno-stimulating agent. Phellineus sp. screened for this research was identified as Phellinus linteues through ITS rDNA sequencing method and blast search, demonstrating 99.7% similarity to other Phellinus linteus strains. Intensive strain improvement program was carried out by obtaining large amounts of protoplasts for the isolation of single cell colonies. Rapid and large screening of high-yielding producers was possible because large numbers of protoplasts ($1{\times}10^5{\sim}10^6\;protoplasts/ml$) formed using the banding filtration method with the cell wall-disrupting enzymes could be regenerated in relatively high regeneration frequency($10^{-2}{\sim}10^{-3}$) in the newly developed regeneration medium. It was demonstrated that the strains showing high performances in the protoplast regeneration and solid growth medium were able to produce 5.8~6.4%(w/w) of ${\beta}$-D-glucan and 13~15 g/L of biomass in stable manners in suspended shake-flask cultures of P. linteus mycelia. In addition, cell mass increase was observed to be the most important in order to enhance ${\beta}$-D-glucan productivity during the course of strain improvement program, since the amount of ${\beta}$-D-glucan extracted from the cell wall of P. linteus mycelia was almost constant on the unit biomass basis. Therefore we fully investigated the fungal cell morphology, generally known as one of the key factors affecting cell growth extent in the bioreactor cultures of mycelial fungal cells. It was found that, in order to obtain as high cell mass as possible in the final production bioreactor cultures, the producing cells should be proliferated in condensed filamentous forms in the growth cultures, and optimum amounts of these filamentous cells should be transferred as active inoculums to the production bioreactor. In this case, ideal morphologies consisting of compacted pellets less than 0.5mm in diameter were successfully induced in the production cultures, resulting in shorter period of lag phase, 1.5 fold higher specific cell growth rate and 3.3 fold increase in the final biomass production as compared to the parallel bioreactor cultures of different morphological forms. It was concluded that not only the high-yielding but also the good morphological characteristics led to the significantly higher biomass production and ${\beta}$-D-glucan productivity in the final production cultures.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.237-244
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• 1978

Among the strains isolated form the various sources, the strain AC-12 producing a powerful pectinase was selected by the extensive screening test. The selected strain was indentified and its toxicity investigated. The conditions of the pectinase production, the characteristics of the purified enzyme and the clarification effect on the apple juice were studied. 1. The selected strain AC-12 was identified by the classification method of paper and fennel and named as Aspergillus sp. AC-12. 2. As a result of the breeding test of the white mouse, no toxicity was found from this enzyme. 3. The yield of pectinase in the medium of defatted rice bran was much better than that in the medium of wheat bran. 4. The optimum conditions for the culture of the strain in the medium of defatted rice bran were that the cultural time was 72hrs, the amount of water to be added about 80%, temperature $30{\sim}35^{\circ}C$ and pH $3.0{\sim}5.0$. 5. The yield of pectinase was slightly increased by the addition of pectin to the medium of defatted rice bran and by the addition of pectin, $NaNO_3$ and $K_2HPO_4$ to the medium of wheat bran, respectively. 6. The optimum conditions for the enzyme activity were pH $3.0{\sim}4.0$ and temperature $40{\sim}50^{\circ}C$. The enzyme was stable below $40^{\circ}C$ and pH $2.0{\sim}8.0$, respectively. But above $50^{\circ}C,$ this enzyme was abruptly inactivated. The activity was slightly increased by the addition of $MnSO_4\;and\;CuSO_4.$ 7. It was regarded that the opimum temperature for the clarification of the apple juice was $40{\sim}50^{\circ}C$, the optimum pH 3.0 and the optimun concentration of the enzyme 0.1%, and the apple juice was almost clarified by the reaction at $45^{\circ}C$ for 60 minutes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1377-1383
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• 2008

A bacterium producing non- or partially digestible dextran was isolated from kimchi broth by enrichment culture technique. The bacterium was identified tentatively as Leuconostoc sp. strain SKY. We established the response surface methodology (Box-Behnken design) to optimize the principle parameters such as culture pH, temperature, and yeast extract concentration for maximizing production of dextran. The ranges of parameters were determined based on prior screening works done at our laboratory and accordingly chosen as 5.5, 6.5, and 7.5 for pH, 25, 30, and $35^{\circ}C$ for temperature, and 1, 5, and 9 g/l yeast extract. Initial concentration of sucrose was 100 g/l. The mineral medium consisted of 3.0 g $KH_2PO_4$, 0.01 g $FeSO_4{\cdot}H_2O$, 0.01 g $MnSO_4{\cdot}4H_2O$, 0.2 g $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.01 g NaCl, and 0.05 g $CaCO_3$ per 1 liter deionized water. The optimum values of pH and temperature, and yeast extract concentration were obtained at pH (around 7.0), temperature (27 to $28^{\circ}C$), and yeast extract (6 to 7 g/l). The best dextran yield was 60% (dextran/g sucrose). The best dextran productivity was 0.8 g/h-l.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.274-279
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• 2001

Generally, non-aflatoxigenic fungi, such as Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus are main microflora in Korean traditional fermented foods including Meju and soybean paste, but sometimes, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus can be contaminated and accumulated aflatoxins during fermentation and storage. So the screening of aflatoxigenic strains in fermented traditional food is very important to improve the sanitary quality of those foods. In this work, we screened aflatoxin producing fungi from commercial Meju and soybean paste in Western Gyeongnam by immunoassay. Samples were randomly purchased from market of the commercial Meju(10 EA) and soybean paste(20 EA) in nine areas of Western Gyeongnam. Of the samples collected,24 strains and 22 strains of Aspergillus sp. were isolated from Meju and soybean paste, respectively. The isolated strains were cultured on SLS media at $25^{\circ}C$ for 15 days. The cultured broth were extracted with ethyl acetate and were analysed to determine aflatoxin B$_1$(AFB$_1$) by direct competitive ELISA(DC-ELISA). Six strains(25%) isolated from Meju, and 2 strains(9%) isolated from saybean paste, were confined as aflatoxin producing strains. The average range of aflatoxin productivity of isolates from Meju was 54.6 $\pm$ 38.7 ng/ml and that from soybean paste was 11.1 $\pm$ 8.6 ng/ml, respectively. Among them, isolated strain No. M-5-4 produced a high level of AFBl and showed 98.26 ng/ml of AFB$_1$. Every isolates were also re-confined their AFB$_1$productivity by thin layer chromatography(TLC). The TLC results also showed same trend as DC-ELISA results. As the above results, the screening of hazard mycotoxigenic fungi from traditional fermented foods should be necessary for the safety and the application of HACCP system in the food manufactory in Korea.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.153-170
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• 1970

1. Isolation and identification of amylase-producing bacteria. The powerful strain A-12 and S-8 were respectively isolated from air and soil after screening a large number of amylase-producing bacteria. Their bacterial characteristics have been investigated and it has been found that all characteristics of strain A-12 and S-8 are similar to Bac. subtilis of Bergey's manual except for the acid formation from a few carbohydrates and the citrate utilization, i.e., the strain A-12 shows negative in the citrate utilization, and the acid formation from arabinose and xylose, S-8 shows negative in the acid formation from xylose. 2. Amylase production by Liquid cultures with solid materials. Several conditions for amylase production by strain A-12 in stationary cultures have been studied. The results obtained are as follows. (1) The optimum conditions are:temperature $35^{\circ}C$, initial pH 6.5 to 7.0 and incubation time 3 to 4 days. (2) The amylase production is not affected by the preservation period of the stock cultures. (3) Among the various solid material, the defatted soy bean is found to be the best for t1e amylase production. However, the alkali treatment of the defatted soy bean gives no effect contrary to the cage of defatted rape seed. The addition of soluble starch to the alkali extract of defatted soy bean shows the increased amylase production. (4) Up to 1% addition of ethanol to carbon dificient media gives the improved amylase production, whereas the above effect is not found in the case of carbon rich media. (5) The amylase production can be increased 2.5 times when 10% of defatted soy bean is admixed to cheaply available wheat bran. (6) The excellent effect is found for amylase production when 20% of wheat bran is admixed to defatted dry milk which is a poor medium. The activity is found to be $D^{40^{\circ}}_{30'}$ 7,000(L.S.V. 1,800) in 10% medium. (7) No significant effect is observed due to the addition of various inorganic salts. 3. Amylase production by solid cultures. Several conditions for amylase production by strain A-12 in wheat bran cultures have been studied and the results obtained are as follows. (1) The optimum conditions: are temperature $33^{\circ}C$, incubation lime 2 days, water content added 150 to 175% and the thickness of the medium 1.5cm, The activity is found to be $D^{40^{\circ}}_{30'}$ 36,000(L.S.V. 15,000) (2) No significant effect is found in the case of the additions of various organic and inorganic substances.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.344-357
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• 2020

Strain improvement and bioprocess development were undertaken to enhance hyaluronic acid(HA) production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus cells. Using a high-yielding mutant strain, statistical medium optimization was carried out in shake flask cultures, resulting in 52% increase in HA production (5.38 g/l) at the optimal medium composition relative to the parallel control cultures. For sufficient supply of dissolved oxygen (DO), which turned out to be crucial for enhanced production of HA, agitation system and speed were intensively investigated in 5 L bioreactor cultures. Increase in oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) through increment of agitation speed (rpm) and 35% expansion of diameter of the newly-designed impellers showed significantly positive effects on HA production. By installing an expanded Rushton-turbine impeller for efficient break-down of sparged air, and an extended marine impeller above the Rushton-turbine impeller for efficient mixing of the air-born viscous fermentation broth, maximum amount of HA (9.79 g/l) was obtained at 450 rpm, 1.8 times higher level than that of the corresponding flask culture. Subsequently, the possibility of bioprocess scale-up to a 50 L bioreactor was investigated. Despite almost identical maximum HA production (9.11 vs 9.25 g/l), the average HA volumetric productivity (r_p) of the 50 L culture turned out only 74% compared to the corresponding 5 L culture during the exponential phase, possibly caused by shear damages imposed on the producing cells at the high stirring in the 50 L culture. The scale-up process could be successfully achieved if a scale-up criterion of constant oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) is applied to the 50 L pilot-scale bioreactor system.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 1970

To study the productivity of single cell protein from the petroleum hydrocarbon utilizing yeasts, 242 soil samples, such as oil soaked soil of gas stations and garage, coal, farm soil, and sewage, from 135 places in Korea were collected. From these samples 468 yeast strains which utilize petroleum hydrocarbon as a sole organic carbon source were isolated and identified by observing the growth rates. For the identified strains optimum culture conditions were determined and analysis of cell components were performed. 1. 90.8% of petroleum hydrocarbon utilizing yeast strains were found from oil soaked soil and about 10% from coal, farm soil and sewage etc. 2. The yeast strain of the highest cell productivity was isolated from oil soaked soil and was identified as Candida curvata HY-69-19. 3. The optimum culture conditions for the selected yeast strain were found to be pH 5.0, $28^{\circ}C$ and affluent aerated state. 4. Candida curvata HY-69-19 was found to utilize favorably the heavy gas oil fractionated at above $268.9^{\circ}C$ as carbon source and urea as inorganic nitrogen source. 5. The growth curve of this strain on heavy gas oil medium showed that the yeast has a lag phase up to 18 hours and logarithmic growth phase between 24 to 42 hours. Generation time was found to be between 3.8 and 4.5 hours during the logarithmic growth phase. 6. About 300 mg dried cells per heavy gas oil was harvested under the culture conditions of adjusted pH to 5.0 at time intervals of 6 hours for 54 hours and heavy gas oil urea for shaking culture medium. 7. Chemical composition of the yeast cell was found to be 40.25%, 14.81%, 24.32% and 10.63% for crude protein, crude lipid, carbohydrate and ashes, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.158-167
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• 2007

In this study, we have cloned a novel cDNA encoding for a papain-family cysteine protease from the Uni-ZAP XR cDNA library of the polychaete, Periserrula leucophryna. This gene was expressed in Escherichia coli using the T7 promoter system, and the protease was characterized after partial purification. First, the partial DNA fragment (498 bp) was amplified from the total RNA via RT-PCR using degenerated primers derived from the conserved region of cysteine protease. The full-length cDNA of cysteine protease (PLCP) was prepared via the screening of the Uni-ZAP XR cDNA library using the $^{32}P-labeled$ partial DNA fragment. As a result, the PLCP gene was determined to consist of a 2591 bp nucleotide sequence (CDS: 173-1024 bp) which encodes for a 283-amino acid polypeptide, which is itself composed of an 59-residue signal sequence, a 6-residue propeptide, a 218-residue mature protein, and a long 3'-noncoding region encompassing 1564 bp. The predicted molecular weights of the preproprotein and the mature protein were calculated as 31.8 kDa and 25 kDa, respectively. The results of sequence analysis and alignment revealed a significant degree of sequence similarity with other eukaryotic cysteine proteases, including the conserved catalytic triad of the $Cys^{90},\;His^{226},\;and\;Asn^{250}$ residues which characterize the C1 family of papain-like cysteine protease. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the novel gene were deposited into the GenBank database under the accession numbers, AY390282 and AAR27011, respectively. The results of Northern blot analysis revealed the 2.5 kb size of the transcript and ubiquitous expression throughout the entirety of the body, head, gut, and skin, which suggested that the PLCP may be grouped within the cathepsin F-like proteases. The region encoding for the mature form of the protease was then subcloned into the pT7-7 expression vector following PCR amplification using the designed primers, including the initiation and termination codons. The recombinant cysteine proteases were generated in a range of 6.3 % to 12.5 % of the total cell proteins in the E. coli BL21(DE3) strain for 8 transformants. The results of SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis indicated that a cysteine protease of approximately 25 kDa (mature form) was generated. The optimal pH and temperature of the enzyme were determined to be approximately 9.5 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively, thereby indicating that the cysteine protease is a member of the alkaline protease group. The evaluation of substrate specificity indicated that the purified protease was more active towards Arg-X or Lys-X and did not efficiently cleave the substrates with non-polar amino acids at the P1 site. The PLCP evidenced fibrinolytic activity on the plasminogen-free fibrin plate test.