• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.224-228
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• 2008

With the aim of increasing the $CoQ_{10}$ production in mass culture, the effect of aeration-agitation on the $CoQ_{10}$ production using Rhodobactor sphaeroides was investigated in a l-L bioreactor. The maximum $CoQ_{10}$ production was 1.69 mg/g of dry cell weight under conditions of 50 Lux, $30^{\circ}C$, 300 rpm, and 5-vvm aeration. The $CoQ_{10}$ production was improved to produce 2.91 mg/g of dry cell weight under reduced conditions of agitation speed (200 rpm) and aeration rate (0.2 vvm). When R. sphaeroides was cultivated under more reduced DO levels during the exponential phase of the cell, the $CoQ_{10}$ production yield of 3.88-mg/g dry cell weight was the maximum obtained. Therefore, poorer conditions of aeration-agitation resulted in higher production of $CoQ_{10}$, and thus DO content was a crucial factor in the production of $CoQ_{10}$. Accordingly, it was necessary to control the DO concentration in order to enhance the $CoQ_{10}$ biosynthesis within a large-scale production.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2010

Photobiological $H_2$ production was compared using purple non-sulfur bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides KD131 in the medium containing various organic acids as the carbon source and electron doner under illumination of $110\;W/m^2$ using halogen lamp at $30^{\circ}C$. The organic acids used were 0~120 mM acetate, butyrate, lactate and malate. Initial pH 7.0 and cell concentration 1.0 at 660nm were increased to pH 8 and 4.4~5.1, respectively during 24hrs of photo-fermentation when lactate and malate were used. However, acetate and butyrate increased pH to 9 and cell concentration to 3.2~3.9 of malate at the same experimental conditions. Optimum ranges of organic acids concentration and carbon/nitrogen ratio were 30~60 mM and 10~20, respectively. When malate was used as the substrate, maximum $H_2$ production 1.1 ml $H_2$/ml broth, which is equivalent to 1.97 mol $H_2$/mol malate was observed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.373-377
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• 2007

No phosphatidylcholine (PC) was detected in the membrane of Rhodobacter sphaeroides pmtA mutant (PmtAl) lacking phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) N-methyltransferase, whereas PE in the mutant was increased up to the mole % comparable to the combined level of PE and PC of wild type. Neither the fatty acid composition nor the fluidity of membrane was altered by pmtA mutation. Consistently, aerobic and photoheterotrophic growth of PmtAl were not different from wild type. However, PmtAl showed an extended lag phase (15 h) after the growth transition from aerobic to photoheterotrophic conditions, indicating the PC requirement for the efficient formation of intracytoplasmic membrane (ICM). Interestingly, the B800-850 complex of PmtAl was decreased more than twofold in comparison with wild type, whereas the level of the B875 complex comprising the fixed photosynthetic unit was not changed. Since puc expression is not affected by pmtA mutation, PC appears to be required for the proper formation of the B800-850 complex in the ICM of R. sphaeroides.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to optimize the conditions of continuous mixed culture of C.butyricum and R. spaeroides K-7, which were able to produce hydrogen using biomass-dreived substrate. To investigate the possibility of continuous culture, semi-continuous culture was carried out for 20 days. In semi-continuous culture using the reactor system, the replacement rate of fresh medium was 30% of total medium volume for the highest hydrogen evolution. In continuous culture, the optimum dilution rate was determined to be 0.05$h^{-1}$. The continuous culture produced 3.1 times as compared with the hydrogen on batch culture. On the other hand, the continuous mixed culture produced 1.3~2.1 times as much as hydrogen of the continuous monoculture of C. butyricum. When 10g of glucose in the media (1l) was supplied as a carbon source on continuous culture, mixed culture of C. butyricum and R. sphaeroides K-7 increased hydrogen evolution rate. Because considerable amount of glutamate was contained in waste water of glutamate fermentation, utilization of glutamate was examined in mixed culture. As a result of examination, production of hydorgen was slightly inhibited by high concentration of glutamate, more than 20mM, on continuous monoculture of R. sphaeroides K-7. On the other hand, both on continuous monoculture of C. butyricum and on mixed culture of C. butyricum and R. sphaeroides K-7, production of hydrogen was not inhibited by high concentration of glutamate such as 100mM. Hence this suggests that high concentration of waste water can be used as good substrate for hydrogen production on monoculture of C. butyricum and mixed culture of C. butyricum and R. sphaeroides K-7.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1589-1598
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• 2015

In this work, the anti-aging skin effects of bacteriochlorophyll a isolated from Rhodobacter sphaeroides are first reported, with notably low cytotoxicity in the range of 1% to 14% in adding 0.00078 (% (w/w)) of the extracts, compared with the normal growth of both human dermal fibroblast and keratinocyte cells without any treatment as a control. The highest production of procollagen from human fibroblast cells (CCD-986sk) was observed as 221.7 ng/ml with 0.001 (% (w/w)) of bacteriochlorophyll a, whereas 150 and 200 ng/ml of procollagen production resulted from addition of 0.001 (% (w/w)) of the photosynthetic bacteria. The bacteriochlorophyll-a-induced TNF-α production increased to 63.8%, which was lower secretion from HaCaT cells than that from addition of 0.00005 (% (w/w)) of bacteriochlorophyll a. Additionally, bacteriochlorophyll a upregulated the expression of genes related to skin anti-aging (i.e., keratin 10, involucrin, transglutaminase-1, and MMPs), by up to 4-15 times those of the control. However, crude extracts from R. sphaeroides did not enhance the expression level of these genes. Bacteriochlorophyll a showed higher antioxidant activity of 63.8% in DPPH free radical scavenging than those of water, ethanol, and 70% ethanol extracts (14.0%, 57.2%, and 12.6%, respectively). It was also shown that the high antioxidant activity could be attributed to the skin anti-aging effect of bacteriochlorophyll a, although R. sphaeroides itself would not exhibit significant anti-aging activities.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.211-216
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• 1983

Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides K-7 evolves large quantities of molecular hydrogen under anaerobic and light illuminated conditions in the presence of utilizable organic compounds as electron donors. Photoevolution of molecular hydrogen was strictly dependent on light as the activity of nitrogenase in this organism. Both of these were inhibited to the nearly same extent at varying concentrations of ammonium ion which also depressed nitrogenase synthesis. In the reaction mixtures devoid of molybdenum ion which is known as the component of nitrogenase, hydrogen evolution also decreased similarly like nitrogenase activity. Photoevolution of molecular hydrogen appeared to have no relationship with hydrogenase activity and bacteriocholophyll content and it was markedly inhibited under the atmosphere of $C_2$H$_2$, $N_2$ or $O_2$. The results strongly indicate that hydrogen evolution by R. sphaeroides K-7 might be catalyzed by nitrogenase. Both hydrogen evolution and nitrogenase activity were largely influenced by the nutritional history of the resting cells. From which we propose that glutamate might play an important role in the regulation of nigrogenase activity in vivo.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.400-406
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• 2012

To improve the hydrogen yield from biological fermentation of organic wastewater, a co-culture system of dark- and photo-fermentation bacteria was investigated. In a pure-culture system of the dark-fermentation bacterium Clostridium butyricum, a pH of 6.25 was found to be optimal, resulting in a hydrogen production rate of 18.7 ml-$H_2/l/h$. On the other hand, the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides could produce the most hydrogen at 1.81mol-$H_2/mol$-glucose at pH 7.0. The maximum specific growth rate of R. sphaeroides was determined to be 2.93 $h^{-1}$ when acetic acid was used as the carbon source, a result that was significantly higher than that obtained using either glucose or a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Acetic acid best supported R. sphaeroides cell growth but not hydrogen production. In the co-culture system with glucose, hydrogen could be steadily produced without any lag phase. There were distinguishable inflection points in a plot of accumulated hydrogen over time, resulting from the dynamic production or consumption of VFAs by the interaction between the dark- and photo-fermentation bacteria. Lastly, the hydrogen production rate of a repeated fed-batch run was 15.9 ml-$H_2/l/h$, which was achievable in a sustainable manner.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.417-423
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• 2005

In this study, the nematode-trapping fungus, Monacrosporium sphaeroides, was transformed with a plasmid harboring the hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene, via restriction enzyme-mediated integration (REMI). Frequencies of up to 94 transformants ${\mu}g^{-1}$ per linearized plasmid DNA were obtained by optimizing the PEG concentration, as well as the category and quantity of the added restriction enzyme. $90\%$ of the transformants were determined to be stable for drug resistance when 20 randomly selected transformants were tested. Southern analyses revealed that the transforming DNA was integrated into the M. sphaeroides genome either with or without rearrangement. Five mitotic stable mutant strains were obtained using this approach, all of which had been altered with regard to sporulation capacity and pathogenicity toward nematodes. Southern blot analyses of the five mutants revealed that foreign plasmid DNA had integrated into the genome. Three of the mutants, Tms2316, Tms3583 and Tms1536, exhibited integration at a single location, whereas the remaining two, Tms32 and Tms1913, manifested integration at double or multiple locations. Our results suggest that the transformation of M. sphaeroides via REMI will facilitate insertional mutagenesis, the functional analysis of a variety of genes, and the tagging or cloning of genes of interest.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.477-481
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• 2003

The community escape response of Rhodobacter sphaeroides is exerted through the action of CerR and CerI, which code for a LuxR-type regulatory protein and acylhomoserine lactone synthase, respectively. Deletion of chromosomal DNA including cerR and cerI (mutant RI) or insertional interruption of cert (mutant AP3) resulted in two-fold increase in the cellular poly-${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) content In comparison with the wild-type under aerobic growth conditions. The PHB synthase (PhbC) activities of the cer mutants were doubled, and the enzyme expression was regulated at the level of phbC transcription. Thus, CerR, possibly in response to autoinducer (AI), appears to modulate the PHB content of aerobically grown cells by downregulating phbC transcription.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.172-176
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• 2008

To develop a potent strain for the production of coenzyme $Q_{10}$, a photosynthetic bacterium was isolated from silt of the Nakdong River in Korea. Using l6S-rDNA sequence analysis, the isolated strain was identified as Rhodobacter sphaeroides. A stable improvement in its $CoQ_{10}$ content was achieved by chemical mutation, upon which the content of $CoQ_{10}$(2.94 mg/g dry cell) was increased by approximately 1.9-fold, comparable to that of R. sphaeroides reported in other studies. The isolate is a potentially valuable microorganism for mass production of $CoQ_{10}$, and may provide an appropriate model for further study of economical mass production.