• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.323-331
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• 2021

Lincomycin is a lincosamide antibiotic isolated from the actinomycete Streptomyces lincolnensis. Moreover, it has been found to be effective against infections caused by Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Bacteroides fragillis. To identify the melanin-inducing properties of lincomycin, we used B16F10 melanoma cells in this study. The melanin content and intracellular tyrosinase activity in the cells were increased by lincomycin, without any cytotoxicity. Western blot analysis indicated that the protein expressions of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP1) and TRP2 increased after lincomycin treatment. In addition, lincomycin enhanced the expression of master transcription regulator of melanogenesis, a microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). Lincomycin also increased the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and decreased the AKT phosphorylation. Moreover, the activation of tyrosinase activity by lincomycin was inhibited by the treatment with SB203580, which is p38 inhibitor. Furthermore, we also found that lincomycin-induced tyrosinase expression was reduced by H-89, a specific protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor. These results indicate that lincomycin stimulate melanogenesis via MITF activation via p38 MAPK, AKT, and PKA signal pathways. Thus, lincomycin can potentially be used for treatment of hypopigmentation disorders.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2022

Tacrolimus, a type of macrolide produced by Streptomyces tsukubaensis, is widely used as an immunosuppressant. However, continuous exposure to tacrolimus causes oxidative stress in normal cells, ultimately inducing cell injury. Therefore, this study investigated whether luthione, a reduced glutathione, could inhibit tacrolimus-induced cytotoxicity in olive flounder (hirame) natural embryo (HINAE) cells. According to the results, luthione significantly inhibited tacrolimus-induced reduction in cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner. Additinally, although luthione unaffected autophagy by tacrolimus, tacrolimus-induced apoptosis was significantly suppressed in the presence of luthione. Luthione also markedly blocked DNA damage in tacrolimus-treated HINAE cells, associated with the inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Additionally, tacrolimus cytotoxicity in HINAE cells was correlated with increased inflammatory response, also attenuated by luthione. Collectively, these results show that at least luthione protects HINAE cells against tacrolimus-induced DNA damage, apoptosis, and inflammation, but not autophagy, by scavenging ROS. Although additional in-vivo studies are required, this study's results can be used as a basis for utilizing luthione to reduce the toxicity of fish cells caused by excessive immune responses.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.229-239
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• 2023

We isolated and identified 25 unrecorded bacterial species belonging to the phylum Actinomycetota found in the Republic of Korea. Sequence comparison of 16S rRNA was performed using the NCBI BLAST and EzBioCloud database to identify 25 species, which had a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of >98.8% and were allocated as unrecorded species in the Republic of Korea. Among the 25 unrecorded bacterial strains, Streptomyces was the most common with nine species, followed by Leifsonia with two species. Isoptericola, Nocardioides, Dermacoccus, Sinomonas, Patulibacter, Marmoricola, Allobranchiibius, Aldersonia, Actinokineospora, Agromyces, Aeromicrobium, Cellulomonas, and Gordonia with one species each were also found. Twenty-five unrecorded species were excavated in various environments, such as tidal flats, ferns, soil, pine cones, moss, mud, wetlands, and plants. These isolates were characterized on the basis of their phylogenetic, biochemical properties, and morphological data, and species descriptions were provided.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.269-293
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• 2022

Oomycete pathogens that belong to the genus Phytophthora cause devastating diseases in solanaceous crops such as pepper, potato, and tobacco, resulting in crop production losses worldwide. Although the application of fungicides efficiently controls these diseases, it has been shown to trigger negative side effects such as environmental pollution, phytotoxicity, and fungicide resistance in plant pathogens. Therefore, biological control of Phytophthora-induced diseases was proposed as an environmentally sound alternative to conventional chemical control. In this review, progress on biological control of the soilborne oomycete plant pathogens, Phytophthora capsici, Phytophthora infestans, and Phytophthora nicotianae, infecting pepper, potato, and tobacco is described. Bacterial (e.g., Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Chryseobacterium, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, and Streptomyces) and fungal (e.g., Trichoderma and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) agents, and yeasts (e.g., Aureobasidium, Curvibasidium, and Metschnikowia) have been reported as successful biocontrol agents of Phytophthora pathogens. These microorganisms antagonize Phytophthora spp. via antimicrobial compounds with inhibitory activities against mycelial growth, sporulation, and zoospore germination. They also trigger plant immunity-inducing systemic resistance via several pathways, resulting in enhanced defense responses in their hosts. Along with plant protection, some of the microorganisms promote plant growth, thereby enhancing their beneficial relations with host plants. Although the beneficial effects of the biocontrol microorganisms are acceptable, single applications of antagonistic microorganisms tend to lack consistent efficacy compared with chemical analogues. Therefore, strategies to improve the biocontrol performance of these prominent antagonists are also discussed in this review.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2023

The plant microbiota plays a crucial role in promoting plant health by facilitating the nutrient acquisition, abiotic stress tolerance, biotic stress resilience, and host immune regulation. Despite decades of research efforts, the precise relationship and function between plants and microorganisms remain unclear. Kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) is a widely cultivated horticultural crop known for its high vitamin C, potassium, and phytochemical content. In this study, we investigated the microbial communities of kiwifruit across different cultivars (cvs. Deliwoong and Sweetgold) and tissues at various developmental stages. Our results showed that the microbiota community similarity was confirmed between the cultivars using principal coordinates analysis. Network analysis using both degree and eigenvector centrality indicated similar network forms between the cultivars. Furthermore, Streptomycetaceae was identified in the endosphere of cv. Deliwoong by analyzing amplicon sequence variants corresponding to tissues with an eigenvector centrality value of 0.6 or higher. Our findings provide a foundation for maintaining kiwifruit health through the analysis of its microbial community.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.12 no.spc2
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• pp.54-59
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• 2023

To obtain unrecorded bacterial species from Korean islands, various samples were collected from the islands in 2022. After plating the samples on marine agar or Reasoner's 2A, and incubating aerobically, approximately 1,200 bacterial strains were isolated and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequences. A total of 10 strains showed ≥98.7% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the bacterial species that were validly published but not reported in Korea. The unrecorded bacterial strains belong to three phyla, five classes, 10 orders, 10 families, and 10 genera, which are assigned to Sphingomonas, Falsirhodobacter and Asticcacaulis of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Colwellia and Halomonas of the class Gammaproteobacteria; Chitinophaga of the class Chitinophagia; Chryseobacterium of the class Flavobacteriia; Microlunatus, Zhihengliuella, and Streptomyces of the class Actinomycetia. The details of the unreported species including Gram reaction, colony and cell morphology, biochemical characteristics, and phylogenetic position are also provided in the description of the strains.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.267-276
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• 2023

To obtain unrecorded bacterial species in Korea, various soils of coastal areas were collected from the Republic of Korea in 2022. After plating the samples on marine agar and incubating aerobically and anaerobically, approximately 1,700 bacterial strains were isolated and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequences. A total of 20 strains showed ≥98.7% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with validly published bacterial species but not reported in Korea, indicating they are unrecorded bacterial species in Korea. The unrecorded bacterial strains belonged to four phyla, six classes, 15 orders, 16 families, and 19 genera which were assigned to Blastomonas and Sphingomonas of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Pseudidiomarina, Kushneria, Salinicola, and Salinisphaera of the class Gammaproteobacteria; Evansella, Virgibacillus, and Paenibacillus of the class Bacilli; Cyclobacterium of the class Cytophagia; Pedobacter of the class Sphingobacteriia; and Demequina, Ornithinimicrobium, Blastococcus, Jatrophihabitans, Kineococcus, Glaciihabitans, Aeromicrobium and Streptomyces of the class Actinomycetes. The details of the 20 unreported species, including Gram reaction, morphology, biochemical characteristics, and phylogenetic position are also provided in the description of the strains.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1991-1995
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• 2007

O-Methylation is a common substitution reaction found in microbes as well as in mammalians. Some of the O-methyltransferases (OMTs) have broad substrate specificity and could be used to methylate various compounds. DnrK from Streptomyces peucetius encodes an anthracycline 4-O-methyltransferase, which uses carminomycin as a substrate, and its crystal structure has been determined. Molecular docking experiments with DnrK using various flavonoids were successfully conducted, and some of the flavonoids such as apigenin and genistein were predicted to serve as substrates. Based on these results, O-methylations of various flavonoids with the DnrK were successfully carried out. The methylation position was determined to be at the hydroxyl group of C7. Important amino acid residues for the enzymatic reaction of DnrK with apigenin could be identified using site-directed mutagenesis. Molecular docking could be useful to predict the substrate specificity ranges of other OMTs.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2004

In this study, a simple procedure is described for patterning biotin on a glass substrate and then selectively immobilizing proteins of interest onto the biotin-patterned surface. Microcontact printing (CP) was used to generate the micropattern of biotin and to demonstrate the selective immobilization of proteins by using enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a model protein, of which the C-terminus was fused to a core streptavidin (cSA) gene of Streptomyces avidinii. Confocal fluorescence microscopy was used to visualize the pattern of the immobilized protein (EGFP-cSA), and surface plasmon resonance was used to characterize biological activity of the immobilized EGFP-cSA. The results suggest that this strategy, which consists of a combination of $\mu$CP and cSA-fused proteins. is an effective way for fabricating biologically active substrates that are suitable for a wide variety of applications. one such being the use in protein-protein assays.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.727-733
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• 2014

Spinosyns A and D are potent ingredient for insect control with exceptional safety to non-target organisms. It consists of a 21-carbon tetracyclic lactone with forosamine and tri-Omethylated rhamnose which are derived from S-adenosyl-methionine. Although previous studies have revealed the involvement of metK1 (S-adenosylmethionine synthetase), rmbA (glucose-1-phosphate thymidylyltransferase), and rmbB (TDP-D-glucose-4, 6-dehydratase) in the biosynthesis of spinosad, expression of these genes into rational screened Saccharopolyspora spinosa (S. spinosa MUV) has not been elucidated till date. In the present study, S. spinosa MUV was developed to utilize for metabolic engineering. The yield of spinosyns A and D in S. spinosa MUV was $244mgL^{-1}$ and $129mgL^{-1}$, which was 4.88-fold and 4.77-fold higher than that in the wild-type ($50mgL^{-1}$ and $27mgL^{-1}$), respectively. To achieve the better production; positive regulator metK1-sp, rmbA and rmbB genes from Streptomyces peucetius, were expressed and co-expressed in S. spinosa MUV under the control of strong $ermE^*$ promoter, using an integration vector pSET152 and expression vector pIBR25, respectively. Here-with, the genetically engineered strain of S. spinosa MUV, produce spinosyns A and D up to $372/217mgL^{-1}$ that is 7.44/8.03-fold greater than that of wild type. This result demonstrates the use of metabolic engineering on rationally developed high producing natural variants for the production.