• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제15권4호
• /
• pp.880-886
• /
• 2005

Using carotenoid genes of Erwinia herbicola, metabolic engineering was carried out for lycopene production with the pAC-LYCO4 plasmid, which was composed of a chromosomal DNA fragment of E. herbicola containing the crtE, crtB, and crtI genes under the control of the tetracycline promoter and the ipi gene of Haematococcus pluvialis with the trc promoter. Plasmid pAC-LYCm4 was constructed for efficient expression of the four exogenous genes using a strong RBS sequence and the same tetracycline promoter. The optimized expression construct of pAC-LYCm4 increased Iycopene production three times as compared with pAC-LYCO4. pAC-LYCm5 containing ispA behind the four exogenous genes was constructed. There was no significant difference in Iycopene production and cell growth between pAC-LYCm4 and pAC-LYCm5. FPP synthase encoded by ispA was not rate-limiting for Iycopene production. Each gene of crtE, crtB, crtI, and ipi was overexpressed, using pBAD-crtE, pBAD-crtIB, and pBAD-ipiHPI, in addition to their expression from pAC-LYCm4. However, there was no increase oflycopene production with the additional overexpression of each exogenous gene. The four exogenous genes appeared to be not rate-limiting in cells harboring pAC-LYCm4. When pDdxs, pBAD24 containing dxs, was introduced into cells harboring lycopene synthetic plasmids, lycopene production of pAC-LYCO4, pAC-LYCm4, and pAC-LYCm5 was increased by 4.7-, 2.2-, and 2.2-fold, respectively. Lycopene production of pBAD-DXm4 containing crtE, crtB, crtI, ipi, and dxs was 5.2 mg/g dry cell weight with $0.2\%$ arabinose, which was 8.7-fold higher than that of the initial strain with pAC-LYC04. Therefore, the present study showed that proper regulation of a metabolically engineered pathway is important for Iycopene production.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• 제9권2호
• /
• pp.57-63
• /
• 2006

A bacterial strain capable of hydrolyzing carrageenan was isolated from the coast of Busan in Korea. The isolated strain (HS5322) is aerobic, gram-negative, rod-shaped, and motile. Comparison of the 16S rDNA of the isolate with that of known Pseudomonas sp. showed that sequence similarity was at most 95%, implying that the isolate is a new Pseudomonas species. The organism grew optimally at NaCl concentrations of 2.0 to 2.5%. The optimum temperature and pH for carrageenase production in a 72-h flask culture containing 1% carrageenan was $20^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.5, respectively. Of the synthetic substrates tested, the highest enzyme activity was obtained with p-nitrophenyl ${\beta}$-D-galactopyranoside.

• 대한수의학회지
• /
• 제38권4호
• /
• pp.771-776
• /
• 1998

Synthetic oligonucleotide primers of 20 and 21 bases, respectively, were used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a sequence of the mrp gene, which encodes the muramidase released protein of Streptococcus suis. Amplification was not recorded when 5 other streptococcal species were tested or when 9 different nonstreptococcal species were tested. A DNA fragment of 517bp was amplified from the genomic DNA of S suis. The lower detection limit was 100pg of the genomic DNA. The primers recognized 34 serotypes of S suis reference strains and 9 isolates from pneumonic lung, brain, nasal discharge, tonsil. This results suggest that the amplification of the mrp gene by PCR method is potential for the identification of S suis isolates.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제14권4호
• /
• pp.2201-2205
• /
• 2013

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in many parts of the world. Its development is a multi-step process involving three distinct stages, initiation that alters the molecular message of a normal cell, followed by promotion and progression that ultimately generates a phenotypically altered transformed malignant cell. Reports have suggested an association of the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway with colon tumorigenesis. Activation of Akt signaling and impaired expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) (a negative regulator of Akt) has been reported in 60-70% of human colon cancers and inhibitors of PI3K/Akt signaling have been suggested as potential therapeutic agents. Around 80% of human colon tumors possess mutations in the APC gene and half of the remainder feature ${\beta}$-catenin gene mutations which affect downstream signaling of the PI3K/Akt pathway. In recent years, there has been a great focus in targeting these signaling pathways, with natural and synthetic drugs reducing the tumor burden in different experiment models. In this review we survey the role of PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Wnt signaling in CRC.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• 제33권2호
• /
• pp.142-145
• /
• 1995

The pumb gene encoding a basic amino acid transport protein in Neurospora crassa could be cloned by using a mutant strain defective in pmb gene as a host strain, using a negative selection on the media containing amino acid analogue canavanine. To select positive transformants of the genes for cloning, an auxotrophic marker (his-2) was added to a pmb mutant strain by mating ; a triple mutant (pmn : pmb : his-2) was constructued by crossing a strain defective in basic amino acid transport system (# 1683-bat um 535 "A") to a double mutant strain defective in neutral amino acid transport and histidine production (mitrol : his-2 "a"). Crossing was performed on synthetic crossing (SC) media containing histidine. The pmn : pmb and pmn :pmb : his-2 strains were selected among the progeny colonies from crosses on plates containing 5- .mu.g/ml para-fluoro-phenylalanine (PFPA), 200 .mu.g/ml canavanine, and 500 .mu.g/ml histidine. The selected colonies were cultured on minimal media with or without histidine for discarding pmn : pmb strain, because the pmn : pmb : his -2 strain grows only on histidine containing media. The pmn :pmb : his-2 strain selected can be used as a host strain for the cloning of the pmb and the pmn genes from a Neurospora genomic library by means of positive selections.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제8권1호
• /
• pp.34-41
• /
• 1998

A method was developed for the controlled expression of an antimicrobial peptide magainin in Escherichia coli. A series of concatemeric magainin genes was constructed with a gene amplification vector, and fused to the 3'end of malE gene encoding the affinity ligand, E. coli maltose-binding protein (MBP). The construct directed the synthesis of the fusion protein with the magainin polypeptide fused to the C-terminus of MBP. The fusion protein was expressed in a tightly regulatable expression system which was under the control of an invertible promoter. The MBP-fused magainin monomer was expressed efficiently. However, the expression level of the MBP-fused magainin in E. coli decreased with the increasing size of multimers possibly because of the transcription and translation inhibition by the multimeric peptides. After purification using an amylose affinity column, the fusion protein was digested by factor Xa at a specific cleavage site between the monomers. The recombinant magainin had an antimicrobial activity identical to that of synthetic magainin. This experiment shows that a biologically active, antimicrobial peptide magainin can be produced by fusing to MBP, along with a promoter inversion vector system.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• 제17권7호
• /
• pp.3061-3063
• /
• 2016

Exploiting the immune system to abolish cancer growth via vaccination is a promising strategy but that is limited by many clinical issues. For DNA vaccines, viral vectors as a delivery system mediate a strong immune response due to their protein structure, which could afflect the cellular uptake of the genetic vector or even induce cytotoxic immune responses against transfected cells. Recently, synthetic DNA delivery systems have been developed and recommended as much easier and simple approaches for DNA delivery compared with viral vectors. These are based on the attraction of the positively charged cationic transfection reagents to negatively charged DNA molecules, which augments the cellular DNA uptake. In fact, there are three major cellular barriers which hinder successful DNA delivery systems: low uptake across the plasma membrane; inadequate release of DNA molecules with limited stability; and lack of nuclear targeting. Recently, a polysaccharide polymer produced by microalgae has been synthesized in a form of polymeric fiber material poly-N-acetyl glucosamine (p-GlcNAc). Due its unique properties, the F2 gel matrix was suggested as an effective delivery system for immune and gene vaccinations.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• 제11권2호
• /
• pp.168-172
• /
• 2006

In this study. the transcriptional features of a 2.8 kb region spanning the sigH and rplA genes of Bacillus subtilis were clarified using synthetic oligonucleotides complementary to the transcripts of the rpmG, secE, nusG, and rplK genes. The 5' ends of three transcripts corresponding to this region were located and mapped on the chromosome via primer extension analysis. Three regions, designated Prg, Pn, and Prk, which partially share the consensus sequence recognized by ${\sigma}^A$ RNA polymerase, were theorized to function as promoter elements. The rpmG and secE genes of B. subtilis were cotranscribed from the designated prg promoter, whereas the nusG and rplK genes were transcribed separately from the Pn and Prk promoters, respectively. Accordingly, the transcriptional features, as well as the gene organization, of the region encompassing the sigH and rplA genes of B. subtilis, including the rpmG-secE-nusG-rplK genes, were determined to be distinct from those of Escherichia coli. Divergences in terms of gene organization and transcriptional features within the relevant region would serve as excellent criteria for the delineation of phylogenetic relationships among bacteria.

• 한국유기농업학회지
• /
• 제23권1호
• /
• pp.133-148
• /
• 2015

Although several adverse effects have been increased in recent years, synthetic agro-chemicals have been widely used to control diseases on paprika. This research was conducted to isolate and to characterize the antagonistic microorganism to control major paprika diseases, gray mold rot, fruit and stem rot, phytophthora blight, sclerotium rot, and wilt disease. Analysis of the fatty acid and analysis of the 16S rDNA gene sequence revealed that YKJ2 isolated in this research belongs to a group of Burkholderia cepacia. Specially, 16S rDNA gene sequence of YKJ2 showed 99% of sequence similarity with B. cepacia. Observation through the optical microscope revealed that YKJ2 was effective on suppression of the spore germination and the hyphal growth of pathogens. YKJ2 treatment on pathogens induced marked morphological changes like hyphal swelling and degradation of cell wall. In the case of phytophthora blight, the zoosporangium formation was restrained. On the basis of the results of this study, we propose that an antagonistic microorganism, B. cepacia, found in this study naming as "B. cepacia strain YKJ2" and has great potential as one of biological control agents against major diseases of paprika.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제20권11호
• /
• pp.1563-1570
• /
• 2010

To construct a highly sensitive detection system for endocrine disruptors (EDs), we have compared the activity of promoters with the n-alkane-inducible cytochrome P450 gene (ALK1), isocitrate lyase gene (ICL1), ribosomal protein S7 gene (RPS7), and the translation elongation factor-1${\alpha}$ gene (TEF1) for the heterologous gene in Yarrowia lipolytica. The promoters were introduced into the upstream of the lacZ or hERa reporter genes, respectively, and the activity was evaluated by ${\beta}$-galactosidase assay for lacZ and Western blot analysis for hER${\alpha}$. The expression analysis revealed that the ALK1 and ICL1 promoters were induced by n-decane and by EtOH, respectively. The constitutive promoter of RPS7 and TEF1 showed mostly a high level of expression in the presence of glucose and glycerol, respectively. In particular, the TEF1 promoter showed the highest ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity and a significant signal by Western blotting with the anti-estrogen receptor, compared with the other promoters. Moreover, the detection system was constructed with promoters linked to the upstream of the expression vector for the hER${\alpha}$ gene transformed into the Y. lipolytica with a chromosome-integrated lacZ reporter gene under the control of estrogen response elements (EREs). It was indicated that a combination of pTEF1p-hER${\alpha}$ and CXAU1-2XERE was the most effective system for the $E_2$-dependent induction of the ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity. This system showed the highest ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity at $10^{-6}\;M\;E_2$, and the activity could be detected at even the concentration of $10^{-10}\;M\;E_2$. As a result, we have constructed a strongly sensitive detection system with Y. lipolitica to evaluate recognized/suspected ED chemicals, such as natural/synthetic hormones, pesticides, and commercial chemicals. The results demonstrate the utility, sensitivity, and reproducibility of the system for identifying and characterizing environmental estrogens.