• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.16
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• pp.45-54
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• 1998

A thermotolerant bacterium, Streptomyces thermocyaneoviolaceus which produced xylan-degrading enzymes, utilized excellently xylan of wheat bran by producing the enzymes in comparison with that of birchwood or oat spelts. Optimal enzyme production was achieved in WB medium containing 0.8% wheat bran, 0.06% yeast extract, 0.06% bactopeptone, 0.05% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.05% $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.05% $KH_2PO_4$ and, 0.2% $K_2HPO_4$(pH 7.0) at $50^{\circ}C$ for 24 hrs. The optimal pH and temperature for the hydrolysis of xylan were pH 5.5 and $65^{\circ}C$, respectively. The enzyme activity was retained more than 80% at the range from pH 4.5 to pH 9.5 at $4^{\circ}C$ for 12 hrs and 94% on the heat-treatment at $65^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr. Xylobiose, xylotriose, xylose, and other xylooligosaccharides were produced as end products from hydrolysis of birchwood xylan by the xylanase of S. thermocyaneoviolceus.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.916-921
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• 2019

In this study, we constructed a biological system that exhibited thermotolerance, ethanol tolerance, and increased ethanol productivity using a random mutagenesis method. We attempted to isolate a thermotolerant mutant using proofreading-deficient DNA polymerase ${\delta}$ and ${\varepsilon}$ encoded by the pol3 and pol2 genes, respectively, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To obtain mutants that could grow at high temperatures ($38^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$), random mutagenesis of AMY410 (pol2-4) and AMY126 (pol3-01) strains was induced. The parental strains (AMY410 and AMY126) grew poorly at temperatures higher than $38^{\circ}C$. By stepwise elevation of the incubation temperature, AMY410-Ht (heat tolerance) and AMY126-Ht strains that proliferated at $40^{\circ}C$ were obtained. These strains were further incubated in medium containing 6% and 8% ethanol and then AMY410-HEt (heat and ethanol tolerance) and AMY126-HEt strain with ethanol tolerance at an 8% ethanol concentration was obtained. The AMY126-HEt strain grew even at an ethanol concentration of 10%. Furthermore, following the addition of high concentrations of glucose (5% and 10%), an AMY126-HEt3 strain with increased ethanol productivity was isolated. This strain produced 24.7 g/l of ethanol (95% theoretical conversion yield) from 50 g/l of glucose. The findings demonstrate that a new biological system (yeast strain) showing various phenotypes can be easily and efficiently bred by random mutagenesis of a proofreading- deficient mutant.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2013

The thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha is an attractive model organism for various fundamental studies, such as the genetic control of enzymes involved in methanol metabolism, peroxisome biogenesis, nitrate assimilation, and resistance to heavy metals and oxidative stresses. In addition, H. polymorpha has been highlighted as a promising recombinant protein expression host, especially due to the availability of strong and tightly regulatable promoters. In this study, we investigated the possibility of employing human serum albumin (HSA) as the fusion tag for the secretory expression of heterologous proteins in H. polymorpha. A set of four expression cassettes, which contained the methanol oxidase (MOX) promoter, translational HSA fusion tag, and the terminator of MOX, were constructed. The expression cassettes were also designed to contain sequences for accessory elements including His8-tag, $2{\times}(Gly_4Ser_1)$ linkers, tobacco etch virus protease recognition sites (Tev), multi-cloning sites, and strep-tags. To determine the effects of the size of the HSA fusion tag on the secretory expression of the target protein, each cassette contained the HSA gene fragment truncated at a specific position based on its domain structure. By using the Green fluorescence protein gene as the reporter, the properties of each expression cassette were compared in various conditions. Our results suggest that the translational HSA fusion tag is an efficient tool for the secretory expression of recombinant proteins in H. polymorpha.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.146-154
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• 2011

In this study, physiological changes in a thermotolerant yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae KNU5377 cell exposed to 48-hour alcohol fermentation at $40^{\circ}C$ were investigated. After 12 hours of alcohol fermentation at $40^{\circ}C$, the $C_{16:1}$ unsaturated acid of plasma membrane increased to 1.5 times more than the $C_{16:0}$ saturated fatty acid, and to about 2 times more for the $C_{18:1}$ unsaturated fatty acid. Fermentation at both $30^{\circ}C$ and $37^{\circ}C$ fermentation showed the same pattern as that done at $40^{\circ}C$. The pH of the alcohol-fermentation medium was reduced to pH 4.1 from a starting pH of 6.0 through the 12-hr fermentation and then maintained this level during the continuing fermentation. With the process of fermentation, the remaining glucose was reduced, but its amount remaining during the $40^{\circ}C$-fermentation was less reduced than those fermented at $30^{\circ}C$ and $37^{\circ}C$. In the study investigating the changing pattern of cellular proteins in the alcohol-fermenting cells, the SDS-PAGE and 2-D data indicated the most expressed dot was phosphoglycerate kinase, which is one enzyme involved in glycolysis. Why this enzyme was most expressed in the cells exposed to unfavorable conditions such as high temperature, increasing concentration of produced alcohol and long time exposure to other stress factors remains unsolved.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.357-362
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• 2023

This report looks at an agar-degrading marine bacterium and characterization of its agarase. Agar-degrading marine bacterium JS-1 was isolated with Marine agar 2216 media from seawater from the seashore of Sojuk-do, Changwon in Gyeongnam Province, Korea. The agar-degrading bacterium was named as Agarivorans sp. JS-1 by phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The extracellular agarase was prepared from the culture media of Agarivorans sp. JS-1 and used for characterization. Relative activities at 20℃, 30℃, 35℃, 40℃, 45℃, 50℃, 55℃, and 60℃ were 70%, 74%, 78%, 83%, 87%, 100%, 74%, and 66%, respectively. Relative activities at pH 5, 6, 7, and 8 were 91%, 100%, 90%, and 89%, respectively. Its extracellular agarase showed maximum activity (207 units/l) at pH 6.0 and 50℃ in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer. The residual activity after heat treatment at 20℃, 30℃, and 50℃ for 30 minutes was 90%, 70%, and 50% or more, respectively. After a 2-hour heat treatment at 20℃, 30℃, 35℃, 40℃, and 45℃, the residual activity was 80%, 68%, 65%, 63%, and 57%, respectively. At 50℃ and above, after heat treatment for 30 minutes, the residual activity was below 60%. Thin layer chromatography analysis suggested that Agarivorans sp. JS-1 produces extracellular β-agarases as they hydrolyze agarose to produce neoagarooligosaccharides such as neoagarohexaose (20.6%), neoagarotetraose (58.5%), and neoagarobiose (20.9%). Agarivorans sp. JS-1 and its thermotolerant β-agarase would be useful in the production of neoagarooligosaccharides, showing functional activity such as inhibition of bacterial growth and delay of starch degradation.