• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.513-517
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• 2010

A thermostable trehalose synthase (TtTSase) from Thermus thermophilus HJ6 was immobilized on chitosan activated with glutaraldehyde. The yield of immobilization was evaluated as 39.68%. The optimum pH of the immobilized enzyme was similar to that of the free enzyme. However, the optimal temperature ranges were shifted by about $4^{\circ}C$ owing to better thermal stability after immobilization. The half-life of heat inactivation for free and immobilized enzymes was 5.7 and 6.3 days at $70^{\circ}C$, respectively, thus showing a lager thermostability of the immobilized enzyme. When tested in batch reaction, the immobilized enzyme retained its relative activity of 53% after 30 reuses of reaction within 12 days, and still retained 82% of its initial activity even after 150 days at $4^{\circ}C$. A packed-bed bioreactor with immobilized enzyme showed a maximum yield of 56% trehalose from 100 mM maltose in a continuous recycling system (bed volume: 10 ml) under conditions of pH 7.0 and $70^{\circ}C$.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2014

Plant abiotic stress tolerance has been modulated by engineering the trehalose synthesis pathway. However, many stress-tolerant plants that have been genetically engineered for the trehalose synthesis pathway also show abnormal development. The metabolic intermediate trehalose 6-phosphate has the potential to cause aberrations in growth. To avoid growth inhibition by trehalose 6-phosphate, we used a gene that encodes a bifunctional in-frame fusion (BvMTSH) of maltooligosyltrehalose synthase (BvMTS) and maltooligosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase (BvMTH) from the nonpathogenic bacterium Brevibacterium helvolum. BvMTS converts maltooligosaccharides into maltooligosyltrehalose and BvMTH releases trehalose. Transgenic rice plants that over-express BvMTSH under the control of the constitutive rice cytochrome c promoter (101MTSH) or the ABA-inducible Ai promoter (105MTSH) show enhanced drought tolerance without growth inhibition. Moreover, 101MTSH and 105MTSH showed an ABA-hyposensitive phenotype in the roots. Our results suggest that over-expression of BvMTSH enhances drought-stress tolerance without any abnormal growth and showes ABA hyposensitive phenotype in the roots.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2003

Recombinant trehalose synthase from Thermus caldophilus GK24 showed an ability to produce trehalose from maltose. The activity of the partially purified enzyme was not influenced by most metal ions at 1 mM but was inhibited by 10 mM $Co^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, and $Fe^{2+}$. Enzyme activity varied during prolonged reaction due to changes in the environmental conditions. Thus, the reaction was carried out for an extended time with optimized conditions of $45^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0. An yield of 32.9% was reached at $60^{\circ}C$ after reaction for 22 h, and, maximum trehalose conversion (69.2%) was attained at $25^{\circ}C$. The yields obtained using enzyme dosages of 10, 25, and 50 U/g were 62.3, 62.3 and 59.0 %, respectively, though the initial conversion rate was higher when the higher dose was used. Similar profiles of trehalose production yields were observed with reaction working volumes of 10 ml to 2,000 ml.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.123-127
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• 2004

In many organisms, trehalose has been Down as an energy source and a protectant against various environmental stresses such as desiccation, freezing, heat and osmotic pressure. Previously, we have isolated and characterized the genes encoding trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (ZrTPS1) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (ZrTPS2) from one of the most osmotolerant yeasts, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii. We have also generated transgenic plants by co-introduction of ZrTPS2 and ZrTPS2 into potato plant (ZrTPS2-2A-ZrTPS1 plant) in an attempt to metabolically engineer trehalose in the transgenic plant using the foot-and-mouth disease virus(FMDV) 2A system and to generate drought resistant crop plants. In this research, we assayed previously generated the ZrTPS2-2A-ZrTPS1 plant biofunctionally by drought treatment, and measured the amount of trehalose in the ZrTPS2-2A-ZrTPS1 transgenic plants. The ZrTPS2-2A-ZrTPS1 transgenic plant showed strong drought resistance in spite of little or no accumulation of transgenic in he transgenic plant compared with control plant.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.566-579
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• 2021

Ralstonia syzygii subsp. indonesiensis (Rsi, former name: Ralstonia solanacearum phylotype IV) PW1001, a causal agent of potato wilt disease, induces hypersensitive response (HR) on its non-host eggplant (Solanum melongena cv. Senryo-nigou). The disaccharide trehalose is involved in abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in many organisms. We found that trehalose is required for eliciting HR on eggplant by plant pathogen Rsi PW1001. In R. solanacearum, it is known that the OtsA/OtsB pathway is the dominant trehalose synthesis pathway, and otsA and otsB encode trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) synthase and T6P phosphatase, respectively. We generated otsA and otsB mutant strains and found that these mutant strains reduced the bacterial trehalose concentration and HR induction on eggplant leaves compared to wild-type. Trehalose functions intracellularly in Rsi PW1001 because addition of exogenous trehalose did not affect the HR level and ion leakage. Requirement of trehalose in HR induction is not common in R. solanacearum species complex because mutation of otsA in Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum (former name: Ralstonia solanacearum phylotype I) RS1002 did not affect HR on the leaves of its non-host tobacco and wild eggplant Solanum torvum. Further, we also found that each otsA and otsB mutant had reduced ability to grow in a medium containing NaCl and sucrose, indicating that trehalose also has an important role in osmotic stress tolerance.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.158-166
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• 2006

In many organisms, trehalose acts as protective metabolite against harsh environmental stresses, such as freezing, drought, nutrient starvation, heat and salt. Herein a cDNA (designated as GbTPS, GenBank Accession Number AY884150) encoding a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase homologue was isolated and characterized from the living fossil plant, Ginkgo biloba, which is highly tolerant to drought and cold. GbTPS encoded an 868-amino-acid polypeptide with a predicted isoelectric point of 5.83 and molecular mass of 97.9 kD. Amino acid sequence alignment revealed that GbTPS shared high identity with class II trehalose-6-phosphate synthase homologues (67% identical to AtTPS7), but had only 17% and 23% of identity with OstA from Escherichia coli and ScTPS1 from S. cerevisiae, respectively. DNA gel blot analysis indicated that GbTPS belonged to a small multi-gene family. The expression analysis by RT-PCR showed that GbTPS expressed in a tissue-specific manner in G biloba and might involve in leaf development. GbTPS was also found to be induced by a variety of stresses including cold, salt, drought and mannitol.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.830-837
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• 2011

A genomic DNA fragment encoding a putative maltooligosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase (NfMTH) for trehalose biosynthesis was cloned by the degenerate primer- PCR from cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme. The ORF of NfMTH is 1,848 bp in length and encodes 615 amino acid residues, constituting a 70 kDa protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of NfMTH contains 4 regions highly conserved for MTHs. By expression of NfMTH in E. coli, the function of this protein was demonstrated, where the recombinant protein catalyzed the hydrolysis of maltooligosyl trehalose to trehalose. The expressions of MTH and maltooligosyltrehalose synthase in the filaments of N. flagelliforme were upregulated significantly under dehydration stress, NaCl stress, and high temperature-drought stress. The accumulations of both trehalose and sucrose in the filaments of N. flagelliforme were also improved significantly under the above stresses. Furthermore, trehalose accumulated in smaller quantities than sucrose did when under NaCl stress, but accumulated in higher quantities than sucrose did when under temperature-drought stress, indicating that both trehalose and sucrose were involved in N. flagelliforme adapted to stresses and different strategies conducted in response to various stress conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.123-129
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• 2007

The trehalose $({\alpha}-D-glucopyranosyl-[1,1]-{\alpha}-D-glucopyranose)$ biosynthesis genes MhMTS and MhMTH, encoding a maltooligosyltrehalose synthase (MhMTS) and a maltooligosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase (MhMTH), respectively, have been cloned from the hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Metallosphaera hakonesis. The ORF of MhMTS is 2,142 bp long, and encodes 713 amino acid residues constituting a 83.8 kDa protein. MhMTH is 1,677 bp long, and encodes 558 amino acid residues constituting a 63.7 kDa protein. The deduced amino acid sequences of MhMTS and MhMTH contain four regions highly conserved for MTSs and three for MTHs that are known to constitute substrate-binding sites of starch-hydrolyzing enzymes. Recombinant proteins obtained by expressing the MhMTS and MhMTH genes in E. coli catalyzed a sequential reaction converting maltooligosaccharides to produce trehalose. Optimum pH of the MhMTS/MhMTH enzyme reaction was around 5.0 and optimum temperature was around 70 C. Trehalose-producing activity of the MhMTS/ MhMTH was notably stable, retaining 80% of the activity after preincubation of the enzyme mixture at $70^{\circ}C$ for 48 h, but was gradually abolished by incubating at above $85^{\circ}C$. Addition of thermostable $4-{\alpha}-glucanotransferase$ increased the yield of trehalose production from maltopentaose by 10%. The substrate specificity of the MhMTS/MhMTH-catalyzed reaction was extended to soluble starch, the most abundant maltodextrin in nature.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.415-421
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• 2000

The disaccharide trehalose ($\alpha$-D-glucopyranosyl-$\alpha$-D-glucopyranoside) is found in variety of organ-isms that are able to withstand almost complete desiccation. In order to identify the function of trehalose in plants, we isolated Arabidopsis trehalase (AtTRE) gene that encodes the enzyme able to hydrolyze trehalose to glucose, and trehalose-6-phosphate synthase isolog, TPS3 gene by RT-PCR. The AtTRE had the substrate specificity to hydrolyze only trehalose, and a broad pH range of enzyme activity. The AtTRE promoter/GUS reporter gene was expressed in cotyledons, mature leaf tissues including guard cells, and developing siliques. The GUS expression driven by AtTPS3 promoter was significant in root tissues, and the level of GUS activity was much higher than that of the pBll 21 control seedlings. The knockout of AtTPS3 gene in Arabidopsis resulted in the retarded root development, whereas the overexpression of AtTPS3 increased the root elongation in the presence of sucrose in MS medium. Possible functions of AtTRE and AtTPS3 in plant will be discussed. In addition, ectopic expression of yeast TPS1 driven by the inducible promoters in tobacco and potato conferred the plants on the drought and freezing tolerances.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2011

Neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) is a characteristic hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. GSK3β has been reported to play a major role in the NFT formation of tau. Dysfunction of autophagy might facilitate the aggregate formation of tau. The present study examined the role of GSK3${\beta}$-mediated phosphorylation of tau species on their autophagic degradation. We transfected wild type tau (T4), caspase-3-cleaved tau at Asp421 (T4C3), or pseudophosphorylated tau at Ser396/Ser404 (T4-2EC) in the presence of active or enzyme-inactive GSK3${\beta}$. Trehalose and 3-methyladenine (3-MA) were used to enhance or inhibit autophagic activity, respectively. All tau species showed increased accumulation with 3-MA treatment whereas reduced with trehalose, indicating that tau undergoes autophagic degradation. However, T4C3 and T4-2EC showed abundant formation of oligomers than T4. Active GSK3${\beta}$ in the presence of 3-MA resulted in significantly increased formation of insoluble tau aggregates. These results indicate that GSK3${\beta}$-mediated phosphorylation and compromised autophagic activity significantly contribute to tau aggregation.