• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.107-122
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• 2012

In plants, color is a powerful tool to attract insects and herbivores which act as pollinators and vehicles of seed dispersion. In particular, flower color has held key post for human with aesthetic value. Horticultural industry has developed methods to produce new and attractive color varieties in flowering plants. Carotenoids are one of the main pigments being responsible for red, orange, and yellow colors. Their biosynthetic pathway has been considered as a major target of metabolic engineering for color modification of flowers and fruits. Here, we review the diverse efforts to modify pigment phenotype by the control of carotenogenic gene expression and enzyme levels. Recent reports about regulating degradation and storage of carotenoids will be also summarized to help the creation of engineered flower with novel color phenotype which is not existed in nature.

• Bioindustry News
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 1997

• Bioindustry News
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.37-46
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• 1996

• Bioindustry News
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.7-15
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• 1997

• Bioindustry News
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.37-43
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• 1998

• Bioindustry News
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.22-26
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• 1996

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2019

Recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum producing N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) was constructed by metabolic engineering. To construct a basal strain producing GlcNAc, the genes nagA, nagB, and nanE encoding N-acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate deacetylase, glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase, and N-acetylmannosamine-6-phosphate epimerase, respectively, were sequentially deleted from C. glutamicum ATCC 13032, yielding strain KG208. In addition, the genes glmS and gna1 encoding glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase and glucosamine-6-phosphate N-acetyltransferase, which originated from C. glutamicum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, respectively, were expressed in several expression vectors. Among several combinations of glmS and gna1 expression, recombinant cells expressing glmS and gna1 under control of the ilvC promoter produced 1.77 g/l of GlcNAc and 0.63 g/l of glucosamine in flask cultures.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.349-361
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• 2010

In this review, the current knowledge of the carbon metabolism and global carbon regulation in Corynebacterium glutamicum are summarized. C. gluamicum has phosphotransferase system (PTS) for the utilization of sucrose, glucose, and fructose. C. glutamicum does not show any preference for glucose when various sugars or organic acids are present with glucose, and thus cometabolizes glucose with other sugars or organic acids. The molecular mechanism of global carbon regulation such as carbon catabolite repression (CCR) in C. glutamicum is quite different to that in Gram-negative or low-GC Gram-positive bacteria. GlxR (glyoxylate bypass regulator) in C. glutamicum is the cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) homologue of E. coli. GlxR has been reported to regulate genes involved in not only glyoxylate bypass, but also central carbon metabolism and CCR including glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Therefore, GlxR has been suggested as a global transcriptional regulator for the regulation of diverse physiological processes as well as carbon metabolism. Adenylate cyclase of C. glutamicum is a membrane protein belonging to class III adenylate cyclases, thus it could possibly be a sensor for some external signal, thereby modulating cAMP level in response to environmental stimuli. In addition to GlxR, three additional transcriptional regulators like RamB, RamA, and SugR are also involved in regulating the expression of many genes of carbon metabolism. Finally, recent approaches for constructing new pathways for the utilization of new carbon sources, and strategies for enhancing amino acid production through genetic modification of carbon metabolism or regulatory network are described.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.295-303
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• 2023

Immune and metabolic systems are important factors in maintaining homeostasis. Immune response and metabolic regulation are highly associated, so, when the normal metabolism is disturbed, the immune response changed followed the metabolic diseases occur. Likewise, obesity is highly related to immune response. Obesity, which is caused by an imbalance in energy metabolism, is associated with metabolic diseases, such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver diseases, atherosclerosis and hypertension. As known, obesity is characterized in chronic low-grade inflammation. In obesity, the microenvironment of immune cells became inflammatory by the unique activation phenotypes of immune cells such as macrophage, natural killer cell, T cell. Also, the immune cells interact each other in cellular or cytokine mechanisms, which intensify the obesity-induced inflammatory response. This phenomenon suggests the possibility of regulating the activation of immune cells as a pharmacological therapeutic strategy for obesity in addition to the common pharmacological treatment of obesity which is aimed at inhibiting enzymes such as pancreatic lipase and α-amylase or inhibiting differentiation of preadipocytes. In this review, we summarize the activation phenotypes of macrophage, natural killer cell and T cell, and their aspects in obesity. We also summarize the pharmacological substances that alleviates obesity by regulating the activation of immune cells.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.306-315
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• 2009

Due to the depleting petroleum reserve, recurring energy crisis, and global warming, it is necessary to study the development of white biotech-based aromatic chemical feedstock from renewable biomass for replacing petroleum-based one. In particular, the production of aromatic intermediates and derivatives in biosynthetic pathway of aromatic amino acids from glucose might be replaced by the production of petrochemical-based aromatic chemical feedstock including benzene-derived aromatic compounds. In this review, I briefly described the production technology for hydroquinone, catechol, adipic acid, shikimic acid, gallic acid, pyrogallol, vanillin, p-hydroxycinnamic acid, p-hydroxystyrene, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, indigo, and indole 3-acetic acid using metabolic engineering, bioconversion, and chemical process. The problems and possible solutions regarding development of production technology for competitive white biotech-based aromatic compounds were also discussed.