• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.409-419
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• 2016

Filamentous Aspergillus spp. are the most common fungi in our environment and can be beneficial and/or pathogenic to humans. Many Aspergillus spp. reproduce by forming asexual spores and can synthesize various secondary metabolites. A series of studies has revealed that Velvet regulators are fungus-specific transcription factors coordinating fungal growth, development, and secondary metabolism in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Proteins of the Velvet family form various complexes that play diverse roles in the life cycle of A. nidulans. In other Aspergillus spp., proteins of this family are highly conserved and coordinate asexual development and secondary metabolism. This review summarizes the functions of Velvet proteins in Aspergillus spp.

• Food Science and Industry
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.75-86
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• 2010

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• 제29권6호
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• pp.511-522
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• 2011

Flower color is one of the main target traits in the flower breeding. Recently, technological advances in genetic engineering have been successfully reported the flower colors, such as blue roses and blue carnations that are impossible to develop by traditional breeding. Accumulated knowledge-based approaches for flavonoid biosynthesis enabled to introduce novel and unique colors into flowers. These flower color modifications have been made through the regulation of flavonoid metabolic pathway - control of endogenous gene expression and introduction of foreign genes to produce novel and specific flavonoids - and the introduction of transcription factors that are known to regulate sets of genes being involving in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. More empirical regulation of the flavonoids metabolism requires the understanding for regulatory mechanism of intrinsic flavonoids depending on the flower crops and the very sophisticated control of flavonoid metabolic flow. In this review, we summarized successful examples of flower color modification. It might be useful to deduce the strategy for the creation of exquisite colors in flower plants.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• 제50권3호
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• pp.436-440
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• 2022

In this study, yeast artificial chromosome Insert (YAC) harboring genes which related xylan metabolism was constructed by using chromosome manipulation technique. For efficient chromosome manipulation, each splitting fragment (DNA module) required for splitting process was prepared and these DNA modules were transformed into Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain YKY164. By two-rounds chromosome splitting, yeast chromosome VII (1,124 kb) was split 887 kb-YAC, 45 kb-mini YAC and 198 kb-YAC and YKY183 strain containing 18 chromosomes was constructed. Splitting efficiency for chromosome manipulation was 50- 78% and expression level of foreign genes on 45 kb-mini YAC and enzyme activity were indistinguishable from that of the YKY164 strain. Furthermore, xylan-degraded products by recombinant enzymes were confirmed and mini-yeast artificial chromosome maintained stable mitotic stability without chromosome loss during 160 generations.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.238-245
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• 1988

Studies were made on the regulation of chorismate mutase and prephenate dehydratase of a species of Intrasporangium, a phenylalanine producing Actinomycete isolated from soil. Two distinctly regulated species of chorismate mutase, designated CM I and CM IIwere resolved by DEAE Cellulose and DEAE Sephadex A 50 chromatography. The activity of CM II was inhibited by L-tyrosine, whereas that of CM I appeared to be unregulated. Single species of prephenate dehydyatase was also separated in the same purification steps. The activity of the enzyme was strongly feedback inhibited by L-phenylalanine, but by L-tyrosine or L-methionine it was rather slightly stimulated. Synthesis of chorismate mutase was not influenced by the presence of phenylalanine, tyrosine or tryptophan, whereas prephenate dehydratase was found to be subject to strong feedback repression by L-phenylalanine. The rate of repression was 94% at the concentration of 1mM L-phenylalanine but the repression was completely offset by the presence of 5mM tyrosine. The critical regulatory site of the phenylalanine terminal biopathway was, therefore, proved to be the second reaction which was catalyzed by the L-phenylalanine inhibitable and repressible prephenate dehydratase.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.169-179
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• 2014

Intracellular antioxidants include low molecular weight scavengers of oxidizing species, and enzymes which degrade superoxide and hydroperoxides. Such antioxidants systems prevent oxidative damage to cellular component by scavenging free radicals and activated oxygen species. Hydrophobic scavengers are found in cell membrane where they interrupt chain reactions of lipid peroxidation. The three major lipophilic antioxidant classes for human health are carotenoids, vitamin E and coenzyme Q10. The biofortification of staple crops with these lipid soluble antioxidants is an attractive strategy to increase the nutritional quality of human food. Here, we have summarized the biosynthetic pathways of three lipid soluble antioxidants in plants and current status of genetic engineered plants for elevated levels of each lipophilic antioxidant.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제30권10호
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• pp.919-929
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• 2020

Aromatic compounds are widely used in the chemical, food, polymer, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries and are produced by mainly chemical synthesis using benzene, toluene, and xylene or by plant extraction methods. Due to many rising threats, including the depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, the strengthening of international environmental regulations, and the excessive harvesting of plant resources, the microbial production of aromatic compounds using renewable biomass is regarded as a promising alternative. By integrating metabolic engineering with synthetic and systems biology, artificial biosynthetic pathways have been reconstituted from L-tryptophan biosynthetic pathway in relevant microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli and Corynebacterium glutamicum, enabling the production of a variety of value-added aromatic compounds, such as 5-hydroxytryptophan, serotonin, melatonin, 7-chloro-L-tryptophan, 7-bromo-L-tryptophan, indigo, indirubin, indole-3-acetic acid, violacein, and dexoyviolacein. In this review, we summarize the characteristics, usage, and biosynthetic pathways of these aromatic compounds and highlight the latest metabolic engineering strategies for the microbial production of aromatic compounds and suitable solution strategies to overcome problems in increasing production titers. It is expected that strain development based on systems metabolic engineering and the optimization of media and bioprocesses using renewable biomass will enable the development of commercially viable technologies for the microbial production of many aromatic compounds.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.123-128
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• 2019

The use of 16S rDNA is commonplace in the determination of prokaryotic species. However, it has limitations, and there are few studies at the genus level. We investigated conserved genes and metabolic pathways at the genus level in 28 strains of 13 genera of prokaryotes using the COG database (conserved genes) and MetaCyc database (metabolic pathways). Conserved genes compared to total genes (core genome) at the genus level ranged from 27.62%(Nostoc genus) to 71.76%(Spiribacter genus), with an average of 46.72%. The lower ratio of core genome meant the higher ratio of peculiar genes of a prokaryote, namely specific biological activities or the habitat may be varied. The ratio of common metabolic pathways at the genus level was higher than the ratio of core genomes, from 58.79% (Clostridium genus) to 96.31%(Mycoplasma genus), with an average of 75.86%. When compared among other genera, members of the same genus were positioned in the closest nodes to each other. Interestingly, Bacillus and Clostridium genera were positioned in closer nodes than those of the other genera. Archaebacterial genera were grouped together in the ortholog and metabolic pathway nodes in a phylogenetic tree. The genera Granulicella, Nostoc, and Bradyrhizobium of the Acidobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Proteobacteria phyla, respectively, were grouped in an ortholog content tree. The results of this study can be used for (i) the identification of common genes and metabolic pathways at each phylogenetic level and (ii) the improvement of strains through horizontal gene transfer or site-directed mutagenesis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제28권8호
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• pp.985-991
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• 2018

Biological clocks are the basis of temporal control of metabolism and behavior. These clocks are characterized by autonomous free-running oscillation and temperature compensation and are found in animals, plants, and microorganisms. To date, various biological clocks have been reported. These include clocks governing hibernation, sleep/wake, heartbeat, and courtship song. These clocks can be differentiated by the period of rhythms, for example, infradian rhythms (> 24-hr period), circadian rhythms (24-hr period), and ultradian rhythms (< 24-hr period). In yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), at least five different autonomous oscillations have been reported; (1) glycolytic oscillations (T = 1~30 min), (2) cell cycle-dependent oscillations (T = 2~16 hr), (3) ultradian metabolic oscillations (T = 15~50 min), (4) yeast colony oscillations (T = a few hours), and (5) circadian oscillations (T = 24 hr). In this review, we discuss studies on oscillators, pacemakers, and synchronizers, in addition to the application of biological clocks, to demonstrate the nature of autonomous oscillations, especially ultradian metabolic oscillations of S. cerevisiae.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제60권4호
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• pp.333-338
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• 2017

Cellulosic alcohol fermentation has recently gained more attention in the production of ethanol, butanol, and 2,3-butanediol. However, it was revealed that the process had several hurdles, such as, an expensive cost for biomass decomposition to yield fermentable sugars and a production of byproduct lignin. As an alternative for the process through biomass saccharification, the alcohol production through syngas from biomass has been studied. In this study, we reviewed acetogen and its central metabolic pathway, Wood-Ljungdahl route, capable of utilizing syngas. Furthermore, the metabolic engineering strategies of acetogen for bio-alcohol production from syngas was also reviewed with a brief perspective.