• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1173-1178
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to isolate an agar-degrading marine bacterium and characterize its agarase. Bacterium BK-1, from Gwanganri Beach at Busan, Korea, was isolated on Marine 2216 agar medium and identified as Agarivorans sp. BK-1 by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The extracellular agarase, characterized after dialysis of culture broth, showed maximum activity at pH 6.0 and $50^{\circ}C$ in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer. Relative activities at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and $70^{\circ}C$ were 67, 93, 97, 100, 58, and 52%, respectively. Relative activities at pH 5, 6, 7, and 8 were 59, 100, 95, and 91%, respectively. More than 90% of the activity remained after a 2 hr exposure to 20, 30, or $40^{\circ}C$; about 60% of the activity remained after a 2 hr exposure to $50^{\circ}C$. Almost all activity was lost after exposure to 60 or $70^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. Zymography revealed three agarases with molecular weights of 110, 90, and 55 kDa. Agarose was degraded to neoagarobiose (46.8%), neoagarotetraose (39.7%), and neoagarohexaose (13.5%), confirming the agarase of Agarivorans sp. BK-1 as a ${\beta}$-agarase. The neoagarooligosaccharides generated by this agarase could be used for moisturizing, bacterial growth inhibition, skin whitening, food treatments, cosmetics, and delaying starch degradation.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.775-784
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• 2021

After isolating the DIMO 52 strain with a large inhibition zone diameter for Clostridium perfringens and maximum butyric acid production from the fecal sample of a breastfeeding infant, it was identified as Clostidium butyricum. The maximum growth of the DIMO 52 strain was reached 24 h after inoculation, and the maximum butyric acid concentration was approximately 34.73±4.27 mM. The DIMO 52 strain survived approximately 67.5% of the initial inoculum at pH 2.0, and approximately 64.9% survived in RCM broth supplemented with 0.3% (w/v) oxgall. In addition, DIMO 52 showed antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli KCTC 2441 and Salmonella Typhimurium KCTC 1925. In LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, 1×10³ CFU/mL viable cells of the DIMO 52 strain also exhibited significant NO (nitric oxide) production inhibitory activity (33%, p<0.01). This result suggests that C. butyricum DIMO 52 has anti-inflammatory activity related to NO radical-scavenging activity. In conclusion, C. butyricum DIMO 52 isolated in this study has the potential to be used as a probiotic.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2023

The fermentation process of kimchi, which is a traditional Korean food, influences the resulting compo- sition of microorganisms, such as the genera Leuconostoc, Weissella, and Lactobacillus. In addition, several factors, including the type of kimchi, fermentation conditions, materials, and ingredients, can influence the distribution of the kimchi microbial community. In this study, next-generation sequencing (NGS) of kimchi samples obtained from central (Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do) and southern (Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do) regions in Korea was performed, and the microbial communities in samples from the two regions were compared. Good's coverage prediction for all samples was higher than 99%, indicating that there was sufficient reliability for comparative analysis. However, in a α -diversity analysis, there was no significant difference in species richness and diversity between samples. The Firmicutes phylum was common in both regions. At the species level, Weissella kandleri dominated in central (46.5%) and southern (30.8%) regions. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis was performed to identify biomarkers representing the microbial community in each region. The LEfSe results pointed to statistically significant differences between the two regions in community composition, with Leuconostocaceae (71.4%) dominating in the central region and Lactobacillaceae (61.0%) dominating in the southern region. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the microbial communities of kimchi are significantly influenced by regional properties and that it can provide more useful scientific data to study the relationship between regional characteristics of kimchi and their microbial distribution.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2002

Purpose: The H. pylori cagA gene, vacA gene and iceA gene are considered to be important virurence factors that have been implicated in the development of gastric adenocarcinoma. It was reported that the presence of IS605 elements may be responsible for rearrangements and lead to partial or total deletions of the cag pathogenicity island (PAI) and the virulence of cag PAI may be changed. However, different results regarding the association between these virulence factors and clinical disease have been reported from different geographic regions. This study evaluated the relationship between H. pylori virulence factors such as cagA, vacA, iceA, IS605 and gastric adenocarcinoma. Materials and Methods: H. pylori isolates were obtained from 54 infected patients (24 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma, 30 cases of control). H. pylori isolates were identified by PCR with ureC gene and 16S rRNA. PCR was performed to examine cagA, vacA, iceA and IS605 genotypes. Results: Significant difference was found in the negative rates of cagA between gastric adenocarcinoma group and control ($62.5\%\;vs.\;33.3\%$ P=0.033). No significant difference was found in the prevalence of iceA, vacA between gastric adenocar cinoma and control. The genotype of cagA+ vacA s1-m1 iceA1 was predominant in H. pylori isolates irrespective of the clinical outcome. IS605 in PAI was not found in gastric adenocarcinoma gruop and control. The positive rates of IS605 in genome were $33.3\%$ in gastric adenocarcinoma group and $36.7\%$ in control (P>0.05). In gastric carcinoma, the positive rate of $cagA^{+}/IS605$ was lower than in control ($12.5\%\;vs\;40.0\%$, P=0.025) and the positive rate of cagA-/IS605 was higher than in control ($54.2\%\;vs\;23.3\%$, P=0.02). Conclusion: H. pylori virulence factors had not related significantly with gastric adenocarcinoma. Further study is needed to examine the specificity of H. pylori strains.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.571-577
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• 2013

Our aim was to ferment soymilk using lactic acid bacteria that showed protease activity and to optimize the condition for fermentation. In total, 108 strains of protease-producing lactic acid bacteria were isolated from various fermented foods such as kimchi and jeotgal, and among them, 29 strains displaying the highest protease activity were selected for further study. From these 29 strains, strain MK1, whose protease activity was 126 $mU/mL{\cdot}min$, was selected as the optimal fermentation strain owing to its high ability to digest soymilk protein. It was henceforth labeled as Lactobacillus paracasei MK1. The optimum conditions for the fermentation of soymilk by using L. paracasei MK1 were determined to be as follows: 30 h of fermentation time at a temperature of $30^{\circ}C$, and at a pH of 6.0 in the initial growth medium.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.208-215
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• 2005

This study was accomplished in order to collect fundamental data on microbial roles in recycling process of reed rhizosphere. Sunchon bay, which is considered as one of the marsh and mud environments severely affected by human activities such agriculture and fisheries, was selected as a model place. In our initial efforts, two bacterial consortia were obtained by enrichment culture using PAH mixtures containing anthracene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene as the sources of carbon and energy, and four pure bacteria capable of rapid degradation of PAH were isolated from them. Four strains designated as SCB1, SCB2, SCB6, and SCB7 revealed by morphological, physiological and molecular analyses were identified as Burkholderia anthina, Alcaligenes sp., Achromobacter xylosoxidans., and Pseudomonas putida, respectively with over $99{\%}$ confidence. Notably, Burkholderia anthina SCB1 and Alcaligenes sp. SCB2 were found to utilize anthracene and pyrene more quickly than naphthalene and phenanthrene, whereas Achromobacter xylosoxidans SCB6 and Pseudomonas putida SCB7 exhibited similar growth and degradation patterns except for pyrene. These facts suggest that the rhizosphere microorganisms capable of PAH degradation might be used to clean up the contamination sites with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2010

In this study, lactic acid bacteria with high angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor activity were isolated from Korean fermented food, such as kimchi and salted seafood. The strain HLJ59, isolated from salted shrimp showed the highest angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor activity in DeMan Rogosa Sharpe broth. Optimum growth temperature of Lactobacillus brevis HLJ59 was at $34^{\circ}C$. Acid treatment at pH 3.0 for 1.5 h decreased cell viability from $9.9{\times}10^8$ CFU/ml to $3.11{\times}10^4$ CFU/ml. The bile extract concentration of 0.3%, 0.5%, and 1.0% in MRS broth did not inhibit the growth of HLJ59. Isolated strain HLJ59 showed more sensibility to amikacin, gentamycin, neomycin, streptomycin, kanamycin, cefmetazole, cephalothin, ampicillin, ticarcillin, sulbactam+ampicillin, amoxicillin+clavulanic acid (AMC), tetracycline, and sulfamethoxazole+trime thoprim (SXT) as compare to other 7 different antibiotics. However, it showed more resistance to cefoxatin, ceftnaxone, penicillin, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, lincomycin, and chloramphenicol.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2010

The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) has assembled a culture collection of cold-adapted bacterial strains from both the Arctic and Antarctic. To identify excellent protease-producers among the proteolytic bacterial collection (874 strains), 78 strains were selected in advance according to their relative activities and were subsequently re-examined for their extracellular protease activity on $0.1{\times}$ ZoBell plates supplemented with 1% skim milk at various temperatures. This rapid and direct screening method permitted the selection of a small group of 15 cold-adapted bacterial strains, belonging to either the genus Pseudoalteromonas (13 strains) or Flavobacterium (2 strains), that showed proteolytic activities at temperatures ranging between $5-15^{\circ}C$. The cold-active proteases from these strains were classified into four categories (serine protease, aspartic protease, cysteine protease, and metalloprotease) according to the extent of enzymatic inhibition by a class-specific protease inhibitor. Since highly active and/or cold-adapted proteases have the potential for industrial or commercial enzyme development, the protease-producing bacteria selected in this work will be studied as a valuable natural source of new proteases. Our results also highlight the relevance of the Antarctic for the isolation of protease-producing bacteria active at low temperatures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.9
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• pp.1114-1121
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• 2017

Bacillus strains not producing harmful components were isolated from Korean traditional soybean products. Extracellular enzyme activities (amylase, protease, cellulase, and xylanase) of isolated Bacillus strains were measured, and Bacillus strains with high protease activity were selected. The selected 15 strains were identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (10), Bacillus methylotrophicus (1), Bacillus velezensis (1), and Bacillus subtilis (3). Among them, B. subtilis JBG17019, B. amyloliquefaciens JBD17076, and B. amyloliquefaciens JBD17109 showed antimicrobial activities against food-borne microorganisms. The production abilities of glutamate, glutamine, and poly-${\gamma}$-glutamic acid (${\gamma}$-PGA) of the selected Bacillus strains were measured to analyze fermentation characteristics related to glutamic acid metabolism. The factor for multivariate was analyzed by the principal components analysis (PCA) method between fermentation characteristics and ${\gamma}$-PGA production. The three principal components were classified according to the PCA method: PC1 [enzyme activity (amylase, cellulase, and xylanase)], PC2 (${\gamma}$-PGA), and PC3 (protease, glutamate, and glutamine). As a result, B. amyloliquefaciens JBD17076 and B. subtilis JBG17019 strains were evaluated as having excellent enzyme activity and ${\gamma}$-PGA production.