• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.166-173
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• 1992

The expression of Bacillus subtilis $\alpha$-amylase from the phoA-amyE fusion gene in recombinant E. coli was investigated under various environmental conditions. The overexpression of cloned $\alpha$-amylase caused retardations in cell growth and synthesis of alkaline phosphatase (AP) from the chromosomal phoA gene. The change of culture temperature from $37^\circ{C}$ to $30^\circ{C}$ increased the specific activities of both $\alpha$-amylase and $\beta$-lactamase by six and two times, respectively, whereas the AP activity remained unchanged. The experiments with chlorampenicol (a translation inhibitor) suggested the enhancement of $\alpha$-amylase activity at $30^\circ{C}$, and this was partly due to the stability of $\alpha$-amylase itself. The further decrease of the temperature to $25^\circ{C}$ slowed down both the cell growth and cloned-gene expression rate. The $\alpha$-amylase activity showed a maximum at pH of 7.4 while alkaline phosphatase was most effectively produced at pH of 8.3.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.408-414
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• 1996

The SecY is a central component of the protein export machinery that mediate the translocation of secretory proteins across the plasma membrane, and has been known to be rate-limiting factor of secretion in Escherichia coli. In order to study the extracellular protein secretion in Gram-positive microorganism, we have, constructed strains harboring more than one copy of the gene for SecY. Firstly, the gene, for B. subtilis SecY and its promoter region was subcloned into pDH32 and the chimeric vector was inserted into amyE locus by homologous recombination. Secondly, low copy number vector, pCED6, was also used for subcloning the secY gene and for constructing a strain which harbors several copies of secY. The KH1 cell which harbor two copies of secY on the chromosome excreted more extracellular proteins than the wild type PB2. Moreover, the KH2 cells which harbor several copies of secY in pCED6 vector excreted more extracellular proteins than the KH1 cells. Here, we found that the capacity of protein secretion is partly controlled by the number of secY and it is suggested that SecY has also an important role in protein secretion in B. subtilis, a gram positive microorganism, as like in E. coli. This will promote the use of B. subtilis as a host for the expression of useful foreign gene and excretion of precious proteins.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.98-104
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• 1998

As an efffort ot construct LAB (latice acid bacteria), capable of utilizing starch as fermentation substrate without the aid of externally supplied enzymes, plasmid vectors containing the amyL($\alpha$-amylase/pullulansase gene) from Clostridium thermophydrosulfuricum, and glucoamylase cDNA from Asperigillus shirousamii were constructed and introduced itno E. coli and L. lactis. For expression in procaryotes , 1.9kb glucoamylase cDNA encoding the mature form of enzyme was PCR amplified and translationaly fused to a PCR amplified 260 bp fragment containing the promotor and secretion signals of amyl in the same reading frame. The production of $\alpha$-amylase, Apu, and glucoamlase in E. coli and L. lactis was confirmed by enzyme assay and zymography . Enzymeswere detected in both cellpellets and supernatants, indicating theworking of scretion signals in heterologous hosts. The efficiencies of secretion were varibale depending on the gene and host. The highest $\alpha$- amylase acitivity observed was 1.1 units and most activiity was detected from thecell pellets. The degree of gene expression in both hosts and the effect on the growth of hosts were examined.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.319-327
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• 2004

An additional amylase, besides the typical $\alpha-amylase,$ was detected for the first time in the cytoplasm of B. subtilis SUH4-2, an isolate from Korean soil. The corresponding gene (bbmA) encoded a malto­genic amylase (MAase) and its sequence was almost identical to the yvdF gene of B. subtilis 168, whose function was unknown. Southern blot analysis using bbmA as the probe indicated that this gene was ubiquitous among various B. subtilis strains. In an effort to understand the physiological function of the bbmA gene in B. subtilis, the expression pattern of the gene was monitored by measuring the $\beta-galactosidase$ activity produced from the bbmA promoter fused to the amino terminus of the lacZ struc­tural gene, which was then integrated into the amyE locus on the B. subtilis 168 chromosome. The pro­moter was induced during the mid-log phase and fully expressed at the early stationary phase in defined media containing $\beta--cyclodextrin\;(\beta-CD),$ maltose, or starch. On the other hand, it was kept repressed in the presence of glucose, fructose, sucrose, or glycerol, suggesting that catabolite repression might be involved in the expression of the gene. Production of the $\beta-CD$ hydrolyzing activity was impaired by the spo0A mutation in B. subtilis 168, indicating the involvement of an additional regu­latory system exerting control on the promoter. Inactivation of yvdF resulted in a significant decrease of the $\beta-CD$ hydrolyzing activity, if not all. This result implied the presence of an additional enzyme(s) that is capable of hydrolyzing $\beta-CD$ in B. subtilis 168. Based on the results, MAase encoded by bbmA is likely to be involved in maltose and $\beta-CD$ utilization when other sugars, which are readily usable as an energy source, are not available during the stationary phase.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.1464-1472
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• 2016

The BLi03719 protein of Bacillus licheniformis DSM13 belongs to the most abundant extracellular proteins under phosphate starvation conditions. In this study, the function of this phosphate starvation inducible protein was determined. An amino-acid sequence analysis of the BLi03719-encoding gene showed a high similarity with genes encoding the barnase of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 and binase-like RNase of Bacillus pumilus SARF-032. The comparison of the control strain and a BLi03719-deficient strain revealed a strongly reduced extracellular ribonuclease activity of the mutant. Furthermore, this knockout mutant exhibited delayed growth with yeast RNA as an alternative phosphate and carbon source. These results suggest that BLi03719 is an extracellular ribonuclease expressed in B. licheniformis under phosphate starvation conditions. Finally, a BLi03719 mutant showed an advantageous effect on the overexpression of the heterologous amyE gene under phosphate-limited growth conditions.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.309-316
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• 1990

The sequence of a 1795 bp restriction fragment containing the B. circulans F-2 gene for NaC1- dependent $\alpha$-amylase (CI-amylase) is reported. The probable coding region of the gene is 1005 base pairs (335 amino acida) long. The NaC1-dependent $\alpha$-amylase (el-amy) sequence shows an open reading frame (ORF) with the translated molecular weight of about 38, 006, which correspond to a molecular weight of about 35, 000 (Mi). The gene is preceded by the sequence resembling promoter for the vegetative B, subtitis RNA polymerases. These are followed by the sequences resembling a B. subtilis ribosome binding site 5 nucleotides before the first codon of the gene. Homologous regions with other amylases were found. The N-terminal sequences of the mature proteins expressed in E. eoli were identical to the N-terminal sequences which are anaIysed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.301-310
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• 2010

Bacillus subtilis strains produce a broad spectrum of bioactive peptides. The lipopeptide surfactin belongs to one well-known class, which includes amphiphilic membrane-active biosurfactants and peptide antibiotics. Both the srfA promoter and the ComP-ComA signal transduction system are an important part of the factor that results in the production of surfactin. Bs-M49, obtained by means of low-energy ion implantation in wild-type Bs-916, produced significantly lower levels of surfactin, and had no obvious effects against R. solani. Occasionally, we found strain Bs-M49 decreased spore formation and the development of competence. Blast comparison of the sequences from Bs-916 and M49 indicate that there is no difference in the srfA operon promoter PsrfA, but there are differences in the coding sequence of the comA gene. These differences result in three missense mutations within the M49 ComA protein. RT-PCR analyses results showed that the expression levels of selected genes involved in competence and sporulation in both the wild-type Bs-916 and mutant M49 strains were significantly different. When we integrated the comA ORF into the chromosome of M49 at the amyE locus, M49 restored hemolytic activity and antifungal activity. Then, HPLC analyses results also showed the comA-complemented strain had a similar ability to produce surf actin with wild-type strain Bs-916. These data suggested that the mutation of three key amino acids in ComA greatly affected the biological activity of Bacillus subtilis. ComA protein 3D structure prediction and motif search prediction indicated that ComA has two obvious motifs common to response regulator proteins, which are the N-terminal response regulator receiver motif and the C-terminal helix-turn-helix motif. The three residues in the ComA N-terminal portion may be involved in phosphorylation activation mechanism. These structural prediction results implicate that three mutated residues in the ComA protein may play an important role in the formation of a salt-bridge to the phosphoryl group keeping active conformation to subsequent regulation of the expression of downstream genes.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2001

This study was conducted to elucidate phylogenetic relationships and genetic characterization of silkworms that might be recognized as the Korean native strains. Genetic characterization in isozymes and the proteins of larval hemolymph of 17 silkworms were observed by acrylamide gel eletrophoresis, on 12 genes; Bph, Bes, les, Amy-hc, Ict-A, -B, -D,-E,-H, Pfl, Pst, Lp. Gene frequencies in each locus were compared other geographic strains. Korean native strains were remarkably different from others considered as the genetic characterization of Korean native strains. Phylogenetic relationships in Korean native strains were analysed using RAPD-PCR markers. A total of 40 primers were used and 346 bands of amplified DNA were generated from geographic strains. Genetic similarity based on the RAPD bands was used to construct phylogenetic dendrogram based on analysis of bard sharing data of amplified markers. Genetic similarity ranged from 0.595 to 0.860. In the genetic relationship based on dendrogram, they were classified into Bombyx mori group (including 16 domesticated silkworm strains) and B. mandarina group. The Bombyx mori group was separated into three sub-groups at the genetic similarity of 0.6930, including Korean, Japanese and Chinese groups. According to this result, the Korean native variety can be considered as a clearly different variety from other geographic strains. It may be concluded that the Korean native strains are also one of original geographic variety such as Japanese, Chinese, etc.