• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.176-183
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• 2016

Bacillus velezensis CC112 inhibited the mycelial growth of several plant pathogens, including Rhizoctonia solani, causing damping-off on ginseng. The control efficacies of B. velezensis CC112 against R. solani by seed dipping in LB and BSM broth diluted 10 times, soil dipping, and soil drenching with LB broth diluted 10 times were 65.8%, 67.1%, and 64.2%, respectively. Treatment of soil drenching with the 100 times diluted prototype of B. velezensis CC112 against R. solani and Pythium sp. by soil revealed control efficacies of 77.3% and 65.7%, respectively. These results indicate that B. velezensis CC112 is a prospective biofungicide for the biological control of ginseng damping off.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2000

Bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax has been classified into the Bacillus subgroup I with B. cereus, B. mycoides and B. thuringiensis based on morphological and DNA similarity. DNA studies have further indicated that these species have very AT-rich genomes and high homology, indeed it has been proposed that these four sub-species be recognized as members of the one species. Several methods have been developed to obtain good differentiation between these species. However, none of these methods provides the means for an absolutely correct differntiation. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) was employed as a quick, simple and reliable method for the identification of 21 B. anthracis strains and closley related strains. The most significant differences were found between B. anthracis and B. anthracis closely related strains in FAMEs profiles. All tested strains of B. anthracis had a branched fatty acid C17:1 Anteiso A, whereas the fraction of unsaturated fatty acid Iso C17:1 w10c was found in B. anthracis closely related strains. By UPGMA clustering analysis of FAMEs profiles, all of the tested strains were classified into two clusters defined at Euclidian distance value of 24.5. The tested strains of B. anthracis were clustered together including Bacillus sp. Kyungjoo 3. However, the isolates of B. anthracis closely related spp. Rho, S10A, 11R1, CAU9910, CAU9911, CAU9912 and CAU9913 were clustered with the other group. On the basis of these results, isolates of B. anthracis Bongchon, Kyungjoo 1, 2 and Bacillus sp. Kyungjoo 3 were reclassified as a B. anthracis. It is concluded that FAMEs analysis provides a sensitive and reliable method for the identification of B. anthracis from closely related taxa.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.189-196
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• 2016

Several microorganisms in particular Bacillus subtilis group have been isolated from diverse places such as soils and the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants etc., and used as biocontrol agent against various plant pathogens and utilized as plant growth promoting agents. Among them, Bacillus is well known as one of the most useful bacteria for biocontrol and plant growth promotion. Bacterium GH1-13 was isolated from a reclaimed paddy field in Wando Island and identified as Bacillus velezensis using phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 16S rRNA and gyrB gene. It was confirmed that GH1-13 produced indole acetic acid (IAA) associated with promoted growth of rice root. GH1-13 showed characteristics of antagonization against the main pathogen of rice as well as diverse pathogenic fungi. GH1-13 had biosynthetic genes, bacillomycin, bacilycin, fengycin, iturin, and surfactin which are considered to be associated closely with inhibition of growth of pathogenic fungi and bacteria. This study showed that GH1-13 could be used as a multifunctional agent for biocontrol and growth promotion of crop.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.104-108
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• 2002

The hazelnut leaf holer (Anoplus roboris Sufr,, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a devastating pest of hazelnut and oak trees. It causes approximately 20-30% economic damage to hazelnut production per year in Turkey. In the present study, in order to fond a more effective and safe biological control agent against A. roboris, we investigated the bacterial flora of the hazelnut leave holer, and tested them for insecticidal effects on it. According to morphological, physiological and biochemical tests bacterial flora were identified as Bacillus circulans (Ar1), Bacillus polymyxa (Ar2), Enterobacter sp. (Ar3) and Bacillus sphaelicus (Ar4). Insecticidal effects of bacterial isolates were performed on adult A. roboris. The highest insecticidal effect determined was 67% by B. sphaericus within eight days. The insecticidal effects of the other isolates (Ar1, Ar2 and Ar3) were determined as 33%, 47% and 47% within the same period, respectively.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.299-304
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• 2008

A ${\beta}$-1,4-endoglucanase gene from Bacillus subtilis H12 was cloned into Escherichia coli JM109 (pBC8) and sequenced. The endoglucanase gene with an insert DNA of 2.5 kb possessed an open reading frame of 1,500 bp encoding a mature protein of 499 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 55 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence showed similarity to those of the known neutral cellulase genes of B. subtilis PAP115 (99.2%) and BSE616 (97.8%), as well as the alkaline gene of Bacillus sp. N4 (55.1%). The endoglucanase activity expressed by E. coli (pBC8) was localized in the periplasmic fraction (80%) and the cytoplasmic fraction (20%). An endoglucanase was purified from the periplasmic fraction by performing gel filtration and anion exchange chromatography. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 31 kDa by SDS-PAGE, and the maximum activity occurred at pH 7 and $40^{\circ}C$. The enzyme easily hydrolyzed soluble substrates such as carboxymethyl cellulose and barely ${\beta}$-glucan, whereas the sigmacell and xylan, the known insoluble substrates, were not entirely hydrolyzed.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.204-210
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• 1998

The experiment was conducted to obtain the basic data required to characterize and improve rhizosphere environment of salt-accumulated greenhouse(SAG) soils by comparing the soil properties and the microbial flora of such soils to those of unprotected arable upland(UAU) soils. Soils were sampled from greenhouses and unprotected upland fields around the country. Microbial propulation, biomass C content and soil chemical properties were of interest. Population density of fluorescent Pseudomonas was high in UAU soils, while those of pathogenic Fusarium sp. and fluorescent Pseudomonas were low in SAG soils. With increasing soil organic matter(OM) content, the population densities of Bacillus sp., fluorescent Pseudomonas sp., Enterobacteriaceae, and microbial biomass C content increased. As soil electrical conductivity(EC) increased higher than $5.1dS\;m^{-1}$, the ratios of bacteria to fungi(B/F) and actinomycetes to fungi(A/F) and the population density of fluorescent Pseudomonas decreased remarkably. The soil pH was positively related to the population density of aerobic bacteria, while it was negatively related to that of fungi. The soil OM content was significantly correlated to the population densities of actinomycetes($r=0.226^*$). Bacillus sp.($r=0.334^{**}$), Enterobacteriaceae($r=0.276^*$), and the microbial biomass C content($R=0.439^{**}$). The population density of actinomycetes was also significantly correlated with soil exchangeable Ca($r=0.334^{**}$) and Mg($r=0.352^{**}$).

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.863-868
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• 2013

The XylP gene, which encodes endoxylanase in Bacillus sp. HY-20, was subcloned, and two expression plasmids, pG-xylP and pGMF-xylP were constructed. These plasmids, which contain different signal sequences, XylP s.s and $MF{\alpha}_{opt}$ s.s, respectively, for the secretory expression of endoxylanase, were transformed into Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEY2102 and FY833, respectively. The recombinant endoxylanases were successfully expressed, with a total activity range of 23.7-70.1 unit/ml according to the expression system and host strain. The endoxylanase activity in SEY2102/pGMF-xylP reached a maximum of 88.1 unit/ml in baffled flask culture. Most of the recombinant endoxylanase was efficiently secreted in the extracellular fraction, and the $MF{\alpha}_{opt}$ s.s was more efficient for secreting endoxylanase in yeast than the XylP s.s. Therefore, the expression system developed in this study produces large extracellular amounts of endoxylanase using S. cerevisiae as the host strain, and it could be used in bioethanol production and industrial applications.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2002

Purification and characterization of enzyme property of a cell-wall lytic enzyme against Lactobacillus plantarum were carried out. Final specific activity of purified enzyme was 5.8 units/mg and purity of the enzyme was increased 8.3 fold compared with the enzyme activity in culture broth. The molecular weight of purified enzyme was estimated to be 60,000 kDa by gel filtration and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Optimal pH and temperature for the activity of this enzyme were 3.0 and 4$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. The cell-wall lytic enzyme activity was maintained at 3$0^{\circ}C$ when treating the enzyme for 30 mins, whereas the activity was decreased to 80% of the maximum level at 4$0^{\circ}C$ The enzyme activity exhibited good stability at the range of pH 4~7.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2001

To construct an efficient Bacillus subtilis expression vector, strong promoters were isolated from the chromosomal DNA libraries of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 4259, Thermoactinomyces sp. E79, and Bacillus thermoglucosidasius KCTC 3400. The $P_{C27}$ promoter cloned from the clostridial chromosmal DNA showed a 5-fold higher promoter strength than the $P_{SP02}$ promoter in the expression of the cat gene, and its sequence was estimated as an upstream region of the predicted hypothetical gene (tet-R family bacterial transcription regulator gene) in C. acetobutylicum. As a promoter element, $P_{C27}$ exhibited putative nucleotide sequences that can bind with bacterial RNAP and the 3'end of the 16S rRNA just upstream of the start codon. In addition, the promoter activity of $P_{C27}$ was distinctively repressed in the presence of glucose. Using $P_{C27}$ as the promoter element, a glucose controllable B. subtilis expression vector was constructed and the lipase gene from Staphylococcus haemolyticus KCTC 8957P was expressed in B. subtilis. When compared with the lipase expression by the T7 promoter induced by IPTG in E. coli, the $P_{C27}$ promoter showed about a 1.5-fold higher expression level in B. subtilis than that without induction.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 1998

A bacterial strain PN33 producing large amounts of extracellular pectin lyase (PNL, EC 4.2.2.10) was isolated from soil. The isolated bacterium was identified as a strain of Bacillus sp. Production of PNL by the strain was induced only by pectins, with a higher degree of esterification, which had been added to the culture medium as a sole carbon source. The optimal medium for PNL production was determined to consist of 10 g pectin, 2 g yeast extract, 4 g $K_2HPO_4{\cdot}3H_2O$, 0.6 g $MgSO_4$, and 0.11 g $CaCl_2$ per liter (pH 7.0). The PNL activity in the culture supernatant reached the highest level of 132 mU/ml after 32 h cultivation at $37^{\circ}C$ in the optimal medium. The PNL produced was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation (50~80%), and cation exchange and size exclusion chromatographies. The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be approximately 52 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Almost the same mass was determined by nondenaturing PAGE, indicating that the functional enzyme had a monomeric structure. As expected, the PNL exhibited higher activities on the highly esterified pectins whereas it gave no detectable activity on polygalacturonic acid. The enzyme showed the highest activity at the acidic pH of 6.0, exceptional for a bacterial PNL. Maximum activity was measured at $40^{\circ}C$, although the stability f the purified enzyme was poor at this temperature. alcium (1 mM) was found to activate the PNL activity by $50\%$, and also remarkably increased the thermal stability f the enzyme. Phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF) and iethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) inhibited the PNL activity lmost completely at the concentration of 5 mM. This result ndicates that some serine and histidine residues of the nzyme may play an essential role for catalytic function of he enzyme.