• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.42-45
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• 2013

Natural photosynthesis utilizes solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water to energy-rich carbohydrates. Substantial use of sunlight to meet world energy demands requires energy storage in useful fuels via chemical bonds because sunlight is intermittent. Artificial photosynthesis research focuses the fundamental natural process to design solar energy conversion systems. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ($NAD^+$) and $NADP^+$ are ubiquitous as electron transporters in biological systems. Enzymatic, chemical, and electrochemical methods have been reported for NADH regeneration. As photochemical systems, visible light-driven catalytic activity of NADH regeneration was carried out using platinum nanoparticles, molecular rhodium and cobalt complexes in the presence of triethanolamine as a sacrificial electron donor. Pt nanoparticles showed photochemical NADH regeneration activity without additional visible light collector molecules, demonstrating that both photoactivating and catalytic activities exist together in Pt nanoparticles. The NADH regeneration of the Pt nanoparticle system was not interfered with the reduction of $O_2$. Molecular cobalt complexes containing dimethylglyoxime ligands also transfer their hydrides to $NAD^+$ with photoactivation of eosin Y in the presence of TEOA. In this photocatalytic reaction, the $NAD^+$ reduction process competed with a proton reduction.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.8-8
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• 2012

Ginseng have been traditionally used for strengthening immunity, providing nutrition and recovering health from fatigue. Recently, pharmaceutical activities of ginseng roots have been proven by many researches, and ginseng has become a world-famous medicinal plant. Ginseng saponin, ginsenoside, is one of the most important secondary metabolite in ginseng which has various pharmacological activities. Many studies have aimed to convert major ginsenosides to the more active minor ginsenoside Rg3 for consumer demand ginseng product. Microbial strain GS514 strain was isolated from soil around ginseng roots for enzymatic preparation of ginsenoside Rg3, which strain shows strong ability of converting ginsenoside Rb1and Rd into Rg3 in the solution with NaCl. The gene encoding a ${\beta}$-glucosidase from this GS514 was cloned and expressed in the BL21 (DE3) strain of Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzyme was purified and characterized. The molecular mass of purified was 87.5 kDa, as determined by SDS-PAGE. The gene sequence revealed significant homology to the family 3 glycoside hydrolases. The purified single enzyme also catalyzed the conversion of ginsenoside Rb1 into Rg3. This target enzyme will be able to produce as much saponin for consumer demand ginseng product. Anti-apoptotic proteins bind with pro-apoptotic proteins to induce apoptosis mechanism. Over expression of these anti-apoptotic proteins lead to several cancers by preventing apoptosis. Docking simulations were performed for anti-apoptotic proteins with several ginsenosides from Panax ginseng. Our finding shows ginsenosides particularly Rg3, Rh2 and Rf have more binding affinity with apoptotic proteins. Further, these docking system of each ginsenosides can be extended to experimental screen system for further brief confirmations of several diseases.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.457-460
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• 2002

In an effort to isolate novel strains expressing a thermostable esterase that hydrolyzed the rac-ketoprofen ethyl ester to ketoprofen in the stereospecific manner, we screened various soils and composts from broad ecological niches in which the activity was expected to be found. Three hundreds of microbial strains were tested to determine their ester-hydrolyzing activity by using an agar plate containing insoluble tributyrin as an indicative substrate, and then further screened by activity on the (R,S)-ketoprofen ethyl ester. Twenty-six strains were screened primarily at high growth and incubation temperature and further compared the ability to ethyl ester-hydrolyzing activity in terms of conversion yield and chiral specificity. Consequently, a strain JYl44 was isolated as a novel strain that produced a (R)-stereospecific esterase with high stability and systematically identified as a Bacillus stearothermophilus JY144. The enzyme indeed stables at a broad range of temperature, upto 65 $^{\circ}C$, and pH ranging from 6.0 to 10.0. The optimal temperature and pH for enzymatic conversion were 50 $^{\circ}C$ and 9.0, respectively. Based on the observations that resulted a poor cell growth, and enzyme expression in wild type strain, we further attempted the gene cloning into a general host Escherichia coli and determined its primary structure, concomitantly resulting a high level expression of the enzyme. The cloned gene had an open reading frame (250 amino acids) with a calculated molecular mass of 27.4 kDa, and its primary structure showed a relative high homology (45-52 %) to the esterases from Streptomyces and Bacillus strains. The recombinant whole cell enzyme could efficiently convert the rac-ketoprofen ethyl ester to (R)-ketoprofen, with optical purity of 99 % and yield of 49 %.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.459-463
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• 2015

This study evaluated the microbial conversion of coconut oil waste, a major agro-residue in tropical countries, into single cell oil (SCO) feedstock for biodiesel production. Copra cake was used as a low-cost renewable substrate without any prior chemical or enzymatic pretreatment for submerged growth of an oleaginous tropical mangrove fungus, Aspergillus terreus IBB M1. The SCO extracted from fermented biomass was converted into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) by transesterification and evaluated on the basis of fatty acid profiles and key fuel properties for biodiesel. The fungus produced a biomass (8.2 g/l) yielding 257 mg/g copra cake SCO with ~98% FAMEs. The FAMEs were mainly composed of saturated methyl esters (61.2%) of medium-chain fatty acids (C12-C18) with methyl oleate (C18:1; 16.57%) and methyl linoleate (C18:2; 19.97%) making up the unsaturated content. A higher content of both saturated FAMEs and methyl oleate along with the absence of polyunsaturated FAMEs with ≥4 double bonds is expected to impart good fuel quality. This was evident from the predicted and experimentally determined key fuel properties of FAMEs (density, kinematic viscosity, iodine value, acid number, cetane number), which were in accordance with the international (ASTM D6751, EN 14214) and national (IS 15607) biodiesel standards, suggesting their suitability as a biodiesel fuel. The low cost, renewable nature, and easy availability of copra cake, its conversion into SCO without any thermochemical pretreatment, and pelleted fungal growth facilitating easier downstream processing by simple filtration make this process cost effective and environmentally favorable.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.703-710
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• 2011

Enzymatic saccharification of corn stover using Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Gloeophyllum trabeum and subsequent fermentation of the saccharification products to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli K011 were achieved. Prior to simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) for ethanol production, solid-state fermentation was performed for four days on ground corn stover using either P. chrysosporium or G. trabeum to induce in situ cellulase production. During SSF with S. cerevisiae or E. coli, ethanol production was the highest on day 4 for all samples. For corn stover treated with P. chrysosporium, the conversion to ethanol was 2.29 g/100 g corn stover with S. cerevisiae as the fermenting organism, whereas for the sample inoculated with E. coli K011, the ethanol production was 4.14 g/100 g corn stover. Corn stover treated with G. trabeum showed a conversion 1.90 and 4.79 g/100 g corn stover with S. cerevisiae and E. coli K011 as the fermenting organisms, respectively. Other fermentation co-products, such as acetic acid and lactic acid, were also monitored. Acetic acid production ranged between 0.45 and 0.78 g/100 g corn stover, while no lactic acid production was detected throughout the 5 days of SSF. The results of our experiment suggest that it is possible to perform SSF of corn stover using P. chrysosporium, G. trabeum, S. cerevisiae and E. coli K011 for the production of fuel ethanol.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.360-370
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• 2019

Woody crops cultivated in short-rotation coppices are attractive sources of lignocellulosic materials for bioethanol production, since they are some of the most abundant renewable resources. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the growth period on bioethanol production using short-rotation woody crops (Populus nigra ${\times}$ Populus maxiwiczii, Populus euramericana, Populus alba ${\times}$ Populus glandulosa, and Salix alba). The carbohydrate contents of 3-year-old and 12-year-old short-rotation woody crop branches were 62.1-68.5% and 64.0-67.1%, respectively. The chemical compositions of 3-year-old and 12-year-old short-rotation woody crop branches did not vary significantly depending upon the growth period. However, the 3-year-old short-rotation woody crop branches (glucose conversion: 26-40%) were hydrolyzed more easily than their 12-year-old counterparts (glucose conversion: 19-24%). Furthermore, following the fermentation of enzymatic hydrolysates from the crop branch samples (by Saccharomyces cerevisiae KCTC 7296) to ethanol, the ethanol concentration of short rotation coppice woody crops was found to be higher in the 3-year-old branch samples (~ 0.18 g/g dry matter) than in the 12-year-old branch samples (~ 0.14 g/g dry matter). These results suggest that immature wood (3-year-old branches) from short-rotation woody crops could be a promising feedstock for bioethanol production.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.174-180
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• 2021

Chalcones exhibit multiple biological activities. Various studies have attempted to modify the structure of chalcones with a special focus on the addition of substituents to the benzene rings. However, these chemical modifications did not improve the water solubility and bioavailability of chalcones. Glycosylation can markedly affect the physical and chemical properties of hydrophobic compounds. Here, we evaluated the ability of a highly promiscuous glycosyltransferase (GT) BsGT1 from Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 to biosynthesize chalcone glucosides. Purified BsGT1 catalyzed the conversion of 4'-hydroxychalcone (compound 1), 4'-hydroxy-4-methylchalcone (compound 2), and 4-hydroxy-4'-methoxychalcone (compound 3), into chalcone 4'-O-β-D-glucoside (compound 1a), 4-methylchalcone 4'-O-β-D-glucoside (compound 2a), and 4'-methoxychalcone 4-O-β-D-glucoside (compound 3a), respectively. To avoid the addition of expensive uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-Glc), a whole-cell biotransformation system was employed to provide a natural intracellular environment for in situ co-factor regeneration. The yields of compounds 1a, 2a, and 3a were as high as 90.38%, 100% and 74.79%, respectively. The successful co-expression of BsGT1 with phosphoglucomutase (PGM) and UDP-Glc pyrophosphorylase (GalU), which are involved in the biosynthetic pathway of UDP-Glc, further improved the conversion rates of chalcones (the yields of compounds 1a and 3a increased by approximately 10%). In conclusion, we demonstrated an effective whole-cell biocatalytic system for the enzymatic biosynthesis of chalcone β-D-glucoside derivatives.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.484-489
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• 1998

Galactooligosaccharides (GalOS) were efficiently produced by partially purified $\beta$-galactosidase from the yeast strain Bullera singularis ATCC 24193. Ammonium sulfate precipitation and ultrafiltration methods were used to prepare the enzyme. The enzyme activity decreased at $50^{\circ}C$ and above. A maximum yield of 40% (w/w) GalOS, corresponding to 120 g of GalOS per liter, was obtained from 300 g per liter of lactose solution at $45^{\circ}C$, pH 3.7 when the lactose conversion was 70%. The yield of GalOS did not increase with increasing initial lactose concentration but the total amounts of GalOS did. Volumetric productivity was 4.8 g of GalOS per liter per hour. During this reaction, the by-products, glucose and galactose, were found to inhibit GalOS formation. Reaction products were found to be comprised of disaccharides and trisaccharides according to TLC and HPLC analyses. We propose the structure of the major product, a trisaccharide, to be ο-$\beta$-D-galactopyranosyl-(l-4)-ο-$\beta$-D-galactopyranosyl-(l-4)-$\beta$-D-glucose (4'-galactosyl lactose).

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.253-253
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• 2010

Rice straw was pretreated with aqueous ammonia in order to enhance enzyme digestibility. Soaking in ammonia aqueous (SAA) was conducted with 15% ammonia, at $60^{\circ}C$. for 24 h. Optimization of both saccharification conditions and enzyme loading of SAA rice straw was carried out. Especially enzyme loading test was performed using statistical method. Moreover proton beam irradiation (PBI) was also performed to overcome the problem which inhibit the enzyme digestibility at 1-25 kGy doses with 45 MeV of beam energy. Optimal condition for enzymatic saccharification was follows; pH 4.8, $50^{\circ}C$, 60 FPU of enzyme activity, 1:4 ratio of celluase and ${\beta}$-glucosidase. Also, optimal doses of PBI on rice straw and SAA-treated rice straw for efficient sugar recovery were found to be 3 kGy, respectively. When saccharification was performed with optimal condition, glucose conversion yield was 89% of theocratical maximum in 48 h, and 3 kGy of PBI was applied to SAA-treated rice straw, approximately 90% of the theoretical glucose yield was obtained in 12 h. The results of X-ray diffractometry (XRD) support the effect of both SAA and PBI on sugar recovery, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images unveiled the physical change of the rice straw surface since rugged rice straw surface was observed.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.656-659
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• 2001

Cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase) (EC 2.4.1.19) use starch to produce cyclic maltooligosaccharides (cyclodextrins, CDs) which are of interest in various applications. To obtain a novel CGTase having high CD-forming activity, ${\beta}-cyclodextrin$ glucanotransferase $({\beta}-CGTase)$ from Bacillus firmus var. alkalophilus was modified through site-directed mutagenesis and constructed five mutants, H59T, H59Q, Y96M, 9O-PPI-93, and ${\Delta}(148-154)D$, respectively. Y96M and ${\Delta}(148-154)D$ showed much higher level of conversion yields of starch into CDs from 28.6% to about 39% compared to wild-type ${\beta}-CGTase$, respectively, but 90-PPI-93 maintained similar convesion yields of starch to CDs. And their ${\beta}-CD$ ratios to total CDs were not changed and maintained, and convesion yields to linear maltooligosaccharides of all mutants were not changed significantly. These results indicates that five mutations of ${\beta}-CGTase$ from Bacillus firmus var. alkalophilus appears to be important roles for increase of overall CD production rather than change of its product specificity, especially.