• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.1325-1329
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• 2006

Structural modeling of $\beta$-galactosidase from L. lactis ssp. lactis 7962 has shown that the residues Cys-472 and His-509 are located in the wall of the active-site cavity. To examine the functions of Cys-472 and His-509, we generated five site-specific mutants: Cys-472-Ser, Cys-472-Thr, Cys-472-Met, His-509-Asn, and His-509-Phe. $\beta$-Galactosidase substituted at Cys-472 with Met or His-509 with Phe had <3% of the activity of the native enzyme when assayed using ONPG as substrate. The other mutants Cys-472-Ser, Cys-472-Thr, and His-509-Asn had ca. 10-15% of the native enzyme activity. The V$_max$ values of the five mutated enzymes were lower (60-7,000-fold) than that of native enzyme. These results show that the catalytic ability of $\beta$-galactosidase is significantly affected by mutations at Cys-472 or His-509.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.75-80
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• 2002

The growth inhibition by nisin-Producing lactococci against Bacillus subtilis and its application to doenjang fermentation were investigated. Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis IFO 12007, L. lactis subsp. lactis ATCC 7962 and L. lactis subsp. lactis ATCC 11454 were used as nisin-producing lactococci. All of three strain rapidly proliferated to more than 10$^{9}$ CFU/g in steamed soybeans. Only L. lactis subsp. lactis IFO 12007 was in steamed soybean without any pH decrease. In spite of the mild decrease in pH, the growth of B. subtilis was completely inhibited; no living cells were detected in a soybean sample inoculated with 10$^{6}$ CFU/g and incubated for 24 to 72h. The L. lactis subsp. lactis IFO 12007 was applied to doenjang fermentation as a starter culture. It produced high nisin activity in steamed soybean, resulting in the complete growth inhibition of B. subtilis, which had been inoculated at the beginning of the meju fermentation, throughout the process of doenjang production. Over-acidification, which is undesirable for doenjang quality, was successfully prevented simply by adding salt which killed the salt-intolerant L. lactis subsp. lactis IFO 12007. Furthermore, the nisin activity in doenjang disappeared with aging.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.156-160
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• 2002

The whole gal/lae operon genes of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis 7962 were reported as follows: galA-galM-galK-galT-lacA -lacZ-galE. The galK gene encoding a galactokinase involved in one of the Leloir pathways for galactose metabolism was found to be 1,197 bp in length and encodes a protein of 43,822 Da calculated molecular mass. The deduced amino acid sequence showed over 50% homology with GaIK proteins from several other lactic acid bacteria. The galK gene was expressed in E. coli and the product was identified as a 43 kDa protein which corresponds to the estimated size from the DNA sequence. The galactokinase activity of recombinant 5. coli was about 8 times greater against that of the host strain and more than 3 times higher than the induced L. lactis 7962.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.157-161
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• 2002

A lactic acid bacteria with ${\beta}$-gal activity was isolated from Kimchi, a traditional fermented vegetable food in Korea. The isolate was identified as a Lactococcus lactis strain and named L. lactis A2. The gene encoding ${\beta}$-gal of L. lactis A2 was cloned as a 5.8 kb PstI fragment. DNA sequencing identified the complete lacA (galactoside acetyltransferase)-lacZ (${\beta}$-galactosidase) genes together with the 3' part of upstream galT (galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase), and the 5'region of downstream galE (UDP-galactose-4-epimerase) genes. L. lactis A2 had the same gal/lac operon structure as in L. lactis subsp. lactis 7962. Other genes of the Leloir pathway are most likely to be located in the 5'upstream of the 5.8 kb fragment on the A2 chromosome. Sequences downstream of galE were different from those of L. lactis subsp. lactis 7962.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.298-303
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• 2021

Comparative genomic analysis was performed on eight species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB)-Lactococcus (L.) lactis, Lactobacillus (Lb.) plantarum, Lb. casei, Lb. brevis, Leuconostoc (Leu.) mesenteroides, Lb. fermentum, Lb. buchneri, and Lb. curvatus-to assess their glutamic acid production pathways. Glutamic acid is important for umami taste in foods. The only genes for glutamic acid production identified in the eight LAB were for conversion from glutamine in L. lactis and Leu. mesenteroides, and from glucose via citrate in L. lactis. Thus, L. lactis was considered to be potentially the best of the species for glutamic acid production. By biochemical analyses, L. lactis HY7803 was selected for glutamic acid production from among 17 L. lactis strains. Strain HY7803 produced 83.16 pmol/μl glutamic acid from glucose, and exogenous supplementation of citrate increased this to 108.42 pmol/μl. Including glutamic acid, strain HY7803 produced more of 10 free amino acids than L. lactis reference strains IL1403 and ATCC 7962 in the presence of exogenous citrate. The differences in the amino acid profiles of the strains were illuminated by principal component analysis. Our results indicate that L. lactis HY7803 may be a good starter strain for glutamic acid production.