• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.324-331
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• 2009

MK1 strain, an obligate aerobic heterotrophic bacterium isolated from the rotten tissue of Neungee mushroom (Sarcodon aspratus), produces a copious amount of exopolysaccharide (EPS), which could evoke macrophage activation. Investigations on optimal culture conditions of MK1 and physical properties of MK1 EPS were made. Glucose, galactose, fructose, and sucrose supported well growth of MK1, but potato starch and dextrin did not. However, lactose seemed to be a less favorable carbon source. Optimal growth of MK1 was obtained at pH 7.0, $30^{\circ}C$, and 200 rpm with 2% glucose, and 0.2~0.05% $(NH_4)_2SO_4$. $EPS_{opt}$ obtained from an optimal growth condition constituted of carbon (37.1%), nitrogen (2.2%), oxygen (49.3%), and hydrogen (6.4%), but no sulfur. Paper chrogromatogram of the acid-hydrolysate of $EPS_{opt}$ suggested that MK1 EPS seemed to be hetropolysaccharide composed of a few number of monosaccharides including amino- and acidic-sugars. Its molecular mass determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis varied from 14.8 to 47.9 kDa. Physical properties of $EPS_{glu}$ obtained from cell grown in glucose medium, such as relative viscosity ($_{rel}$) and crystalline morphology were rather affected by pH of the growth medium. Relative viscosity ($_{rel}$) of exopolysaccaride (0.1 g/ml) harvested from cells grown at medium pH ranging from 6.0 and 7.5 was 1.23 and 1.39, respectively. The freeze-dried exopolysaccharide obtained at low pH (6.0 and 6.5) was fine crystaloid and water-soluble, whereas those obtained at high pH (7.0 and 7.5) was rather gluey and less water-soluble.

• Mycobiology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.249-254
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• 2008

Minimal growth inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of chitosan acetate (M.W. 60 kDa) on heterotrophic bacteria (strains MK1, S, and R) isolated from the soft-rotten tissues of Neungee mushroom (Sarcodon aspratus) were measured. The slimy substance produced by the MK1 strain was responsible for the diseased mushroom’s appearance. The S and R strains were members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. These strains showed different levels of susceptibility toward chitosan acetate. The MIC of chitosan acetate against the MK1 and S strains was 0.06%. The MIC against the R strain was greater than 0.10%. Survival fractions of the MK1 and S strains at the MIC were $3\;{\times}\;10^{-4}$ and $1.4\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$ after 24 h, and $2\;{\times}\;10^{-4}$ and $7\;{\times}\;10^{-4}$ after 48 h, respectively. Survival fractions of the R strain after 24 and 48 hr at 0.1% chitosan acetate were $1\;{\times}\;10^{-2}$ and $6.9\;{\times}\;10^{-3}$, respectively. Compared to the MK1 and S strains, the low susceptibility of the R stain towards chitosan acetate could be due to the ability of the R strain to utilize chitosan as a carbon source. Thirty-eight percent of Neungee pieces treated in a 0.06% chitosan acetate solution for $2{\sim}3$ second did not show any bacterial growth at 4 days, whereas bacterial growth around untreated mushroom pieces occurred within 2 days. These data suggest that chitosan acetate is highly effective in controlling growth of indigenous microorganisms on Neungee. The scanning electron micrographs of the MK1 strain treated with chitosan revealed a higher degree of disintegrated and distorted cellular structures.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.230-238
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• 2010

Background: The MK1 strain, a novel bacterial isolate from soft-rotten tissue of the Neungee mushroom, produces copious amounts of exopolysaccharide (EPS) in a dextrose minimal medium. This study examined the molecular characteristics and immunomodulatory activity of MK1 EPS. Methods: The EPS in the culture supernatant was purified by cold ethanol precipitation, and characterized by SDS- PAGE/silver staining and Bio-HPLC. The immunomodulatory activities of the EPS were examined using the mouse monocytic cell line, RAW 264.7 cells. Results: The molecular weights of the purified EPS were rather heterogeneous, ranging from 10.6 to 55 kDa. The EPS was composed of glucose, rhamnose, mannose, galactose, and glucosamine at an approximate molar ratio of 1.00 : 0.8 : 0.71 : 0.29 : 0.21. EPS activated the RAW cells to produce cytokines, such as TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$, and nitric oxide (NO). EPS also induced the expression of co-stimulatory molecules, such as B7-1, B7-2 and ICAM-1, and increased the phagocytic activity. The macrophage-activating activity of EPS was not due to endotoxin contamination because the treatment of EPS with polymyin B did not reduce the macrophage-activating activity. Conclusion: The EPS produced from the MK1 strain exerts macrophage-activating activity.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.74-77
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• 2010

Antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is beginning to pose a social issue. Thus, there is an urgent need for the development of effective anti-staphylococcal agents to eradicate antibiotic-resistant S. aureus in food systems and to treat the pathogen in clinical areas. To address this need, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from kimchi were screened for the production of anti-staphylococcal bacteriocin. From this screening, a bacteriocin generated by the MK3 strain, which was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Enterococcus faecium, demonstrated antimicrobial activity against an S. aureus strain, and was designated enterocin MK3. Enterocin MK3 also demonstrated activity against other gram-positive bacteria, including several LAB and Listeria monocytogenes, but not gram-negative Escherichia coli. The molecular mass of enterocin MK3 was estimated as approximately 6.5 kDa on an SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) gel.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.143-146
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• 2000

This study was conducted to compare the cellular fatty acid composition and genotypic analysis of Bifidobacterium longum MK-G7 originated from Koreans with other commercial type strains of bifidobacteria. The cellular fatty acid of Bif. longum MK-G7 was shown to be composed of $C_{160FAME},C_{181\;c18DMA},C_{18.1\;CIS9\; FAME},C_{14.0FAME},C_{19\;0cye9,10 DMA},Feature7(C_{17.2 FAME), and Feature 10(C_{181\; Cll/t9/t6 FAME}$. Bif. longum MK-G7 showed 99.9% homology and the highest relatedness with Bif. longum ATCC 15707 type strain. Both Bif. longum MK-G7 and Bif. longum ATCC 15707 showed 153 bp products on RAPD (randomly amplified polymorphic DNA) analysis, however, they showed quite different band patterns on PFGE (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) analysis. Consequently, our present study showed that Bif. longum MK-G7 was different from any commercial type strains of Bif. longum tested.

• 한국당과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.37-37
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• 2006

• 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.46 no.4
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• pp.359-365
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• 2010

Fifty Actinobacteria strains were isolated from rhizosphere soil of Sasa borealis. In the course of screening for antibacterial activity against bacterial leaf spot of pepper (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria) of isolates, 12 isolates showed strong antibiotic activity. Basis on the 16S rRNA gene sequence, they were belonging to Streptomyces cluster II. Strain JR-24 exhibited strong antibiotic activity against X. axonopodis pv. vesicatoria, had a minimum inhibitory concentration of 10 ${\mu}l$/disc. The strain JR-24 was most closely related to Streptomyces galbus $DSM40089^T$ (98.1%), Streptomyces longwoodensis $LMG20096^T$ (98%) and Streptomyces capoamus $JCM4734^T$ (97.8%). When assayed with the API 20NE and 50 CHE kit, it is positive for utilization of L-arabinose, D-fructose, D-glucose, D-galactose and hydrolysis of gelatin, protein, starch. The strains contained iso-$C_{14:0}$ (25.93%), iso-$C_{15:0}$ (10.13%), anteiso-$C_{15:0}$ (19.29%) and iso-$C_{16:0}$ (20.35%) as major fatty acids and MK-9 (H4), MK-9 (H6), and MK-9 (H8) as the isoprenoid quinone. Strain JR-24 was suggested new species of genus Streptomyces by nearest neighbors of genotypic relationships and phenotypic characterization. This study was important to microbial resources investigation for environment-friendly agriculture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.655-660
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• 1999

Sphingomyelinase (SMase EC:3.l.4.l2) has been suggested to play important roles in the cell cycle, differentiation, apoptosis, inflammation, and the regulation of eukaryotic stress responses. SMase inhibitors may be a powerful tool to elucidate and regulate these cellular responses in which SMase involves. We first isolated an SMase inhibitor, named sphinin, from a strain of soil actinomycetes, F50970. Sphinin inhibited Mg/sup 2+/ -dependent neutral SMase from chicken embryo at 1.2 ㎍/㎖ of IC/sub 50/ Sphinin also inhibited acidic SMase, but it had no inhibitory activity on PI-PLC and PC-PLC, suggesting that sphinin is a specific inhibitor of SMase. The strain F50970 was identified as a Streptomyces sp. by its spiral spore chain, LL-diaminopimelic acid, menaquinone patterns of MK-9 (H'6) and MK-9 (H'8), FA-2c type of fatty acid pattern, and other morphological, physiological, and cultural characteristics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.902-908
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• 2018

Optimization of the culture medium to maximize menaquinone-7 (MK-7) production by Bacillus subtilis strain KCTC 12392BP in static culture was carried out using statistical experimental methods, including one factor at a time, fractional factorial design, and response surface methodology (RSM). Maltose (carbon source), tryptone (nitrogen source), and glycerol (activator) were identified as the key medium components for MK-7 synthesis by the fractional factorial design, and were selected for statistical optimization by RSM. The statistical analysis indicated that, in the range that was studied, maltose, tryptone, and glycerol were all critical factors having profound effects on the production of MK-7, with their coefficients for linear and quadratic all significant at the p < 0.05 level. The established model was efficient and feasible, with a determination coefficient ($R^2$) of 0.9419. The predicted concentrations of maltose, tryptone, and glycerol in the optimal medium were determined as 36.78, 62.76, and 58.90 g/l, respectively. In this optimized medium, the maximum yield of MK-7 reached a remarkably high level of $71.95{\pm}1.00{\mu}g/ml$ after 9 days of static fermentation, which further verified the practicability of this optimized strategy.