• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권11호
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• pp.1853-1857
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• 2008

Salmonella contamination in chicken meat was studied with 100 chicken meat samples purchased from 55 shops located in various regions. A total of 21 isolates of Salmonella enterica were isolated from 21 chicken meat samples from four shops located at open markets, whereas there were none from supermarkets with well-equipped cold systems. Among these, 18 isolates were identified as Salmonella enterica serotype Haardt (S. Haardt) and three isolates were S. enterica serotype Muenchen. When the minimal inhibitory concentrations of the S. Haardt isolates were assayed with the agar dilution method to determine susceptibility to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, sulfisoxazole, tetracycline, and nalidixic acid, all 18 isolates were resistant to tetracycline and nalidixic acid and nine of these were resistant to ampicillin. These isolates showed reduced susceptibility to eight fluoroquinolones including ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, gemifloxacin, moxifloxacin, norfloxacin, and ofloxacin. When quinolone resistance determining regions of gyrA and gyrB were sequenced, every isolate had the same missense mutation Ser83$\rightarrow$Tyr (TCC$\rightarrow$+TAC) in gyrA, whereas no mutation was found in gyrB. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis with XbaI revealed a close relationship among these isolates, suggesting a contamination of raw chicken meat with clonal spread of nalidixic acid-resistant and quinolone-reduced susceptibility S. Haardt in chickens. Results in this study show the importance of a well-equipped cold system and the prudent use of fluoroquinolone in chickens to prevent the occurrence of quinolone-resistant isolates.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.112-117
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• 2007

Protein kinase는 진핵생물과 원핵생물을 포함하는 모든 생명체에서 세포생존에 절대적으로 중요한 조절 기능을 담당한다. 일반적으로 원핵생물은 histidine 과 aspartic acid kinase로 구성된 bacterial two-component regulatory system에 의하여 환경변화에 따른 유전자의 발현이 조절되지만, 방선균을 비롯한 고등 원핵생물에서는 진핵생물성의 serine/threonine kinase들이 세포분화와 같은 분화과정을 조절하고 있다. Streptomycin 생산균인 Streptomyces griseus 균주에서도 다양한 serine/threonine kinase들이 존재하는 것으로 추정되며, 이들의 기능을 밝히는 것은 생명현상을 이해하는 중요한 열쇠를 제공해 줄 것으로 기대된다. 따라서, S. griseus로부터 protein kinase 를 동정하는 연구를 실시하였으며, 기존의 복잡한 chromatography법의 단점을 보완하기 위해 anti-phosphothreonine, anti-phosphoserine, anti-phosphotyrosine antibody를 이용한 immunoaffinity column chromatography 방법을 도입하였다. 실험 결과 약 14, 29, 31, 35, 40, 52, 56, 60 kDa의 단백질을 효과적으로 동정 할 수 있었으며, nonradioactive protein kination assay 방법으로 이들의 인산화능을 확인하였다.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.475-480
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• 2010

Actinomycetes are Gram-positive soil bacteria and one of the most important industrial microorganisms due to superior biosynthetic capabilities of many valuable secondary metabolites as well as production of various valuable bioconversion enzymes. Among them are cytochrome P450 hydroxylase (CYP), which are hemoproteins encoded by a super family of genes, are universally distributed in most of the organisms from all biological kingdoms. Actinomycetes are a rich source of soluble CYP enzymes, which play critical roles in the bioactivation and detoxification of a wide variety of metabolite biosynthesis and xenobiotic transformation. Cyclosporin A (CyA), one of the most commonly-prescribed immunosuppressive drugs, was previously reported to be hydroxylated at the position of 4th N-methyl leucine by a rare actinomycetes called Sebekia benihana, leading to display different biological activity spectrum such as loss of immunosuppressive activities yet retaining hair growth-stimulating side effect. In order to improve this regio-selective CyA hydroxylation in S. benihana, previously-identified several secondary metabolite up-regulatory genes from Streptomyces coelicolor and S. avermitilis were heterologously overexpressed in S. benihana using an $ermE^*$ promoter-containing Streptomyces integrative expression vector. Among tested, SCO4967 encoding a conserved hypothetical protein significantly stimulated region-specific CyA hydroxylation in S. benihana, implying that some common regulatory systems functioning in both biosynthesis and bioconversion of secondary metabolite might be present in different actinomycetes species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제21권9호
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• pp.903-913
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• 2011

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which causes gastroenteritis, wound infection, and septicemia, has two sets of type III secretion systems (TTSS), TTSS1 and TTSS2. A TTSS1-deficient vcrD1 mutant of V. parahaemolyticus showed an attenuated cytotoxicity against HEp-2 cells, and a significant reduction in mouse lethality, which were both restored by complementation with the intact vcrD1 gene. V. parahaemolyticus also triggered phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) including p38 and ERK1/2 in HEp-2 cells. The ability to activate p38 and ERK1/2 was significantly affected in a TTSS1-deficient vcrD1 mutant. Experiments using MAPK inhibitors showed that p38 and ERK1/2 MAPKs are involved in V. parahaemolyticus-induced death of HEp-2 cells. In addition, caspase-3 and caspase-9 were processed into active forms in V. parahaemolyticus-exposed HEp-2 cells, but activation of caspases was not essential for V. parahaemolyticus-induced death of HEp-2 cells, as shown by both annexin V staining and lactate dehydrogenase release assays. We conclude that secreted protein(s) of TTSS1 play an important role in activation of p38 and ERK1/2 in HEp-2 cells that eventually leads to cell death via a caspase-independent mechanism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제24권7호
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• pp.879-887
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• 2014

Bacteria that mediate the anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (anammox) have been detected in natural ecosystems, as well as various wastewater treatment systems. In this study, sludge from a particular landfill leachate anaerobic treatment system was selected as the incubation seed for anammox microorganism enrichment owing to its possible anammox activity. Transmission electron microscopy observation, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis, and cloning/sequencing techniques were applied to identify the diversity of anammox microorganisms throughout the incubation. During the early stage of operation, the diversity of anammox microorganisms was similar to the original complex microbes in the seed sludge. However, as incubation time increased, the anammox microorganism diversity within the system that was originally dominated by Candidatus (Ca.) Brocadia sp. was replaced by Ca. Anammoxoglobus propionicus. The domination of Ca. Anammoxoglobus propionicus produced a stable removal of ammonia (70 mg-N/l) and nitrite (90 mg-N/l), and the total nitrogen removal efficiency was maintained at nearly 95%. The fluorescence in situ hybridization results showed that Ca. Anammoxoglobus propionicus was successfully enriched from $1.8{\pm}0.6%$ initially to $65{\pm}5%$ after 481 days of operation. Therefore, the present results demonstrated the feasibility of enriching Ca. Anammoxoglobus propionicus from leachate sludge, even though the original cell count was extremely low. Application of this seldom found anammox organism could offer an alternative to current ammonia-nitrogen treatment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.556-562
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• 2014

The occurrence of human norovirus (NoV) genogroup I (GI) and genogroup II (GII) strains was investigated in Korea. Between 2007 and 2010, 265 samples were collected from 89 Korean water source locations. NoV GI was detected in 4.5% and NoV GII in 1.5%. Samples collected in winter had the highest occurrence; 9.4% for NoV GI and 6.3% for NoV GII. NoV GI detection was highest in groundwater, with the next highest in river water and the lowest in lake water (5.9%, 5.4%, and 1.6%, respectively), and NoV GII was found only in river water. When three representative Korean basin systems (Han (H)-, Geum/Seom (G/S)-, and Nakdong (N)-river basins) were compared, both NoV genogroups were high in the G/S-, but absent in the H- river basin. The most prevalent genotypes within the GI and GII groups were GI.5 and GII.4, respectively. The NoVs found in surface water were identical to those found in patients and those found in groundwater. The NoVs appeared to be transmitted from the patient to the surface water, and then to the groundwater, suggesting a fecal-oral route of transmission. This is the first nationwide surveillance of NoV in major Korean water sources.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.59-69
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• 2014

One of the major challenges in metabolic engineering for enhanced synthesis of value-added chemicals is to design and develop new strains that can be translated into well-controlled fermentation processes using bioreactors. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of various fed-batch strategies in the performance of metabolically engineered Pseudomonas putida strains, ${\Delta}gcd$ and ${\Delta}gcd-pgl$, for improving production of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) using glucose as the only carbon source. First we developed a fed-batch process that comprised an initial phase of biomass accumulation based on an exponential feeding carbon-limited strategy. For the mcl-PHA accumulation stage, three induction techniques were tested under nitrogen limitation. The substrate-pulse feeding was more efficient than the constant-feeding approach to promote the accumulation of the desirable product. Nonetheless, the most efficient approach for maximum PHA synthesis was the application of a dissolved-oxygen-stat feeding strategy (DO-stat), where P. putida ${\Delta}gcd$ mutant strain showed a final PHA content and specific PHA productivity of 67% and $0.83g{\cdot}l^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$, respectively. To our knowledge, this mcl-PHA titer is the highest value that has been ever reported using glucose as the sole carbon and energy source. Our results also highlighted the effect of different fed-batch strategies upon the extent of realization of the intended metabolic modification of the mutant strains.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제27권7호
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• pp.1345-1358
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• 2017

The impact of overproduction of a heterologous protein on the metabolic system of host Lactococcus lactis was investigated. The protein expression profiles of L. lactis IL1403 containing two near-identical plasmids that expressed high- and low-level of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) were examined via shotgun proteomics. Analysis of the two strains via high-throughput LC-MS/MS proteomics identified the expression of 294 proteins. The relative amount of each protein in the proteome of both strains was determined by label-free quantification using the spectral counting method. Although expression level of most proteins were similar, several significant alterations in metabolic network were identified in the high GFP-producing strain. These changes include alterations in the pyruvate fermentation pathway, oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, and de novo synthesis pathway for pyrimidine RNA. Expression of enzymes for the synthesis of dTDP-rhamnose and N-acetylglucosamine from glucose was suppressed in the high GFP strain. In addition, enzymes involved in the amino acid synthesis or interconversion pathway were downregulated. The most noticeable changes in the high GFP-producing strain were a 3.4-fold increase in the expression of stress response and chaperone proteins and increase of caseinolytic peptidase family proteins. Characterization of these host expression changes witnessed during overexpression of GFP was might suggested the metabolic requirements and networks that may limit protein expression, and will aid in the future development of lactococcal hosts to produce more heterologous protein.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제28권6호
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• pp.957-967
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• 2018

A novel $g-C_3N_4$/ZnO/stellerite (CNZOS) hybrid photocatalyst, which was synthesized by coupled hydro thermal-thermal polymerization processing, was applied as an efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst against Staphylococcus aureus. The optimum synthesized hybrid photocatalyst showed a sandwich structure morphology with layered $g-C_3N_4$ (doping amount: 40 wt%) deposited onto micron-sized ZnO/stellerite particles (ZnO average diameter: ~18 nm). It had a narrowing band gap (2.48 eV) and enlarged specific surface area ($23.05m^2/g$). The semiconductor heterojunction effect from ZnO to $g-C_3N_4$ leads to intensive absorption of the visible region and rapid separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this study, CNZOS showed better photocatalytic disinfection efficiency than $g-C_3N_4/ZnO$ powders. The disinfection mechanism was systematically investigated by scavenger-quenching methods, indicating the important role of $H_2O_2$ in both systems. Furthermore, $h^+$ was demonstrated as another important radical in oxidative inactivation of the CNZOS system. In respect of the great disinfection efficiency and practicability, the CNZOS heterojunction photocatalyst may offer many disinfection applications.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제41권3호
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• pp.240-246
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• 2017

Background: Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) is a traditional herbal medicine made by steaming and drying fresh ginseng. It strengthens the endocrine and immune systems to ameliorate various inflammatory responses. The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)/prostaglandin E2 pathway has important implications for inflammation responses and tumorigenesis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma ($PPAR{\gamma}$) is a transcription factor that regulates not only adipogenesis and lipid homeostasis, but also angiogenesis and inflammatory responses. Methods: The effects of the KRG on inhibition of hypoxia-induced COX-2 via $PPAR{\gamma}$ in A549 cells were determined by luciferase assay, Western blot, and/or quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The antimigration and invasive effects of KRG were evaluated on A549 cells using migration and matrigel invasion assays. Results and conclusion: We previously reported that hypoxia-induced COX-2 protein and mRNA levels were suppressed by KRG. This study examines the possibility of $PPAR{\gamma}$ as a cellular target of KRG for the suppression of hypoxia-induced COX-2. $PPAR{\gamma}$ protein levels and $PPAR{\gamma}$-responsive element (PPRE)-driven reporter activities were increased by KRG. Reduction of hypoxia-induced COX-2 by KRG was abolished by the $PPAR{\gamma}$ inhibitor GW9662. In addition, the inhibition of $PPAR{\gamma}$ abolished the effect of KRG on hypoxia-induced cell migration and invasion. Discussion: Our results show that KRG inhibition of hypoxia-induced COX-2 expression and cell invasion is dependent on $PPAR{\gamma}$ activation, supporting the therapeutic potential for suppression of inflammation under hypoxia. Further studies are required to demonstrate whether KRG activates directly $PPAR{\gamma}$ and to identify the constituents responsible for this activity.