• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.803-811
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• 2014

Concerns over drug-resistant bacteria have stimulated interest in developing alternative methods to control bacterial infections. Endolysin, a phage-encoded enzyme that breaks down bacterial peptidoglycan at the terminal stage of the phage reproduction cycle, is reported to be effective for the control of bacterial pathogenic bacteria. Bioinformatic analysis of the SPN9CC bacteriophage genome revealed a gene that encodes an endolysin with a domain structure similar to those of the endolysins produced by the P1 and P22 coliphages. The SPN9CC endolysin was purified with a C-terminal oligo-histidine tag. The endolysin was relatively stable and active over a broad temperature range (from $24^{\circ}C$ to $65^{\circ}C$). It showed maximal activity at $50^{\circ}C$, and its optimum pH range was from pH 7.5 to 8.5. The SPN9CC endolysin showed antimicrobial activity against only gram-negative bacteria and functioned by cutting the glycosidic bond of peptidoglycan. Interestingly, the SPN9CC endolysin could lyse intact gram-negative bacteria in the absence of EDTA as an outer membrane permeabilizer. The exogenous lytic activity of the SPN9CC endolysin makes it a potential therapeutic agent against gram-negative bacteria.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 2015

Edible sprouts are highly nutritious, containing numerous health-promoting phytochemicals and nutrients. However, the process of sprouting is subject to potential contamination by microorganisms attached to the seed coat. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of air anions generated by spray ionization on growth and sterilization of edible sprouts. Treatment with air anions has positive effects on plant growth and sterilization in 4 kinds of sprouts. Hypocotyl length in red cabbage and kale increased approximately 1.26-fold and radicle length of lettuce, red cabbage, and kale increased 1.4 to 1.6-fold compared to the control. The fresh weight of sprouts in the spray-ionization treatment was significantly (16.0-38.5%) higher than that of the controls. Radicle activity in sprouts exposed to anions was higher than that of the control in all species. Bacterial counts on lettuce, red cabbage, and tatsoi decreased significantly (by 41%, 66%, and 19%, respectively), and bacterial colonies also declined in drainage water. Our findings suggest that spray-ionization treatment is useful for improving sprout growth and for sterilizing sprouts.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.189-196
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• 1992

A $\alpha$-l, 4-D-glucan maltohydrolase $(\beta$-amylase), secreted by the mesophilic aerobic bacterium Bacillus polymyxa No.26, was purified and characterized. The enzyme production was increased after a logarithmic phase of bacterial growth and paralleled with the onset of bacterial sporulation. By applying anion exchange chromatography and gel filtration the enzyme was purified 16.7-fold and had a specific activity of 285.7 units/mg. Two enzyme activities were eluted on a column of DEAE-Sephadex chromatography, and they were designated as E-I for a major enzyme peak and E-II for a minor peak. Of them, E-I enzyme peak was further purified by using gel chromatography. The molecular mass of this enzyme was determined to be 64, 000 daltons and consisted of a single subunit, showing an isoelectric point of 8.9. The enzyme was able to attack specifically the $\alpha$-l, 4-glycosidic linkages in soluble starch and caused its complete hydrolysis to maltose and $\beta$-limited dextrin. This amylolytic enzyme displayed a temperature optimum at $45^\circ{C}$ and a pH optimum at 7.0. The amino acid composition of the purified enzyme was quite similar to the other bacterial $\beta$-amylases reported. Surprisingly, the purified enzyme from this aerobe only exhibited hydrolytic activity on soluble starch, not on starch granules. The degradation of from starch by $\beta$-amylase was greatly stimulated by pullulanase addition. These results differentiated from other $\beta$-amylases reported. Based on a previous result that showed the enzyme system involves in effective degradation of raw starch granules, this result strongly suggested that the purified enzyme (E-I) can be a synergistic part of starch granule-digestion and E-II plays a crucial role in digestion of starch granules.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.481-489
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• 2007

[ $\alpha$ ]-L-Arabinofuranosidases (AFases; EC 3.2.1.55) are exo-type enzymes, which hydrolyze terminal nonreducing arabinose residues from various polysaccharides such as arabinan and arabinoxylan. Genome-wide BLAST search showed that various bacterial strains possess the putative AFase genes with well-conserved motif sequences at the nucleotide and amino acid sequence levels. In this study, two sets of degenerate PCR primers were designed and tested to detect putative AFase genes, based on their three highly conserved amino acid blocks (PGGNFV, GNEMDG; and DEWNVW). Among 20 Bacillus-associated species, 13 species were revealed to have putative AFase genes in their genome and they share over 67% of amino acid identities with each other. Based on the partial sequence obtained from an isolate, an AFase from Geobacillus sp. was cloned and expressed in E. coli. Enzymatic characterization has verified that the resulting enzyme corresponds to a typical AFase. Accordingly, degenerate PCR primers developed in this work can be used for fast, easy, and specific detection and isolation of putative AFase genes from bacterial cells.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.405-412
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• 2010

This study was focused on finding the potential of hot water extract of bamboo shoot (Sasa borealis Makino) on the fermentation of Kimchi made with Chinese cabbage. The properties of Kimchi were examined up to 28 days of storage. The pH and acidity decreased regardless of treatments and showed no significant difference between treatments. There was a decreasing tendency of both total and reducing sugars in kimchi but the addition of bamboo extract did not affect the soluble sugar levels. Interestingly, bamboo extracts affected the lactic acid fermentation and ripening, resulting in the increase of lactic acid in bamboo extract treatment. Number of total bacterial cell of additive group is higher than control one, probably due to the stimulative effect of bamboo extract on bacterial growth. Level of lactic acid bacteria was also higher in the additive group, thus, it is considered that bamboo extract appeared to enhance the proliferation of lactic acid bacteria. The acceptability of treated Kimchi was higher in general. And results of intensity evaluation in color and texture were higher as well by addition of bamboo extract.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.568-574
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• 2010

This study introduced a chick embryos’ infection model to elucidate the pathogenesis mechanism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes serious diseases in human after ingestion of P. aeruginosa-contaminated animal originated foods. The embryonic chick model is able to give a rapid and relatively inexpensive method to assess bacterial pathogenicity compared to embryos of other vertebrates. Embryos were infected with P. aeruginosa and elastase-deficient P. aeruginosa. After infection with P. aeruginosa cells, total bacterial cell numbers and gelatinase activities in the embryos were compared. Thereafter, precartilage condensation and chondrogenesis were assessed by peanut agglutinin (PNA) binding on day 3 and by Alcian blue staining for sulfated proteoglycans on day 5, respectively. P. aeruginosa significantly increased in embryos, resulting in abnormal limb development, whereas P. aeruginosa defective in elastase activity partly impaired proliferation. In addition, P. aeruginosa-infected chick embryos significantly stimulated the production of matrix metalloproteinases. Several analyses showed that elevated proteases suppressed the proliferation and survival of chondrogenic cells. The results show that this infection model was a useful assay to determine the virulence mechanism of P. aeruginosa in human after intake of microbiologically contaminated foods.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.124-131
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• 2016

Among 116 bacterial strains isolated from Korean fermented foods, one strain (SS-76) was selected for producing new oligosaccharides in a basal medium containing maltose as the sole source of carbon. Upon morphological characterization using scanning electron microscopy, the cells of strain SS-76 appeared rod-shaped; subsequent 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain SS-76 was phylogenetically close to Bacillus subtilis. The main oligosaccharide fraction B extracted from the culture supernatant of B. subtilis SS-76 was purified by high performance liquid chromatography. Subsequent structural analysis revealed that this oligosaccharide consisted only of glucose, and methylation analysis indicated similar proportions of glucopyranosides in the 6-linkage, 4-linkage, and non-reducing terminal positions. Matrix-assisted laser-induced/ionization time-of-flight/mass spectrometry and electrospray ionization-based liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry analyses suggested that this oligosaccharide consisted of a trisaccharide unit with 1,6- and 1,4-glycosidic linkages. The anomeric signals in the $^1H$-nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum corresponded to ${\alpha}$-anomeric configurations, and the trisaccharide was finally identified as panose (${\alpha}$-D-glucopyranosyl-1,6-${\alpha}$-D-glucopyranosyl-1,4-D-glucose). These results suggest that B. subtilis SS-76 converts maltose into panose; strain SS-76 may thus find industrial application in the production of panose.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 1992

A soil bacterium which produces raw starch-digesting $\beta$-amylase in culture medium, has been screened from soils. One strain, isolated and identified as Bacillus polymyxa No. 26, was selected as a $\beta$-amylase producing bacterium. Morphological and biological characteristics of the strain were found to be similar to those of a strain belonging to B. polymyxa. The electron microscopic observations of the bacterial vegetative cells and sporulated cells were extensively done to know the corelation between the enzyme synthesis and sporulation. When the bacterium was cultured on the appropriate media (3% dextrin, 0.3% beef extract, 0.5% polypeptone, 1% yeast extract and 0.3% NaCl at pH 7.0 for 4 days) raw starch-digestible $\beta$-amylase was produced extracellularly. This strain produced 130 units of $\beta$-amylase per ml in a culture medium containing 3% dextrin at $30^\circ{C}$. This value is compared to those of other $\beta$-amylase-producing strains. The optimum pH and temperature for crude enzymes were pH 6.5 to 7.0 and $50^\circ{C}$, respectively. The enzymes were stable between pH 5.5 and 9.0 for 30 min at $45^\circ{C}$.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.655-659
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• 1998

Bacterial strain showing the strong fibrinolytic activity (2.04 plasmin unit) was screened from Jeot-Gal, Korean salt-fermented fish collected from various region. For the identification, when the strain was characterized morphologically, culturally, and biochemically, it was identified to Bacillus pumilus. And, when the fatty acids composition of the strain was analyzed, it was identified to Bacillus atropheus. Finally, the 16S rRNA partial sequence (V3 region) showed that the fibrinolytic stain screened from Jeot-Gal was identified as Bacillus subtilis. So, we named it Bacillus subtilis KJ-48.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.36.1-36.11
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• 2018

Background: To confirm whether shellfish are suitable for consumption, the quality of seawater and shellfish in shellfish-producing areas must be assessed regularly. This study was conducted to evaluate the bacterial quality on the Changseon area, containing a designated shellfish-producing area, in Korea during 2011-2013. Result: Even though many inland pollutants near the area were identified, they showed no significant impact on the designated area and the shellfish therein. The concentrations of fecal bacteria in all the seawater and mussel samples from the designated area during the harvesting season were within the standards of various countries. Pathogenic bacteria were not detected in any of the mussel samples. In our previous study, the hazardous metal levels in all the mussels from the same area were also within the limits of different countries. Conclusion: The mussel products in this area are suitable for consumption based on fecal pollution, pathogenic bacteria, and also heavy metals.