• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2004

Water-sludge bacteria were screened to find a lipase enantioselectively hydrolyzing itraconazole precursor, which is well known as the starting material of antifungal drug agents. A bacterial strain was isolated and identified as Acinetobacter junii SY-01. After the strain was cultivated, the enzyme was purified 39.4-fold using ultrafiltration and gel filtration through a Sephadex G-100 chromatographic column and the activity yield was 34.9%. The molecular weight of the enzyme was about 40 kDa, as measured by SDS-PAGE, and the optimum pH was 7.0- 9.0 and stable at pH 6.0- 9.0. The optimum temperature was 45- $5^{\circ}C$, and 73% of the enzymes activity remained after incubation at 70% for 1 h. Enzyme activity was enhanced by gall powder, sodium deoxycholate, a cationic detergent Tween 80, and a non-ionic detergent Triton X-100, but was markedly inhibited by metal ions such as $Hg^{2＋},Cu^{2＋},Ni^{2＋}/,Ca^{2＋}$, and an anionic-surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate. The $K_{m}$ values for (R)- and (S)-enantiomers of the itraconazole precursor were 0.385 and 21.83 mM, respectively, and the $V_{max} values ($\mu$Mㆍmin^{-1}.)$ were 6.73 and 6.49, respectively. The acetyl group among the different acyl moieties of itraconazole precursor showed the highest enantioselectivity for the hydrolysis by the Acinetobacter junii SY-01 lipase, and the lipase from Acinetobacter junii SY-01 displayed better enantioselectivity than that of commercially available lipases and esterases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.193-199
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• 2006

Halotolerant spore-forming Gram-positive bacteria were isolated from the root, rhizosphere, and non-rhizosphere soil of Blutaparon portulacoides. The different isolates were characterized genetically using an amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA), and phenotypically based on their colonial morphology, physiology, and nutritional requirements. Three different 16S rRNA gene-based genotypes were observed at a 100% similarity using the enzymes HinfI, MspI, and RsaI, and the phenotypic results also followed the ARDRA groupings. Selected strains, representing the different ARDRA groups, were analyzed by 16S rDNA sequencing, and members of the genera Halobaeillus, Virgibacillus, and Oceanobacillus were found. Two isolates showed low 16S rDNA sequence similarities with the closest related species of Halobacillus, indicating the presence of new species among the isolates. The majority of the strains isolated in this study seemed to belong to the species O. iheyensis and were compared using an AP-PCR to determine whether they had a clonal origin or not. Different patterns allowed the grouping of the strains according to Pearson's coefficient, and the resulting dendrogram revealed the formation of two main clusters, denoted as A and B. All the strains isolated from the soil were grouped into cluster A, whereas cluster B was exclusively composed of the strains associated with the B. portulacoides roots. This is the first report on the isolation and characterization of halotolerant spore-forming Gram-positive bacteria that coexist with B. portulacoides. As such, these new strains may be a potential source for the discovery of bioactive compounds with industrial value.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.69-79
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• 2012

In an ongoing survey of the bioactive potential of microorganisms from Ladakh, India, the culture medium of a bacterial strain of a new Pseudomonas sp., strain ICTB-745, isolated from an alkaline soil sample collected from Leh, Ladakh, India, was found to contain metabolites that exhibited broad-spectrum antimicrobial and biosurfactant activities. Bioactivity-guided purification resulted in the isolation of four bioactive compounds. Their chemical structures were elucidated by $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR, 2D-NMR (HMBC, HSQC, $^1H$,$^1H$-COSY, and DEPT-135), FT-IR, and mass spectroscopic methods, and were identified as 1-hydroxyphenazine, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), rhamnolipid-1 (RL-1), and rhamnolipid-2 (RL-2). These metabolites exhibited various biological activities like antimicrobial and efficient cytotoxic potencies against different human tumor cell lines such as HeLa, HepG2, A549, and MDA MB 231. RL-1 and RL-2 exhibited a dose-dependent antifeedant activity against Spodoptera litura, producing about 82.06% and 73.66% antifeedant activity, whereas PCA showed a moderate antifeedant activity (63.67%) at 60 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ area of castor leaf. Furthermore, PCA, RL-1, and RL-2 exhibited about 65%, 52%, and 47% mortality, respectively, against Rhyzopertha dominica at 20 ${\mu}g/ml$. This is the first report of rhamnolipids as antifeedant metabolites against Spodoptera litura and as insecticidal metabolites against Rhyzopertha dominica. The metabolites from Pseudomonas sp. strain ICTB-745 have interesting potential for use as a biopesticide in pest control programs.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.278-288
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• 2013

Objectives : Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has a cephalosporin and beta-lactam antibiotic-resistant strains. MRSA is one of the major pathogens causing hospital infection and the isolation ratio of MRSA has gradually increased. Consequently, increased resistance to antibiotics is causing serious problems in the world. Therefore, there is a need to develop alternative antimicrobial drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases. Methods : The antibacterial activities of Ipyo-san were evaluated against 2 strains of MRSA and 1 standard Methicillin-susceptible staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) strain by using the disc diffusion method, minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) assay, colorimetric assay using MTT test, checkerboard dilution test and time-kill assay performed under dark. Results : The MIC of Ipyo-san water extract against S. aureus strains ranged from 1000 to $2,000{\mu}g/ml$, so we confirmed that it had a strong antibacterial effect. Also, the combinations of Ipyo-san water extract and conventional antibiotics exhibited improved inhibition of MRSA with synergy effect. We suggest that Ipyo-san water extract against MRSA has antibacterial activity so it has potential as alternatives to antibiotic agents. For the combination test, we used Triton X-100 (TX) and DCCD for measurement of membrane permeability and inhibitor of ATPase. As a result, antimicrobial activity of Ipyo-san water extract was affected by the cell membrane. Conclusions : We suggest that the Ipyo-san water extract lead the treatment of bacterial infection to solve the resistance and remaining side-effect problems that are the major weak points of traditional antibiotics.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.36 no.1 s.140
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• pp.56-59
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• 2005

Urease plays an important role in the urea metabolism and the effect of urease activity on human and environment is enormous. For instance, urease acts as a virulence factor of the urinary and gastrointestinal tracts infections in human and animal, being involved in kidney stone formation, catheter encrusatation, pyelonephritis, ammonia encephalopathy, hepatic coma, and urinary tract infections. Widespread urease activity in soil induces a plant damage due to ammonia toxicity and pH increase. Therefore, urease activity regulation through urease inhibitors would lead to an enhanced efficiency of urea nitrogen uptake in plants and to the improved therapeutic strategies for ureolytic bacterial infections. To search for new inhibitory compounds on urease activity from herbs, MeOH extracts of herbs were screened. Among of them, the MeOH extracts of Areca catechu exhibited an excellent inhibitory effect on urease activity. Two compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction by the activity guided fractionation. Their chemical structures were identified as (+)-catechin(compound I) and allantoin(compound II) by spectroscopic evidence, respectively. Compound I showed a stronger inhibitory effect on urease activity than compound II.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2004

Sclerotinia sp. (isolate BWC98-105) causes stem blight and root rot in Leghum sp., and is presently being evaluated as a potential mycoherbicide for the control of Trifoliorium repens. Bioassays have shown that Sclerotinia sp. produces phytotoxic substance which is biologically active against T. repens. Two biologically active compounds, designated as compoundsI and II, were produced in vitro from the culture filtrate of BWC98-105 isolate Sclerotium sp. Compounds I and II were purified by means of liquid-liquid extraction and $C_{18}$ open column chromatography (300 ${\times}$ 30 mm, i.d). To determine the purity, the purified compounds were analyzed by RP-HPLC. The analytical RP-HPLC column was a TOSOH ODS-120T (150 ${\times}$ 4.6 mm i.d, Japan), of which the flow rate was set at 0.7 mL/min using the linear gradient solvent system initiated with 15 % methanol to 85 % methanol for 50 min with monitoring at 254 nm. Under these RP-HPLC conditions, compounds I and II eluted at 3.49 and 4.13 min, respectively. Compound II was found to be most potent and host specific. However, compound I had a unique antibiotic activity against phytopathogenic bacteria like bacterial leaf blight (Xanthomonas oryzae) on rice, where it played a less important role in producing toxicity on T. repens. No toxin activity was detected in the water fraction after partitioning with several organic solvents. However, toxin activity was detected in the ethyl acetate and butanol fractions. In the leaf bioassay using compound II, the disease first appeared within 4-5 h as water soaked rot, which subsequently developed into well-defined blight affecting the whole plant.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.819-824
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• 1999

Suspected infections of Campylobacter spp and Clostridium spp were observed in three dogs. The diagnosis was based on fecal cytology, Gram's stain, clinical signs and serum chemistry. The rectal swabs of diarrheic dogs were performed to confirm the enteropathogens. Suspected Campylobacter spp were a sea-gull shape and Clostridium spp had a large, clear endospore in rectal cytology. Treatment with appropriate antibiotics resulted in a complete resolution of all clinical abnormalities in three cases. The source of Campylobacter spp and Clostridium spp could not be found clearly in three cases, but gastrointestinal origin was most likely. When detecting the enteropathogens in feces, fecal smear with Wright's and Gram's stain should be made at first and also, if the patients have canine parvoviral enteritis, attention should be paid to confirm the Campylobacter spp and Clostridium spp. In addition, since Campylobacter spp and Clostridium spp as normal bacterial flora exists in canine intestines, it is thought that microbiological isolation should be performed to confirm the suspected Campylobacter spp and Clostridium spp as primary enteropathogens in subsequent study.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.98-103
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• 2004

Various bacterial strains were isolated from water in a paddy field, and their seaweed degrading activities were investigated. As the result, 16 strains were obtained from the microflora sample. They were incubated in a liquid medium of sea tangle powder for 3 weeks. Ratios of reduced sugar to total sugar of the liquid medium were measured once a week during the incubation period. Ratio of reduced sugar to total sugar of 30A412 strain was highest. Accordingly, 30A412 strain was incubated in three different liquid media of sodium alginate, sea tangle powder, and sea mustard powder for 3 or 4 weeks. The ratios of reduced sugar to total sugar and cell growth were measured once a week during the incubation period. Ratios of reduced sugar to total sugar and cell growth were increased with the incubation period. Cell growth and degrading ratio were highest in the liquid medium with sea mustard powder.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.530-536
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• 2001

Several bacterial strains utilizing crude oil as their sole carbon and energy source were isolated from marine environment polluted by crude oil. Among them, the selected strain 4A3 showed strong degradation activity for crude oil. This strain was identified as a Provindencia rettgeri 4A3 based on the morphological, biochemical, and physiological characteristics. The optimum cultural conditions was as follows; 26$^{\circ}C$ for temperature and 7.0 for initial pH. Additionally, the optimal concentration of sodium chloride was 2.0%, indicating that this strain was derived from sea water. The emulsifying activity of 4A3 was the highest after 3 days of cultivation under the condition of 2.0% sodium chloride, pH 7.0 and 26$^{\circ}C$. This strain had one cryptic plasmid in 7.0kb size.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.85-89
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• 1969

1. According to the Bergey's manual of determinative bacteriology, the high amylase producing strain A-162 isolated from corn was similar to Bacillus subtilis in the characteristics. 2. The addition of corn powder 30%, milk casein 5% and $CaCO_3$. 5% to wheat bran was excellent as amylase producing media. 3. According to vessel content and quantities of the media, the optimum steaming condition of media was different. Excessive steaming (pressure and time) suppressed the growth of Bacillus subtilis var. A-162. 4. The optimum temperature of amylase produced was about $50^{\circ}C$ and its optimum pH 6.0.