• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 1998

A bacterial strain PN33 producing large amounts of extracellular pectin lyase (PNL, EC 4.2.2.10) was isolated from soil. The isolated bacterium was identified as a strain of Bacillus sp. Production of PNL by the strain was induced only by pectins, with a higher degree of esterification, which had been added to the culture medium as a sole carbon source. The optimal medium for PNL production was determined to consist of 10 g pectin, 2 g yeast extract, 4 g $K_2HPO_4{\cdot}3H_2O$, 0.6 g $MgSO_4$, and 0.11 g $CaCl_2$ per liter (pH 7.0). The PNL activity in the culture supernatant reached the highest level of 132 mU/ml after 32 h cultivation at $37^{\circ}C$ in the optimal medium. The PNL produced was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation (50~80%), and cation exchange and size exclusion chromatographies. The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be approximately 52 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Almost the same mass was determined by nondenaturing PAGE, indicating that the functional enzyme had a monomeric structure. As expected, the PNL exhibited higher activities on the highly esterified pectins whereas it gave no detectable activity on polygalacturonic acid. The enzyme showed the highest activity at the acidic pH of 6.0, exceptional for a bacterial PNL. Maximum activity was measured at $40^{\circ}C$, although the stability f the purified enzyme was poor at this temperature. alcium (1 mM) was found to activate the PNL activity by $50\%$, and also remarkably increased the thermal stability f the enzyme. Phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF) and iethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) inhibited the PNL activity lmost completely at the concentration of 5 mM. This result ndicates that some serine and histidine residues of the nzyme may play an essential role for catalytic function of he enzyme.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1472-1482
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• 2017

Bacterial cytochrome P450 (CYP) steroid hydroxylases are effectively useful in the pharmaceutical industry for introducing hydroxyl groups to a wide range of steroids. We found a putative CYP steroid hydroxylase (BaCYP106A2) from the bacterium Bacillus sp. PAMC 23377 isolated from Kara Sea of the Arctic Ocean, showing 94% sequence similarity with BmCYP106A2 (Bacillus megaterium ATCC 13368). In this study, soluble BaCYP106A2 was overexpressed to evaluate its substrate-binding activity. The substrate affinity ($K_d$ value) to 4-androstenedione was $387{\pm}37{\mu}M$. Moreover, the crystal structure of BaCYP106A2 was determined at $2.7{\AA}$ resolution. Structural analysis suggested that the ${\alpha}8-{\alpha}9$ loop region of BaCYP106A2 is intrinsically mobile and might be important for initial ligand binding. The hydroxyl activity of BaCYP106A2 was identified using in vitro enzyme assays. Its activity was confirmed with two kinds of steroid substrates, 4-androstenedione and nandrolone, using chromatography and mass spectrometry methods. The main products were mono-hydroxylated compounds with high conversion yields. This is the second study on the structure of CYP106A steroid hydroxylases, and should contribute new insight into the interactions of bacterial CYP106A with steroid substrates, providing baseline data for studying the CYP106A steroid hydroxylase from the structural and enzymatic perspectives.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.70-78
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• 2013

Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium oxysporum cause yield losses in numerous economically important crops. To develop a bio-control agent, cell free extracellular compounds (ECs) of 5 bacterial strains Burkholdria sp. L1, Pseudomonas sp. L4, Pseudomonas chlororaphis VN391, Bacillus subtilis VN21 and Enterobacter sp. VN99 from Vietnamese fields, which reduced levels of R. solani root rot in lettuces and F. oxysporum root rot in tomatoes, were investigated. In a growth chamber, ECs of all antagonists markedly enhanced the biomass of lettuces (10 to 14.1%) and tomatoes (11.38 to 13.88%). In greenhouses, the disease's severity on both crops treated with ECs of the antagonists was reduced significantly and biomass losses in the plants decreased markedly. The reduction level of R. solani root rot in lettuces was 75, 66.7, 50, and 16.7% by ECs of strains L1, L4, VN21 and VN391, respectively. The biomass of lettuces increased markedly by 29.13%, 21.67%, and 23.4% by ECs of strains L1, L4 and VN21, respectively. Similarly, the reduction levels of F. oxysporum root rot in tomatoes was 76.3, 75, 41.7 and 25% by ECs of strain L1, L4, VN21 and VN391, respectively, and the biomass was significantly enhanced by 14.42, 12.7 and 13%, respectively. The ECs of strain L1 exhibited the most effective bio-control agents to suppress R. solani and F. oxysporum.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2002

To isolate the bacteria lysing cyanobacteria, the sediment samples were collected from Dochang and Pal'tang Reservoir and Seokchon Lake. Each sample was smeared on the Anabaena cylindrica lawn and incubated in light chamber for 11 days. Bacteria having cyanobacteria-Iysing activity were isolated from the samples of Seokchon reservoir. Confirmation of cyanobacteria-Iysing activity was carried out to measure chlorophyll a and bacterial cell counting in mixed culture of Anabaena cylindrica and bacteria. Lysis was detected when extracellular meterials was added to the Anabaena cylindrica culture. The isolate was identified by analysis based on 16S rDNA sequence and morphological and physiological properties. The bacterial strain was taxonomically studied by the phylogenetic analysis based on 165 rDNA sequence. This strain was identified as a member of the genus Bacillus and designated as Bacillus sp. CHS1.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.387-394
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• 2008

The toxicity of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and formaldehyde (FA) on the indigenous microbial community in forest soil was studied. MTBE, TBA and FA with different concentrations were added into microcosms containing forest soil samples. After 10 and 30 days, total viable cell number and dehydrogenase activity in the microcosms were evaluated. Bacterial communities in the microcosms were also analyzed using a denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Dehydrogenase activity and total viable cell number were decreased according to the increase of MTBE, TBA and FA concentrations (P<0.05). FA toxicity was the highest, but TBA toxicity was the lowest. The results of principal component analysis using DGGE fingerprints showed that the microbial communities contaminated MTBE, TBA and FA were grouped by exposure time not exposure concentration. Dominant species in the microcosms were as follows: Photobacterium damselae sub sp. and Bacillus sp. KAR28 for MTBE; Mycobacterium sp. and Uncultured Clostridium sp. for TBA; and Uncultured Paenibacillaceae bacterium and Anxynobacillus, Flavithermus for FA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.439-444
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• 1996

A bacterial strain, designated as WY22, producing extracellular chitinase was isolated from the soil around the Youngduck area, after enrichment culture in a medium containing $1{\%}$ (w/v) wet colloidal chitin as a sole carbon source. The isolate was identified as a strain of Bacillus sp. based on its morphological and physiological characteristics. It was observed that Bacillus sp. WY22 could inhibit the growth of Fusarium oxysporum with hyphal extention-inhibition assay on potato dextrose agar plate supplemented with $1{\%}$ collidal chitin. Optimum culture conditions of Bacillus sp. WY22 were examined for chitinase production in a chitin medium. High level production of chitinase was observed not only in the chitin medium but in a medium supplemented with $1{\%}$ N-glucosamine or lactose instead of chitin. The optimum concentrations of colloidal chitin and yeast extract were 3.0 and $0.5{\%}$, and the optimum culture conditions for initial pH of medium and temperature were 7.0 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively, for the production of chitinase.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 1993

In order to search for new antibiotics from anaerobic bacteria, a large number of samples from domestic soil were collected and processed by apropriate methods. A potential strain, Streptococcus sp. An-21-1, was found to produce antimicrobial compounds. The Results were as follows; 1. During fermentation, the bacteria grew rapidly up to 20hr, thereafter entered the death phase. The optimal temperature and pH for the bacterial growth were $37^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0, respectively. 2. Antibiotics were purified from culture broth by solvent extraction, silica gel column chromatography and Sepadex L.H 20 column. 3. Physicochemical properties of Ap-1 and Ap-2 were similar ; Their melting points were between $234-237^{\circ}C$. Color reactions of ninhydrin, 2,7-dichlorofluorescein, 4-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde, Dragendroffs reagent and 20% $H_2SO_4$, were positive. Therefore, we assumed that these antibiotics have amine group, immine group, alkaloid, and lipid components. These were stable to heat. UV spectrophotometry showed two peaks at 210 nm and 260 nm. From above results, we assumed these antibiotics are belong to the peptide antibiotic family.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.695-702
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• 2005

The groESL bicistronic operon of a restricted facultative methylotrophic bacterium Methylovorus sp. strain SS1 DSM 11726 was cloned and characterized. It was found to consist of two ORFs encoding proteins with molecular masses of 11,395 and 57,396 daltons, which showed a high degree of homology to other bacterial GroES and GroEL proteins. The genes were clustered in the transcription order groES-groEL. Northern blot analyses suggested that the groESL operon is transcribed as a bicistronic 2.2-kb mRNA, the steady-state level of which was markedly increased by temperature elevation. Primer extension analysis demonstrated one potential transcription start site preceding the groESL operon, which is located 100bp upstream of the groES start codon. The transcription start site was preceded by a putative promoter region highly homologous to the consensus sequences of Escherichia coli ${\sigma}^{32}$-type heat shock promoter, which functioned under both normal and heat shock conditions in E. coli. Heat shock mRNA was maximally produced by Methylovorus sp. strain SS1 approximately 10min after increasing the temperature from 30 to $42^{\circ}C$. The groESL operon was also induced by hydrogen peroxide or salt shock.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1170-1177
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• 2005

Terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis was used to monitor inoculated oil-degrading microorganisms during bioremedial treatability tests. A pair of universal primers, fluorescently labeled 521F and 1392R, was employed to amplify small subunit rDNA in order to simultaneously detect two bacterial strains, Corynebacterium sp. IC10 and Sphingomonas sp. KH3-2, and a yeast strain, Yarrowia lipolytica 180. Digestion of the 5'-end fluorescence/labeled PCR products with HhaI produced specific terminal-restriction fragments (T-RFs) of 185 and 442 bases, corresponding to Corynebacterium sp. IC10 and Y. lipolytica 180, respectively. The enzyme NruI produced a specific T-RF of 338 bases for Sphingomonas sp. KH3-2. The detection limit for oildegrading microorganisms that were inoculated into natural environments was determined to be $0.01\%$ of the total microbial count, regardless of the background environment. When three oil-degrading microorganisms were released into oil-contaminated sand microenvironments, strains IC10 and 180 survived for 35 days after inoculation, whereas strain KH3-2 was detected at 8 days, but not at 35 days. This result implies that T-RFLP could be a useful tool for monitoring the survival and relative abundance of specific microbial strains inoculated into contaminated environments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1856-1861
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• 2006

A Bacillus sp. A-6 strain that produced xylanase was isolated from rice bran. The optimal temperature and pH for xylanase activity of the culture supernatant of Bacillus sp. A-6 were 40$^{\circ}C$ and pH 7, respectively. The optimal temperature and pH for xylanase production in the xylan medium were 30$^{\circ}C$ and pH 9, respectively. The optimal concentrations of oat spelt xylan and peptone for xylanase production were 0.5% and 1.5%, respectively. The best nitrogen sources for xylanase production was beef extract, but xylanase production was also supported comparably by tryptone and peptone. The bacterial growth in the optimal xylan medium reached stationary growth phase after 12 h of incubation. The xylanase production in the culture supernatant increased dramatically during the initial 12 h exponential growth phase and then remained constant at 23.8-24.5 unit/ml during the stationary growth phase. The pH of the culture medium decreased from 8.8 to 6.7 during the exponential growth phase and subsequently increased to 8.1 during the stationary growth phase. Rice bran, sorghum bran, and wheat bran as well as oat spelt xylan induced xylanase production. The xylanase production was repressed when glucose was added to the xylan-containing medium.