• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2022

CopA3 (LLCIALRKK), an antimicrobial peptide isolated from the Korean dung beetle, has been shown to suppress apoptosis in various cell types. CopA3 inhibits not only bacterial toxin-induced colonocyte apoptosis but also 6-hydroxy dopamine-induced neural cell apoptosis. Our recent study revealed that CopA3 directly binds to caspases (key regulators of apoptosis) and inhibits the proteolytic cleavage required for their activation. But molecular mechanisms underlying CopA3-mediated inhibition of apoptosis in multiple cell types remain unknown. Here we assessed possible effects of CopA3 on expression of survivin, which is known to inhibit apoptosis. In HT29 human colonocytes, CopA3 exposure markedly upregulated survivin expression in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. RT-PCR revealed that CopA3-mediated upregulation of survivin was attributable to increased gene transcription, and further showed that CopA3 also increased expression of Sp1, one of many transcription factors known to be involved in transcription of the survivin gene. Notably, blocking Sp1 by treatment with the Sp1 inhibitor, tolfenamic acid, significantly reduced CopA3-mediated upregulation of survivin. These results collectively suggest that CopA3 induces Sp1 expression, which in turn is involved in upregulation of survivin in human colonocytes. These novel findings establish another pathway for explaining the anti-apoptotic effects of CopA3 against various cellular apoptosis systems.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.135-148
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• 2019

King oyster mushroom(Pleurotus eryngii) is one of the most commercially important mushrooms in Korea. Development of fruit body and disease occurrence are sensitive to environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide(CO₂) concentration. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the growth environment of king oyster mushroom by installing Airocide, an air purifier for the purpose of improving mushroom cultivation environment. The results of the environment conditions, identification of pathogenic organisms and pathogenesis during the cultivation were as follows. Airocide operation increased the CO₂ concentration of the cultivation room by more than 400 ppm on average, but the increase of CO₂ concentration at this level had little effect on the quality and growth of fruit body. Operation of the Airocide tended to reduce the air humidity of the cultivation room and required more humidification. In humidifying conditions, the Airocide has the effect of lowering the species and density of bacteria and reducing bacterial symptoms and abnormal fruiting body of mushroom. Pseudomonas sp., the mushroom pathogen, was isolated from the cultivation room without Airocide, resulting in serious disease and loss of yields, so that only about 83% of substrate could harvest normal fruiting bodies. No disease symptom caused by bacteria and fungi in the cultivation room with Airocide. Trichoderma sp., Penicillium sp. and Cladosporium sp. were isolated from all experimental conditions, but did not inhibit fruit growth or caused diseased.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.627-636
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• 2011

A commercially important alkaline protease, produced by Bacillus sp. RRM1 isolated from the red seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty ex Silva, was first recognized and characterized in the present study. Identification of the isolated bacterium was done using both biochemical characterization as well as 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The bacterial strain, Bacillus sp. RRM1, produced a high level of protease using easily available, inexpensive agricultural residues solid-state fermentation (SSF). Among them, wheat bran was found to be the best substrate. Influences of process parameters such as moistening agents, moisture level, temperature, inoculum concentration, and co-carbon and co-nitrogen sources on the fermentation were also evaluated. Under optimized conditions, maximum protease production (i.e., 2081 U/g) was obtained from wheat bran, which is about 2-fold greater than the initial conditions. The protease enzyme was stable over a temperature range of 30-$60^{\circ}C$ and pH 6-12, with maximum activity at $50^{\circ}C$ and pH 9.0. Whereas the metal ions $Na^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $K^+$ enhanced the activity of the enzyme, others such as $Hg^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$ had rendered negative effects. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited by EDTA and enhanced by $Cu^{2+}$ ions, thus indicating the nature of the enzyme as a metalloprotease. The enzyme showed extreme stability and activity even in the presence of detergents, surfactants, and organic solvents. Moreover, the present findings opened new vistas in the utilization of wheat bran, a cheap, abundantly available, and effective waste as a substrate for SSF.

• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.138-146
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• 2018

Two-hundred and fifty-five strains of actinomycetes isolated from soil samples were screened for their antagonistic activities against four well-known wood decay fungi (WDF), including a brown rot fungus, Gloeophyllum trabeum and three white rot fungi Donkioporia expansa, Trametes versicolor, and Schizophyllum commune. A dual culture assay using culture media supplemented with heated or unheated culture filtrates of selected bacterial strains was used for the detection of their antimicrobial activity against four WDF. It was shown that Streptomyces atratus, S. tsukiyonensis, and Streptomyces sp. greatly inhibited the mycelial growth of the WDF tested compared with the control. To evaluate the biocontrol efficacy of S. atratus, S. tsukiyonensis, and Streptomyces sp., wood blocks of Pinus densiflora inoculated with three selected Streptomyces isolates were tested for weight loss, compression strength (perpendicular or parallel to the grain), bending strength, and chemical component changes. Of these three isolates used, Streptomyces sp. exhibited higher inhibitory activity against WDF, especially G. trabeum, as observed in mechanical and chemical change analyses. Scanning electron microscopy showed that cell walls of the wood block treated with Streptomyces strains were thicker and collapsed to a lesser extent than those of the non-treated control. Taken together, our findings indicate that Streptomyces sp. exhibits the potential to be used as a biocontrol agent for wood decay brown rot fungus that causes severe damage to coniferous woods.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.173-182
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• 1997

The bacterial strains, which utilizes 2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether(TCHDPE) as a sole carbon source, were isolated by selective enrichment culture from soil samples of industrial waste deposits. The bacterium that showed the highestt biodegradation activity was designated as EL-O47R The isolated strain EL-O47R was Identified as the genus Pseudomonas from the results of morphological, cultural, and biochemical tests. The optimum conditions of medium for the growth and the degradation of TCHDPE were TCHDPE 500 ppm, (NH4)2SO4 0.1% as the nitrogen source, initial pH 7.0±0.1, and 37℃, respectively. In this conditions, the regradation rate of TCHDPE was about 97%. Pseudomonas sp. EL-O47R was tested for resistance to several metal compounds and antibiotics. Pseudomonas sp. EL-O47R was moderately grown to Cd(NO3)2, ZnCl2, AgSO4, CuSO4 and HgCl2. This strain was sensitive to rifampicin and kanamycln but resistant to ampicillin, penicillin, tetracyclin and chloramphenlcol. Pseudomonas sp. EL-O47R was grown structurally related com- pounds and potential metabolites of TCHDPE, and has the stability on TCHDPE biodegradation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.303-308
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• 1998

A bacterial strain which utilizes phenol under denitrifying condition was isolated from the industrial waste water collected from the Chong-ju Industrial Complex. The strain was identified as Pseudomonas species from the morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics and designated as HL100. The strain can utilize phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy when nitrate is provided as the terminal electron acceptor. The isolated strain completely degraded 3 mM of phenol within 110 hour with concomitant reduction of nitrate to nitrite. The observed maximum doubling time was 20 hours. Under appropriate condition, complete reduction of nitrate to atmospheric N$_2$ was observed indicating that the isolated strain could perform complete steps of denitrification. The strain showed optimal growth at pH 7.0 and temperature of 37$^{\circ}C$ under denitrifying phenol-degrading condition. The strain can also utilize toluene as the sole carbon and energy source under the same growth condition. However, no growth was detected on xylene and benzene.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.87-90
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• 1998

Various bacterial strains that secret extracellular fibrinolytic enzyme were screened from Doen-Jang, a traditional soybean fermented food in Korea. Five microbes of them were identified to be Bacillus sp. strains according to Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology. The culture filtrates of B. amyloliquefaciens (2.46 plasmin unit/ml) and B. pantothenticus (3.82 plasmin unit/ml) showed a level of fibrinolytic activity that was about three times higher than that of plasmin 1.0 unit and Bacillus subtilis showed the highest fibrinolytic activity (4.94 plasmin unit/ml). All of the extracellular proteases showing the fibrinolytic activity are confirmed by SDS-PAGE followed by reverse fibrin zymogram activity assay and we proposed that some of the fibrinolytic enzymes from this work are novel enzymes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.695-700
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• 1996

In other to produce vinegar using maesil, acetic acid bacteria were selected from several conventional vinegars, and total 16 acetic acid producing bacterial strains were isolated. Among the isolated strains, a strain was selected from the medium with maesil juice which showed the highest productivity of acetic acid. The strain was identified as Acetobacter sp. VC-2 and it's cultural characteristics were also investigated in the batch shake flasks. The medium containing 2% acetic acid, 6% ethanol, 0.2% glucose, 0.3% yeast extract and 30% maesil juice was suitable for acetic acid production with Acetobacter sp. VC-2 at 3$0^{\circ}C$. The acidity of culture medium was reached to 6.5% after 8 days shaking cultivation at 3$0^{\circ}C$. The main components of organic acids were acetic, citric, malic and tartaric acid, and they were 4.28, 1.38, 0.48 and 0.30%, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1357-1362
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• 1999

For the study of human intestinal environments with the intestinal bacteria producing ${\beta}-glucuronidase\;and \;7{\alpha}-dehydroxylase$, genus Clostridium, known as the producer, were isolated from the fecal microflora. Through screening twice for one person, fecal microflora without major bacterial group seemed to be changed, which indicated the microflora would be changeable by the diet factors. With using Neomycin-Nagler selective medium during the screening, 14 Clostridium spp. were isolated and then the harmful enzyme activities were determined. Isolate-11 among them produced strongly ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and its activity was 0.021 unit/mg Protein. However, the strain producing $7{\alpha}-dehydroxylase$ was not isolated. The Isolate-11 was tentatively identified as Clostridium scatologenes through cultural and physiological characteristic.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.952-964
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• 2005

The diesel-degrading activities of biofilms sampled from petroleum-contaminated groundwaters in urban subway drainage systems were examined in liquid cultures, and the microbial populations of the biofilms were characterized by denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis (DGGE) and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Biofilm samples derived from two sites (19 K and 20 K) at subway Station N and Station I could degrade around $80\%$ of applied diesel within 20 and 40 days, respectively, at $15^{\circ}C$, and these results were strongly correlated with the growth patterns of the biofilms. The closest phylogenetic neighbor of a dominant component in the 19 K biofilm was Thiothrix fructosivorans strain Q ($100\%$ similarity). Four dominant strains in the 20 K biofilm were closely related to Thiothrix fructosivorans strain Q ($100\%$ similarity), Thiothrix sp. CC-5 ($100\%$ similarity), Sphaerotilus sp. IF14 ($99\%$ similarity), and Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacterioides (CFB) group bacterium RW262 ($98\%$ similarity). Three dominant members in the Station I biofilms were very similar to uncultured Cytophagales clone CRE-PA82 ($91\%$ similarity), Pseudomonas sp. WDL5 ($97\%$ similarity), and uncultured CFB group bacterium LCK-64 ($94\%$ similarity). The microbial components of the biofilms differed depending on the sampling site. This is the first report on the isolation of clones highly similar to Thiothrix fructosivorans and Thiothrix sp. from biofilms in petroleum-polluted groundwaters, and the first evidence that these organisms may play major roles in petroleum degradation and/or biofilm-development.