• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.11-14
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• 1998

A toluene-oxidizing strain of Pseudomanas mendocina KR1 containing toluene-4-mono-oxygenase (TMO) completely degrades TCE with the addition of toluene as a co-substrate in aerobic condition. In order to construct in situ bioremediation system for TCE degradation without any growth-stimulating nutrients or toxic inducer such as toluene, we used the carbon-starvation promoter of Pseudomonas putida MK1 (Kim, Y. et al., J. bacteriol., 1995). Upon entry into the stationary phase due to the deprivation of nutrients, this promoter is strongly induced without further cell growth. The TMO gene cluster (4.5 kb) was spliced downstream of the carbon starvation promoter of Pseudomonas putida MK1, already cloned in pUC19. TMO under the carbon starvation promoter was not expressed in E. coli cells either in stationary phase or exponential phase. For TMO expression in Pseudomonas strains, tmo and carbon starvation promoter region were recloned into a modified broad-host range vector pMMB67HES which was made from pMMB67HE(8.9 kb) by deletion of tac promoter and lacIq (about 1.5 kb). Indigo was produced by TMO under the carbon starvation promoter in a Pseudomonas strain of post-exponential phase on M9 (0.2% glucose and 1mM indole) or LB. 18% of TCE was degraded in 14 hours after entering the stationary phase at the initial concentration of 6.6 ${\mu}$M in liquid phase.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.678-682
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• 2005

The promoter region of a carbon starvation gene isolated from Pseudomonas putida was cloned and analyzed for its potential use for in situ bioremediation and bioprocessing. We constructed a recombinant plasmid pMKD101 by cloning the 0.65 kb promoter region of the gene into the promoter proving vector, pMK301, which contains the lacZ for ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity as a reporter gene. pMKD101 was transformed into the wild-type P. putida MK1, resulting in P. putida RPD101, and analyzed for ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity under different culture conditions. When RPD101 was grown on the minimal medium plus $0.1\%$ glucose as a sole carbon source in batch cultures, ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity was found to be 3.2-fold higher during the stationary phase than during the exponential phase. In chemostat cultures, ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity was found to be 3.1-fold higher at the minimal growth rate (dilution rate=$0.05\;h^{-1}$) than at the maximal growth rate (dilution rate=$0.173;h^{-1}$). The results suggest that a carbon starvation promoter can be utilized to maximize the expression of a desired gene under nutrient limitation.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2003

Starvation promoters can be utilized for in situ bioremediation and for the efficient bioprocessing. Previously we have cloned and characterized strong starvation promoters from envrionmentally relevant bacteria, Pseudomonas putida strains (Y. Kim, and A. Matin, J. Bacteriol. 177:1850-1859, 1995). Here we report the construction of the plasmid pYKS101 using one of the starvation promoters from P. putida MK1. The pYKS101 was found to be useful for a novel starvation promoter-driven gene expression system. Under this system, the target reporter gene, lacZ, was stably integrated into the chromosomal DNA of P. putida MK1. ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity was found to be four-fold higher upon carbon starvation than during exponential growth. The resultant recombinant strain is indigenous to the environment contaminated with various toxic materials, hence can be a good candidate for in situ bioremediation.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 1999

Thirteen transcriptionally-fused carbon starvation mutants, derived from Pseudomonas putida ATCC 12633, were analyzed for their survivability and transcriptional induction profiles upon carbon starvation. One of these mutants, MK114, which exhibited the lowest survivability and the highest induction rate, was selected and further examined under different starvation (nitrogen and phosphate) and stress (osmolarity, H2O2, salts, alcohol, and heat) conditions. Under all tested conditions MK114 induced ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity, implying that the interrupted gene (cst114) is a general starvation and stress response gene. The rate of induction ranged from 2.6-fold for phosphate starvation to 3.7-fold for osmotic shock. The mini-Tn5 flanking DNA was cloned from the chromosome of MK114. The cloned DNA fragment exhibited carbon starvation activity, indicating that this fragment contains a carbon starvation-related promoter region. This region was partially sequenced. Possible physiological roles of Cst114 in a carbon sensing mechanism and in other stress responses are also discussed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1949-1954
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• 2007

A simple way to prevent protein hyperglycosylation in Hansenula polymorpha was found. When glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger and carboxymethyl cellulase from Bacillus subtilis were expressed under the control of an inducible methanol oxidase (MOX) promoter using methanol as a carbon source, hyperglycosylated forms occurred. In contrast, MOX-repressing carbon sources (e.g., glucose, sorbitol, and glycerol) greatly reduced the extent of hyperglycosylation. Carbon source starvation of the cells also reduced the level of glycosylation, which was reversed to hyperglycosylation by the resumption of cell growth. It was concluded that the proteins expressed under actively growing conditions are produced as hyperglycosylated forms, whereas those under slow or nongrowing conditions are as short-glycosylated forms. The prevention of hyperglycosylation in the Hansenula polymorpha expression system constitutes an additional advantage over the traditional Saccharomyces cerevisiae system in recombinant production of glycosylated proteins.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.108-114
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• 1998

Salmonella Pathgenicity Island 2 plays an important role in Salmonella pathogenicity, especially invasion into host cell. We have investigated the effect of various environmental factors, such as oxygen level, osmolarity, pH, carbon starvation and glycerol addition on the expression of SPI2. For this research, we constructed the reporter plasmids, in which the promoter-less lac operons are fused with the regulatory regions (including promoter) of ssaJ and ssaK, major genes in SPI2. The study using the reporters showed that low oxygen, low osmolarity, or weak alkali conditions increased the expression levels of ssaJ and ssaK and when these three conditions exist simultaneously, the expression levels of ssaJ and ssaK are the highest. However carbon starvation and glycerol addition did not affect the expression of ssaJ and ssaK. These environmental effects on the expression levels of ssaJ and ssaK are the same in three Salmonella typhimurium wild types, LT2, UK1, and SL1344. In addition, we confirmed that the mutation in hilA, a regulatory gene encoding a transcriptional activator of SPI1, had no effect on the expression of ssaJ and ssaK. Thus, these results strongly suggest that the expressions of SPI2 and SPI1 are regulated by different control systems.