• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.239-245
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• 2007

DnaK is a major antigen in Streptococcus pneumoniae, and is induced by a minor shift in temperature (30 to $37^{\circ}C$) but not by ethanol shock. Although HrcA in the presence of $Ca^{{+}{+}}$ represses the expression of both groEL and hrcA, the control of transcription of the dnaK operon is not completely understood. In this study, the dnaK operon of S. pneumoniae (5' hrcA-grpE-dnaK-dnaJ) was cloned and analyzed. It contains large intergenic regions in grpE/dnaK and dnaK/dnaJ. Pulse labeling with [$^{35}S$]-methionine and immunoblot analyses revealed the presence of higher levels of DnaK than of HrcA even in the presence of $Ca^{{+}{+}}$ after heat shock suggesting that $Ca^{{+}{+}}$ differentially regulates the heat shock responses of hrcA and dnaK. By blocking de novo mRNA synthesis with rifampin it was shown that neither the hrcA nor the groEL transcripts were stabilized by heat shock even though dnaK transcripts were stabilized. We conclude that S. pneumoniae uses fine regulation of the transcription of the individual genes of the tetracistronic dnaK operon to cope with the various stresses experienced during infections.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.278-285
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• 1999

In order to use heat shock promoter for the detection of toxic substances, dnaK promoter was amplified from E. coli genomic DNA by using a polymerase chain reaction(PCR) followed by sequencing and sub-cloning into the multi-cloning site of the plasmid, pUCD615. The pUCD615 is a broad-host-range vector containing promoterless lux operon originated from V.fischeri. The recombinant plasmid was transfered to E. coli DH5$\alpha$ through electroporation. The recombinant E. coli showed several patterns of bioluminescent responses to ethanol stress. The bioluminescent E. coli also showed responses to other toxic substances including FeK3(CN)6, CdCl2, p-nitrophenol and HgCl2. The increases of RLU(Relative Light Unit) were observed at 100ppm of FeK3(CN)6, 10ppm and 100ppm and 100ppm of CdCl2, 1ppm of 10ppm of p-nitrophenol and at 1ppm of HgCl2.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.248-255
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• 1992

Eight bacterial strains were examined whether they have phoP/phoQ genes which were known to be involved in the intracellular survival of Salmonella typhimurium. The phoP/phoQ operon were known to sense the stimuli of the genes involved in the adaptation of the environment. Using 514-basepairs EcoRV DNA fragment of phoP region of Salmonella typhimurium as a probe, dot blot hybridization were performed. Chromosomal DNAs of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marscescens, Enterobacter cloacae, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, and Listeria monocytogenes were examined by DNA hybridization assay. Against our expectation, intracellular pathogen, L. monocytogenes, did not have similar DNA sequences to phoP/phoQ of S. typhimurium, while E. coli, S. dysenteriae, and E. cloacae showed the positive signal even though they were not intracellular pathogens. This result suggested that the phoP/PhoQ operon was absent in intracellular pathogenic bacterias other than S. typhimurium. Rather it was found in phylogenetically closer bacterias to S. typhimurium, which were not able to survive in intracellular environment. Some different mechanism, which is not dependent on phoP/PhoQ operon, could be involved in the intracelluar survival of L. monocytogenes.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.607-616
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• 2006

Molecular characterization of ten marine cyanobacterial isolates belonging to the order Oscillatoriales was carried out using the phycocyanin locus (cpcBA-IGS) and the 16S-23S internally transcribed spacer region. DNA sequences from the phycocyanin operon discriminated ten genotypes, which corresponded to seven morphotypes identified by traditional microscopic analysis. The cpcB coding region revealed 17% nucleotide variation, while cpcA exhibited 29% variation across the studied species. Phylogenetic analyses support the conclusion that the Phormidium and Leptolyngbya genera are not monophyletic. The nucleotide variations were heterogeneously distributed with no or minimal informative nucleotides. Our results suggest that the discriminatory power of the phycocyanin region varies across the cyanobacterial species and strains. The DNA sequence analysis of the 16S-23S internally transcribed spacer region also supports the polyphyletic nature of the studied oscillatorian cyanobacteria. This study demonstrated that morphologically very similar strains might differ genotypically. Thus, molecular approaches comprising different gene regions in combination with morphological criteria may provide better taxonomical resolution of the order Oscillatoriales.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.771-781
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• 2015

To examine if the molecular chaperone DnaK operon proteins of Streptococcus suis type 2 (SS2) are involved in adhesion to host cells, the abundance values of these proteins from the surface of two SS2 strains of different adhesion capability were compared. Their roles in growth and adhesion to human laryngeal epithelial cell line HEp-2 cells were investigated on SS2 strain HA9801 and its mutants with DnaK operon genes partially knocked-out (PKO mutant) under heat stress. The major difference was that DnaJ was more abundant in strain HA9801 than in strain JX0811. Pretreatment of the bacteria with hyperimmune sera to DnaJ, but not with those to other proteins, could significantly reduce SS2 adhesion to HEp-2 cells. PKO of dnaJ g ene resulted in decreased SS2 growth at 37℃ and 42℃, and reduced its adhesion to HEp-2 cells. The wild-type strain stressed at 42℃ had increased expression of DnaJ on its surface and elevated adhesion to HEp-2 cells, which was also inhibitable by DnaJ specific antiserum. These results indicate that the DnaJ of S. suis type 2 is important not only for thermotolerance but also for adhesion to host cells. Because DnaJ expression is increased upon temperature upshift with increased exposure on the bacterial surface, the febrile conditions of the cases with systemic infections might help facilitate bacterial adhesion to host cells. DnaJ could be one of the potential candidates as a subunit vaccine because of its good immunogenicity.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.422-427
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• 2003

Streptomyces setonii (ATCC 39116) is a Gram-positive thermophilic soil actinomycetes capable of degrading single aromatic compounds including phenol and benzoate via ortho-cleavage pathway. we isolated approximately 6.3-kb S. setonii DNA fragment containing a thermophilic catechol 1,2-dioxygenase(C12O) gene. Here we further revealed that the 6.3-kb S. setonii DNA fragment was organized into two putative divergently-transcribed clusters with 6 complete and one incomplete open reading frames (ORFs). The first cluster with 3 ORFs showed significant homologies to previously known benA, benB, and benC, implying a part of benzoate catabolic operon. The second cluster revealed an ortho-cleavage catechol catabolic operon with three translationally-coupled ORFs (catR, catB, catA). Each of these individually-cloned ORFs was expressed in E. coli and identified as a distinct protein band with a theoretical molecular weight in SDS-PAGE. The expression of the cloned S. setonii catechol operon was induced in a heterologous S. lividans by specific single aromatic compounds including catechol, phenol, and 4-chlorophenol. The simitar induction pattern was also observed using a luciferase gene-fused reporter system, implying that S. setonii employs an inducer-specific regulatory mechanism for aromatic compound metabolism.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.194-199
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• 2004

Investigation of the expression of the riboflavin (rib) genes, which are found immediately downstream of luxG in the lux operon in Photobacterium phosphoreum, provides more information relevant to the evolution of bioluminescence, as well as to the regulation of supply of flavin substrate for bacterial bioluminescence reactions. In order to answer the question of whether or not the transcriptions of lux and rib genes are integrated, a transcriptional termination assay was performed with P. phoxphoreum DNA, containing the possible stem-loop structures, located in the intergenic region of luxF and luxE ($\Omega$$\_$A/), of luxG and ribE ($\Omega$$\_$B/), and downstream of ribA ($\Omega$$\_$c/). The expression of the CAT (Chloram-phenicol Acetyl Transferase) reporter gene was remarkably decreased upon the insertion of the stem-loop structure ($\Omega$$\_$c/) into the strong lux promoter and the reporter gene. However, the insertion of the structure ($\Omega$$\_$B/) into the intergenic region of the lux and the rib genes caused no significant change in expression from the CAT gene. In addition, the single stranded DNA in the same region was protected by the P. phosphoreum mRNA from the Sl nuclease protection assay. These results suggest that lux genes and rib genes are part of the same operon in P. phosphoreum.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.1040-1043
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• 2000

The genomic mapping of Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus), local Village Chicken, and broiler was carried out by random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD) technique. Two different sets of arbitrary primers were used (Operon OPA01-20 and Genemed GM01-50). All the genomes of the three species of chickens were amplified with OPA01-20 primers. The genomes of the Red Jungle Fowl and local Village Chicken were further amplified with GM01-50 primers. Analysis of the results based on band sharing (BS) and the molecular size of individually amplified DNA fragments showed that Red Jungle Fowl and local Village Chicken shared the species similarity of 66% with Operon primers 01-20, 64% between local Village Chicken and broiler, and 63% when DNA bands between Red Jungle Fowl and broiler were compared. With GM01-50, the BS between Red Jungle Fowl and local village chicken increased to 72%. The results showed that the local village chicken is more closely related to Red Jungle Fowl than to broiler in the genetic distance. On the other hand, broiler is 1% closer in genetic distance to local village chicken than to Red Jungle Fowl. The results also indicated that primers like OPA-7, 8 and 9 can be used as species specific DNA markers for these three species of chickens.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.243-247
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• 1992

The thr operon of Escherichia coli TF427, an $\alpha$-amino-$\beta$-hydroxyvaleric acid (AHV)-resistant threonine overproducer, was cloned in a pBluescriptII $KS^＋$ plasmid by complementation of E. coli mutants. All clones contained a common 8.8 kb HindIII-generated DNA fragment and complemented the thrA, thrB, and thrC mutants by showing that these clones contained the whole thr operon. This thr operon was subcloned in the plasmid vectors pBR322, pUC18, and pECCG117, an E. coli/Corynebacterium glutamicum shuttle vector, to form recombinant plasmids pBTF11, pUTF25 and pGTF18, respectively. The subcloned thr operon was shown to be present in a 6.0 kb insert. A transformant of E. coli TF125 with pBTF11 showed an 8~11 fold higher aspartokinase I activity, and 15~20 fold higher L-threonine production than TF125, an AHV-sensitive methionine auxotroph. Also, it was found that the aspartokinase I activity of E. coli TF125 harboring pBTF11 was not inhibited by threonine and its synthesis was not repressed by threonine plus isoleucine.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.237-245
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• 1995

The DNA fragment containing the phoA of Klebsiella pneumoniae was cloned into pACYC184. The size of the insert was 4.0 kb and the restriction map showed it contained 3 PstI sites and 4 PvuII sites. The nucleotide sequence of the phoA region was determined, which showed strong (80 %) sequence similarity with that of Escherichia coli. This suggested that these two species are phylogenetically very close to each other.