• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.410-418
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• 2019

To investigate a novel ${\beta}$-glucosidase from Bifidobacterium breve ATCC 15700 (BbBgl) to produce compound K (CK) via ginsenoside $F_2$ by highly selective and efficient hydrolysis of the C-3 glycoside from ginsenoside Rd, the BbBgl gene was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21. The recombinant BbBgl was purified by Ni-NTA magnetic beads to obtain an enzyme with specific activity of 37 U/mg protein using pNP-Glc as substrate. The enzyme activity was optimized at pH 5.0, $35^{\circ}C$, 2 or 6 U/ml, and its activity was enhanced by $Mn^{2+}$ significantly. Under the optimal conditions, the half-life of the BbBgl is 180 h, much longer than the characterized ${\beta}$-glycosidases, and the $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ values are 2.7 mM and $39.8{\mu}mol/mg/min$ for ginsenoside Rd. Moreover, the enzyme exhibits strong tolerance against high substrate concentration (up to 40 g/l ginsenoside Rd) with a molar biotransformation rate of 96% within 12 h. The good enzymatic properties and gram-scale conversion capacity of BbBgl provide an attractive method for large-scale production of rare ginsenoside CK using a single enzyme or a combination of enzymes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.192-192
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• 2022

Sweetpotato is rich in starch, which is converted to sugar during storage due to enzymatic hydrolysis. The sugar content of sweetpotato is a component related to taste and storability. In this study, the sugar content (fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose and total sugar content) of 94 genotypes was evaluated and the GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Study) was conducted to search for candidate genes for sugar content. The fructose and glucose content were 0.2 ~ 8.8 and 0.2 ~ 9.4 g/100g, respectively. The maltose, sucrose and total sugar content were 0.2 ~ 9.1,3.2 - 30.0 and 7.9 ~ 40.2 g/100g, respectively. The fructose and glucose showed a positive correlation (0.98). The 94 genotypes were genotyped with genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and aligned against the reference genome sequences of sweetpotato. The GBS libraries from 94 genotypes were sequenced on an Illumina HiSeqXten system, and 1,339,892 SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) were generated. Filtering for < 60% missing rate and > 0.05 minor allele frequency resulted in a total of 44,255 SNPs used in GWAS. The GAPIT (Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool) was used to conduct based on the mean of sugar content with a Bonferroni-corrected chromosome-wide significance threshold with a -logio(P) of 5.95. The significant SNPs were obtained with fructose (seven), glucose (six), maltose (four) and sucrose (nine). There were several genes related to sugar content around the significant SNPs such as sugar transport protein 8-like, probable galactose-1 -phosphate uridyltransferase-like and beta-amylase. These results will contribute to understanding of sugar content and conversion in sweetpotato.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2024

Fresh ginseng is prone to spoilage due to its high moisture content. For long-term storage, most fresh ginsengs are dried to white ginseng (WG) or steamed for hours at high temperature/pressure and dried to form Korean Red ginseng (KRG). They are further processed for ginseng products when subjected to hot water extraction/concentration under pressure. These WG or KRG preparation processes affect ginsenoside compositions and also other ginseng components, probably during treatments like steaming and drying, to form diverse bioactive phospholipids. It is known that ginseng contains high amounts of gintonin lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs). LPAs are simple lipid-derived growth factors in animals and humans and act as exogenous ligands of six GTP-binding-protein coupled LPA receptor subtypes. LPAs play diverse roles ranging from brain development to hair growth in animals and humans. LPA-mediated signaling pathways involve various GTP-binding proteins to regulate downstream pathways like [Ca²⁺]_i transient induction. Recent studies have shown that gintonin exhibits anti-Alzheimer's disease and antiarthritis effects in vitro and in vivo mediated by gintonin LPAs, the active ingredients of gintonin, a ginseng-derived neurotrophin. However, little is known about how gintonin LPAs are formed in high amounts in ginseng compared to other herbs. This review introduces atypical or non-enzymatic pathways under the conversion of ginseng phospholipids into gintonin LPAs during steaming and extraction/concentration processes, which exert beneficial effects against degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and arthritis in animals and humans via LPA receptors.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 2016

Pectin, a naturally occurring polysaccharide, has in recent years attracted considerable attention. Its benefits are increasingly appreciated by scientists and consumers due to its safety and usefulness. The chemistry and gel-forming characteristics of pectin have enabled to be used in pharmaceutical industry, health promotion and treatment. Yet, it has been rarely used in cosmetics because of its incompatibility with many cosmetic ingredients, including alcohols, and unstable viscosity of pectin gels under various pH and salt conditions. However, low-molecular-weight pectin oligomers have excellent biological activities, and depolymerization of pectin to produce cosmetic ingredients would be very useful. In this study, we attempted the development of cosmetic ingredients using pectin with an excellent effect on human skin. We developed a bio-conversion process that uses enzymatic hydrolysis to produce pectin hydrolysates containing mainly low-molecular-weight pectin oligomers. Gel permeation chromatography was used to determined the ratio of hydrolysis. The molecular weight of the pectin hydrolysates obtained varied between 200 and 2,700 Da. The two newly developed low-molecular-weight pectin hydrolysates, LMPH A and B, had higher anti-oxidative activities than pectin or D-galacturonic. Exposure to UVB radiation induces apoptotic cell death in epidermal cells. Annexin V binding and propidium iodide uptake were measured by flow cytometry to evaluate UVB-induced cell death in HaCaT cells. Both LMPH A and B reduced UVB-induced cell death and increased cell proliferation by 22% and 30% at 0.5% concentration respectively, while pectin had no significant activity. In conclusion, this study suggests that the newly developed low-molecular-weight pectin hydrolysates can be used as safe and biologically active cosmetic ingredients.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2012

Lignocellulose is difficult to hydrolyze due to the presence of lignin and the technology developed for cellulose fermentation to ethanol is not yet economically viable. However, recent advances in the extremely new field of biotechnology for the ethanol production are making it possible to use of Agriculture residual biomass, e.q., Barley straw, because of their several superior aspects as Agriculture residual biomass; low lignin, high contents of carbohydrates. Barley straw consists of 39.78% cellulose (glucose), 22.56% hemicelluloses and 19.27% lignin. Pretreatment of barley straw using NaOH pretreatment solutions concentration with 2%, temperature $85^{\circ}C$ and reaction times 1 hr were investigates. $NH_4OH$ pretreatment condition was solutions concentration with 15%, temperature $60^{\circ}C$, and reaction times 24hr were investigates. Furthermore, enzymatic saccharification using cellulose at $50^{\circ}C$, pH 4.8, 180 rpm for conversion of cellulose contained in barley straw to monomeric sugar. The pretreatment of barley straw using NaOH and $NH_4OH$ can significantly improve enzymatic saccharification of barley straw by extract more lignin and increasing its accessibility to hydrolytic enzymes. The result showed NaOH pretreatment extracted yield of lignin was 24.15%. $NH_4OH$ pretreatment extracted yield of lignin was 29.09%. Shaccharification of barley straw pretreatment by NaOH for 72hr and pH 4.8 result in maximum glucose concentration 15.39g/L (58.40%) and by $NH_4OH$ for 72hr and pH 4.8 result in maximum glucose concentration 16.01g/L (64.78%).

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.175-180
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• 2016

Tyrosinases catalyze the hydroxylation of a monophenol (monophenolase activity) and the conversion of an o-diphenol to o-quinone (diphenolase activity), which are mainly involved in the modification of tyrosine residues into 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-alanine (DOPA) and DOPA/DOPAquinone-derived intermolecular cross-linking. Previously, we obtained a slightly acidic and cold-active tyrosinase, tyrosinase-CNK, by our recombinant protein approach. The enzyme showed optimal activity at pH 6.0 and 20 ℃ with an abnormally high monophenolase/diphenolase activity ratio and still had approximately 50% activity compared with the highest activity even in ice water. Here, we investigated reaction stability of the recombinant tyrosinase-CNK as a psychrophilic enzyme. The enzyme showed remarkable thermal stability at 0 ℃ and the activity was well conserved in repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Although water-miscible organic solvent as reaction media caused the activity decrease of tyrosinase-CNK as expected, the enzyme activity was not additionally decreased with increased concentration in organic solvents such as ethanol and acetonitrile. Also, the enzyme showed high salt tolerance in chaotropic salts. It was remarkably considered that 2⁺ metal ions might inhibit the incorporation of Cu²⁺ into the active site. We expect that these results could be used to design tyrosinase-mediated enzymatic reaction at low temperature for the production of catechols through minimizing unwanted self-oxidation and enzyme inactivation.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.735-742
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• 2017

This study was conducted to isolate and characterize Paenibacillus sp. MBT213 possessing ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity from raw milk, and examine the enzymatic capacity on the hydrolysis of a major ginsenoside ($Rb_1$). Strain MBT213 was found to have a high hydrolytic ability on ginsenoside $Rb_1$ by Esculin Iron Agar test. 16S rDNA analysis revealed that MBT213 was Paenibacillu sp. Crude enzyme of MBT213 strain exhibited high conversion capacity on ginsenoside $Rb_1$ into ginsenoside Rd proven by TLC and HPLC analyses. The API ZYM kit confirmed that Paenibacillu sp. MBT213 exerted higher ${\beta}$-glucosidase and ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity than other strains. Optimum pH and temperature for crude enzyme were found at 7.0 and $35^{\circ}C$ in hydrolysis of ginsenoside $Rb_1$. After 10 d of optimal reaction conditions for the crude enzyme, ginsenoside $Rb_1$ fully converted to ginsenoside Rd. Ginseng roots (20%) were fermented for 14 d, and analyzed by HPLC showed that amount of ginsenoside $Rb_1$ significantly decreased, while that of ginsenoside Rd was significantly increased. The study confirmed that the ${\beta}$-glucosidase produced by Paenibacillus sp. MBT213 can hydrolyze the major ginsenoside $Rb_1$ and convert to Rd during fermentation of the ginseng. The ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity of this novel Paenibacillus sp. MBT213 strain may be utilized in development of variety of health foods, dairy foods and pharmaceutical products.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.365-371
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• 2016

This study was aimed to evaluate the stability of conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) by nano-encapsulation against in vitro ruminal biohydrogenation by microbial enzymatic conversion. CLAs (free fatty acid form of CLA [CLA-FFA], nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA, triglyceride form of CLA [CLA-TG], and nano-encapsulated CLA-TG) were used in the in vitro fermentation experiments. When Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens (B. fibrisolvens) was incubated with CLA-FFAs, the concentrations of cis-9, trans-11 CLA and vaccenic acid (VA) slightly was decreased and increased by nano-encapsulation, respectively. When B. fibrisolvens was incubated with CLA-TG, the concentrations of cis-9, trans-11 CLA and VA decreased, but these were increased when B. fibrisolvens was incubated with nano-encapsulated CLA-TG. The nano-encapsulation was more effective against the in vitro biohydrogenation activity of B.fibrisolvens incubated with CLA-FFA than with CLA-TG. In the in vitro ruminal incubation test, the total gas production and concentration of total volatile fatty acids incubated with nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA and CLA-TG were increased significantly after 24 h incubation (p<0.05). Nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA might, thus, improve the ruminal fermentation characteristics without adverse effects on the incubation process. In addition, nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA increased the population of Fibrobacter succinogenes and decreased the population of B. fibrisolvens population. These results indicate that nano-encapsulation could be applied to enhance CLA levels in ruminants by increasing the stability of CLA without causing adverse effects on ruminal fermentation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1661-1667
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• 2016

The ginsenoside-hydrolyzing β-glucosidase gene (bgy2) was cloned from Lactobacillus brevis. We expressed this gene in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), isolated the resulting protein, and then utilized the enzyme for the biotransformation of ginsenosides. The bgy2 gene contains 2,223 bp, and encodes a protein of 741 amino acids that is a member of glycosyl hydrolase family 3. β-Glucosidase (Bgy2) cleaved the outer glucose moieties of ginsenosides at the C-20 position, and the inner glucose at the C-3 position. Under optimal conditions (pH 7.0, 30℃), we used 0.1 mg/ml Bgy2 in 20 mM sodium phosphate buffer (PBS) for enzymatic studies. In these conditions, 1.0 mg/ml ginsenoside Rb1 and ginsenoside F2 were converted into 0.59 mg/ml ginsenoside Rd and 0.72mg/ml compound K, with molar conversion productivities of 69% and 91%, respectively. In pharmaceutical and commercial industries, this recombinant Bgy2 would be suitable for producting ginsenoside Rd and compound K.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.588-596
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• 2018

An endo-${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase gene, cel9K, was cloned using the shot-gun method from Paenibacillus sp. X4, which was isolated from alpine soil. The gene was 2,994 bp in length, encoding a protein of 997 amino acid residues with a predicted signal peptide composed of 32 amino acid residues. Cel9K was a multimodular enzyme, and the molecular mass and theoretical pI of the mature Cel9K were 103.5 kDa and 4.81, respectively. Cel9K contains the GGxxDAGD, PHHR, GAxxGG, YxDDI, and EVxxDYN motifs found in most glycoside hydrolase family 9 (GH9) members. The protein sequence showed the highest similarity (88%) with the cellulase of Bacillus sp. BP23 in comparison with the enzymes with reported properties. The enzyme was purified by chromatography using HiTrap Q, CHT-II, and HiTrap Butyl HP. Using SDS-PAGE/activity staining, the molecular mass of Cel9K was estimated to be 93 kDa, which is a truncated form produced by the proteolytic cleavage of its C-terminus. Cel9K was optimally active at pH 5.5 and $50^{\circ}C$ and showed a half-life of 59.2 min at $50^{\circ}C$. The CMCase activity was increased to more than 150% in the presence of 2 mM $Na^+$, $K^+$, and $Ba^{2+}$, but decreased significantly to less than 50% by $Mn^{2+}$ and $Co^{2+}$. The addition of Cel9K to a commercial enzyme set (Celluclast 1.5L + Novozym 188) increased the saccharification of the pretreated reed and rice straw powders by 30.4% and 15.9%, respectively. The results suggest that Cel9K can be used to enhance the enzymatic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to reducing sugars as an additive.