• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.457-460
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• 2002

In an effort to isolate novel strains expressing a thermostable esterase that hydrolyzed the rac-ketoprofen ethyl ester to ketoprofen in the stereospecific manner, we screened various soils and composts from broad ecological niches in which the activity was expected to be found. Three hundreds of microbial strains were tested to determine their ester-hydrolyzing activity by using an agar plate containing insoluble tributyrin as an indicative substrate, and then further screened by activity on the (R,S)-ketoprofen ethyl ester. Twenty-six strains were screened primarily at high growth and incubation temperature and further compared the ability to ethyl ester-hydrolyzing activity in terms of conversion yield and chiral specificity. Consequently, a strain JYl44 was isolated as a novel strain that produced a (R)-stereospecific esterase with high stability and systematically identified as a Bacillus stearothermophilus JY144. The enzyme indeed stables at a broad range of temperature, upto 65 $^{\circ}C$, and pH ranging from 6.0 to 10.0. The optimal temperature and pH for enzymatic conversion were 50 $^{\circ}C$ and 9.0, respectively. Based on the observations that resulted a poor cell growth, and enzyme expression in wild type strain, we further attempted the gene cloning into a general host Escherichia coli and determined its primary structure, concomitantly resulting a high level expression of the enzyme. The cloned gene had an open reading frame (250 amino acids) with a calculated molecular mass of 27.4 kDa, and its primary structure showed a relative high homology (45-52 %) to the esterases from Streptomyces and Bacillus strains. The recombinant whole cell enzyme could efficiently convert the rac-ketoprofen ethyl ester to (R)-ketoprofen, with optical purity of 99 % and yield of 49 %.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.398-402
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• 2008

Cyanobacteria havebeen identified as one of the most promising group producing novel biochemically active natural products. Cyanobacteria are a very old group of prokaryotic organisms that produce very diverse secondary metabolites, especially non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Though many useful natural products have been identified in cyanobacterial biomass, cyanobacteria produce also extracellular proteins related with NRPS/PKS. Detection of unknown secondary metabolites in medium was carried in the present study by a screening of 98 cyanobacterial strains. A degenerated PCR technique as molecular approaches was used for general screening of NRPS/PKS gene in cyanobacteria. A putative PKS gene was detected by DKF/DKR primer in 38 strains (38.8%) and PCR amplicons resulted from a presence of NRPS gene were showed by MTF2/MTR2 primer in 30 strains (30.6%) and by A3/A7 primer in 26 strains (26.5%). HPLC analysis for a detection of natural products was performed in extracts from medium in which cyanobacteria containing putative PKS or NRPS were cultivated. CBT57, CBT62, CBT590 and CBT632 strains were screened for a production of extracellular natural products. 5 pure substances were detected from medium of these cyanobacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.734-741
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• 2009

Recently, strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin (VCM) have been clinically isolated. The antibacterial activity of a new drug, linezolid (LZD), in such a strain was evaluated by measuring bacterial metabolic activity. A total of 73 MRSA strains having various susceptibilities to VCM were subjected to a novel and highly sensitive chemiluminescence-based assay. LZD MIC in the tested strains, measured by the microbroth dilution method, was within the range 1-4 mg/l (mostly ${\leq}2$mg/l), except for one LZD-resistant strain (NRS127; MIC=7 mg/l), and showed no correlation with VCM resistance. The chemiluminescence assay demonstrated that bacterial metabolic activity was strongly suppressed with increasing LZD concentration. The chemiluminescence intensity curve had a low baseline activity without tailing in most strains. The present results suggest that LZD has strong antibacterial activity against MRSA strains, and would be effective for treatment of infections that are poorly responsive to VCM. The chemiluminescence assay facilitated sensitive and discriminative susceptibility testing within a relatively short time.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.15.1-15.5
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• 2010

RIKEN BioResource Center (BRC) has collected, preserved, conducted quality control of, and distributed mouse resources since 2002 as the core facility of the National BioResource Project by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. Our mouse resources include over 5,000 strains such as humanized disease models, fluorescent reporters, and knockout mice. We have developed novel mouse strains such as tissue-specific Cre-drivers and optogenetic strains that are in high demand by the research community. We have removed all our specified pathogens from the deposited mice and used our quality control tests to examine their genetic modifications and backgrounds. RIKEN BRC is a founding member of the Federation of International Mouse Resources and the Asian Mouse Mutagenesis and Resource Association, and provides mouse resources to the one-stop International Mouse Strain Resource database. RIKEN BRC also participates in the International Gene Trap Consortium, having registered 713 gene-trap clones and their sequences in a public library, and is an advisory member of the CREATE (Coordination of resources for conditional expression of mutated mouse alleles) consortium which represents major European and international mouse database holders for the integration and dissemination of Cre-driver strains. RIKEN BRC provides training courses in the use of advanced technologies for the quality control and cryopreservation of mouse strains to promote the effective use of mouse resources worldwide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1011-1017
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• 2016

The antimicrobial effects of methanol and ethanol extracts of Inula britannica against several Helicobacter pylori strains (26695, J99, and SS1) were evaluated in vitro, to determine their applicability as functional foods. In the paper disc diffusion method, the antimicrobial effects of the I. britannica extracts against the H. pylori strains were apparent. Viable cell counting also showed that the extracts at 100 μg/ml concentration dramatically decreased the viability of the H. pylori strains. In particular, the methanol and ethanol extracts at a concentration of 100 μg/ml reduced the H. pylori SS1 cell number to 2.46 log CFU/ml and 1.08 log CFU/ml, respectively. In the presence of 100 μg/ml extracts, the urease production of H. pylori SS1 was decreased to more than 30%, whereas that of H. pylori J99 and H. pylori 26695 was decreased to about 20%, relative to the controls. The extracts inhibited the attachment of the H. pylori strains to human gastric AGS cells as well as caused the detachment of already attached H. pylori cells. In addition, the H. pylori morphology was changed to a coccoidal shape in the presence of the extracts. In conclusion, the I. britannica extracts were effective against H. pylori strains in vitro, irrespective of genotype status, and could therefore be used as novel functional foods.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.341-347
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• 2012

A series of 2-(4-chlorophenylimino)-5-((3-(p-substituted phenyl)-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene) thiazolidin-4-one ($\mathbf{3a-h}$) compounds were prepared from the 2-(4-chlorophenylimino) thiazolidin-4-one ($\mathbf{1}$) and 1-phenyl-3-(p-substituted phenyl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carbaldehyde ($\mathbf{2a-h}$). All compounds were characterized by elemental (C, H, N) analysis and spectral (FT-IR, $^1H$ NMR and GC-MS) analysis. These newly synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. Antimicrobial activity was observed and evaluated against the bacterial strains like Eschericha coli (MTCC 443), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 1688), Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96), Streptococcus pyogenes (MTCC 442) and against the fungal strains like Candida albicans (MTCC 227), Aspergillus niger (MTCC 282) and Aspergillus clavatus (MTCC 1323). All the synthesized compounds were found to possess moderate to excellent antimicrobial activity against above selected strains.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2002

The present work is aimed at providing additional new pure cultures of oxalate utilizing bacteria and its preliminary characterization for further work in the field of oxalate-metabolism and taxonomic studies. The taxonomy of 14 mesophilic, aerobic oxalotrophic bacteria isolated by an enrichment culture technique from soils rhizosphers, and the juice of the petiole/stem tissue of plants was investigated. Isolates were characterized with 95 morphological, biochemical and physiological tests. Cellular lipid components and carotenoids of isolates were also studied as an aid to taxonomic characterization. All isolates were Gram-negative, oxidase and catalase positive and no growth factors were required. In addition to oxalates, some of the strains grow on methanol and/or formate. The taxonomic similarities among isolates, reference strains or previously reported oxalotrophic bacteria were analysed by using the Simple Matching (S/ sub SM/) and Jaccard (S$\_$J/) Coefficients. Clustering was performed by using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) algorithm. The oxalotrophic strains formed five major and two single-member clusters at the 70-86% similarity level. Based on the numerical taxonomy, isolates were separated into three phenotypic groups. Pink-pigmented strains belonged to Methylobacterium extorquens, yellow-pigmented strains were most similar to Pseudomonas sp. YOx and Xanthobacter autorophicus, and heterogeneous non-pigmented strains were closely related to genera Azospirillum, Ancylobacter, Burkholderia and Pseudomonas. New strains belonged to the genera Pseudomonas, Azospirillum and Ancylobacter that differ taxonomically from other known oxalate oxidizers were obtained. Numerical analysis indicated that some strains of the yellow-pigmented and nonpigmented clusters might represent new species.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.183-191
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• 2016

Marine bacteria have represented unique physiologies and products which are not discovered from terrestrial organisms. There has been great interest to utilize and develop marine bacteria in many industrial sectors. Recently, we isolated and characterized anaerobic bacteria from various marine environments in Korea to search organic acids fermenting strains. From our enrichment performed under anaerobic condition, 65 strains were isolated and identified by the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Among them, eleven strains were selected for phylogenetical and biochemical analysis. All tested strains were affiliated with Class Clostridia except one with Class Bacteroidia. Most of strains produce acetate (6 strains) with butyrate (2 strains) and/or formate (4 strains). Strain MCWD5 transformed 40% of glucose to extracellular polymeric substances. These results indicate that many novel anaerobic microorganisms which have great potential in commercial application are distributed in the marine environments of Korean Peninsula.

• Mycobiology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.376-384
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• 2021

Agaricus bisporus is a popular edible mushroom that is cultivated worldwide. Due to its secondary homothallic nature, cultivated A. bisporus strains have low genetic diversity, and breeding novel strains is challenging. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of globally collected A. bisporus strains using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Agaricus bisporus strains were divided based on genetic distance-based groups and model-based subpopulations. The major allele frequency (MAF), number of genotypes (NG), number of alleles (NA), observed heterozygosity (HO), expected heterozygosity (HE), and polymorphic information content (PIC) were calculated, and genetic distance, population structure, genetic differentiation, and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) were assessed. Strains were divided into two groups by distance-based analysis and into three subpopulations by model-based analysis. Strains in subpopulations POP A and POP B were included in Group I, and strains in subpopulation POP C were included in Group II. Genetic differentiation between strains was 99%. Marker AB-gSSR-1057 in Group II and subpopulation POP C was confirmed to be in HWE. These results will enhance A. bisporus breeding programs and support the protection of genetic resources.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1156-1167
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize lead (Pb)-solubilizing bacteria from heavy metal-contaminated mine soils and to evaluate their inoculation effects on the growth and Pb absorption of Brassica juncea. The isolates were also evaluated for their plant growth-promoting characteristics as well as heavy metal and salt tolerance. A total of 171 Pb-tolerant isolates were identified, of which only 15 bacterial strains were able to produce clear haloes in solid medium containing PbO or $PbCO_3$, indicating Pb solubilization. All of these 15 strains were also able to dissolve the Pb minerals in a liquid medium, which was accompanied by significant decreases in pH values of the medium. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the Pb-solubilizing strains belonged to genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Brevibacterium, and Staphylococcus. A majority of the Pb-solubilizing strains were able to produce indole acetic acid and siderophores to different extents. Two of the Pb-solubilizing isolates were able to solubilize inorganic phosphate as well. Some of the strains displayed tolerance to different heavy metals and to salt stress and were able to grow in a wide pH range. Inoculation with two selected Pb-solubilizing and plant growth-promoting strains, (i.e., Brevibacterium frigoritolerans YSP40 and Bacillus paralicheniformis YSP151) and their consortium enhanced the growth and Pb uptake of B. juncea plants grown in a metal-contaminated soil. The bacterial strains isolated in this study are promising candidates to develop novel microbe-assisted phytoremediation strategies for metal-contaminated soils.