• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2013

Research on mutant generation and isolation for microalgae yielding enhanced lipid accumulation is an important issue for the production of economic biodiesel. In the present study, ultraviolet (UV-B type) ray induced mutant generation was tried using a photosynthetic microalgae, Nannochloropsis oculata (N. oculata), for the production of biodiesel. The resulting colonies were isolated and further cultured with both liquid and solid state f/2 media. After a few week cultivation, changes of cell growth rate, dry cell weight, and several important intracellular components (chlorophyll, carotenoid, and lipid) were investigated. Two mutants among thousands colonies showed an increased cell growth and high lipid accumulation as compared to those of wild type. It was also observed that the increased cell growth rate is associated with the overexpressed intracellular proteins. However, the mutants showed a decrease in the chlorophyll biosynthesis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1115-1119
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• 2005

The photoheterotrophic $H_2$ production of Rhodobacter sphaeroides was significantly increased through disruption of the genes coding for uptake hydrogenase and poly-${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) synthase (Lee et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 60: 147-153, 2002). In this work, we further removed the B800-850 light-harvesting (LH) complex from the strain and found an increase in $H_2$ production at the light-saturating cell growth (${\ge}10$ Watts $[W]/m^2$). Neither the mutant nor the wild-type produced more $H_2$ at the brighter light. Accordingly, light does not appear to be limited for the $H_2$ production by the presence of B800-850. However, increase in the level of the spectral complexes resulted in decrease of $H_2$ production. Thus, although the B875 is essential for light harvesting, the consumption of cellular energy for the synthesis of B800-850 and the surplus LH complexes may reduce the energy flow into the $H_2$ production of R. sphaeroides.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 1993

The Inhibiting activity of newly synthesized phenol (E-series) and triazine (T-series) derivatives was evaluated by using thylakoid membranes extracted from cyanobacteria (Anacystis nidulans $R_2$). There were no significant differences between phenol derivatives and dinoseb to the thylakoid membrane extracted from wild type in the Hill reaction. However, a phenol derivative, E-24 which has no -Cl at phenyl ring, did not show any activity. The longer the length of R substituents was in phenol derivatives, the lower inhibiting activity was in the Hill reaction. Triazine derivatives, T-27, T-28, T-40, T-41, T-47 and T-48 were also compared with diuron and atrazine. Among triazine compounds, T-27 and T-28 showed 10 and 30 times activity as high as atrazine to wild type, respectively. Other triazine derivatives, T-40, T-41, T-47 and T-48 showed low inhibiting activity to wild and mutant type. A structural difference of T-27 and T-28 from T-40, T-41, T-47 and T-48 was the presented of -C-NH-. Both T-27 and T-28 were very closely associated with serine, an amino acid located at the 264th position of D1 protein because of the resistant ratio(R/S) to mutant G-264 were higher than that of atrazine.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2005

This experiment was conducted to investigate the changes of growth and maturity and to clarify the function of supernodulating characters, excessive nodules and high biological nitrogen fixation rate (BNF), on maturity in response to different planting time in supernodulating soybean mutants. Two supernodulating soybean mutants, Sakukei4 and SS2-2, and their parent cultivars, Enrei and Shinpaldalkong2, were planted on May 24 and June 15, 2004. The degrees of the shortening of growth days by the planting time delay were 18 to 22 days in four cultivar, and there were no significant differences among the cultivars. However, four cultivars showed the different maturity properties. Sakukei4, mutated from Enrei, showed later maturity than that of Enrei, and 882-2, mutated from Shinpaldalkong2, showed earlier maturity than that of Shinpaldalkong2. The plant and nodule dry weights at R6 stage of Sakukei4 showed the smallest decrement and those of SS2-2 was showed the largest decrement by the delay of planting time. The photosynthetic rates of Sakukei4 during the late reproductive growth period were slowly decreased, however those of SS2-2 were steeply decreased in two planting time treatments. Overall, the growth of Sakukei4 was decreased slowly, however the growth of SS2-2 was decreased sharply according to the delay of planting time. The percentage of seed yield of Sakukei4 in June planting plot compared with May planting plot at R8 stage was $92\%$, which was the lowest decreasing rate of yield among the cultivars, and in the case of SS2-2, it was in $76\%$, the highest one. These results indicated that the responses of supernodulating mutants by the delay of planting time were very similar to the wild types. This means supernodulating characters in supernodulating soybean mutants might not affect to the maturity property. Additionally, the maturity property could be considered as an important characteristics to decide or to select on the developments of supernodulating soybean mutants, which have a low productivity by an excessive nodules, especially.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.406-415
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• 2020

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most valuable agricultural crops and is grown under a wide spectrum of environmental conditions. However, maize is moderately sensitive to salt stress, and soil salinity is a serious threat to its production worldwide. In this study, we used ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) to generate salt-tolerant silage maize mutants. We screened salt-tolerant lines from 203 M₃ mutant populations by evaluating the morphological phenotype after salt stress treatment and selected the 140ES91 line. The 140ES91 mutant showed improved plant growth as well as higher proline content and leaf photosynthetic capacity compared with those of wild-type plants under salt stress conditions. Using whole-genome re-sequencing analysis, 1,103 single nucleotide polymorphisms and 71 insertions or deletions were identified as common variants between KS140 and 140ES91 in comparison with the reference genome B73. Furthermore, the expression patterns of three genes, which are involved in salt stress responses, were increased in the 140ES91 mutant under salt stress. Taken together, the mutant line identified in our study could be used as an improved breeding material for transferring salt tolerance traits in maize varieties.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.45-49
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• 2008

Cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (cFBPase) in plants is a key regulatory enzyme in the photosynthetic sucrose biosynthesis. Plant cFBPases, like the mammalian FBPases, are inhibited by adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) and fructose-2,6-bisphosphate (Fru-2,6-$P_2$). In the mammalian FBPases, Lys112 and Tyr113 play important roles in the AMP binding. To understand roles of the corresponding residues, Lys115 and Tyr116, in pea cFBPase, the mutant cFBPases were generated by site-directed mutagenesis. The alterations of Lys115 to Gin and Tyr116 to Phe displayed small changes in $K_m$ and $K_i$ for Fru-2,6-$P_2$, indicating that the mutation causes minor effects on the enzyme catalysis and Fru-2,6-$P_2$ binding, whereas resulted in higher than 500-fold increase of $[AMP]_{0.5}$ compared with that of the wild-type enzyme. Results indicate the residues Lys115 and Tyr116 play important roles in the binding of AMP to the allosteric site of the pea cFBPase.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.284-292
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• 2006

The cbb3 cytochrome c oxidase has the dual function as a terminal oxidase and oxygen sensor in the photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The cbb3 oxidase forms a signal transduction pathway together with the PrrBA two-component system that controls photosynthesis gene expression in response to changes in oxygen tension in the environment. Under aerobic conditions the cbb3 oxidase generates an inhibitory signal, which shifts the equilibrium of PrrB kinase/phosphatase activities towards the phosphatase mode. Photosynthesis genes are thereby turned off under aerobic conditions. The catalytic subunit (CcoN) of the R. sphaeroides cbb3 oxidase contains five histidine residues (H2l4, B233, H303, H320, and H444) that are conserved in all CcoN subunits of the cbb3 oxidase, but not in the catalytic subunits of other members of copper-heme superfamily oxidases. H214A mutation of CcoN affected neither catalytic activity nor sensory (signaling) function of the cbb3 oxidase, whereas H320A mutation led to almost complete loss of both catalytic activity and sensory function of the cbb3 oxidase. H233V and H444A mutations brought about the partial loss of catalytic activity and sensory function of the cbb3 oxidase. Interestingly, the H303A mutant form of the cbb3 oxidase retains the catalytic function as a cytochrome c oxidase as compared to the wild-type oxidase, while it is defective in signaling function as an oxygen sensor. H303 appears to be implicated in either signal sensing or generation of the inhibitory signal to the PrrBA two-component system.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.3 s.76
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• pp.485-492
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• 2006

The PrrBA two-component system is one of the major regulatory systems that control expression of photosynthesis genes in response to changes in oxygen tension in the anoxygenic photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The system consists of the PrrB histidine kinase and the PrrA response regulator. The N-terminal transmembrane domain of PrrB serves as a signal-sensing domain and comprises six transmembrane helices forming three periplasmic loops and two cytoplasmic loops. The $3^{rd}$ and $4^{th}$ transmembrane helices and the $2^{nd}$ periplasmic loop were suggested to play a crucial role in redox-sensory function. In this study we demonstrated that mutations of Asp-90, Gln-93, Leu-94, Leu-98, and Asn-106 in the $2^{nd}$ periplasmic loop and its neighboring region led to severe defects in PrrB sensory function, indicating that these amino acids might be related to the redox-sensing function of PrrB. The mutant forms (D90E, D90N, and D90A) of PrrB were heterologously overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified by means of affinity chromatography and their autokinase activities were comparatively assessed. The D90N form of PrrB was shown to possess higher autokinase activity than the wild-type form of PrrB, whereas the D90E form of PrrB displayed lower autokinase activity than the wild-type form of PrrB. The D90A mutation led to the loss of PrrB autokinase activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1460-1468
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• 2007

In this study, an approx. 2.5-kb gene fragment including the catalase gene from Rhodospirillum rubrum S1 was cloned and characterized. The determination of the complete nucleotide sequence revealed that the cloned DNA fragment was organized into three open reading frames, designated as ORF1, catalase, and ORF3 in that order. The catalase gene consisted of 1,455 nucleotides and 484 amino acids, including the initiation and stop codons, and was located 326 bp upstream in the opposite direction of ORF1. The catalase was overproduced in Escherichia coli UM255, a catalase-deficient mutant, and then purified for the biochemical characterization of the enzyme. The purified catalase had an estimated molecular mass of 189 kDa, consisting of four identical subunits of 61 kDa. The enzyme exhibited activity over a broad pH range from pH 5.0 to pH 11.0 and temperature range from $20^{\circ}C$ to $60^{\circ}C$C. The catalase activity was inhibited by 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, cyanide, azide, and hydroxylamine. The enzyme's $K_m$ value and $V_{max}$ of the catalase for $H_2O_2$ were 21.8 mM and 39,960 U/mg, respectively. Spectrophotometric analysis revealed that the ratio of $A_{406}$ to $A_{280}$ for the catalase was 0.97, indicating the presence of a ferric component. The absorption spectrum of catalase-4 exhibited a Soret band at 406 nm, which is typical of a heme-containing catalase. Treatment of the enzyme with dithionite did not alter the spectral shape and revealed no peroxidase activity. The combined results of the gene sequence and biochemical characterization proved that the catalase cloned from strain S1 in this study was a typical monofunctional catalase, which differed from the other types of catalases found in strain S1.