• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.291-296
• /
• 1994

A bacterial strain NO. AM-28, showing proteolytic activity against defatted soybean was isolated from domestic soil. The isolated strain was identified as Aeromonas hydrophila by both the biochemical tests using API kit and the analysis of cellular fatty acid profile with MIDI system. The protease production from A. hydrophila AM-28 was highly enhanced when it was cultivated in the medium containing glycerol as a carbon source, tryptone or $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$ as a nitrogen source, and $CaCl_2$ as a mineral source. The optimal pH and temperature for the enzyme was 8.0 and $65^{\circ}C$, respectively. The enzyme was stable up to $55^{\circ}C$ and at pH values ranging from 7.0 to 13.0. The enzyme activity was inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and EDTA, indicating that serine residue and metal ions be involved in enzyme activity.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.44-48
• /
• 2012

Ginseng (Panax ginseng) is one of the most widely cultivated medicinal herb in Korea. However, yield losses reached up to 30~60 % due to various diseases during 3 or 5 years of ginseng cultivation. Therefore, successful production of ginseng roots depends primarily on the control of diseases. The objective of this study is to select potential multifunctional biocontrol agents from actinomycetes for the control of multiple ginseng diseases as an alternative to fungicides. Ninety three Streptomyces strains were selected and their ability to produce antibiotics, siderophore and lytic enzymes such as protease and cellulose were investigated. Eight of the isolates, strains A75, A501, 515, 523, A704, A1444, A3265 and A3283 produced cellulase and protease. These strains also produced siderophore and showed potent antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea, Cylindrocarpon destructans, Collectotricum gloeosporioides, Phytophthora capsici and Rhizoctonia solani causing ginseng root rot.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.125-131
• /
• 2019

We have isolated and identified 72 bacterial strains from four bentonite samples collected at the mining areas located in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea, and measured their hydrolytic enzyme (${\alpha}$-amylase, protease, and cellulase) activities to identify the isolates with industrial-use potential. Most of the isolates belonged to the Bacillaceae, with minor portions being from the Paenibacillaceae, Micrococcaceae, and Bacillales Family XII at the family level. Of the strains isolated, 33 had extracellular ${\alpha}$-amylase activity, 30 strains produced cellulase, and 35 strains produced protease. Strain MBLB1268, having the highest ${\alpha}$-amylase activity, was identified as Bacillus siamensis ($0.38{\pm}0.06U/ml$). Bacillus tequilensis MBLB1223, isolated from Byi33-b, showed the highest cellulase activity ($0.26{\pm} 0.04U/ml$), whereas Bacillus wiedmannii MBLB1197, isolated from Zdb130-b, exhibited the highest protease activity ($54.99{\pm}0.78U/ml$). These findings show that diverse bacteria of the Bacillaceae family adhere to and exist in bentonite and are potential sources of industrially useful hydrolytic enzymes.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.45 no.8
• /
• pp.564-574
• /
• 2022

Epithin/PRSS14 is a membrane serine protease that plays a key role in tumor progression. The protease exists on the cell surface until its ectodomain shedding, which releases most of the extracellular domain. Previously, we showed that the remaining portion on the membrane undergoes intramembrane proteolysis, which results in the liberation of the intracellular domain and the intracellular domain-mediated gene expression. In this study, we investigated how the intramembrane proteolysis for the nuclear function is initiated. We observed that ectodomain shedding of epithin/PRSS14 in mouse breast cancer 4T1 cells increased depending on environmental conditions and was positively correlated with invasiveness of the cells and their proinvasive cytokine production. We identified selenite as an environmental factor that can induce ectodomain shedding of the protease and increase C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) secretion in an epithin/PRSS14-dependent manner. Additionally, by demonstrating that the expression of the intracellular domain of epithin/PRSS14 is sufficient to induce CCL2 secretion, we established that epithin/PRSS14-dependent shedding and its subsequent intramembrane proteolysis are responsible for the metastatic conversion of 4T1 cells under these conditions. Consequently, we propose that epithin/PRSS14 can act as an environment-sensing receptor that promotes cancer metastasis by liberating the intracellular domain bearing transcriptional activity under conditions promoting ectodomain shedding.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.908-917
• /
• 2024

Objective: Although pork loins is not a tough meat, they need to develop meat products with a soft texture for the elderly. This study focused on the physicochemical properties and tenderness characteristics of pork loin injected with green kiwifruit juice (GRJ) and gold kiwifruit juice (GOJ) during various incubation times. In addition, the antioxidant activities of hydrolysate derived from the hydrolysis of pork loin by kiwifruit juice protease were evaluated. Methods: The pork loin was injected with 10% and 20% GRJ and GOJ, under various incubation times (0, 4, 8, and 24 h). Then, the physicochemical properties and tenderness of pork loins were measured. 2,2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and reducing power were conducted to determine hydrolysate's antioxidant activities derived from pork loin's hydrolysis by kiwifruit juice protease. Results: GRJ had greater tenderizing ability than GOJ, even at the 10% addition. When kiwifruit juice was injected into pork loin, the tenderness increased with increasing incubation time. This was confirmed by the decrease in intensity of the myosin heavy chain (MHC) band in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In particular, the MHC band decreased at 8 h for both 10% GRJ and 20% GOJ and at 4 h for 20% GRJ alone. The highest myofibril fragmentation index and peptide solubility were observed in pork loin treated with 20% GRJ compared to the other treatments during incubation. The 10% GRJ and 20% GOJ treatments showed similar levels of antioxidant activity of the protein hydrolysates in pork loin, and 20% GRJ showed the highest activity among the treatments. Conclusion: Kiwifruit juice had protease activity, and GRJ was more useful for tenderizing meat products than GOJ. Thus, GRJ at 10% could be a potential agent to tenderize and enrich the natural antioxidant activity through the proteolysis of pork loin.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.651-661
• /
• 2019

Targeting the pathogen viability using drugs is associated with development of drug resistance due to selective pressure. Hence, there is an increased interest in developing agents that target bacterial virulence. In this study, the inhibitory effect of ciclopirox, an antifungal agent with iron chelation potential, on the microbial virulence factors was evaluated in 26 clinical MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates collected from Alexandria Main University Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Egypt. Treatment with 9 ㎍/ml ciclopirox inhibited the hemolytic activity in 70% isolates, reduced pyocyanin production, decreased protease secretion in 46% isolates, lowered twitching and swarming motility, and decreased biofilm formation by 1.5- to 4.5-fold. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that treatment with ciclopirox downregulated the expression levels of alkaline protease (aprA) and pyocyanin (phzA1). Ciclopirox is used to treat hematological malignancies and the systemic administration of ciclopirox is reported to have adequate oral absorption with a satisfactory drug safety profile. It is important to calculate the appropriate clinical dose and therapeutic index to reposition ciclopirox from a topical antifungal agent to a promising virulence-modifying agent agent against P. aeruginosa, a problematic Gram-negative pathogen.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.863-868
• /
• 2004

Lectin activities and chemical characteristics of Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. originating from the porcine cecal mucosal layer were studied based on hemagglutination assay (HA) and hemagglutination inhibition assay (HIA). Although all the bacterial strains were able to agglutinate erythrocytes of porcine or rabbit origin, much higher HA titers were consistently observed for Lactobacillus spp. than for E. coli or for Bifidobacterium spp. A remarkable reduction in HA titers occurred by the treatment of E. coli and Lactobacillus spp. with protease or trypsin and of Bifidobacterium spp. with protease, trypsin or periodate. There were no significant effects on the HA titers of the three groups of bacteria after the treatment with lipase. Hemagglutination of E. coli was strongly inhibited by D (+)-mannose and D (+)-galactose; Lactobacillus spp. by $\alpha$-L-rhamnose and methyl-$\beta$-galactopyranoside; Bifidobacterium spp. by D (+)-alactose, $\alpha$-L-rhamnose, $\alpha$-L-fucose, L (+)-arabinose, D (+)-mannose, D (-)-fructose at a relatively low concentration (1.43 to 3.75 mg/ml). These results, combined with the enhanced HA activities of the three bacterial strains by modification of rabbit erythrocytes with neuraminidase and abolished HA activity of E. coli after treatment with $\beta$-galactosidase, indicate that it might be the glycoproteinous substances surrounding the surface of the bacterial cells that are responsible for the adhesions of these microorganisms by recognizing the specific receptors on the red blood cell.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.417-424
• /
• 2003

Inhibitory activities against angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) of enzymatic hydrolysates of porcine skeletal muscle proteins were investigated. Myosin B, myosin, actin, tropomyosin, troponin and water-soluble proteins extracted from pork loin were digested by eight kinds of proteases, including pepsin, $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, and trypsin. After digestion, hydrolysates produced from all proteins showed ACE inhibitory activities, and the peptic hydrolysate showed the strongest activity. In the case of myosin B, the molar concentration of peptic hydrolysate required to inhibit 50% of the activity increased gradually as digestion proceeded. The hydrolysates produced by sequential digestion with pepsin and $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, pepsin and trypsin or pepsin and pancreatin showed weaker activities than those by pepsin alone, suggesting that ACE inhibitory peptides from peptic digestion might lose their active sequences after digestion by the second protease. However, the hydrolysates produced by sequential digestion showed stronger activities than those by $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, trypsin or pancreatin alone. These results suggested that the hydrolysates of porcine meat were able to show ACE inhibitory activity, even if they were digested in vivo, and that pork might be a useful source of physiologically functional factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.259-267
• /
• 1998

Typical characteristics of Mejus must be understood to get the basic data for setting up mass production system of traditional fermented soybean products. One hundred and twenty one Mejus were collected from various places and analyed. Most of shapes were rectangular and some were spherical, conical, cylindrical and doughnut types. The weight of Mejus was 0.4~4.2kg. Chemical analysis showed: moisture content, 9.73~58.22% ; pH, 4.95~8.15; acidity, 0.6~3.8% ; soluble protein content, 4.45~12.31%; soluble sugar content, 0.82~10.95%. Enzyme assay showed: $\alpha$-amylase activity, 5.0~874.2 units/g; $\beta$-amylase activity, 0.02~27.74units/g; acidic protease activity, 31.3~225.1unts/g; lipase activity 1.0~53.0units/g. Total viable cells were 3.72$\times$107~1.35$\times$1010cfu/g, and yeast and mold count 6.46$\times$104~8.91$\times$106cfu/g. respectively. $\alpha$-Amylase activity of a traditional Meju from Incheon showed the highest activity of 732.8 units/g(interior section) and 823.2units/g (exterior section). $\beta$-Amylase activity was the highest{3.57 units/g (interior sectin) and 4.25units/g (exterior section)} in Meju from Chunbuk. Acidic protease activity was the highest in sample from Seoul, whereas traditional Meju from Kyongnam showed the highest activity of 21.5units/g(interior section) and 37.5units/g(exterior sectin).

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.187-191
• /
• 2003

Proteolytic enzymes existing in plant cell cultured media are the major reason for the loss of secreted human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hGM-CSF). The addition of pepstatin, aprotinin and PMSF relatively decreased the proteolytic degradation of hGM-CSF in a conditioned medium, but sufficient prevention against the proteolytic activity could not be obtained with chemical protease inhibitors. Gelatin, as a competitive substrate for protease, showed a stabilizing effect in a conditioned medium. Compared to the initial hGM-CSF concentration in a conditioned medium. with 10 g/L of gelatin, 68% of the hGM-CSF remained after 5 days. In a cell culture experiment, 5 g/L of gelatin significantly stimulated the hGM-CSF production and accumulation in culture media, with no growth inhibition. compared to the controls (4.72 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L), the extracellular hGM-CSF level could be increased to 39.78 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L with the addition of 5 g/L of gelatin.