• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.643-646
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• 2006

Cheonggukjang, a popular Korean traditional fermented soyfood, was manufactured by fermenting steamed soybeans in a temperature-controlled room by traditional methods in which steamed soy was exposed to rice straw naturally rich in Bacillus species. B. subtilus and B. licheniformis were found to be the major microorganisms present in cheonggukjang made by the traditional method. We analyzed the composition of 12 kinds of isoflavones and their glycosides present in cheonggukjang collected at various fermentation times. Total isoflavone content in raw soybeans was 2,867 mg/kg and this decreased by about 50% during cooking prior to cheonggukjang preparation. However, total isoflavone content changed slightly during 45 hr of fermentation. Total content of isoflavone glycosides, consisting mainly of daidzin, glycitein, and genistin, decreased by about 40% during 45 hr of fermenting cooked soybeans. The contents of tree isoflavones including daidzein, glycitein, and genistein showed a dramatic increase during fermentation in cheonggukjang preparation, with a 2.9-, 54.0-, and 20.6-fold increase in concentration, respectively, by the end of fermentation (45 hr). In conclusion, short-term fermentation of cooked soybeans with Bacillus species caused conspicuous changes in the composition of isoflavone derivatives, and its implication in terms of health benefits deserves further study.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.234-241
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• 2007

A physicochemical assessment of Doenjang (traditional fermented soyfood) prepared with Korean black soybeans (Glycine max) was carried out. The T-N rate increased slowly during storage up to 120 days and the A-N rate increased up to 80 days of ripening and then decreased slightly. The caseinolytic activity increased slowly during storage up to 80 days and then decreased after 80 days. In addition, the fibrinolytic and ${\beta}-glucosidase$ activities increased up to 80 and 30 days and then decreased. Genistin and daidzin concentrations gradually decreased with increased fermentation time. However, genistein and daidzein slowly increased with fermentation time. Genistein and daidzein reached maximum concentrations (316.8 and $305.2{\mu}g/g$, respectively) and plateaued thereafter. The anthocyanins increased greatly during fermentation up to 50 days and then remained constant between 50 and 90 days. Polyphenol contents showed a slight increase up to 80 days and then slowly decreased. The DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities increased linearly during storage up to 50 days, reached about 28.9% and 2.17 mg/g, respectively, and then slowly decreased. At 20 days of fermentation, macrophage-stimulating activity of the extract showed a maximum activity.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.442-445
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• 2008

Meju, a major ingredient of doenjang which is a popular Korean traditional fermented soyfood, was manufactured by fermenting steamed soybeans in natural environment in which steamed soy was exposed to airborne microorganism, in particular, fungi. Total isoflavone content was reduced from 1,849 mg/kg of cooked soy to 816 mg/kg of meju at the $90^{th}$ day of fermentation. Total glycosides and aglycones of isoflavones in meju were 1,827 and 22 mg/kg at 0 day and changed into 487 and 329 mg/kg at the 90th day of fermentation, respectively. Meanwhile, the ratio of glycosides to aglycones of isoflavones was not changed during aging of doenjang but remained relatively constant with 592 and 644 mg/kg aglycones at the 0 and $160^{th}$ day, respectively. When cooked soy was fermented with Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus flavus, isoflavone profiles were significantly different from each other while A. oryzae caused more extensive metabolism of isoflavones than A. flavus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.89-97
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• 2015

Bacillus subtilis HK176 with high fibrinolytic activity was isolated from cheonggukjang, a Korean fermented soyfood. A gene, aprE176, encoding the major fibrinolytic enzyme was cloned from B. subtilis HK176 and overexpressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) using plasmid pET26b(+). The specific activity of purified AprE176 was 216.8 ± 5.4 plasmin unit/mg protein and the optimum pH and temperature were pH 8.0 and 40℃, respectively. Error-prone PCR was performed for aprE176, and the PCR products were introduced into E. coli BL21(DE3) after ligation with pET26b(+). Mutants showing enhanced fibrinolytic activities were screened first using skim-milk plates and then fibrin plates. Among the mutants, M179 showed the highest activity on a fibrin plate and it had one amino acid substitution (A176T). The specific activity of M179 was 2.2-fold higher than that of the wild-type enzyme, but the catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) of M179 was not different from the wild-type enzyme owing to reduced substrate affinity. Interestingly, M179 showed increased thermostability. M179 retained 36% of activity after 5 h at 45℃, whereas AprE176 retained only 11%. Molecular modeling analysis suggested that the 176^th residue of M179, threonine, was located near the cation-binding site compared with the wild type. This probably caused tight binding of M179 with Ca²⁺, whichincreased the thermostability of M179.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.365-369
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• 2002

Daidzein and genistein contents were determined for 46 varieties of soybean and several types of soyfoods using high pressure liquid chromatography. Average content of isoflavones in the soybeans was $809\;{\mu}g/g$ dry matter, ranging from 309 to $1610\;{\mu}g/g$, with Sinpaldal #2 and Dawon showing the highest and lowest amounts, respectively. Isoflavone contents of chonkukjang, soybean paste, and miso were 1045, 781, and $1067\;{\mu}g/g$, respectively. Isoflavone amounts in hard, semi-soft, soft, and fried tofus were 650, 895, 685, and $616\;{\mu}g/g$, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.936-941
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• 2000

To assess functional properties of chungkugjang (CK), a traditional Korean soyfood, fermented with black beans at $42^{\circ}C$ for 72 hrs, some biological activities of methanol extract of CK and the changes in phytoesterogen (daidzein, genistein) contents during fermentation were investigated. The methanol extract of CK (MEC) prepared with soybean had no or a little antibacterial activity. MEC prepared with black bean inhibited the growth of all bacteria tested, and MEC of small black bean was higher in antibacterial activity than that of large black bean. Hydrogen-donating activities of MEC of large and small black bean were 76.4 and 75.5%, respectively, which were higher than that of soybean being 67.3%. Nitrite-scavenging activity was found to be above 90% in all MECs tested as compared with control group. MEC showed strong antioxidant activities against both peroxidation of linoleic acid and $H_{2}O_{2}-FeSO_{4}-induced$ peroxidation of rat liver homogenate. The antioxidant activities were high in the order of small black bean, large black bean and soybean. Contents of genistein and daidzein were gradually increased during fermentation of CK. The isoflavones were higher in black bean CK than in soybean CK and higher in large black bean CK than in small black bean CK. In black beans genistein content was about twice as much of daidzein.