• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.339-349
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to identify lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from kimchi and to evaluate its characteristics and functional properties for application in fermented dairy products as a probiotic or commercial starter culture. Eight stains isolated from kimchi were selected through an investigation of phenotypic characteristics. Two strains (DK211 and DK303) were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum, another two (DK207 and DK215) as Lactobacillus paracasei, and one (DK301) as Lactobacillus sakei. The remaining three strains were identified as species of Weissella. All selected Lactobacillus strains had acid and bile tolerance, even though there was wide variation in the ability of each strain. DK303 showed a remarkably higher proteolytic activity. There were no significant differences in β-galactosidase activity among the tested strains, except that DK301 showed no activity. Auto-aggregation varied between 82.1 and 90.0%, and hydrophobicity values ranged from 0.5 to 51.6%.The strongest auto-aggregation and hydrophobicity were observed in DK211. All selected strains showed better 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrzyl (DPPH) scavenging activity than commercial strains. DK211, DK215, DK301, and DK303 had effective inhibitory activity against all pathogens tested except E. coli. When selected strains were used for yogurt preparation as a single starter culture, the time required to reach target titratable acidity (0.9) was 11-12 h. The yogurt fermented with DK211 had favorable panelists ratings for most sensory attributes, which were comparable with yogurt fermented with a commercial strain. The results suggest that strains isolated from kimchi could be potential probiotic and starter cultures for use in yogurt manufacturing.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1266-1273
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• 2008

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with antimicrobial activity and high exopolysaccharide (EPS) production ability isolated from sourdough were studied for their fermentation characteristics as potential new starter cultures. The values of pH, titratable acidity, and viable cell counts were $4.06{\pm}0.009-4.50{\pm}0.015,\;0.787{\pm}0.020%-1.172{\pm}0.018%,\;and\;8.78{\pm}0.08-8.98{\pm}0.06$ log CFU/ml, respectively. In order to select probiotics with a high survival rate in the gut, isolates were tested to assess resistance against the artificial gastric acid and bile juice. Viable LAB counts were significantly (p<0.05) affected by the acidity. At pH 2.0, the total declines in the initial bacterial counts were 4.52$\pm$0.07 log for S. thermophilus St-Body-1, >7.98$\pm$0.03 log for E. flavescens DU-10, >7.95$\pm$0.05 log for E. faecium DU-12, and 3.15$\pm$0.06 log for L. amylovorus DU-21. Among the strains, L. amylovorus DU-21 was the only strain that had bile tolerance under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. In order to improve EPS production by L. amylovorus DU-21, the influence of carbon source was studied. When glucose was used as a carbon source, EPS production dramatically increased to 17.19$\pm$0.28 g/l (p<0.05). The maximum cell growth (10.012$\pm$>0.012 log CFU/ml) and EPS production (18.71$\pm$0.19 g/l) were achieved when 15 g/l of glucose was employed as the carbon source.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.304-310
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• 1996

For a probiotic yoghurt it is desirable to utilize lactic acid bacteria with a high survival rate and beneficial function to human beings. We have examined a variety of lactic acid bacteria to assess the acid and bile tolerance and antibiotic resistance. In addition, an in vitro culture experiment was performed to evaluate their ability to reduce cholesterol levels in the growth medium. Thirteen strains were selected from in vitro cholesterol assays and fed to Sprague-Dawley rats with a high-cholesterol diet. Among the 13 strains tested, 8 strains were shown to reduce serum cholesterol levels significantly after 24 days of administration in vivo. Rats were fed lyophilized yoghurt powder fermented with a combination of 3 selected strains: Bifidobacterium infantis AM-220, Lactobacillus AM-245, and Styeptococcus MA-1. The levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein were significantly lower (p$\leq$0.05) in rats fed the yoghurt powder compared with control group. These studies suggest that yoghurt fermented with appropriately selected lactic acid bacteria may have a anticholesterolemic effect.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.287-295
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• 2017

Water temperature is one of the major factors that impacts the growth and life cycle of Pyropia tenera, one of the most valuable and cultivated marine red algae belonging to Bangiales (Rhodophytes). We analyzed transcriptome from gametophyte of P. tenera under normal and high temperature conditions, and identified four small heat shock proteins (sHSPs). They have no significant amino acid sequence homology with known proteins in public databases except PhsHSP22 from Pyropia haitanensis. PtsHSP19.3 gene responded to high temperature but slightly or not to desiccation, freezing or high salt condition. When the PtsHSP19.3 gene was overexpressed in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, transformed Chlamydomonas lines revealed much higher growth rate than that of control cells under heat stress condition. Transformed cells also grew well in those of the control cell onto the medium containing high salt or $H_2O_2$. When the PtsHSP19.3 was fused to GFP and introduced into tobacco protoplast, fluorescence was detected at several spots. Results indicate that PtsHSP19.3 may form super-molecular assembles and be involved in tolerance to heat stress.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.571-576
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• 1994

One strain of cellulose-producing Acetobacter was isolated from the traditionally fermen- ted grape vinegar in Korea. The isolated strain, designated as KI strain was identified as the Acetobacter xylinum with respect to physiological and biochemical characteristics. KI produced acetic acid from ethanol, and then decomposed acetate to CO$_{2}$ and H$_{2}$O. When the isolated strain was cultivated statically in broth culture, a thick cellulose pellicle was formed. KI was tolerance of 8% ethanol and 30% glucose, and the isolate was positive in ketogenesis from glycerol, $\gamma$-pyrone from glucose and fructose, and 2-ketogluconic acid from glucose. KI strain possessed straight-chain C$_{18:1}$, C$_{16:0}$, and C$_{14:0}$ fatty acid, and contained ubiquinone Q$_{9}$ and Q$_{10}$ as isoprenoid quinone. DNA base composition of KI strain was 57.6% G+C.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.429-432
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• 1991

In order to prepare probiotics, a strain which has resistant against acid, bile salts and antibiotics was isolated from infant and anirnat feces. Among these isolated strains, TK- 19 showed a strong acid tolerance and growth at 500 $\mu g$/ml of Na-deoxycholate. Also strain TK-19 was resistant to kanarnycin (30 $\mu g$/ml), streptomycin (10 $\mu g$/ml), nisin (50 $\mu g$/ml) and tetracycline (10 $\mu g$/ml). The isolated strain TK-19 was identified as Streptococcus faeciam, and was named Streptococcus faeciurn TK-19.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.552-562
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• 2016

Pathogenesis-related proteins play multiple roles in plant development and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Here, we characterize a rice defense related gene named "jasmonic acid inducible pathogenesis-related class 10" (JIOsPR10) to gain an insight into its functional properties. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed up-regulation of JIOsPR10 under salt and drought stress conditions. Constitutive over-expression JIOsPR10 in rice promoted shoot and root development in transgenic plants, however, their productivity was unaltered. Further experiments exhibited that the transgenic plants showed reduced susceptibility to rice blast fungus, and enhanced salt and drought stress tolerance as compared to the wild type. A comparative proteomic profiling of wild type and transgenic plants showed that overexpression of JIOsPR10 led to the differential modulation of several proteins mainly related with oxidative stresses, carbohydrate metabolism, and plant defense. Taken together, our findings suggest that JIOsPR10 plays important roles in biotic and abiotic stresses tolerance probably by activation of stress related proteins.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 1997

For the molecular genetic study of cold tolerance mechanism in plants, a cDNA encoding fatty acid desaturase (fad3), converting linoleic acid (18:2, $\omega$-6) to linolenic acid (18:3, $\omega$-3), was isolated from $\lambda$ZAPII Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA expression library by plaque hybridization using fad3 cDNA probe derived from Brassica napus. A 1.8 kb-EcoRI fragment from a lambda clone showing a strong positive hybridization signal was subcloned into pGEM7 and analyzed for its nucleotide sequence. From deduced amino acid sequences, the fad3 gene was revealed to have an open reading frame(ORF) consisting of 386 amino acids with a molecular mass of 44,075 Da. The fad3 gene was compared to chloroplast $\omega$-3 fatty acid desaturase (fad7) and endoplasmic reticulum Δ12 fatty acid desaturase (fad2) to show 70% and 58% amino acid sequence homology, respectively, Especially, amino acids of internal (82 to 151) and carboxy terminal (276 to 333) regions were highly conserved, implying their requisite role for enzymatic functioning of fatty acid desaturases. IPTG-induced fad3 cDNA expression in E. coli cells was suggested to be toxic to bacterial growth.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.966-975
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• 2017

Excessive salt disrupts intracellular ion homeostasis and inhibits plant growth, which poses a serious threat to global food security. Plants have adapted various strategies to survive in unfavorable saline soil conditions. Here, we show that humic acid (HA) is a good soil amendment that can be used to help overcome salinity stress because it markedly reduces the adverse effects of salinity on Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. To identify the molecular mechanisms of HA-induced salt stress tolerance in Arabidopsis, we examined possible roles of a sodium influx transporter HIGH-AFFINITY $K^+$ TRANSPORTER 1 (HKT1). Salt-induced root growth inhibition in HKT1 overexpressor transgenic plants (HKT1-OX) was rescued by application of HA, but not in wild-type and other plants. Moreover, salt-induced degradation of HKT1 protein was blocked by HA treatment. In addition, the application of HA to HKT1-OX seedlings led to increased distribution of $Na^+$ in roots up to the elongation zone and caused the reabsorption of $Na^+$ by xylem and parenchyma cells. Both the influx of the secondary messenger calcium and its cytosolic release appear to function in the destabilization of HKT1 protein under salt stress. Taken together, these results suggest that HA could be applied to the field to enhance plant growth and salt stress tolerance via post-transcriptional control of the HKT1 transporter gene under saline conditions.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.317-324
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• 2014

It is very well known that the conventional polyamide (PA) thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have excellent permselective properties, but their chlorine tolerance is not good enough. In this study, to improve such chlorine tolerance, microporous membranes containing hydrophilic functional groups such as -COOH were used as a support to prepare PA TFC RO membranes, employing the conventional interfacial polymerization method. Meta-phenylene diamine (MPD) and 2,6-diamine toluene (2,6-DAT) were used as diamine monomers and tri-mesoyl chloride (TMC) as an acid monomer. The membranes prepared were characterized using various instrumental analytical methods and permeation test set-up. The flux obtained from the membranes prepared so was more than $1.0m^3/m^2day$ at 800 psi of operating pressure, while the salt rejection was over 99.0%. The chlorine tolerance of them was also found to be better than that of the membrane prepared by using conventional polysulfone support without hydrophilic functional groups.