• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.510-515
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• 2005

The growth of red pepper plants was enhanced by treatment with the rhizobacterium, Bacillus cereus MJ-1. Red pepper shoots showed a 1.38-fold increase in fresh weight (fw) and roots showed a 1.28-fold fw gain. This plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) has been reported to produce gibberellins (GAs). Other GAs-producing rhizobacteria, Bacillus macroides CJ-29 and Bacillus pumilus CJ-69, also enhanced the fw of the plants. They were less effective than B. cereus MJ-1, though. The endogenous GAs content of pepper shoots inoculated with MJ-1 was also higher than in shoots inoculated with CJ-29 or CJ-69. When inoculated with MJ-1, bacterial colonization rate of the roots was higher than that of roots inoculated with CJ-29 or CJ-69. These results support the idea that the plant growth-promoting effect of the bacteria also positively related with the efficiency of root colonization by the bacteria. In addition, we identified the major endogenous GAs of the red pepper as originating from both the early C-13 hydroxylation and the early non C-13 hydroxylation pathways, with the latter being the predominant pathway of GA biosynthesis in red pepper shoots.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.164-169
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• 1995

An endogenous cryptic plasmid, pBL1, which has been used to construct plasmid vectors for coryneform bacteria producing amino acids, was eliminated from Brevibacterium lactofermentum. The pBL1 was partially digested with Sau3AI and the resulting DNA fragments were subcloned into a suicide vector pEM1 which contains a kanamycin-resistant (km$^{r}$) gene. KM$^{r}$ B. lactofermentum transconjugants were obtained by conjugal transfer of the pEM1 derivatives containing pBL1 DNA fragments from Escherichia coli into B. lactofermentum. A km$^{r}$ transconjugant was analyzed to contain a plasmid pEB14, which occurred in vivo by homologous recombination between pBL1 and the conjugal-transferred plasmid. The pEB14 including the pEM1-derived km$^{r}$ gene was found to be lost concomitantly with km$^{r}$ phenotype, resulting in the construction of a pBL1-free strain of B lactofermentum. Based on transformation efficiencies and plasmid stability, the resultant pBL1- free strain is more useful than wild strain as a host cell for genetic manipulation. It could be concluded that foreign plasmid DNAs are efficiently isolated and analyzed from the pBL1-free strain because of the absence of endogenous pBL1 plasmid.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.236-240
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• 2003

Human immune system acts to protect the host from infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites) and from other noxious insults. However, immune diseases are sometimes caused by the impairment of immune system leading to abnormal immune response. Especially, autoimmune diseases are very diverse and often bring serious damage Although many active investigations to reveal the etiological mechanisms concerning the autoimmune diseases, it still remains unclear. After proposing a HERV (human endogenous retrovirus) as a candidate autoimmune gene in type I diabetes, it is newly attracting our attention for demonstrating that an endogenous human retroviral superantigen can be transactivated by interferon-$\alpha$ (IFN- $\alpha$) or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. These might provide us with powerful clues to carry out further studies to overcome autoimmune diseases as the presentation of a relatively clear connection between endogenous superantigens and human diseases.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.95-99
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• 2002

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals which can be found in our normal daily life. They can be easily ingested through plastic food containers, pesticides, etc. They include DDT, bisphenol A, benzophenone and phenylphenol, etc. Endocrine disruptor can be very harmful and toxic because it disrupts the normal function of the endogenous endocrine system. It has been reported that endocrine disruptor can cause the fatal strike in reproductive system central nervous system and the other part of the body. We have examined if the growth of lactic acid bacteria could be resistant to the endocrine disruptor. We have used Lactobacillus delbruekii as an experimental strain and benzophenone and phenylphenol for the comparison purpose. Experiments included the evaluation of turbidity, absorbance and actual cell counts. Although Lactobacillus delbruekii showed the higher resistance to benzophenone than phenylphenol it was still resistant to both benzophenone and phenylphenol. Because the experimental concentrations of benzophenone and phenylphenol were so high to compare with the actual concentration we meet in daily life, Lactobacillus delbruekii was considered to be sufficient to survive in the environmental concentration of these endocrine disruptors. This study should contribute to the development of fermented beverage with beneficial effect by lactic acid bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.479-486
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• 2004

Phytoestrogens display estrogen-like activity because of their structural similarity to human estrogens and exhibit high affinity binding for the estrogen receptors (ERs). The prevalence of phytoestrogens in our diets and the biological effects that they may cause need to be fully examined. ER is the ancestral receptor from which all other steroid receptors have evolved. Although phytoestrogens serve specific signaling functions between the plants and insects, fungi, and bacteria, many chemical signals are often misinterpreted as estrogenic signals in non-target organisms such as vertebrates. There are no ERs in plants or in their most common partners, insects. However, Rhizobium soil bacteria have NodD proteins which is an intended target of phytoestrogen signaling and share genetic homology with the ER. These two evolutionarily distant receptors both recognize and respond to a shared group of chemical signals and ligands, including both agonists and antagonists. This review briefly summarizes estrogen and estrogen receptors, kinds of important phytoestrogens, their health effects as well as some of the evolutionary aspects of mechanism by which phytoestrogen mimics the endogenous ER signaling in our body.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.957-961
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• 2000

A series of experiments was conducted to evaluate phytin phosphohydrolysis actlVlty in the rumen and to isolate phytase positive rumen bacteria. Endogenous phytase activity of wheat bran was estimated and compared with that of bacterial phytin phosphohydrolysis. Substantial phytase activity was detected in wheat bran during in vitro rumen incubation. Bacterial phytase activity was suggested not to be high. Only two facultative anaerobes, Klebsiella sp. and Corynebacterium sp. were isolated as phytase producing organisms. These belonged to a minor microbial group in the rumen population. Protozoal fraction showed an initial velocity of phytin phosphohydrolysis 7 times higher than the bacterial fraction.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.708-714
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• 2007

The two-component signal transduction, which typically consists of a histidine kinase and a response regulator, is used by bacterial cells to sense changes in their environment. Previously, the SphS-SphR histidine kinase and response regulator pair of phosphate sensing signal transduction has been identified in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. In addition, some response regulators in bacteria have been shown to be cross regulated by low molecular weight phosphorylated compounds in the absence of the cognate histidine kinase. The ability of an endogenous acetyl phosphate to phosphorylate the response regulator, SphR in the absence of the cognate histidine kinase, SphS was therefore tested in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The mutant lacking functional SphS and acetate kinase showed no detectable alkaline phosphatase activity under phosphate-limiting growth conditions. The results suggested that the endogenous acetyl phosphate accumulated inside the mutants could not activate the SphR via phosphorylation. On the other hand, exogenous acetyl phosphate could allow the mutant lacking functional acetate kinase and phosphotransacetylase to grow under phosphate-limiting conditions suggesting the role of acetyl phosphate as an energy source. Reverse transcription PCR demonstrated that the transcripts of acetate kinase and phospho-transacetylase genes in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is up-regulated in response to phosphate limitation suggesting the importance of these two enzymes for energy metabolism in Synechocystis cells

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.401-407
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• 1991

Anticarcinogenic conjugated dienoic derivatives of linoleic acid (CLA) is present in grilled beef, cheese, and related foods, CLA is generated via isomerization of linoleic acid in the cow's rumen by anaerobic bacteria and food proceessing as well. Another source of CLA is its endogenous generation via the carbon centered free radical oxdation of linoleic acid. We propose that the formation and generation of CLA in vivo represents a previously unrecognized in situ "defense mechanism" against membrane attack by oxygen free radicals. The cis, 9-trans, 11 CLS isomer is selectively incorporated into cellular phospholipid, which exhibits a potent antioxidant, reduces the activation of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo, [4,5-f] quinoline (IQ) for baxterial mutagenesis, and inhibits ornithine decarboxylase(ODC) activity induced by 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). We believe that at least these biological activities of CLA explain the anticarcinogenic activity of CLA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1500-1509
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• 2020

Drought is a major abiotic factor and has drastically reduced crop yield globally, thus damaging the agricultural industry. Drought stress decreases crop productivity by negatively affecting crop morphological, physiological, and biochemical factors. The use of drought tolerant bacteria improves agricultural productivity by counteracting the negative effects of drought stress on crops. In this study, we isolated bacteria from the rhizosphere of broccoli field located in Daehaw-myeon, Republic of Korea. Sixty bacterial isolates were screened for their growth-promoting capacity, in vitro abscisic acid (ABA), and sugar production activities. Among these, bacterial isolates YNA59 was selected based on their plant growth-promoting bacteria traits, ABA, and sugar production activities. Isolate YNA59 highly tolerated oxidative stress, including hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and produces superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities in the culture broth. YNA59 treatment on broccoli significantly enhanced plant growth attributes, chlorophyll content, and moisture content under drought stress conditions. Under drought stress, the endogenous levels of ABA, jasmonic acid (JA), and salicylic acid (SA) increased; however, inoculation of YNA59 markedly reduced ABA (877 ± 22 ng/g) and JA (169.36 ± 20.74 ng/g) content, while it enhanced SA levels (176.55 ± 9.58 ng/g). Antioxidant analysis showed that the bacterial isolate YNA59 inoculated into broccoli plants contained significantly higher levels of SOD, CAT, and APX, with a decrease in GPX levels. The bacterial isolate YNA59 was therefore identified as Variovorax sp. YNA59. Our current findings suggest that newly isolated drought tolerant rhizospheric Variovorax sp. YNA59 is a useful stress-evading rhizobacterium that improved drought-stress tolerance of broccoli and could be used as a bio-fertilizer under drought conditions.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.321-325
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• 2010

Among endogenous oral microflora, Streptococcus mutans plays a critical role in dental plaque formation, which mainly contributes to the development of caries and periodontal disease. Phytochemicals are plant-derived chemical compounds that have been studied as beneficial nutrients to human health. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of phytochemicals against S. mutans. Among them, oleanolic acid (OA) and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural (HF) from Thomson seedless raisins were tested for anti-microbial effects against various clinically important bacteria. OA inhibited the growth of Gram-positive bacteria, but not Gram-negative bacteria. However, HF did not display any antibacterial effect against any of the strains tested. OA also exhibited inhibitory effects in surface adherence and biofilm formation of S. mutans. The results suggest that OA can be utilized as a potential anti-plaque and anti-caries agent by controlling the physiological characteristics of S. mutans on teeth.