Earticle

Succinic acid was regarded as one of the most important platform chemicals. It can be used as a precursor of numerous products, including pharmaceuticals, feed additives, green solvents, and biodegradable polymers. Nowadays commercially available succinic acid is produced by chemical synthesis. However, attention has been focused on succinic acid produced by microorganisms as an alternative to chemical synthesis. Actinobacillus succinogenes produces a comparatively large amount of succinic acid, and is recognized as one of the most promising microorganisms for industrial succinic acid production. In this study, we carried out fermentation to produce succinic acid from glucose using 1L batch fermentation with different levels of initial concentration of glucose, temperature and pH. The initial glucose concentration and pH could influence cell growth and production of succinic acid. The conditions of optimum temperature and pH were 40℃ and 6.8, respectively. Other carbon sources including fucose, sorbitol, mannitol, sucrose could be utilized as alternatives to glucose. Consequently, this study provides information about physiological and batch cultural features of A. succinogenes .

One of the most well known Clostridia, Clostridium beijerinckii is a gram positive, rod-shaped, strictly anearobic, and motile bacterium. C. beijerinckii has been receiving industrial interest for its solvent, such as acetone, butanol and ethanol (ABE), known as an alternative biofuel. There has been considerable efforts to produce solvents more economically. However, neither titer nor productivity was high enough to be commercialized. Joint Genome Institute by DOE revealed the whole genome description of C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 in 2007. It became easier for metabolic engineers to manipulate biosynthetic pathways of this strain. In this study, we have tried to develop an effective gene-transfer protocol for this strain. Parameters, such as field strength, composition of electroporation buffer, and concentration of dna that influence the efficiency were examined.

Short tandem repeat (STR) analysis provides genetic fingerprinting of individuals and indispensable technique for forensic human identification. Recently, it is used in social areas like the identification of The Korean war, identification of descendants of national merit, and missing children. STR analysis is accomplished by analyzing 2 to 5 same repeating bases in the human genome, and currently FBI provides the combined DNA Index System (CODIS) based on DNA databases. We analyzed the autosomal short tandem repeat loci D13S317, D16S539, D21S11, and analyzed Amelogenin to identify male or female. The samples were collected unrelated 50 Korean individuals, and 4 STR loci of these samples were analyzed by ABI3130 genetic analyzer. We demonstrated that 47 samples out of 50 were classified completely with only 4 STR loci, and perfect sex identification could be performed with Amelogenin analysis.

The use of biocatalysts such as isolated enzymes and whole-cell systems for industrial applications requires high-yield and low-cost conversion for economical feasibility. One of the issues to be solved is to continuously supply cofactors that are often needed for complex enzymatic reactions but typically expensive. Allowing catalytic amounts of cofactors to be regenerated during the processes can provide a driving force to the thermodynamically unfavorable reactions and subsequently increase the yield and productivity of the bio-catalysis. In this study, we re-designed NADH-regeneration system of E. coli for the high-yield production of butyrate from glucose. The engineered strain showed a theoretical yield of 95% and volumetric productivity of 0.255g/l/h in a batch culture. Our work demonstrated that E. coli can be probably used as a butyrate producer, and this strategy can be broadly utilized for the production of various useful chemicals in the fields of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology.

Recombinant protein is often expressed as non-functional and aggregated form by protein misfolding in E. coli. Protein folding occurs co-translational and reaches a thermodynamically metastable conformation through guiding partially folded intermediates during translation process. Protein folding structure is related with protein synthesis rate regulated by translation initiation rate and elongation rate. To functional heterologous expression of recombinant proteins, ribosome traffic could be controlled to optimize for expression of functional recombinant protein. We constructed a genetic circuit to control translation initiation and elongation rates and consequently ribosome traffic can be controlled during translation process. Using this genetic circuit controlling ribosome traffic, wild type GFP and human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) were functionally and solubly expressed in E. coli without modifying the primary structure. It indicates that controlling the ribosome traffic is useful for functionally expressing the recombinant protein by guiding them into native folding states and can be universal approach for functional expression of various recombinant proteins.

Although great progress has been made in rational approach, strain improvement still requires the optimization of the biological system itself. Combinatorial approach is, however, limited by the method isolating high producer from the library. Among the various methods available currently, selection by the physiology associated with the growth is known to be the most efficient since high producer can be easily enriched simply by a serial culture. However, most physiological features to be improved such as biochemical productions are not easily associated with the growth and consequently, tedious screening process should be only technique to select high producer out of the library. In this study, we developed a RNA device to express as a selective phenotype with response to the intracellular biochemical level which is not associated with the growth against the selective pressure. As a model, lysine synthetic pathway was optimized in E. coli. For the optimization of lysine synthesis, downstream lysine synthesis pathway from oxaloacetate to lysine was upregulated by re- designing the promoters and 5’-untranslated regions of the gene in the downstream lysine synthesis pathway. In addition, anaplerotic pathway catalyzed by PEP carboxylase encoded by ppc was re-optimized by selection of its optimal expression level among the promoter library. By combining RNA device which responds to the intracellular lysine level, optimal ppc expression level for lysine synthesis was easily selected. A physiological study demonstrated that the performance of optimized ppc variant on lysine production compared to its parental strain.

RNA is one of promising candidates which could satisfy requirements for gene expression regulator such as scalability and modularity. There are numerous examples in nature which regulates gene expression by RNA-based mechanisms. Moreover, engineers have been producing RNA-based devices by mimicking their natural counterparts(1). We produced RNA devices which control expression level of downstream gene in response to concentration of L-tryptophan utilizing previously selected aptamer(2). The RNA devices harbor a tetracycline resistance gene, tetA, in downstream of expression platform. One of selected devices was transformed to Escherichia coli W3110 and its mutant, Δ aroG strain. Then, we measured their growth under selective condition using tetracycline. Deletion of aroG should significantly reduce intracellular tryptophan concentration since the product of aroG gene is responsible for 80% of total DS(3-Deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate Synthase) activity in common aromatic amino acid pathway(3). Specific growth rates of WT and ΔaroG in M9(Cmp, tet 140μg/ml) were 0.16 and 0.02(h-1), respectively.

A colorless and mucilaginous aloe gel from internal part of the leaf, has been used as a valuable ingredient in health food as well as in cosmetics. The gel consist of primarily of water (>98%), polysaccharides and other small molecules, was fractionated by a series of physical methods including, maceration, ultra filtration (UF) and high-pressure homogenization and analyzed by mass spectrometry. The UF (MWCO: 50 kDa) filterate is mainly composed of mono-, di- and tri-saccharides. The UF retentate was further fractionated to supernatant and precipitate using high-pressure homogenization. The precipitate was identified to be a protein of 11.7 kDa. Biological feature of the mechanically fractionated aloe gel was also investigated.

Traditionally, mushrooms are widely used as nutritional supplements and encouraged as to be beneficial for health. Inonotus obliquus is known to not only anti-autoimmune diseases effect but also anti-oxidative stress effect. Damage induced by oxidative stress is associated with intracellular ROS. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to prime mediators of cell damage by oxidative stress. Excess production of intracellular ROS brings about on cellular tissues oxidation. Oxidation of cellular tissues leads to diseases such as aging, arteriosclerosis, inflammation, rheumarthritis and diabetes. From among these diseases, diabetes was occurred by loss of pancreatic function (destruction of pancreatic beta-cells). In this study, we investigated cytoprotect and anti-oxidative effect on mouse insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells (MIN6N) by hot water extracts of Inonotus obliquus fruiting body.

Phellinus linteus is a medicinal mushroom including many bioactive compounds, containing polysaccharides that have been reported to induce antitumor activity and to inhibit tumor metastasis and recurrence. Activated macropahges such as the phagocytic uptake and release of toxic molecules containing reactive oxygen species(ROS) and nitric oxide(NO) were investigated. To investigate whether polysaccharides from Phellinus linteus were able to stimulate the functional activation of macrophage, different celluar activities of macrophage, such as NO production, ROS generation and phagocytosis, and morphological changes were assessed. The cell lines used were macrophage-like cell, RAW 264.7 cells. In this study, we evaluated immunomodulatory potency of macrophage in immune response using polysaccharides from Phellinus linteus.

BC presents exciting applications in biomedical fields, such as wound dressing materials, artificial skin, vascular grafts, scaffolds for tissue engineering, and artificial blood vessels. The application of BC as a wound dressing material principally depends on its water holding capacity (WHC) and water release rate (WRR), which in turn are related to the pore size, and surface area of BC. In the present study, the relationship of pore size and surface area to the WHC and WRR of BC were investigated. Pure BC was pre-modified by the addition of various concentrations of a single sugar α-linked glucuronic acid-based oligosaccharide (SSGO) to the culture media and post modified by treating BC sheets with chitosan (Ch) and montmorillonite (MMT) solutions. The morphological characteristics of the modified BC samples were studied with FE-SEM while their pore size, pore volume, and surface area were determined through BET analysis. The variations in WHC and WRR of BC samples were correlated to the changes in various parameters after structural modifications. WHC and WRR increased with pore volume and pore size in pre- modified BC samples. In post-modified BC, WHC, and WRR were dependent on the nature and arrangement of the composite materials on the surface and in the matrix of the BC sheets.

The anti-inflammatory activity of w ater and ethanol extract of Forsythia koreana flowers was investigated in vivo by using 12- Otetradecanoylphorbol- 13-acetate (TPA) induced Balb/c mice ear inflammation. The thickness of TPA induced inflammatory ear increased 0.21 mm, as compared to the thickness before treatment. The thickness of TPA induced inflammatory ears which treated with water and ethanol extract (500 μg/ear) only increased 0.10 and 0.13 mm, respectively. Treatment with water and ethanol extract (500 μg/ear) reduced water content about 27.4% and 23.1% in the TPA induced skin inflammatory ears, respectively. The anti-inflammatory effects of both water and ethanol extract treatments were significant as comparing to that of exposure of TPA. Histological analysis also demonstrated that the inflammatory response of skin inflammation was inhibited by the extracts of F. koreana.

Pine needle have been used as a health-food and cosmetic-good materials. In this study to screen the bioactivities of water, 50% ethanol extracts from three species pine (seapine (Pinus thunbergii), generalpine (Pinus densiflora), kumkangpine (Pinus densiflora for. erecta) which were easily collected in Gyeongbuk regions of Korea. This research was performed to determine the antioxidant, phenolic contents, general composition (water, crude protein, lipid, ash, fatty acid, amino acid) of pine needle extracts. Antioxidant activities measured DPPH (1.1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl) assay. 50% ethanol extract of seapine possessed strong DPPH radical scavenging activity. Total phenolic content was the highest in 50% ethanol extract of seapine. Most of the biological activities of pine tree extracts were in the order of Pinus thunbergii >Pinus densiflora for. erecta >Pinus densiflora. This suggest that seapine have the greatest properly as a natural antioxidant resources and raw material for foods cosmetic-goods.

The comparative activities of aqueous, ethanol, and methanol extracts from Akebia quinata were tested by in vitro experimental models of linoleic acid peroxidation by thiocyanate and thiobarbituric acid(TBA) methods and scavenging activities of free radicals by DPPH (α,α'- diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl). In addition, bio-active materials were also measured. The extract yield of each solvent extracted from Akebia quinata was 12.49% in aqueous, 7.38% in ethanol, and 8.47% in m ethanol, respectively. The highest concentration of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in the methanol extracts of Akebia quinata were 16.58% and 11.22%. Major mineral contents of Ca, K, Mg and Zn. Major fatty acids were palmitic acid, linolenic and Cis-9-Oleic acid. The highest free radical scavenging activity was found in the methanol extracts by 80.86% at 0.5% additional level. In antioxidative activities determined by thiocyanate and TBA methods against lipid peroxidation using linoleic acid, ethanol extracts showed the highest antioxidative activity at all treatment concentrations. These results may provide the basic data to understand the biological activities of bio-active materials derived from Akebia quinata.

Current study was to investigate the potential effects of Monascus purpureus-fermented Angelica gigas Radix(FAG) at the 5% (w/w) levels against hepatotoxicity and antihyperlipidemic activity in Sprague-Dawley rats, which was intoxicated with 30% (v/v) alcohol for 4 weeks. Administration of FAG markedly prevented alcohol-induced elevation of the activities of serum AST, γ-GTP and LDH, and these reduced levels reached to that of the normal rats. Interestingly, FAG administration drastically increased both hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activities in comparison to AG, thus FAG would be more effective in the reduction of blood alcohol and acetaldehyde. In the lipid profiles, the contents of serum total lipid, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and nonestrified fatty acids (NEFA) and hepatic TG were significantly elevated in the ethanol-induced rats. Supplementation of FAG improved the antioxidant status by decreasing the levels of TBARS and altering the lipid profiles to near normal. Thus, the findings of the present study indicated a significant hepatotoxicity and antihyperlipidemic activity of Monascus purpureus-fermented Angelica gigas Radix against ethanol-induced toxicity.

Recently, among marine organism, microalgae were studied as potent sources for food additive, nutraceutical or pharmaceuticals. Moreover, microalgae have been reported as valuable new sources of pharmacologically active compounds. In fact, despite of enlargement of microalgae market, the researches on the effect of microalgae are insufficient. So, the aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of protein hydrolysate from Navicula incerta against CCl4-inducing hepatotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. As the result of serum biochemical parameters, AST (GOT) and ALT (GPT) were significantly decreased at the experimental group treated with papain hydrolysate from Navicula incerta (PHNI) and CCl4 as compared with control group. In addition in vitro results suggested effective protection against liver damage. Therefore, PHNI showed promising protective effects against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity and suggest the possibility to be used as a functional health food material. However, further studies should be needed to analyse the specific bioactivities of protein hydrolysate from Navicula incerta.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of physical treatments on the antigenicity of gliadin in strong wheat dough and changes in secondary structure of gliadin protein. The strong wheat dough was treated with high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), gamma irradiation, microwave, autoclave, and autoclave in combination with microwave. When the strong wheat dough were treated with autoclave in combination with microwave treatment, the binding ability of gliadin in the strong wheat dough was 21%. In the results of SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting, gliadin proteins by autoclave and autoclave/microwave were weakened in SDS-PAGE and IgG did not react with gliadin proteins when dough was treated with autoclave in combination with microwave. The changes in secondary structure of gliadin by autoclave, microwave and autoclave in combination with microwave were measured. Increase of autoclave, microwave and autoclave/microwave treatment time shifted the negative maximum CD (mdeg) values into lower wavelength. These results suggest that autoclave in combination with microwave can affect the reduction of the antigenicity of gliadin in strong wheat dough.

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), a naturally occurring antim icrobial compound, is an effective inhibitor of various pathogens, but its use in the food industry is limited by its volatility and pungency. The objective of this study is to overcome the volatility of AITC using dried Laminaria japonica as its carrier. The powder of Laminaria japonica will be prepared with different particle size; 500 μm, 710 μm and 900 μm. AITC loading into raw and deoiled Laminaria japonica powder will be achieved using two different systems, vapor adsorption and complexation. Vapor adsorption will be carried out by heating small tube containing 10 ml liquid AITC inside a sealed larger vial containing 5 g powder sample at 60 °C and 101 kPa. Complexation of AITC with Laminaria japonica powder will be conducted by adding the powder sample directly into AITC solution at constant temperature (25 °C) and pressure (101 kPa). The study of AITC adsorption and desorption will be determined by monitoring sample weight changing with time. The quantification of AITC will be analyzed by gas chromatography (GC). AITC present in Laminaria japonica powder will be studied by FTIR spectroscopy.

Total 83 kinds of fungi from Korea Food Research Institute were cultured in PD broth at 30℃ for 48h and then prepared the culture concentrates. Its physiological functionalities including antihypertension and anti-aging were investigated. The concentrates of the culture broth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y277-3 and Y157-1 showed high tyrosinase inhibitory activity of 42.7% and 41.2%, respectively. However the other physiological functionalities were very low or not detected. The intracellular tyrosinase inhibitor from Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y277-3 and Y157-1 were maximally produced when these yeasts were cultured in PD broth at 30℃ for 72h.

Protein of anchovy residues were characterized following extraction of oil by supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) and hexane. Anchovy samples were extracted at temperatures, 40-60°C and pressures, 15-25 MPa for 1.5 h by SCO2 with a constant flow rate of 22 g/min. Extraction yield of oil was influenced by physical properties of SCO2 with temperature and pressure changes. The highest oil extracted residues of anchovy were used for determination of protein. The SCO2 extracted anchovy and hexane extracted anchovy contained more protein than that of raw anchovy sample and boiled anchovy. The lipid present in the raw materials made them less accessible to water. The protein yield increased with the increase in temperature. The protein yield of SCO2 anchovy is higher than hexane extracted anchovy. This result suggested that almost all protein could be recovered by SCO2 extracted samples. The solubility of protein in water increased at higher temperature. The particle size at the highest solubility of protein in water was 700㎛. The activities of protease, lipase, and amylase were higher in SCO2 treated anchovy and lower in hexane treated anchovy. Among the three classes of digestive enzymes, the activity of amylase was highest.

The objective of this study will be investigate the improvement effect of the oxidative stability of oil when wheat germ powder was mixed with brown seaweed powder using organic solvents such as ethanol and hexane. The dried samples were crushed by a mechanical blender and sieved (500 um) by mesh. Then these samples were stored at −20 ℃. The mixing ratio of wheat germ and brown seaweed was fixed at two conditions. The mixture of wheat germ and brown seaweed was mixed with organic solvents at a ratio of 1:5 (w/v) and charged into the reactor for extracting the oil. A stir inside the reactor was continuously moving at 400 rpm. The applied temperature was 40 ℃ for 10 h. The fatty acid compositions of mixture oil was analysed by gas chromatography (GC). Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5) was found in mixture oil. The extracted oil of mixture of wheat germ and brown seaweed will be assayed for total phenolic content (TPC), fucoxanthin content, radical scavenging activities (DPPH), and antioxidant activity (rancimat test). Also, the amounts of antioxidants such as fucoxnathin, tocopherols and polyphenols contained in the oil will quantitatively analyze using HPLC and UV-spectrometer.

The derivatives of Monascus pigment, which have beneficial effects including reduction of body weight gain, decrease of total cholesterol and triglyceride contents, and increase of HDL-cholesterol level and HTR value were produced by Monascus fermentation. L-Trp and L-Lue-OEt derivatives were selected to investigate anti-obesity effects on mice. High fat diets (HFDs) supplemented with two derivatives were fed to mice groups. Compared to the HFD group, the average body weight gain of HFD-pigment groups was decreased by 13.6-50.9%, while the HDL-cholesterol and the HTR value in the serum were increased by 64.8-66.4% and 73.8-81.7%. The total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the mice liver were reduced by 9.7-39.9% and 17.9-22.4%, respectively. The results showed a possibility that functional food ingredients can be developed from the various derivatives of monascus pigment, which are a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) compound and can reduce obesity.

Diabetes is a serious and chronic disease of the general population over the world. This study was performed to investigate the inhibitory activity of Eisenia bicyclis (EB) against α-glucosidase and elucidate availability of EB extract as a functional food agent. To verify inhibitory activity of EB against porcine pancreatic α-glucosidase, sucrose and maltose were used as substrate. It was revealed that EB ethanol extract had higher α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC50 value of 5.74 and 7.28 mg/mL against sucrose and maltose respectively than that of EB water extract. To isolate the α-glucosidase inhibitor from EB ethanol extract, liquid-liquid extraction was performed and n-hexane (H), chloroform (CH), ethyl acetate (EA), butanol (B) and water (W) division were obtained. Among these, the EA division had the highest α -glucosidase inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 1.22 and 2.62 mg/mL respectively, and was separated into 22 sub-fractions by using the silica gel column chromatography. The EA2 fraction had the strongest activity in the these sub-fractions. The EA2 fraction was purified by HPLC and 8 main peaks were obtained. Thus, these results suggested that EB can be used for nutritious and functional foods for diabetes as well as related symptoms.

We have screened Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5012 strains from various environments for the development of probiotics which can be survived in the presence of acid and bile salts, and inhibit human pathogens. Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5012 isolate was a Gram- positive, gelatinase-negative, urese negative rod. On the basis of the results from 16S rDNA sequence comparison, it is found that Paenibacillus sp. isolate is phylogenetically most closely related to Paenibacillus polymyxa. Paenibacillus sp. isolate showed the highest degree of relatedness to the type strain of Paenibacillus polymyxa, sharing 99% 16S rDNA sequence similarity. When Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5012 was subjected to acid tolerance test, it was found to survive up to 91.89% after 3 hr culture in pH 2.5 and 94.04% after 3h culture in pH 3.0. Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5012 also showed excellent bile acid tolerance. In the inhibition test toward pathogenic microorganisms, Paenibacillus sp. isolates showed strong antimicrobial activity toward various kinds of bacteria. On the basis of the data presented above, Paenibacillus sp. isolates was found to have excellent potential as probiotics. (Supported by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science Technology (MEST) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRFK) through the Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the probiotic properties of Lactic acid bacterial strains isolated from animal feces. BCNU 9041 and BCNU 9042 isolates were assigned to Lactobacillus brevis on the basis of the physiological properties and 16S ribosomal DNA sequences analysis. They were confirmed as safe bioresources because of their non-hemolytic activities and non-production of harmful β- glucosidase, β-glucuronidase, tryptophanase and urease. These isolates were also highly resistant to acid (at pH 2.5) and bile acids (at concentration of 0.3%, 0.6%, 1% oxgall). In addition, they exhibited good antibacterial activity against food-borne bacteria, especially against Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella sonnei. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that they have highest levels of hydrophobicity and showed bile salt hydrolytic and cholesterol assimilation activity. These results suggest that BCNU 9041 and 9042 had good potential for application in functional foods and health-related products.

Spore-forming bacteria are being used as probiotic supplements for human and animal use. Their low pH stability and ability to survive the gastric barrier makes them attractive as probiotic supplements. In this present study, BCNU 9028 strain was screened from meju, a Korean fermented soybean food starter. Biochemical, physiological characteristics and 16S rRNA sequence analyses indicate that strain BCNU 9028 belongs to the genus Bacillus. Bacillus sp. BCNU 9028 showed 92% survivability at pH 2.5 and could also withstand 0.3% oxbile. Furthermore, it was postulated that Bacillus sp. BCNU 9028 could prevent biofilm formation and adherence of foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, S. aureus and E. coli on the basis of its autoaggregation and coaggregation capacity with foodborne pathogens. It was showen that BCNU 9028 have good abilities to adhere to intestinal tract from its hydrophobic character (63.3%). Especially Bacillus sp. BCNU 9028 strain elicited antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. These findings suggested that Bacillus sp. BCNU 9028 strain could be used as potential probiotics. (Supported by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science Technology (MEST) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRFK) through the Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation)

Siegesbeckiae herba, which exerted dosedependent inhibitory effects against angiogenesis, adipogenesis, and cell adhesion. S. herba extract (SHE) exhibits an angiogenesis inhibitory effect superior to that of the EGCG from green tea leaves. Moreover, 25 ppm of SHE fraction(F5) was sufficient to block angiogenesis of the HUVEC cells morphologically. Stimulated U937 adhered to HUVEC cells, SHE at concentrations of 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 ppm suppressed U937 cell adhesion by 28, 61,70, and 158%, respectively. PMA (phorbol myristyl atetate) and different concentrations (1, 2.5, 5, and 10 ppm) of SHE-stimulated U937 adhered to the HUVEC cells. SHE at 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 ppm suppressed U937 cell adhesion by 372, 613, 633, and 720%, respectively. Different concentrations (1, 2.5, 5, and 10 ppm) of SHE stimulated U937 adhered to IL-1β and different concentrations (1, 2.5, 5, and 10 ppm) of SHE stimulated HUVEC cells. SHE suppressed U937 cell adhesion in a dosedependent manner, by percentages of 93, 95, 375, and 436%, respectively. The expression level of angiogenesis and adipogenesis-related signal molecules in the western blotting was reduced by increasing the amount of added SHE. Moreover, a diet supplemented with SHE was deemed more effective in inducing weight loss in LB mice than a representative synthetic diet drug, orlistat, which incidently caused the side effect of denuding the mice of their hair. These results indicate that S. herba may prove to be a useful anti-adipogenic compound, and these in vitro results may be reflected later under in vivo conditions.

Peptide deformylase (PDF) is essential for bacterial growth but not required by mammalian cells, which potentially makes it possible to identify a selective mechanism-based antibacterial agent without mammalian toxicity. In the course of our screening for PDF inhibitors from microbial resources, we discovered two novel dimeric 1,3- dihydroisobenzofurans, flavimycins A (1) and B (2), from the fermentation broth of Aspergillus flavipes F543. Their chemical structures were established by NMR and MS data analysis. Compounds 1 and 2 exist as epimeric mixtures at C-1 through fast hemiacetal−aldehyde tautomerism. Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited Staphylococcus aureus peptide deformylase with IC50 values of 35.8 and 100.1 μM, respectively. Consistent with their PDF inhibition, 1 showed two times stronger antibacterial activity than 2 on S. aureus including MRSA, with MIC values of 32−64 μg/mL.

Bacterial enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase has been confirmed as a novel target for antibacterial drug development. In the screening of inhibitors of Staphyloccus aureus enoyl-ACP reductase (FabI), we found that a methanol extract of leaves of Morus alba L. potently inhibited S. aureus FabI as well as growth of S. aureus. The active principles were identified as chalcomoracin and moracin C by MS and NMR analysis. Chalcomoracin and moracin C inhibited S. aureus FabI with IC50 of 5.5 and 83.8 μM, respectively. They also prevented the growth of S. aureus with MIC of 4 and 32 μg/ml, respectively. Consistent with their inhibition against FabI and bacterial growth, they prevented [14C] acetate incorporation into fatty acid in S. aureus while didn’t affect protein synthesis. In this study, we reported that chalcomoracin and moracin C, potent antibacterial compounds from Morus alba, inhibited FabI and fatty acid synthesis.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are food-grade and non-toxic probiotic organisms. Therefore, they are generally recongnized as safe (GRAS). Consumption of LAB and fermented dairy products can decrease serum cholesterol level. In this study, it was performed to screen and select indigenous LAB from Kimchi as potential probiotics. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences of probiotic strain indicated that BCNU 9070 strain was a member of Pediococcus pentosaceussp. Pediococcus pentosaceus BCNU 9070 showed resistance to gastric juice and bile. In addition, BCNU 9070 strain expressed bile salt hydrolase activity, and had ability to assimilate cholesterol in vitro. BCNU 9070 strain also inhibited cell growth of five food-borne pathogens including Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella sonnei.. According to these results, Pediococcus pentosaceus BCNU 9070 is determined to be potential probiotic strain with functional abilities. (Supported by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science Technology (MEST) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRFK) through the Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation)