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Enhancement of γ-aminobutyric acid production in Chungkukjang by applying a Bacillus subtilis strain expressing glutamate decarboxylase from Lactobacillus brevis

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Abstract

For a foreign glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) to be expressed in Bacillus host system, a recombinant DNA (pLip/LbGAD) was constructed by ligating an LbGAD gene from Lactobacillus brevis OPK-3 into Escherichia coli–Bacillus shuttle vector, pLip. The pLip/LbGAD construct was then transformed into Bacillus subtilis. The culture of the transformed Bacillus strain with the pLip/LbGAD construct had higher GAD activity and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration than those of untransformed Bacillus counterpart. In addition, Chungkukjang, a traditional Korean fermented soybean product prepared by the transformed Bacillus subtilis, contained a significantly higher level of GABA than conventional ones. Thus, by introducing a foreign GAD gene, Bacillus strains have been genetically engineered to produce high levels of GAD and GABA.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from BioGreen21 program of Rural Development Administration to SH Oh (Grant no. 20050301034473).

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Correspondence to Suk-Heung Oh.

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Park, KB., Oh, SH. Enhancement of γ-aminobutyric acid production in Chungkukjang by applying a Bacillus subtilis strain expressing glutamate decarboxylase from Lactobacillus brevis . Biotechnol Lett 28, 1459–1463 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9112-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9112-9

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