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Production of agarase from a novel Micrococcus sp. GNUM-08124 strain isolated from the East Sea of Korea

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Abstract

The agar degrading bacterial strain GNUM-08124 was isolated from Enteromorpha compressa collected in the East Sea of Korea by using a selective artificial sea water (ASW) agar plate containing agar as the sole carbon source. GNUM-08124 grows to produce a circular, smooth, yellow-colored, and raised colony. Its ability to hydrolyze agar was confirmed by staining the ASW agar plate with Lugol’s solution. In liquid culture, the cell density (A600) increased exponentially and reached a maximum level on the third day of cultivation. The specific agarase activity also increased in proportion to the cell density and reached maximum agarolytic activity on the third day. The 16S rRNA sequence of GNUM-08124 showed a close relationship to Micrococcus luteus (99.65%) and Micrococcus endophyticus (99.15%), which led us to assign it to the genus Micrococcus. Physiological studies indicated that optimal growth conditions were between 30 and 40°C, pH 4 and 7, using media containing between 5 and 10% NaCl (w/v), respectively. The GNUM-08124 strain was a grampositive, urease-positive, and catalase-positive bacterium. It could not hydrolyze gelatin, cellulose, xylan, or starch, but fermented a broader range of substrates, including Dglucose, D-galactose, D-fructose, D-lactose, D-trehalose, D-mannitol, D-melibiose, D-raffinose, D-xylose, methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside, N-acetyl-glucosamine, and xylitol, than those fermented by M. luteus or M. endophyticus, suggesting GNUM-08124 is a novel agar hydrolyzing microorganism belonging to Genus Micrococcus. Micrococcus sp. GNUM-08124 showed the highest agarase activity when it was cultured in ASW-YP medium supplemented with 0.4% glucose, but demonstrated lower activity in rich media (LB or TSB), in spite of superior cell growth, implying that agarase production is tightly regulated in an agar-dependent manner and repressed in rich conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Myongji University, Yongin, 449-728, Korea

    Won-Jae Chi & Soon-Kwang Hong

  2. Daewon Foreign Language High School, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-713, Korea

    Hong Jun Choi, Joo Bin Hong & Jeong Joon Park

  3. Department of Marine Environmental Engineering College of Marine Science, Gyeongsang National University, Gyeongnam, 650-160, Korea

    Mu-Chan Kim

  4. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea

    Yong-Keun Chang

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  1. Hong Jun Choi
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  2. Joo Bin Hong
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  3. Jeong Joon Park
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  4. Won-Jae Chi
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Correspondence to Soon-Kwang Hong.

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These three authors contributed equally for this manuscript as the first author.

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Choi, H.J., Hong, J.B., Park, J.J. et al. Production of agarase from a novel Micrococcus sp. GNUM-08124 strain isolated from the East Sea of Korea. Biotechnol Bioproc E 16, 81–88 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-010-0271-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-010-0271-0

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