Hydrogen Production from Barley Straw and Miscanthus by the Hyperthermophilic Bacterium, .

This work aimed to evaluate the feasibility of biohydrogen production from Barley Straw and Miscanthus. The primary obstacle in plant biomass decomposition is the recalcitrance of the biomass itself. Plant cell walls consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, which make the plant robust to decomposition.

Structural features of a minimal intact methyltransferase of a type I restriction-modification system.

Type I restriction-modification enzymes are oligomeric proteins composed of methylation (M), DNA sequence-recognition (S), and restriction (R) subunits. The different bipartite DNA sequences of 2-4 consecutive bases are recognized by two discerned target recognition domains (TRDs) located at the two-helix bundle of the two conserved regions (CRs). Two M-subunits and a single S-subunit form an oligomeric protein that functions as a methyltransferase (MS MTase).

Structural insights into the regulation of SigB activity by RsbV and RsbW.

SigB is an alternative sigma factor that initiates the transcription of stress-responsive genes. The anti-sigma factor RsbW tightly binds SigB to suppress its activity under normal growth conditions and releases it when nonphosphorylated RsbV binds to RsbW in response to stress signals. To understand the regulation of SigB activity by RsbV and RsbW based on structural features, crystal structures and a small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) envelope structure of the RsbV-RsbW complex were determined.

Effective University Facility Management Plan Proposal Reflecting the Needs of the Main Users.

As the low birthrates in Korea intensify, the average school-age population is showing great reduction and the resources used for admission to the university are gradually decreasing as well, due to the continuing economic downturn. Therefore, in order for the university to remain competitive and keep up with the fast paced changes, it is very significant that they induce qualitative growth of university education and facilities through extensive and thorough analysis on the university facility management (UFM) for students who are the main users of university facilities. However, research done on university facilities in Korea has been focused mainly on space management, while the effective UFM reflecting in-depth opinions on the user class has been quite inadequate.

Anion Exchange Membranes Obtained from Poly(arylene ether sulfone) Block Copolymers Comprising Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Segments.

The anion exchange membrane may have different physical and chemical properties, electrochemical performance and mechanical stability depending upon the monomer structure, hydrophilicity and hydrophobic repeating unit, surface form and degree of substitution of functional groups. In current work, poly(arylene ether sulfone) (PAES) block copolymer was created and used as the main chain. After controlling the amount of NBS, the degree of bromination (DB) was changed in Br-PAES.

Chemically Denatured Structures of Porcine Pepsin using Small-Angle X-ray Scattering.

Porcine pepsin is a gastric aspartic proteinase that reportedly plays a pivotal role in the digestive process of many vertebrates. We have investigated the three-dimensional (3D) structure and conformational transition of porcine pepsin in solution over a wide range of denaturant urea concentrations (0-10 M) using Raman spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. Furthermore, 3D GASBOR ab initio structural models, which provide an adequate conformational description of pepsin under varying denatured conditions, were successfully constructed.

Development of Reproducible EST-derived SSR Markers and Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Panax ginseng Cultivars and Related Species.

Little is known about the genetics or genomics of Panax ginseng. In this study, we developed 70 expressed sequence tag-derived polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers by trials of 140 primer pairs. All of the 70 markers showed reproducible polymorphism among four Panax speciesand 19 of them were polymorphic in six P.