Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for preparing a foreign protein comprising culturing a bacterium containing the cysteine synthase (cysK) gene and a gene encoding the foreign protein. The present invention comprises the steps of culturing a bacterium transformed with an expression vector containing a gene encoding a serine-rich foreign protein and an expression vector containing the cysK gene, or a bacterium transformed with an expression vector containing the cysK gene and a gene encoding a serine-rich foreign protein and isolating the foreign protein therefrom. The present invention is expected to be widely used to increase the production yield of a serine-rich foreign protein.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for preparing oligonucleotide probes which are designed to detect mutations in the entire interrogated codon regions determined by codon scanning algorithm, a process for preparing DNA chip using the probes prepared by the said process, a DNA chip prepared by the said process, and a method for detecting mutations using the said DNA chip. The process for preparing probes of the invention comprises the steps of: selecting mutated codon to be interrogated; and, preparing the probes such that the interrogated mutated codon is located at the center-most position of the oligonucleotide probe consisting of 7 nucleotides or more, rest of sequences are remained same as those of normal individuals and amine group is linked to 3′ terminus of the probe, and the process for preparing DNA chip comprises a step of immobilizing the said probes on solid surface.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for monitoring the progress of membrane fouling that occurs on pores as well as on the surface of a membrane by means of variations of zeta potential (&zgr;) of a hollow-fiber membrane according to time passage of filtration of a suspension, wherein colloid particles, biopolymers and other inorganic particles are dispersed, and the method thereof. Moreover, the present invention also relates to a method to identify the effect of concentration polarization layer and cake layer which can vary according to the axial position of a hollow-fiber and the developing progress of a membrane fouling by measuring the position-dependent zeta potential of the hollow-fiber membrane.

Abstract: There are described methods for making polyhydroxyalkanoate and its copolymers, by culturing a host cell transformed with a vector comprising a polyhydroxyalkanoate biosynthesis-related DNA fragment isolated from Alcaligenes latus. The DNA fragment comprises genes that encode for polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase, &bgr;-ketothiolase, and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase.

Abstract: The present invention provides recombinant plasmids containing a gene coding for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthesis enzyme and a gene coding for intracellular PHA depolymerase, and a process for preparing (R)-hydroxycarboxylic acid employing the same. In accordance with the present invention, optically pure (R)-hydroxycarboxylic acid can be prepared by culturing E. coli transformed with a recombinant plasmid which expresses intracellular PHA depolymerase of Ralstonia eutropha and PHA biosynthesis enzyme of Alcaligenes latus to give (R)-hydroxycarboxylic acid. The process for preparing (R)-hydroxycarboxylic acid of the invention can be successfully employed in large-scale continuous process with a high productivity by carrying out PHA synthesis and degradation in a simultaneous manner, while enjoying the benefits of simple procedures for harvesting cells and disposing the cell wastes.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for manufacturing highly-concentrated polyglutamic acid by culturing an aerobic micro-organism of Bascillus sp. with the additional supply of saccharides. The method for manufacturing polyglutamic acid comprises a step of culturing Bascillus sp. in a fed-batch or batch culture while supplying saccharides to the culture. Since the method for manufacturing highly-concentrated polyglutamic acid can be applicable to the industrial scale fermentation, mass production of polyglutamic acid can be feasible in a cost-efficient way.

Abstract: A novel microorganism capable of producing organic acids, Mannheimia sp. 55E, and a process for producing organic acid through anaerobic and aerobic incubation using the novel microorganism are provided. The method of producing an organic acid using the microorganism involves incubating Mannheimia sp. 55E with Accession Number KCTC 0769BP in a medium under anaerobic or aerobic conditions and obtaining an organic acid from the medium. Mannheimia sp. 55E produces succinic acid, lactic acid, and formic acid under anaerobic conditions saturated with CO2, and succinic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, and formic acid under aerobic or N2 anaerobic conditions. Mannheimia sp. 55E is a facultative anaerobe tolerant of oxygen. Thus, the use of Mannheimia sp. 55E in producing organic acids can eliminate a problem of process instability, which would occur by the presence of oxygen in a fermentation process of producing organic acids using an obligate anaerobic microorganism.

Abstract: A system and method for detecting cut-off of calls in a switching system records data corresponding to connection of a call in a first memory, records the call connection data in a second memory, and then at a later time and, for example, in response to a call release request compares the data in the two memories corresponding to the call. If the data does match, it is determined that the call has been cut-off. The first memory may be located in a switching unit and the second memory may be located in a processor which controls the switching unit. The switching unit may be a time switch or a space switch. Once a call cut-off is detected, the processor transmits information notifying an operator of the cut-off. The system and method represents an improvement over existing systems in terms of increased reliability and ease of repair and maintenance of system components.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for monitoring the progress of membrane fouling that occurs on pores as well as on the surface of a membrane by means of variations of zeta potential (&zgr;) of a hollow-fiber membrane according to time passage of filtration of a suspension, wherein colloid particles, biopolymers and other inorganic particles are dispersed, and the method thereof. Moreover, the present invention also relates to a method to identify the effect of concentration polarization layer and cake layer which can vary according to the axial position of a hollow-fiber and the developing progress of a membrane fouling by measuring the position-dependent zeta potential of the hollow-fiber membrane.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing. optically active hydroxycarboxylic acid monomers by auto-degradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). In particular, the present invention provides a method for producing hydroxycarboxylic acid monomers (mostly optically active in (R)-(−)-configuration) comprising the steps of: (a) synthesizing and accumulating PHAs by culturing various microorganisms; and (b) preparing optically active hydroxycarboxylic acids which are monomers of PHAs, by auto-degradation of PHAs by keeping the cultured microorganism in a degradation solution such as water, salt solution, mixture of water and organic solvents, and buffer solution.

Abstract: A membrane filtration method and an apparatus for continuously monitoring the state of a membrane during the filtration, particularly for membrane fouling due to cake or gel layers of solutes developed on the surfaces of a filtered membrane, by estimating a membrane potential and a membrane solute rejection while making measurements of a set of physical properties of feed, variations of a streaming potential difference across pores of the membrane, variation in pressure differences between an upstream side and a downstream side of the membrane, and concentration differences between the feed and permeate filtered through the membrane.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for preparing &ggr;-polyglutamic acid (&ggr;-PGA) from high-viscous culture broth, more particularly, to an economical and efficient process for preparing &ggr;-polyglutamic acid from high-viscous culture broth with easy removal of microorganisms and a subsequent concentrating process employing a filtration membrane. The present invention provides the process for preparing &ggr;-polyglutamic acid from high-viscous culture broth which comprises the steps of: culturing &ggr;-polyglutamic acid-producing microorganism for 15-30 hours under condition of pH 5.0-7.5 and 30-40° C. to obtain high-viscous culture broth with a concentration of 20-30 g/L; removing microorganism from the high-viscous culture broth thus obtained by adjusting pH to 2-4 or 7-9 and centrifuging at 3,000-9,000 rpm for 10-50 minutes; and, obtaining &ggr;-polyglutamic acid by concentrating the culture broth employing filter and precipitating &ggr;-polyglutamic acid by addition of alcohol.

Abstract: The present invention relates to expression vectors containing a gene encoding outer membrane protein C(OmpC) from Escherichia coli as a cell surface anchoring motif, more specifically, to expression vectors comprising a gene encoding OmpC which is designed to express a gene of foreign protein in fused form with OmpC on the cell surface of Escherichia coli, and a method for displaying the desired protein on the surface of the bacteria employing the OmpC as a cell surface anchoring motif. In accordance with the present invention, the desired protein can be expressed efficiently on the cell surface of bacteria so that the expressed protein can be applied to a variety of applications such as live vaccine development, peptide libraries screening, antibody production, environmental bioadsorbent, whole cell catalysis, and biosensor development.