Panax ginseng has been used in traditional medicine to strengthen immunity, provide nutrition, and reduce fatigue. The anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-proliferative effects of P. ginseng are attributed to ginsenosides found in the plant. [1][2][3] Pharmaceutically active ginsenosides present at low concentrations or absent in ginseng root are referred to as rare ginsenosides. These rare ginsenosides, including compound K, compound Y, and compound Mc can be produced by the hydrolysis of sugar moieties from the major ginsenosides Rb 1 , Rb 2 , Rc, and Rd, which account for more than 50% of the total ginsenosides. ) has yet to be reported. Compound K production has been achieved from ginseng root extract by enzymatic methods using Pectinex, b-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae, and b-glycosidase from Sulfolobus solfataricus.9-11) Compound K, compound Y, and compound Mc were produced using a crude extract from A. niger, while compound K and compound Mc were produced by fermentation from Fusarium sacchari.12,13) The fungi used in the production of the rare ginsenosides exhibited low productivity, and the enzymes involved were unknown. b-Glycosidase from S. solfataricus produced mainly compound K but not compound Y due to its high level of hydrolytic activity toward the sugar groups in the ginsenosides. To produce the rare ginsenosides compound K, compound Y, and compound Mc more efficiently, the discovery of a new enzyme with different hydrolytic activity toward these sugar groups is necessary.In this study, the ginsenosides produced from the major ginsenosides Rb 1 , Rb 2 , Rc, and Rd by a thermostable b-glycosidase from S. acidocaldarius were identified and their production was attempted using ginseng root extract and reagent-grade Rb 1 , Rb 2 , and Rc.
MATERIALS AND METHODSMaterials Regent-grade Rb 1 , Rb 2 , Rc, and Rd were purchased from BTGin (Chungnam, Korea). Compound K was kindly provided by Professor Dong-Hyun Kim of Kyunghee University. Ginseng root extract was prepared by the previously reported method.
4)Bacterial Strains, Plasmid, and Culture Conditions The genomic DNA from S. acidocaldarius DSMZ 639 (DSMZ, Brauschweig, Germany), Escherichia coli ER2566 (New Englands Biolabs, Herfordshire, U.K.), and pTrc99a plasmid (Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ, U.S.A.) were used as a source of b-glycosidase gene, a host, and a vector for expression, respectively. S. acidocaldarius was grown anaerobically at 70°C on Sulfolobus medium (DSM media formulation No. 88) for 5 d. The recombinant E. coli for protein expression was cultivated in a 2-l flask containing 500 ml of Luria-Bertani (LB) medium and 50 mg/ml of ampicillin at 37°C with agitation at 200 rpm until the optical density of bacteria reached 0.8 at 600 nm. Isopropyl-b-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) was added to the culture medium at a final concentration of 0.1 mM, and the enzyme was induced and expressed at 16°C for 12 h.Cloning of b b-Glycosidase Gene from S. acidocaldarius The genomic DNA from S. acidocaldarius was extracted using the genomic DNA ext...