Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are industrially important microorganisms for probiotics. The recent widespread application of LAB for preparation of functional food is attributable to the accumulating scientific evidence showing their beneficial effects on human health. In this study, we isolated and characterized plant-derived LAB that show angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory and antioxidant activities. The selected strain K2 was isolated from Kimchi, and identified as Lactobacillus plantarum by 16S rRNA gene analysis. The strain grew under static and shaking culture systems. They were also able to grow in different culture conditions like 25℃∼37℃ temperature, 4∼10 pH range and ∼6% NaCl concentration. L. plantarum K2 was highly resistant to acid stress; survival rate of the strain at pH 2.5 and 3 were 80% and 91.6%, respectively. The strain K2 also showed high bile resistance to 0.3% bile bovine and 0.3% bile extract with more than 74% of survival rate. The cell grown on MRS agar plate containing bile extract formed opaque precipitate zones around the colonies, indicating they have bile salt hydrolase activity. The strain showed an inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes; antibacterial activity was probably due to the lactic acid. The K2 strain showed relatively higher autoaggregation values, antihypertensive and antioxidant activities. These results suggest that L. plantarum K2 could be not only applied as a pharmabiotic for human health but also is also starter culture applicable to fermentative products.

Styela clava tunic is generated in large amounts as a waste from S. clava processing plants and leads to environmental problems. It destroys the beach scenery and causes a bad smell and pollution by trashing on the seashore. Therefore, purpose of this study was to investigate antioxidant and antihypertensive activities of different solvent extracts from S. clava tunic for recycling of fishery waste. Antioxidant and antihypertensive activities of all extracts were concentration-dependent. Of extracts, hot water extract showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity with the lowest effective concentration (EC50) value (0.733 mg/ml). Chloroform extract exhibited the highest metal chelation activity with the lowest EC50 value (2.696 mg/ml). Autoclaved water extract showed the highest NO radical scavenging activity with the lowest EC50 value (0.491 mg/ml) and n-hexane extract showed the highest reducing power (A700=1.897 at 100 mg/ml). And n-butanol extract showed the highest SOD-like activity with the lowest EC50 value (19.116 mg/ml) and ACE inhibition activity with the lowest inhibitory concentration(IC50) value (0.149 mg/ml). These results indicate that extracts obtained from S. clava tunic may potential candidate to reduce diseases caused by various oxidative stresses and hypertension.

Keratin wastes are generated in excess of million tons per year worldwide and biodegradation of keratin by microorganisms possessing keratinase activity can be used as an alternative tool to prevent environmental pollution. For practical use of keratinase, its physicochemical properties should be investigated in detail. In this study, we investigated characteristics of keratinase produced by Xanthomonas sp. P5 which is isolated from rhizospheric soil of soybean. The level of keratinase produced by the strain P5 increased with time and reached its maximum (10.6 U/ml) at 3 days. The production of soluble protein had the same tendency as the production of keratinase. Optimal temperature and pH of keratinase were 40℃-45℃ and pH 9, respectively. The enzyme showed broad temperature and pH stabilities. Thermostability profile showed that the enzyme retained 94.6%-100% of the original activity after 1 h treatment at 10℃-40℃. After treatment for 1 h at pH 6-10, 89.2%-100% of the activity was remained. At pH 11, 71.6% of the original activity was retained after 1 h treatment. Although the strain P5 did not degrade human hair, it degraded duck feather and chicken feather. These results indicate that keratinase from Xanthomonas sp. P5 could be not only used to upgrade the nutritional value of feather hydrolysate but also useful in situ biodegradation of feather.