Whole-Genome Sequencing of Lentibacillus sp. Strain JNUCC-1, Isolated from Fermented Anchovy Sauce (Myeolchi Aekjeot).

Lentibacillus sp. strain JNUCC-1 was isolated from Korean traditionally fermented anchovy sauce. The 16S rRNA sequence of JNUCC-1 showed 95.2% and 95.1% similarity to Lentibacillus populi WD4L-1T and Virgibacillus siamensis MS3-4T, respectively, indicating that it is a novel species. The whole-genome sequence, which contains 3,687,469 bp and 3,833 genes in 3 contigs, is reported.

Identification and Characterization of Baicalin as a Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitor.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of lung airways, and pharmacological inhibitors of cyclic adenosine monophosphate-specific phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) have been considered as therapeutics for the treatment of asthma. However, development of PDE4 inhibitors in clinical trials has been hampered because of the severe side effects of non-selective PDE4 inhibitors. Here, screening of a plant extract library in conjunction with dereplication technology led to identification of baicalin as a new type of PDE4-selective inhibitor. We demonstrated that while rolipram inhibited the enzyme activity of a range of PDE4 subtypes in in vitro enzyme assays, baicalin selectively inhibited the enzyme activity of PDE4A and 4B. In addition, baicalin suppressed lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-α expression in macrophage where PDE4B plays a key role in lipopolysaccharide-induced signaling. Furthermore, baicalin treatment in an animal model of allergic asthma reduced inflammatory cell infiltration and TNF-α levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, indicating that the antiinflammatory effects of baicalin in vivo are attributable, in part, to its ability to inhibit PDE4.

Winogradskyella lutea sp. nov., isolated from seawater, and emended description of the genus Winogradskyella.

A novel gram-negative, orange-pigmented, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, gliding, oxidase- and catalase-positive bacterial strain, A73(T), was isolated from seawater collected off Jeju, South Korea. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between A73(T) and type strains of Winogradskyella species with validly published names ranged from 94.1 to 96.2 %. The dominant fatty acids of strain A73(T) were iso-C(15 : 1) G (19.1 %), iso-C(15 : 0) (13.3 %), iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH (10.0 %) and iso-C(15 : 0) 3-OH (7.2 %). The DNA G+C content of strain A73(T) was 36.0 mol% and its major respiratory quinone was MK-6. On the basis of combined data from phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, strain A73(T) represents a novel species of the genus Winogradskyella, for which the name Winogradskyella lutea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A73(T) ( = KCTC 23237(T)  = DSM 22624(T)). An emended description of the genus Winogradskyella is also provided.