• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2014

The objective of this work is to investigate and compare several functional properties of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Lactobacillus casei SK-7 isolated from home-made yogurt and Lactobacillus bulgaricus YK-11 from commercial yogurt. Initially, physiological and biochemical properties of SK-7 and YK-11 were characterized. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA sequencing were performed to identify the strains, and the strain could be assigned to Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, designated as L. casei SK-7 and L. bulgaricus YK-11. Phylogenetic tree of SK-7 and YK-11 was plotted based on 16S rRNA sequence comparisons. Production of lactic acid and organic acid, and pH changes in the cultures of SK-7 and YK-11 were monitored during 72 h. During the incubation period, several functional properties of L. casei SK-7 and L. bulgaricus YK-11 were examined. L. casei SK-7 and L. bulgaricus YK-11 cultures eliminated 93.9% and 88.2% of nitrite, respectively. Antioxidant activity of cultural supernatants of SK-7 and YK-11 were 62.6%, 54.9%, and activity of ${\beta}$-galactosidase were 14.9 units/mg and 13.1 units/mg, respectively. The antimicrobial activities were examined with 20-fold concentrated culture supernatants from the cultures of SK-7 and YK-11. The activities of SK-7 supernatants were clearly observed against all microorganisms in this work, whereas no activities were observed in YK-11 supernatants. Although it might be conducted additional functional research, functional properties of LAB isolated from home-made yogurt have been shown to be better than those of commercial yogurt in this work.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.937-946
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• 2004

Duroc is widely used to improve the meat quality and productivity. To elucidate the phylogenetic relation and the sequence specificity for the maternal property, the complete sequence of mitochondrial genome was determined and the population diversity of Duroc was investigated in this study. The length of mtDNA tested is 16,584-bp. There are several insertion/deletion mutations in the control region and coding regions for tRNA and rRNA, respectively, but not in peptide-coding regions. Four peptide-coding genes(COⅡ, COⅢ, ND3 and ND4) showed incomplete termination codon sequences such as T--, and two(ND2 and ND4L) did alternative initiation codons(AIC), respectively. Especially, the initiation codon sequences of ND2 gene were polymorphic in this population. Polymorphisms were detected in 11-bp duplication motif within control region as well as ND2 and CYTB. Variation patterns observed from the tests on three mtDNA regions were linked completely and then two haplotypes obtained from combining the data dividing this population. Duroc mtDNA is observed at the European pig cluster in the phylogenetic tree, however, the results from the population analyses supported previous opinions. This study suggests that the breed Duroc was mainly originated from the European pig lineage, and Asian lineage was also used to form the pig breed Duroc as maternal progenitors.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.341-348
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• 2011

In an effort to gain greater understanding of the maternal lineages of the Jeju native pig (JNP), we analyzed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) CYTB gene and compared it with those of other pig breeds. PCR-RFLP analysis was conducted with six pig breeds including JNP, and then the RFLP patterns allowed for the separation of the pig breeds into two distinct haplotypes (mtCYTB1 and mtCYTB2). The JNP CYTB sequences were detected in both the European and Asian breed clusters on the phylogenetic tree. The J2 group was sorted with the indigenous cluster of Asian pig lineages and was related closely to Chinese native pig breeds, but a second group, J1, was sorted with the European pig lineages and appeared to be related to Spanish Iberian native pigs, rather than to Asian breeds. These results indicate that the JNP currently raised on Jeju Island have two major maternal origins estimated in Asian and European pigs. We concluded that the JNP that share a common lineage with indigenous Asian pigs were domesticated in the distant past, originating from pigs that were already being raised elsewhere at that time, and that the European pig breeds introduced in the twentieth century have also contributed to the formation of this pig population.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2010

The purpose of this work was to investigate the antibacterial activity derived from a lactic acid bacterium, Lactococcus lactis HK-9, isolated from the feces of a 2-day newborn infant. We characterized the physiological and biochemical properties of this strain. Both the BIOLOG system and phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA sequencing were utilized for identification, and the strain was assigned to the Lactococcus lactis species, designated as L. lactis HK-9, and registered in GenBank as [GU936712]. We monitored growth rate, production of lactic acid and acetic acid as metabolites, and pH during growth. The maximum concentrations of lactic acid and acetic acid reached 495.6 mM and 104.3 mM, respectively, and the initial pH of the cultures decreased from 7.0 to 4.1 after incubating for 60 h. HPLC was used to confirm the production of lactic acid and acetic acid. Significant antibacterial activity of the concentrated supernatant was demonstrated against Gram-positive (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria monocytogenes, MRSA) and Gram-negative (e.g., Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella sonnei) bacteria by the plate diffusion method. The antibacterial activity was sensitive to protease, and the molecular weight of the presumed bacteriocin molecule was estimated to be about 4 kDa by tricine-SDS-PAGE.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.406-414
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• 2013

The influence of a gradual increase in salinity on the diversity of aquatic bacterial in rivers was demonstrated. The denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to analyze the bacterial community shift downstream in the Hyeongsan River until it joins the open ocean. Four water samples were taken from the river showing the salinity gradients of 0.02%, 1.48%, 2.63%, and 3.62%. The samples were collected from four arbitrary stations in 2.91 km intervals on average, and a DGGE analysis was performed. Based on the results of this analysis, phylogenetic similarity identification, tree analysis, and a comparison of each station were performed. The results strongly suggested that the response of the bacterial community response was concomitant to gradual changes in salinity, which implies that salt concentration is a major factor in shifting the microbiota in aquatic habitats. The results also imply a huge diversity in a relatively small area upstream from the river mouth, compared to that in open oceans or coastal regions. Therefore, areas downstream towards a river mouth or delta are could be good starting points in the search for new bacterial species and strains ("biotypes").

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.193-199
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• 2018

The fungus, Podosphaera pannosa, was identified in 1991 as the cause of powdery mildew symptoms on peach (Prunus persica var. persica) fruit from Korea based on the morphological characteristics of the conidial state. Recently, however, in Serbia and France, the cause of 'rusty spot' found on peach fruit was identified as P. leucotricha, and the cause of 'powdery mildew' on nectarine (Prunus persica var. nucipersica) fruit was identified as P. pannosa. To confirm the identity of the Korean pathogen, we collected four samples of powdery mildew from Korean peach fruit: three with the 'powdery mildew' symptom and one with the 'rusty spot' symptom. Morphological examination of the four samples confirmed P. pannosa as the pathogen. Internal transcribed spacer sequences of rDNA were analyzed for molecular characterization. A phylogenetic tree showed that the Korean isolates were clustered into a clade containing P. pannosa from Rosa species, with high sequence similarities of more than 99%. Thus, we showed that the powdery mildew and rusty spot symptoms on peach fruits from Korea are associated with P. pannosa.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.328-331
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• 2018

A severe disease with leaf spots and necrotic symptoms was observed in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings in April 2018 at a nursery in Kimjae, Korea (35o 47'09.8"N 127o 2'24.3"E). The infected plants initially showed spots on water-soaked cotyledons which, at later stages, enlarged and spread to the leaves, which the lesions becoming dry and chlorotic. The symptomatic samples were collected from cucumber and the isolates were cultured on LB agar. The representative bacterial strain selected for identification showed fluorescent on King's medium B, was potato rot-positive, levan and arginine dihydrolase-negative, oxidase-negative and tobacco hypersensitivity-positive in LOPAT group 2 as determined by LOPAT tests. A pathogenicity test was carried out on a 3-week-old cucumber. After 3 days of inoculation, leaf spots and necrotic symptoms appeared on the cucumber, similar to the originally infected plants. The infecting bacterial strain was identified as Pseudomonas viridiflava, by 16S rDNA sequence analysis. This is the first report of leaf spot diseases on cucumber caused by P. viridiflava.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2020

We attempted to isolate and identify potentially pathogenic bacteria from geoduck clam (Panopea japonica) larvae, juvenile and adult, focusing on Vibrios. The isolates were identified by molecular approach and biochemical characterization. In particular, we applied MLSA (multilocus sequence analysis) to the isolated Vibrios for clear identification and phylogenetic relationships, by combining 16s rDNA and several houskeeping genes (pyrH, recA, rpoA). We obtained 141 isolates; 10 from healthy adults, 52 from moribund adults with blisters and 79 from larvae. 46 from the moribund adults and 39 from the larvae were identified as Vibrio species, while the rest of these samples and all the isolates from healthy adult were identified as marine general bacteria. Among Vibrio species, Vibrio splendidus was the most frequently identified from the moribund adults and clustered with the known V. splendidus in GenBank by MLSA. However, it was still unclear that V. splendidus was the cause of blisters because the artificial infection experiment was not conducted and V. splendidus was isolated also from the larvae. Further studies are necessary to clarify the etiological agent of the blisters found in geoduck clam in this study.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.180-186
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• 2021

Typical bacterial symptoms, water-soaking brown and black leaf spots with yellow halo, were observed on watermelon seedlings in nursery and field of Gyeongnam and Jeonnam provinces. Bacterial isolates from the lesion showed strong pathogenicity on watermelon and zucchini. One of them was rod-shaped with 4 polar flagella by observation of transmission electron microscopy. They belonged to LOPAT group 1. The phylogenical trees with nucleotide sequences of 16S rRNA and multi-locus sequencing typing with the 4 house-keeping genes (gapA, gltA, gyrB, and rpoD) of the isolates showed they were highly homologous to Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and grouped together with them, indicating that they were appeared as P. syringae genomospecies group 1. Morphological, physiological, and genetical characteristics of the isolates suggested they are P. syringae pv. syringae. We believe this is the first report that P. syringae pv. syringae caused leaf spot disease on watermelon in the Republic of Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.659-663
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• 2009

Bacterial stain 3Y was isolated from a site that was contaminated with diesel for more than 15 years. The strain could grow on various petroleum using hydrocarbons as the sole carbon source. The strain grew not only on aliphatic hydrocarbons but also on aromatic hydrocarbons. 3Y grew on aliphatic petroleum hydrocarbons hexane or hexadecane, and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons BTEX, phenol, biphenyl, or phenanthrene. The strain showed aromatic ring dioxygenase and meta-cleavage dioxygenase activities as determined by tests using indole and catechol. Aromatic ring dioxygenase is involved in the initial step of biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons while meta-cleavage dioxygenase catalyzes the cleavage of the benzene ring. Based on a nucleotide sequence analysis of its 16S rRNA gene, 3Y belongs to the genus Sphingomonas. A phylogenetic tress was constructed based on the nucleotide sequences of closest relatives of 3Y and petroleum hydrocarbon degrading sphingomonads. 3Y was in a cluster that was different from the cluster that contained well-known sphingomonads. The results of this study suggest that 3Y has the potential to cleanup oil-contaminated sites. Further investigation is warranted to optimize conditions to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons by the strain to develop a better bioremediation strategy.