• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.83-93
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• 2006

In heavily industrialized areas, soil sites are contaminated with high concentrations of heavy metals. These pollutants are highly accumulated to the human body through the food web and cause serious diseases. To remove heavy metals from the soil, a potential strategy is the environmental friendly and cost effective phytoremediation. For the enhancement of remediation efficiency, the symbiotic interaction between the plant and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has been attended. In this review, the interaction of the plant and PGPR in the heavy metal-contaminated soil has been reviewed. The physicochemical and biological characteristics of the rhlzosphere can influence directly or indirectly on the biomass, activity and population structure of the rhizobacteria. The root exudates are offered to the soil microbes as useful carbon sources and growth factors, so the growth and metabolism of rhizobacteria can be promoted. PGPR have many roles to lower the level of growth-inhibiting stress ethylene within the plant, and also to provide iron and phosphorus from the soil to plant, and to produce phytohormone such as indole acetic acid. The plant with PGPR can grow better in the heavy metal contaminated soil. Therefore higher efficiency of the phytoremediation will be expected by the application of the PGPR.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2007

In Korea, we assign the chemical substances of 535 types as toxic substance. Only 10% of the 535 toxic substances are being managed by the Ministry of Environment related with water quality standard. Tar color is also one of chemical substances, but we have the lacks for the information of tar colors about the environmental effects of aquatic ecosystem. This study performed the test of bioassay using Water Fleas and Luminescent Bacteria. The tar has 7 types of colors allowed as the edible color and we evaluate the toxicities of 5 tar colors out of 7 colors and we would like to provide the informations for further study as we perform the toxicity test for the samples of 5 tar colors. We did the toxicity test of using Water Fleas From the results, we obtained the magnitudes of toxicity in order of Red No.2, Yellow No.5, Red No.3, Yellow No.4, Blue No.1. As the result based on Microtox Acute Toxicity Test using Luminescent Bacteria with the standard of 15min-EC50, we obtained in order of Yellow No.5, Food Red No.3, Red No.2, Yellow No.4, Blue No.1. We could expect the tar colors may have different effects on the aquatic ecosystem, respectively and it may influence to the aquatic ecosystem and the human, because of bioconcentration by food chain when toxicity of the tar colors overflow in the aquatic ecosystem.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.419-419
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• 2011

이상호우, 사막화, 빙하융해, 생태계 먹이사슬 변화, 이상기온 등 기후변화의 행태는 지구 곳곳에서 다양하게 발발되고 있으며 그로인해 발생되는 인적 물적 피해가 심각하다. 1996년 집중호우에 의한 연천댐체 파괴, 2002년 8월의 낙동강 유역 장기홍수, 2002년 태풍 루사 및 2003년 태풍 매미 등 국내에서는 기후변화 중에서도 주로 이상호우로 인해 발생하는 피해가 많았으며 이들은 주기성이나 특성을 갖지 않아 예측이 어려운 관계로 망양보뢰 식의 후처리에 급급한 실정이었다. 최근 기후변화에 따른 지역별 홍수량, 가뭄량 등에 관한 연구가 가속화되고 있으며, 이와 더불어 해당 기후모델 발현 시 기존 구조물에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구도 필수적이다. 나아가 기존 구조물 뿐 아니라 새로 시공되는 구조물의 설계에서 기후변화에 대한 안정성을 위해 추가적으로 포함해야 할 요소가 있는지에 대한 연구도 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 가상 기후모델에 대해 그 모델이 예측하는 홍수량이 실제 발현되었을 경우를 가정하여, 기존 수공구조물의 안정성에 미치는 영향을 살펴보고 영향인자의 민감도를 분석하고자 한다. 대상 수공구조물은 붕괴 시 영향력이 큰 정도를 기준으로 필댐, 콘크리트차수벽형석괴댐(CFRD), 콘크리트중력식댐, 제방으로 그 범주를 제한 하였으며 대상유역은 한강으로 가정하였다. 구조물의 안정성 검토방법은 각 구조물의 종류에 따라 상이하다. 흙이 주 재료인 제방과 필댐의 경우, 침투(Piping)와 비탈면(Sliding)에 대한 안정성 평가가 이루어지며 CFRD는 댐체와 벽체로 나누어 안정성평가를 하며 댐체 안정성 평가방법은 필댐과 유사하다. 본 연구에서는 하천설계기준(2009)과 댐설계기준(2005)에 따라 각 구조물의 기준안전율을 책정하였으며 점착력, 내부마찰각, 단위중량 등의 물성치는 해당 지역의 토질특성에 따라 여러 문헌을 참고하여 설정하였고 이를 SEEP/W, SLOPE/W 프로그램을 이용하여 구조해석을 실시하였다. 콘크리트중력식댐은 활동, 전도, 지지력에 대해 각각 안정성을 평가하며 MIDAS와 ABAQUS 프로그램을 병행하여 해석하였다. 민감도(Sensitivity)란 안정성에 영향을 미치는 설계인자들의 변화에 따라 안정성이 어떻게 변화하는 지를 말한다. 기후변화에 의한 수공구조물 설계인자 민감도 연구를 통해 기존 설계과정 또는 안정성 검토 시 해당인자의 기여도를 높이거나 새로운 설계인자를 추가하여 미래 상황에 대한 구조물의 위험 정도를 과거대비 상세히 예측할 수 있으며 나아가 적절한 대응 방안 제시에 기여하여 기후변화에 따른 피해를 감소할 수 있을 것이라고 생각된다.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.151-160
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• 2016

To understand size fractioned chlorophyll a and material cycles of coastal ecosystem in Uljin marine ranching area (JMRA) of East Sea, 4 times of survey were conducted from April to November 2008. Picoplankton, nanoplankton and netplankton in the surface of UMRA fluctuated with an annual mean of $0.26{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ between the lowest value of $0.03{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ and the highest value of $0.87{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, annual mean $1.32{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ between $0.11{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ and $5.60{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, annual mean $0.45{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ between no detected (nd) and $4.68{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, respectively. And the relative ratio of picoplankton, nanoplankton and netplanktons on the phytoplankton biomass was on annual average 12.9%, 65.0% and 22.1%, respectively. The 10 m layer was similar to the surface. The relative ratio of pico- and nano-plankton was higher throughout the year. That is, the material cycle of UMRA consists of a microbial food web rather than traditional food chain at a lower trophic levels. Primary production is deemed to have a higher possibility of being adjusted by top-down dynamics, such as micro-zooplankton grazing pressure rather than nutrients supply.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2012

Antibiotic resistance in animal isolates of enterococci is a public health concern, because of the risk of transmission of antibiotic-resistant strains or resistance genes to humans through the food chain. This study investigated phenotypic and genotypic resistances profile of tetracycline in 245 $Enterococcus$ isolates from bovine milk. A total of 245 enterococci were isolated from 950 milk samples. The predominant strain was $E.$ $faecalis$ (n = 199, 81.2%) and $E.$ $faecium$ (n = 25, 10.2%). $E.$ $avium$ (n = 7, 2.9%), $E.$ $durans$ (n = 6, 2.5%), $E.$ $gallinarum$ (n = 4, 1.6%), and $E.$ $raffinosus$ (n = 4, 1.6%) were also isolated. Of the 245 enterococcal isolates 76.3% (n = 187) displayed tetracycline resistance (${\geq}16{\mu}g/ml$). Of the 187 tetracycline-resistant isolates, 83.4% (n = 156), 16.1% (n = 30), and 26.7% (n = 50) possessed the genes $tet$(M), $tet$(L), $tet$(S) respectively. While 3.2% (n = 6) of the tetracycline-resistant isolates possessed all three genes $tet$(M) + $tet$(L) + $tet$(S), 8.6% (n = 16), 16.0% (n = 30), and 2.7% (n = 5) of them possessed two genes $tet$(M) + $tet$(L), $tet$(M) + $tet$(S), and $tet$(L) + $tet$(S) respectively. The tetracycline resistance pattern investigated in this study was attributable mainly to the presence of $tet$(M).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 1999

Chlorinated aromatic compounds are one of the largest groups of environmental pollutants as a result of world-wide distribution by using them as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, solvents, hydraulic and heat transfer fluids, plasticizers, and intermediates for chemical synthesis. Because of their toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation, the compounds contaminated ubiquitously in the biosphere has attracted public concerns in terms of serious influences to wild lives and a human being, such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and disturbance in endocrine systems. The biological recalcitrance of the compounds is caused by the number, type, and position of the chlorine substituents as well as by their aromatic structures. In general, the carbon-halogen bonds increase the recalcitrance by increasing electronegativity of the substituent, so that the dechlorination of the compounds is focused as an important mechanism for biodegradation of chlorinated aromatics, along with the cleavage of aromatic rings. The removal of the chlorine substituents has been known as a key step for degradation of chlorinated aromatic compounds under aerobic condition. This can occur as an initial step via oxygenolytic, reductive, and hydrolytic mechanisms. The studies on the biochemistry and genetics about microbial dechlorination give us the potential informations for microbial degradation of xenobiotics contaminated in natural microcosms. Such investigations might provide biotechnological approaches to solve the environmental contamination, such as designing effective bioremediation systems using genetically engineered microorganisms.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2007

Environmental contamination becomes a great public concern as our society gets industrialized rapidly. The present study examine the role of chitosan in a effort to intervene the environmental pollutant-induced toxicity. PCB-induced neurotoxicity with respect to the PKC signaling was examined. Since the developing neuron is particularly sensitive to PCB-induced neurotoxicity, we isolated cerebellar granule cells derived from 7-day old SD rats and grew cells in culture for additional 7 days to mimic PND-14 conditions. PCB showed the alteration of PKC signaling pathway. The alteration was structure-dependent. Mono-ortho-substituted congeners at a high dose showed a significant increase of total PKC activity at [$^3H$]PDBu binding assay, indicating that mono-ortho-substituted congeners are more neuroactive than non-ortho-substituted congeners in neuronal cells. PKC isoforms were immunoblotted with respective monoclonal antibodies. PKC-beta II and -epsilon were activated with mono-ortho-substituted congeners exposure. The result suggests that the position with ortho has a higher potential of altering the signaling pathway. Alteration of PKC was blocked with treatment of high molecular weight of chitosan. The study demonstrated that the ortho position in PCBs are important in assessing the structure-activity relationship. The results suggest a potential use of marine bioactive materials as a means of nutritional intervention to prevent the harmful effects of pollutant-derived toxicity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2019

In order to understand the effects of the main components of antifoaming agents on the marine benthic ecosystem when silicone-based antifoaming agents are discharged into marine environments, eco-toxicity testing was performed on silicone and alcohol-based antifoaming agent by using benthic amphipod (Monocorophium acherusicum) and luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). The toxic effects of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a main component of silicone-based antifoaming agents on aquatic organisms were also researched. In the results of the eco-toxicity test, luminescent bacteria showed a maximum of 9 times more toxic effects than benthic amphipod for alcohol-based antifoaming agents, and silicone-based antifoaming agents showed a maximum of 400 times more toxic effects than alcohol-based. The $LC_{50}$ and $EC_{50}$ values of PDMS ranged from 10 to $44,500{\mu}g/L$ in phytoplankton, invertebrate, and fish. In the results of applying PBT (P: persistency, B: bioaccumulation, T: toxicity) characteristics as an index showing the qualitative characteristics of PDMS, persistency (P) and bioaccumulation (B) were confirmed. Thus, when PDMS is discharged to marine environments, it could accumulate in the upper trophic level through bioaccumulation and the food chain, which could have negative effects on benthic organisms. The results of this study may be used for objective and scientific risk assessment, considering the major components of antifoaming agents when investigating the effects of various discharged antifoaming agents in marine ecosystem.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.149-155
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• 2019

Nematode-trapping fungi develop trap and consume nematodes are an important part of the subsoil ecosystem and they share a special predator-prey relationship. Four nematode-trapping species, there with adhesive network, Arthrobotrys oligospora, A. sinensis, A. thaumasia and one with constricting ring, Drechslerella brochopaga were collected from soils in Korea and tested their predacity against 12 different nematode species. They were three feeding groups, plant-parasitic (Meloidogyne incognita and Pratylenchus penetrans), fungivorous (Aphelenchus avenae), bacteriovorous (Betlerius sp. and Diplogasteritus sp. in diplogasterid, Panagrolaimus labiatus, P. multidentatus in panagrolaimid, Mesorhabditis irregularis, Pelodera strongyloides and Rhabditis sp., in rhabditid, and Acrobeloides sp. in cephalobid). Results showed that nematode-trapping fungi successfully captured most of nematodes in Petri dish in the group of plant-parasitic nematodes and rhabditids, moderately and variably in other nematodes in 15 days. But it didn't captured A. avenae and Acrobeloides sp. both belongs to c-p group 2. Numbers of Acrobeloides sp. and A. avenae even increased during the test period. The results of this study indicated that nematode-trapping fungi may have specificity among nematode species.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.247-256
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• 2021

Understanding the selective feeding behavior of zooplankton on phytoplankton is essential for evaluating the nutrient cycle and energy flow in the food web. Although many studies have been conducted regarding the feeding behaviors of zooplankton through gut content analyses, there are limitations in the visual identification of digested contents using a microscope. DNA techniques have been applied to overcome these limitations since they can detect and amplify small amounts of prey DNA remaining in the gut contents. We designed a method to extract prey DNA from the gut contents of the whole body of the copepod specimen and tested the resolution of DNA identification for the prey phytoplankton. The common brackish species, Sinocalanus tenellus, were collected from Saemangeum Reservoir in different sites and seasons, and gut content DNA was extracted using 2.5% bleach treatment for 2 min for removal of potential contamination sources existing in preserved specimens without dissolution of the body. The sequences of the extracted gut contents were confirmed using BLASTn suite based on the NCBI database. The phytoplankton species detected in the gut showed temporal and spatial differences. Although DNA analysis of small copepod gut contents has been suggested as an effective method to examine the dynamics of primary prey sources at the genus or species level, uncertainties such as misidentification and limitations in the detailed information of the composition still exist.