• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.38 no.11
• /
• pp.618-626
• /
• 2016

The influence of ferric ion ($Fe^{+3}$) on bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge was explored at ambient temperature ($25^{\circ}C$). Before the addition of ferric ion, the removal of volatile solids (VS) was 65.9% and the specific methane production rate was 370 mL/L/d. After the addition of ferric ion (200 ppm) to feed sludge, the bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester was more stable in the state variables including pH, alkalinity, COD and VFAs, and the VS removal and specific methane production rate were increased to 69.8% and 396 mL/L/d, respectively. However, the methane content in biogas was slightly reduced by the addition of ferric ion, indicating that the activity of planktonic anaerobic bacteria (PAB) was more improved after the addition of ferric ion. The dominances of syntrophic bacteria (Cloacamonas) and hyrolytic bacteria (Saprospiraceae, Ottowia pentelensis) in the PAB were increased by the addition of ferric ion. The addition of ferric ion improved the performance of bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge at ambient temperature.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.141-147
• /
• 2017

In this study, a meta-analysis of fecal bacteria in dogs was conducted using 16S rRNA gene sequences that have been recovered from cloning and Sanger sequencing. For this meta-analysis, we retrieved all 16S rRNA gene sequences recovered from fecal bacteria in dogs in the RDP database (Release 11, Update 3). A total of 420 sequences were identified from the RDP database, 42 of which were also recovered from cultured isolates. The 420 sequences were assigned to five phyla, of which Firmicutes was the most predominant phylum, accounting for 55.2% of all 420 sequences. Bacteroidetes was the second most predominant phylum, accounting for 32.1% of the 420 sequences, followed by Actinobacteria (6.4%), Fusobacteria (3.8%), and Proteobacteria (2.4%). The genus Bacteroides within Bacteroidetes was the largest, representing 30.0% of all 420 sequences, while the putative genus Clostridium XI within Firmicutes was the second largest, representing 27.4% of all 420 sequences. A total of 82 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that are putative species were identified from the retrieved sequences. The results of this study will improve understanding of the diversity of fecal bacteria in dogs and guide future studies on the health and well-being of dogs.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.506-513
• /
• 2010

Plant growth promoting ability of Methylobacterium oryzae CBMB20 was evaluated under different levels of organic fertilizer application on red pepper plants in a pot experiment. Oil cake as an organic N fertilizer was applied at the rates of 70, 85, 100 and 120% of the conventional recommended level. Each treatment was further treated with or without M. oryzae CBMB20 inoculation. The recommended amount of compost for red pepper was added in all the treatments. Results revealed that plant height, dry biomass and fruit yield were enhanced in increasing order as the rate of fertilization increased. Overall plant growth was improved due to the inoculation of M. oryzae CBMB20 and red pepper fruit yield was also increased by 10-35% in the plants inoculated with M. oryzae CBMB20 at different rates of organic fert1izer application. Total methylotrophic bacterial population in rhizosphere soil measured at the time of harvest was significantly higher in M. oryzae CBMB20 inoculated treatments. The growth promoting effect of M. oryzae CBMB20 found in red pepper could be due to the effective colonization of the bacteria in the rhizosphere and its ability of enhancing nutrient availability and producing plant growth hormones. With the plant growth promoting effect of M. oryzae CBMB20, the rate of organic fertilizer application can be reduced without any significant decreases in biomass production and yield of red pepper.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.241-258
• /
• 1993

To investigate the sedimentary environments on the coastal areas of Imja to Nakweol islands which show very complex shorelines and several zonal sand ridges in NE-SW direction, southwestern coast of Korea, a total of forty samples were taken by a grab sampler and sedimentological and micropaleontological studies on those samples were carried out. The present study area are classified into muddy sandy gravel, sand, city sand, sandy silt and silt facies. With statistical moment parameters such as mean, sorting, skewness and ketosis for the sediments in the study area, the sediments are generally categorized as shallow sedimentary facies. The characters that are observed in quartz grains among the sandy sediments of the study area imply the existence of high energy environments, temporal exposures in atmosphere and the mixing of clastic sediments of the several different origins. In the sediments of the study area, one genera belonging to six silicoflagellata species and five genera belonging to five nannoplankton species were detected. On the basis of the micro-organism assemblage, the study area seems to be influenced by active reworking dominantly under warm water masses. In addition, organic matter ad carbonate contents in the sediments did not show a definite relation with the occurrences of the micro-organisms in the study area.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.467-478
• /
• 2006

Maintenance of an optimal air quality in the enclosed pig building is potentially important in terms of pig performance and farmer health. The objective of this on-site experiment is to evaluate and compare efficiencies of currently utilized biological additives to reduce odor emissions from the enclosed pig building. As a result, generally all the additives except for salt water, artificial spice and essential oil were proved ineffective in reducing odor generation. The beneficial effects of salt water, artificial spice and essential oil on odor reduction were highlighted on ammonia, odor intensity and offensiveness, and sulfuric odorous compounds, respectively. To efficiently utilize odor masking agent such as the artificial spice, ventilation rate should keep slightly lower than the optimal level. Essential oil functioned well as not only masking agent but also antimicrobial agent for reducing odor. To precisely quantify odor concentration, it should be measured by not the odor sensor but the olfactometry technique.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.517-525
• /
• 2009

The water quality of Lake Shihwa had been rapidly deteriorating since 1994 due to wastewater input from the watersheds, limited water circulation and the lack of a wastewater treatment policy. In 2000, the government decided to open the tidal embankment and make a comprehensive management plan to improve the water quality, especially inflowing stream water around Shihwa and Banwol industrial complex. However, the water quality and microbial community have not as yet been fully evaluated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influent water quality around the industrial area based on chemical and biological analysis, and collected surface water sample from the Siheung Stream, up-stream to down-stream through the industrial complex, Samples were collected in July 2009. The results show that the downstream site near the industrial complex had higher concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Mn, Fe, Mg, and Zn) and organic matter than upstream sites. A combination of DGGE (Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) gels, lists of K-WQI (Korean Water Quality Index), cluster analysis, MDS (Multi-Dimensional Scaling) and PCA (Principal Component Analysis) has demonstrated clear clustering between Siheung stream 3 and 4 and with a high similarity and detected metal reducing bacteria (Shewanella spp.) and biodegrading bacteria (Acinetobacter spp.). These results suggest that use of both chemical and microbiological marker would be useful to fully evaluate the water quality.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.579-583
• /
• 2006

The influence of disinfectant on bacterial concentration and carbon usage patterns by Biolog GN plates were investigated for biofilm on carbon steel pipe. Heterotrophic bacterial concentrations were not different among non-, monochloramine- (1.0, 1.5 mg/l) and free chlorine- (0.5, 1.0 mg/l) treated samples (P = 0.56, ANOVA). However treatment of 1.5 mg/l free chlorine and 2.0 mg/l monochloraime showed significantly lower densities than control (P < 0.01, ANOVA). By the stepwise increasement of disinfectant concentration, the carbon usage activities of biofilm microflora were decreased after increase without the decrease of bacterial concentration, following reduction of cell density. Carbon usage patterns were qualitatively and quantitatively different with similar bacterial concentrations. Principal component analysis suggested that type and concentration of disinfectant were main factors on the usage of carbons. Our result suggest that the differences of bacterial communities were different among the samples and the need of monochloramine for the reduction of biofilm in drinking water.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.596-604
• /
• 2019

This study conducted a sediment culture experiment to investigate the effects of sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and environmental factors on sediment and water quality. We installed a leaching tank in the laboratory, cultured it for 20 days, and analyzed the relationship between P and Fe in the sediment. As a result, the dissolved oxygen of the water layer decreased with time, while the oxidation-reduction potential of the sediment progressed in the negative direction to form an anaerobic reducing environment. The SOD was measured to be 0.05 mg/g at the initial stage of cultivation and increased to 0.09 mg/g on the 20th day, indicating the tendency of increasing consumption of oxygen by the sediment. The change is likely to have caused by oxygen consumption from biological-SOD, which is the decomposition of organic matter accumulated on the sediment surface due to the increase of chl-a, and chemical-SOD consumed when the metal-reducing product produced by the reduction reaction is reoxidized. The correlation between SOD and causality for sediment-extracted sediments was positive for Ex-P and Org-P and negative for Fe-P. The analysis of the microbial community in the sediment on the 20th day showed that anaerobic iron-reducing bacteria (FeRB) were the dominant species. Therefore, when the phosphate bonded to the iron oxide is separated by the reduction reaction, the phosphate is eluted into the water to increase the primary productivity. The reduced substance is reoxidized and contributes to the oxygen consumption of the sediment. The results of this study would be useful as the reference information to improve oxygen resin.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.33 no.7
• /
• pp.538-548
• /
• 2023

The research has been conducted on the isolation of antimicrobial compounds from plant natural extracts and their potential application in oral health care products. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial mechanism by analyzing the changes in gene expression of Streptococcus mutans, a major oral pathogen, in response to complex compounds extracted from Aralia continentalis and Arctii Semen using organic solvents. Transcriptome analysis (RNA-seq) revealed that both natural extracts commonly upregulated or downregulated the expression of various genes associated with different metabolic and physiological activities. Three genes (SMU_1584c, SMU_2133c, SMU_921), particularly SMU_921 (rcrR), known as a transcription activator of two sugar phosphotransferase systems (PTS) involved in sugar transport and biofilm formation, exhibited consistent high expression levels. Additionally, component analysis of the A. continentalis extract was performed to compare its effects on gene expression changes with the A. Semen extract, and two active compounds were identified through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the active fraction. The n-hexane fraction (ACEH) from the A. continentalis extract exhibited antibacterial specificity against S. mutans, leading to a significant reduction in the viable cell counts of Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus gordonii among the tested multi-species bacterial communities. These findings suggest the broad-spectrum antibacterial activity of the A. continentalis extract and provide essential foundational data for the development of customized antimicrobial materials by elucidating the antibacterial mechanism of the identified active compounds.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.335-343
• /
• 2022

BACKGROUND: Antibiotics used in animal husbandry for disease prevention and treatment have resulted in the rapid progression of antibiotic resistant bacteria which can be introduced into the environment through livestock feces/manure, disseminating antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs). In this study, fecal samples were collected from the livestock farms located in Jeju Island to investigate the relationship between microbial communities and ARGs. METHODS AND RESULTS: Illumina MiSeq sequencing was applied to characterize microbial communities within each fecal sample. Using quantitative PCR (qPCR), ten ARGs encoding tetracycline resistance (tetB, tetM), sulfonamide resistance (sul1, sul2), fluoroquinolone resistance (qnrD, qnrS), fluoroquinolone and aminoglycoside resistance (aac(6')-Ib), beta-lactam resistance (bla_TEM, bla_CTX-M), macrolide resistance (ermC), a class 1 integronsintegrase gene (intI1), and a class 2 integrons-integrase gene (intI2) were quantified. The results showed that Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant in human, cow, horse, and pig groups, while Firmicutes and Actinobacteria were dominant in chicken group. Among ARGs, tetM was detected with the highest number of copies, followed by sul1 and sul2. Most of the genera belonging to Firmicutes showed positive correlations with ARGs and integron genes. There were 97, 34, 31, 25, and 22 genera in chicken, cow, pig, human, and horse respectively which showed positive correlations with ARGs and integron genes. In network analysis, we identified diversity of microbial communities which correlated with ARGs and integron genes. CONCLUSION(S): In this study, antibiotic resistance patterns in human and livestock fecal samples were identified. The abundance of ARGs and integron genes detected in the samples were associated with the amount of antibiotics commonly used for human and livestocks. We found diverse microbial communities associated with antibiotics resistance genes in different hosts, suggesting that antibiotics resistance can disseminate across environments through various routes. Identifying the routes of ARG dissemination in the environment would be the first step to overcome the challenge of antibiotic resistance in the future.