• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.849-856
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• 2018

Diarrhea is one of the main disorders which cause the highest level mortality of the post-weaning economic animal. Beech-wood creosote has been used as a traditional anti-diarrheic medicament for a long time. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Beech-wood on growth performance and intestinal microbiota in rats. Twelve 4-week-old rats were randomly assigned to one of four dietary groups and fed a basal diet supplemented with none (CON), 0.5% apramycin (ANTI), 0.4% creosote (Creo 0.4), or 0.8% creosote (Creo 0.8) for 4 weeks following 1 week of adaptation period to the respective diet. Average daily gain was not influenced by the dietary treatment whereas average daily feed intake was greatest for the Creo 0.8 group. In the intestinal microbiota at the level of the phylum, the percentage of Firmicutes bacteria decreased but Bacteroidetes increased in the Creo 0.8 group vs. Control, which resulted in a decreased F/B ratio for the former (p<0.05). Moreover, the percentage of Lachnospiraceae was greater at the level of the family for the Creo 0.8 group than for Control, but the percentages of Turicibacter and Clostridium disporicum were less in the former (p<0.01) at the genus and species levels, respectively. Collectively, the present results indicate that dietary supplementation of creosote increases the feed intake and also influence the intestinal microbiota in rats.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.529-537
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• 2020

This study was carried out to confirm changes in the microbial community and physicochemical characteristics of Korean traditional Makgeolli during fermentation by yeast as a fermentation starter. We demonstrate that the microbial community during fermentation affects the quality of Makgeolli. At the species level, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Weissella confusa, Pantoea vagans, and Lactobacillus graminis were dominant on fermentation mix, after 1-2 days, in the control group without yeast treatment. Acid production in the control group was higher than that in the yeast-treated group. P. pentosaceus was dominant throughout the fermentation process, and the proportion of P. vagans remarkably decreased following yeast addition. Considering quality characteristics, the alcohol content rapidly increased after yeast addition, and the lactic acid content was lower in the yeast-treated group than in the control. These results suggest that the rapid increase in alcohol at the start of fermentation inhibits the growth of lactic acid-producing bacteria. The addition of yeast may contribute to the reduction in the high amount of lactic acid, which can be one of the causes of changes in Makgeolli quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1113-1122
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• 2009

In order to find the way to solve the problem of sewage sludge discharge into the ocean, the sludge solubilization by ultrasonic and the improvement methods of wastewater treatment process were studied. In the membrane bioreactor the sludge retention time was stepwise increased from 5.1 day to 442 days where the biomass average concentration has been increased from $c_B$=3.4 $gTSSL^{-1}$ to $c_B$=14.5 $gTSSL^{-1}$ respectively. At the same time, the biomass yield coefficients were reduced from 0.5-0.7 at SRT=5.1 day to 0.005-0.007 at SRT=442 days which means the reduction of sludge production. Oxygen mass transfer coefficients and ${\alpha}$-factor were investigated with changing stirrer speed to find the relation between the high biomass concentration and aeration efficiency in the propeller loop reactor. As a result of sludge solubilization, the solubilization of sludge by ultrasound was increased with increasing energy input and it led to improved anaerobic digestion rate with more biogas production than that of nonsolubilized sewage sludge.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.241-244
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• 2013

Nitrate is one of the major nutrients in plants, and nitrate fertilizer often overused for the high yields of crops. Nitrate deposit in soil became one of the major reasons causing salt stress. Specially, salt stress is a serious problem in the soils of plastic film or glass houses. In this study, six microorganisms have been isolated from the wet soils near the disposals of livestock farms and their nitrate uptake activities were investigated. These bacteria were able to remove nitrate as high as 1,000-3,000 ppm (10-50 mM). The strain PCE3 showed the highest nitrate uptake activity and it removed more than 3,700 ppm. In order to identify these bacteria, genes of 16S rRNA were sequenced and analyzed. Phylogenetic trees were constructed with the neighbor-joining methods. Among these bacteria, strain PCE3 was identified as Bacillus species. When the growth and nitrate uptake activities were measured, both were maximal at $37^{\circ}C$ and optimal pH was pH 7-9. Bacillus sp. PCE3 removed nitrate up to 40-60 mM (2,500-3,700 ppm) depending on the nitrate concentration in media. Therefore, Bacillus sp. PCE3 can be a good candidate for the microbial remediation of nitrate-deposited soils in glass and plastic film houses.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.200-210
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality changes and contamination of microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, mold and yeast in cherry tomatoes during storage at different temperatures, gas composition and periods(7 and 14 days). This study determined pH, color change and the growth pattern of microorganisms in cherry tomato during storage at $5^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$ and $15^{\circ}C$. According to the results, pH level was a little raised with storage period. On average, $L^*$, $a^*$ and $b^*$ value of cherry tomato were irregular value of increase and decrease of all gas packaging with storage period. In regard of the types of microorganism, aerobic count plate, coliform count, mold and yeast were detected when cherry tomatoes were stored at $5^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$ and $15^{\circ}C$ during storage for 14 days. Equally, all microorganisms of cherry tomato were irregular with storage period and complex gas packaging. However, this study determined that packaging with a higher $CO_2$ concentration than $O_2$ concentration can reduce growth of microorganism. These studies can be used as primary data for determining the optimal complex gas to storage enlargement.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.242-247
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• 2019

Biological factors (e.g. microorganism activity) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) play essential roles for degradation and/or removal of organic matters. In this study, to understand the microbial functional roles in WWTP, we tried to isolate and characterize a bacterial strain from activated sludge sample. Strain S16 was isolated from the activated sludge of a municipal WWTP in Daejeon metropolitan city, the Republic of Korea. The cells were a Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, facultative anaerobe, and rod-shaped. Strain S16 grew at a temperature of $15{\sim}40^{\circ}C$ (optimum, $30^{\circ}C$), with 0~9.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1.0~2.0%), and at pH 5.5~9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0~7.5). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain S16 was most closely related to the unique species Miniimonas arenae NBRC $106267^T$ (99.79%, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) of the genus Miniimonas. The cell wall contained alanine, glutamic acid, serine, and ornithine. Although the isolation source of the type strain NBRC $106267^T$ which considered as a marine microorganism is sea sand, that of strain S16 is terrestrial environment. It might raise an ecological question for habitat transition. Therefore, comparative genome analysis will be valuable investigation for shedding light on their potential metabolic traits and genomic streamlining.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.167-171
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• 2000

Analysis of Production of Thermostable Alkaline Protease using Thermoactinomyces sp. E79. Jung, Sang Won, Sung-Sik Park, Yong-Cheol Park" Tae Kwang Oh2, and Jin-Ho Seo*, Department of Food Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Suwon 441-744, Korea, 1lnterdisciplinary program [or Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Seoul National Univer5it}~ Seoul 151 "7421 Koreal 2Microbial Enzyme RU, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Po. Box 1151 Yusong, Taejon 305"6001 Korea - This research was undertaken to analyze fermentation properties of Thermoactinomyces sp. E79 for production of a thermostable alkaline protease, which is able to specifically hydrolyze defatted soybean meal (DSM) to amino acids. TIle optimum pH for cell growth and protease production was pH 6.7, Thermoactinomyces sp. E79 did not grow at pHlO Among carbon sources tested, soluble starch was the best for protease production, while glucose repressed protease production. Tryptone was found to be the best nitrogen source for cell growth and soytone was good tor protease production. Oxygen transfer rate played an important role in producing thermostable alkaline protease. Ma'<..imum values of 6.58 glL of dry cell weight and 43.0 UJmL of protease activity were obtained in a batch fermentation using a 2.5 L jar fermentor at 1.93 X 102 hr-l of volumetric oxygen transfer coeff'jcient (kLa). Addition of 200 mgIL humic acid to the growth medium resulted in 1.64 times higher protease activity and 1.77 times higher cell growth than the case without humic acid addition.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.105-108
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• 2011

The increased concern for the security of the oil supply and the negative impact of fossil fuels on the environment, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, has put pressure on society to find renewable fuel alternatives. Compared to the traditional biofuel, ethanol, higher alcohols offer advantage as gasoline substitutes because of their higher energy density and lower hygroscopicity. For this reason, microbial fermentation is known as potential producers for sustainable energy carriers. In this study, bacterial responses including cellular and molecular toxicity were studied in three different microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, Clostridium acetobutylicum, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, it was analyzed specific stress responses caused by ethanol and buthanol using four different stress responsive genes, i.e. fabA, grpE, katG and recA. The expression levels of these genes were quantified by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. It was found that four genes have shown different responsive patterns when E. coli cultures were under stressful conditions caused by ethanol and buthanol, respectively. Therefore, in this study, the stress responsive effects caused by these alcohols and the extent of each stress response can be analyzed using the expression levels and patterns of different stress responsive genes.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.206-212
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• 2019

Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) lives in the hair follicles and pores, and it uses cell debris, sebum and metabolic byproducts of surrounding skin tissues as energy and nutrients. Increased production of sebum due to sebaceous hyperplasia or blockage of the follicle can cause growth and proliferation of P. acnes. The rapid growth of P. acnes in follicles produces cell damage, metabolic byproducts and bacterial chips, which can cause inflammation. In this study, we examined the possibility of Senecio iscoensis Hieron. (S. iscoensis) extract to regulate P. acnes-induced inflammatory signaling pathways. We observed that S. iscoensis extract effectively inhibited P. acnes-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine expressions such as IL-$1{\beta}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, and iNOS in mouse macrophage cell line Raw 264.7. The inhibitory effect of S. iscoensis in pro-inflammatory cytokine levels was accompanied by the inhibition of the transcription factors NF-${\kappa}B$ and NF-AT. However, S. iscoensis did not alter the P. acnes-induced MAPK signaling pathways. This study first suggests the potential of using S. iscoensis extract as an alternative agent for the treatment of acne.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.344-351
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• 2016

A marine bacterium, designated as strain 50C-3, was isolated from a seawater sample collected from the East Sea of South Korea. The strain is a Gram-negative, aerobic, yellow colored polar-flagellated bacterium that grows at $20-50^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.5-8.5. Optimal growth occurred at $40-50^{\circ}C$, at pH 6.5-7.5, and in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, the isolate was considered to represent a member of the genus Ruegeria. The result of this analysis showed that strain 50C-3 shared 99.4% and 96.98% sequence similarity with Ruegeria intermedia CC-GIMAT-$2^T$ and Ruegeria lacuscaerulensis ITI-$1157^T$, respectively. Furthermore, strain 50C-3 showed clear differences from related strains in terms of several characteristics such as motility, carbon utilization, enzyme production, etc. The DNA G+C content was 66.7 mol%. Chemotaxonomic analysis indicated ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the predominant respiratory quinone. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic characteristics, the isolate represents a novel variant of the Ruegeria intermedia CC-GIMAT-$2^T$, for which we named Ruegeria sp. 50C-3 (KCTC23890=DSM25519). Strain 50C-3 did not produce cellulase and agarase, but produced alkaline phosphatase, ${\alpha}$-galactosidase, and ${\beta}$-galactosidase. The three enzymes showed stable activities even at $50^{\circ}C$ and thus regarded as thermostable enzymes. Especially, the ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity enhanced by 1.9 times at $50^{\circ}C$ than that at $37^{\circ}C$, which may be very useful for industrial application.