• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.360-370
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• 2012

Current ecological knowledge of methanotrophic biofilms is incomplete, although they have been broadly studied in biotechnological processes. Four individual DNA samples were prepared from a methanotrophic biofilm, and a multiplex 16S rDNA pyrosequencing was performed. A complete library (before being de-multiplexed) contained 33,639 sequences (average length, 415 nt). Interestingly, methanotrophs were not dominant, only making up 23% of the community. Methylosinus, Methylomonas, and Methylosarcina were the dominant methanotrophs. Type II methanotrophs were more abundant than type I (56 vs. 44%), but less richer and diverse. Dominant non-methanotrophic genera included Hydrogenophaga, Flavobacterium, and Hyphomicrobium. The library was de-multiplexed into four libraries, with different sequencing efforts (3,915 - 20,133 sequences). Sorrenson abundance similarity results showed that the four libraries were almost identical (indices > 0.97), and phylogenetic comparisons using UniFrac test and P-test revealed the same results. It was demonstrated that the pyrosequencing was highly reproducible. These survey results can provide an insight into the management and/or manipulation of methanotrophic biofilms.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2021

Cyanobium is a genus of picoprokaryotic cyanophytes, which includes species worldwide. The present study investigated the morphology, ultrastructure, and molecular phylogeny of the unrecorded genus Cyanobium Rippka & Cohen-Bazire 1983 and species Cyanobium gracile Rippka & Cohen-Bazire 1983. A C. gracile culture from a freshwater sample collected from the Adongji pond was established by single-cell isolation. Morphological data were analyzed using light and transmission electron microscopy. C. gracile lives as solitary cells without gelatinous envelopes and is ovate, oval, or shortly rod-shaped. Thylakoids are laid along the cell walls, with three thylakoid membranes parallel to each other. Nucleoplasm was observed in the center of the cell. Molecular phylogeny performed with data from 16S small subunit ribosomal DNA gene (SSU rDNA) sequences showed that the three strains of C. gracile, including the type strain (PCC6307) and a newly recorded strain (Adong101619), formed a distinct clade with a high supporting value (maximum-likelihood=100, pp=1.00). Based on morphology and molecular data, we report the newly recorded C. gracile in Korea.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.283-294
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• 2007

Conventional culture-based methods of enumerating rumen microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and fungi) are being rapidly replaced by nucleic acid-based techniques which can be used to characterise complex microbial communities without incubation. The foundation of these techniques is 16S/18S rDNA sequence analysis which has provided a phylogenetically based classification scheme for enumeration and identification of microbial community members. While these analyses are very informative for determining the composition of the microbial community and monitoring changes in population size, they can only infer function based on these observations. The next step in functional analysis of the ecosystem is to measure how specific and, or, predominant members of the ecosystem are operating and interacting with other groups. It is also apparent that techniques which optimise the analysis of complex microbial communities rather than the detection of single organisms will need to address the issues of high throughput analysis using many primers/probes in a single sample. Nearly all the molecular ecological techniques are dependant upon the efficient extraction of high quality DNA/RNA representing the diversity of ruminal microbial communities. Recent reviews and technical manuals written on the subject of molecular microbial ecology of animals provide a broad perspective of the variety of techniques available and their potential application in the field of animal science which is beyond the scope of this treatise. This paper will focus on nucleic acid based molecular methods which have recently been developed for studying major functional groups (cellulolytic bacteria, protozoa, fungi and methanogens) of microorganisms that are important in nutritional studies, as well as, novel methods for studying microbial diversity and function from a genomics perspective.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.248-255
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• 2012

In order to develop a protocol to quantify cyanobacteria and Microcystis simultaneously, the primers and probe were designed from the conserved regions of 16S rRNA gene sequences of cyanobacteria and Microcystis, respectively. Probe match analysis of the Ribosomal Database Project showed that the primers matched with over 97% of cyanobacterial 16S rRNA genes, indicating these can be used to amplify cyanobacteria specifically. The TaqMan probe, which is located between two primers, matched with 98.2% of sequences in genus GpXI, in which most Microcystis strains are included. The numbers of cyanobacterial genes were estimated with the emission of SYBR Green from the amplicons with two primers, whereas those of Microcystis spp. were measured from the fluorescence of CAL Fluor Gold 540 emitted by exonuclease activity of Taq DNA polymerase in amplification. It is expected that this method enhances the accuracy and reduces the time to count cyanobacteria and potential toxigenic Microcystis spp. in aquatic environmental samples.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2004

Phylogenetic relationships were analyzed among bumblebees using a portion of mitochondrial (mt) 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA). Eight species of true bumblebees and one species of cuckoo bumblebee (Bombini, Apidae), collected from Korea were included in the analysis. Also, one species of true bumblebee imported from several foreign countries for pollination was included. The length of mt 16S rRNA sequence ranged from 496 bp to 508 bp and sequence divergence ranged from 1.4％ (7 bp) to 15.49％ (77bp). As expected, a high A＋T content was observed (78.5％ on average). According to the phylogeny tree derived from parsimony and maximum likelihood analysis, a monphyletic Bombus species, excluding a single cuckoo bumblebee, Psithyrus coreanus, was obtained, but the bootstrap estimate at the node supporting the monophyletic group was very weak (40％ or 46％), suggesting a very close relationship of the cuckoo bumblebee to the true bumblebee. Within Bombus species belonging to identical subgenera subgeneric specific clustering was formed with high bootstrap values, implying validity of the subgeneric names of each species: Pyrobombus for B. ardens and B. modeatus; Megabombus for B. consobrinus wittenburgi and B. koreanus; and Bombus s. str. for B. ignitus, B. hypocrita sapporoensis, and B. terrestris.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.50-54
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• 2003

Genome of an extreme thermophile, Thermus caldophilus GK24 has been analyzed to construct the genomic map. The genomic DNAs encapsulated in agarose gel were digested with SspI, EcoRI, SpeI, and HpaI restriction endonucleases, and then the resulting genomic DNA fragments were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Its restriction map has been constructed by analyzing sizes of the restriction fragments obtained from both complete and partial digestions. The circular form of its genome was composed of about 1.98 Mbp and a megaplasmid. The genomic loci for the genes of xylose isomerase, thioredoxin, tRNA-16S rRNA, 23S rRNA, L5 ribosomal protein, ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, DNA-ligase, and Tca DNA polymerase were determined by both Southern hybridization and PCR.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.341-347
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• 2007

Streptococcus mutans, one of a major causal agents of dental caries, is component of the dental plaque and produces various organic acids such as lactic acid as the end-product of glycolysis. In this study, we isolated S. mutans from Korean children with caries and also investigated the expression of protein under acid stress. S. mutans was identified at the species level using a 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing comparison method. The primer specificity was tested on eleven S. mutans strains isolated from Korean children with caries. The data showed that eleven strains are S. mutans. At treatment of concentration of 20 mM lactic acid in the mid-log phage, K-7 exhibited the highest maximum culture OD compared with those of other groups. As a consequence, we examined the expression of protein under 20 mM lactic acid stress using S. mutans K-7. The results of 2D gel electrophoresis by image analysis showed that thirteen proteins are up-regulated under the stress. Further study is being focused on amino acid analysis by mass spectrometry in order to analyze those spots.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.94-99
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• 2023

Blueberry red ringspot virus (BRRSV) and blueberry scorch virus (BlScV) are included in the quarantine virus list managed by the Korean Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with an internal control was developed for the simultaneous detection of both viruses. The specific primers used here were designed based on the highly conserved regions of the genomic sequences of each virus, obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information nucleotide databases. The primers were designed to amplify a partial sequence within coat protein (CP) for detecting BRRSV and a partial sequence within the CP-16 kDa for detecting BlScV. 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) was used as internal control, and the primer set used in a previous study was modified in this study for detecting 18S rRNA. Each conventional PCR using the BRRSV, BlScV, and 18S rRNA primers exhibited a sensitivity of approximately 1 fg plasmid DNA. The multiplex PCR assay using the BRRSV, BlScV, and 18S rRNA primers was effective in simultaneously detecting the two viruses and 18S rRNA with a sensitivity of 1 fg plasmid DNA, similar to that of conventional PCR assays. The multiplex PCR assay developed in this study was performed using 14 blueberry cultivars grown in South Korea. BRRSV and BlScV were not detected, but 18S rRNA was all detected in all the plants tested. Therefore, our optimized multiplex PCR assay could simultaneously detect the two viruses and 18S rRNA in field samples collected from South Korea in a time-efficient manner. This approach could be valuable in crop protection and plant quarantine management.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2013

Four Luxi beef cattle ($400{\pm}10$ kg) fitted with ruminal, duodenal and ileal cannulas were used in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square to assess the effects of soybean small peptide (SSP) infusion on rumen fermentation, diet digestion and flow of nutrient in the gastrointestinal tract. The ruminal infusion of SSP was 0 (control), 100, 200 and 300 g/d. Ruminal SSP infusion linearly (p<0.01) and quadratically (p<0.01) increased microbial protein synthesis and rumen ammonia-N concentration. Concentrations of total volatile fatty acid were linearly increased (p = 0.029) by infusion SSP. Rumen samples were obtained for analysis of microbial ecology by real-time PCR. Populations of rumen Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Streptococcus bovis, Ciliate protozoa, Ruminococcus flavefaciens, and Prevotella ruminicola were expressed as a proportion of total Rumen bacterial 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA). Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens populations which related to total bacterial 16S rDNA were increased (p<0.05), while Streptococcus bovis populations were linearly (p = 0.049) and quadratically (p = 0.020) decreased by infusion of SSP. Apparent rumen digestibility of DM and NDF were (Q, p<0.05; L, p<0.05) increased with infusion SSP. Total tract digestion of DM, OM and NDF were linearly (p<0.01) and quadratically (p<0.01) increased by infusing SSP. The flow of total amino acids (AA), essential amino acids (EAA) and individual amino acids were linearly (p<0.01) and quadratically (p<0.01) increased with infusion SSP. The digestibility of Lysine was quadratically (p = 0.033) increased and apparent degradability of Arginine was linearly (p = 0.032) and quadratically (p = 0.042) increased with infusion SSP. The results indicated that infusion SSP could improve nutrient digestion, ruminal fermentation and AA availability.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.171-178
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• 2009

The Perciformes include approximately 40% of all bony fishes and are the largest order of vertebrates. This order includes some of the most economically relevant marine fishes, particularly the red seabream, black seabream and rock bream. A 409 bp fragment of the cytochrome b (cyt b) gene and 403 bp and 518 bp fragments of ribosomal RNA (12S and 16S rRNA, respectively) were sequenced from five populations of natural and cultured red seabreams, natural black seabream, and natural and cultured rock breams. The mitochondrial DNA sequences were utilized for the genetic identification and population structural analyses of these three species. Phylogenetic relationships of intra- and inter-species were elucidated using three types of molecular genetic markers from three species of the order Perciformes in Korea. We noted no significant differences in the intra-specific variation of the cyt b and rRNA genes in each population however, inter-specific divergences were greater than intra-specific variation. Inter-specific variation was induced more by transition than transversion type in the cyt b and rRNA genes. The cyt b gene and rRNA genes make it possible to determine the inter-species divergence. The rRNA genes have more conserved sequences than the cyt b gene. Therefore, these genes are expected to prove useful among species belonging to the different genera or families.